|
|
New Nonfiction December, 2025 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler by Rebecca DonnerIn this stunning literary achievement, Donner chronicles the extraordinary life and brutal death of her great-great-aunt Mildred Harnack, the American leader of one of the largest underground resistance groups in Germany during WWII--a page-turner story of espionage, love and betrayal (Kai Bird, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography) Born and raised in Milwaukee, Mildred Harnack was twenty-six when she enrolled in a PhD program in Germany and witnessed the meteoric rise of the Nazi party. In 1932, she began holding secret meetings in her apartment--a small band of political activists that by 1940 had grown into the largest underground resistance group in Berlin. She recruited working-class Germans into the resistance, helped Jews escape, plotted acts of sabotage, and collaborated in writing leaflets that denounced Hitler and called for revolution. Her coconspirators circulated through Berlin under the cover of night, slipping the leaflets into mailboxes, public restrooms, phone booths. When the first shots of the Second World War were fired, she became a spy, couriering top-secret intelligence to the Allies. On the eve of her escape to Sweden, she was ambushed by the Gestapo. At a Nazi military court, a panel of five judges sentenced her to six years at a prison camp, but Hitler overruled the decision and ordered her execution. On February 16, 1943, she was strapped to a guillotine and beheaded. Historians identify Mildred Harnack as the only American in the leadership of the German resistance, yet her remarkable story has remained almost unknown until now. Harnack's great-great-niece Rebecca Donner draws on her extensive archival research in Germany, Russia, England, and the U.S. as well as newly uncovered documents in her family archive to produce this astonishing work of narrative nonfiction. Fusing elements of biography, real-life political thriller, and scholarly detective story, Donner brilliantly interweaves letters, diary entries, notes smuggled out of a Berlin prison, survivors' testimony, and a trove of declassified intelligence documents into a powerful, epic story, reconstructing the moral courage of an enigmatic woman nearly erased by history.
|
|
|
|
The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland
by Michelle Young
On August 25, 1944, Rose Valland ... found herself in a desperate position. From the windows of her beloved Jeu de Paume museum, where she had worked and ultimately spied, she could see the battle to liberate Paris thundering around her. The Jeu de Paume, co-opted by Nazi leadership, was now the Germans' final line of defense ... Based on troves of previously undiscovered documents, The Art Spy chronicles the brave actions of the key Resistance spy in the heart of the Nazi's art looting headquarters in the French capital ... While Hitler was amassing stolen art for his future Führermuseum, Valland, his undercover adversary, secretly worked to stop him--
|
|
|
|
Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian's Journey Home by Chris La Tray Growing up in Montana, Chris La Tray always identified as Indian. Despite the fact that his father fiercely denied any connection, he found Indigenous people alluring, often recalling his grandmother’s consistent mention of their Chippewa heritage. When La Tray attended his grandfather’s funeral as a young man, he finally found himself surrounded by relatives who obviously were Indigenous. “Who were they?” he wondered, and “Why was I never allowed to know them?” Combining diligent research and compelling conversations with authors, activists, elders, and historians, La Tray embarks on a journey into his family’s past, discovering along the way a larger story of the complicated history of Indigenous communities—as well as the devastating effects of colonialism that continue to ripple through surviving generations. And as he comes to embrace his full identity, he eventually seeks enrollment with the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, joining their 158-year-long struggle for federal recognition.
