Good Reads - Nonfiction

Nonfiction Staff Favorites - Part Two, 2008

028.9 COR
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan - 2005
NPR's Maureen Corrigan is both a book critic and a bookworm. She reads for a living and lives for reading. This book traces the roots of her yearning to read, which were planted in her Queens, New York, girlhood when books offered the shy Maureen companionship and escape. The memoir also explores her adult life as wife, teacher, feminist and adoptive mother, and shares her enthusiasm for works by her favorite contemporary and classical authors.

070.4 JOH
The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries by Marilyn Johnson - 2006
There was a time when obituary writing was the bottom-rung step to a career in journalism. But today a new breed of specialized wordsmiths makes its livelihood honoring both celebrated and simple folk in these "first drafts of history" that we read over our morning coffee. Johnson's near-obsession with the subject mixes with a measured amount of levity as she explores the modern art of remembering the dead.

070.92 COO
Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper - 2006
Hurricane Katrina is the news story that made CNN reporter Anderson Cooper a media celebrity, but he has long been in the public eye covering cataclysmic events in Bosnia, Somalia, Iraq, Africa and Sri Lanka. In this behind-the-scenes professional memoir he also shares personal stories of his life as the son of Wyatt and Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper, and reflects on both public and private tragedies that have affected his world view.

070.92 DUN
But Enough About Me: A Jersey Girl's Unlikely Adventures among the Absurdly Famous by Jancee Dunn - 2006
Dunn's breezy memoir describes her transformation from a twenty-something homebody to a hip writer for Rolling Stone. Vignettes from her 1980s New Jersey girlhood mix with anecdotes from the world of celebrity journalism. She shares humorous encounters with everyone from Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton to U2 and Madonna, and details her own flirtation with celebrity as a VJ for MTV2. Recommended for the star-struck or anyone who likes to laugh out loud.

235.2 MAR
My Life with the Saints by James Martin, S.J. - 2006
Martin was a GE executive and, at times, a lukewarm Catholic until he was guided by the writings of Thomas Merton to become a Jesuit priest. In this conversational and witty memoir he writes about a handful of down-to-earth saints whom he considers his spiritual companions. He intertwines stories about his own life with lively bios of the saintly and describes the encouragement and comfort they provide him.

289.3 BEC
Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith by Martha Nibley Beck - 2005
Beck's face-to-face confrontation with her abusive father was the catalyst for a lifetime of flashbacks and a rush of repressed memories. In this compelling self-exploration, she bravely searches for truth: the truth about her past, her Mormon faith, and her fragile family relationships. But she also searches for Truth with a capital "T," the Truth of It All, an understanding of the human and the Divine. Her powerful spiritual journey is detailed with honesty and humor.

306.0973 KLO
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman - 2003
Gen-Xer Klosterman, a senior writer for Spin, presents a droll collection of 18 essays that deliver keen observations on pop culture. He shares his take on the Sims video game, reality TV, rampant consumerism, and how we are all "doomed to measure our relationships against the prospect of fake love" as portrayed by John Cusack at the Cineplex. The underlying thread of these pieces is the power of the media to manipulate society.

332.024 BOS
Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back by Karyn Bosnak - 2003
As a transplanted Chicagoan embarking on a broadcasting career in New York, Karyn developed a taste for Gucci shoes, Fendi bags and indulgent personal services. She plunged herself into $20,000 debt in one year and then lost her job. Her brazen solution was to launch a website called savekaryn.com and become an Internet panhandler. Her witty retelling of her journey to debt and back is told with self-deprecating humor and chutzpah.

340.092 MER
A Fool's Gold: A Story of Ancient Spanish Treasure, Two Pounds of Pot, and the Young Lawyer Almost Left Holding the Bag by William E. Merritt - 2006
When attorney Thaddeus Silk died unexpectedly, his young associate was left with a lot of questions, a handful of loopy clients, and the county sheriff breathing down his neck. It seems Silk may have been involved in a scheme to fence a hoard of gold dug up on the Oregon coast. And his newest client, aging pothead Abby Birdsong, was busted for stashing four tons of Jamaican weed in a local storage locker. This is a mostly true comic caper that reads like far-out fiction.

