Today in Labor History June 26, 1975: Two FBI agents and one member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) were killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Undercover FBI agents framed AIM activist Leonard Peltier for the two FBI deaths. During the trial, some of the government’s own witnesses testified that Peltier wasn’t even present at the scene of the killings. Nevertheless, a judge him to two consecutive life terms. Peltier is still in prison and his health has been deteriorating. Peltier admitted to participating in the shoot-out in his memoir, “Prison Writings, My Life in the Sundance.” However, he denied killing the FBI agents. He became eligible for parole in 1993. Amnesty International, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama, all campaigned for his clemency. President Obama denied his request for clemency in 2017.
LIFE IS MORE THAN GENDER for Zoë Bossiere, whose tale of a hardscrabble, hard-luck boyhood on the outskirts of Tucson winds through androgyny and young womanhood into a place of self-acceptance as a genderfluid writer and teacher. B PLUS
Water, Wood, and Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town by Hannah Kirshner, 2021
An immersive journey through the culture and cuisine of one Japanese town, its forest, and its watershed—by an American writer and food stylist who spent years working alongside #artisans.
This collection of one girl's real, unflinching diary entries about slowly dying of a terminal illness is an unparalleled exploration of the human spirit and what it means to truly live.
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys From Sudan by Benjamin Ajak & Benson Deng & Alephonsion Deng & Judy A. Bernstein, 2015
The inspiring story of three young Sudanese boys who were driven from their homes by civil war and began an epic odyssey of survival, facing life-threatening perils, ultimately finding their way to a new life in America.
Going Home: A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation by Raja Shehadeh, 2020
In Going Home , Raja Shehadeh, the Orwell Prize–winning author of Palestinian Walks , takes us on a series of journeys around his hometown of #Ramallah. Set in a single day—the day that happens to be the fiftieth anniversary of Israel's occupation of the West Bank—the book is a powerful and moving record and chronicle of the changing face of his city.
Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens by Rajiv Shah, 2023
Rajiv J. Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and former administrator of President Barack Obama's United States Agency for International Development, shares a dynamic new model for creating large scale change, inspired by his own involvements with some of the largest humanitarian projects of our time.
Share in the joyful, adventure-filled shenanigans of a child growing up in a small mud hut in Inner Mongolia in this charming, illustrated memoir for young middle grade readers.
“MEKONG DELTA BLUESMAN” Son Vo tells the story of his life both offstage and on. From an early childhood in Saigon to a hardscrabble life in Maine to discovering his gift for music, Vo relates some wild adventures in a voice full of warmth and hope. B PLUS
A moving, beautifully illustrated true story for children ages 6 to 9 about growing up in Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II—from the iconic Star Trek actor, activist, and author of the New York Times bestselling graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy.
ADRIFT IN A NEARLY DESERTED VENICE in the early months of the 2020 pandemic, a writer contemplates his native Nigeria, his life in Detroit, his love of travel, but most of all his complicated family. Beautifully crafted prose, distinctive story. B PLUS
Everywhere I Look, a beautifully rendered memoir of sisterhood, longing, true crime, and family secrets. A profoundly moving reckoning and love letter.