|
|
|
|
The Divided North: Black and White Families in the Age of Slavery
by Carol R. Gardner
Reuben Ruby and Nathaniel Gordon II were born eleven months apart in 1798 and 1799 and spent much of their boyhoods roaming the noisy, bustling waterfront of Portland, Maine. They lived just blocks from one another, attended school together, and went to the same church with their families. But they were worlds apart, separated by family, culture, and race. Reuben Ruby was Black and Nathaniel Gordon was White. The Rubys became prominent antislavery activists, equal rights advocates, and operatives on the Underground Railroad. Their neighbors, the Gordons, became well-to-do ship masters, owners, and merchants: among them, the most notorious American slave ship captain of the century, Nathaniel Gordon III. As activists, sea captains, businessmen, prospectors, and politicians, members of these two families traveled to New York, California, Texas, Louisiana, Africa, Haiti, and Brazil, where their experiences were shaped by their racial identities. At home in the Free North, they faced social and political divisions nearly as sharp as those they encountered elsewhere. To understand the issues that divided nineteenth-century America--and, in many ways, still divide the nation--few have looked to the far North. In this compelling narrative history and intimate dual-family biography, Carol Gardner traces the Rubys and Gordons as they navigate the turbulent 1800s. As families and individuals, they demonstrate that the North was a critical proving ground for American notions of freedom and equality, as telling as any town, plantation, or battlefield in the South. Their experiences help reveal what it meant to live in a free state during the age of slavery, with all the promise, disappointment, irony, and hope that the notion entailed.
|
|
|
|
Finding My Way: A Memoir
by Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate and New York Times bestselling author of I Am Malala, shares the most private journey of her young life-a story of friendship and first love, of mental illness and self-discovery, and of trying to stay true to yourself when everyone wants to tell you who you are. In 2012, Malala Yousafzai was thrust onto the public stage at fifteen years old, after the Taliban's brutal attack on her life. Millions of people around the world were inspired by her courage and dedication to fighting for girls' education, lining up to meet her and filling stadiums to hear her speak. But away from the cameras and crowds, Malala was still a young woman struggling to find her place in the world. Now, in Finding My Way, Malala shares a breathtaking story of searching for identity, a candid exploration of coming of age in the spotlight, and an intimate look at her life today. With an accessible voice that showcases the parts of her life rarely shown in public, Malala traces her path from high school loner to reckless college student to a young woman at peace with her remarkable past and hopeful for the future--
|
|
|
|
Fodor's Provence & the French Riviera by Fodor's Travel GuidesWhether you want to explore the charming villages of Provence, mingle with the rich and famous in Cannes, or lounge on the beach in Nice, the local Fodor's travel experts in Provence & the French Riviera are here to help! Fodor's Provence & the French Riviera guidebook is packed with maps, carefully curated recommendations, and everything else you need to simplify your trip-planning process and make the most of your time. This new edition has an easy-to-read layout, fresh information, and beautiful color photos.
|
|
|
|
How We Live Is How We Die by Pema ChodronAs much as we might try to resist, endings happen in every moment--the end of a breath, the end of a day, the end of a relationship, and ultimately the end of life. And accompanying each ending is a beginning, though it may be unclear what the beginning holds. In How We Live Is How We Die, Pema Chödrön shares her wisdom for working with this flow of life--learning to live with ease, joy, and compassion through uncertainty, embracing new beginnings, and ultimately preparing for death with curiosity and openness rather than fear. Poignant for readers of all ages, her teachings on the bardos--a Tibetan term referring to a state of transition, including what happens between this life and the next--reveal their power and relevance at each moment of our lives. She also offers practical methods for transforming life's most challenging emotions about change and uncertainty into a path of awakening and love. As she teaches, the more freedom we can find in our hearts and minds as we live this life, the more fearlessly we'll be able to confront death and what lies beyond. In all, Pema provides readers with a master course in living life fully and compassionately in the shadow of death and change.
