The Abolishment of Slavery in the USA

 On this day in 1865 the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed by the House the Representatives.  Here are ten books on the end of slavery in the United States.

The American Crucible: Slavery, Emancipation, and Human Rights by Robin Blackburn - A history of the rise and abolition of slavery in the Americas covers such topics as the plantation revolution of the seventeenth century, the emergence of anti-slavery thought, and the contributions of such figures as Thomas Paine and Frederick Douglass.

Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader and a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery and Save the Union by Paul Kendrick - Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln had only three meetings, but their exchanges profoundly influenced the course of slavery and the outcome of the Civil War.
Although Abraham Lincoln deeply opposed the institution of slavery, he saw the Civil War at its onset as being primarily about preserving the Union. Frederick Douglass, himself a former slave, by contrast saw the War's mission to be the total and permanent abolition of slavery. And yet, these giants of the nineteenth century, despite their different outlooks, found common ground, in large part through their three historic meetings.
Lincoln first invited Douglass to the White House in August 1862. Well-known for his speeches and his internationally read abolitionist newspaper, Douglass laid out for the president his concerns about how the Union army was discriminating against black soldiers. Douglass, often critical of the president in his speeches and articles, was impressed by Lincoln's response. The following summer when the war was going poorly, the president summoned Douglass to the White House. Fearing that he might not be reelected, Lincoln showed Douglass a letter he had prepared stating his openness to negotiating a settlement to end the Civil War--and leave slavery intact in the South. Douglass strongly advised Lincoln against making the letter public. Lincoln never did; Atlanta fell and he was reelected. Their final meeting was at the White House reception following Lincoln's second inaugural address, where Lincoln told Douglass there was no man in the country whose opinion he valued more and Douglass called the president's inaugural address "sacred."

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner - In a landmark work of deep scholarship and insight, Foner gives us a life of Lincoln as it intertwined with slavery, the defining issue of the time and the tragic hallmark of American history. The author demonstrates how Lincoln navigated a dynamic political landscape deftly, moving in measured steps, often on a path forged by abolitionists and radicals in his party, and that Lincoln's greatness lay in his capacity for moral and political growth.

Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 by James Oakes - Freedom National is a groundbreaking history of emancipation that joins the political initiatives of Lincoln and the Republicans in Congress with the courageous actions of Union soldiers and runaway slaves in the South. It shatters the widespread conviction that the Civil War was first and foremost a war to restore the Union and only gradually, when it became a military necessity, a war to end slavery. These two aims--"Liberty and Union, one and inseparable"--were intertwined in Republican policy from the very start of the war.
By summer 1861 the federal government invoked military authority to begin freeing slaves, immediately and without slaveholder compensation, as they fled to Union lines in the disloyal South. In the loyal Border States the Republicans tried coaxing officials into gradual abolition with promises of compensation and the colonization abroad of freed blacks. James Oakes shows that Lincoln's landmark 1863 proclamation marked neither the beginning nor the end of emancipation: it triggered a more aggressive phase of military emancipation, sending Union soldiers onto plantations to entice slaves away and enlist the men in the army. But slavery proved deeply entrenched, with slaveholders determined to re-enslave freedmen left behind the shifting Union lines. Lincoln feared that the war could end in Union victory with slavery still intact. The Thirteenth Amendment that so succinctly abolished slavery was no formality: it was the final act in a saga of immense war, social upheaval, and determined political leadership.
Fresh and compelling, this magisterial history offers a new understanding of the death of slavery and the rebirth of a nation.

Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession, and the President's War Powers by James Simon - The clashes between President Abraham Lincoln and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney over slavery, secession, and the president's constitutional war powers went to the heart of Lincoln's presidency.  Lincoln and Taney's bitter disagreements began with Taney's Dred Scott opinion in 1857, when the chief justice declared that the Constitution did not grant the black man any rights that the white man was bound to honor. In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln attacked the opinion as a warped judicial interpretation of the Framers' intent and accused Taney of being a member of a pro-slavery national conspiracy. In his first inaugural address, President Lincoln insisted that the South had no legal right to secede. Taney, who administered the oath of office to Lincoln, believed that the South's secession was legal and in the best interests of both sections of the country. Once the Civil War began, Lincoln broadly interpreted his constitutional powers as commander in chief to prosecute the war, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, censoring the mails, and authorizing military courts to try civilians for treason. Taney opposed every presidential wartime initiative and openly challenged Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. He accused the president of assuming dictatorial powers in violation of the Constitution. Lincoln ignored Taney's protest, convinced that his actions were both constitutional and necessary to preserve the Union. Almost 150 years after Lincoln's and Taney's deaths, their words and actions reverberate in constitutional debate and political battle.Lincoln and Chief Justice Taneytells their dramatic story in fascinating detail.

