Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

This year marked the 75th anniversary of the executive order that led to the Japanese American Internment. On February 19, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066: “Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas.”  This allowed for military areas to be set up where “any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to…

A good cup of tea is an integral component of working at a library.  Whether it be black tea, green tea, white tea, rooibos, oolong, herbal, chai, breakfast tea, tea containing toasted rice, loose leaf tea, bagged tea, or some combination thereof—the LBPH staff appreciates the wonders of tea. Here are some books that express love for tea and other caffeinated beverages: DB60366 Roy Moxham…

For fans of Bill O’Reilly’s Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan (DB85755), check out these books about the Pacific War that contain stories from the Japanese perspective: DB66359 Kumiko Kakehashi So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of War Based on General Tadamichi Kuribayashi Letters to Iwo Jima Portrait of Japanese lieutenant general Kuribayashi Tadamichi, commander in chief of…

Maeve Binchy was one of the most famous contemporary Irish writers—her books appeared on best-sellers’ lists and as a part of Oprah’s Book Club.  If you liked Binchy’s novels, try her short stories! DB83749 Maeve Binchy A Few of the Girls: Stories A collection of short stories from the Irish author of novels such as Evening Class (DB 44308). Most of the thirty-six stories explore…

The 2017 winner from the 48th NAACP Image Awards on February 11, 2017 in the category of Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction is…The Book of Harlan! DB84940 Bernice L. McFadden The Book of Harlan Harlan Elliott grew up amid the energy of Jazz Age Harlem. He becomes a professional musician and convinces a friend, trumpeter Leo "Lizard" Rubenstein, to join him playing in Paris. When the…

Join us as we watch recent film portrayals of persons with disabilities and ask: Are the portrayals accurate? What’s the message being promoted? What film needs to be made to promote an accurate or positive image? The ways in which individuals and groups are portrayed in popular media can have a profound effect on how they are viewed by society at large. Persons with disabilities…

The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh (DB21678) is the classic dark satire—it’s even set at a funeral home. The plot centers around on a bizarre love triangle between a poet/pet mortician, a mortuary cosmetologist, and an embalmer named Mr. Joyboy. The 1948 novel takes place in a Hollywood cemetery, based the very real Forest Lawn Memorial Park. If you liked The Loved One, check out…

E.B. White may be most well-known for his beloved books for children, like Charlotte’s Web (DB46839) and Stuart Little (DB31831), but he was also one of the most significant essayists of the twentieth century. White wrote for The New Yorker and Harper’s Magazine, influenced writing styles, and even wrote poetry. His work in Harper’s Magazine was compiled into a collection called One Man’s Meat (DB15703),…

Writer’s letters are compiled to give readers a glimpse into the personal lives of their favorite authors. The letters can range from outlines of day-to-day minutia to personal confessions to critiques sent to other familiar literary voices. Letters often give an unfiltered view into the mind of writers that readers would not otherwise have access to. The below collections of letters are from poets and…