|
|
|
|
Next of Kin: A Memoir by Gabrielle HamiltonWe were a family veined through with certain brutalities, rifts, and unresolved conflicts, as well as some remarkable violences and some decades-long silences. But together we had rituals, systems, congruent cohering events that made us who we were as one. I thought of the black and blue marks as if they were the desirable spores of mold found in noble cheeses. The youngest of five children, Gabrielle Hamilton took pride in her unsentimental, idiosyncratic family. She idolized her parents' charisma and non-conformity. She worshipped her siblings' mischievousness and flair. Hers was a family with no fondness for the humdrum. Hamilton grew up to find enormous success, first as a chef and then as the author of award-winning, bestselling books. But her family ties frayed in ways both seismic and mundane until eventually she was estranged from them all. In the wake of one brother's sudden death and another's suicide, while raising young children of her own, Hamilton was compelled to examine the sprawling, complicated root system underlying her losses. She began investigating her family's devout independence and individualism with a nearly forensic rigor, soon discovering a sobering warning in their long-held self-satisfaction. By the time she was called to care for her declining mother--the mother she'd seen only twice in thirty years--Hamilton had realized a certain freedom, one made possible only through a careful psychological autopsy of her family. Hamilton's gift for pungent dialogue, propulsive storytelling, intense honesty, and raucous humor made her first book a classic of modern memoir. In Next of Kin, she offers a keen and compassionate portrait of the people she grew up with and the prevailing but soon-to-falter ethos of the era that produced them. A personal account of one family's disintegration, Next of Kin is also a universal story of the emotional clarity that comes from scrutinizing our family mythologies and seeing through to the other side.
|
|
|
|
Skinnytaste High Protein: 100 Healthy, Simple Recipes to Fuel Your Day: A Cookbook by Gina HomolkaWhether you're looking for creative ways to incorporate more protein into your diet, go-to recipes to jazz up your favorite proteins, or ideas for nutritionally balanced meals that will keep you satiated, Gina has you covered. Each recipe packs at least thirty grams of protein per serving (including options for vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free eaters) and there are plenty of one-pot, meal-prep friendly, and streamlined recipes for every meal of the day. Start your day with a Mango-Blueberry Smoothie or Chicken Chorizo Breakfast Tacos. Turn hearty proteins into a complete meal with Grilled Chicken Thighs and Charred Corn Summer Salad, Sheet Pan Tajin Salmon Fish Tacos, and Seared Steaks with Dijon-Mushroom Sauce and Roasted Asparagus. Gina also offers protein-boosted versions of classics like a Monte Cristo Omelet Sandwich or PB+J Breakfast Crepes. And if you need a midday protein boost, prep a Spicy Salmon Roll or Chicken Avocado Salad Chip Dip. With nutritional information included for each recipe and recipes labeled for gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients, Skinnytaste High Protein will be your go-to resource for nutritious meals that pack a protein punch.
|
|
|
|
Vagabond: A Memoir
by Tim Curry
There are few stars in Hollywood today that can boast the kind of resume Emmy award-winning actor Tim Curry has built over the past five decades. From his breakout role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' to his iconic depiction as the sadistic clown Pennywise in It to his critically acclaimed role as the original King Arthur in both the Broadway and West End versions of Spamalot, Curry redefined what it meant to be a 'character actor,' portraying heroes and villains alike with complexity, nuance, and a genuine understanding of human darkness. He's had dozens of roles across movies, TV shows, and musicals; lent his instantly recognizable voice to dozens of voice roles, audiobooks, and videogames; and he's changed the lives of countless fans in the process. Now, in his memoir, Curry takes readers behind-the-scenes of his rise to fame from his early beginnings as a military brat with difficult family dynamics, to his formative years in boarding school and university, to the moment when he hit the stage for the first time
|
|
|
|
We Survived the Night
by Julian Brave Noisecat
Born to a Secwepemc father and Jewish-Irish mother, Julian Brave NoiseCat's childhood was full of contradictions. Despite living in the urban Native community of Oakland, California, he was raised primarily by his white mother. He was a competitive powwow dancer, but asked his father to cut his hair short, fearing that his white classmates would call him a girl if he kept it long. When his father, tormented by an abusive and impoverished rez upbringing, eventually left the family, NoiseCat was left to make sense of his Indigenous heritage and identity on his own. Now, decades later, Noisecat has set across the country to correct the erasure, invisibility, and misconceptions surrounding this nation's First Peoples, as he develops his voice as a storyteller and artist in his own right--
|
|
|
|
Wife, Mother, Spy - An Extraordinary Life Filled with Ordinary Days
by Ann E. Butler
Wife, Mother, Spy is the captivating memoir of Ann Butler, a former undercover CIA Operations Officer who spent her career recruiting foreign assets, protecting national security and raising five children. With vivid storytelling and unflinching honesty, this memoir reveals the complexities of juggling family and duty in a world of secrecy.