362.41 KUR
Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See by Robert Kurson - 2007
Mike May, blind since age 3, hesitated to accept cutting-edge surgery that might help him to see. Because his mother raised him to forge ahead fearlessly, he had experienced more of life than many sighted people. The surgery was fraught with risk, and he was not sure vision would improve the quality of his satisfying life. Kurson deftly tells the eye-opening story of a curious man who made the choice he had always made: to take a chance and begin a new adventure.

364.1523 RUL
— And Never Let Her Go: Thomas Capano: The Deadly Seducer by Ann Rule - 1999
Anne Marie Fahey's family and friends did not realize that the smiling-but-insecure young woman was embroiled in an affair with a married attorney17 years her senior. She was the secretary to Delaware's governor, and her lover was well connected in Wilmington politics. When she disappeared, it was not long before he became the prime suspect in a brutal murder and cover-up. Masterful crime writer Ann Rule portrays the victim sympathetically while unraveling a cruel obsession and its consequences.

364.1552 RUB
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein - 2004
In the opening days of post-Communist Eastern Europe, Transylvanian refugee Attila Ambrus became Hungary's most notorious gentleman bandit. Having failed at a string of jobs, including third-string goalie and Zamboni driver for a professional hockey team, Ambrus became something of a folk hero to disillusioned Hungarians for his mannerly ways, and for only helping himself to cash at government-run establishments. This high-energy retelling of Attila's escapades is enriched by a cast of outrageous and amusing supporting characters.

551.22 FEL
When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes by Jay Feldman - 2005
The residents of New Madrid, Missouri, were violently rocked awake in the early hours of December 16, 1811. A powerful earthquake had struck the region, causing church bells to ring as far away as Boston. Two more magnitude 8 earthquakes and thousands of after-shocks would follow that winter. Feldman's re-creation of these events is mingled with frontier stories of a slave murder, an historic steamboat voyage, and the brutal Indian wars of the era.

590.73 BON
Sailing with Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos by Jeffrey P. Bonner - 2006
Bonner, anthropologist and president of the St. Louis Zoo, unveils the mysteries of zoos and zookeepers. Beyond telling lively and entertaining stories about the animal population, the author highlights the mission of modern zoos "to save wild things in wild places." Since one vertebrate species disappears from the Earth everyday, this highly readable book telescopes why wildlife conservation is an urgent concern for each of us.

616.8582 STO
The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us by Martha Stout - 2004
They may sometimes seem to be callous or manipulative. Or perhaps they exhibit unethical tendencies, without a sense of remorse. People we meet who fit this profile can confuse the rest of us because, despite these deficiencies, they have often developed a deceptive charm and display a pretense of emotions that they don't really feel. Stout, a clinical psychologist in private practice, examines the sociopaths among us, and warns that they are much more common than we think.

635 ALE
The $64 Tomato by William Alexander - 2006
When the author bought a large tract of land in New York's Hudson Valley, he exuberantly pursued his long-time quest for a perfect garden. He popped for terraced landscaping, electrified fences and pricey pesticides. His progress was stifled by a variety of impedi-ments, including critters that invited themselves for lunch. After a cost-benefit analysis, Alexander realized that each succulent homegrown tomato plucked from his garden extracted an exorbitant price.

636.0887 TAR
Fowl Weather by Bob Tarte - 2007
In this hilarious follow-up to Enslaved by Ducks author Bob Tarte continues his story of living in rural western Michigan with his wife Linda, three parrots, eighteen ducks, six geese, two parakeets, one cockatiel, two doves, three cats, nine hens, and one turkey. Tarte deals not only with caring for his chaotic menagerie, but also with his elderly mother's decline into dementia and the demands of uninvited guests and weird acquaintances. Readers who enjoy animal stories or memoirs will enjoy this book.