Lincoln and the Border States: Preserving the Union by William Harris - Adopting a new approach to an American icon, an award-winning scholar reexamines the life of Abraham Lincoln to demonstrate how his remarkable political acumen and leadership skills evolved during the intense partisan conflict in pre-Civil War Illinois. By describing Lincoln's rise from obscurity to the presidency, William Harris shows that Lincoln's road to political success was far from easy--and that his reaction to events wasn't always wise or his racial attitudes free of prejudice.
Interweaving aspects of Lincoln's life and character that were an integral part of his rise to prominence, Harris provides in-depth coverage of Lincoln's controversial term in Congress, his re-emergence as the leader of the antislavery coalition in Illinois, and his Senate campaign against Stephen A.Douglas. He particularly describes how Lincoln organized the antislavery coalition into the Republican Party while retaining the support of its diverse elements, and sheds new light on Lincoln's ongoing efforts to bring Know Nothing nativists into the coalition without alienating ethnic groups. He also provides new information and analysis regarding Lincoln's nomination and election to the presidency, the selection of his cabinet, and his important role as president-elect during the secession crisis of 1860-1861.
Challenging prevailing views, Harris portrays Lincoln as increasingly driven not so much by his own ambitions as by his antislavery sentiments and his fear for the republic in the hands of Douglas Democrats, and he shows how the unique political skills Lincoln developed in Illinois shaped his wartime leadership abilities. By doing so, he opens a window on his political ideas and influences and offers a fresh understanding of this complex figure.

 Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery: The Other Thirteenth Amendment and the Struggle to Save the Union by Daniel Crofts - In this landmark book, Daniel Crofts examines a little-known episode in the most celebrated aspect of Abraham Lincoln's life: his role as the 'Great Emancipator.' Lincoln always hated slavery, but he also believed it to be legal where it already existed, and he never imagined fighting a war to end it. In 1861, as part of a last-ditch effort to preserve the Union and prevent war, the new president even offered to accept a constitutional amendment that barred Congress from interfering with slavery in the slave states. Lincoln made this key overture in his first inaugural address. Crofts unearths the hidden history and political maneuvering behind the stillborn attempt to enact this amendment, the polar opposite of the actual Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 that ended slavery. This compelling book sheds light on an overlooked element of Lincoln's statecraft and presents a relentlessly honest portrayal of America's most admired president. Crofts rejects the view advanced by some Lincoln scholars that the wartime momentum toward emancipation originated well before the first shots were fired. Lincoln did indeed become the 'Great Emancipator,' but he had no such intention when he first took office. Only amid the crucible of combat did the war to save the Union become a war for freedom.

  by Louis Masur - Lincoln's Hundred Days is the first book to tell the full story of the critical period between September 22, 1862, when Lincoln issued his preliminary Proclamation, and January 1, 1863, when he signed the final, significantly altered, decree. In those tumultuous hundred days, as battlefield deaths mounted, debate raged. Masur commands vast primary sources to portray the daily struggles and enormous consequences of the president's efforts as Lincoln led a nation through war and toward emancipation. With his deadline looming, Lincoln hesitated and calculated, frustrating friends and foes alike, as he reckoned with the anxieties and expectations of millions. We hear these concerns, from poets, cabinet members and foreign officials, from enlisted men on the front and free blacks as well as slaves.

Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union
Masur presents a fresh portrait of Lincoln as a complex figure who worried about, listened to, debated, prayed for, and even joked with his country, and then followed his conviction in directing America toward a terrifying and thrilling unknown.

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation by David Brion Davis - From the revered historian--winner of nearly every award given in his field--the long-awaited conclusion of his magisterial three-volume history of slavery in Western culture that has been more than fifty years in the making. David Brion Davis is one of the foremost historians of our time, and in this final volume in his monumental trilogy on slavery in Western culture he offers highly original, authoritative, and penetrating insight into what slavery and emancipation meant to Americans. He explores how the Haitian revolution terrified and inspired white and black Americans respectively, and offers a commanding analysis of the complex and misunderstood significance of "colonization"--the project to move freed slaves back to Africa--to members of both races and all political persuasions. Davis vividly portrays the dehumanizing impact of slavery, as well as the generally unrecognized importance of freed slaves to abolition. And he explores the influence of religion on American ideas about emancipation. Above all, he captures the ways in which America wrestled with the knotty problem of moving forward into an age of emancipation. This is a landmark work: a brilliant conclusion to one of the great works of American history.

The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America by Edward Ayers - Virginia's Great Valley, prosperous in peace with a rich soil and an enslaved workforce, invited destruction in war. Voracious Union and Confederate armies ground up the valley, consuming crops, livestock, fences, and human life. Pitched battles at Gettysburg, Lynchburg, and Cedar Creek punctuated a cycle of vicious attacks and reprisals in which armies burned whole towns for retribution.  North of the Mason-Dixon line, in the Pennsylvania portion of the valley, free black families sent husbands and sons to fight with the U.S. Colored Troops. In letters home, even as Lincoln commemorated the dead at Gettysburg, they spoke movingly of a war for emancipation. As defeat and the end of slavery descended on Virginia, with the political drama of Reconstruction unfolding in Washington, the crowded classrooms of the Freedmen's Bureau schools spoke of a new society struggling to emerge. Here is history at its best: powerful, insightful, grounded in human detail.