|
|
|
|
The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II by David NasawAs historian David Nasaw makes evident in his masterful recontextualization of these years, the veterans who came home to America were not the same people as those who had left for war, and the nation to which they returned was not the one they had left behind. Contrary to the prevailing narratives of triumph, here are the largely unacknowledged realities the veterans--and the nation--faced that radically reshaped our understanding of this era as a bridge to today. The Wounded Generation tells the indelible stories of the veterans and their loved ones as they confronted the aftershocks of World War II. Veterans suffering from recurring nightmares, uncontrollable rages, and social isolation were treated by doctors who had little understanding of PTSD. They were told that they were suffering from nothing more than battle fatigue and that time would cure it. When their symptoms persisted, they were given electro-shock treatments and lobotomies, while the true cause of their distress would remain undiagnosed for decades to come. Women who had begun working outside the home were pressured to revert to their prewar status as housewives dependent on their husbands. Returning veterans and their families were forced to double up with their parents or squeeze into overcrowded, substandard shelters as the country wrestled with a housing crisis. Divorce rates doubled. Alcoholism was rampant. Racial tensions heightened as White southerners resorted to violence to sustain the racial status quo. To ease the veterans' readjustment to civilian life, Congress passed the GI Bill, but Black veterans were disproportionately denied their benefits, and the consequences of this discrimination would endure long after the war was won. In this richly textured examination, Nasaw presents a complicated portrait of those who brought the war home with them, among whom were the period's most influential political and cultural leaders, including John F. Kennedy, Robert Dole, and Henry Kissinger; J. D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut; Harry Belafonte and Jimmy Stewart. Drawing from veterans' memoirs, oral histories, and government documents, Nasaw illuminates a hidden chapter of American history--one of trauma, resilience, and a country in transition.
|
|
|
|
The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery by Siddharth KaraIn late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa's Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning care) was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique. By the time its journey ends, the Zorg would become the first undeniable argument against slavery. When a series of unpredictable weather events and navigational errors led to the Zorg sailing off course and running low on supplies, the ship's captain threw more than a hundred slaves overboard in order to save the crew and the most valuable slaves. The ship's owners then claimed their loss on insurance, a first for slaves who had not been killed due to insurrection or died of natural causes. The insurers refused to pay due to the higher than usual mortality rate of the slaves on board, leading to a trial which initially found in their favor, in which the Chief Justice compared the slaves to horses. Thanks to the outrage of one man present in court that day, a retrial was held. For the first time, concepts such as human rights and morality entered the discourse on slavery in a courtroom case that boiled down to a simple yet profound question: Were the Africans on board people or cargo? What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England's highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history, sparking the abolitionist movement in both England and the young United States. The Zorg is the astonishing yet little-known true story of the most consequential ship that ever crossed the Atlantic.
|
|
|
|
Moon Coastal Maine: With Acadia National Park: Seaside Getaways, Sailing & Kayaking, Lobster & Lighthouses by Hilary NangleLocal Mainer Hilary Nangle reveals the best of Maine's spruce-studded islands, classic shoreline villages, and rugged character. Inside Moon Coastal Maine you'll find: Strategic, flexible itineraries like a long weekend Down East, five days in Acadia, and a two-week road trip Must-see highlights and unique experiences: Bike through timberland forests or take a lighthouse cruise down the Kennebec River. Sample wild blueberries, farmstead cheeses, and preserves from roadside farm stands, find the best beachfront lobster shack, or mingle with locals over a chowdah suppah. Discover maritime history in a traditional fishing village or explore pedestrian-only islands packed with hiking trails. Watch the boats sway in a quiet harbor, unwind on a sandy pocket beach sandwiched between two headlands, or immerse yourself in the secluded wilderness of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park Honest insight from Maine local Hilary Nangle on when to go, where to eat, and where to stay, from budget campgrounds to historic inns Full-color photos and detailed maps throughout. Recommendations for getting there and getting around by plane, car, train, or bus Thorough background on the culture, environment, wildlife, and history With Moon's practical tips and local know-how, you can experience the best of coastal Maine.