636.4 MON
The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery - 2006
Naturalist Sy Montgomery's affinity for animals was no secret, so she got the call when there was a runt pig that needed adopting. Sickly and small enough to fit in a shoebox, he was christened Christopher Hogwood in honor of the famed British orchestra conductor. Chris, who thrived and became a cherished pet and a porcine pal to his New Hampshire neighbors, taught Montgomery that "a great soul can appear among us at any time, in the form of any creature."

641.5 POW
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job and Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living by Julie Powell - 2005
With her professional life in the doldrums, Powell challenged herself to prepare all of the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. She set up a blog announcing her intention, and kept her "bleaders" (blog readers) posted on her culinary triumphs and tragedies. The book recalls each step of her adventure with brio (and some salty language) and touches on the personal lives of both women.

641.5956 ABU
The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber - 2005
Abu-Jaber unveils her bicultural life with her Jordanian father and American mother. Her restless dad moved them back to his homeland, where they struggled to fit into life with his extended Bedouin family. Returning to America, they still strained to fit into the middle-class suburban mold. One constant in the home was the rich cultural heritage passed down through her father's tantalizing cooking and intriguing stories. This graceful memoir of family and acceptance is by turns exotic and universal.

649.092 HAN
You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny by Suzanne Hansen - 2005
Perhaps inspired by the popularity of the novel The Nanny Diaries, Hansen has penned her sometimes-funny but not-so-warm memories of caring for the children of Hollywood hotshot Michael Ovitz in the 1980s. Although she fled from that unhappy situation after six months, she went on to work more congenially for Debra Winger and Danny DeVito. This inside peek at the parenting styles of the rich and famous is a quick read, told with flair.

796.83 KIN
Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship by Dave Kindred - 2006
Three years out of college, Kindred was a sports writer for Muhammad Ali's hometown newspaper. He developed a rapport with the champ, and later with brash sports announcer Howard Cosell. This gave the young writer a ringside view of the unlikely pair's public sparring relationship and sprawling egos. In these pages, the synergy between two flamboyant legends who amused a nation and enlivened television sports broadcasting is respectfully and touchingly portrayed.

910.4 GIL
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert - 2006
Following a stressful divorce, Gilbert embarked on a year-long escape to seek balance in her life. She began in Italy, exploring gustatory pleasure in a culture that she loved. She then traveled to an ashram in India searching for self-knowledge and faith. The final leg of her journey brought her to a Balinese medicine man, hoping he could help her mesh matters of body and soul. Her spiritual openness eventually helped unlock her heart to love and happy endings.

910.9164 PHI
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick - 2000
In 1819 a crew of 20 men set out on a routine two-year whaling voyage, but not all of them would return. Rammed by a colossal sperm whale, the Essex was splintered and her crew left to flounder in small boats with few rations and the prospect of death never far from their minds. Philbrick chillingly retells the physical and psychological drama of the 93-day ordeal that inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

916 KIS
An Affair with Africa: Expeditions and Adventures across a Continent by Alzada Carlisle Kistner - 1998
In 1960 Kistner moved to the Belgian Congo with her entomologist husband during the last throes of the British colonial era. In the next thirteen years, research would take them to eleven African countries, providing them a venturesome lifestyle where there was rarely "a night without roaring, snuffling, chomping and bashing." This is a well-paced look at their family life, their research with beetles, termites, and ants, and their chance meetings with important political figures.

917.304 LEO
The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family by Mike Leonard - 2006
Like most American families, Mike Leonard's can be both funny and infuriating. When the Today show correspondent took a sabbatical to plan a month-long trip with three generations of Leonards, he aptly christened their caravan the "S.S. Fiasco." Plenty was bound to go wrong, and did—almost immediately. But their cross-country adventure helped them to rediscover the sites of their lives and to reconnect in both silly and significant ways.

