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New Non-Fiction Arrivals at MPL |
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Welcome to NEXTREADS, the Mobile Public Library's e-mail newsletter service. Are you looking for a few good books to read? Sign up for our e-newsletters and get great book suggestions by email. We'll deliver reading lists right to your inbox along with new gems, bestsellers and related titles. You'll also be able to check immediately whether the items are available at your favorite Mobile Public Library Location or whether they've been checked out.
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Here are our new arrivals, click the title to view in our catalog:
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American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington
by H. W. Brands
From historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands comes an inspiring portrait of George Washington that examines his unrivaled leadership in the birth of America From his early military career and role among the Virginia gentry, to his leadership during the American Revolution and reluctant return to public service as the first president of the United States, American Patriarch brings to life the man who was called on time and again by his peers to lead. With a dazzling cast of characters, from the French and Indians on the Ohio frontier; to the Marquis de Lafayette, Benedict Arnold and Baron von Steuben on the revolutionary battlefield; to Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton locked in conflict during his presidency, American Patriarch casts Washington as the icon of American virtue who wrested America free from British control, gave credibility to the Constitution, and crafted the norms that would steady America as a nation for generations to follow. Arriving in time for the 250th anniversary of American independence, this is a masterful portrait of Washington as the unrivaled leader of his times.
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American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed
by Issac Fitzgerald
New York Times bestselling author Isaac Fitzgerald sets off to the heart of America, following the path of the legendary Johnny Appleseed on an epic journey that both takes him far from home and brings him closer to it. It's a difficult thing, to separate legend from story from memory from fact. As a child, Isaac Fitzgerald was always captivated by Johnny Appleseed, drawn by family ties to the legend, his father's larger-than-life stories, and a shared restlessness to leave home and discover what lies beyond. In American Rambler, he sets out, walking from Massachusetts to Indiana on a year-long journey to follow Appleseed's path, turning a childhood fascination into a profound reckoning of loss and grief, ritual and faith, grimy gas-station bathrooms and scenic apple picking. A moving blend of memoir, history, and travelogue, American Rambler is at once an ode to the American heartland and an antidote to the breakneck pace of modern life.
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And So It Is...: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope
by Jamie Lynn Sigler
The star of the legendary HBO series The Sopranos and podcast co-host with Christina Applegate, Jamie Lynn Sigler opens up about the vicissitudes of life, from early stardom to heartache and love, motherhood, and illness, offering readers an unflinchingly vulnerable exploration of the experiences that have transformed her life.Jamie Lynn Sigler is both the girl-next-door and a superstar. Tapped at the young age of sixteen to star as Meadow Soprano, daughter of mob boss Tony Soprano, by the time the series ended in 2007, Jamie, then twenty-five, suffered from an eating disorder, kept private her diagnosis of MS, and entered a disastrous early marriage--all under the scrutiny of a less-than-kind public eye. Over the next years, Jamie would remarry, become a mother, launch a hugely popular podcast and, most recently, nearly lose her beloved son to a mysterious illness.Amidst the stardust showered and all the slings and arrows that life has thrown, Sigler emerges with grace and a generosity of spirit that she is ready to share. In this moving and fiercely honest memoir, she reflects on her life and her years on The Sopranos. But this is no tale of woe; Jamie guides us through her darkest moments and comes out the other side emboldened and not embittered. A natural storyteller, she shares memories of her time portraying Meadow Soprano and beyond, including her often painful journey of self-discovery. In this unflinching account, Jamie holds nothing back; her resilience, candor, and her heart-bursting capacity for love shine through on every page.And So It Is... offers the best of memoir from a cherished voice that invites us to share the most challenging and equally blessed moments of life's journey. A triumphant story from one of America's favorite stars.
also available in audio
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Art from the Garden: Create 25 Beautiful Botanical Projects
by Kerry Michaels
Bring the beauty of your surroundings into your home through 25 tasteful art projects featured in the gorgeous creative guide. This is a gorgeously photographed, warmly detailed guide to creating works of art with materials (mostly) from your own garden. Create chic vases from twigs, visually stunning luminarias using water, your own gorgeous blooms, and a freezer, cyanotype prints with a branch and the power of the sun, and other striking projects. The 25 step-by-step projects are easy to find, nestled into categories like pressed flowers, frozen botanicals, cyanotype, wrapped stones, so on. Artist and photographer Kerry Michaels lends her artistic and photographic talent, refined eye, and warm writing voice to this book for folks who want to bring nature into their home in sophisticated, highly personalized ways.
