Silicon

Gardner, Jane P. Silicon. Part of the Chemistry of Everyday Elements series. 2017. 64p. ISBN 9781422238448. Available at 546.68 GAR on the library shelves. 

Silicon, a seemingly unremarkable element, plays a pivotal role in shaping the modern world. Its unique properties as a semiconductor, a material that can conduct electricity under specific conditions, have revolutionized electronics. Silicon's ability to precisely control the flow of electrical current forms the bedrock of countless devices, from the smartphones in our pockets to the powerful computers that drive scientific research and global communication networks.

From the transistors that power our gadgets to the integrated circuits that form the brains of modern computers, silicon's versatility is undeniable. Its abundance in the Earth's crust and its relatively low cost make it an ideal material for mass production. As technology continues to advance, the demand for silicon-based components will only increase, driving further innovation in fields like artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and space exploration.

This series includes:

• Silver
• Helium
• Gold
• Silicon
• Oxygen
• Hydrogen
• Aluminum

Gentrification Is Inevitable and Other Lies

Kern, Leslie. Gentrification Is Inevitable and Other Lies. 2022. 252p. ISBN 9781839767548. 

Gentrification is the process of replacing one community in a location with another. A neighborhood populated with Irish immigrants at the turn of the 20th century transforms itself into little Italy, to then welcome Ethiopian immigrants, before being swallowed by people with money who purchase buildings and land, tear them down, and rebuild expensive residences the locals cannot afford. Gentrification occurs all over the country and around the world, but the process remains filled with questions. Who benefits from gentrification? The locals? The newcomers? The city coffers? Who is most affected when a neighborhood changes?

In Gentrification is Inevitable, the author explores the truths and the myths behind this urban phenomenon, and answers some of the questions that arise out of what many consider to be an urban crisis. The truths are that the most vulnerable communities are usually the most impacted by gentrification. It causes a net loss of housing for folks who do not have the means to remain in their old neighborhood. Myths are that gentrification are inevitable, and that it contributes to a vibrant city life. Looking at gentrification through class, gender, race, and even sexuality, the author argues that gentrification is the American colonial project that continues, when locals with limited means are expelled from their land and replaced with folks that "look like us." But resistance is possible, and gentrification can be fought by citizens when they demand that the city be built for everyone, and not only for individuals with money.

In an age of soaring rents and a lack of affordable housing, readers who enjoy urban history will appreciate this volume and the steps it provides to fight off gentrification.

Free to Obey: Management from Nazism to the Present Day

Chapoutot, Johann. Free to Obey: Management from Nazism to the Present Day. 2020. 144. ISBN 9781609458041.

When the Nazis were elected to power in 1933, they set out to dismantle the State to achieve what they deemed a "free" society. The Nazis sought to remove any constraints on actions to further the Nazis' goals, as the people were the State, and not the other way around. This created particular difficulties for the organization of labor, as corporations and businesses were organized around unions and management relations. The Nazis took over all unions, and enforced strict management rules. How could workers express their displeasures at labor policies under such a system? Reinhard Höhn, a technocrat and respected labor specialist, joined the Nazis and proposed changes that would increase German productivity without undermining the power of management to set goals and run their organizations as they saw fit. 

Höhn promoted the concept of freedom for employees. Management could set goals, and employees were free to find ways to meet these goals. Obviously, they were expected to be successful, and would own any failure that resulted from attempting to reach these goals. In this way, employees gained flexibility while the rigid hierarchical structure that granted management power and control over the employees remained solidly in place, despite a push for eliminating the rest of the "State."

Following Germany's defeat, Höhn did not disappear from public life like many other former Nazis. Instead, he founded a management school that continued to extoll the virtues he promoted during the Nazi years, without the racial component so clearly loved by them. And over the following decades, more than half a million managers and white collar workers attended the school, receiving instructions and being formed to this management idea that workers should be free to obey. This definition remains a cornerstone of Western-style management today. Thus, Nazi-inspired ideas about organization of labor and the management of corporations remain with us to this day.

