Harper Lee

Controversy erupted in April surrounding Marja Mills’ book The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee, when Lee’s law firm released a statement denying any cooperation with the writer. In response to the denial, Mills sent an e-mail through her publisher Penguin Press to the New York Times, stating that “Harper Lee, known as Nelle to many of her friends, and her sister, Alice Lee, were wonderfully generous with their time and insights over the years as I researched my book.” She also produced a signed statement from Alice Lee “affirming she and her sister, Nelle Harper Lee, cooperated with the project.” Read more…

By Jo Nesbø
Knopf | 400pgs
Release Date: May 10, 2011

Summary:
The troubled but brilliant Norwegian Inspector Harry Hole returns in Jo Nesbø’s latest thriller The Snowman. The fifth installment of the Scandinavian series tracks Hole’s investigation of several murders perpetrated during winter’s first snowfall. When two women turn up dead, each with an menacing snowman built to mark the occasion, Hole and his new partner Katrine Bratt uncover a string of murders spanning several years. During the hunt for the killer, Hole realizes a connection between the case and an ominous letter he received months earlier, referencing the recent murders and events in the Inspector’s past, signed by The Snowman. As Hole’s quest for justice becomes obsessive, the Snowman draws him into a deadly game, where the ultimate prize may be the policeman’s life. Read more…

The K'alyaan Totem Pole of the Tlingit Kiks.ádi Clan, erected to commemorate those lost in the 1804 Battle of Sitka. ©2005 Robert A. Estremo

In an effort to save the dying Alaskan language Tlingit, English professor and award-winning author Ernestine Hayes will publish a children’s book written in the rare tongue. Hayes, who also acts as historian for her mother’s Tlingit tribe, based her story on the classic tale of the town mouse and the country mouse, and tells of the adventures that a forest bear has when he visits a relative who lives in town. City Bear, Forest Bear or Aanka Xóodzi ka Aasgutu Xóodzi Shkalneegi, as the book is titled in Tlingit, was translated from English with the help of Tlingit elders and is illustrated by Tlingit artist Wanda Culp. “As far as we know, this book is the first to be originally written in English and then translated into the Tlingit language,” the author tells The Guardian in an interview.

The Tlingit language is at serious risk for extinction, as it is spoken by only about 500 people today. Hayes’ hope is to keep this language from fading away by teaching it to younger generations with books like hers. However, the process of translating this primarily oral language into written words was a challenge, even with the elders’ help. Read more…

Among the many significant documents in The New York Public Library’s resources for the study of George Washington is a recipe that, while likely not historically impactful, will be of interest to history buffs and beer connoisseurs alike. A handwritten entry in a 1757 notebook, kept by Washington during his time as a colonel with the Virginia militia, notes a recipe for “small beer”. In the 18-19th centuries, “small beer” was characterized as weak bear with little alcohol content intended to be consumed immediately after brewing, and even considered appropriate for children. The recipe, now posted on the NYPL website, is as follows: Read more…

By Erik Larson
Crown | 464pgs
Release Date: May 10, 2011

Summary:
Bestselling non-fiction writer Erik Larson tells the electrifying true story of little known American ambassador to Germany William E. Dodd in In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin. Dodd, previously a professor of history at the University of Chicago, assumed his post in Germany in 1933, at the dawn of Hitler’s power. The ambassadorship to Germany was not considered a plum assignment due to the country’s heavy debt to the U.S., but the professor and his family were initially charmed by members of the Nazi party. Dodd’s daughter, Martha, an unabashed party girl, was particularly taken with the extravagant soirées of Berlin’s social scene and engaged in a number of affairs with the Nazi elite. But, soon the immense evil of the Third Reich began to pierce through the veneer of civility, and the Dodd family grew fearful of Hitler’s greed for power. The ambassador’s warnings of danger to the U.S. State Department went largely ignored, as things grew worse in Germany. Tensions finally came to a head as the family witnessed Hitler’s bloody power-play during “the Night of Long Knives”, when the dictator quashed his opposition. Read more…