Powell’s books in February

Dana Frank

Dana Frank’s The Long Honduran Night (Haymarket) is a story of resistance, repression, and U.S. policy in Honduras in the aftermath of a violent military coup. Frank’s powerful narrative recounts the dramatic years in Honduras following the June 2009 military coup that deposed President Manuel Zelaya, told in part through first-person experiences, layered into deeper political analysis. It weaves together two broad pictures: first, the repressive regime that was launched with the coup, and the ways in which U.S. policy has continued to support that regime; and second, the brave and evolving Honduran resistance movement, with aid from a new solidarity movement in the United States.

Thursday the 7th, 7:30pm  /  Powell’s on Hawthorne    

These Are Strange Times, My Dear: Field Notes From the Republic

The pointed and wide-ranging essays in Wendy Willis’s These Are Strange Times, My Dear (Counterpoint) explore everything from personal resistance to the rise of political podcasts, civic loneliness to the exploitation of personal data, public outrage to the opioid crisis – all with a poet’s gift for finding the sacred in the mundane, a hope in the dark. Again and again, Willis returns to the question posed by Czech writer, activist, and politician Václav Havel: What does it mean to live in truth? As a way to hear this question and to begin an answer, Willis circles around it, to realize her duties and reactions to truth and power as a woman, mother, lawyer, and poet – and as an American.

Monday the 11th, 7:30pm  /  Powell’s on Hawthorne     

 

Jill Santopolo

From Jill Santopolo, author of The Light We Lost, comes More Than Words (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), a tender, moving novel about a woman at a crossroads after the death of her father, and caught between the love of two men. Nina Gregory has always been a good daughter. Raised by her father, Nina was taught that family, reputation, and legacy are what matter most. And Tim – her devoted boyfriend and best friend since childhood – feels the same. But when Nina’s father dies, he leaves behind a secret that shocks Nina to her core. More Than Words is a heartbreaking and romantic novel about grief, loss, love, and self-discovery, and how we choose which life we are meant to live.

Thursday the 14th, 7:30pm  /  Powell’s on Hawthorne  

 

David Biespiel in Conversation With April Baer           

David Biespiel’s Republic Café (University of Washington) is a meditation on love during a time of violence, and a tally of what appears and disappears in every moment. Mindful of epigenetic experience as our bodies become living vessels for history’s tragedies, Biespiel praises not only the essentialness of our human memory, but also the sanctity of our flawed, human forgetting. Republic Café details the experience of lovers in Portland, Oregon, on the eve and days following September 11, 2001. Biespiel will be joined in conversation by

 

Monday the 18th, 7:30pm  /  Powell’s on Hawthorne   

 

Oregon Wildland Firefighting: A History

Over the past century, some of the world’s largest wildland fires have occurred in Oregon. Accidentally set by a disgruntled cook on an English ship, the Great Fire of 1845 displaced multiple tribes and boiled wildlife alive in the Columbia River. The Tillamook Burn started up every 6 years from 1933 to 1951 and incited one of the largest reseeding efforts in the world. The Long Draw Fire of 2012, the state’s largest in over 150 years, began as a small spark and raged into an ocean of flames thousands of acres wide. In Oregon Wildland Firefighting (History Press), veteran wildland firefighter Sean Davis shares harrowing firsthand accounts that illustrate what it takes to battle an inferno.

Thursday the 21st, 7:30pm  /  Powell’s on Hawthorne 

 

Speaking for the River: Confronting Pollution on the Willamette

Since the late 1960s, Oregon has been at the forefront of environmental protection in the United States. The state generally, and Portland in particular, continue to have strong “green” credentials well into the 21st century. Within this 40-year period of progress, however, the health of the Willamette River has been a consistent blot on the record. Willamette River water pollution has not gone away – the problem has, in fact, gotten much more complex. James Hillegas-Elting’s book, Speaking for the River (Oregon State University), provides a historical look at this dilemma.

Monday the 25th, 7:30pm  /  Powell’s on Hawthorne 

 

Tarot Elements: Five Readings to Reset Your Life

Tarot Elements (Llewellyn) shares five different readings to help you clarify your situation, unstick your life, and move forward to a better version of yourself – even if you feel like a complete mess. Melissa Cynova noticed that clients often turn up for readings with extremely complicated problems. She developed the five readings described in Tarot Elements as a program for hitting the reset button on life. Cynova’s book shows you how to do the five readings, so that you can focus on one aspect of a problem at a time and resolve the issues that are holding you back.

Thursday the 28th, 7:30pm  /  Powell’s on Hawthorne  

Powell’s books in February

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