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A Bird's IQ: Innovation, Intelligence, and Problem Solving in the Avian World
by Louis Lefebvre
This book is a gem, witty, entertaining, insightful, and deeply informative--a must-read for anyone interested in birds or brains. JENNIFER ACKERMAN, New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, What an Owl Knows, and The Bird Way A vivid book on avian intelligence.--Booklist, STARRED Review Discover the secret intelligence of birds, revealed by one of the world's leading researchers in avian innovation. Surveying a wide variety of birds, including crows, finches, tits, and parrots, Louis Lefebvre, a world-renowned expert in animal behavior, describes the remarkable innovations and problem-solving abilities of species often dismissed as featherbrains. From crows using cars as nutcrackers to cockatoos crafting tools, Lefebvre reveals how birds exhibit creativity, social learning, and even cultural transmission--traits once thought to be exclusive to humans and other primates. Blending his decades of scientific research with engaging anecdotes, Lefebvre examines the evolutionary forces that have shaped avian intelligence. He explores how birds adapt to urban environments, innovate in response to challenges, and pass down knowledge across generations. This goldmine of bird behavior yields an innovation quotient (like our human IQ) widely used by researchers to measure and rank how innovative a bird species is. Using his encyclopedic knowledge, Lefebvre answers questions such as: When a bird species learns a new technique, how do their innovations spread?Why is research on bird cognition being used to train AI models and even robots?What makes certain birds endlessly innovative while others stubbornly repeat the same behaviors?With vivid storytelling and groundbreaking insights, A Bird's IQ invites readers to reconsider their perceptions, celebrating the ingenuity of birds and highlighting the interconnectedness of all intelligent life.
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Bitter Honey: Big Ag's Threat to Bees and the Fight to Save Them
by Jennie Durant
An ambitious, important, and utterly captivating book.--Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Replaceable You and Stiff A revealing investigation into how industrial farming poses a growing threat to America's bees Each February, a vast yet largely invisible migration takes place across the United States. Semi-trucks stacked high with honey bee colonies head to California's Central Valley, carrying nearly 99 percent of the nation's domesticated bees. There, the bees pollinate millions of acres of blooming almond orchards before fanning out across the country for apples, berries, and other crops. This massive undertaking sustains both beekeepers and farmers--but it comes at a heavy price. In Bitter Honey, Jennie Durant takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the human and ecological cost of industrial farming for bees, beekeepers, and all of us who depend on them. Bees today face a gauntlet of threats: parasites and disease, pesticide exposure, and climate extremes--all magnified by Big Ag. Beekeepers, meanwhile, endure grueling practices just to survive, often losing half their hives each year. But this isn't a story of defeat. Durant introduces us to the beekeepers, farmers, and activists pioneering new ways to support both wild and managed bees. The stakes are high: nearly three-quarters of our major food crops depend on bees and other pollinators. Bitter Honey exposes the crisis threatening the nation's bees and spotlights the advocates working to protect them for generations to come.
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Digital Coup: The Conspiracy to Thwart Global Democracy
by Darin Johnson
International lawyer, professor, and national security professional Darin Johnson exposes how tech platforms and their founders exploit political anxieties, and offers urgent solutions to combat digital polarization. Combining case studies with expert insight, this is essential reading for those concerned about truth, democracy, and the internet.
