{"id":50446,"date":"2024-01-16T08:40:56","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T14:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/?p=50446"},"modified":"2024-01-16T08:37:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T14:37:59","slug":"januarys-simply-held-nonfiction-picks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/januarys-simply-held-nonfiction-picks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"January’s Simply Held Nonfiction Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you joined\u00a0Simply Held<\/a>? If not, you\u2019re missing out! Ten different nonfiction titles are chosen four times a year by our librarians and automatically placed on hold for you. Those selections come from the following categories: biography, body mind spirit, cookbook, explore your world, poetry, self-help, social justice, strength through struggle, theologies, and true crime. Join\u00a0Simply Held<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0to have any of the new nonfiction picks automatically put on hold for you four times a year.<\/p>\n

Biography pick<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Flirting with Danger: the Mysterious Life of Marguerite Harrison, Socialite Spy<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Janet Wallach<\/p>\n

The true story of socialite Marguerite Harrison, who spied for U.S. military intelligence in Russia and Germany in the fraught period between the world wars<\/em><\/p>\n

Born a privileged child of America\u2019s Gilded Age, Marguerite Harrison rebelled against her mother\u2019s ambitions, married the man she loved, was widowed at thirty-seven, and set off on a life of adventure. Hired as a society reporter, when America entered World War I she applied to Military Intelligence to work as a spy.<\/em><\/p>\n

She arrived in Berlin immediately after the Armistice and befriended the enemy, dining with aristocrats and dancing with socialists. Late into the night she wrote prescient reports on the growing power of the German right. Sent to Moscow, she sneaked into Russia to observe the results of the Bolshevik Revolution. Although she carried press credentials she was caught and imprisoned as an American spy. Terrified when told her only way out was to spy for the Cheka, she became a double agent, aiming to convince the Russian rulers she was working for them while striving to stay loyal to her country.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Germany and Russia, Harrison saw the future\u2014a second war with Germany, a cold war with the Soviets\u2014but her reports were ignored by many back home. Over a decade, Harrison\u2019s mysterious adventures took her to Europe, Baghdad, and the Far East, as a socialite, secret agent, and documentary filmmaker. Janet Wallach captures Harrison\u2019s daring and glamour in this stranger-than-fiction history of a woman drawn to the impossible.<\/em> – Doubleday<\/p>\n

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Body, Mind, Spirit pick<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>by Sarah Wilson<\/p>\n

The Chinese believe that before you can conquer a beast, you must first make it beautiful.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sarah Wilson first came across this Chinese proverb in psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison’s memoir An Unquiet Mind, and it became the key to understanding her own lifelong struggle with anxiety. Wilson, bestselling author, journalist, and entrepreneur has helped over 1.5 million people worldwide to live better, healthier lives through her I Quit Sugar books and program. And all along, she has been managing chronic anxiety.<\/em><\/p>\n

In First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, Wilson directs her intense focus and fierce investigating skills onto her lifetime companion, looking at the triggers and treatments, the fashions and fads. She reads widely and interviews fellow sufferers, mental health experts, philosophers, and even the Dalai Lama, processing all she learns through the prism of her own experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wilson offers readers comfort, humor, companionship, and practical tips for living with the Beast:<\/em><\/p>\n