National Network for Equitable Library Service

He had fifty-seven seconds of screen time in the most lavish POW film Hollywood ever produced. He was blond. A Gestapo agent. Sauntering down the aisles of a speeding train, he speaks in terse German to Richard Attenborough, Gordon Jackson, David McCallum. The film is The Great Escape (by John Sturges, starring Steve McQueen); the actor, though uncredited, is Michael Paryla. He was part Jewish. Shortly after filming he died.

John Metcalf's Shut Up He Explained defies expectations and strict definition. Part memoir, part travelogue, part criticism -- wholly Metcalf -- it is thoughtful, engaged, contentious and often very funny. It offers a full does of Metcalfian wisdom and wit, and provides ample evidence that neither age nor indifference nor attack have withered him: he remains as sharp, critical, constructive and insightful as ever. Indeed, this may just be his most important and engaged book. Certainly it will be among his most controversial.

The River is Paul Vasey's tribute to Windsor, a place he discovered by accident and loved over a lifetime. Chatty, anecdotal, personal and passionate, by the celebrated CBC broadcaster, this grass-roots memoir brings to life a new kind of border city: a town that fired Vasey's imagination, stole his heart, and eventually became the place he calls home.

Between his time with the Detroit Red Wings in the 1950s, the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1960s, and his days as a scout with the New Jersey Devils, Marcel Pronovost has earned eight Stanley Cup rings and enjoyed one of the longest NHL careers of all time. Encounters with game greats and a 32-page photo spread punctuate this compelling life story.

For decades Bruce Jay Friedman has charmed the glitziest industries of American golden-age culture. He's been in publishing. He's been in theater. He's been in film. And now, this best-selling author is in his own head, re-illuminating the dazzle of post-war American life. With cameos by Mario Puzo, Richard Pryor, Warren Beatty, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller, and many others, Lucky Bruce is a moving and scandalous memoir that brushes against the brightest of American luminaries.

Frederick Douglass’s memoir depicts his life as a slave, from his birth into southern slavery to his inspiring fight to learn how to read, escape as a free man and become a leader of the abolitionist movement. One of the most influential pieces of literature, not only for fueling the abolitionist movement, but also for exposing the atrocities of slavery and illuminating the inner strength of an African-American born into an immoral, racist system.

Combining captivating personal memoir and astute political reportage, Marisa Handler offers a fascinating inside look at the burgeoning global justice movement through her own compelling coming-of-age story. Born in apartheid South Africa, Handler emigrated to Southern California at the age of 12. Her gradual realization that injustice existed even in this more open, democratic society spurred a lifelong commitment to activism that would take her around the world and back again.

“How close we came to extinction, and it is forgotten now.” So begins Nobel Prize-winner Bernard Lown’s story of his fight against the nuclear symptom of what he calls “the disease of militarism.” It is still active and highly contagious, as witnessed by events in Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and all too many other places.

Discovered singing on YouTube in 2008, Justin Bieber is now a worldwide pop teen sensation. His first album My World was certified platinum in the United States, with seven Billboard Hot 100 hits. His first full studio album titled My World 2.0 released on March 23rd, 2010, and debuted at number one. Pop culture maven Sarah Parvis has compiled everything a true Justin Bieber fan needs to know inside this adorable minibiography book. With multiple promotional appearances and performances, a rabid fanbase and a squeaky clean image, Justin Bieber's star is just beginning to shine.

"For a reporter, a presidential campaign is the Olympics of political coverage and an assignment to cover it is a front-row ticket from the trial heats to the finals. I had tickets from 1960 until 2000." —Walter Mears Walter Mears had an insider's edge—and he made the most of it by serving newspapers and their readers around the country with some of the best presidential campaign coverage to see print.