Memorial Hall Library

MHL will be closed on Monday, February 19 in observance of Presidents Day

MHL will be closed on Monday, February 19 in observance of Presidents Day. We'll be open our usual hours this Saturday and Sunday, so you have plenty of time to stop in for one of these recent biographies of various former Presidents and other presidential family members.

Are you prepared for the storm of love making? : letters of love and lust from the White House
Are you prepared for the storm of love making? : letters of love and lust from the White House
by Dorothy Hoobler

This collection of love letters by American presidents to their wives and lovers shows the intimate and personal side of the leaders we know only from their public face and depiction in history books. 
Differ we must : how Lincoln succeeded in a divided America
Differ we must : how Lincoln succeeded in a divided America
by Steve Inskeep

The host of NPR's Morning Edition illuminates Abraham Lincoln's life through 16 encounters, some well-known, some obscure, expanding our understanding of a politician who held strong to his moral compass while navigating between corrosive political factions—and who succeeded in uniting a nation.
Dinner with the president : food, politics, and a history of breaking bread at the White House
Dinner with the president : food, politics, and a history of breaking bread at the White House
by Alex Prud'homme

Perhaps the most significant meals in the world have been consumed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by the presumptive leaders of the free world. Thomas Jefferson had an affinity for eggplant and FDR for terrapin stew. Nixon ate a lump of cottage cheese topped with barbecue sauce every day and Obama regularly had arugula. Now, Alex Prud'homme takes us to the dining tables of the White House to look at what the presidents chose to eat, how the food was prepared and by whom, and the context in which the meals were served, making clear that every one of these details speaks volumes about both the individual president and the country he presided over. We see how these gustatory messages touch on not only sometimes curious personal tastes, but also local politics, national priorities, and global diplomacy--not to mention all those dinner-table-conversation-taboos: race, gender, class, money, and religion. The individual stories are fascinating in themselves, but taken together--under the keen and knowledgeable eye of Prud'homme--they reveal that food is not just food when it is desired, ordered, and consumed by the President of the United States.
First lady of World War II : Eleanor Roosevelt's daring journey to the frontlines and back
First lady of World War II : Eleanor Roosevelt's daring journey to the frontlines and back
by Shannon McKenna Schmidt

A veteran journalist brings to life, in intimate detail, the untold story of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's five-week mission to the South Pacific to support and report back on the troops on the front lines during World War II while Americans believed she was secluded at home.
Jackie : public, private, secret
Jackie : public, private, secret
by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Based on hundreds of new interviews, this often startling look at the life of the legendary former first lady explores the flaws and contradictions that only served to make her even more iconic. 
An ordinary man : the surprising life and historic presidency of Gerald R. Ford
An ordinary man : the surprising life and historic presidency of Gerald R. Ford
by Richard Norton Smith

A preeminent presidential scholar examines the life of the 38th President from his hardscrabble childhood in Michigan to his years in Congress and efforts to guide the nation through its worst Constitutional crisis since the Civil War. 
President Garfield : from radical to unifier
President Garfield : from radical to unifier
by C. W. Goodyear

A prominent historian presents this magisterial biography chronicling the extraordinary, tragic life and times of our 20th president—an impoverished boy working his way from the frontier to the Presidency, trying to raise a more righteous, peaceful Republic out of the ashes of civil war.
Teddy and Booker T. : how two American icons blazed a path for racial equality
Teddy and Booker T. : how two American icons blazed a path for racial equality
by Brian Kilmeade

When President Theodore Roosevelt welcomed the country's most visible Black man, Booker T. Washington, into his circle of counselors in 1901, the two confronted a shocking and violent wave of racist outrage. In the previous decade, Jim Crow laws had legalized discrimination in the South, eroding social and economic gains for former slaves. Lynching was on the rise, and Black Americans faced new barriers to voting. Slavery had been abolished, but if newly freed citizens were condemned to lives as share croppers, how much improvement would their lives really see? In Teddy and Booker T., Brian Kilmeade tells the story of how two wildly different Americans faced the challenge of keeping America moving toward the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation.
To rescue the Constitution : George Washington and the fragile American experiment
To rescue the Constitution : George Washington and the fragile American experiment
by Bret Baier

Capturing America's early struggles, when the fight for survival was constant, the chief political anchor for Fox News Channel presents this new biography of George Washington that centers around his return from retirement to lead the Constitutional Convention and secure the future of the U.S
White House Wild Child : how Alice Roosevelt broke all the rules and won the heart of America
White House Wild Child : how Alice Roosevelt broke all the rules and won the heart of America
by Shelley Fraser Mickle

Brilliantly researched and powerfully told, Shelley Fraser Mickle places the reader in the time and place of Alice and asks what would it have been like to be a strong-willed powerful woman of that day. Drawn from primary and secondary sources, Alice's life comes into focus in this historical celebration of an extraordinary woman ahead of her time.
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