Memoirs and historical fiction captivate the reader with rich, life-like characters and detailed descriptive settings. What we may not realize we’re getting in these stories: well-researched history lessons. A foundational knowledge of contemporary Russian history and politics plays an important role in understanding global events and America’s developing relationship with Russia. To that end, here are four […]
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LitBit: Authors Provide Insight Into Contemporary Russian History & Politics
Also posted in A Backpack A Bear and Eight Crates of Vodka, A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles, How to Catch a Russian Spy, Lev Golinkin, Naveed Jamali
Tagged LitBit, Politics, Russia
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Forrest Pritchard Talks Business in Sustainable Farming
In his memoir, Gaining Ground, Forrest Pritchard touches on the harsh realities of market competition and the need for businesses to abandon the business-as-usual paradigm in order to compete. Sharing outsider perspectives of growing and maintaining a healthy business — insights learned from hard-won success beyond the mainstream — Forrest focuses on the concepts of Practice, Perspective, and Vision and explains how even billion dollar companies can take their cues from small farms and achieve sustainable growth for decades to come.
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Also posted in Books In Common, Forrest Pritchard, Gaining Ground
Tagged Business, Farming, Forrest Pritchard, Gaining Ground, Organic
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February 23, 2017
Nathalia Holt, NPR Chat About the Role of Women in Rocket Science
Nathalia Holt spoke with NPR’s Ari Shapiro and one of the original “rocket girls,” Barbara Paulson, about women’s role in shaping the American space project. Nathalia’s book The Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, From Missiles to the Moon to Mars, is a collective biography of a group of women who “did the math” at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the 1940s.
Read More »Related Books and Authors
 Denise Kiernan  The Girls of Atomic City |  Meg Waite Clayton  The Race for Paris |  Margot Lee Shetterly  Hidden Figures |
Also posted in Denise Kiernan, Hidden Figures, Karen Abbott, Liar Temptress Soldier Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War, LitBits, Margot Lee Shetterly, Meg Waite Clayton, Nathalia Holt, The Girls of Atomic City, The Race For Paris
Tagged Gender Equality, Nathalia Holt, Rise of the Rocket Girls
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Author Interview: Lori Ostlund on After the Parade
In this BIC Author Interview, Lori Ostlund speaks about After the Parade and engendering kindness and compassion, battling bullying, and embracing diversity — important discussions for virtually every campus and community.
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Also posted in After the Parade, Lori Ostlund
Tagged After the Parade, anti-bullying, author interview, Books in Common, Community Reads, compassion, kindness, LGTBQ, Lori Ostlund, newsletter
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February 14, 2017
YA Version of Maraniss’ Strong Inside Opens Civil Rights Story to Middle Schoolers
Andrew Maraniss’ Strong Inside, which chronicles the career of Perry Wallace, the first African-American college basketball player in the south, and serves an important role in facilitating campus and community discussions around racial tensions in the US, is now available in YA format.
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Also posted in Andrew Maraniss, Dana Johnson, Elsewhere California, Glory Over Everything, Grant Park, James Edward Mills, kathleen grissom, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Leonard Pitts, LitBits, Mourner's Bench, Sanderia Faye, Strong Inside, The Adventure Gap, The Condemnation of Blackness
Tagged Andrew Maraniss, Basketball, Black History Month, civil rights, Race Relations, Racism, Sports, Strong Inside
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February 2, 2017
Leonard Pitts: Gentle Demeanor with a Tough Message
As divisive messages filter down from our new administration, colleges and communities are hurriedly working to balance it with discourse about embracing the current situation of race relations in America and nurturing a community of diversity and kindness. With “a gentle demeanor,” Leonard Pitts, Jr. delivers a “tough message that we all need to hear.”
Read More »Related Books and Authors
 Andrew Maraniss  Strong Inside |  James Edward Mills  The Adventure Gap |  Leonard Pitts  Grant Park |  Dana Johnson  Elsewhere, California |
Andrew Maraniss Strong Inside |
Also posted in Andrew Maraniss, Dana Johnson, Elsewhere California, Grant Park, James Edward Mills, John Lewis, John Lewis, Leonard Pitts, LitBits, March 3, Mourner's Bench, Sanderia Faye, Strong Inside, The Adventure Gap
Tagged Black History Month, Grant Park, Leonard Pitts, Race Relations, Social Justice
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January 31, 2017
James E. Mills Highlights Another Racial Disparity — Minority Outdoor Adventurers
Adventurer and journalist James Edward Mills highlights another racial disparity: the low number of minority wilderness adventurers. This concern carries the opportunity to stimulate healthy conversation about race and gender disparity in our schools and communities.
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Andrew Maraniss Strong Inside | James Edward Mills The Adventure Gap | Meg Waite Clayton The Race for Paris | Andrew Maraniss Strong Inside |
Also posted in Andrew Maraniss, Daniel Bergner, James Edward Mills, LitBits, Meg Waite Clayton, Sing for Your Life: A Story of Race, Strong Inside, The Adventure Gap, The Race For Paris
Tagged Adventure, All Campus Reads, BlackHistory, Equity, Outdoor, Race, Race Relations, Recreation, Social, The Adventure Gap
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January 23, 2017
Sheff Brings New Insights to Campuses & Communities re: Addiction
As drug and alcohol addiction continue to plague our campuses and communities, parents and campus leadership struggle to find a working approach for awareness, prevention, and healing. New York Times #1 Bestselling author, David Sheff, has new ideas about the topic having experienced the impact of his son’s meth addiction first-hand. Dave Sheff is an […]
Read More »John Daniel’s New Novel, Gifted, Hits Shelves Soon
If you’ve missed the writing of Ken Kesey, don’t miss out on John Daniel’s new novel, Gifted, where the landscape and culture of the West are the stars. If you want to host an event around themes of conservation, dying Western industry and small towns, nature, or the nature of sexual orientation, you can find […]
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Also posted in Authors, fiction, Gifted, John Daniel
Tagged Gifted, John Daniel, Oregon, Pacific Northwest
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December 13, 2016
Thor Hanson’s The Triumph of Seeds Takes Science Award
Biologist Thor Hanson’s THE TRIUMPH OF SEEDS has just won the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science.
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 Thor Hanson  Feathers | Thor Hanson  The Triumph of Seeds |  Anna-Marie McLemore  The Weight of Feathers |
Also posted in Feathers, Kelsey Timmerman, LitBits, State of the World: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, The Triumph of Seeds, Thor Hanson, Where Am I Eating: An Adventure Through the Global Food Economy, Where Am I Eating?, Where Am I Eating? An Adventure Through The Global Food Economy
Tagged Agriculture, Biology, Botany, Seeds
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