Another Perspective
These books give us the opportunity
to better understand the lives of others.
Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and A Dream by H.G. Bissinger (796.332/BIS)
Obsession with high school football in Odessa, Texas is chronicled in this book, which later inspired a motion picture and popular television series.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain (647.95/BOU)
Irreverent chef Bourdain takes you behind the scenes of the restaurant biz and gives you the skinny on which day to avoid ordering fish.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (305.569/EHR)
Undercover journalist Ehrenreich works a variety of low-wage jobs around the country in this eye-opening expose.
The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain’s Journey by Linda Greenlaw (639.2778/GRE)
Greenlaw describes her experiences as captain of the Hannah Bowden, a fishing boat out of Glouster, Massachusetts in this engaging memoir.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (921/HIRSI, ALI A.)
A controversial and gripping account about the being an Islamic woman. The author has been the target of death threats as a result of this memoir and her public outspokenness.
Among Schoolchildren by Tracy Kidder (372.11/KID)
By turns heartwarming and poignant, this book portrays a year in the life of a fifth grade teacher. You’ll find Among Schoolchildren on the syllabi of many collegiate education, psychology and literacy courses.
Home Town by Tracy Kidder (974.423/KID)
This affectionate yet honest look at the daily lives of residents of Northampton, Massachusetts may inspire you to visit, or maybe even ponder relocation to Kidder’s hometown.
There are no Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz (305.23/KOT)
Publisher’s Weekly calls it a “…devastating story” of two boys struggling to grow up in the projects on the west side of Chicago.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan (LT/394.12/POL)
A fascinating look at the different paths that food travels to get to our plates and the people who work to get it there.
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston (614.57/PRE)
Preston’s white-knuckle narrative of a Virginia outbreak of the ebola virus reads like a horror novel, yet is true.
