Library Loot

I managed to pickup four books that I had on my wishlist. Three I will be reading this month, and one I'll be saving for a rainy day.

The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay

by John R Wennersten

Eastern Branch Press is pleased to announce the new paperback edition of John R. Wennersten's The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay. In the decades following the Civil War, Chesapeake Bay became the scene of a life and death struggle to harvest the oyster, one of the most valuable commodi­ties on the Atlantic coast. In this book, noted historian and author John Wennersten tells the stories of wa­termen, law enforcement officers, government officials, Bay scientists, immi­grants, and oyster shuckers involved in the oyster trade. Amazon description

Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul

by Jack Canfield

There are many ways to define a woman: daughter, mother, wife, professional, friend, student. We are each special and unique, yet we share a common connection. What bonds all women are our mutual experiences of loving and learning, feeling the tenderness of love, forging lifelong friendships, pursuing a chosen career, giving birth to new life and juggling the responsibilities of job and family. This shining collection of stories from the bestselling "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series is full of just such moments. You will find inspiration, joy and comfort in the special messages found in chapters on love, living your dreams, overcoming obstacles, marriage, motherhood, ageing, bridging the generations, and self esteem. Whether you are a career woman or stay-at-home mother, a teenager or a senior citizen, a young woman just starting out or a woman of the world, this delightful book will be a treasured companion for years to come. Amazon description

Life Sentences

by Laura Lippman

Synopsis - Barnes & Noble
Author Cassandra Fallows has achieved remarkable success by baring her life on the page. Her two widely popular memoirs continue to sell briskly, acclaimed for their brutal, unexpurgated candor about friends, family, lovers—and herself. But now, after a singularly unsuccessful stab at fiction, Cassandra believes she may have found the story that will enable her triumphant return to nonfiction. When Cassandra was a girl, growing up in a racially diverse middle-class neighborhood in Baltimore, her best friends were all black: elegant, privileged Donna; sharp, shrewd Tisha; wild and worldly Fatima. A fifth girl orbited their world—a shy, quiet, unobtrusive child named Calliope Jenkins—who, years later, would be accused of killing her infant son. Yet the boy's body was never found and Calliope's unrelenting silence on the subject forced a judge to jail her for contempt. For seven years, Calliope refused to speak and the court was finally forced to let her go. Cassandra believes...

The Impending Crisis 1848-1861

by David M Potter

Synopsis from Amazon:
Analyzes the problems of slavery, expansion, sectionalism, and party politics that influenced mid-nineteenth-century America.