|
|
|
|
Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy
by Julia Ioffe
In 1990, seven-year-old Julia Ioffe and her family fled the Soviet Union. Nearly twenty years later, Ioffe returned to Moscow, only to discover just how much Russian society had changed while she had been living in America. The Soviet women she had known growing up--doctors, engineers, scientists--had seemingly been replaced with women desperate to marry rich and become stay-at-home moms. How had Russia gone from portraying itself as the vanguard of world feminism to the last bastion of conservative Christian values? In Motherland, Ioffe turns modern Russian history on its head, telling it exclusively through the stories of its women. From her own physician great-grandmothers to Lenin's lover, a feminist revolutionary; from the hundreds of thousands of Soviet girls who fought in World War II to the millions of single mothers who rebuilt and repopulated a devastated country; from the members of Pussy Riot to Yulia Navalnaya, wife of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, she chronicles one of the most audacious social experiments in history and how it failed the very women it was meant to liberate--
|
|
|
|
Practical Accounts & Bookkeeping in Easy Steps
by Alex Byrne
Starts with the basics you need to know to record your day-to-day transactions and how they appear in Nominals, Trail Balance, Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet. Then it addressess annual adjustments, VAT, one-off events, prepayments, accruals, depreciation, capital accounts, tax and more - explaining the key accounting principles, such as double entry, at each stage.
|
|
|
|
Athens: Food, Stories, Love: A Cookbook
by Diane Kochilas
Diane has lived in Athens for thirty years and has been witness to the enormous social and culinary changes all around her. To navigate the city's gastronomic scene today is to discover a city overflowing with new creative energy in its kitchens and myriad of international ingredients in its markets. These new global influences on the Athenian table live side by side with Greece's great gastronomic traditions. Souvlaki, hand pies, and the classic pasta casserole pastitsio are included here along with Athenian 'fancy' dishes like noua, a classic Athenian pot roast, and chicken Milanese, combining chicken, rice, and a velvety cream sauce. Giving readers a taste of the ways in which the culinary traditions of other countries are shaping the way Athens eats today, Diane offers a recipe for a French-influenced cross between a croissant and spanakopita, shares an Italian twist on a Greek classic with shrimp saganaki risotto, updates a Greek bean dish with a Grec-Mex twist on gigantes, and much more--
|
|
|
|
Dead and Alive: Essays
by Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects that have captured her attention in recent years. She takes an exhilaratingly close look at artists Toyin Ojih Odutola, Kara Walker, and Celia Paul. She invites us along to the movies, to see and to think about Tâar, and to New York to reflect on the spontaneous moments that connect us. She takes us on a walk down Kilburn High Road in her beloved North-West London and welcomes us to mourn with her the passing of writers Joan Didion, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel, Philip Roth, and Toni Morrison. She considers changes of government on both sides of the Atlantic--and the meaning of 'the commons' in all our lives--
|
|
|
|
Dorie's Anytime Cakes by Dorie GreenspanAn illustrated collection of recipes for simple yet most-memorable cakes.
