With Election Day just around the corner, check out these books to stay informed of current issues. By the way, did you know that we serve as an early voting site? To find more information on voting at the library, please read our recent blog post.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children? [This book] is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a war tactic, and the world feels more polarized than ever. Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves to survive.
No one is too small to make a difference by Greta Thunberg
In August 2018, a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day. Her actions ended up sparking a global movement for action against the climate crisis, inspiring millions of pupils to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen and earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
This book brings you Greta in her own words for the first time. Collecting her speeches that have made history across Europe, from the UN to mass street protests, No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference is a rallying cry for why we must all wake up and fight to protect the living planet, no matter how powerless we feel. Our future depends upon it.
Separated: Inside an American Tragedy by Jacob Soboroff
A deeply reported, news-breaking account of the humanitarian crisis of our time by the journalist who has been at the center of the story: MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff, winner of the 2019 Walter Cronkite Award, offers a chilling expose of the human cost of the Trump administration’s border and immigration policies.
On Tyranny: twenty lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism or communism. Our advantage is that we might learn from their experience.
Caste: the origins of our discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not. Wilkerson examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of social divisions.