[Quick Pick] Passing Strange : a Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line, by Martha A. Sandweiss.
Clarence King is a hero of nineteenth century western history; a brilliant scientist and witty conversationalist, best-selling author and architect of the great surveys that mapped the West after the Civil War. Secretary of State John Hay named King "the best and brightest of his generation." But King hid a secret from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent family in Newport: for thirteen years he lived a double life--as the celebrated white explorer, geologist and writer Clarence King and as a black Pullman porter and steel worker named James Todd. The fair blue-eyed son of a wealthy China trader passed across the color line, revealing his secret to his black common- law wife, Ada Copeland, only on his deathbed.
King lied because he wanted to and he lied because he had to. To marry his wife in a public way - as the white man known as Clarence King - would have created a scandal and destroyed his career. At a moment when many mixed-race Americans concealed their African heritage to seize the privileges of white America, King falsely presented himself as a black man in order to marry the woman he loved.
Noted historian of the American West Martha Sandweiss is the first writer to uncover the life that King tried so hard to conceal from the public eye. She reveals the complexity of a man who while publicly espousing a personal dream of a uniquely American "race," an amalgam of white and black, hid his love for his wife, Ada, and their five biracial children. Passing Strange tells the dramatic tale of a family built along the fault lines of celebrity, class, and race--from the "Todd's" wedding in 1888, to the 1964 death of Ada King, one of the last surviving Americans born into slavery.
Cabell Library E185.625 .S255 2009
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Once again, David Sedaris brings together a collection of essays so uproariously funny and profoundly moving that his legions of fans will fall for him once more. He tests the limits of love when Hugh lances a boil from his backside, and pushes the boundaries of laziness when, finding the water shut off in his house in Normandy, he looks to the water in a vase of fresh cut flowers to fill the coffee machine. From armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds to the awkwardness of having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a sleeping fellow passenger on a plane, David Sedaris uses life's most bizarre moments to reach new heights in understanding love and fear, family and strangers. Culminating in a brilliantly funny account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection will be avidly anticipated.--From publisher description.
The Jazz Trope takes a look at the African American lifestyle through the lens of jazz, blues, and spirituals. Through the pioneering efforts of Albert Murray, Ralph Ellison, Houston Baker, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ishmael Reed, Amiri Baraka, and other notable scholars who have related jazz, spirituals, and blues to African American life and culture, The Jazz Trope offers an opportunity to add scholarship to the perception of African American identity as a creative attempt to survive a unique history and struggle.
A renowned law professor's intimate chronicle of her family's history as pioneers of social justice, and the price her father paid for their achievements.
The Harlem riot of 1935 not only signaled the end of the Harlem Renaissance; it made black America's cultural capital an icon for the challenges of American modernity. Luring photographers interested in socially conscious, journalistic, and aesthetic representation, post-Renaissance Harlem helped give rise to America's full-blown image culture and its definitive genre, documentary. The images made there in turn became critical to the work of black writers seeking to reinvent literary forms. Harlem Crossroads is the first book to examine their deep, sustained engagements with photographic practices.
At the age of 17, Samuel L. Broadnax--enamored with flying--enlisted and trained as a pilot at the Tuskegee Army Air Base. Although he left the Air Corps at the end of the Second World War, his experiences inspired him to talk with other pilots and black pioneers of aviation. Blue Skies, Black Wings recounts the history of African Americans in the skies from the very beginnings of manned flight.
As the subtitle says, this is the story of “one man’s mission to promote peace….one school at a time” in the mountainous regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Honoring a promise to build a school for a small village in Pakistan, Mortenson has found his lifetime work in planting the seeds of peace through education, and particularly the education of young Muslim girls.
Many writers pursue hobbies, interests, or avocations that are only tangentially related to the printed page. Joyce Carol Oates has a keen interest in boxing. Stephen King's love for and occasional performance of rock n' roll is well known. Salman Rushdie has a passion for acting and has had cameo roles on the big screen. 
In a prolific life of singular literary achievement, Larry McMurtry has succeeded in a variety of genres: in coming-of-age novels like The Last Picture Show; in collections of essays like In a Narrow Grave; and in the reinvention of the Western on a grand scale in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove. Now, in Books: A Memoir, McMurtry writes about his endless passion for books: as a boy growing up in a largely "bookless" world; as a young man devouring the vastness of literature with astonishing energy; as a fledgling writer and family man; and above all, as one of America’s most prominent bookmen. He takes us on his journey to becoming an astute, adventurous book scout and collector who would eventually open stores of rare and collectible editions in Georgetown, Houston, and finally, in his previously "bookless" hometown of Archer City, Texas.
Richmond has seen more than its fair share of history. Although it is probably best known as the site of one of the first English settlements in America and for its role as the Confederate capital in the Civil War, the city's past has much more to offer. Since 1992, Harry Kollatz Jr. has been recording the lesser-known heritage of Virginia's Holy City in his "Flashback" column in Richmond Magazine. From the inauguration of the world's first practical electric trolley system and early civils rights activists, to a psychic horse and a wild ride on a sturgeon, he has covered it all. Compiled for the first time in this volume, this selection of articles is sure to delight all who love Richmond by shedding light on some of the city's lesser-known stories. 
In this volume, Oates writes about everything from her love of teaching, to her internal dialogues about writing, to her health. Regular Oates readers will find much to enjoy here, illuminating her life during the period when she produced such works as Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? and A Bloodsmoor Romance. It will also come as no surprise to many that there is much here about Oates' family background, particularly as it informs her fiction.
