LibraryAware New Nonfiction July 2025

Recent Releases

Trailblazer : Perseverance in Life and Politics
by Carol Moseley-Braun

Recounts the author's groundbreaking career as the first Black woman elected to the Senate and U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, sharing stories of overcoming adversity, making history, and advocating for civil rights and justice.

Mainline Mama : A Memoir
by Keeonna Harris

Is a devastating, triumphant memoir about creating self-love and community—crucial acts of radical resistance against a prison industrial complex that is designed to dehumanize and to separate and shut away incarcerated individuals and their loved ones from the world.

When Work Hurts : Building Resilience When You're Beat Up or Burnt Out
by Meryl Herr

"Much of human behavior can be explained by the desire to be right and to feel good about ourselves, but this tension can make us vulnerable to bias. By thoughtfully integrating the social sciences with biblical perspectives, Erin Devers offers practical guidance on how to perceive the world more accurately and love others more generously."

When It All Burns : Fighting Fire in a Transformed World
by Jordan Thomas

"An anthropologist and hotshot firefighter's gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season. Eighteen of California's largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term "megafire" to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction. Wildland firefighters must navigate these new scales of destruction in real time. In When It All Burns, Jordan Thomas recounts a single, brutal six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots -- the special forces of America's firefighters. Being a hotshot is among the most difficult jobs on Earth. Their training is as grueling as any Navy SEAL's, and the social induction is even tougher. As Thomas viscerally renders his crew's attempts to battle flames that are often too destructive to contain, he uncovers the hidden cultural history of megafires. He investigates how a social system that prioritizes profit over people and nature has turned humanity's symbiotic relationship with wildfire into a war -- and what can be done to change it back. Thomas weaves ecology and the history of indigenous oppression, federal forestry, and the growth of the fire industrial complex into an expansive, riveting narrative of a new phase in the climate crisis. Above all, he immerses readers in a story of friendship and community in the most perilous of circumstances, told with humor, humility, and affection."

Get a Hobby : 365 Things to Do for Fun (Not Work!)
by Jasmine Cho

."Picking up a hobby can eliminate stress, improve any mood, and help create a network of new friends. Whether it's a physical activity like pickleball; a creative pursuit like painting; or a skill to challenge the mind like sudoku, a hobby can improve your life in so many ways."

Zen at the End of Religion : An Introduction for the Curious, the Skeptical, and the Spiritual But Not Religious
by James Ishmael Ford

"Zen as the ideal path for those who have left institutional religion behind In this liminal moment, when the grip of our old religions has loosened, a prominent Zen practitioner asks: What is religion? What is spirituality? And what is it all about? Ford begins by invoking the ideas of Aldous Huxley, welcoming what he calls a "naturalistic perennialism." Ford believes there are currents of religion that are rooted in our biology. And as something natural, it is something that people can find within all religions, in fact, the heart birthing of all religions. Then, true to the book's title of the book, Ford asks and answers, "Why then, Zen?" and demonstrates how pure Zen is as simple as noticing and waking: an expression of an intimate way of life. Four noble truths, ox herding pictures, samadhi, koan, loving kindness, and many other Zen essentials are here, in succinct and conversational prose that offers a lifeboat to anyone who feels something missing in the absence of religious life."

Excel Quick and Easy
by Michael Alexander

"Drawn from the most important tasks in the latest bestselling Excel Bible, Excel Quick and Easy is your ticket to data mastery. Excel veterans Michael Alexander and Dick Kusleika distil the most essential and useful tasks you need to understand about the world's most popular spreadsheet program, from functions to charts, graphs, formulas and more."

1861 : The Lost Peace
by Jay Winik

"1861: The Lost Peace is the story of President Lincoln's far-reaching, difficult, and most courageous decision, a time when the country wrestled with deep moral questions of epic proportions. Through Jay Winick's singular reporting and storytelling, readers will learn about the extraordinary Washington Peace Conference at the Willard Hotel to avert cataclysmic war. They will observe the irascible and farsighted Senator JJ Crittenden, the tireless moderate seeking a middle way to peace. Lincoln himself called Crittenden "a great man" even as Lincoln jousted with him. They'll be inside and among Lincoln's cabinet -- the finest in history -- which rivaled the executive in its authority, a fact too often forgotten, and they will see a parade of statesmen frenetically grasping for peace rather than the spectacle of the young nation slowly choking in its own blood. A perfect read for history buffs, with timely overtones to our current political climate."

Is a River Alive?
by Robert Macfarlane

The best-selling author of Underland explores the concept of rivers as living entities, weaving together travel writing, natural history and reporting from Ecuador, India and Canada to illuminate the interconnectedness of humans and rivers. Illustrations.

Karen : A Brother Remembers
by Kelsey Grammer

The author's sister was kidnapped and murdered at age eighteen, and he poignantly remembers her and the impact her loss had on his life and family, exploring with raw honesty the devastation after her death and the long and arduous journey toward healing.

Spitfires : The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II
by Becky Aikman

The heart-pounding true story of the daring American women who piloted the most dangerous aircraft of World War II through the treacherous skies of Britain.

Poetry Is Not a Luxury : Poems for All Seasons
by @poetryisnotaluxury

."From the creator of the beloved @PoetryIsNotaLuxury Instagram account, a gorgeously wrought poetry anthology that is a gift and a guide for readers through every season of life."

The Art Spy : The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland
by Michelle Young

A saga set in Paris during World War II uncovers how an unlikely heroine infiltrated the Nazi leadership to save the world's most treasured masterpieces.

So Very Small : How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs -- and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease
by Thomas Levenson

This globe-spanning history follows the thread of human ingenuity and hubris across centuries — along the way peering into microscopes, spelunking down sewers, traipsing across the battlefield, and more — to show how we came to understand the microbial environment and how little we understand ourselves. Illustrations.

Medicine River : A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools
by Mary Annette Pember

Through searing interviews and assiduous historical reporting on Native American boarding schools from the mid-19th century to the 1930s, the author traces the evolution and continued rebirth of a culture whose country has been seemingly intent upon destroying it.

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