Terrible Typhoid Mary

Susan Campbell Bartoletti's new book explores Mary Mallon's role in the typhoid frenzy at the beginning of the 20th century.  Mary's connection to the disease began when she was hired as a cook for a wealthy family on summer vacation.  Several members of the family and staff were stricken with typhoid fever, but no one knew why.

Mary's connection may never have been discovered if the owners of the house hadn't hired a man named George Soper to investigate.  It was Soper who discovered Mary was a healthy carrier of the disease.  She showed no symptoms, but her body was host for the deadly typhoid bacteria.

What followed was an epic battle of wills between Soper and Mary Mallon.  Mary's case is important because it tested the power of the New York Board of Health.  Could the government imprison people for being sick?  What about Mary who wasn't sick at all and had no skills other than cooking?

One of the best aspects of this book is the author's exploration of notoriety.  After Mary's name was reported in the press, she became a scapegoat for typhoid fever despite all the other healthy carrier's who were never imprisoned and all the people who got sick but had nothing to do with Mary Mallon. Is being sick a crime?

The Port Chicago 50

Steve Sheinkin's newest book focuses on civil rights and the military.  During WWII, African American men were actively recruited by several branches of he military, but men who had hoped to defend their country in battle were soon disappointed.  And any hope that military service would further the cause of civil rights and put an end to segregation and discrimination was soon extinguished.

Barracks and training facilities were segregated.  Black and white soldiers weren't even allowed to eat together.  Often black soldiers had to wait until white soldiers had finished eating and take the leftovers.  To make matters worse, black soldiers were not assigned to combat positions.  Instead they were relegated to cleaning, cooking, or in the case of the Port Chicago 50, loading ammunition onto ships to be sent to the battle front.

Port Chicago was a naval base where many black sailors were stationed to handle ammunition.  The work was physically challenging and often dangerous.  To make matters worse, the men received almost no training on how to handle the dangerous explosives.  Plus, the officers would often ride the men to work faster because they placed bets on whose unit could work faster.

It's not a surprise that disaster finally struck, and many men were killed, injured, or left traumatized.  Shortly after the disaster that killed many of their friends and fellow sailors, 250 men refused to return to work loading ammunition because they feared for their safety.  Nothing had changed at Port Chicago, and the men were tired of risking their lives in unnecessarily dangerous conditions.  Add in the fact that only black sailors were assigned to the task, and the situation becomes a clear case of racism.

Fifty of the men were eventually charged with mutiny.  They faced a trial and possible imprisonment or death.  Add in a young Thurgood Marshall who saw this as a clear case of discrimination, and you have a fascinating court room drama about the end of segregation in the military.

Pair this book with Courage Has No Color by Tanya Lee Stone for an in depth examination of segregation in the military.  I highly recommend both titles!

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia

Wow!  I really enjoyed this one!  I didn't know much about this family before reading the book, but now I feel like I know them as people.  Candace Fleming's book deftly portrays the final years of Romanov rule.

Tsar Nicholas was born to rule and raised to understand that he ruled by divine right.  Russia was divided into three groups in those days.  The aristocracy who personally owned over ninety percent of all Russia's wealth lived in opulent homes with servants and beautiful clothes never mixing with anyone else.  There was a professional class who were teachers, lawyers, doctors, clergy, etc.  Everyone else was a peasant scraping by from day to day hoping for food to eat.  Most peasants couldn't even afford shoes.

Still, many peasants still saw the Tsar as a benevolent father until his marriage to Alexandra, his German born Tsarina.  Nicholas was always weak willed, but after his marriage he bowed even more to his wife's dictates.  This, of course, included the welcoming of Rasputin a so-called holy man.

Rasputin's corrupting influence is just part of the reason Tsar Nicholas lost power.  Read this fascinating tale of murder and rebellion to get the full story including the sad end of the Romanov family.  Highly recommended!