Fans of history and of management will appreciate this succinct history, and will wonder if there are better opportunities to structure labor / management relationships in organizations in businesses that will increase productivity while reducing labor conflicts.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929: The End of Prosperity

Lange, Brenda. The Stock Market Crash of 1929: The End of Prosperity. Part of the Milestones in American History series. 2007. 114p. ISBN 9780791093542. Available at 332.64 LAN on the library shelves.

Following the end of the First World War, the economy of the United States roared back. Cash was plentiful, and advances in economic management promoted the growth of the credit industry and its use to finance expensive items like cars and appliances. Americans were feeling rich, and this was most visible in the stock market, which kept going up throughout what became known as the Roaring Twenties. Despite warnings from economists and from economic data that the party was coming to an end, folks were surprised when, on Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market suffered its worst day, with a 48% drop and billions of dollars wiped out.

Suddenly, people who thought the growth of the market would continue found themselves owing money they didn't have. Economic misery became the norm, as consumer spending retracted, and, with no new orders for goods and services, businesses shut down. Soon, one out of every four workers was unemployed and looking for work. Financial despair became the norm, and families split as people started looking for work far afield. Farms and houses were foreclosed. Bad weather contributed to a mighty Dust Bowl in the prairies, which wiped out millions of acres of farmland. Poverty spread dramatically.

The election of 1932 represented a change of vision for the country, with the election of Franklin Roosevelt to the presidency. Instead of President Hoover's laissez faire attitude that government should not be helping people, Roosevelt promoted several ideas and programs to put the country back to work, including social security, unemployment insurance, the Civilian Conservation Corp, and the Work Progress Administration. The struggle to climb out of the despair and poverty triggered by the stock market crash of 1929 was not fully resolved until the Second World War brought full employment back to the United States. 

Fans of history will appreciate this overview of a drastic period in American history, and will be able to trace some of the roots of the Second World War overseas as Fascist regimes took over in Italy, Spain, and Germany to address the economic distress caused by the crash of 1929.

Other books in the series include:

• The Stock Market Crash of 1929
• The Wright Brothers

How the Gold Standard Works.

Ryan, Peter. How the Gold Standard Works. Part of the Real World Economics series. 2011. 80p. ISBN 9781448812721. Available at 332.4 RYA on the library shelves.

Gold has always attracted the human gaze. Shiny and bright, highly malleable, and coveted due to its rareness, gold quickly established itself as the cornerstone of every economic system, from the Romans in antiquity to modern economies. The rise of paper money facilitated exchanges, but even those bills were technically exchangeable for a quantity of gold at any point.

In the United States, two World Wars and several economic recessions and depressions finally forced the decoupling of what was called the gold standard. The gold standard served to peg the value of each dollar bill to a specific amount of gold, but as the economy grew it became increasingly difficult to keep the amount of dollars in the economy in relative balance to the amount of gold. There was simply too much economic activity, which required much more flexibility than was provided by having the U.S. dollar pegged to gold. 

How the Gold Standard Works explains the chemical properties of gold, how it is mined and refined, and how it has been used in the past and today to support the economy of nations. Despite its loss of status as an economic standard, gold today remains one of the most precious metal. Fans of the economy will appreciate the thoroughness of this volume and its exploration of the gold standard and how, even today, it gold influences our economy.

How Currency Devaluation Works. Part of the Real World Economics

Gottfried Hollander, Barbara. How Currency Devaluation Works. Part of the Real World Economics series. 2011. 80p. ISBN 9781448812707.

As sovereign actors, countries control the value of their currency. However, what they do not control is how other currencies interact with their own. A multitude of factors influence the value of a country's currency. The desirability of their goods and services, the credibility of its financial system, the health of its economy, government spending in relation to its revenue collection, and the faith in the economy overall all impact the value of a currency.

When one or more of these factors become negative, the value of a currency can fall when compared to the value of another currency. Countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have all undergone currency devaluation in recent decades, leading to immediate economic difficulties but longer term growth due to the cheaper goods now being produced and purchased by other countries. Even the United States has devalued its currency in years past, to remain competitive against economic powerhouses China and Japan.

This short book demystifies the process of devaluating a currency, and explains the consequences that occur when this happens. 

Where to from Here? A Path to Canadian Prosperity

 Morneau, Bill. Where to from Here? A Path to Canadian Prosperity 2023. 328p. ISBN  9781770417144. 

