Dialogue
LONGVIEW PUBLIC LIBRARY NEWSLETTER
Snow Ball
Snow Ball stories in 2015
Tuesday, December 12
6:00 - 7:30 PM

All children and their families are invited to attend our third annual Snow Ball! Guests are encouraged to wear costumes to go with our winter and fairy-tale themes. We'll read stories by the fire, drink hot cocoa and eat delicious treats, play with snow dough, and make fun crafts, including paper bag crowns, paper snowflakes, and collage gingerbread people! There will even be an opportunity to get your face painted!
Students perform at the 2016 Senior Concert

Holiday Concert
Tuesday, December 12 | 2-4 PM
The Friends of the Library's 23rd Annual Holiday Concert for Seniors features live music from Mark Morris's After Hours Jazz Choir and the R.A. Long Choir. Refreshments will be served. 

Food for Fines

December 11 - 16
Clear your fine balance for the new year by donating food! Each can, box, or bag of non-perishable food pays 50 cents of overdue fees between December 11th and 16th. Donated food will go to Help Warehouse. Food cannot be used to pay for lost or damaged material.
Laptop, Tablet, Smart Phone

Technology Petting Zoo

December 9 | 1:30 - 3:30 PM
Are you thinking about buying a new computer or device? Come to this free event to learn about what's available and get some hands-on experience. No registration necessary!
Kindle ereader

Tech Drop-In 

Thursdays | 3-5 PM
Bring your device to the library to get one-on-one help on specific issues such as downloading ebooks, troubleshooting email, and navigating your smart phone.
Tech Drop-In hours have changed and are now 3-5 PM Thursdays.
The First World War by Martin Gilbert

Skaugsetting

with Library Director Chris Skaugset
I was at the grand opening of the new World War I exhibit at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum when the idea for this month’s column became clear. We were celebrating Veterans Day, which this year was the Centennial remembrance of the day when the Great War - the War to End All Wars, which unfortunately, ultimately became known as World War I - ended. Armistice Day was a remembrance of the armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month that led to the end of hostilities in that most brutal war which historians recognize as the last great war of the 19th century or the first of the 20th.  In honor of this momentous occasion, below you’ll find a number of books, both histories and novels that will, hopefully, make this great tragedy come to life for you.
The First World War: A Complete History by Martin Gilbert
Blending contemporary accounts with his own overview narrative, Gilbert has written, perhaps, the best single volume history of The Great War both for its scholarship as well as its readability.
The First World War by John Keegan
Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman  
Tuchman is one of the greatest writers of history ever, hands down. She was one of the first historians that wrote what I would call narrative non-fiction as opposed to what many would describe as dull, musty histories. This work may be the best book written about the first year of the war and well worth anyone’s time
First World War by John Keegan
Keegan, with this riveting narrative history, has written perhaps the best military history of the conflict. Added with Gilbert’s and Tuchman’s, this book gives a reader perhaps the best three book introduction to World War I and all its aspects.
King Kaiser Tsar by Catrine Clay
King, Kaiser and Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War by Catrine Clay
Clay used newly available documents to write an ambitious and excellent biography of the three rulers who ultimately took the world to war. King George V of England, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and Kaiser Wilhelm II grew up together, played together, and attended family functions together. 
The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century by David Reynolds
Reynolds has written a fascinating book that collects decades of research, literature, film, and understanding to provide a reasoned, compelling take on a conflict that changed the face of the world. It can be appreciated by armchair historians and academics alike.
To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild
Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War by Max Hastings
This is a great entry point for reading about the causes and beginnings of the war.  Hastings makes what can be a very confusing and complicated subject very understandable and interesting.
To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild 
Hochschild portrays the war through the eyes of mostly British supporters and detractors of the war. The former group was certainly much, much larger but there is a story to tell in both sides of the question and the author does an excellent job of covering them all.
March 1917: On the Brink of War and Revolution by William Englund
Our latest title about World War I, Englund writes about a war that was seemingly never going to end and how, in March of 1917, two things were brewing that ultimately led to war’s end:  the Russian Revolution and the United States’ entry into the war. While the author doesn’t necessarily bring any new material or analysis, it is a well-written and interesting book nevertheless.
All Quiet on the Western Front
I’m ending this list with what I believe are the two best fictional accounts of the war, since I believe that a well-written historical novel can bring history even more alive. Considered by many the greatest war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front is Erich Maria Remarque's masterpiece of the German experience during World War I, depicting the humanity of all the soldiers no matter on which side they fought. He tells the tale of Paul Baumer and his friends as they join the army with youthful enthusiasm only to discover the cold, brutal realities of war. Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is the timeless story of love during wartime. This semi-autobiographical works captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep through the eyes of an American ambulance driver and British nurse stationed at the Italian front.
As both a historian and a reader, I hope that you will find something interesting from this column. You can find these and many other titles at your Longview Public Library. And, don’t forget to visit the new World War I exhibit at the museum; it is well worth your time.
CLOSED Monday, December 25, Christmas
Spanish Conversation Group - Mondays, NOON - 1 PM
Rainbow Community for teens - Mondays, 3 - 5 PM
Movie Night: Despicable Me 3 - Tuesday, December 5, 6 PM
English Conversation Class - Thursdays & Fridays, 12:15 AM - 1:45 PM, Saturdays 10:30 - 12
Worksource Job Search Class - 1st Friday, 2 - 4 PM
Worksource Resume Building Class - 3rd Friday, 2 - 4 PM
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Knitting group meets in the Magazine Room
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