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New Nonfiction January 2026 |
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Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Wisdom for Inspiration and Healing from the Heart of Japan
by Hiroko Yoda
In her book Eight Million Ways to Happiness, Hiroko Yoda offers the culmination of her decade-long odyssey into the spiritual heart of her homeland. Readers follow Hiroko as she trains as a Shinto shrine-dancer, partakes in Buddhist funeral rituals, ascends holy mountains with Shugendo ascetics, and meets one of Japan's last living itako, a traditional mystic. Her stories -- personal, cultural, and historical -- offer life lessons for readers of any background. Hiroko awakens readers to the idea of a traditional spiritual flexibility that seamlessly coexists with the modern secular world, fortifying us through life's inevitable ups and downs. We are all subject to forces beyond our control, but we are also part of a bigger natural system that can strengthen us -- if we learn how to reconnect with it.
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Barbieland: The Unauthorized History
by Tarpley Hitt
A rollicking tale of how Mattel spied, copied, and stole its way to market dominance, then fought with military intensity to compel us to buy more and more. --The New York Times. The secret history of Barbie and what Mattel has done to keep her on top. For nearly seven decades, Mattel billed Barbie as the first adult doll -- a revolutionary alternative to the baby dolls before her, which had treated little girls as future mothers rather than future women. But Barbie was no original. She was a knockoff, a nearly identical copy of a German doll now erased from the narrative in favor of Mattel's preferred version of history. It was Barbie's first secret but far from her last. In Barbieland, journalist and The Drift editor Tarpley Hitt exposes the long-hidden backstory of the world's most famous doll. After snuffing out her predecessor, Barbie climbed to the throne of global girlhood and stayed there, fending off rivals with a mix of strategic marketing, government influence, ruthless litigation, and covert tactics worthy of a classic spy novel. This lively, authoritative ride through the underbelly of American business pulls back the curtain on the corporate titans, cultural influencers, and toyland rivals who shaped this icon's world -- from flawed founder Ruth Handler to convicted Wall Street fraudster (and improbable Barbie savior) Michael Milken to the Bratz doll empire, which once put the brand on life support. Along the way, Hitt delves into the stories of the eccentrics and autocrats who brought Barbie to life through sheer force of will: a pair of ex-Nazi toymakers, a toy mogul friend of J. Edgar Hoover's, a swinging missile designer turned Barbie executive married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Mattel's mid-century Freudian marketeer, who saw the doll as a psychosexual skeleton key to controlling the American mind. Through investigative reporting, global archival research, and interviews with key players from across the Barbie extended universe, Barbieland lays bare the unseen -- and so often absurd -- work that made Mattel a multibillion-dollar business and turned Barbie into an institution, a symbol as synonymous with American soft power as Coca-Cola and McDonald's french fries.
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The Six Loves of James I
by Gareth Russell
A Library Journal Best Book of 2025. A groundbreaking and insightful exploration of King James I, enigmatic successor to Queen Elizabeth I, from the meticulous researcher (The Wall Street Journal) and author of the enjoyable and readable (Philippa Gregory, #1 New York Times bestselling author) The Palace. From the assassination of his father to the explosive political and personal intrigues of his reign, this fresh biography reveals as never before the passions that drove King James I. Gareth Russell's rollicking, gossipy (Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets), and scholarly voice invites us into James's world, revealing a monarch whose reign was defined by both his public power and personal vulnerabilities. For too long, historians have shied away from or condemned the exploration of his sexuality. Now, Russell offers a candid narrative that not only reveals James's relationships with five prominent men but also challenges the historical standards applied to the examination of royal intimacies. This biography stands as a significant contribution to the understanding of royal history, illuminating the personal experiences that shaped James's political decisions and his philosophical views on masculinity and sexuality.
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Change Your Brain, Change Your Pain: Breaking the Doom Loop to Heal Chronic Physical and Emotional Pain
by Daniel G. Amen
In the United States alone, one in five adults experiences chronic pain. For too long, when a doctor couldn't find the source of frequent pain, the patient was dismissively told, 'It's all in your head.' Today, we know that our somatic responses to trauma, anxiety, and depression create real suffering, and that physical pain can lead to trauma, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Daniel Amen calls this 'the doom loop'--the dance between physical and emotional pain. These doom loops interfere with our ability to live our lives. But we can shift the doom loop into a healing loop, and in this ... book, he shows us how--
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Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life
by Charlie Kirk
Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life will help you discover how observing the Sabbath isn't a rejection of modern life but a rebellion against busyness and a pathway to genuine connection, peace, and presence. Through Stop in the Name of God, bestselling author Charlie Kirk guides you on how to unplug, recharge, and reconnect with God, family, and yourself in a way that nurtures your soul. In a world dominated by screens and constant noise, Stop in the Name of God presents the Sabbath as a radical act of resistance. Packed with practical insights and spiritual wisdom, Charlie Kirk demonstrates how honoring the Sabbath restores balance, reduces anxiety, and nourishes your soul. It's not just a day of rest-it's a lifeline to reclaiming what truly matters.