Lincoln's Grave Robbers

This is the true story of a gang of counterfeiters plotted to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln.  That's right.  I said TRUE!

In 1875 counterfeiting was a major problem in the US, but no one was more talented than Benjamin Boyd.  He could make coney (counterfeit money) so good it would fool the experts.  His arrest caused a stir in the counterfeiting rings of Chicago, and members of his gang come together in a smokey saloon to plot a way to get him out.

They figured they could steal Abraham Lincoln's body and hold it ransom for $200,000 that they would use to get Boyd out of prison.  Thus begins a tale of thieves, undercover informers, and secret service operations.

Read Steve Sheinkin's account of this true story including a special "Body Snatcher Bonus Section" that is pretty gross!

Here are some photos of Lincoln's tomb from my trip to Springfield a couple of years ago.

The cemetery is still fairly isolated like it was in 1875.

Lincoln's remains are sealed inside this marble box.

This is a back window to the monument, now barred to keep potential thieves and vandals away.  

Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America's First Black Paratroopers

 Tanya Lee Stone's new book is the true story of America's first black paratroopers and an important step in the process of integrating our armed forces.

During WWII African American soldiers where not allowed to have the same positions as white soldiers.  They were mostly relegated to service positions which was frustrating because they wanted to do their part in the war just like anyone else.

Sgt. Walter Morris soon noticed that his African American soldiers where suffering under the strain of boring work as guards at Fort Benning, so he can up with a plan.  He would wait until all the white trainees had left for the day, and then have his soldiers go through the same training.  Even though they had no hope this practice would lead to promotion, this active training definitely improved morale.

It wasn't long until someone noticed, and Sgt. Morris's soldiers soon became the first official black paratrooper trainees.  The training was difficult, and even after they had proved themselves time and again, these soldiers where faced with hate and racism in the army and out of it.

This is a great book about a time when our nation was struggling to find its way.  We were fighting hatred and discrimination in Europe, but many people were blind to the racism in our own backyard.  You'll enjoy this book filled with photographs and personal stories from some of the original Nickles.

The Fairy Ring

Elsie and Frances were two cousins who became roommates during WWI when Frances's father went to war.  The first time Frances went to play in the English country side, she saw the little men peeking at her from undergrowth, but when she and Elsie told the adults about the fairies, no one believed them.

That's when Elsie gets the idea to take a picture.  Using fairies she has drawn herself, Elsie takes a picture of her cousin, Frances, with a fairy.  Eventually, that photograph and others like it will make their way all over England and the world as evidence that fairies really exist.  Even Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes books, believes the photos are real.

Author, Mary Losure, uses plenty of description and detailed research to recreate the people who were involved in these events.  Frances and Elsie seem like two fun and mischievous girls, even when they are old enough to be grandmothers.

If you've ever looked at a photo and wondered, "Is that for real?" you should read this book!

The video below is Frances's daughter talking about the pictures on Antiques Roadshow in England.  You can see prints of the photos in the video as well.

Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem

How do you explain a sudden illness or broken jug?  What was your neighbor muttering as she walked away giving you a strange look?  Why did your cow suddenly begin to twitch and convulse?  The answer, at least for the people of Salem, was witchcraft!

This fascinating book tells the story of the Salem witch trials beginning with two sick little girls and all the horrifying events to follow.  This story is compelling and succinct detailing the accusations, the eventual trials, and the "evidence" that condemned people to death.  This was mainly spectral evidence that only the afflicted could see.

The girls saw spirits and birds who pecked and pinched and stopped their breath, and the courts were only too happy to believe them.

The accused were housed in filthy disease-filled prisons while they awaited trail where they were expected to pay rent and provide their own food.

This frenzy was caused by a fear of some unearthly power, but, as Rosalyn Schanzer describes, the real horror was the hysteria of ordinary people.

Veterans Day Salute in the Library

Remembering September 11, 2001

Come into the library to remember the events of September 11, 2001, and to learn more about that day and its aftermath.