Howard County is named after John Eager Howard, yet how many of us know who he was? Thanks to John Beakes’ and Jim Piecuch’s meticulous examination of the archival and published record, John Eager Howard now has a well-deserved account of his life and significant military accomplishments. Though focusing on his war record, Beakes and Piecuch also provide an ample introduction to the young Baltimore native, and summarize his post-Revolution achievements, including his service as a U.S. senator, and Governor of the state of Maryland. In this scholarly work, the facts never overwhelm a great story, and the narrative brings John Eager Howard to life while recounting his skills as an officer and leader of Maryland’s Continental Army troops.

As a soldier Howard gained repute for his collected calm under enemy fire. He possessed the ability to visualize and seize upon tactical moments, when victory or defeat hung in the balance. Yet in 1776, at the opening of the Revolution, Howard was a newly commissioned major totally without military experience. He learned his trade quickly in the northern campaigns in New York and Pennsylvania, but was ultimately sent to fight in the southern theater, centered in North and South Carolina. Howard’s commander was General Nathanael Greene, and he fought with General Daniel Morgan, among others. These southern battles involved constant movement, ambush, and pursuit. A notable American victory at the Battle of the Cowpens was followed by tactical checks at Guilford Courthouse and Eutaw Springs that nonetheless worked to confound British military strategy. Fighting in the south was savage, pitting American citizen soldiers or militia mixed with Continental troops against the trained British professional. Some may be surprised when reading about the behavior of soldiers under fire, which makes the quality of their leaders all the more critical to the outcome of battle.

I highly recommend Cool Deliberate Courage to amateur military historians, serious students of the American Revolution, or anyone interested in learning about an outstanding Maryland soldier, praised by George Washington. The authors, having elevated John Eager Howard from obscurity, assert that this is the first of more books on military men who helped General George Washington earn victory in the American Revolution. Please, give us more!

Meet the author John Beakes at Central Library on Thursday, June 3 at 7:00 pm. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Register online, at your local branch, or by calling 410.313.7860.

Phillip Lord – Elkridge Branch

I am a big fan of Mr. David Simon. His first nonfiction work, Homicide: Life on the Killing Streets, as well as his most recent television series, The Wire, have been reviewed on this site by fellow bloggers. Simon’s Baltimore-centric work has been literary, entertaining, thought-provoking, and page-turning. His writings are dense, but his portraits are so honest that you can’t stop reading.

The Corner was created after Simon and co-writer Ed Burns hung out with a few citizens of one West Baltimore drug corner in 1993. We follow Fat Curt, a middle-aged, disfigured heroin addict, trying to make his "lonesome way down Monroe" and young RC, finding relief from dealing drugs though the simple rivalry of basketball. We also follow Miss Ella, striving to run the Recreation Center without losing her faith in her neighborhood. But most of all, we follow the McCulloughs, a family imprisoned by the Corner. Gary, a former financial guru turned heroin addict, plots "capers," schemes to make 10 or 20 dollars for one "blast" of dope or coke. Fran, a mother of two, struggles with getting clean while being a mother to her two sons. And DeAndre, all of 16 years old, makes his name on the Corner, selling drugs.

But there’s so much more to DeAndre than slinging vials – he’s smart, sensitive, and caring. Of his crew, DeAndre is the one who stands the best chance of finally escaping the violence and pain of the drug trade. Simon’s portrayals of addicts, dealers, thieves, con artists, and tax-paying citizens are so vibrant that you can’t help but love them. You want to cheer them on toward a better life and then cry with them when they fail. Simon’s dedication to authentic description and meticulous journalism transforms "the Drug Dealer" and "the Drug Addict" into real human beings. Along the way, Simon points out the fallacies of society’s treatment of the drug trade.

More than Homicide, The Corner seeks to erase the myths surrounding urban drug use and crime, making the case for a new, realistic treatment of drug prohibition. Because the Corner is out there as real as you or me and it cannot be ignored, lest we abandon our cities, causing fellow citizens to fall to a bottomless chasm of poverty and addiction.

Khaleel Gheba – Miller Branch

At Central Library, on Saturday, March 13, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, local youth will showcase their artwork to raise awareness of the importance of access to clean and safe water throughout the world — focusing on Africa, the Caribbean, the State of Maryland, and Howard County. Co-sponsored by Columbia Maryland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.  A reception will follow the art show.

Register online to attend Clean and Safe Water: A Global Perspective, or call 410.313.7860.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a captivating and challenging combination of science textbook, social history, and biography. The book explores the extraordinary events surrounding the life and death of Henrietta Lacks, and the subsequent repercussions of those events. Rebecca Skloot discusses her book at Howard County Library’s East Columbia Branch on Saturday, February 20 at 1:00 pm. Register to attend the event.

In 1951 Henrietta Lacks was treated for an aggressive form of cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD. Before she passed away, samples of her tissues were harvested for research purposes, and cells from one of her cancerous tumors were sustained artificially in a laboratory. This line of cells (called HeLa from the first two letters of her first and last name) grew and divided, becoming the first self-sustaining line of cells grown in a laboratory. They were shared by the lab’s director, George Gey, with his colleagues throughout the U.S. and around the world. HeLa cells subsequently played a role in the development of the Polio vaccine, were sent into space, and were subjected to nuclear radiation in the name of science. That, however, is only half of the story, since the cells were harvested from Henrietta Lacks without her consent, and without her family’s knowledge.

What is celebrated by scientists as a remarkable new frontier is something else for the family of Henrietta Lacks. Lacks’ experience in hospital and the harvesting of her tissues were part of the social fabric of a segregated Maryland in the 1950s, where the public wards of Johns Hopkins hospital were one of the limited treatment options available to African American patients. Lacks’ descendants understandably have different opinions about their mother’s immortality than the scientists who celebrate her cells. 