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The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook: Optimize Health, Boost Your Immune System, Promote Longevity
by America's Test Kitchen
Eating to help lessen chronic inflammation is something anyone can embrace to optimize long-term health and strengthen the body's defenses against many chronic illnesses, from cardiovascular disease to diabetes. Whether you're looking to keep inflammation at bay or reduce existing symptoms, this beginner-friendly collection of dietician-backed recipes is the only cookbook you need to embark on this diet shift. You'll find ... dishes for every meal of the day -- from frittatas and fish tacos to stir-fries and snacks & drinks -- chock-full of anti-inflammatory powerhouses like whole grains, beneficial fats, lean proteins, and a rainbow of vegetables.
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Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books
by Hwang Bo-Reum
NATIONAL BESTSELLER: From the author of the international bestseller Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, a heartfelt invitation to reflect on your relationship with reading and celebrate the joys of books.
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A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction
by Elizabeth McCracken
From bestselling and award-winning author and professor Elizabeth McCracken comes an irresistible look at the art of writing. Writing can feel like an endless series of decisions. How does one face the blank page? Move a character around a room? Deal with time? Undertake revision? The good and bad news is that in fiction writing, there are no definitive answers to such questions. Writers must come up with their own. Elizabeth McCracken, author of bestselling novels, National Book Award long-listed story collections, and a highly praised memoir, has been teaching for more than thirty-five years, guiding her many students through their own answers. In A Long Game, she shares insights gleaned along the way, offering practical tips and incisive thoughts about her own work as an artist. The book covers: Understanding and developing characters; Plot, and what to do if it eludes you; Her thoughts on common writing rules; and, of course, the Butter Cow Lady of the Iowa State Fair and her work as it relates to revision. Writing is a long game, she notes. What matters is that you learn to get work done in the way that is possible for you, through consistency or panic. Through self-recrimination or self-delusion or self-forgiveness; every life needs all three. As much a book about the life of a working artist as it is a guide to thinking about fiction, A Long Game is a revelatory and indispensable resource for any writer.
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Queens at War: England's Medieval Queens Book Four
by Alison Weir
The fifteenth century was a violent age. ... Alison Weir chronicles the five queens who got caught up in wars that changed the courses of their lives: the Hundred Years' War between England and France, and the Wars of the Roses between the royal Houses of Lancaster and York. Against this tempestuous backdrop, Weir describes the lives of five Plantagenet queens, who occupied the consort's throne from 1403 to 1485. Joan of Navarre was happily married to King Henry IV but was accused of witchcraft by Henry's heir and imprisoned. Paris-born Katherine of Valois's political marriage to Henry V was meant to bring peace between England and France. It didn't, and Henry died during the Hundred Years' War without ever seeing his newborn heir, Henry VI, who was wed to another French princess, Margaret of Anjou, in 1445. In the Wars of the Roses, Margaret staunchly supported her husband and son. Henry's successor, Edward IV, became embroiled in scandal after he fell in love with and married Elizabeth Widville, mother of the tragic Princes in the Tower. The notorious Richard III usurped Edward's throne and married Anne Neville, who died after losing her only child, forsaken by her husband.
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Driven by the Monsoons: Through the Indian Ocean and the Seas of China
by Barry Cunliffe
Barry Cunliffe tells the story of trade across the Indian Ocean using the evidence of archaeology and the tales of great travellers, showing how, across thousands of years, humans have been driven by need and the sheer desire to own exotic goods to create and maintain trade routes whatever the difficulties.
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Capitalism: A Global History
by Sven Beckert
Sven Beckert, author of the Bancroft Prize-winning Empire of Cotton, places the story of capitalism within the largest conceivable geographical and historical framework, tracing its history during the past millennium and across the world. An epic achievement, his book takes us into merchant businesses in Aden and car factories in Turin, onto the terrifyingly violent sugar plantations in Barbados, and within the world of women workers in textile factories in today's Cambodia. Capitalism, argues Beckert, was born global. Emerging from trading communities across Asia, Africa, and Europe, capitalism's radical recasting of economic life rooted itself only gradually. But then it burst onto the world scene as a powerful alliance between European states and merchants propelled them, and their economic logic, across the oceans. This, Beckert shows, was modern capitalism's big bang, and one of its epicenters was the slave labor camps of the Caribbean. This system, with its hierarchies that haunt us still, provided the liftoff for the radical transformations of the Industrial Revolution. Fueled by vast productivity increases along with coal and oil, capitalism pulled down old ways of life to crown itself the defining force of the modern world. This epic drama, shaped by state-backed institutions and imperial expansion, corresponded at no point to an idealized dream of free markets. Drawing on archives on six continents, Capitalism locates important modes of agency, resistance, innovation, and ruthless coercion everywhere in the world, opening the aperture from heads of state to rural cultivators. Beckert shows that despite the dependence on expansion, there always have been, and are still, areas of human life that the capitalist revolution has yet to reach. By chronicling capitalism's global history, Beckert exposes the reality of the system that now seems simply natural. It is said that people can more easily imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. If there is one ultimate lesson in this extraordinary book, it's how to leave that behind. Though cloaked in a false timelessness and universality, capitalism is, in reality, a recent human invention. Sven Beckert doesn't merely tote up capitalism's debits and credits. He shows us how to look through and beyond it to imagine a different and larger world.
