Five Nonfiction Picks

Senior reference librarian, Rosemary Jerome, chooses five of her favorite nonfiction books that are on the shelves at Half Hollow Hills Library right now.

Jonathan Bloom, American Wasteland:  How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (And What We Can Do About It)  (2010)

Bloom is a freelance journalist and writes the blog "Wasted Food."  From farms, to restaurants, grocery stores and households there is a chain of wasted food.  While food banks are straining to feed the hungry and families are struggling with rising food costs, almost half of the food produced in the United States goes uneaten.  It is an eye-opening expose of the food industry and a call to action on a national scale, as well as in our own homes.

Agatha Hoff, Burning Horses:  A Hungarian Life Turned Upside Down  (2010)

Born in Hungary in 1905, Eva Leopold lived a sheltered and privileged life.  In 1924 the Leopolds moved to Budapest where she met and married Joska Badics.  They shared the belief of many Hungarians that Hitler's regime would never reach them but the anti-Jewish laws began to spread and Eva became a pariah.  Eva and her family had to flee to escape torture and death.  Agatha Hoff recreates her mother's Holocaust narrative.

John A. Nagy, Invisible Ink:  Spycraft of the American Revolution    (2009)

The award-winning author of Rebellion in the Ranks explains the techniques used by spies on both sides of the American Revolution including dictionary codes, hidden compartments and musical notation.  It analyzes some of the major spy rings operating during the war, including the Culper spy ring that operated on Long Island.

Robert K. Wittman, Priceless:  How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures  (2010)

With the assistance of Philadelphia Inquirer investigative reporter John Stiffman, the author recounts  his 20 year career as the FBI's sole art-crime specialist.  He began his career in 1988 and was assigned to the Philadelphia Field Division.  He recovered more than $225 million worth of stolen art and cultural property.  In 2005, he was instrumental in the creation of the FBI's rapid deployment Art Crime Team. This real-life international thriller takes you into the secret world of art theft.

Tim Wu, Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (2010)

A veteran of Silicon Valley and professor at Columbia University, Wu is best know for coining the term "net neutrality."  He examines the evolution of media industries such as film, radio, cable, telephone and information with Apple, AT&T and Google among the major companies discussed.  It is an essential look at the directions that personal computing could be headed depending on which policies and workd views come to dominate control over the Internet.  Author of Who Controls the Internet?