| Rasputin:The Downfall of the Romanovs by Antony BeevorRussian peasant turned mystic Grigori Rasputin was surrounded by dark rumors while serving the court of Nicholas II and Alexandra in pre-revolution St. Petersburg. People whispered that he had superhuman healing powers and conducted orgies with women of the court. Historian Antony Beevor separates myth from fact, concluding that Rasputin’s abuse of the Tsar’s trust coupled with his well-known corruption and lechery likely helped undermine public faith in the Russian royal house, eventually leading to his murder. |
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Wîhtamawik / Tell Them: On a Life of Inspiration by Louise Bernice Halfe -. Sky DancerCree poet and kêhtê-aya Louise Bernice Halfe - Sky Dancer chronicles her childhood in a cabin on reserve, through the Indian Residential School system, and into her reclamation of her nêhiyaw language, culture, and spirituality. My parents taught us the art of observation. I learned to hunt, skin, and butcher game through non-verbal methods. I also watched my grandparents work on the land and live their spirituality. I helped gather, dry, and grind their medicines. I inhaled the medicines' power and ingested it. When I left for residential school all this fell asleep. In never-before-collected essays and new poems, poet and kêhtê-aya (Elder) Louise Bernice Halfe - Sky Dancer tells the story of how she woke up from the trauma of separation and found the source of her inspiration: her culture and the land.
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The Power of Life:The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
by Jessica Riskin
In the early nineteenth century, the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed the first evolutionary theory of life and, with it, a new science: biology. Yet for centuries, evolutionary theorists have endeavored to discredit Lamarck and his theory of self-transforming organisms. In this melding of biography, history, politics, and science, Jessica Riskin sets out to correct the record, telling the story of Lamarck's life and work as an intense struggle between rival forces to answer questions that remain foundational to our modern worldview: What is a living being, and what is science?
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Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Most Controversial World War II General
by Peter Mauch
Japan's prime minister and top military general during WWII, Hideki Tojo is today associated above all with the ignominy of defeat. Yet, before his downfall, he was a brilliant, ambitious, and at times ruthless political operator. Peter Mauch chronicles Tojo's story, his military genius, and the will to power that drove him to supreme heights.
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| Notes to John by Joan DidionAfter author Joan Didion died in 2021, a journal was found among her papers addressed to her husband John Gregory Dunne, written in the early 2000s and concerning psychotherapy treatment that she received at the behest of her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne. Readers will empathize with Didion as she gives a detailed account of these intimate but painful talk-therapy sessions, which cover fraught family dynamics, alcoholism, guilt, and emotional distance. |
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Letters
by Oliver Sacks
Dr. Oliver Sacks--who describes himself in these pages as a "philosophical physician" and a "neuropathological Talmudist"--wrote letters throughout his life: to his parents and his beloved Auntie Len, to friends and colleagues from London, Oxford, California, and around the world. The letters deliver a portrait of Sacks as he wrestles with the workings of the brain and mind. We see, through his eyes, the beginnings of modern neuroscience, following the thought processes of one of the great intellectuals of our time, whose words, as evidenced in these pages, were unfailingly shaped with generosity and wonder toward other people.
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Farley and Claire: A Love Story
by Michael Harris
The tumultuous, enduring love story between iconic writer Farley Mowat and his wife Claire, including excerpts from their passionate letters, published here for the first time. When Farley Mowat met Claire Wheeler in August 1960, the attraction was immediate, and within days they were lovers, despite the fact that Farley was already married. Their affair—partly aided and abetted by publisher Jack McClelland—included an extended correspondence until several years later, when Farley finally obtained a Mexican divorce and the two were married in Texas. They were together until Farley’s death 54 years later.
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Deaf Utopia: A Memoir--And a Love Letter to a Way of Life
by Nyle DiMarco
Activist, producer, actor, and model Nyle DiMarco shares stories, both heartbreaking and humorous, of what it means to navigate a world built for hearing people. Through his stories and those of his Deaf family, he opens many windows into the Deaf experience.
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Paris Letters
by Janice MacLeod
A funny, romantic, and inspiring travel memoir about a woman who quits her job, moves to Paris, and finds love--and herself. Exhausted and on the verge of burnout, Janice MacLeod cuts back, saves up, and buys herself two years of freedom in Europe. In Paris, Janice meets Christophe, the cute butcher down the street--who doesn't speak English. They embark on a whirlwind Paris romance, and she soon realizes she can never return to the world of twelve-hour workdays. But her dwindling savings force her to find a way to fund her dreams again. So Janice turns to her three loves--words, art, and Christophe--to figure out a way to make her happily-ever-after in Paris last forever.
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