Atlanta’s prize-winning author Melissa Fay Greene has written a new book, No Biking in the House without a Helmet, a joyous account of a great, loving, complicated and ever-expanding family — her own! The story behind the book is as simple one: when Melissa and her husband Atlanta attorney Don Samuel found their four kids growing up and leaving the house, they decided to “backfill,” meaning, “whenever one leaves, we’ll get another.” Over eight years, five children have joined the family from orphanages in Bulgaria and Ethopia. Melissa’s account of their laughter and tears will charm and delight you. Greene is the author of The Temple Bombing, Praying for Sheetrock, and There is No Me Without You; One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Africa’s Children.
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Prize-winning novelist Anne Lamott, the author of more than a dozen bestselling books, pays us a visit with a surprising and delightful new nonfiction work, Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son. It is a vibrant, sweet and often funny account of a new and unexpected chapter in her life: becoming a grandmother. Stunned to learn that her son Sam is about to become a father at the age of 19, Lamott kept a journal about the first year of her grandson’s life. It is full of wonderful, moving details that every parent and grandparent will understand and appreciate, as Lamott describes how relationships throughout her family change and evolve. Can a baby change a family forever? You bet—and you won’t want to miss the author’s take on this.
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Maryn McKenna is the prize-winning former science writer for the AJC who won awards for her coverage of the CDC. She returns to the Library with a frightening but true new book, Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA. MRSA is a terrifying pathogen that is evolving faster than the medical community can develop antibiotics to stop it, and it is now beginning to threaten not just hospitals and clinics but individuals young and old, healthy and sick. McKenna is also a former Fellow at the University of Michigan and Harvard Medical School and the author of Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service. She joined us on April 27th, 2010.
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Gordon S. Wood is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and one of America’s most distinguished historians of early America. He joined us on November 9, 2009 to discuss his new book, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815. It’s the latest in the acclaimed “Oxford History of the United States” series that aims to take a definitive look at what we know about the first quarter-century of our nation’s history under the Constitution. Critics are calling it “a triumph of the historian’s art.”
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Wil Haygood is the author of a riveting new biography, Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson, one of the greatest boxers in history. Haygood’s book is “a biography worthy of a great athlete and an important social force,” vividly detailing the often controversial life in and out of the ring of the legendary Sugar Ray, who was born in rural Georgia. His story weaves in some of the major figures in 20th century American history, including Langston Hughes, Miles Davis and Lena Horne. Haygood previously has written acclaimed biographies of Adam Clayton Powell and Sammy Davis, Jr.
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In 2009, Wendell Potter made headlines all over the country when he testified before Congress that many in the health insurance business are corrupt and are dedicated to denying benefits to consumers while spending billions on lobbying to protect their interests. Now Potter, former executive with CIGNA, has written a powerful book about his experience, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans. It’s a “must” program that explains how health insurers have consistently put profits ahead of patient care. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia says Potter’s book and the story of his conversion from a health care executive to outspoken advocate of reform “is essential reading for anyone trying to understand how the system really works.” We urge you to join us for this program and discussion.
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New York Times’ bestselling author of How the Irish Saved Civilization and Mysteries of the Middle Ages, discusses his powerful new book, A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green. It’s a deeply moving and true narrative about a man transformed as he faced an unjust execution. Archbishop Desmond Tutu says of the book, “Dominique Green was a wonderful man whose life demonstrated the power of God to heal and transfigure even the most unlikely people and places. Who could have expected that Texas Death Row would be made into an avenue of divine grace?—which is exactly what happened through Dominique’s instrumentation. Though this is a book that ends in death, it does not end in despair. Read it and discover how even the obscenity of capital punishment can be transformed into an occasion of light and peace.”
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Bonus Q&A Session with Thomas Cahill:
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Robyn O’Brien, a national expert on children’s health and food allergies, will discuss her important new book, The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food is Making Us Sick — and What We Can Do About It. The book describes her transformation into a one-woman crusader seeking to identify food allergies that affect children and her discovery of shocking truths about toxicity in American food systems. Parents won’t want to miss this program. O’Brien is the founder of AllergyKids, an organization devoted to raising awareness about food toxins. She has been featured in The New York Times and on CNN.
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Dara Torres, the Olympic gold medal swimmer, will be our special guest for a very special evening talking about her new book, Age is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage of Your Life. It’s a motivational, inspirational memoir by the amazing 41-year-old mother who won America’s hearts when she made a successful Olympic comeback in the 2008 Beijing Games. Dara Torres visited the Decatur Library on April 29, 2009.
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