Coming from the world of pensions, Bill Morneau was elected to the Canadian Parliament in 2015. He had been approached by the Liberals to join Justin Trudeau's team due to his strong economics background. The Liberals defeated the Conservatives and formed a majority, and Bill Morneau was appointed Ministers of Finances, where he served for five years. A combination of disappointment with government policy, political scandals that rocked the Liberal party, and the lack of political structures that promoted changes contributed to his exit of the federal political scene.

In Where to from Here? Morneau outlines a positive view of Canada, but he also points out the challenges that face the country, from low growth in prosperity due to high taxes and low dynamism, to relations between the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, to a glooming crisis in health care and pensions. Part biography, part political treatise on the steps needed to make Canada more competitive and improve the lives of its people, Where to from Here draws a vivid map that political leaders could use to guide their actions and ensure that Canada remains prosperous.

Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones

Campbell, Greg. Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones . 2002. 280p. ISBN 9780813342207. 

Though diamonds are beautiful, they, aside from a few industrial uses, have no particular economic value aside from what we ascribe to them. It is therefore amazing that an entire ecosystem rose on the discovery of diamonds in Africa in the 1800s, and that these discoveries would make some men extremely rich, while impoverishing the local inhabitants and causing strife and war.

Diamonds were discovered in the 1930s in Sierra Leone, a country founded by the British to act as a home for freed slaves, and at the time still a British colony. International concerns like De Beers, the company responsible for the slogan "Diamonds are forever," entered the market. Exploitation of diamond mines were hard, however, for there were no roads and no effective way to provide security. Warlords and rebel groups stepped into the void, and began exploiting their own mines using slave labors. The diamonds were sold through middlemen, and weapons were bought with the proceeds, furthering war and instability as various groups fought each other and outside forces for control of the diamond mines.

The conflict has lead to mass casualties, including rape, slavery, amputations, and people being shot. Diamonds traded this way were revealed to have financed Al Qaeda and the 9/11 terrorists attack on the United States, and soon became referred to as blood diamonds for the violence inflicted on those who mined them and lived in the area. Despite promises to clean up their act and to provide transparency on the provenance of their diamonds, large companies continue to exploit a resource that is portable and easily hidden, that can be smuggled and laundered to show a different provenance. Until diamonds lose their attraction in the United States and elsewhere as an expression of love, people will continue to be hurt and die during their exploitation.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. 2009. 242p. ISBN 1594488843. Available at PROF 153.1 PIN on the library shelves.

What motivates people? Science has studies motivation for decades, trying to determine what moves people forward in good and bad times. Many studies have focused on money and how it can be used to increase motivation, but results have pointed out that rewards like money do enhance motivation, but only up to a point. 

Motivation, it turns out, is intrinsically connected to the human desire to accomplish something self-driven and meaningful. It can be broken into three separate yet connected pieces that all work together to motivate an individual: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. This desire guides learning and self-management to achieve a goal, which then builds on itself towards another goal. Even in a less than motivating environment, being able to guide one's own work provides a level of satisfaction that money and other extrinsic rewards cannot.

Motivation remains elusive, but this book provides an excellent foundation to understand how businesses and institutions can develop the means to empower their employees to reach autonomy, gain mastery, and work towards a meaningful purpose.

Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy

 Marrin, Albert. Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy. 2011. 196p. ISBN 9780375868894. Available at 974.71 on the library shelves.

In the 1900s, the economy of the United States was booming. Immigrants by the millions were moving from all over Europe to settle in the young country. Most of them entered through New York City, and many ended up settling in the bustling metropolis. At the time, the largest garment factories were in New England and New York, where abundant electrical power and plenty of labors facilitated the process of building and staffing factories.

Workers were at the mercy of capitalist bosses, however, with little rights and no ways to effect changes. Unions were weak and riddled with mobsters. On March 25, 1911, a fire ravaged the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. The owners of the factory had locked emergency doors to prevent workers from sneaking in and out of work. There were not enough emergency staircases. When the fire broke out, workers had nowhere to go, and many of them jumped out of windows to their death below.