Explaining her efforts to access the family’s opinions, author Rebecca Skloot includes herself in the narrative, first as a college student encountering Henrietta Lacks in a footnote, and later as a researcher, author, and supporter of the family. Skloot ably discusses both the personal impact of these events on the Lacks family, and the global significance of the HeLa cell line, telling equally revelatory scientific and family stories.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Imagine Studs Terkel in coffee table book format with gorgeous photographs, and you have Patapsco: Life Along Maryland’s Historic River Valley.

Writer/folklorist Alison Kahn and photographer Peggy Fox have compiled and created a narrative documenting nearly one hundred years of history in five villages along the Patapsco River Valley. Through essays, photos, and fascinating oral history accounts, the two authors vividly render the life, cultures, and peoples of the villages of Oella, Ellicott City, Elkridge (whose original name, dating back to 1700s, was Elk Ridge Landing), Relay, and Daniels.

The book features reminiscences from people of all walks of life: mill workers born in the first quarter of the twentieth century, teachers, principals, dairy farmers, business owners, doctors, police chiefs, politicians, office workers, homemakers, and more. These village inhabitants of diverse ethnicities and religions include descendants of slaves, immigrants and children of immigrants, and a descendant of the founders of Ellicott City and Clarksville, former state senator James “Jim” Clark.

History buffs, fans of memoir or oral narratives, and anyone who lives or has lived in Central Maryland will find much to savor here.

Ali Kahn and Peggy Fox discuss their book at Elkridge Branch on Saturday, December 5 at 1:00 pm. Register online, by phone, or at the branch. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Lisa Bankman – Administration Office

Charm City is a recent title from Crown Journeys, a great series of nonfiction books in which expert authors reflect on a place they know well as they take a walk. In this volume Madison Smartt Bell, author and Professor of Creative Writing at Goucher College, meets up with his friends to tour Baltimore on foot, offering insights into the city along the way.

Bell’s travels take him down Greenmount Avenue to the Harbor with his Goucher colleague Eric Singer, around Dickeyville with Laura Lippman, through Fells Point with Glenn Moomau, and returning north on Charles Street with Jack Heyrman. Each walk gives us an intimate look at a distinctive slice of Baltimore, bringing details, forgotten historical nuggets and personal reminiscences into focus. His north-bound walk on Charles Street through Mount Vernon is particularly fascinating.

By moving at four miles per hour instead of forty, Bell, an engaging tour guide, has a series of “deep” encounters with his home city, and presents the reader with a vivid perspective of Baltimore’s memorable neighborhoods. Read Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore to experience the charm of Baltimore close-up.

Other outstanding works in the Crown Journeys series include Tim Cahill’s Lost in My Own Backyard: A Walk in Yellowstone National Park, and James M. McPherson’s Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Ta-Nehisi Coates

In his powerful childhood memoir The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates skillfully details life in a very unconventional household on Baltimore City’s turbulent west side during the 1980s. His father Paul Coates fathered seven children by four different women – two of whom he married. Coates, a Vietnam veteran and former Black Panther leader, was an indomitable, larger-than-life icon, especially in the eyes of his sixth child.

Reading and research played a pivotal role in young Ta-Nehisi’s life as he watched his father finish college, complete graduate studies in library science, and build Black Classic Press, a successful publishing company — while raising seven children with their respective mothers. The reader also "travels" with Ta-Nehisi as he navigates the often brutal, misguided world of middle school boys from rough-and-tumble neighborhoods. At the beginning of the book, there is a handy family tree and picturesque map of west Baltimore.

The author effortlessly captures the essence of his father, including his attributes and character flaws. His prose is so lyrical that the words quite literally dance off the pages of this book. This is a gem of a memoir that delivers a walloping psychological punch.

Click here to learn what the author has to say about his life and his book.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates and publisher Paul Coates will discuss The Beautiful Struggle. Join us as we welcome this gifted young writer and his father. Books are available for purchase and signing. Register online for this event.

Father and Son:  Publisher and Author
Wednesday, February 11; 7:00 pm
Howard County Central Library
10375 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, MD 21044

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

Are you still mourning the demise of the stellar TV series Homicide, or perhaps missing your weekly view of Baltimore via HBO’s The Wire? If so, you might want to pick up Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman, former Baltimore Sun reporter and wife of David Simon.

While rowing along the Patapsco River at dawn, private investigator Tess Monaghan is thrown into the thick of a drama, Hollywood-style. It seems Tess has chosen to get her exercise at the same time and place that Mann of Steel, a new series set in Baltimore, is being filmed. Unfortunately the time travel show touted as the comeback vehicle for former heartthrob Johnny Tampa has been plagued by a series of troubling events and bad press. Learning of Tess’ occupation, the film bigwigs hire her on the spot to act as a bodyguard for the show’s female lead, incandescently beautiful, but self-centered Selene Waites.

Tess momentarily hesitates, but the money is too good to pass up. Almost immediately Selene gives Tess the slip by doctoring her drink with a mickey. As if losing track of her charge isn’t bad enough, the disturbing pranks have taken a grim twist. The assistant to the director is found beaten to death on the set.

With many possible suspects – a jealous fiance, a blocked scriptwriter, a terminated employee, disgruntled actors – Tess traverses Baltimore looking for answers. As she passes by Little Italy, the Senator Theater, and Greenmount Cemetery (final resting place of Enoch Pratt, John Wilkes Booth, and A. Aubrey Bodine), to mention just a few noteworthy landmarks, take heart – Charm City is alive and well in the mystery novels of Laura Lippman.

Fritzi Newton – Miller Branch