Clik here to view.
The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough
If you like American history, you should love David McCullough. You really should. But it’s not easy. His books are all so heavy. The type is so small. The prose is so dense. The footnotes are so many....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Happy Labor Day from Wake County Public Libraries!
Check out some of our reading lists about the people who make up our great country! American Classics — Classic works of American literature American Immigrants — Immigrants from around the world face...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Silk Flags and Cold Steel by William R. Trotter
William R. Trotter is a native North Carolinian who has written in a wide range of genres, including historical fiction, horror, true crime, biography and non-fiction. Silk Flags and Cold Steel:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld
It’s New York City, the year is 1920. The Great War is over and people are trying to get their lives back to normal. The economy is extremely weak, when two old friends meet. They are Dr. Strathan...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thomas Jefferson: Author of America by Christopher Hitchens
“Enlightenment,” Immanuel Kant said, “is the triumph of the human being over his self-imposed immaturity.” The American Revolution was not the first revolution with roots in the Enlightenment. In the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nowhere Else on Earth by Josephine Humphreys
This lyrical novel tells a little known story of North Carolina during the Civil War. The inhabitants of Scuffletown are mostly Lumbee Indians and “free men of color”, who have not joined either side...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Idea Factory by John Gertner
In John Gertner’s wonderful The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation, he mentions a comment made by Bill Baker: “…all of human experience can be expressed in binary digital...
View ArticleClik here to view.
True Grit by Charles Portis
True Grit is a great comic Western, a genre that does not usually include a lot of comedy. One of the problems I have with Westerns is that they tend to take themselves too seriously. You might say...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby is the quintessential novel of the Roaring Twenties. It is a story about the promise of wealth and privilege turning to ashes, about the American Dream gone awry. James Gatz is a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hellhound On His Trail by Hampton Sides
I stumbled across Hampton Sides while looking for a new audiobook. This is one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. He writes nonfiction in the most vivid, engaging style that makes this a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
In 2012, the Pulitzer Prize board declined to award a prize in fiction as the members of the board simply could not reach a majority vote. Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams (originally published in a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Boone: A Biography by Robert Morgan
Boone: a Biography is well researched and well written, by a poet and novelist. The author, Robert Morgan, a native North Carolinian, became interested in Daniel Boone (who came of age in North...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Regulated for Murder by Suzanne Adair
The time is February of the year 1781. In Wilmington, NC, Lieutenant Michael Stoddard of His Majesty’s Eighty-Second Regiment is given an assignment. He must find General Cornwallis, rumored to be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Best New Books in 2013: Travis H’s Picks
I’m the manager of the Zebulon Community Library and have a long tenure with the library system. I majored in English and have had my fill of “good books.” Since then, I have read mostly nonfiction,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Best ‘New to Us’ Books in 2013: Travis H’s Picks
I’m the manager of the Zebulon Community Library and have a long tenure with the library system. I majored in English and have had my fill of “good books.” Since then, I read mostly nonfiction, techno...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
In the year 1665, a young man named Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck became the first Native American student to graduate from Harvard. He was born on Martha’s Vineyard, which was at that time mostly inhabited...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
James Abram Garfield, the 20th president of these United States of America, was a remarkable man. His father died when he was 18 months old, and Garfield was raised in almost absolute poverty by a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of...
This is an amazing account of the life of photographer Edward Curtis. It begins in 1866 in Seattle, where Princess Angeline is living in a 2 room damp shack down among the piers. She is the oldest and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee by Michael Korda
Clouds of Glory is not the definitive book on Robert E. Lee, but not even Douglas Freeman was able to do this in four volumes. Highly readable, Clouds of Glory is largely sympathetic to Lee. Korda does...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper
One thing that helps make my long commute bearable is a great audio book, and Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper certainly qualifies! I know the author best as the writer of the fantasy series, The Dark is...
View Article