|
|
|
|
For the past several years, Joyce Vance has signed off posts on her chart-topping Substack, Civil Discourse, with these four words. In that time, she has guided readers through a continued erosion of democratic norms, the unprecedented felony conviction of an ex-president, and the constitutionally calamitous beginning to the second Trump administration. Here, Vance offers a blueprint for avoiding burnout and despair, and for strengthening our democratic muscle. Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a clarion call to action, putting our current crisis in historical context and sketching out a vision for where we go next. Vance's message is hopeful at its heart, even as it acknowledges the daunting challenges that lie ahead. She is the constitutional law professor you never knew you needed, explaining the legal context and the political history-- and why the rule of the law still matters. At the same time, she empowers the reader to do something, both as individuals and collectively. Consider this the birth of a countermovement to Project 2025, a rallying cry for citizen engagement to combat the second Trump administration and save American democracy. |
|
|
|
The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding by Joseph J. EllisThe author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Founding Brothers and the National Book Award winner American Sphinx examines how America's founders--Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams--regarded the issue of slavery as they drafted the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. In this daring and important work, a trusted voice on the founding era reckons with the realities and regrets of our founding and the tragedy of its two great failures: the failure to end slavery and the failure to avoid Indian removal.
|
|
|
|
The Look
by Michelle Obama
An illustrated book about fashion by former First Lady Michelle Obama--
|
|
|
|
The Traitors Circle: The True Story of a Secret Resistance Network in Nazi Germany--And the Spy Who Betrayed Them
by Jonathan Freedland
When the whole world is lying, someone must tell the truth. Berlin, 1943: A group of high society anti-Nazi dissenters meet for a tea party one late summer's afternoon. They do not know that, sitting around the table, is someone poised to betray them all to the Gestapo. They form a circle of unlikely rebels, drawn from the German elite: two countesses, a diplomat, an intelligence officer, an ambassador's widow and a pioneering head mistress. What unites every one of them is a shared loathing of the Nazis, a refusal to bow to Hitler and the courage to perform perilous acts of resistance: meeting in the shadows, rescuing Jews or plotting for a future Germany freed from the Fèuhrer's rule. Or so they believe. How did a group of brave, principled rebels, who had successfully defied Adolf Hitler for more than a decade, come to fall into such a lethal trap? Undone from within and pursued to near-destruction by one of the Reich's cruelest men, they showed a heroism in the face of the most vengeful regime in history that raises the question: what kind of person does it take to risk everything and stand up to tyranny?--
|
|
|
|
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written
by Walter Isaacson
To celebrate America's 250th anniversary, Walter Isaacson takes readers on a ... deep dive into the creation of one of history's most powerful sentences: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, this line lays the foundation for the American Dream and defines the common ground we share as a nation. Isaacson unpacks its genius, word by word, illuminating the then-radical concepts behind it--
|
|
|
|
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor by Christine KuehnA propulsive, never-before-told story of one family's shocking involvement as Nazi and Japanese spies during WWII and the pivotal role they played in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It began with a letter from a screenwriter, asking about a story. Your family. World War II. Nazi spies. Christine Kuehn was shocked and confused. When she asked her seventy-year-old father, Eberhard, what this could possibly be about, he stalled, deflected, demurred, and then wept. He knew this day would come. The Kuehns, a prominent Berlin family, saw the rise of the Nazis as a way out of the hard times that had befallen them. When the daughter of the family, Eberhard's sister, Ruth, met Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels at a party, the two hit it off, and they had an affair. But Ruth had a secret--she was half Jewish--and Goebbels found out. Rather than having Ruth killed, Goebbels instead sent the entire Kuehn family to Hawaii, to work as spies half a world away. There, Ruth and her parents established an intricate spy operation from their home, just a few miles down the road from Pearl Harbor, shielding Eberhard from the truth. They passed secrets to the Japanese, leading to the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. After Eberhard's father was arrested and tried for his involvement in planning the assault, Eberhard learned the harsh truth about his family and faced a decision that would change the path of the Kuehn family forever. Jumping back and forth between Christine discovering her family's secret and the untold past of the spies in Germany, Japan, and Hawaii, Family of Spies is fast-paced history at its finest and will rewrite the narrative of December 7, 1941.