The outrage at the loss of 146 workers, mostly young women, carried far and wide into the circles of political power. This fire was the deadliest workplace incident in the history of the nation until September 11, 2021, and remains the deadliest industrial accident. A wave of activism followed the deadly fire. Immigrant women banded together and forced positive changes to workplace rules and working conditions for everyone in the country. Unions gained in strength against management. Working conditions improved dramatically, leading to less death and accidents. 

Fans of history will appreciate this well-researched book, and will gain a new understanding into some of the laws and rules we enjoy today and never really think about.  The impacts of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire continue to affect us more than a hundred years later.

Saudi Arabia

 Harper, Robert A. Saudi Arabia. Part of the Modern World Nations. 2003. 109p. ISBN 0-7910-6935-4. Available at 953.8 HAR on the library shelves.

No country exemplify the conflict between modernity and traditions more than Saudi Arabia. A relatively sparsely populated land, the main occupation of its population as late as the 1930s was camel herding. Bedouins, or desert travelers, grazed their animals in the deserts of the peninsula and observed a strict version of Islam. 

A collection of tribes, Arabia became the center of Islam when the Prophet Muhammad received visions from God. Mecca, his birthplace, and Medina, the first city that accepted his teachings, soon became the sites of vast pilgrimages. Muslims from all over the world are expected to visit at least once in their lifetime. 

Arabs exported Islam to North Africa and eastward all the way to Indonesia, but soon lost control of Islam as more entrenched civilizations took over. Egypt and the Ottoman Empire ruled Mecca and Medina, leaving the rest of the desertic peninsula to its inhabitants.

Sheik Saud successfully united the tribes in the early 1920s and named the country Saudi Arabia, just in time for oil to be discovered. Oil made the Saudis rich, but it also changed their lives. Foreign workers were imported to help build the infrastructure needed to exploit the oil wealth. A social safety net was created for the citizens, and massive investments in health care and education moved Saudi society forward. The country's geographic areas are divided and only connected by air, and the arid climate limits agriculture.

Tensions remain between Saudi Arabia's move toward modernity and a desire to keep ties to its past, and Saudi Arabia will continue to exert geopolitical influence as long as oil remains the center of industrialized economies.

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. 

Dare to Lead

Brown, Brené. Dare to Lead. 2018. 320p. ISBN 9780399592522. Available at 658.4 BRO on the library shelves.

What is a leader? Are leaders born, or do they develop their leadership abilities over time? What does it mean to be a leader? In this provocative book, Brown discusses the characteristics that all leaders possess, and explains how effective leadership is achieved. She begins by defining the word leader as someone "who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential" (p. 4). Effective leaders are those who can harness the capabilities and skills of the people they work with and channel them in a productive and positive direction.

She identifies several characteristics of effective leadership. A leader needs to embrace vulnerability. Courage and fear are not exclusive, and it's okay for leaders to not know all of the answers. Leaders approach problems by remaining curious, by staying focused on the problem but knowing when to take a break from problem-solving and returning at a later time. More than anything, leaders own the process and "listen with the same passion with which [they] want to be heard" (p. 10). They acknowledge other ideas, and give credit where it is due. A leader is self-aware and possesses self-love. Fear underpins many of the ineffective behaviors and underperforming corporate culture, and poor leaders fail not because they experience fear, but because they do not respond to it properly. Leaders have the difficult conversations because they either lead to improvement or to significant changes that benefit the team.

When taken together, these characteristics are indicative of how successful a leader will be guiding their team forward. Those who lead teams or who aspire to lead will benefit from reading Brown's advice to fostering a sense of courageous yet vulnerable climate where honesty and integrity are valued and contribute to the functioning of the enterprise.

YouTube and Videos of Everything

Centore, Michael. YouTube and Videos of Everything. Part of the Tech 2.0: World-Changing Entertainment Companies series. 2019. 64p. ISBN 978-1-42224059-5. Available at 384.33 CEN on the library shelves.

