The Boy in the Red Dress

Lambert, Kristin. The Boy in the Red Dress. 2020. 362p. ISBN 9780593113684.

On New Year's Eve, 1929, Millie and everyone else at New Orleans' Cloak and Dagger club is preparing to usher in a new decade. The Cloak and Dagger is a swinging speakeasy located in the French Quarter and frequented by the rich and famous, and they all come to the club to watch its star performer, Marion, the boy in the red dress. Millie's aunt had to absent herself at the last moment, leaving Millie in charge. And Millie plans on ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

Marion has legions of fans, and some are more persistent than others. That night, when a beautiful young woman comes in the Cloak and Dagger with a photo of Marion and starts asking questions, Millie is concerned she might be one of those fans who doesn't leave Marion alone. Unfortunately, the woman is soon found dead in the club's courtyard, and Marion is the prime suspect. Millie knows Marion would not hurt a fly, but local law enforcement agents believe he's guilty. 

With Marion on the run (but not too far away, hiding in the Cloak and Dagger), Millie begins her own investigation of who the young woman was, what it is she was after, and who had a reason to kill her. But dangers abound, and time is running out to prove Marion innocent. Can Millie discover who is behind the murder and save her friend, her family, and the club she loves before it is too late?

The Boy in the Red Dress is a great mystery, with realistic characters in an historical period that is often not well known by readers. Fans of whodunit will enjoy this read, and will cheer for Marion to be found innocent.

The 20s and 30s: Flappers & Vamps

Blackman, Call. The 20s and 30s: Flappers & Vamps. 1999. 32p. ISBN 9780836825992.

With the end of the First World War, young people once again wanted to celebrate being alive. The United States' economy roared back to life as the country expanded and spending returned to pre-war levels. New materials such as rayon and elastics allowed for the creation of new clothes, while the music scene and the silver screen influenced how people dressed and what was deemed fashionable. For women, slim and boyish was popular in the early 20s, while men relaxed their appearance away from the more formal Edwardian-style made-to-order to baggy trousers and off the rack clothes purchases.

Movements such as the jazz age as represented in the Great Gatsby and Art Deco had strong influences on colors and patterns, while the practice of sports became more popular, creating new fashion. The nude look of bare arms, neck, and legs for women was a small revolution in what was previously considered shocking. The Great Depression suddenly ended the excesses of the 1920s, but gangsters continued to ply their deadly trade, and their popularity in movies and in popular culture meant that their look also trickled down into the fashion of the era. 

Tommy: The Gun that Changed America

Blumenthal, Karen. Tommy: The Gun that Changed America. 2015. 240p. ISBN 9781626720848.

The rise of the machine gun made warfare even more deadly, and the value of these weapons were proven on the battlefields of the First World War, when tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides were literally mowed down by powerful guns that could fire hundreds of bullets under a minute. Machine guns, however, were heavy and required a crew to staff. John Taliaferro Thompson, an American army commander, determined to build a portable weapon that could quickly fire a hail of bullets but that could also be carried and operated by one man.

Over several years, Thompson and the company he founded engineered and tested several designs, until they created what became known as the Thompson submachine gun. Also called the Tommy gun, the Thompson featured a revolutionary round cartridge cylinder design that allowed it to fire one hundred bullets under a minute. But by the time the Thompson came on the market, the need for weapons of war had greatly diminished. Saddled with a large inventory of unsold weapons, the company starting cutting corners and was less discriminating in who it sold weapons to. Soon, American gangsters, spurred by Prohibition and the bootlegging business, armed themselves with the Thompson. This led to several mass shootings, which then triggered even more gangster and police purchases.

As the age of the gangster ended, sales for the Thompson guns once again fell, but the Second World War revived the company's fortunes, and the Thompson saw action in Europe and in the Pacific. By that time, however, better weapons had been developed, and the Thompson fell out of favor even before the end of the war. Regardless, the Thompson submachine gun had a profound impact on American criminal history, and became the symbol of a gun-loving society. To this day, a Thompson carried in a violin case remains one of the classical images of the 1930s.

