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Thursday, October 8, 2020

German American Heritage Month



In October of 1987, Ronald Reagan officially proclaimed October to be German-American Heritage Month saying:

“The United States has embraced a vast array of German traditions, institutions, and influences. Many of these have become so accepted as parts of our way of life that their ethnic origin has been obscured. For instance, Christmas trees and Broadway musicals are familiar features of American society. Our kindergartens, graduate schools, the social security system, and labor unions are all based on models derived from Germany. German teachers, musicians, and enthusiastic amateurs have left an indelible imprint on classical music, hymns, choral singing, and marching bands in our country. In architecture and design, German contributions include the modern suspension bridge, Bauhaus, and Jugendstil. German-American scientists have helped make the United States the world’s pioneer in research and technology. The American work ethic, a major factor in the rapid rise of the United States to preeminence in agriculture and industry owes much to German-Americans’ commitment to excellence.” via https://mph.ucdavis.edu/interpreting_services/pdf/Cnews%20October%2010-06_2014.pdf



Exploring the complex and ever-evolving German American identity in the growing diversity of Illinois's linguistic and ethnic landscape, this book contextualizes their experiences and corrects widely held assumptions about assimilation and cultural identity. Federal census data, photographs, lively biographical sketches, and newly created maps bring the complex story of German immigration to life. The generously illustrated volume also features detailed notes, suggestions for further reading, and an annotated list of books, journal articles, and other sources of information.



"His name is synonymous with genius. His work helped shape the twentieth century and point the way toward the next. In more than forty years since his death, Albert Einstein has continued to intrigue and inspire new generations. Now, in the first full-scale biography of Einstein to be published in some twenty years, acclaimed author Denis Brian probes the private, public, and scientific personas of the enigmatic man behind the legend." "For two decades, Denis Brian pored over the Einstein archives and conducted extensive interviews with the scientist's friends and associates. In the process, he discovered a wealth of absorbing new information, much of it previously withheld by those closest to Einstein - including Helen Dukas, his personal secretary, and Otto Nathan, the executor of Einstein's estate. What emerges in Brian's brilliantly drawn life of Einstein is a down-to-earth and always compelling figure." "Exploring this staggering legacy in conversation with many of Einstein's contemporaries, Denis Brian penetrates the veil of formulas, theories, and experiments to expand our understanding of their meaning. With incisive, intimate detail, he recreates the world in which Einstein worked, in solitude and with others, revered by his assistants and enjoying warm relationships with other physicists." "Also included in Brian's comprehensive portrait are the FBI's investigation of Einstein's alleged communist connections, as well as his efforts on behalf of Europe's Jews during Hitler's rise to power, and his ardent support of the formation of the state of Israel."--Jacket.




Richard J. Franke is past chairman and CEO of John Nuveen & Co., where he was known for incorporating humanities and the arts into the life of the firm.



"Surely his most interesting, plausibly his most memorable, and . . . arguably his best book" --The New York Times Book Review

For John Steinbeck, who hated the telephone, letter-writing was preparation for work and a natural way for him to communicate his thoughts on people he liked and hated; on marriage, women, and children; on the condition of the world; and on his progress in learning his craft. Opening with letters written during Steinbeck's early years in California, and closing with a 1968 note written in Sag Herbor, New York, Steinbeck: A Life in Letters reveals the inner thoughts and rough character of this American author as nothing else has and as nothing else ever will.

"The reader will discover as much about the making of a writer and the creative process, as he will about Steinbeck. And that's a lot." --Los Angeles Herald-Examiner



"A rewarding book of enduring interest, this becomes a major part of the Steinbeck canon." --The Wall Street Journal



In 1914, Andrew Houghton's family is one of hundreds eking out an existence in the coal mines of southwestern Pennsylvania. Though he longs to be a veterinarian, he's fated for a life underground, picking rock alongside his father. That destiny changes when his aunt, Eveline Kiser, arranges for her husband to secure Andrew an apprenticeship on the railroad. Wilhelm Kiser, a German immigrant, has found his American dream in Pittsburgh, with a well-paying job as a brakeman, and a secure pension. But on Andrew's first week, an incident goes tragically wrong, leaving him severely injured, his dreams shattered. Wracked with guilt, Wilhelm finally agrees to his wife's pleas to leave Pittsburgh's smog behind. With Andrew in tow, they swap their three-story row house for a rough-and-tumble farm.



A New York Times Bestselling Author A lush, biographical novel of one of the most glamorous legends of Hollywood's golden age, Marlene Dietrich. From the gender-bending cabarets of Weimar Berlin to the film studios of Hollywood to the devastation of post-war Germany, Marlene reveals the inner life of a woman of grit, glamour, and ambition who defied convention, seduced the world, and forged her own path.



This biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower places particular emphasis on his brilliant generalship and leadership in World War II, and provides, with the advantage of hindsight, a far more acute analysis of his character and personality than any previously available, reaching the conclusion that he was perhaps America's greatest general and one of America's best presidents. The book starts with the story of D-Day--it was Ike's plan, Ike's decision, Ike's responsibility. But there is more to this book than military history. It is a full biography of a remarkable man, a late starter, a perfectionist, a brilliant leader of men, behind whose easy-going, and affable persona was a very different man, fiercely ambitious, hot-tempered, shrewd, and tightly wound. It is as well the portrait of a tumultuous and often difficult marriage, for Mamie was every bit as stubborn and forceful as her husband.--From publisher description.




"German baking is legendary and informs baking traditions the world over: Christmas cookies, coffee cakes, delicate tortes, soft seeded rolls, and hearty dumplings all have their origins in Germany (and Austria). In Classic German Baking, blogger and author Luisa Weiss--who was born in Berlin to an Italian mother and American father, and married into a family of bakers with roots in Saxony--has collected and mastered the recipes most essential to every good baker's repertoire. In addition to the pillars of the German baking tradition, like Christmas stollen, lebkuchen, and apple strudel, Weiss includes overlooked gems, like eisenbahner--an almond macaroon paste piped onto jam-topped shortbread--and rosinenbrötchen--the raisin-studded whole wheat buns that please a child's palate and a parent's conscience--to create the resource that bakers across the world have long wanted,"--Baker & Taylor.




" A stirring picture book biography about a forgotten hero of the American Revolution who rose to the occasion and served his country, not with muskets or canons, but with gingerbread!"-- Provided by publisher.






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