A Good American Family : the Red Scare and My Father by David Maraniss

Call# 320.973 Mar

Elliott Maraniss, a WWII veteran who had commanded an all-black company in the Pacific, was spied on by the FBI, named as a communist by an informant, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, fired from his newspaper job, and blacklisted for five years. Yet he never lost faith in America and emerged on the other side with his family and optimism intact. David Maraniss weaves his father's story through the lives of his inquisitors and defenders as they struggle with the vital twentieth-century issues of race, fascism, communism, and first amendment freedoms. -- adapted from jacket

All Manner of Things by Susie Finkbeiner

Call# Inspirational Finkbeiner

"After Annie Jacobson's older brother is deployed to Vietnam during the war, tragedy at home brings their estranged father home without welcome. As tensions heighten, Annie and her family must find a way to move forward as they try to hold both hope and grief in the same hand" --

Broke : Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises by Jodie Adams Kirshner

Call# 336.368 Kir

Bankruptcy and the austerity it represents have become a common "solution" for struggling American cities. What do the spending cuts and limited resources do to the lives of city residents? Kirshner follows seven Detroiters as they navigate life during and after their city's bankruptcy. For them, financial issues are mired within the larger ramifications of poor urban policies, restorative negligence on the state and federal level and-- even before the decision to declare Detroit bankrupt in 2013-- the root causes of a city's fiscal demise. Detroit is emblematic, Kirshner shows, that cities are never quite given the aid that they need by either the state or federal government for their residents to survive, not to mention flourish. -- adapted from jacket

Camera Hunter : George Shiras III and the Birth of Wildlife Photography by James McCommons

Call# 921 Shiras

"In 1906 George Shiras III (1859-1942) published a series of remarkable nighttime photographs in National Geographic. Taken with crude equipment, the black-and-white photographs featured leaping whitetail deer, a beaver gnawing on a tree, and a snowy owl perched along the shore of a lake in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The pictures, stunning in detail and composition, celebrated American wildlife at a time when many species were going extinct because of habitat loss and unrestrained hunting. As a congressman and lawyer, Shiras joined forces with his friend Theodore Roosevelt, and scientists in Washington, D.C. who shaped the conservation movement during the Progressive Era. His legal and legislative efforts culminated with the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Camera Hunter recounts Shiras's life and craft as he traveled to wild country in North America, refined his trail camera techniques, and advocated for the protection of wildlife. This biography serves as an important record of Shiras's accomplishments as a visual artist, wildlife conservationist, adventurer, and legislator"--

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

Call# Fiction Gray

The Mothers meets An American Marriage in this dazzling debut novel about mothers and daughters, identity and family, and how the relationships that sustain you can also be the ones that consume you. The Butler family has had their share of trials, as sisters Althea, Viola, and Lillian can attest, but nothing prepared them for the literal trial that will upend their lives. Althea, the eldest sister and substitute matriarch, is a force to be reckoned with and her younger sisters have alternately appreciated and chafed at her strong will. They are as stunned as the rest of the small community when she and her husband Proctor are arrested, and in a heartbeat the family goes from one of the most respected in town to utter disgrace. The worst part is, not even her sisters are sure exactly what happened. As Althea awaits her fate, Lillian and Viola must come together in the house they grew up in to care for their sister's teenage daughters. What unfolds is a stunning portrait of the heart and core of an American family in a story that is as page-turning as it is important.

Come See About Me, Marvin : Poems by Brian Gilmore

Call# 811.6 Gil

An imagined personal exchange with Marvin Gaye, in verse, on life in Michigan.

Deadly Aim : the Civil War Story of Michigan's Anishinaabe Sharpshooters by Sally M Walker

Call# J 973.747 Wal

"Sibert Award winner Sally M. Walker crafts an engaging, middle-grade nonfiction narrative of the American Indian soldiers who bravely fought in the Civil War"--

The Deer Camp : a Memoir of a Father, a Family, and the Land That Healed Them by Dean Kuipers

Call# 921 Kuipers

"For readers of The Stranger in the Woods and H Is for Hawk, a beautifully written and emotionally rewarding memoir about a father, his three sons, and a scrappy 100-acre piece of land in rural Michigan. Bruce Kuipers was good at hunting and fishing, but not at anything else that makes a real father or husband. Distant, angry, and a serial cheater, he destroyed his relationship with his wife, Nancy, and alienated his three sons--journalist Dean, woodsman Brett, and troubled yet brilliant fisherman Joe. He distrusted people and clung to rural America as a place to hide. So when Bruce purchased a 100-acre hunting property as a way to reconnect with his sons, they resisted. The land was the perfect bait, but the moment the sons arrived, none of them knew how to be together as a family. Conflicts arose over whether the land--an old farm that had been degraded and reduced to a few stands of pine and blowing sand--should be left alone or be actively restored. After a decade-long impasse, Bruce acquiesced, and his sons proceeded with their restoration plan. What happened next was a miracle of nature. Dean Kuipers weaves a beautiful and surprising story about the restorative power of land and of his own family, which so desperately needed healing. Heartwarming and profound, The Deer Camp is the perfect story of fathers, sons, and the beauty and magic of the natural world"--

