In the maelstrom of history. A conversation with Miriam / Eisenbichler, Konrad

This book tells the story of Miriam Frankel, éne Gr|nglas, a Holocaust survivor born in Tyachiv (then Slovakia, now Ukraine) but raised from infancy till age thirteen in Trieste (Italy) where her parents ran a kosher guest-house. In the wake of Mussolini's Racial Laws of 1938 Miriam and her family were deported from Italy back to Tyachiv. Here the family fell victim to the Nazis and was taken, with the town's entire Jewish community, to Auschwitz. After surviving Auschwitz, the war, and a crippling physical ailment, Miriam, now an orphan, emigrated to Canada where she started life anew. Today Miriam is a beloved matriarch who devotes herself to her new family and to talking to school children and community groups about the Holocaust as she experienced it. This book is based on a series of interviews with Miriam Frankel and other survivors of Nazi concentration camps, as well as on extensive research in Trieste in both the State Archive and the Jewish Archive. The result is a riveting story of survival enriched by the author's own meditations, in conversation with the protagonist, on the violence wrought by intolerance and on the perils of that come from remaining silent.

Solito : a memoir / Zamora, Javier.

"Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago--'one day, you'll take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure.' Javier's adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone except for a group of strangers and a "coyote" hired to lead them to safety, Javier's trip is supposed to last two short weeks. At nine years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents' arms, snuggling in bed between them, and living under the same roof again. He cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside a group of strangers who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family. A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito not only provides an immediate and intimate account of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier's story, but it's also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home." --author's website.

Northern lights : a history of the Arctic Scots / Cowan, Edward J.

The search for the Northwest Passage is filled with stories of tragedy, courage, and endurance. This book examines the often-overlooked role of Scottish explorers in the history of Arctic exploration, as well as the contributions of the Scotch Irish, whalers, and the Inuit.

Kings of their own ocean : tuna, obsession, and the future of our seas / Pinchin, Karen.

How our insatiable appetite for tuna transformed a cottage industry into a global force (with a billion-dollar black market) and the dangerous effects of that shift for our planet, told through the lives of one fish and her fisherman.