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Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York
by Andrew Lownie
INCLUDES SENSATIONAL NEW MATERIAL THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLER A Book of the Year for The Times, Financial Times and Waterstones 'This isn't a book; it's a case for revolution' CAMILLA LONG, SUNDAY TIMES 'A damning cannonball of truth through the York ramparts' MAIL ON SUNDAY
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Give Them Their Flowers: Reflections on Women, Film, and Friendship
by Octavia Spencer
All my blessings are the blessings of community. --Octavia Spencer Octavia drove to Los Angeles at twenty-six in search of a career in film. What she found was her chosen family. In this captivating memoir, the Oscar-winning actor and producer recounts the seeds of the relationships that grew into the story of her life, from her tender teenage connection with Whoopi Goldberg to her sustaining friendships with Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Allison Janney, Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, and the many talented, inspiring women whose love and advice have helped her become the woman she is today. Together, they built the world in which this book is set: a place where women support one another and the voices of history's heroines ring aloud. Give Them Their Flowers is a love letter to female friendship. It is a call to follow your personal passions, create community, and persevere. This is Octavia's ode to all the women who wake up early to get it done: the mentors, the mothers and the mother figures, the aunties and the godmothers, the creators, the visionaries, and the best friends. Men have given me jobs, Octavia says. Women are the reason the world knows who I am.
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Horse Country
by Kathryn O'Shea-Evans
An unbridled ride through the beauty of horse country around the globe--from tack room to saddle, British dressage to Western cowboys-- and everywhere in between. Includes a foreword from India Hicks. Horse lovers will relish this attractive book. It will be of interest to both readers who want to learn more about horses and those who are experienced riders, owners, and trainers of equines.--Library Journal Prepare to take the most glamorous ride of your life. Horse Country is not just a book--it's a sprawling, cinematic tribute to the world of horses. Epic in scale and almost as grand as a Thoroughbred, this tome bucks convention, letting loose the reins on beauty, fantasy, and freedom in equal measure. Each page is a discovery: sweeping vistas of dew-dotted pastures, weathered tack rooms, head-turning rides in both English and Western style, and Friesians so exquisite they seem conjured from myth. Included amid all the unbridled beauty are essays on equestrian life and history, a foreword from India Hicks, and an illustrated horse breed dictionary that captures familiar and rarefied equines to know and love. Whether you're a lifelong equestrian or an aspiring horse girl, Horse Country is an essential love letter to life in the saddle.
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An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln
by Lois Romano
A revelatory new biography of one of the most misunderstood and vilified First Ladies in American history: Mary Todd Lincoln.Mary Lincoln was at the center of politics at a time when society's expectations for women were rigid and circumscribed. The product of Southern aristocracy, she grew up among an influential clan of politicians and elites who founded Lexington, Kentucky. Mary's early exposure to the male-dominated world of politics instilled in her a keen political acumen and a fierce ambition. Proclaiming as a child that she was destined to become the wife of a president, she played a crucial role in boosting her husband to greatness. But her hopes for a triumphant experience at the pinnacle of power were lost to the Civil War and unfathomable family tragedies. Still, Mary persevered. She steadfastly supported the Union war effort, visited encampments, tended to wounded soldiers, and generously donated money and gifts to refugees from slavery. She was an unconventional, larger-than-life character who dressed too ostentatiously, grieved too publicly, suffered a shopping addiction, and seemed unable or unwilling to corral her emotions, her temper, and her opinions. She made enemies--influential men who wrote her story for her, often unfairly. After Lincoln was assassinated, she was all but abandoned by the nation he had given his life to defend and preserve. Former Washington Post writer and columnist Lois Romano rectifies the tortured legacy of Mary Todd Lincoln, who was failed at nearly every turn in her widowhood--by her family, by her government, by medical professionals ill-equipped to diagnose her mental illness, and finally, by history. Romano draws on hundreds of archives, letters, and memoirs to provide the most complete portrait--of not simply of an inconvenient widow, but of a brilliant and flawed woman, who possessed uncommon tenacity in the face of extraordinary adversity and personal torment, and helped launch one of America's greatest presidents.