Fiction Set in India

On this day in history: January 30th, 1948 - Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian activist and the leader of the Indian Independence Movement against British rule.  He was well known for his methods of nonviolent civil disobedience.  Here are ten novels set in various historical periods in India.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - A worthy successor to Mistry's award-winning Such a Long Journey, this wonderful, baggy, Dickensian narrative follows the fortunes of an independent widow, a college student, and two impoverished tailors who share a crowded apartment. The novel includes a large cast of memorable characters, whose stories range from brutal caste struggles in small villages to homelessness in flimsy shacks surrounding the sprawling city teeming with pavement dwellers, beggars, rent collectors, con men, and corrupt police.

The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott - No set of novels so richly recreates the last days of India under British rule-"two nations locked in an imperial embrace"-as Paul Scott's historical tour de force, The Raj Quartet. The Jewel in the Crown opens in 1942 as the British fear both Japanese invasion and Indian demands for independence. On the night after the Indian Congress Party votes to support Ghandi, riots break out and an ambitious police sargeant arrests a young Indian for the alleged rape of the woman they both love.

The Linnet Bird by Linda Holeman - India, 1839: Linny Ingram, the respectable young wife of a British colonial officer, settles down to write her life story. In the claustrophobic, mannered world of British India, Linny seems the perfect society wife: pretty, gracious, subservient. But appearances can be deceptive. Linny Ingram was born Linny Gow, an orphan raised in the cold, gray slums of Liverpool. Sold into prostitution by her stepfather when she was only eleven, Linny is a born survivor and an accomplished chameleon and manipulator. Through a stroke of luck and considerable scheming, she manages to re-create herself as a proper Victorian young lady, middle-class and seemingly respectable. By befriending a merchant’s daughter, Linny secures a place with her new companion on a ship bound for India, where they will join “the fishing fleet”—young women of good birth but no fortune who sail to India in search of a husband. India, with its exotic colors, sights, and smells, is a world away from the cold back alleys of Linny’s childhood. But even there, she is haunted by her past, and by the constant threat of discovery. To secure her place in society, she marries Somers Ingram, a wealthy British officer with secrets of his own. Soon Linny discovers that respectability and marriage bring a new kind of imprisonment, as well as the same menace and violence that she thought she had escaped.

Mirages of the Mind by Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi - Basharat and his family are Indian Muslims who have relocated to Pakistan, but who remain deeply steeped in the nostalgia of pre-Partition life in India. Through Mirages of the Mind's absurd anecdotes and unforgettable biographical sketches - which hide the deeper unease and sorrow of the family's journey from Kanpur to Karachi - Basharet emerges as a wise fool, and the host of this unique sketch comedy. From humorous scenes in colonial north India, to the heartbreak and homesickness of post-colonial life in Pakistan, Mirages of the Mind forms an authentic portrait of life among South Asia's Urdu speakers, rendered beautifully into English by Matt Reeck and Aftab Ahmad.

Monsoon Summer by Julia Gregson - Oxfordshire, 1947. Kit Smallwood, hiding a painful secret and exhausted from nursing soldiers during the Second World War, escapes to Wickam Farm where her friend is setting up a charity sending midwives to the Moonstone Home in South India.
Then Kit meets Anto, an Indian doctor finishing his medical training at Oxford. But Kit's light-skinned mother is in fact Anglo-Indian with secrets of her own, and Anto is everything she does not want for her daughter.
Despite the threat of estrangement, Kit is excited for the future, hungry for adventure, and deeply in love. She and Anto secretly marry and set off for South India--where Kit plans to run the maternity hospital she's helped from afar.
But Kit's life in India does not turn out as she imagined. Anto's large, traditional family wanted him to marry an Indian bride and find it hard to accept Kit. As their relationship begins to fray, Kit's job becomes fraught with tension as they both face a newly independent India, where riots have left millions dead and there is deep-rooted suspicion of the English. In a rapidly changing world, Kit's naiveté is to land her in a frightening and dangerous situation...

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of an amazing woman.
Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale.
The novel traces the princess Panchaali's life, beginning with her birth in fire and following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible civil war involving all the important kings of India. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her strategic duels with her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands' most dangerous enemy. Panchaali is a fiery female redefining for us a world of warriors, gods, and the ever-manipulating hands of fate.

Partitions by Amit Majmudar - As India is rent into two nations, communal violence breaks out on both sides of the new border and streaming hordes of refugees flee from blood and chaos. At an overrun train station, Shankar and Keshav, twin Hindu boys, lose sight of their mother and join the human mass to go in search of her. A young Sikh girl, Simran Kaur, has run away from her father, who would rather poison his daughter than see her defiled. And Ibrahim Masud, an elderly Muslim doctor driven from the town of his birth, limps toward the new Muslim state of Pakistan, rediscovering on the way his role as a healer. As the displaced face a variety of horrors, this unlikely quartet comes together, defying every rule of self-preservation to forge a future of hope.

Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran - When the British Empire sets its sights on India in the mid-nineteenth century, it expects a quick and easy conquest ... But when they arrive in the Kingdom of Jhansi, the British army is met with a surprising challenge. Instead of surrendering, Queen Lakshmi raises two armies--one male and one female--and rides into battle, determined to protect her country and her people. Although her soldiers may not appear at first to be formidable against superior British weaponry and training, Lakshmi refuses to back down from the empire determined to take away the land she loves.

Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins - When her father loses his job and leaves India to look for work in America, Asha Gupta, her older sister, Reet, and their mother must wait with Baba’s brother and his family, as well as their grandmother, in Calcutta. Uncle is welcoming, but in a country steeped in tradition, the three women must abide by his decisions. Asha knows this is temporary—just until Baba sends for them. But with scant savings and time passing, the tension builds: Ma, prone to spells of sadness, finds it hard to submit to her mother- and sister-in-law; Reet’s beauty attracts unwanted marriage proposals; and Asha's promise to take care of Ma and Reet leads to impulsive behavior. What follows is a firestorm of rebuke—and secrets revealed! Asha’s only solace is her rooftop hideaway, where she pours her heart out in her diary, and where she begins a clandestine friendship with Jay Sen, the boy next door. Asha can hardly believe that she, and not Reet, is the object of Jay’s attention. Then news arrives about Baba . . . and Asha must make a choice that will change their lives forever.

An Unrestored Woman by Shobha Rao - 1947: the Indian subcontinent is partitioned into two separate countries, India and Pakistan. And with one decree, countless lives are changed forever.
An Unrestored Woman explores the fault lines in this mass displacement of humanity: a new mother is trapped on the wrong side of the border; a soldier finds the love of his life but is powerless to act on it; an ambitious servant seduces both master and mistress; a young prostitute quietly, inexorably plots revenge on the madam who holds her hostage. Caught in a world of shifting borders, Rao's characters have reached their tipping points.
In paired stories that hail from India and Pakistan to the United States, Italy, and England, we witness the ramifications of the violent uprooting of families, the price they pay over generations, and the uncanny relevance these stories have in our world today. 

Ten Books on Tidying Up

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo has really blown up in popularity in just the few weeks it's been out.  Her method seems to be helping a lot of people, but here are 10 more books on tidying up, minimalism, and clutter.  (Including one more by Marie Kondo!)

Clutter Free: Quick and Easy Steps to Simplifying Your Space by Kathi Lipp - If you've ever wished you could clear out your clutter, simplify your space, and take back your life, Kathi Lipp's new book has just the solutions you need. Building off the success of her The Get Yourself Organized Project, this book will provide even more ideas for getting your life and your stuff under control.
Do any of these descriptions apply to you?
You bought a box of cereal at the store, and then discovered you have several boxes at home that are already past the "best by" date.
You bought a book and put it on your nightstand (right on top of ten others you've bought recently), but you have yet to open it.
You keep hundreds of DVDs around even though you watch everything online now and aren't really sure where the remote for the DVD player is.
You spend valuable time moving your piles around the house, but you can never find that piece of paper when you need it.
Your house doesn't make you happy when you step into it.
As you try out the many easy, doable solutions that helped Kathi win her battle with clutter, you'll begin to understand why you hold on to the things you do, eliminate what's crowding out real life, and make room for the life of true abundance God wants for you.

The Complete Book of Home Organization by Toni Hammersley - Have you ever wished you had the time and tools to organize your house in a clutter-free, design-conscious, Pinterest-worthy way? From storage solutions and cleaning tips to secret space-saving methods and expert strategies, The Complete Book of Home Organization is packed with the tips and shortcuts you need to effectively organize your home.
From small spaces and apartment solutions to how to tackle a big, messy home with a 15-week total home organization challenge, this book covers it all. The Complete Book of Home Organization  spells out everything you need to de-clutter your house, store your belongings, and keep your home--and life--in tip-top shape. With high-quality design, intricate detail, and a durable flexicover--this manual is the perfect gift!
Organize the 30 main spaces of your home, including the living and dining spaces, bedrooms and bathrooms, guest areas, baby and kids' rooms, utility spaces and garages, entryways and offices, patios and decks, closets and pet areas! Keep track of your pantry, holiday and craft supplies, weekly menu planning, keepsakes, and schedules. From the basement to the attic, this book covers every nook and cranny.
With step-by-step instructions, detailed illustrations, and handy checklists, say goodbye to a messy home and wasted storage space!

Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki - Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo--he's just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others, until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didn't absolutely need. The effects were remarkable: Sasaki gained true freedom, new focus, and a real sense of gratitude for everything around him. In Goodbye, Things Sasaki modestly shares his personal minimalist experience, offering specific tips on the minimizing process and revealing how the new minimalist movement can not only transform your space but truly enrich your life. The benefits of a minimalist life can be realized by anyone, and Sasaki's humble vision of true happiness will open your eyes to minimalism's potential.