Fans of history and of military weapons will be fascinated by this biography of a deadly weapon misused for a decade.

Bacchanal

Henry, Veronica G. Bacchanal. 2021. 352p. ISBN 9781542027816.

Eliza has always been able to talk with animals. Well, not talk, but at least communicate feelings and ideas. Unfortunately, her eagerness to communicate usually leads to the death of the animal, and Eliza has never figured out why this happens. Abandoned by her family, Eliza ends up living in a small rented room in a boarding house, doing odd cleaning jobs in the 1930s Baton Rouge. Born on the wrong side of the color line, Eliza has no prospects and no hope of ever reuniting with her younger sister ... until she is recruited by the Bacchanal Carnival, where she meets other African-American folks with strange and wonderful talents.

Tasked with figuring out a talent for the carnival, Eliza works with some of the artists and begins to grasp the limits of her power. But others also have strange powers, including the enigmatic resident of the red caravan. And everywhere the carnival goes, people die or disappear.

As the carnival travels through the South, encountering racism, Eliza continues to search for her sister. But finding her will put her in even more danger as the evil that dwells within the carnival is also searching for the growing threat that is Eliza ...

The Great Hurricane: 1938

 Burns, Cherie. The Great Hurricane: 1938. 2005. 240p. ISBN 978-0-8711-3893-4. Available at 974.04 BUR on the library shelves.

On September 21, 1938, all eyes of the world was concerned that Adolf Hitler was ready to attack Czechoslovakia. News headlines screamed that war was coming. In New York and New England, those concerns were balanced with the need to put summer homes in order before winter arrived. Families still on the beaches on Long Islands and Rhodes Island were spending a few more days before they returned in their city residences. Locals were working or fishing. And out at sea the largest hurricane to hit the area was brewing. In an era where satellites did not exist and telephone and radio networks were easily disrupted, no one saw this storm coming, with dire consequences.

Long Island was the first to bear the brunt of the Great Hurricane of 1938. Houses were taken off their foundations and crushed in the sea. Large waves moved massive concrete and granite barriers. The water crested fifteen feet above the highest tide ever recorded. People who were watching the surf and the storm approach were swept away, and even those who took shelter in houses were hurt as roofs blew away and windows shattered. Telephone poles were snapped, and all communications ceased. It was impossible to warn the people across Long Island Sound that a storm was coming their way.

In Rhodes Island, resort towns were slowly winding down. No bad weather was forecasted. Local fishermen noticed the drop in barometric pressure and wisely stayed in harbor. Others ignored the warnings and went fishing anyway. When the storm hit, it destroyed everything in its path, causing millions of dollars in damages, killing hundreds of people, and forever affecting the communities in its path.

As the threats of war continued unabated in Europe, the Great Hurricane of 1938 became a footnote in New England history, and was barely discussed elsewhere in the country. It became this catastrophic storm that most have never heard of. Fans of history and of impressive weather events will appreciate the tale of a day that forever changed New England. Told hour by hour, and featuring a cast of hundreds of survivors and victims, this effective reconstruction of the deadliest storm in New England history is sure to make the reader wonder twice about their safety the next time a hurricane comes to New Hampshire.

Esperanza Rising

Muñoz Ryan, Pam. Esperanza Rising. 2000. 262p. ISBN 0-439-12041-1. Available both as an audiobook from Overdrive and on the library shelves at FIC RYA.

Esperanza and her family live on a rolling ranch in Mexico. It is the late 1920s, early 1930s, and the economy is collapsing. Her father, a wealthy rancher, employs many servants and field hands, but when he dies after being ambushed by brigands, Esperanza's life of pretty dresses and parties ends abruptly as she and her mother are forced to flee the wreckage of their home, abandoning her grandmother behind in a convent.

Pursued by her father's brothers, powerful men who have wanted the estate for themselves for years, Esperanza and her mother make their way north to the United States with the help of Miguel and his family, former field hands going to California to find work in the fields there. The comfort of life that Esperanza experienced before suddenly become only memories, as she must earn her living just like the other immigrants, doing hard work harvesting different foods.