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Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford
by Carla Kaplan
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE BIOGRAPHY AWARD AND THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGARD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY. A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE. A TOWN & COUNTRY BEST BOOK . A BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK. Troublemaker tells the wild and unlikely story of Jessica Mitford, fifth of the six famous Mitford Girls, a British aristocrat-turned-American Communist, famous for expos s like The American Way of Death. This biography brings her astonishing self-transformation to life with a riveting, often hilarious account of trading wealth and status for a life of radical activism. Who could predict that a British aristocrat would so energize American antifascist and civil rights struggles that Time magazine would crown her Queen of the Muckrakers? Jessica Mitford, always known as Decca, was brought up by an eccentric English family to marry well and reproduce her wealth and privilege, not to advocate for the rights of others. Her beautiful sisters have been subjects of books and movies dedicated to their naughty, glamorous lives. Decca ran away to America to forge a rebel's life. As this richly researched book details, Decca broke the Mitford mold. Instead of settling for life as a professional Beauty, she fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War, became an American Communist and pioneered witty, hugely popular journalism, including her 1963 blockbuster The American Way of Death. Decca dedicated her life to social justice and proved herself an immensely effective ally, but she also injected laughter into all her political work, annoying some activists with her relentless antics but encouraging many others to find joy in the struggle. From famed baby doctor Benjamin Spock to best friend Maya Angelou, her anti-authoritarian irreverence had a profound impact on American culture. Mining extensive, untapped sources, and with nearly fifty new interviews, Kaplan's passionate biography beautifully illuminates how Decca's hard-won and self-taught social empathy offers a powerful example of female freedom, the dramatic, novelistic story of an extraordinary woman of her time who is remarkably relevant and resonant today.
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The 21st Century Brain: How Our Brains Are Changing in Response to the Challenges of Social Networks, AI, Climate Change, and Stress
by Richard Restak
Discover the Influences of Social Media, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Climate Change, Stress, and More on Our Brains and Behavior Unique to the Twenty-first Century. During the past twenty-five years, we've encountered powerful influences for good and bad on brain function and even brain structure. Consider the changes that have already taken place in how we communicate. During the last half of the twentieth century, images displaced words as the common parlance of communication. On the nightly news we've become accustomed to watching images drawn from video cameras used by law enforcement and, thanks to a proliferating number of cellphones, everyday use. Yet AI is turning the traditional dynamic that images carry more weight than words (seeing is believing) upside down because we now have to question the authenticity of images. We are finding ourselves forced to adjust to a world where what we see is not always what's really happening. Next, consider the effects of our changing environment on our brains and our behavior. There is good reason to believe that a link exists between an increase in global temperature and suicide. Wildfires, becoming more and more common thanks to climate change, affect air quality, which is often undetectable by the average person until it reaches toxic levels. Studies have proven that wildfire smoke is affecting our brains and potentially causing disease. Perhaps the greatest twenty-first century contributor to changes in brain function is stress. Due to many factors explored in the book, it's likely that levels of mental and emotional instability are on the horizon that can only be fully understood by focusing on the changes in the human brain brought about by these unparalleled levels of stress. The brain is always evolving. The 21st Century Brain will describe those influences on brain and behavior that are unique to this century, as well as available preventive measures to mitigate some of these factors. This book is a quintessential study on how our brains are uniquely changing in the twenty-first century, as well as a guide to the personal and collective measures that can be taken to eliminate these factors or reduce their impact.
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My Little Donkey: And Other Essays
by Martha Cooley
A collection of searching, curious, and surprising essays catalyzed by the author's move in her sixties to a small Italian village, exploring selfhood, coincidence, inheritance, and the impermanence of identity. In 2021, in her mid-sixties, Martha Cooley moved with her husband from the United States to Castiglione del Terziere, a village in northernmost Tuscany. Prompted by this relocation, the essays in My Little Donkey chronicle her encounters with people, animals, the past, and herself as she reckons with the fallout of a major life-change. Following curiosity where it leads, Cooley delves into music and silence, the vagaries of history, the complexity of familial legacies, and the presence and power of animals in human lives. With its spirited examinations of uncanny coincidences and chance events, My Little Donkey's varied essays offer the vivid pleasures of story combined with the provocations of a writer looking behind the curtain of appearances, intent on honest assessments of what she sees and feels. Whimsical yet at the same time intellectually and emotionally bold, these essays tackle the conundrum of time's passage: how to adapt, pay attention, embrace contradiction, and enjoy the ride?
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Oswego Public Library District
Montgomery Campus - 1111 Reading Drive, 60538Oswego Campus - 32 West Jefferson, 60543 (630) 554-3150
https://www.oswego.lib.il.us/
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