How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing With Your House's Dirty Little Secrets by Dana White - Bring your home out of the mess it's in and learn how to keep it under control.
"The dirty little secret about most organizing advice is that it's written by organized people," says blogger, speaker, and decluttering expert Dana K. White. "But that's not how my brain works. I'm lost on page three." Dana blogs at A Slob Comes Clean, chronicling her successes and failures with her self-described "deslobification process." In the beginning she used the name "Nony" (short for aNONYmous), because she was sharing her deep, dark, slob secret. Now she has truly come clean--with not only her real name but the strategies she has developed, tested, and proved in her own home. She has learned what it takes to bring a home out of Disaster Status, which habits make the biggest and most lasting impact, and how to keep clutter under control.
In How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind, Dana explains that cleaning your house is not a onetime project but a series of ongoing premade decisions. Her reality-based cleaning and organizing techniques debunk the biggest housekeeping fantasies and help readers learn what really works. With a huge helping of empathy and humor, Dana provides a step-by-step process with strategies for getting rid of enormous amounts of stuff in as little time (and with as little emotional drama) as possible.

The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Guide to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify by Francine Jay - Francine Jay pioneered the simple living movement with her self-published bestseller, The Joy of Less. In this fully redesigned and repackaged edition - featuring never-before-seen content - Jay brings her philosophy to more readers who are eager to declutter. Rather than the "crash diet" approach found in other tidying up books, Jay shares simple steps to cultivate a minimalist mindset and form new habits, paving the way to lasting success. Her easy-to-follow streamline method works in any space - from a single drawer to a closet, room, or entire house. What's more, it can be called upon during clutter-inducing life events such as moving, getting married, having kids, or downsizing. With an airy two-color interior design and lovely hardcover package, The Joy of Less is a refreshing and relatable approach to decluttering that belongs in every home.

Organized Enough: The Anti-Perfectionist's Guide to Getting-and Staying-Organized by Amanda Sullivan - If you're looking to clean up but not clean out, if you want to declutter but don't want to throw out eighty percent of your stuff, if you want to be able to find matching socks in the morning but don't want a color-coded sock drawer, you've come to the right place. Organized Enough offers a groundbreaking, science-driven method for getting--and staying--organized. Amanda Sullivan's proven approach will teach you the lifelong habits of the organized, showing you how to make cleaning up effortless and automatic. With seven concepts to help you define your goals and seven essential habits to keep chaos and clutter at bay, Organized Enough will teach you to reframe how you think about your space, your stuff, and your life. You'll learn how to:
Sort the "stuff" from the sentimental
Become a paper-filing ninja
Cultivate consistency, not chaos
Set up systems that can run on autopilot
Let go of guilt and start enjoying your home
...and more

Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More by Erin Boyle - For anyone looking to declutter, organize, and simplify, author Erin Boyle shares practical guidance and personal insights on small-space living and conscious consumption. At once pragmatic and philosophical, Simple Matters is a nod to the growing consensus that living simply and purposefully is more sustainable not only for the environment, but for our own happiness and well-being, too. Boyle embraces the notion that "living small" is beneficial and accessible to us all - whether we're renting a tiny apartment or purchasing a three-story house. Filled with personal essays, projects, and helpful advice on how to be inventive and resourceful in a tight space, Simple Matters shows that living simply is about making do with less and ending up with more: more free time, more time with loved ones, more savings, and more things of beauty.

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo - Japanese decluttering guru Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up  has revolutionized homes--and lives--across the world. Now, Kondo presents an illustrated guide to her acclaimed KonMari Method, with step-by-step folding illustrations for everything from shirts to socks, plus drawings of perfectly organized drawers and closets. She also provides advice on frequently asked questions, such as whether to keep "necessary" items that may not bring you joy. With guidance on specific categories including kitchen tools, cleaning supplies, hobby goods, and digital photos, this comprehensive companion is sure to spark joy in anyone who wants to simplify their life.

Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess by Rachel Hoffman - Finally, a housekeeping and organizational system developed for those of us who'd describe our current living situation as a "f*cking mess" that we're desperate to fix. Unf*ck Your Habitat is for anyone who has been left behind by traditional aspirational systems. The ones that ignore single people with full-time jobs; people without kids but living with roommates; and people with mental illnesses or physical limitations. Most organizational books are aimed at traditional homemakers, DIYers, and people who seem to have unimaginable amounts of free time. They assume we all iron our sheets, have linen napkins to match our table runners, and can keep plants alive for longer than a week. Basically, they ignore most of us living here in the real world!
Interspersed with lists and challenges, this practical, no-nonsense advice relies on a 20/10 system (20 minutes of cleaning followed by a 10-minute break; no marathon cleaning allowed) to help you develop lifelong habits. It motivates you to embrace a new lifestyle in manageable sections so you can actually start applying the tactics as you progress. For everyone stuck between The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Adulting, this philosophy is more realistic than aspirational, but the goal is the same: not everyone will have a showcase of a home, but whatever your habitat, you deserve for it to bring you happiness, not stress.