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ’n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood is a long title for a book, and an even longer title for a film. Adapted from a book of the same title by Peter Biskind, this documentary combines still photos, film clips, and live interviews with a pantheon of acting notables – Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Cybill Shepard, as well as numerous screenwriters, producers, and directors.
If you haven't heard already, this year VCU chose Kenji Yoshino's Covering: the Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights by Kenji Yoshino for its 
The history of literary criticism is not among the world's most well-known leisure reading subjects, and yet this book is an engrossing study of how tastes in literature change. It's particularly relevant if you spend time thinking about whether what you're reading is good, bad, or indifferent. In 149 pages, Rónán McDonald travels from 
The 1992 death of the wanderer 
Joseph Epstein's conversational little book is a pleasure to read if you've ever enjoyed looking down your nose at anyone, or if you've ever felt the horror of being looked on by those around you. For that matter, it's a pleasurable read if you enjoy thinking about all the weird tics and quirks displayed by people in their unceasing attempts to prove themselves ever so slightly better than their fellows. Epstein's manner is self-deprecating, but all the same, it's a pleasure to watch his own snobbism at work as he dryly skewers the sensibilities of social climbers everywhere. Almost the epitome of light reading, this book is perfect for the beach, or a lazy Sunday afternoon.
American Women Afield: Writings by Pioneering Women Naturalists is a collection of writings by 25 female naturalists from the 19th and early 20th centuries, with short biographies provided by Marcia Myers Bonta. Bonta discovered these writings while doing biographical research for her Women in the Field: America’s Pioneering Women Naturalists, and she decided that people would enjoy the actual writings as well as biographies.
Every day many of us get caught up in our own lives and take for granted the rules and rights that we have to live by. Some of us don’t realize how lucky or unlucky we are to live in a day and age where equality between men and women is far better than it was in the past, but is still not perfect. Women’s Rights, edited by Jennifer Curry, goes into extreme depth and detail outlining the history and outcome of women activists all over the world and the laws that they have helped change. The book does not just talk about the right to vote, but also the right to an education, to drive, to claim rape, to choose when to have a child, etc. It involves not just political rights, but also human rights and rights that control the life and body of a woman. 
It was a tense moment. Sojourner Truth was about to speak at the second Women’s Rights Convention in 1851. Truth had been making many Americans uncomfortable as she spoke publicly of the hypocrisy of democracy when racism and sexism were tearing the country apart. Her book, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave, was published the year before and she had joined an abolitionist speakers bureau. Her supporters secured her a place on the program. As soon as she spoke, ongoing discussions halted. The elegant, privileged white feminist women at the meeting, who thought they could speak authentically for slave women, were quiet. Truth’s life stood in stark contrast to theirs, and she spoke much more persuasively than they could. She called on women who did not want her to speak or join the discussions to face their hypocrisy. She denounced men in the audience for withholding rights from their mothers, sisters, and wives. The question, “Ar’n’t I A Woman” perfectly captured the difference between black and white antebellum women. 
Comics and 
This book was the first full-length narrative written by a slave in America. When it was originally published in 1861 it created a heated controversy. Those for slavery denounced it as fiction, written by and for abolitionists. It was said that a real slave, even one who had been taught to read and write, could never write so well. That the author used a pseudonym for herself and the people she wrote about only added to the argument against the book's authenticity. Controversy aside, the book stands on its own as a narrative of a woman born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina in 1813. To escape she hid for seven years in a small attic over a store room waiting for the right opportunity, which finally came when she was 29. Even then she had to hide in northern cities from her pursuers -- bounty hunters and her former master’s family. 
Richmond, Virginia, by local author Elvatrice Parker Belsches (part of the Black America Series from Arcadia Publishing), is profusely illustrated with historic photographs of people and places associated with the African-American experience. Belsches provides a comprehensive survey of this crucial, and often overlooked, aspect of Richmond history. Ranging from contributions to business, education, entertainment, medicine, politics, and religion, Belsches charts the increasing growth of influence of Richmond's black citizens on the life of the city. Essay-length captions accompany rare photographs, establishing a timeline of pivotal moments that define the importance of these contributions to Richmond. The chapter on the role of blacks in the medical field includes biographies of Dr. Sara G. Jones -- "one of the first African Americans to pass the medical boards in Virginia" in 1893 -- and Dr. John Howlette O.D., D.O.S. -- "a pioneering optometrist in Richmond who practiced for over 50 years within the historic Jackson Ward district." Belsches also emphasizes the role of organizations and societies that served as professional supports for those who sought to improve the life of black Richmonders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although seldom remembered now, the contributions of the individuals Belsches commemorates should never be forgotten. 
In the fifty years since the publication of Peculiar Institution, historians have produced a significant number of works on American slavery -- developing a variety of interesting sub-fields and topic specializations. Yet, this work remains among the best as a departure point for understanding the world of the ante-bellum slave and it should be considered a prerequisite for subsequent readings on the subject.
In his book, The Black Digital Elite, John T. Barber profiles twenty-six African Americans who have made significant contributions to the advancement of technology over the past four decades. From inventors to CEOs, educators to policy-makers, the compilation of perhaps unfamiliar names and faces adds richness to the history of technological innovation. Beyond the biography, each profile includes an insightful discussion about the digital divide, its persistence and how African Americans can create new paradigms for themselves in order to bridge the gap. 
Although the documentation by historians and archivists of Richmond's African American history began in earnest in the 1970s, a complete monographic history of black Richmond has yet to be written. A new work published this year on the city's architectural history comes close. It covers subjects ranging from slavery and the emergence of freed peoples and their leaders to the city's African American churches and once vibrant neighborhoods.
