David Weiss Jeffrey Isaacs
WWW.SHAKER.LIFE | FALL 2019 23
people.” She recommends One Goal: A
Coach, a Team, and the Game That Brought
a Divided Town Together by Amy Bass.
“Luckily for them, the team was coached by
Mike McGraw, who led his squad by a simple
credo: ‘We play the right way. You rise above
everybody else. We play hard. We play fair.
Because winning without playing fair is a
shallow victory.’”—Amy Bass
Jeffrey Isaacs, School Board
president, recommends The New Jim
Crow by Michelle Alexander, which
is emblematic of his preference for
“something that makes the world strange;
that prompts me to understand things in a
way I could not have on my own.” “African
Americans are not significantly more likely to use or sell prohibited drugs than
whites, but they are made criminals at drastically higher rates for precisely the
same conduct.”—Michelle Alexander
Al Foster, former Marine, three-time City councilmember, and
past Moreland on the Move Community Association president, enjoys
reading books on realism and self-help. He is currently reading Shaker
architect Robert P. Madison’s memoir, Designing Victory. “Along the
way, I received a first-class education and graduated from the best schools
before opening my own business… I learned early on, however, that the halls
of academe and the corner offices of the workplace are not the only weigh
stations where one can learn about life.”—Robert P. Madison
Kim Harris, president of Shaker African American Mothers
Support (S.A.M.S), is a fan of nonfiction. She looks for books that
present the facts in a way that “attaches me to the people and personalities in the story, making
it hard to put it down.” She recommends The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight
for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin. “When they volunteered to fight as sailors, they were reminded of
the Navy’s long-standing policy. They could serve on ships only as mess attendants.”—Steve Sheinkin
Nick Fedor, executive director of the Shaker Heights Development Corporation,
recommends Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places by Jeff Speck. “These
rules are offered with the humble conviction that limited, reasonable measures can create dramatic
outcomes in our communities.”—Jeff Speck
Ellen Barcus, program coordinator for the Library’s Play and Learn Station, looks for
excellent writing and a good story. She found it in Snow in August, Pete Hamill’s story about the
tender friendship between an 11-year-old Irish Catholic altar boy and an elderly Jewish rabbi.
“I should have told them everything ... I learned, sometimes you keep your mouth shut about a crime,
that’s worse than the crime.”—Pete Hamill
Joanne Federman, director of Family Connections, likes a book that introduces her
to new experiences, and offers knowledge and insights. She recommends The Warmth of
Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.
“‘The measure of a man’s estimate of
your strength,’ he finally told them,
‘is the kind of weapon he feels that he
must use in order to hold you fast in a
prescribed place.’”—Isabel Wilkerson
These recommendations from
Shaker neighbors are available at
the Library, where the community
comes together to learn, share,
and celebrate where they live,
who they are, and what they like
to read.
Brandon Chrostowski
Al Foster
Ellen Barcus Joanne Federman
Lisa Vahey
Kim Harris
Nick Fedor
/WWW.SHAKER.LIFE