What Your Clutter is Trying to Tell You: Uncover the Message in the Mess and Reclaim Your Life by Kerri Richardson - With a practical, warm and welcoming approach, lifestyle designer and coach Kerri Richardson guides you to accept your clutter as a natural manifestation of your mind, body, and spirit looking out for yourself. It is your soul calling out for you to invest in self-care and to face the fears holding you back from being your best self.
Richardson dives into the most common categories of physical clutter and provides efficient and effective steps for clearing the space for your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being to flourish. But more than house and home, Richardson encourages you to clear out the clutter of relationships and habits that have been occupying your time and energy for too long.

Teen Football Fiction

The Super Bowl is only a few days away!  Let's get in the mood with 10 YA books that feature American Football.

Call Me By My Name by John Ed Bradley - From former football star and bestselling author John Ed Bradley comes a searing look at love, life, and football in the face of racial adversity. "Heartbreaking," says Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak.
Growing up in Louisiana in the late 1960s, Tater Henry has experienced a lot of prejudice. His town is slow to desegregate and slower still to leave behind deep-seated prejudice.
Despite the town's sensibilities, Rodney Boulett and his twin sister Angie befriend Tater, and as their friendship grows stronger, Tater and Rodney become an unstoppable force on the football field. That is, until Rodney sees Tater and Angie growing closer, too, and Rodney's world is turned upside down. Teammates, best friends--Rodney's world is threatened by a hate he did not know was inside of him.
As the town learns to accept notions like a black quarterback, some changes may be too difficult to accept.

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally - What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though-she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.
But everything she's ever worked for is threatened when Ty Green moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he's also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan's feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart's on the line?

The Extra Yard by Mike Lupica - Teddy, a young football player, learns that sometimes bridging the distance in your family can be harder than stretching for an extra yard on the field in the second book of the Home Team series from New York Times bestselling author and sportswriting legend Mike Lupica.
Last spring Teddy's life changed for the better. He started working out, shaping up, and even earned a spot on the Walton baseball team, and with the team he went all the way to the Little League World Series. But the best things to come out of that season were his friendships with Jack, Cassie, and Gus, and the confidence to finally try out for the sport he really loves--football. So when eighth grade begins, Teddy couldn't be more psyched.
Until his mom drops a bomb: his father--who left them a long time ago--is back in Walton and back in their lives. And Teddy isn't happy about it. As a former star football player at the school, Teddy's dad is thrilled to find out his son is going out for the team, but Teddy begins to wonder if his father only cares about him now because he's putting on the helmet. Can Teddy find a way to go the extra yard for the team and for himself, or is the distance between him and his father too much to overcome?

Gutless by Carl Deuker - With both good speed and good hands, wide receiver Brock Ripley should be a natural for the varsity team, but he shies away from physical contact. When he gets cut from varsity, he also loses his friendship with star quarterback Hunter Gates who begins lashing out at not only Brock, but also Brock's friend, the quiet and smart Richie Fang. Brock wants to stand up for Fang, but he is younger, smaller, and doesn't want to cause problems. But when the bullying goes too far, will Brock be able to face his fears, stop being a bystander, and prove to himself that he is brave enough?

Leverage by Joshua Cohen - The football field is a battlefield
There's an extraordinary price for victory at Oregrove High. It is paid on-and off-the football field. And it claims its victims without mercy-including the most innocent bystanders.
When a violent, steroid-infused, ever-escalating prank war has devastating consequences, an unlikely friendship between a talented but emotionally damaged fullback and a promising gymnast might hold the key to a school's salvation.
Told in alternating voices and with unapologetic truth, Leverage illuminates the fierce loyalty, flawed justice, and hard-won optimism of two young athletes.

Pop by Gordon Korman - When Marcus moves to a new town in the dead of summer, he doesn't know a soul. While practicing football for impending tryouts, he strikes up a friendship with a man named Charlie, the best football player Marcus has ever seen. He can't believe his good luck when he finds out that Charlie is Charlie Popovich, or "the King of Pop," as he'd been nicknamed during his career as an NFL linebacker.
Charlie turns out to be a prankster, and his actions get Marcus in trouble. He's also the father of the quarterback at Marcus's new school--who leads the team in icing out the new kid.
The story of a good kid's struggle to land on his feet in a new town after his parents split up combines with compelling sports action and even some romance in Gordon Korman's Pop.

Stick by Michael Harmon - 'Stick' is the best wide receiver in the history of his high school. He puts on his football costume every week to make his teammates, his dad-- everyone but himself-- happy, but he's fallen out of love with the sport and feels that he's lost control of his future. Preston is an outcast, and his pipsqueak stature and nerdy social status couldn't be further from a star athlete's. He puts on his homemade superhero costume every night to help others, and regain control of the flawed world he sees around him. A twist of fate brings this unlikely pair together: each can see the other better than he can see himself, and in these unexpected reflections lies a chance for mutual redemption.

