True Facts

Quench your thirst for information.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

May 27, 2017 | SuzyQ

Originally released in the UK on May 26, 1967, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' landmark album. The U.S. release was on June 1.

Beatles '66 : the revolutionary year by Steve Turner

A riveting look at the transformative year in the lives and careers of the legendary group whose groundbreaking legacy would forever change music and popular culture. They started off as hysteria-inducing pop stars playing to audiences of screaming teenage fans and ended up as musical sages considered responsible for ushering in a new era. The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966-- the year of their last concert and their first album, Revolver, that was created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. 

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [sound recording]

Loose Lips Sink Ships

May 16, 2017 | SuzyQ
Three minutes to doomsday : an agent, a traitor, and the worst espionage breach in US history by Joe Navarro
Stalin's Englishman : Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge spy ring by Andrew Lownie

Guy Burgess was the most important, complex, and fascinating of The Cambridge Spies--Maclean, Philby, Blunt--brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. An engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others, Burgess rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which he passed to his Russian handlers.

The main enemy : the inside story of the CIA's final showdown with the KGB by Milt Bearden

Better Made in Michigan: The Salty Story of Detroit's Best Chip

fawcettl

Join us for an entertaining night out and come learn about a Detroit snack legend, the Better Maid potato chip. Local writer Karen Dybis will present highlights from her book Better Made in Michigan: The Salty Story of Detroit's Best Chip. We will cap the evening off with a tasting of some of these delicious snacks. No registration required.

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

All the Kremlin's Men

May 15, 2017 | SuzyQ
All the Kremlin's men : inside the court of Vladimir Putin by Mikhail Zygarʹ

This is the story of the political battles that have taken place in the court of Vladimir Putin since his rise to power, and a chronicle of friendship and hatred between the Russian leader and his foreign partners and opponents.

The man without a face : the unlikely rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen
Putin's kleptocracy : who owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha

The raging question in the world today is who is the real Vladimir Putin and what are his intentions. Karen Dawisha's brilliant work provides an answer, describing how Putin got to power, the cabal he brought with him, the billions they have looted, and his plan to restore the Greater Russia.

Coping with Teen Pressures

May 10, 2017 | visnawj

Whether becoming or simply being a teenager, there are a number of challenges and issues that tweens and teens face as they make their way through the junior high and high school years.  The titles below tackle these pressures and challenges in fictional accounts and nonfiction guides.

Fiction

The titles below address teen pressures through fictional narratives, as characters confront peer pressure, bullying, mental health issues, and other life challenges.  Suggested grade levels are provided based on professional reviews.

Nonfiction Book Group June 2017

daviscrl

Please join the Nonfiction Book Group to discuss:

Oneida : from free love utopia to the well-set table by Ellen Wayland-Smith

Amid the fervor of the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening, John Humphrey Noyes, a spirited but socially awkward young man, attracted a group of devoted followers with his fiery sermons about creating Jesus' millennial kingdom here on Earth. Noyes established a revolutionary community in rural New York centered around achieving a life free of sin through God's grace, while also espousing equality of the sexes and "complex marriage," a system of free love where sexual relations with multiple partners was encouraged. When the Community disbanded in 1880, the Oneida Community, Limited, would go on to become one of the nation's leading manufacturers of silverware, and their brand a coveted mark of middle-class respectability in pre- and post-WWII America.

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

Explore the Culture of Denmark

April 1, 2017 | daviscrl

Curious about why Denmark has topped lists as the world's happiest country? Explore the vibrant culture of this northern land and find out.

Happy as a Dane : 10 secrets of the happiest people in the world by Malene Rydahl

How is it that these 5.6 million Danes are so content when they live in a country that is dark and cold nine months of the year and where income taxes are at almost 60 percent? At a time when talk across the Western world is focused on unemployment woes, government overreach, and anti-taxation lobbies, our Danish counterparts seem to breathe a healthier and fresher air. Interweaving anecdotes and research, Malene Rydahl explores how the values of trust, education, and a healthy work-life balance with  purpose—to name just a few—contribute to a “happy” population.

The year of living Danishly : uncovering the secrets of the world's happiest country by Helen Russell

When she was given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth is Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born, or made? Helen gives herself a year to uncover the formula for Danish happiness. The Year of Living Danishly is a funny, poignant record of a journey that shows us where the Danes get it right, where they get it wrong, and how we might just benefit from living a little more Danishly ourselves.

Pages