Detroit's Birwood Wall : Hatred & Healing in the West Eight Mile Community by Gerald C. Van Dusen

Call# 977.434 Van

The Girls : an All-American Town, a Predatory Doctor, and the Untold Story of the Gymnasts Who Brought Him Down by Abigail Pesta

Call# 364.153 Pes

"Larry Nassar, longtime doctor at Michigan State University and physician for the US Olympic gymnastics team, has been called one of the worst sexual predators in history. This is the inside story of how he got away with abusing hundreds of gymnasts for decades--and how a team of brave women, activists, and lawyers banded together to bring him down"--

Guardians of Detroit : Architectural Sculpture in the Motor City by Jeffrey Morrison

Call# 977.434 Mor

The Queen Next Door : Aretha Franklin, an Intimate Portrait by Linda (Linda Rappaport) Solomon

Call# 921 Franklin

Reflections on the life of Aretha Franklin captured in exclusive photographs by her friend, photojournalist Linda Solomon.

Ruffage : a Practical Guide to Vegetables : 100+ Recipes and 230+ Variations by Abra Berens

Call# 641.65 Ber

Berens cooks her way through vegetables, A to Z. Whether it's pan roasted, grilled, puréed or raw, she takes readers from asparagus to turnips and rutabaga, sharing creative preparation techniques and flavor combinations. Berens evens shares information on what to look for in a vegetable, how to store them, and encouragement to improvise new combinations of your own. -- Adapted from introduction.

Shades : Detroit Love Stories by Esperanza Malavé Cintrón

Call# Fiction Cintron

"Esperanza Cintrón's Shades: Detroit Love Stories is a short story collection that is distinctly Detroit. By touching on a number of romantic and sexual encounters that span the historical and temporal spaces of the city, each of these interconnected stories examines the obstacles an individual faces and the choices he or she makes in order to cope and, hopefully, survive in the changing urban landscape."--Amazon.com.

Teacher/pizza Guy : Poems by Jeff Kass

Call# 811.6 Kas

Teacher/Pizza Guy is a collection of autobiographical poems from the 2016-17 school year in which Jeff Kass worked as a full-time English teacher and a part-time director for a literary arts organization and still had to supplement his income by delivering pizzas a few nights a week. Kass chronicles his experience of treading the delicate balance of holding himself acocuntable to his wife and kids, his students, his customers, and his own mental and physical health while working three jobs in contemporary America. Many of the ideas for these poems were initially scribbled onto the backs of pizza receipts or scratched out during precious free moments amidst the chaos of the school day. Teacher/Pizza Guy is a funny and relatable collection for readers, thinkers, educators, and pizza lovers everywhere.

We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels

Call# Inspirational Bartels

When journalist Elizabeth Balsam is asked to deliver a box of old photos to a relative she didn't know she had, the strange request seems like it isn't worth her time. But as she explores her great-aunt's farmhouse with its locked doors and hidden graves, she soon discovers just how dramatically some of the most newsworthy events of the previous two centuries shaped her own family. As she searches for answers to the riddles around her, the remarkable stories of two women who lived in this very house emerge as testaments to love, resilience, and courage in the face of war, racism, and misunderstanding. Take an emotional journey through time--from the volatile streets of 1960s Detroit to Michigan's Underground Railroad during the Civil War--to uncover the past, confront the seeds of hatred, and discover where love goes to hide.

Where Today Meets Tomorrow : Eero Saarinen and the General Motors Technical Center by Susan Skarsgard

Call# 720.977 Ska

Long before Microsoft or Apple occupied their legendary corporate campuses, there was the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Completed in 1956 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014, this icon of midcentury design was celebrated modern architect Eero Saarinen's (1910 - 1961) first major commission completed independent of his father, Eliel Saarinen, and its story offers a unique perspective on his work. Longtime GM designer Susan Skarsgard weaves a detailed insider's account of the early days of General Motors, the initiation of the technical center project under Eliel Saarinen, its design and construction under Eero Saarinen, and the enthusiastic acclaim the campus received upon its opening. Many leading lights of midcentury modernism were involved in the project as design consultants or artists, including Harry Bertoia, Alexander Girard, Florence Knoll, and Alexander Calder. This lavishly illustrated account is a unique document of a landmark project, presented in photographs and architectural drawings, interviews, documents, and ephemera, many never before seen.

The Women of the Copper Country : a Novel by Mary Doria Russell

Call# Fiction Russell

"In July 1913, twenty-five-year-old Annie Clements had seen enough of the world to know that it was unfair. She's spent her whole life in the coal-mining town of Calumet, Michigan where men risk their lives for meager salaries--and had barely enough to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. The women labor in the houses of the elite, and send their husbands and sons deep underground each day, dreading the fateful call of the company man telling them their loved ones aren't coming home. When Annie decides to stand up for herself, and the entire town of Calumet, nearly everyone believes she may have taken on more than she is prepared to handle"--

The World According to Fannie Davis : My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers by Bridgett M. Davis

Call# 921 Davis

An homage to the author's mother relates how she cleverly played Detroit's illegal lottery in the 1970s to support the family while creating a loving, joyful home and mothering her children to the highest standards.