When her mother falls sick, it is now up to Esperanza to earn enough money to pay her medical bills and at the same time save enough to bring her abuela to the United States. Esperanza must adapt to a new reality where the divisions that existed between her and her servants are now gone, and everyone needs to help everyone in order to survive. Based on a true story, fans of realistic and historical fiction will appreciate Esperanza Rising. 

20th Century Art, 1920-1940: Realism and Surrealism

Gaff, Jackie. 20th Century Art, 1920-1940: Realism and Surrealism. 2000. 32p. ISBN 978-0-8368-2850-4. Available at 709.04 GAF on the library shelves.

The destruction wrought by the First World War fundamentally altered the perception that humanity was continuously evolving and becoming better. Before the War artists had escaped the bounds of perception and reality, experiencing with vivid colors and strange combinations of forms and functions. But with so much devastation, artists were suddenly forced to deal with the world as it was, and not as they wanted it to be. Whereas no one had really questioned whether artists were needed prior to the War, the chaos and revolutions that ensued placed major demands on artists to create art that was not merely colorful but rather relevant to their society. Some artists took on that role with remarkable eagerness, while others, such as Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst continued their escape from the real world into Surrealism.

The Bauhaus, a German art school, created art that was both beautiful and functional. This group experimented with form and function, and was eventually banished by the Nazis in the 1930s. Other Germans made art critical of their society and sought to express distress and disgust at unstable economic conditions in Germany following the end of the war. In Britain, Stanley Spencer, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth reconnected with the past to inspire new works. Meanwhile, in the United States artists attempted to represent their world through realistic but gloomy pictures. The Great Depression struck throughout the world and led to resentment and pain, which the artists seized on to explain what was happening. Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera crafted colossal paintings to educate and inspire viewers. Soviet art also sought to express the ideas that the State was all powerful and deserved allegiance.

As dictators emerged in the 1930s and took control of major countries in Europe, it became clear to most that another war was coming. The German destruction of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War demoralized Republican forces and led Picasso to create one of his most famous painting that illustrated the suffering and death caused by bombs dropped from airplanes.

The Shadow Hero

Yang, Gene Luen and Sonny Liew. The Shadow Hero. 2014. 158p. ISBN 978-1-59643-697-8. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

In 1944, a Chinese American illustrator named Chu Hing was asked to create a superhero for a series titled Blazing Heroes. Wanting to appeal to a White audience, the editors requested that the main character be White. Chu Hing acquiesced, but hid the features of his hero, the Green Turtle, who is never seen from the front and only from the back. Green Turtle defended China, the United States' ally during the Second World War, against the Japanese invaders. Green Turtle had no obvious special powers aside from an uncanny way to avoid bullets, and his adventures only lasted five episodes before the series was cancelled.

All of this is background to explain what The Shadow Hero is. Yang and Liew tell the origin story of the man who became the Green Turtle. Growing up in a city on the West Coast, Hank helps his father run their small grocery store. His mother, who married without much enthusiasm, wishes he would be so much more, and when she is saved from a car jacking by a superhero named the Anchor of Justice, she decides to help her son find his true calling, that of a superhero.

At first Hank plays at being a superhero, but he gets beat up and discovers there is a very dark underside to Chinatown. A criminal organization dominates the neighborhood, and the local police is not interested in solving crimes that only affect Chinese folks. When Hank's father doesn't pay the gang, Hank takes it upon himself to recoup the money that had to be paid. This result in the death of Hank's father. Determining to avenge himself, Hank commits to the role of the Green Turtle, and discovers that his father did in fact have a superpower of sorts. Now with a new outfit and logo, can the Green Turtle restore peace and eliminate the criminal syndicate from Chinatown?

Reminiscent of the superhero comic books from the 1940s and 1950s, The Shadow Hero connects some of the dots behind the Green Turtle's origins, and provides a look at a community that is underrepresented in history and in today's comic world. Fans of graphic novels will appreciate the art work and the tight story.