|
|
|
|
Notes on Being a Man
by Scott Galloway
Bestselling author, NYU professor, and cohost of the Pivot podcast Scott Galloway offers a path forward for men and parents of boys.Boys and men are in crisis. Rarely has a cohort fallen further and faster than young men living in Western democracies. Boys are less likely to graduate from high school or college than girls. One in seven men reports having no friends, and men account for three of every four deaths of despair in America. Even worse, the lack of attention to these problems has created a vacuum filled by voices espousing misogyny, the demonization of others, and a toxic vision of masculinity. But this is not just a male issue: Women and children can't flourish if men aren't doing well. And as we know from spates of violence, there is nothing more dangerous than a lonely, broke young man. Scott Galloway has been sounding the alarm on this issue for years. In Notes on Being a Man, Galloway explores what it means to be a man in modern America. He promotes the importance of healthy masculinity and mental strength. He shares his own story from boyhood to manhood, exploring his parents' difficult divorce, his issues with anger and depression, his attempts to earn money, and his life raising two boys. He shares the sometimes funny, often painful lessons he learned along the way, some of which include: - Get out of the house. Action absorbs anxiety. - Take risks and be willing to feel like an imposter. Don't let rejection stop you. - Be kind. That's the secret to success in relationships. - Find what you're good at; follow your talent. - Acknowledge your blessings--and create opportunities for others. Be of surplus value. - Being a good dad means being good to the mother of your children. - Life isn't about what happens to you--it's about how you respond to it. With unflinching honesty, Scott Galloway maps out an enriching, inspiring operator's manual for being a man today.
|
|
|
|
The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World
by Tilar J. Mazzeo
Summer, 1856. Nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Patten and her husband Joshua were young and ambitious. Both from New England seafaring families, they had already completed their first clipper-ship voyage around the world with Joshua as captain. If they could win [a] race to San Francisco that year, their dream of building a farm and a family might be within reach. It would mean freedom. And the price of that freedom was one last dangerous transit--into the most treacherous waters in the world. As their ship, Neptune's Car, left New York Harbor and sailed down the jagged coast of South America, Joshua fell deathly ill and was confined to his bunk, delirious. ... With no obvious option for a new captain and heartbroken about her husband, Mary Ann stepped into the breach and convinced the crew to support her, just as they slammed into a gale that would last 18 days. ... Set against the backdrop of the California Gold Rush and taking us to the brink of Antarctica, [this book] finally gives Mary Ann Patten--the first woman to command a merchant vessel as captain--her due--
|
|
|
|
Nations Apart: How Clashing Regional Cultures Shattered America by Colin WoodardThe bestselling author of American Nations reveals how centuries-old regional differences have brought American democracy to the brink of collapse and presents a powerful story that can bridge our cultural divisions and save the republic Our democracy has been purposefully dismantled, first in the states and now at the federal level. With groundbreaking original data and historical insights, Nations Apart is an essential guide to understanding why Americans are so divided on many hot button issues, creating geographic fissures that have been exploited by authoritarians. Colin Woodard shows how colonial era settlement patterns and the cultural geography they left behind are at the root of our political polarization, economic inequality, public health crises, and democratic collapse. Drawing on quantitative research from Woodard's university-based think tank project, Nations Apart exposes the true ideological and cultural divides behind today's struggles over: * Gun control* Immigration* Health policy* Abortion* Climate Change* History* Authoritarianism and Democracy But there is a road map to right the country: a carefully researched, vigorously tested common story for the country built on the mission set forth for us in the document that first bound our regions together, the Declaration of Independence. Combining compelling storytelling with scholarly vigor, Nations Apart offers a blueprint for bridging the rifts that divide us and ensuring the American dream of democratic self-government will reach its 300th birthday.
