Suggested Summer Nonfiction - July

1776 / David McCullough

In 1776,  American Colonists from all walks of life banded together to form a ragtag army intent on defeating the British. Read about the army’s struggles, defeats, and victories, their bravery and ingenuity. For example, Henry Knox’s brilliant plan for moving guns from Fort Ticonderoga in the dead of winter. He drilled holes into frozen Hudson River, allowing water to bubble up and freeze over, thickening the ice until it would hold the weight of the canons.

In a 1778 letter, George Washington described his soldiers as men “without clothes. . . without blankets. . . without shoes, [whose] marches might be traced by the blood from their feet, and almost as often without provisions as with them. . . .”  They fought so that the noble ideals of the Declaration would not amount to little more than words on paper. [Amazon.com; www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com]

Space, stars and the beginning of time : what the Hubble telescope saw / Elaine Scott

The Hubble telescope has allowed scientists to visit galaxies light-years away, to see a star being born, shed light on the deepest mysteries of the cosmos, and verify the existence of dark energy, the mysterious force that is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. 

American Sniper / Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice

Enemies call him “the devil”.  Fellow servicemen call him “the legend.”

With 150 confirmed kills, Chris Kyles is the deadliest American sniper ever.

Uh Oh : Some observations from both sides of the refrigerator door / Robert Fulghum

Fulghum's books include All I really needed to know I learned in kindergarten and  It was on fire when I lay down on it.

All are collections of short stories. Some are introspective; they will make you think about life. Some are sweet. Some are side-splittingly funny.

Read all of his collections and you will learn that all you really needed to know you learned in kindergarten; laugh at Hogaboom’s funeral starring the VFW and a stripper; hear about the “Queen Forever of Show and Tell;” and learn how mirror fragment relates to life.