919.53 SAL
Four Corners: One Woman's Solo Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea by Kira Salak - 2001
"The only rule I try to follow religiously in life is not to listen to most people." Armed with this daredevil philosophy, 24-year-old Salak defied convention and set out to follow in the harrowing footsteps of British explorer Ivan Champion across remote Papua New Guinea. Readers who share her wanderlust and hunger for adventure will enjoy joining Salak as she explores dangerous locales, as well as her own inner demons.

920.72 FLA
A Circle of Sisters: Alice Kipling, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Agnes Poynter and Louisa Baldwin by Judith Flanders - 2005
Four daughters of a Methodist minister in Victorian England with "little prestige and less money," the Macdonald sisters had few prospects for social advancement. Yet each married and became the wife or mother of a famous man (including Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and poet Rudyard Kipling). Flanders offers perceptive views on family life in that era and the reflected glory that the rigidity of their prescribed roles offered them.

940.53 MEA
Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham - 2003
Two men with towering personalities formed an unprecedented political coalition during World War II to defeat the Axis and save the world. The alliance of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill was based on a shared Anglo-American world view, but was sustained by respect and a multi-layered friendship. Meacham scoured letters and diaries and interviewed surviving staffers to bring a fresh perspective to the most important partnership of the 20th century.

940.5451 KUR
Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson - 2004
In 1991 John Chatterton and Bill Nagel stumbled upon the wreck of a WWII German submarine off the coast of New Jersey. Kurson skillfully recounts the seven-year quest to identify the U-boat and explain how it ended up in U.S. waters. Along the way the reader gets a glimpse of the dangers of deep-sea wreck diving, as well as insight into the German Command's desperation during the final year of WWII.

941.5081 KEN
The Great Shame: And the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World by Thomas Keneally - 1998
The Irish people spent much of their history under the yoke of English oppression. In the 19th century, many political rebels were regarded as criminals and exiled to penal colonies in Australia. When the potato blight of 1845 struck, governmental mishandling and apathy aggravated the famine and triggered mass emigration. Keneally molds the Irish diaspora into a sweeping narrative of survival and triumph, and puts a human face on history.

950.21 WEA
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by J. McIver Weatherford - 2004
Forget what you think you know about Genghis Khan and his offspring as ruthless, marauding barbarians. Weatherford's portrayal of the charismatic Khan amends the record to show a successful military leader who encouraged free trade, facilitated East-West communication and granted unprecedented religious freedom to his subjects. The book blends anthropological insight with historical narrative for a revisionist look at the Mongol Empire.

973.7 FOO
The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote - 1958–1974
This stirring three-volume epic history of the Civil War was nearly twenty years in the making. It went unnoticed by many until novelist and historian Shelby Foote displayed his Mississippi manners and calm authority on Ken Burns's PBS documentary on the war in 1990. The monumental work, told in vivid and flowing style, presents lively portraits of the participants, and details each battle and campaign of the event that Foote believes defined our national character.

973.922 DAL
Let Every Nation Know: John F. Kennedy in His Own Words by Robert Dallek - 2006
Senator Edward Kennedy has said that this is "perhaps the best of all the books on JFK." Dallek and his co-author Terry Golway have collected 32 examples of President Kennedy's speeches, debates and press conferences on a CD and paired each with their expert analysis of Kennedy's political realities. The result is an historical biography that shines with the subject's own language and style, and puts his presidency and its turbulent times into context for posterity.

974.3 BOH
Idyll Banter: Weekly Excursions to a Very Small Town by Christopher A. Bohjalian - 2003
When newspaper columnist Bohjalian and his wife moved from a co-op in Brooklyn to a 100-year-old house in Lincoln, Vermont (population 975), he began chronicling life in a quaint New England town for his weekly readers. In this collection of those writings, we get to know the people of Lincoln and the joys of rural living, as well as the cultural change occurring in this most idyllic of places.

