On this day in 1945, holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. His mistress, and wife of one day, Eva Braun, poisoned herself and their dogs as well. Just eight days later, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a "1,000-year" Reich. In the Garden of Beasts (Erik Larson: 2011) Erik Larson writes nonfiction that reads like the best fiction: vivid, atmospheric page-turners that hold the reader in vise grip until the final paragraph. He's done it again in this mesmerizing portrait of Berlin the early years of Hitler's reign of terror. He paints his picture through the eyes of William Dodd, America's ambassador to Nazi Germany, and his 24-year-old daughter, Martha, who are initially enchanted and then repulsed by what they encounter. Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris (Ian Kershaw: 2000) Adolf Hitler was a contradiction riddled with self-created myths. Ian Kershaw reveals the character of the bizarre misfit who morphed into a demonic mass murderer over the course of his thirty-year rise from an illegitimate birth in an Austrian village through his early years spent in a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried and rejected democracy in the aftermath of World War I. Kershaw brings to life the settings that made Hitler's rise possible: the rabid anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna, the hellish cauldron of World War I, the nationalism that poisoned Bavaria in the 1920s, the extremism that undermined the Weimar Republic, the hysteria that accompanied Hitler's seizure of power in 1933, the shared madness that resulted in brutal attacks on Jews and others condemned as enemies of the Aryan race. Explaining Hitler: The Search for Origins of His Evil (Ron Rosenbaum: 1999) How does a Hitler happen? Rosenbaum tackles that question and more in this engrossing book full of conversations with and the viewpoints of historians, philosophers, filmmakers, and others who have attempted to make sense of Hitler's actions and find a root cause for the Holocaust. Rosenbaum sifts through the rumors: Hitler's alleged Jewish ancestry and physical deformity (what biographer Alan Bullock calls "the one-ball business") and the attempts to extract some psychological causation factor. We see a variety of Hitlers laid bare: the con man and gangster; the unspeakable pervert, the ladies' man, even the artist whose medium of choice was destruction. But Rosenbaum also examines the examiners to illuminate what an explanation of Hitler tells us about Hitler, about the scholars who attempt to explain, and about ourselves. The Lost Life of Eva Braun (Angela Lambert: 2008) What sort of woman loves a monster? Eva Braun left convent school at the age of seventeen and met Hitler a few months later in a camera store. She became his mistress before she turned twenty and remained so for 13 years until their joint suicides at the end of the war. Hitler humiliated her in public and she was mocked by the wives of his Nazi officials. Albert Speer described her as "very shy, modest. A man’s woman: gay, gentle, and kind; incredibly undemanding . . . a restful sort of girl.” Who was Eva Braun? Lambert's biography, only the second examination of the life of Eva Braun written in English, focuses a spotlight on the young woman who lived her life in the cold heart of the Nazi regime.
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The first "Earth Day," April 22, 1970, was marked by massive demonstrations as over 20 million Americans rallied on the streets, in parks, on campus quadrangles and in urban auditoriums across the country for a healthier, more sustainable environment. The brainchild of Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who was determined to push environmental protection to the top of the national agenda, achieved a rare political alignment amidst the bitterness of the Vietnam War era: conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans (Representative Pete McCloskey (R-Cal.) served as co-chair), urbanites and residents of rural communities, rich and poor all came together to support the need to protect our most precious asset and our collective home. The first Earth Day also led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts (all signed by that most unlikely of environmental heroes, Richard Nixon). But there are many heroes in the movement to raise environmental awareness and promote conservation; some blazed the trail, others continue to pioneer the path: The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America (Douglas Brinkley, 2009) What made Theodore Roosevelt an environmental hero was his conviction that 2,000-year-old redwood trees, ancient rock formations and pelicans belonged to future generations of Americans as well as to the past. Well, in the face of a commitment to eternity, what were the arguments of mining tycoons, hunters, local businessmen and not-so-visionary congressmen? From the time he became president, in 1901, until he left office in 1909, Roosevelt saved over 234 million acres of the American wilderness. Brinkley captures the sights, smells and sounds of the era and takes us into the rough-and-ready world of the President who was willing to use his "big stick" when necessary and didn't talk softly about his determination to set aside lands with the creation of the National Wildlife Refuge System. In a simpler era, Roosevelt made conservation a vital, manly, patriotic pursuit. The Camping Trip That Changed America (Barb Rosenstock, 2012) For younger readers, here's a new picture book that relates the story of Roosevelt's tour of the Yosemite Valley area and the camping trip he took with preservationist John Muir. The men rode into the wilds on