What I didn’t expect was how brilliantly the new edition of this classic helps readers navigate the choppy social waters of the modern physical and digital world. Written by Post’s descendants, the new book pays homage to those that came before, but is strengthened by the inclusion of modern social pitfalls such as unfriending someone in the social networking realm, and assisting teens with pressures of cyberbullying and sexting trends. Although I haven’t completed all 698 pages of the work, I put it down feeling I’d learned not only which fork I should pick up first, but also how to be a better young professional and woman.

Interested in learning more about the original Emily Post? The library owns an engrossing biography written by Laura Claridge that takes readers through Emily’s handling of her own scandals and rise to stardom as a manners expert.

If you’re interested in opening up a manners discussion with your kids, check out Jennifer LaRue Huget’s Thanks a LOT, Emily Post! This picture book takes a humorous look at Emily Post’s work but includes lots of  situations that will spark a conversation about proper behavior.

For many of us, scanning 698 pages for the right answer or needed inspiration doesn’t fit into the daily schedule. The Emily Post Institute maintains a fabulous and easy to navigate website that features categorized etiquette help and the easy to use Etipedia that allows browsing for the curious and keyword searching for the determined or desperate.

Finally, check out the blog Emily Post’s Etiquette Daily which is moderated by The Emily Post Institute and fields questions from everyday Americans hoping to handle uncomfortable situations with grace.

Posted by Ashley, Extensions Librarian

Stan Sterns' famous photograph of JFK Jr.

Stan Sterns, the photographer that captured the image of JFK Jr. saluting his father’s casket on November 25, 1963, died last week. In an article about Sterns’ passing, the New York Times provided a short account behind the photograph.

There are many memorable photographs from the past. Can you think of some that stick in your memory, lasting forever? Did they evoke a mood within you, such as anger, grief, elation, or something else indescribable? Sterns’ photograph captured a moment in time that many people can still remember to this day, able to describe in indiscriminate detail where they were, what they were doing, and the sights and smells of the moment as the image ingrained in their mind.

As we’re able to go back and relive the moment through our own perception, what about the story behind the picture? What about the people that were living that moment, forever captured on film? What ever happened to them?

Here’s a short list of a few books and DVDs that describe the story behind an iconic image:

Elizabeth and Hazel: two women of Little Rock / David Margolick. “The names Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery may not be well known, but the image of them from September 1957 surely is: a black high school girl, dressed in white, walking stoically in front of Little Rock Central High School, and a white girl standing directly behind her, face twisted in hate, screaming racial epithets. This famous photograph captures the full anguish of desegregation — in Little Rock and throughout the South — and an epic moment in the civil rights movement. In this gripping book, David Margolick tells the remarkable story of two separate lives unexpectedly braided together. He explores how the haunting picture of Elizabeth and Hazel came to be taken, its significance in the wider world, and why, for the next half-century, neither woman has ever escaped from its long shadow.” (Yale University Press, 2011).

Flags of our fathers / James Bradley. “The picture of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima in 1945 may be the most famous photograph of the twentieth century. Its fame was immediate, and immediately hitched to the wagon of publicity. The president summoned home the soldiers pictured to promote the government’s final bond drive of World War II. After some confusion, the men were identified, but only three of the six flag-raisers survived the Battle of Iwo Jima. The survivors became celebrities. Bradley, the son of corpsman John Bradley, probes the nature of heroism–its appearance versus the reality. The reality was what happened on Iwo Jima: an 84 percent casualty rate inflicted on the flag-raisers’ unit, Company E of the Second Battalion of the Twenty-eighth Regiment of the Fifth Division of the U.S. Marine Corps. In the course of his narrative, Bradley reconstructs Easy Company’s war, starting with background material on the men, proceeding to their enlistment in the marines (the navy, in Bradley’s case), training, landing on Iwo Jima, and fighting for Mount Suribachi, capped by the fluke of the photograph.” (Booklist, 2010).

