Obama on Gates

image source: www.harvard.edu

If you haven't seen President Obama's comments on the Henry Louis Gates/Cambridge police incident check them out here.

Books by the Harvard scholar are found in the History/Biography division. Topics such as racial profiling and police misconduct are found in Sociology and Black Studies.

racial profiling 363.2308 K839
Henry Louis Gates 92 G2585
police misconduct 363.232 W724

Just in

The new books are trickling in over at the SOC division...hopefully more to come this week!

Cornel West Reader - Cornel West
305.896 W516C

Next Stop, Reloville: life inside America's new rootless professional class - Peter T. Kilborn (bonus! book mentions the always exciting Gaithersburg, MD)
305.553 K48

Provenance: how a con man and forger rewrote a history of modern art - Laney Salisbury + Aly Sujo
364.163 S167

An introduction to visual culture - Nicholas Mirzoeff
306.47 M677

Methland: the death and life of an American small town - Nick Reding
362.299 R317

Getting in through my thick skull: why i stayed, what i learned, and what millions of people involved with sociopaths need to know - Mary Jo Buttafuoco
362.1968 B988

hearing of the week

image source: getty

Lots of interesting hearings this week! but really...this week it is all about Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Follow the live stream on www.cnn.com or keep up with the #Sotomayor tweets!

Public (Library) Enemies

image source: nytimes

so this is why public enemies by bryan burroughs keeps showing up on the pick list...place a hold through citycat today and read the book before you watch the film!

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/movies/01enemies.html

Family Reunion Month Book Display

(Image Source: Washington state government)

July is observed by many as National Family Reunion Month. If you are interested learning more about your family or planning a reunion please check out the DC Public Library.

The library contains numerous books about performing genealogical research, planning family reunions and organizing reunion events. During July in the Great Hall of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Library we will feature these items in a book display. Also, please search the catalog for items related to family reunions, researching your family history, and relationships with your family.

Additionally, the DC Public Library provides users with access to Heritage Quest, a genealogical research databases with more than 25,000 family and local histories.

Liberian Film Festival at DC Public Library

(Image source: CIA World Fact Book)

Liberia's national moto is "The love of liberty brought us here." The country was founded in 1847 by free American Africans, a growing population in the US, due to abolition in the North and manumission, who chose to emigrate to Liberia with the support of the American Colonization. Since Americo-Liberian settlers declared the independence of the Republic of Liberia, the nation has had a unique relationship with the United States government and business interest. President William Tubman administration from 1944-71 promoted foreign investment and attempted bridge the economic, social, and political gaps between the descendants of the original settlers and the inhabitants of the interior. In 1980, a military coup led by Samuel Doe ushered in a decade of authoritarian rule. In December 1989, Charles Taylor launched a rebellion against Doe's regime that led to a prolonged civil war. Presently, the nation is working to rebuild itself after this period of civil unrest

In honor of the 162nd anniversary of the foundation of Liberia, the DC Public Library will present the following films:

Liberia: America’s Stepchild July 15, 2009
Liberia: An Uncivil War July 22, 2009
Iron Ladies of Liberia July 29, 2009

The films document the nation's history, the civil unrest the 1990s, and conclude with efforts to rebuild the nation by the present administration of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president of an African nation.

The films will begin on Wednesdays at Noon in the East Lobby on the Second Floor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street NW.

If you would like to learn more about Liberia on the Internet check out the CIA World FactBook and the U.S. Department of State Liberia page.

You can search the DC Public Library catalog and online databases for resources related to the resettlement of free African Americans to Africa and Liberian history, government and politics.

Vietnam War Architect Robert McNamara dies at 93

(Image Source: the Defense Information Systems Agency)

Robert McNamara (June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) died early Monday morning in his sleep at the age of 93. McNamara served as Defense Secretary for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1968. Following that he served as President of the World Bank from 1968 until 1981.

McNamara will always be best known for his role as the architect of the Vietnam policy in the 1960s. In his book, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, he admitted that the the War, in which 58,000 Americans lost their lives was waged in error and the policy was flawed.

The DC Public Library owns wide selection of books related to the Robert McNamara. Below is a brief list of items authored by McNamara, such as:

Wilson's Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing, and Catastrophe in the 21st Century. Public Affairs, 2001. 327.17 M169

Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy. Public Affairs, 1999.
959.7043 M169AR

In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. Times Books, 1995.
959.7043 M169

Out of the Cold: New Thinking for American Foreign and Defense Policy in the 21st Century. Simon and Schuster, 1989.
327.7304 M169

Blundering into Disaster: Surviving the First Century of the Nuclear Age. Pantheon Books, 1986. 355.033 169

The Essence of Security; Reflections in Office. Harper & Row, 1968.
355.0973 M169

You can also search our databases for biographical information and articles about American defense policy during the Vietnam War.

The Social Sciences Division will have a book display during the month of July related to Robert McNamara and the Vietnam war policy. Please check it out in the East Lobby on the Second Floor.