The story of YouTube is the story of most wildly successful tech companies: A group of college friends realized there was a need for a service, created a business plan, started a company in a garage, programmed a website, and wrote history. For YouTube, three friends who worked together at PayPal before it was bought by eBay in 1998 reconnected a few years later and discovered they had difficulty sharing videos they had recorded. At the time, each device used a different format that required a different piece of software to decode and play. Creating a service that could handle different formats and display them seamlessly on the Internet would finally facilitate videos online

Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim invested their own money and time, and built a company called YouTube, designed to let anyone to post videos online. They released their beta site in May 2005, and immediately it was a success. The expansion of YouTube was accompanied with growing pains, as the founders needed to both figure a way to monetize their site as well as enforce copyright laws. Advertising crept in. By the end of 2006, YouTube was popular enough that Google spent 1.5 billion purchasing it and incorporating it in its suite of services. As it continued to expand, YouTube improved technology and created a whole new type of job, the YouTuber. It also has increased its reach, becoming the 2nd most popular website worldwide, right behind Google but ahead of Facebook.

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.

Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know

Graydon, Shari. Illustrated by Michelle Lamoreaux. Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know. 2013. 155p. ISBN 978-1-55451-560-8. Available at 659.1 GRA on the library shelves.

When we see an ad on television, on the Internet or in a magazine, we often wonder who they are trying to attract, and we tell ourselves that we as savvy customers are not influenced by advertisement. But there is so much of it everywhere that we often don't realize it. That vehicle involved in this movie's car chase? Advertisement. This full page news report about China? Advertisement. Your friend's t-shirt with the logo of his favorite restaurant? Yes, advertisement. We are bombarded with visual and audio advertisements every day of our lives, from the time we are born to the time we die. Billboards outside; internet sites; broadcast media; clothes; even the food on our shelves are advertisements. How can we survive this onslaught of branding?

Made You Look describes what advertisement is, how it is used to distribute messages, how ads actually work, and what students can do to fight back against all of these ads. We need to realize that we are the ultimate product being marketed and that ads do not contribute to our well-being or our relationships with others, but simply aim to make us purchase more of specific products. There are several steps that we as consumers can take to stop bad advertising and reduce the overall amount of advertising that we see in our lives. Helpful hints to create one's own impactful advertisement, for business, yard sales, or appealing for donations, are also included.

The Truth Behind Antibiotics, Pesticides, and Hormones

Smundak, Katharina. The Truth Behind Antibiotics, Pesticides, and Hormones. Part of the From Factory to Table: What You’re Really Eating series. 2018. 48p. ISBN 978-1-4994-3922-9. Available at 615.32 SMU on the library shelves.

Since the 1950s, the world’s food production has increased dramatically, outpacing the growth in total population and enabling billions of people to be fed. This increase is due in part to modern antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones, which have allowed faster growth in plants and animals alike. Unfortunately, these modern tools are also negatively influencing the environment, leading some to wonder whether we should continue to use them in our food supply.

Used to treat illnesses caused by bacteria, antibiotics were first developed to help humans, but quickly were adapted to treat animals. An over reliance on and over prescription of antibiotics has meant that there are now several bacteria which are resistant to treatment. This resistance threatens humans by removing one avenue of healing. Pesticides were developed to kill bugs and other pests that infect plants and animals, but their spreading ensure that they are present in the food chain through bigger animals eating smaller ones, and they end up in human diets Hormones occur naturally in the body, but can be manipulated to increase the growth rate. Traces of these hormones then transfer to humans through eating, and may lead to a decrease in the age at which puberty starts, especially for girls.

Anyone concerned about the food supply should read this book to discover how these aids to agriculture and food production are affecting not only what we eat, but our own bodies as well.

Other books in this series include:

• The Truth Behind Manufactured Foods
• The Truth Behind GMOs
• The Truth Behind Soft Drinks
• The Truth Behind Snack Foods
• The Truth Behind Factory Foods

The Truth Behind Snack Foods

Quinlan, Julia J. and Adam Furgang. The Truth Behind Snack Foods. Part of the From Factory to Table: What You’re Really Eating series. 2018. 48p. ISBN 978-1-49943936-6. Available at 664.07 QUI on the library shelves.

Everyone enjoys a good snack during a sporting event or at a cookout. Snack foods are delicious, but the industrial processes involved in fabricating these have involved reducing costs while tricking the body to think these are delicious. Snack foods contain too much sugar and too much salt, often exceeding the daily recommended amount for a man’s diet, but most of us have no idea of the true health impact snacks have on our body.

