National Network for Equitable Library Service

Johnson' s focus is on the music--Mozart' s wondrous output of composition and his uncanny gift for instrumentation. Liszt once said that Mozart composed more bars than a trained copyist could write in a lifetime. Mozart' s gift and skill with instruments was also remarkable as he mastered all of them except the harp. For example, no sooner had the clarinet been invented and introduced than Mozart began playing and composing for it.

Johnson brings the gentleman-scientist and his times brilliantly into focus. From Darwin's birth into great fortune to his voyage aboard the Beagle, to the long-delayed publication of his masterpiece, Johnson delves into what made this Victorian gentleman into a visionary scientist--and into the tragic flaws that later led Darwin to support the burgeoning eugenics movement.

Johnson draws from little-known resources to construct a fascinating account of one of history's greatest thinkers. Socrates transcended class limitations in Athens during the fifth century B.C. to develop ideas that still shape the way we think about the human body and soul, including the workings of the human mind.

Gregory joins two eminent historians to explore the real-life characters behind her Wars of the Roses novels. Gregory and her team describe the extraordinary lives of the heroines of her Cousins' War series: Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford; Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV; and Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII.

Rin-Tin-Tin was discovered on a WWI battlefield in 1918. The adorable German shepherd went on to star in several movies throughout the 1920s and 30s. Eventually, his legacy was cemented in a popular 1950s television program.

Johnson explores the complex and fascinating character of Winston Churchill--the soldier, orator, and statesman who shined brightest during Britain's darkest hours.

In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin's amazing life, from his days as a runaway printer to his triumphs as a statesman, scientist, and Founding Father.

Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright. On December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it' And why' David McCullough tells the extraordinary and truly American story of the two brothers who changed the world.

"Arbitrary Stupid Goal is a completely riveting world-when I looked up from its pages regular life seemed boring and safe and modern like one big iPhone. This book captures not just a lost New York but a whole lost way of life."-Miranda July. In Arbitrary Stupid Goal, Tamara Shopsin takes the reader on a pointillist time-travel trip to the Greenwich Village of her bohemian 1970s childhood, a funky, tight-knit small town in the big city, long before Sex and the City tours and luxury condos.

This program is read by the author. From Maria Sharapova, one of our fiercest female athletes, the captivating-and candid-story of her rise from nowhere to tennis stardom, and the unending fight to stay on top. In 2004, in a stunning upset against the two-time defending champion Serena Williams, seventeen-year-old Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon, becoming an overnight sensation. Out of virtual anonymity, she launched herself onto the international stage. "Maria Mania" was born. Sharapova became a name and face recognizable worldwide.