Unbowed by Wangari Maathai
From her life as a Kikuyu child in Africa, to a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Matthai tells in a very personal and easy conversational account of her growth into a tenacious activist in ecology and human rights. Raised in rural Kenya, she never lost her deep connection with the land . As she saw the destruction of her environment around her, she started the Greenbelt Movement to plant trees to reclaim the land as a campaign for and with rural women. An amazing, inspirational fighter for the environment and human rights, it demonstrates how one person can really make a difference in the world.
This book also weaves in some of the history of Kenya and Kenyan culture from the 1940’s to the present, which is important in understanding Maathai's work and her impact
A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner of Island Books, has recently endured some tough years: his wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and his prized possession--a rare edition of Poe poems--has been stolen. Over time, he has given up on people, and even the books in his store, instead of offering solace, are yet another reminder of a world that is changing too rapidly—until a most unexpected occurrence gives him the chance to make his life over and see things anew. 
The book is an amazing masterpiece written by a first-time 26-year-old author, Yaa Gyasi. The novel begins with two half-sisters born in 18th-century Ghana who will never meet. Effia marries a white British man and Esi is enslaved and taken to America. The book follows the children of these two women through the generations, alternating between Africa and America. The chapters are a series of interrelated stories that play out the legacy of slavery on the successive generations. Through this heartbreaking journey, I learned so much about the slave trade within Africa changing my perspective on this horrific time period in our history. The haunting, beautifully depicted characters are etched firmly in my mind. This is a novel with truly staying power for the reader.
The true tale of a special force of British & Americans during World War II who sought to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. This rag-tag group of museum directors, curators, art historians and others raced against time (and behind enemy lines) to recover and save the world’s great art work from the Nazis. Adolf Hitler who directed the plunder, was planning on exhibiting his "trophies" for a `Fuhrer Museum' in his home town of Linz. The inspirational story of these brave men and women is beautifully illustrated through many, many incredibly powerful photographs depicting the theft, storage and recovery of thousands of masterpieces of European art.