horseback, camped together with a minimum entourage, and got caught up in the beauty of sequoias and a spring snowstorm. Muir (and the wonders of the Sierras) convinced Roosevelt that the park needed federal control and management and in 1905, Congress designated it a National Park. Rosenstock captures Roosevelt's exuberance and Muir's ardent dedication. as does illustrator Mordecai Gerstein. A Sand County Almanac (Aldo Leopold, 1949) Aldo Leopold, often considered to be the father of wildlife ecology, was one of America's first professional foresters. He helped found the National Wildlife Federation, the Wilderness Society and wrote a little book which fostered a greater interest in ecology, conservation and, later, the environmental movement. Part essay, memoir and polemic, A Sand County Almanac explores the wondrous diversity of our natural world and celebrates its beauty in elegant, evocative prose. Read it as the seasons progress to enhance your own observations and appreciation of nature's perfection. A Passion for Nature: the Life of John Muir (Donald Worster, 2008) Here is a scholarly yet engrossing account of the great conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club. Worster shows us the man behind the legend, through extensive use of Muir's correspondence. Born in Scotland and raised in rural Wisconsin under the harsh rule of his abusive father, Muir lit out for California after the Civil War. What he saw and did there made history. Worster paints a loving portrait of an eternal wanderer who was also a doting husband and father, a talented scientist, friend to the famous and the humble, and a man who wielded his political influence for good. John Muir: Nature Writings (Library of America, 1997) If you want to read the original, try this volume, which contains all of Muir's seminal writings. It includes The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, My First Summer in the Sierra, The Mountains of California, Stickteen, and many essays along with illustrations, a chronology of his life, and scholarly notes. And then there's this classic. All of these books remind us of a key point in environmentalism and conservation: we cannot save what we do not love. Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It's a tragedy that has been commemorated in print, on film, and over the airwaves numerous times. Perhaps its continued fascination is due to the combination of hubris, glamour, social stratification, cowardice, bravery and sacrifice that swirl around the massive ocean liner and the events that led to her doom on the night of April 14-15, 1912. Other maritime disasters of similar magnitude have faded into obscurity; however, in the hands of a skillful writer, they can come to life in all its horrific immediacy: Lusitania by Diane Preston (2003). On May 7, 1915, as she closed in on the city of Liverpool, England and the end of her 101st eastbound crossing from New York City, the R.M.S. Lusitania, the pride of the Cunard Line and one of the most magnificent ocean liners afloat, steamed into the sites of a terrifying new weapon and became the casualty of a horrible new kind of warfare. Just 11 miles off the southern coast of Ireland, she was struck by a torpedo fired from the German submarine. She exploded and sank within eighteen minutes. 1,198 lives, more than half of the passengers and crew, were lost. The deliberate and cold-blooded sinking of the Lusitania shocked the world. With the deaths of 128 American passengers, it was the event that spurred the United States to abandon its neutral stance and enter the armageddon we now call World War I. Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History by Alan Huffman (2009) The title says it all. And it's unbelievable that, outside of American history professors and Civil War buffs, this tragedy has been absolutely forgotten. In April 1865, the steamboat Sultana moved up the Mississippi River, its engines straining under the weight of twenty-four hundred passengers—mostly Union soldiers, recently released from Confederate prison camps. By law, she was only allowed to carry 376 persons, including the crew. At 2 a.m., three of Sultana's four boilers exploded. Within twenty minutes, the boat went down in flames, and an estimated seventeen hundred lives were lost. Those who did not perish in the fire drowned in the cold, fast-moving river. The other events of that April -- the end of the war, the assassination of President Lincoln, the hunt for John Wilkes Booth -- overshadowed this tragedy, which was, by sheer loss of life, the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. The author captures this harrowing story in vivid detail through the experiences of four individual soldiers who survived the Civil War's final hell to make it back home. Into the Mist: The Story of the Empress of Ireland by Ann Renaud (2010). In the early hours of May 29, 1914, the Empress of Ireland, the crown jewel of the Canadian Pacific Line, plunged to the bottom of the St. Lawrence River in just 14 minutes, after colliding with the SS Sorstad, a coal freighter. Over 1,000 passengers and crew members died. But there's more to the story than just disaster. The ocean liner's true legacy is the significant role it played in the building of Canada. During the ship's many crossings between Canada and England during its years of service from 1906 to 1914, it carried royalty, politicians, scientists, authors, actors, captains of industry, and military servicemen, but most important, it ferried more than 115,000 hopeful immigrants from Europe to build new lives on Canadian soil. The author paints a moving portrait of a ship and its time of glory. |
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