The girl in the picture: The story of Kim Phuc, the photograph, and the Vietnam War / Denise Chong. “The horrors suffered by villagers during the Vietnam War were encapsulated in the unforgettable, Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phuc running naked and screaming in agony from a blast of napalm dropped by a South Vietnamese fighter plane. Chong (The Concubine’s Children) presents the story of Phuc’s miraculous recovery and the memorable life of the war victim always to be remembered as “the girl in the picture.” Phuc’s spent 13 months recovering from third-degree burns that covered 35 percent of her body. She later became a good student, but her dream of becoming a doctor was never realized because of the celebrity status given to her by the victorious Communists. Prime Minister Dong treated Phuc like a granddaughter, allowing her to attend the University of Havana in Cuba, far away from the demands of the Vietnamese government. Phuc realized that Cuba, which had fallen on economic hard times once its economic sponsor, the Soviet Union pulled out, offered no promise of a future. In 1992, she escaped to Canada. An important story vividly retold.” (Library Journal, 2010).

The tank man [dvd]. “On June 5, 1989, one day after Chinese troops expelled thousands of demonstrators from Tienanmen Square, a solitary, unarmed protester stood his ground before a column of tanks advancing down the Avenue of Eternal Peace. Captured by Western photographers, this extraordinary confrontation became an icon of the fight for freedom around the world. Filmmaker Antony Thomas investigates the identity, fate, and significance of the tank man.” (PBS Home Video, 2006). The full-length video is accessible online on the PBS website.

A great day in Harlem [dvd]. “A great day in Harlem tells the story of Art Kane’s famous 1958 group photograph of the jazz greats of the period. Includes home movie footage of that day of the musicians arriving and greeting each other the morning of the shoot. Also includes conversations with musicians and archival performance footage.” (MMV Image Entertainment, 2005).

Read More:

In our catalog, we have plenty of books about the photographers who have documented American life.

Many magazines and newspapers have wonderful photoblogs dedicated to showcasing their photographers capturing world events. My favorites:

• Boston Globe’s Big Picture
• Time Photos
• Time Lightbox
• The Guardian in Pictures
• New York Times Lens: Photography, Video and Visual Journalism
• The BBC: News in Pictures

Posted by Lindy, a second floor librarian.

All rights reserved by gademocrats

Last May was the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Riders.  The Freedom Riders were civil rights activists, most of them college and university students, who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States. American Experience aired a film to tell “the story behind this courageous band who in 1961 creatively challenged segregation.”

You can get up to speed on the Freedom Riders with this Wikipedia article but to get a frightening sense of what these people faced, watch the  PBS film online.

The library owns a copy of the DVD so if watching on your TV works better for you than watching on your computer or device, I urge you to check it out. I am in awe of the courage displayed by these people and I feel inspired by their example.

People overcoming adversity motivates us to overcome our own.  Check out some of the biographies and videos on this website. The Library of Congress celebrates Black History Month with images, slideshows, author interviews, and more.

We have a display of biographies here on the second floor if you want to choose a book for a longer read.  Come visit us and be inspired!

Posted by Amy, a second floor librarian

“In Flanders Fields”
by Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

from “In Flanders Fields and Other Poems” by John McCrae

Thanks Veterans!

Posted by Christopher, a second floor librarian.

East 42nd by Thomas Hawk on flickr

The library will be closed Monday, July 4th in honor of Independence Day. Here are a few electronic tidbits to help celebrate…

A copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in 1776.

Sheet Music for Yankee Doodle from I hear America singing : 55 songs and choruses for community singing from 1917

Stars and Stripes Forever performed by the U.S. Marine Corps Band.

Have a happy and safe holiday!

Posted by Christopher, a second floor librarian

However, I had the pleasure of hearing Jo Anne Trow, Emeritus Vice President of Student Affairs at Oregon State University, give a fabulous book review of Gail Collins’ book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, for Random Reviews here at the library on the following day so that was my celebration.

Now you may be feeling sad to have missed that opportunity but the good news is that you can also ‘attend’ the review in the form of a podcast. You couldn’t do that 100 years ago! The most interesting part of the review to me was Dr. Trow’s description of the uphill battles that African-American women fought within the civil rights movement to have their efforts recognized.

The Library of Congress celebrates Women’s History Month with images, slideshows, author interviews, and more. Here is your chance for a visit to Washington DC without the cross-country travel.

Can’t leave you without a selection of books from our collection. Happy reading!