The Boys of the Boat

Brown, Daniel James. The Boys in the Boat: The True Story of an American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics. 2015. 336 mins. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

The 1936 Olympics were hosted in Berlin by Nazi Germany. Meant to showcase Aryan superiority, the Germans fully expected their athletes to win gold at most events. The marquee events for the rowing competitions is the 9 person boat, with a coxswain and eight rowers. The Germans were very good at rowing, and so were many other European countries. The United States sent a crew from the University of Washington to participate, and despite all odds both at home and in Germany, they won their race and returned to the United States with gold medals.

This is a story of grit and determination when facing what seem unsurmountable obstacles. The author focuses on the life of Joe Rantz, a man from Washington who was one of the crewmen on the winning Olympic team. Joe's mother died young when Joe was only three. She loved music and this is what Joe remembered her most for. After his mother's death Joe was sent to live with relatives in Pennsylvania, and he crossed the country all by himself on trains. His father sent for him two years later, and he returned to find his father once again married. Life was hard on the frontier, with Joe's father always away at logging camps or working odd jobs.

At ten Joe was forced to leave home by his stepmother. For a time Joe worked in town and continued school, but by the time he was 15 he was living alone in his father's old house, while the family had relocated to Seattle. The Great Depression crashed many people's economic aspirations. Joe entered the University of Washington, and joined the rowing crew. Years of hard physical labor and exertions had prepared him well, however, and his freshman year his crew and their boat, referred to as a shell, defeated elite teams from California and Ivy League universities.

Joe and his teammates repeated this feat every year, and made it to the Olympics. Joe's team was undefeated their entire college career. Throughout his time on the crew team Joe found love, and also a sense of belonging. This is not only the story of winning gold, this is the story of perseverance and finding oneself.

Fans of Unbroken and other historical biographies will appreciate the dedication and effort it took on the part of the crewmen to overcome the barriers that stood in their way, and how out of the crucible of exertion came a sense of belonging and of home.

Crash: The Great Depression and the Fall and Rise of America

Favreau, Marc. Crash: The Great Depression and the Fall and Rise of America. 2018. 189 mins. ISBN 978-0-316-46489-5. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Midway through 1929, no one imagined that six months later the world's economy would have collapsed and businesses and industries would ground to a halt. Life was rich, and wealth was building through the stock market. The Roaring 20s were looking forward to even more prosperity in the next decade. Even as a recession was growing and unemployment was increasing, there was little doubt in people's expectations that the economy would continue to grow.

When a massive selloff on Wall Street at the end of October burst the illusion of a great economy, people's life savings disappeared overnight, causing businesses to pull back, run on banks, and a sense of dread. The federal government determined to let relief in the hands of private interests and charities, which caused further pain and suffering. By 1931, millions of people were unemployed, many had lost everything, and large segments of the population was on the move, seeking ever dwindling work opportunities.

The despair forced President Hoover out, and elected Franklin Roosevelt president. As soon as his Inauguration in 1933, he and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, got to work to immediately involved the federal governments in employment schemes. The result, the New Deal, created a multitude of federal agencies, and put American workers back to work. The Great Depression slowly receded, but it was not until the devastating impact of the Second World War that the American industrial giant fully emerged from its economic woes and entered a decade of economic prosperity.

Well researched, Crash presents information that fans of history will appreciate, and enable the reader to relate to specific individuals who experienced first-hand the pain and suffering that the Great Depression wrought on the United States and the world.

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow

Sturm, James & Rich Tommaso. Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow. 2007. 89p. ISBN 0-7868-3900-7. Available at B STU on the library shelves.

In the 1930s and 40s, America was bitterly divided by racial tensions. African Americans were not allowed to eat at the same restaurants, stay at the same hotels, and go to the same schools as Whites. But Satchel Paige, one baseball's greatest player, was not stopped by any of this. At one time the highest paid baseball player in the United States, Paige had an amazing pitch and put on an incredible show wherever he played, whether in the Negro League or elsewhere.