974.71 GRO
740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building by Michael Gross 2005
"The rich are not like you and I," opined F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920s, just before the famous edifice of the title was built. This look at the denizens of one of Manhattan's most moneyed addresses removes any lingering doubt. One of the building's developers was Jackie O's grandfather, and the parade of elite and powerful residents has continued unabated for over 75 years. The author's telling-tales-out-of-school style enlivens this peek at privilege.

974.71 VON
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by Dave Von Drehle - 2003
On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. In minutes, the 9th floor was completely engulfed and 146 immigrant workers, mostly young women, were dead, trapped behind exit doors that were locked to prevent theft. In retelling that story, this book also traces the struggle immigrants faced trying to build a life in a new land amid a business and political climate where human lives were expendable.

979.82 LEN
If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska by Heather Lende - 2005
A cross between Northern Exposure and A Prairie Home Companion, this charming chronicle unfolds in chapters reporting on births, funerals, and weddings in a frozen but breathtaking corner of the world where everyone is connected to each other and to the land. Lende is a newspaper reporter and obituary writer in Haines, Alaska, who affectionately introduces us to the colorful characters who seem to thrive on small town soil.

Biography BRYSON, B.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson - 2006
"I can't imagine there has ever been a more gratifying time or place to be alive than America in the 1950s." So begins Bryson's comic and endearing look at his Iowa boyhood, making clear from the start that the time and place are subjects of the story as much as he is. This is an effortless and fun read for baby boomers with Midwest roots, but Bryson's wry style is also sure to charm those who are looking at the era with fresh eyes.

Biography DAVIS, B.
The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, a Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler - 2006
Although she told her biographer that she had "never been the kiss-and-yell type," Bette Davis sat down with Chandler shortly before the star's death in 1989 and divulged her forthright feelings about her professional and personal relationships, including her four marriages. She reveals painful memories of a father she could not please and a daughter whose tell-all book caused a family rift. Her blatant opinions and dramatic storytelling style shine through in every chapter.

Biography DIANA
Diana by Sarah Bradford - 2006
This new take on the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, details a shy teenager's rise to status of charismatic icon. That her life teetered from fairy tale to soap opera and ended tragically ensures her legacy. Bradford, an experienced celebrity biographer, believes that "For the Royal Family, its recent history could be seen as pre-Diana and post-Diana, such was the impact this young woman had upon the ancient institution and the people's attitudes towards it."

Biography DIRDA, M.
An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland by Michael Dirda - 2003
Growing up as a "four-eyed, pasty-faced bookworm" in Lorain, Ohio, the author felt his blue-collar father's disapproval. But his early and ardent love of books foreshadowed his current position as Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the Washington Post Book World. This wistful literary memoir divulges the writers and fictional characters that fired Dirda's youthful imagination and captures the reasons that books matter.

Biography GABLE, C.
Clark Gable: A Biography by Warren G. Harris - 2002
When Hollywood was a dream factory and image was king, Clark Gable was idealized by movie-goers of both genders. He was romanticized as Rhett Butler, and as half of the love-match of Lombard and Gable. Harris's crisp and evenhanded biography reveals Gable's feet of clay, examining his relationships with studio moguls, his box office costars, and a revolving-door stable of starlets.

Biography GARDNER, A.
Ava Gardner: "Love Is Nothing" by Lee Server - 2006
Biographer Lee Server has brought to life the tumultuous story of screen siren Ava Gardner who came to Hollywood as an 18-year-old country girl. Her love life was off and running when she met one of MGM's hottest properties, Mickey Rooney. After a marriage to him, and a second to Artie Shaw, she met the central love in her life, Frank Sinatra. Her unconstrained relationships and appetite for life are only part of the nuances Ava Gardner portrayed here.