	Elizabeth Cady Stanton : an American life Lori D. Ginzberg
	A jury of her peers : American women writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx Elaine Showalter
	Poems from the women’s movement Edited by Honor Moore
	We are our mothers’ daughters Cokie Roberts
	When everything changed : the amazing journey of American women, from 1960 to the present Gail Collins

Posted by Amy, a second floor librarian

Photo credit: International Womens Day, 2007, by wiccked on Flickr

Civil rights march on Washington, from the Library of Congress collection online

February is African American History Month, and to celebrate, I thought we’d choose a selection of great books on featuring African American history for nonfiction picks this week.

I also wanted to point out the amazing website that the Library of Congress (along with other national agencies) has put together for African American History Month.

Visit it at: http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/

The site brings together amazing digital collections of documents, music, art, photographs, videos, interviews, and more. It’s really great to see all of this wonderful information made so accessible to everyone. I really encourage you to take a look!

Below is a selection of good nonfiction books about African American history and culture in our collection.

	Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music Amiri Baraka “For almost half a century, Amiri Baraka has ranked among the most important commentators on African American music and culture. In this brilliant assemblage of his writings on music, the first such collection in nearly twenty years, Baraka blends autobiography, history, musical analysis, and political commentary to recall the sounds, people, times, and places he’s encountered…. Baraka offers essays on the famous–Max Roach, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane–and on those whose names are known mainly by jazz aficionados–Alan Shorter, Jon Jang, and Malachi Thompson. Baraka’s literary style, with its deep roots in poetry, makes palpable his love and respect for his jazz musician friends.”
	The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration Isabel Wilkerson “In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.”
	Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine Terry Bryant “Terry’s new recipes have been conceived through the prism of the African Diaspora—cutting, pasting, reworking, and remixing African, Caribbean, African-American, Native American, and European staples, cooking techniques, and distinctive dishes to create something familiar, comforting, and deliciously unique. Reinterpreting popular dishes from African and Caribbean countries as well as his favorite childhood dishes, Terry reinvents African-American and Southern cuisine—capitalizing on the complex flavors of the tradition, without the animal products.”
	A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection Edited by Amalia K. Amaki “The Paul R. Jones collection is one of the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive holdings of African American art in the world. Jones, who was named by Art and Antiques as one of the top one hundred collectors in the United States, began buying paintings, prints, photographs, and sculpture four decades ago and has now amassed over fifteen hundred works, many of them by well-known artists. Among the sixty-six represented are Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Henry Ossawa Tanner, James VanDerZee, Carrie Mae Weems, and Hale Woodruff.”
	The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Generational Journey to Freedom John F. Baker, Jr. “When John F. Baker Jr. was in the seventh grade, he saw a photograph of four former slaves in his social studies textbook. When he learned that two of them were his grandmother’s grandparents, he began the lifelong research project that would become The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation, the fruit of more than thirty years of archival and field research and DNA testing spanning 250 years. A descendant of Wessyngton slaves, Baker has written the most accessible and exciting work of African American history since Roots. He has not only written his own family’s story but included the history of hundreds of slaves and their descendants now numbering in the thousands throughout the United States. More than one hundred rare photographs and portraits of African Americans who were slaves on the plantation bring this compelling American history to life.”

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

Martin Luther King press conference from Library Of Congress

The library will be closed on Monday January 17th in observance of the holiday honoring the late Civil Rights leader, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  This year (the 25th anniversary of the holiday) a website has been setup by the Corporation for National and Community Service highlighting ways people can celebrate the life of Dr. King as a “Day of Service”. On the site you can find volunteer opportunities across the country.

Listen (7.5MB MP3) to a recording of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech given during the Civil Rights rally on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. Read a transcript of the speech.
[audio from archive.org & text from pbs.org]

Posted by Christopher, a second floor librarian

Faces of America

This program shared personal genealogies of prominent people as catalysts to explore the history of the United States.  I found it fascinating and it made me want to jump back into tracing the genealogy of my own family.

If you are interested in exploring your own genealogy we have a great website with links to premier genealogical databases like Ancestry (available in the library only) and HeritageQuest (available at home and at the library).  These databases are available free with your library card.

Christopher’s Genealogy Page

If you prefer to get started with a book, Christopher, another Second Floor Librarian recommends the following titles available at our library:

And if you want to explore more works on genealogy and the lives of individual Americans by  Henry Louis Gates Jr., check out the following titles:

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

Martin Luther King Jr. from the Library of Congress.

Here is audio and a transcript of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech given at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.