The Truth Behind Snack Foods present how snack foods are created and why they taste so yummy, but how they are not healthy for you. Items such as chips and candy bars are obvious candidates, but so are fruit bars and other items that contain salt and corn syrup. Short and long-term health consequences, such as diabetes and hypertension, are examined. Techniques for better eating and healthy ideas are also reviewed.

Anyone interested in our food and how we eat will appreciate this book and will never look at snack food the same way.

Other books in this series include:

• The Truth Behind Manufactured Foods
• The Truth Behind GMOs
• The Truth Behind Soft Drinks
• The Truth Behind Antibiotics, Pesticides, and Hormones
• The Truth Behind Factory Foods

The Gold Rush

Shoup, Kate. The Gold Rush. Part of the Primary Sources of Westward Expansion. 2018. 64p. ISBN 978-1-5026-2640-0. Available at 979.4 SHO on the library shelves.

In the early 1800s, as the United States was expanding westward, Mexico was freeing itself from Spanish rule. Seeking to add population to sparsely developed territory in the country’s north, Mexico actively encouraged Americans to move in, provided they followed Mexican law. In practice , this influx of people who then demanded rights and civil society similar to those of the United States led first to the independence of Texas, then to the Mexican-American War. As a result of this war a large area of Mexico was added to the United States as the territories of New Mexico, Arizona, California, and parts of Nevada and Colorado in the peace settlement that followed.

However, nine days before the peace treaty was signed, and unknown to both signatories, gold had been discovered in California. The news spread like wildfire, and triggered a massive population shift from the eastern United States to California, with the population of the area growing a hundred-fold from about one thousand non-Native people in 1848 to over 100,000 in 1849. Traveling by boat to San Francisco from New York or Boston took six months. Crossing the continental United States by wagon was faster, but it was also more dangerous.

This speedy growth led to the state entering the Union as a free state, and ultimately led to the Civil War. Local Native populations were dislodged and decimated to allow for the exploration and exploitation of the land. The free-for-all of the first year was replaced by an organized process, but the depletion of the gold vein was so thorough that by 1855 no gold remained but an ecological mess had been created. Over 300,000 people moved to California during this period, seeking to strike it rich. Though most didn’t and many left when the gold ran out, the majority stayed behind and helped the state grow.

Fans of history will appreciate how the gold rush shaped California and altered the history of the United States.

Books in the Primary Sources of Westward Expansion series include Native American Resistance, Homesteading and Settling the Frontier, The Gold Rush, The Transcontinental Railroad, Lewis and Clark and Exploring the Louisiana Purchase, and Manifest Destiny and the Mexican-American War.

Barack Obama

Hollar, Sherman, ed. Barack Obama. Part of the Profile in Leadership: Pivotal Presidents series. 2013. 80p. ISBN 1-61530-945-4. Available at B OBA on the library shelves.

Though all American presidents are different, most follow a similar path to the highest office in the land: become a lawyer, serve in state or national government either in elected office or through military service, then run and get elected president of the United States. Most have spent decades  honing their political skills and burnishing their credentials. Barack Obama, however, reached the presidency at a relatively young age with what many considered to be a lack of experience. However, his motivational speeches and the power of change that he represented propulsed him to the highest office in the country.

Born in Hawaii in 1961 of a White mother and of a Kenyan father, Barack Obama spent his youth in Indonesia when his mother remarried, before returning to the United States. He was a fastidious student and attended college before becoming a community organizer in Chicago. He then went to law school, before returning to Chicago. He served in the Illinois State Senate, and successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004. As a up-and coming new prospect, he delivered a keynote address to the Democratic Convention in 2004, which turned him into a superstar. Two years later, Obama launched his presidential campaign, defeating Hillary Clinton for the nomination before obtaining a majority of the popular and electoral votes over John McCain, his Republican opponent.

As president, Obama oversaw health care reform, managed an economy in full recession, and military campaigns in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Losing his Democratic majorities in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, his agenda was hampered by members of the Tea Party and by other Republicans.

This book discusses Obama’s life, and presents information about his first term of office and his 2012 reelection, but does not cover the second term of his Administration. Many photos are included, and significant people that interacted with Obama are introduced. A glossary and a list of resources are also included. Fans of presidential histories will enjoy reading about the 44th President’s life and times.