Biography GILMAN, S.J.
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of Growing Up Groovy and Clueless by Susan Jane Gilman - 2005
As a precocious four-year-old with dreams of being Batgirl or receiving the Nobel Prize for coloring, Susan realized that her family was not like everyone else's. Filled with misgivings about her dashiki-wearing parents, she struggled to define herself through a bumpy adolescence. The entertaining book's final section finds her reconnecting with her roots as a reporter for Jewish Week, and walking down the aisle in a frothy dress that betrays her feminist sensibilities.

Biography HICKAM, H.
Rocket Boys: A Memoir by Homer H. Hickam - 1998
In Coalwood, West Virginia, where Sonny Hickam's father was the mine superintendent, the launch of Sputnik in 1957 inspired the local boys to build rockets. They formed the Big Creek Missile Agency and experimented fervently, but with mixed success. Sonny became obsessed with his quest, knowing that achievement would be his ticket out of Coalwood. This engaging story will strike a chord with anyone who remembers the youthful thrill of aiming for the stars.

Biography JEFFERSON, T.
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis - 1996
Jefferson's lofty ideals on personal freedom and individual rights have defined the thinking of many Americans. He championed the separation of church and state and pursued his vision of the expanding American frontier. Yet many readers may not realize that he was a shy, sometimes aloof, man who avoided public speaking and died nearly penniless. Ellis offers an evenhanded look at the many contradictory facets of this enigmatic founding father.

Biography KIMMEL, H.
She Got Up Off the Couch: A Memoir by Haven Kimmel - 2006
In the spirit of A Girl Named Zippy, the author's humorous tale of her spunky 1970s childhood in tiny Mooreland, Indiana, Kimmel's latest memoir focuses on her newly spunky mother Delonda. After spending years languishing on the couch in the den, she enrolled in nearby Ball State University to pursue an English degree and a new life. Readers will find themselves rooting for Delonda and hoping for another sequel by Kimmel.

Biography LAUCK, J.
Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found by Jennifer Lauck - 2000
Unlike most childhood memoirs, this evocative story is not told through the filter of adulthood, but rather from the child's six-year-old viewpoint. After her loving-but-sickly mother relapsed into a mysterious illness, Jennifer and her brother endured a series of tragedies and cruelties that left them, five years later, on the brink of homelessness. The vulnerability and perception that shine through this riveting tale of loss contribute to a survivor's story worth reading.

Biography PERRY, M.
Truck: A Love Story by Michael Perry - 2006
Truck: A Love Story is a good-natured book about the author's sentiments for his 1951 International Harvester pick-up truck that he pines to restore before the November deer hunting season. But it is also about his love of nature, of small towns and small pleasures. And just when the 38-year-old bachelor thinks he is content with this rhythm of life, he meets Anneliese, a kindred soul. As Perry's truck is fine-tuned and reconstructed gear by gear, so is his life.

Biography WALLS, J.
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls - 2005
The year there was no money for Christmas presents, the author's dad let each of his four children pick a star out of the night sky. The siblings were raised on the margins of society by eccentric, often neglectful, parents. As a survival technique, the Walls adopted the notion that each deprivation that befell them was an adventure. Jeannette navigated chaos and heartbreak, somehow arriving at adulthood with unconditional love for her dysfunctional family.

Biography WASHINGTON, G.
His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis - 2004
"The Foundingest Father of them all." That's how Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ellis describes the man that has become a somewhat wooden symbol to most Americans. As the military leader of the Revolutionary War, he was the unanimous choice as the nation's first president, and probably the only man capable of leading the states through their regional differences "in order to form a more perfect union." Ellis convincingly softens the iconic image of a leader called upon by destiny.

Prepared by Lori Sennebogen with suggestions from Heather Booth, Sarah Crosman, Debbie Deady, Sheila Guenzer, Donna Hankiewicz, Sue Hanson, Abbey Holt, Annie Jagielski, Marty Krause, Karen Neal, Sue O'Brien, Vern Papacek, Chris Portman, Barb Powell, Bonnie Reid, Nicole S., Lori Sennebogen, Pam Strom, Gloria Walsh-Rock, Terri Williams, and Carole Zoeller, March 2008