|
|
|
|
John Candy: A Life in Comedy
by Paul Myers
From his humble beginnings in sketch comedy with the Toronto branch of Second City, to his rise to fame in SCTV and Hollywood film classics like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors, and Uncle Buck, John Candy captivated audiences with his self-deprecating humour, emotional warmth, and gift for improvisation. Now, for the first time since Candy's tragic death, bestselling biographer Paul Myers tells the full story of the man behind the laughs. Drawing on extensive research and exclusive interviews with many of Candy's closest friends and colleagues, including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Steve Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, and many more, John Candy: A Life in Comedy celebrates the comedian's unparalleled talent, infectious charm, and generosity of spirit. Through ups and downs, successes and failures, and struggles with anxiety and self-doubt, Candy faced the world with a big smile and a warm demeanour that earned him the love and adoration of fans around the world--
|
|
|
|
Building a Non-Anxious Life
by John Delony
A no-nonsense, straightforward approach to mental health, in which Dr. John Delony breaks down exactly how to start choosing the less or 'non-anxious' path to life.--
|
|
|
|
Hostage
by Eli Sharabi
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be'eri, shattering the peaceful life Eli Sharabi had built with his British wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel. Dragged barefoot out his front door while his family watched in horror, Sharabi was plunged deep into the suffocating darkness of Gaza's tunnels. As war raged above him, he endured a grueling 491 days in captivity, all the while holding onto the hope that he would one day be reunited with his loved ones. Eli Sharabi's story is one of hunger and heartache, of physical pain, longing, loneliness and a helplessness that threatens to destroy the soul. But it is also a story of strength, of resilience, and of the human spirit's refusal to surrender. It is about the camaraderie forged in captivity, the quiet power of faith, and one man's unrelenting decision to choose life, time and time again. In the first memoir by a released Israeli hostage, and the fastest-selling book in Israel's history, Sharabi offers a searing firsthand account of survival under unimaginable conditions--starvation, isolation, physical beatings, and psychological abuse at the hands of his captors.--
|
|
|
|
The American Revolution: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. WardFrom a small spark kindled in America, a flame has arisen not to be extinguished. --Thomas Paine In defeating the British Empire and giving birth to a new nation, the American Revolution turned the world upside down. Thirteen colonies on the Atlantic coast rose in rebellion, won their independence, and established a new form of government that radically reshaped the continent and inspired independence movements and democratic reforms around the globe. The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. In this sumptuous volume, historian Geoffrey C. Ward ably steers us through the international forces at play, telling the story not from the top down but from the bottom up--and through the eyes of not only our Founding Fathers but also those of ordinary soldiers, as well as underrepresented populations such as women, African Americans, Native Americans, and American Loyalists, asking who exactly was entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Enriched by guest essays from lauded historians such as Vincent Brown, Maya Jasanoff, Jane Kamensky, and Alan Taylor, and by an astonishing array of prints, drawings, paintings, texts, and pamphlets from the time period, as well as newly commissioned art and maps--and woven together with the words of Thomas Paine-- The American Revolution reveals a nation still grappling with the questions that fueled its remarkable founding.
|
|
|
|
Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Angela BuchdahlFrom the first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi, a stirring account of one woman's journey from feeling like an outsider to becoming one of the most admired religious leaders in the world Angela Buchdahl was born in Seoul, the daughter of a Korean Buddhist mother and Jewish American father. Profoundly spiritual from a young age, by sixteen she felt the first stirrings to become a rabbi. Despite the naysayers and periods of self-doubt--Would a mixed-race woman ever be seen as authentically Jewish or chosen to lead a congregation?--she stayed the course, which took her first to Yale, then to rabbinical school, and finally to the pulpit of one of the largest, most influential congregations in the world. Today, Angela Buchdahl inspires Jews and non-Jews alike with her invigorating, joyful approach to worship and her belief in the power of faith, gratitude, and responsibility for one another, regardless of religion. She does not shy away from difficult topics, from racism within the Jewish community and the sexism she confronted when she aspired to the top job to rising antisemitism today. Buchdahl teaches how these challenges, which can make one feel like a stranger, can ultimately be the source of our greatest empathy and strength. Angela Buchdahl has gone from outsider to officiant, from feeling estranged to feeling embraced--and she's emerged with a deep conviction that we are all bound to a larger whole and mission. She has written a book that is both memoir and spiritual guide for everyday living, which is exactly what so many of us crave right now.
|
|
|
|
Fearless and Free: A Memoir
by Josephine Baker
Published in English for the first time, this is the memoir of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker--
|
|
|
|
|
|
|