Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-Fiction 2013

The finalists for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-fiction have been announced.
They are:
Thomas King | The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America  
Entertaining, humorous and unabashedly opinionated, Happy Trails: A Curious Account of Indians in North America examines North America's relationship with Native people through historical events and figures as well as film, activism, pop culture, legislation, policy, treaties, and the unifying concept of "Native land. " Happy Trails is at once a history in the traditional sense, and the subversion of such a history--in other words, a critical and personal conversation that the brilliant Thomas King has had with himself over the last fifty years about what it means to be Indian. Rich with light, pain and magic, this book is truly Native history from a Native perspective, and an indespensable and ultimately hopeful account for all of us, Indian and non-Indian alike, seeking to understand how we might create a new pattern for the future together.

J.B. MacKinnon | The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be 

The Once and Future World began in the moment J.B. MacKinnon realized the grassland he grew up on was not the pristine wilderness he had always believed it to be. Instead, his home prairie was the outcome of a long history of transformation, from the disappearance of the grizzly bear to the introduction of cattle. What remains today is an illusion of the wild--an illusion that has in many ways created our world. In 3 beautifully drawn parts, MacKinnon revisits a globe exuberant with life, where lions roam North America and 20 times more whales swim in the sea. He traces how humans destroyed that reality, out of rapaciousness, yes, but also through a great forgetting. Finally, he calls for an "age of restoration," not only to revisit that richer and more awe-filled world, but to reconnect with our truest human nature. MacKinnon never fails to remind us that nature is a menagerie of marvels. Here are fish that pass down the wisdom of elders, landscapes still shaped by "ecological ghosts," a tortoise that is slowly remaking prehistory. "It remains a beautiful world," MacKinnon writes, "and it is its beauty, not its emptiness, that should inspire us to seek more nature in our lives."

Graeme Smith | The Dogs are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan 

For readers of War by Sebastian Junger, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch, and The Forever War by Dexter Filkins: The Dogs Are Eating Them Now is a raw, uncensored account of the war in Afghanistan from a brilliant young reporter who for several years was the only Western journalist brave enough to live full-time in the dangerous southern region. The Dogs are Eating Them Now is a highly personal narrative of our war in Afghanistan and how it went dangerously wrong. Written by a respected and fearless former foreign correspondent who has won multiple awards for his journalism (including an Emmy for the video series "Talking with the Taliban") this is a gripping account of modern warfare that takes you into back alleys, cockpits and prisons--telling stories that would have endangered his life had he published this book while still working as a journalist. From the corruption of law enforcement agents and the tribal nature of the local power structure to the economics of the drug trade and the frequent blunders of foreign troops, this is the no-holds-barred story from a leading expert on the insurgency. Smith draws on his unmatched compassion and a rare ability to cut through the noise and see the broader truths to give us a bold and candid look at the Taliban's continued influence--and at the mistakes, catastrophes and ultimate failure of the West's best intentions.

Andrew SteinmetzAndrew Steinmetz | This Great Escape: The Case of Michael Paryla 

Not available in the Parkland Regional Library System at this time.


Priscila Uppal


Priscila Uppal | Projection: Encounters with my Runaway Mother

Not available in the Parkland Regional Library System at this time.

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