Central Kansas Library System

As World War I raged across the globe, hundreds of young women toiled away at the radium-dial factories, where they painted clock faces with a mysterious new substance called radium. Assured by their bosses that the luminous material was safe, the women themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered from head to toe with the glowing dust. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" were considered the luckiest alive--until they began to fall mysteriously...

The testament of Paul Baumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I, illuminates the savagery and futility of war.

France, 1914. Aurelie becomes trapped on the wrong side of the front with her father, Comte Sigismund de Courcelles. When the Germans move into their family's ancestral estate, Aurelie discovers she knows the German Major's aide de camp, Maximilian Von Sternburg. Betrayal will shatter them both. France, 1942. Raised by her American grandmother in the Hotel Ritz, Marguerite 'Daisy' Villon remains in Paris with her daughter and husband, a Nazi collaborator,...

"For those who loved New York Times bestseller Rin Tin Tin comes the memorable story of Sergeant Stubby--World War I dog veteran, decorated war hero, American icon, and above all, man's best friend--never before told and timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of World War I. National Geographic tells the story of a stray dog who becomes Sergeant Stubby the War Dog during World War I. Beloved award-winning author and library darling Ann Bausum...

Includes 15 cartoon illustrations. This highly humorous account of two self-confessed "short, fat, bald, middle-aged, inland Americans" who decide to join the war effort all the way from Wichita having left their jobs as journalists. As they go to New York to start their sea journey eastward, they start to find out that their life is going to be much more arduous than they initially thought… "In our pockets we hold commissions from the American...

Raised by pious nuns, Antoinette, the younger sister of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, escapes to Paris, where her shared effort to launch a fashion brand is challenged by discriminating conventions and the horrors of World War I. Abandoned by their family, Antoinette and Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel grew up under the guidance of pious nuns preparing them for simple lives as the wives of tradesmen or shopkeepers. When they came of age, the sisters set out together...

"Beneath the cover of France's most exquisite vineyards, a city of women defy an army during World War I.... Deep within the labyrinth of caves that lies below the lush, rolling vineyards of the Champagne region, an underground city of women and children hums with life. Forced to take shelter from the unrelenting onslaught of German shellfire above, the bravest and most defiant women venture out to pluck sweet grapes for the harvest. But wine is...

"Restless and uncertain of her future in the wake of World War I, former battlefield nurse Bess Crawford agrees to travel to Yorkshire to help a friend of her cousin Melinda through surgery. But circumstances change suddenly when news of a terrible accident reaches them. Bess agrees to go to isolated Scarfdale and the Neville family, where one man has been killed and another gravely injured. The police are asking questions, and Bess is quickly drawn...

Cavendon Hall is home to two families, the aristocratic Inghams and the Swanns who serve them, just as their ancestors did over the centuries. Charles Ingham, the sixth Earl of Mowbray, lives there with his wife Felicity and their six children: Guy, the heir, who is studying at Cambridge; their younger son Miles, attending Eton; and their four daughters Diedre, Daphne, DeLacy and Dulcie, affectionately called the Four Dees by the staff. Walter Swann,...

A historical account of Kansas from the Native Americans to World War II and its aftermath.