May 2026 list by Nanette Alderman |
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After Nations: The Making and Unmaking of a World Order
by Rana Dasgupta
Until recently, the system of nation-states appeared settled and eternal. Not anymore. As American hegemony unwinds and Western countries slide into anxiety and debt, there is a resurgence of tyranny, imperialism and war. Rana Dasgupta traces the formation and rise of the nation-state system in order to explain its multiple failures today.
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American Men
by Jordan Ritter Conn
A deeply intimate portrait of the lives of four men that examines--in profound and comprehensive ways--what it means to be a man in America. Men wield outsized power across all major institutions. But they are falling behind across all measures of well-being and success. They include loving husbands and absent fathers, corporate strivers and displaced workers, the objects and instruments of incredible violence. They are half the population.
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Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried about: A Memoir
by Isabel Klee
Dog-obsessed since childhood, Isabel Klee's first post-grad job was becoming an assistant to a dog photographer, and something clicked into place: a career focused on helping dogs was the new dream. Isabel quickly found a passion for rehabilitating rescue dogs and helping them get adopted.
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The Future Is Peace
by Aziz Abu Sarah
Two lifelong peace activists and guides to Israel/Palestine, both of whom have lost family in the conflict, take readers on a revealing life-changing journey across this holy, bloodstained land and discover the mythic, political, and personal history that divides but also binds them and their peoples.
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Hack That Dish
by Todd Wilbur
Todd Wilbur is a one-man culinary cover band who identifies and decodes America's favorite restaurant dishes and beloved brand-name foods, so you can make perfect copies at home. No matter what you're craving, you won't have to leave home or break the bank to satisfy your appetite.
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I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose & Embracing Reinvention
by Jennie Garth
Jennie Garth is best known for playing the iconic role of Kelly Taylor in the hit television series Beverly Hills, 90210. Now in her 50s, she invites readers into the real story of growing up on screen, facing Hollywood's impossible beauty standards, and losing—and finding—herself through heartbreak, loss, and the challenge of motherhood.
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In Trees: An Exploration
by Robert Moor
One day, on a whim, Robert Moor set out to climb a tree near his home—unwittingly embarking on what would become a decade-long, globe-spanning adventure of intellectual and spiritual transformation. Along the way, Moor learns the art of tree-thinking, which, he discovers, has the power to break open some of humanity's oldest questions.
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Joyful, Anyway
by Kate Bowler
Kate Bowler shows why people so busy chasing happiness miss out on actual joy. Joy isn't something you can optimize or manufacture—it finds us at the edge of expectation, when life interrupts our scripts. Gives language for the ache we all carry and practices for putting yourself in the way of joy loosening control, introducing novelty, choosing charity, and staying open to the surprising, technicolor moments that pull us back
into life.
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London Falling
by Patrick Radden Keefe
An investigation of an inexplicable death and an intimate and deeply poignant inquiry into the nature of parental love and the challenges of being a parent today—a portrait of a family trying to solve the riddle not just of how their son died, but of who he really was in life.
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Love Keeps Showing Up: Music, Messes, and Miracles
by Adassa
Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe recipient, platinum-selling artist. The voice of Dolores Madrigal in Encanto. Adassa invites us into her personal story of achieving her musical dreams, battling a paralyzing illness, and having faith in divine timing.
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Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed
by Quinn Slobodian
A pyrotechnic examination of Elon Musk as a symptom and avatar of our postliberal age. Everyone's got an Elon take. He's a messiah. A menace; a genius; a clown. The verdicts differ, but they share one theme: they treat him as an individual. Muskism argues otherwise. Elon Musk's worldview promises sovereignty through technology: plug in, power up, and become self-reliant. But the more you connect, the more he owns you.
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Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs
by Antony Beevor
Though he had no official position at court, Rasputin's hold over the Romanovs became the stuff of legend. Through extensive use of previously unpublished reports, interviews, and interrogations, Beevor shows the truth of Rasputin's rampant lust and opportunism, victimization of poor and vulnerable women, and deep hypocrisy and corruption. Part political thriller, part gothic mystery, Rasputin is a fascinating story of human perversity.
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The Rolling Stones
by Bob Spitz
Bob Spitz has brought his indefatigable energy and five decades of experiences in the fields and hollows of rock 'n' roll to bear on his five-year journey to reexamine one of popular music's greatest stories. There are myriad revisions to the conventional narrative which underscore just how in control of that narrative the band has been up to now.
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Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town
by Michael Edison Hayden
When the white nationalist group VDARE used dark money to purchase a historic castle overlooking Berkeley Springs in West Virginia, America's cold civil war spilled into this scenic tourist town. From behind the imposing stone walls of their castle, VDARE spread propaganda focused on the great replacement conspiracy theory, sowing discord in the once peaceful town below. In an attempt to restore civility, a group of neighbors banded together to oppose VDARE's presence.
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A Terrible Intimacy: Interracial Life in the Slaveholding South
by Melvin Patrick Ely
A revelatory new account of slavery, uncovering a surprising web of relationships between Black and white people that ranges far beyond the familiar template of master-slave dynamics A white man hosts a wedding party for his Black servant and finds himself charged with a criminal offense; an overseer ends up dead after getting drunk with a slave; two men, one poor and white and the other enslaved, team up to plot a murder.
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Thank You, Teachers
by James Patterson
Teachers are the heroes we too often forget to thank. And we need heroes more than ever. From across the country, from kindergarten to high school, from public, private, religious, or military schools, teachers tell us: What it takes to teach kids day in and day out What it takes to improve kids' lives What it takes to foster a lifelong readers and lifelong learners.
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Thinky Thoughts: All Grown Up and Still Just as Confused
by Gwenna Laithland
Thinky Thoughts walks the line between memoir, storytelling, guided meditation, and self-help. It's a little bit of explanation, a lot a bit of exploration, and a tiny bit of still not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing as an adult. It's also being okay with not knowing.
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This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History
by Beverly Gage
Beverly Gage travels the country to see the museums, historic sites, roadside attractions, reenactments, and souvenir shops where Americans learn about our history. From the birth of the nation in Philadelphia to Disneyland and the California dream.
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Through Mom's Eyes: Simple Wisdom from Mothers Who Raised Extraordinary Humans
by Sheinelle Jones
When Sheinelle Jones launched Through Mom's Eyes, a recurring Today show segment interviewing celebrities' mothers about raising successful kids, she had an ulterior motive—she wanted to bring all their wisdom to bear on raising her own three children. She has since interviewed dozens of remarkable women and gathered a candid, warm, and insightful collection of valuable lessons about life, love, and parenthood.
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