This graphic novel presents Paige's career and discusses the impact he had on promoting respect for African-Americans. Always the better player, he held baseball matches against the best White teams and won, always making a show but demonstrating that African-Americans were not inferior. The illustrations are shades of white, green and black, but beautifully render the spirit of the times. Readers who enjoy graphic novels will appreciate learning about a player that should not be forgotten. 

The Sound of Freedom

Kacer, Kathy. The Sound of Freedom. 2017. 249p. ISBN 978-1-55451-969-9. Available at FIC KAC on the library shelves.

Ever since Hitler came to power in neighboring Germany, the Jews of Poland have lived uneasily. Over the last three years incidents of antisemitism have been on the rise, and violence against Jews is tolerated and even encouraged by local authorities. In Krakow, Anna’s father works for the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra and teaches students. Anna herself is a talented clarinet player, and she hopes to follow in her father’s footsteps. When Anna witnesses the old butcher’s assault by a gang of thugs while the police observes but does not interfere, she knows it is time to leave the country. Yet Jews are not welcomed anywhere, so obtaining transit papers to live somewhere else is almost impossible. Her father does not want to leave anyway.

An announcement in the local newspaper declares that Bronislaw Huberman, the world-renowned violinist, seeks to create the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra and is hiring Jewish musicians from all over Europe. Anna sees this as her father’s chance at an exit ticket, and encourages him to apply. He demures, saying that things are not as bad. Anna and her grandmother, who lives with them, conspire and write a letter to Herr Huberman anyway, asking him to allow her father to audition. When Anna and her father are attacked by thugs at the Philharmonic Orchestra, he is forced to agree that the situation for Jews is worsening, and that he must find a way out of Poland.

As Jewish persecution intensifies throughout Europe, and as the seeds of the Holocaust are being sowed, the family’s future rests on the success or failure of this audition. But even if it is successful, they will have to adapt to a new country, where the return of Jews is not welcomed by the local Arab population.

Inspired by true events, The Sound of Freedom discusses a little-known aspect of Jewish immigration in the tense years leading to the Second World War and the Holocaust. Fans of historical fiction will appreciate Anna’s efforts to save her family from a doom she cannot identify but that she can feel is about to strike.

Midnight at the Electric

Anderson, Jody Lynn. Midnight at the Electric. 2017. 227p. ISBN 978-0-06-239354-8. Available at FIC AND on the library shelves.

In 2065, climate change has now irreversibly impacted Earth, and governments everywhere have pooled their resources to build a successful colony on Mars. Only a select few are sent on this one-way trip, hoping to create a new world and restore hope for humanity. Adri is one such lucky person. A teenager from Florida who lost her only family, Adri has no ties left with Earth, and is eager and ready to go. She will complete a grueling training program in Kansas, then head up to Mars with a small team. When she is informed that she will be staying with a relative during her stay in Kansas, Adri is surprised. She didn’t think she had any of them left.

Now living with her great aunt while she trains, Adri discovers a journal in the large farmhouse. In it, Catherine, a girl who lived over a hundred years ago, describes her hopes and fears during the Dust Bowl of 1934, a period that wiped many farms and towns in the middle of the country. Catherine is worried for her sister, who is sick from all the dust she has been breathing. When the Midnight Electric comes to town and promises eternal life, Catherine is desperate enough to spend money she doesn’t have and attempt it for her sister’s sake. Catherine is also intrigued by postcards her mother received decades ago, written by one of her mother’s friend, Lenore, from England.

In 1919, Lenore writes many letters to her best friend who has departed England for Kansas, relating her life and the impact that her brother’s death during World War I had on her family. Lenore describes her hopes and fears, and talks about the man she has met who lives in a run-down cottage on her family’s estate. Lenore missed her chance to immigrate with her friend, but is still hoping to travel to Kansas and be reunited.

The lives of three girls, in three distinct time periods, are about to meet through journals and postcards, showing that eternal life is indeed possible.

Told from three different points of view, each girl's journey is a product of her time, yet remains eerily similar. Fans of light mysteries and of introspective reading will appreciate how the girls' situations are deftly handled and nicely tie in together.