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach - I AM NOT STUPID FUNNY.  I AM STUPID FAST.
My name is Felton Reinstein, which is not a fast name. But last November, my voice finally dropped and I grew all this hair and then I got stupid fast. Fast like a donkey. Zing!
Now they want me, the guy they used to call Squirrel Nut, to try out for the football team. With the jocks. But will that fix my mom? Make my brother stop dressing like a pirate? Most important, will it get me girls-especially Aleah?
So I train. And I run. And I sneak off to Aleah's house in the night. But deep down I know I can't run forever. And I wonder what will happen when I finally have to stop.

Top Prospect by Paul Volponi - Travis Gardner lives to play quarterback. He's a standout QB by the middle school, and he's prepared to put everything he has into the game. Then Gainesville University's head coach makes Travis a promise: Travis will have a place on the team, and a scholarship to go with it. He just has to get through high school first.
As Travis starts ninth grade, he'll have to earn his teammates' trust and dodge opponents aiming to sack the star quarterback. But his biggest challenge might be staying focused in the face of sudden fame. Because now the pressure is on, and Travis has to prove himself with every pass.

Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines - To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he's battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.
Two years ago, Maggie Carleton's life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn't spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn't draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.
As West's pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father--so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won't tell anyone else.
West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn't control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own--or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn't ever let her go...

Holocaust Personal Narratives

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day we honor the memory of the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism.  Use the hashtag #WeRemember on social media to share your reflections today.  Here are 10 personal narratives of the Holocaust to consider reading.

The Choice: Embrace the Possible by Edith Eva Eger - Internationally acclaimed psychologist Dr. Edith Eger--one of the few remaining Holocaust survivors--tells her unforgettable story in this moving testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of choice in our lives. At the age of sixteen, Edith Eger, a trained ballet dancer and gymnast, was sent to Auschwitz. Hours after her parents were killed, the 'Angel of Death,' Nazi officer Dr. Josef Mengele, forced Edie to dance for his amusement--and her survival. He rewarded her with a loaf of bread that she shared with her fellow prisoners--an act of generosity that would later save her life. Edie and her sister survived multiple death camps and the Death March. When the American troops liberated the camps in 1945 they found Edie barely alive in a pile of corpses. Edie spent decades struggling with flashbacks and survivor's guilt, determined to stay silent and hide from the past. She raised a family, studied and practiced psychology, always refusing to speak about her experiences during the war. Thirty-five years after the war ended Edie returned to Auschwitz and was finally able to fully heal and forgive the one person she'd been unable to forgive for years. Not Hitler. Not Josef Mengele. Herself.

From Broken Glass: My Story of Finding Hope in Hitler's Death Camps to Inspire a New Generation by Steve Ross - On October 29, 1939 Szmulek Rosental's life changed forever. Nazis marched into his home of Lodz, Poland, destroyed the synagogues, urinated on the Torahs, and burned the beards of the rabbis. Two people were killed that first day in the pillaging of the Jewish enclave, but much worse was to come. Szmulek's family escaped that night, setting out in search of safe refuge they would never find. Soon, all of the family would perish, but Szmulek, only eight years old when he left his home, managed to against all odds to survive.
Through his resourcefulness, his determination, and most importantly the help of his fellow prisoners, Szmulek lived through some of the most horrific Nazi death camps of the Holocaust, including Dachau, Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, and seven others. He endured acts of violence and hate all too common in the Holocaust, but never before talked about in its literature. He was repeatedly raped by Nazi guards and watched his family and friends die. But these experiences only hardened the resolve to survive the genocide and use the experience--and the insights into morality and human nature that it revealed--to inspire people to stand up to hate and fight for freedom and justice.
On the day that he was scheduled to be executed he was liberated by American soldiers. He eventually traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, where, with all of his friends and family dead, he made a new life for himself, taking the name Steve Ross. Working at the gritty South Boston schools, he inspired children to define their values and use them to help those around them. He went on to become Boston's Director of Education and later conceived of and founded the New England Holocaust Memorial, one of Boston's most visited sites.

In the Face of Evil: Based on the Life of Dina Frydman Balbien by Tema Merback - A timeless story of the upheavals of war, the tenacious endurance of love and the resilience of the human spirit. It is an epic journey through the nightmare of the Holocaust - the single most defining moment in modern history, as told through the eyes of a young girl.

The Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsh - Taking us from the beginnings of the liberators' final march across Germany to V-E Day and beyond, Michael Hirsh allows us to walk in the footsteps of the everyday fighting men who were the first Americans to know the full truth about the Holocaust, experiencing the journey as they themselves experienced it. But this book is more than just an in-depth account of the liberation. It reveals how profoundly these young men were affected by what they saw--the unbelievable horror and pathos they felt upon seeing "stacks of bodies like cordwood" and "skeletonlike survivors" in camp after camp. That life-altering experience has stayed with them to this very day. It's been well over half a century since the end of World War II, and they still haven't forgotten what the camps looked like, how they smelled, what the inmates looked like, and how it made them feel. Many of the liberators suffer from what's now called post-traumatic stress disorder and still experience Holocaust-related nightmares.
Here we meet the brave souls who--now in their eighties and nineties--have chosen at last to share their stories.
The Liberators offers readers an intense and unforgettable look at the Nazi death machine through the eyes of the men and women who were our country's witnesses to the Holocaust. The liberators' recollections are historically important, vivid, riveting, heartbreaking, and, on rare occasions, joyous and uplifting. This book is their opportunity, perhaps for the last time, to tell the world.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

Night by Elie Wiesel - Night offers a personal and unforgettable account of the appalling horrors of Hitler's reign of terror. Through the eyes of 14-year-old Eliezer, we behold the tragic fate of the Jews from the little town of Sighet. Even as they are stuffed into cattle cars bound for Auschwitz, the townspeople refuse to believe rumors of anti-Semitic atrocities. Not until they are marched toward the blazing crematory at the camp's "reception center" does the terrible truth sink in.

Survivor: Auschwitz, the Death March, and My Fight for Freedom by Sam Pivnik - Now in his eighties, Sam Pivnik tells for the first time the extraordinary story of how he survived the Holocaust
Sam Pivnik is the ultimate survivor from a world that no longer exists. On fourteen occasions he should have been killed, but luck, his physical strength, and his determination not to die all played a part in Sam Pivnik living to tell his extraordinary story.
In 1939, on his thirteenth birthday, Pivnik's life changed forever when the Nazis invaded Poland. He survived the two ghettoes set up in his home town of Bedzin and six months on Auschwitz's notorious Rampe Kommando where prisoners were either taken away for entry to the camp or gassing. After this harrowing experience he was sent to work at the brutal F#65533;rstengrube mining camp. He could have died on the 'Death March' that took him west as the Third Reich collapsed and he was one of only a handful of people who swam to safety when the Royal Air Force sank the prison ship Cap Arcona in 1945, mistakenly believing it to be carrying fleeing members of the SS.
He eventually made his way to London where he found people too preoccupied with their own wartime experiences on the Home Front to be interested in what had happened to him.
Now in his eighties, Sam Pivnik tells for the first time the story of his life, a true tale of survival against the most extraordinary odds.

An Unbroken Chain: My Journey Through the Nazi Holocaust by Henry Oertelt - Oertelt, who lived with his older brother and widowed mother in Berlin, had just marked his twelfth birthday when Hitler came to power in January 1933. He begins with a firsthand account of Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938), when the Nazis destroyed Jewish property and synagogues across Germany and Austria, and he recounts the many anti-Jewish directives that followed. Oertelt divides the book into 18 "links" in the chain of events that kept him alive. They include a Nazi foreman who warned him of an impending Gestapo roundup of Jews, giving him time to flee; a 15-month confinement in Theresienstadt concentration camp, where the chance of survival was somewhat better than at Auschwitz; and the fact that he remained in relatively good health and received medical treatment from an SS general-doctor when he did become ill. The two brothers survived, but their mother and most of their relatives were murdered. This is an extraordinary memoir of one brave individual's travail during the Holocaust.

We Survived: Fourteen Histories of the Hidden and Hunted in Nazi Germany by Eric Boehm - Thousands of Jews and "Aryan" Germans opposed to Hitler led illegal lives under the Nazi terror and survived the relentless hunt of the Gestapo, the concentration camps, and the bombing. They survived in various ways; some as ordinary citizens taking part in the work-day life, others with fake passports, hidden in cellars, living precariously in all the dark corners of a vigilantly policed country. In fourteen autobiographical accounts, author Eric Boehm offers a cross-section of these heroic personalities. We Survived is itself an historical document, giving a window back into this epoch period during World War II.Now reappearing in print over fifty years after its original publication, We Survived remains as relevant and necessary as ever before - an honest testimony to the strength of the human spirit when it triumphs over adversity.

Witness: Voices from the Holocaust edited by Joshua Greene - Since 1979, 4,000 survivors of and witnesses to the Holocaust have been videotaped for the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. Eighteen of them will appear in Witness: Voices from the Holocaust, a documentary that will be shown on PBS in May. This remarkable companion book offers first-person accounts of 27 of the survivors and witnesses. Jewish victims describe expulsion from their homes, forced detention in ghettos, and deportation to concentration camps. Holocaust scholar Lawrence Langer writes in a foreword that these witnesses do not appear as heroes or martyrs but as chroniclers of a melancholy and dreadful tale. The survivors express guilt over not having done enough to aid their brothers or sisters, mothers or fathers. These testimonies roughly trace life before, during, and after the Nazi era, beginning in the 1930s; and this important book demonstrates the way in which oral testimony contributes to our understanding of the Holocaust.