also available in audio
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Kate!: The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen
by Christopher Andersen
The definitive portrait of Kate Middleton, the beloved and private Princess of Wales, tracing her stunning rise from working-class roots to queen-in-waiting, from #1 New York Times bestselling royal biographer Christopher Andersen.Kate is one of the most photographed, most talked about, most written about women in the world--heiress to Princess Diana's glamour and mystique, both wife of one future monarch and mother of another. But as the daughter of an airline attendant who grew up in public housing, Kate was not destined for this fate. She had to fight for it--and for the love of the future king. In this illuminating portrait, master biographer Christopher Andersen chronicles Kate's life, beginning with her humble upbringing; her off-again, on-again love story with William that catapulted her to global fame; and the 2011 Wedding of the Century. Throughout their marriage, Kate has proven that she is more than just a prince's wife--she is a leader in humanitarian work, the devoted mother of three children in the media spotlight, an unparalleled fashion icon, and the universally adored face of Britain's monarchy. Yet her story is more complex than the public knows. With startling new details from his inside sources, Andersen reveals the full picture: including Kate's fight to repair William and Harry's rift, the disintegration of her relationship with Meghan, her work to refute charges of racism leveled at the monarchy, and her bravery in the face of cancer--her diagnosis and treatment, and the bizarre theories that swirled around her public disappearance. Kate is an against-all-odds romance, a glittering fairy tale, and a heart-tugging family drama within the modern monarchy--but most of all, an inspiring saga of one woman's grace and grit in the face of adversity.
also available in audio
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The Killer and Frank Lloyd Wright: The True Story of Mass Murder in Paradise
by Casey Sherman
The scandal. The genius. The murder that shocked America.Frank Lloyd Wright was more than the mind behind America's most iconic buildings--he was a man whose turbulent private life captivated a nation. The famous architect's stormy marriage to Kitty Wright and his infamous affair with another woman, Mamah Borthwick, ignited one of the country's first celebrity scandals, splashed across headlines from coast to coast.Then, in August 1914, scandal turned to horror. A tragedy at Taliesin, the Wisconsin home Wright built as a monument to love, shook the very foundation of Wright's life--and catapulted him back to the front pages of newspapers across the country as readers clamored for glimpses of his very darkest moments.In The Killer and Frank Lloyd Wright, New York Times bestselling author Casey Sherman delves beyond the myth of Wright's genius to reveal a man of relentless ambition, consuming passion, and devastating loss. With haunting intimacy and propulsive storytelling, Sherman delivers a portrait of an artist who could not escape the shadows of his own making--and who rose, again and again, from the ashes.
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The Land and Its People: Essays
by David Sedaris
In this new collection, David Sedaris reflects on what it means to be a foreigner, a brother, a lifelong friend, in essays that are among the best of his career (Publishers Weekly, starred review). A welcome return to form for the much-awarded and much-loved humorist...Sedaris remains a national treasure. --Kirkus (starred review) In The Land and Its People, Sedaris investigates what it means to be a traveler, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role of caretaker after his boyfriend Hugh's hip-replacement surgery, he both succeeds and fails. He covers ground with his friend Dawn and challenges her to eat a truck tire. A ambivalent Duolingo bot becomes his unlikely confidante as he attempts to describe his family in a foreign language. Ever adding to his list of Countries I Have Been To, he rides a horse named Tequila in Guatemala, buys a bespoke priest's cassock in Vatican City, and goes on safari in Kenya without taking a single photo. Time takes its toll: scrolling through his address book, he counts those he couldn't bear to outlive, and realizes how many are already gone. He is bitten by a dog and insulted by a wee train passenger. A woman on the street late at night either sexually harasses him or doesn't. It's easy to agree with the lady waving a sign that reads, Enough Is Enough. And yet, life holds much to delight in: the massive testicles of a ram, a trip abroad with his sisters, a really excellent reptile video, a pair of well-made cotton underpants. Throughout these essays--at once acerbic and tender, playful and profound--Sedaris shows how much there is to marvel at when you keep your head up and your eyes open, observing with warmth and curiosity our fascinating human species and the lands we inhabit.
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The Last of the Old Breed: An Oral History of the Final Marines from World War II
by Scott Davis
An oral history of the brutal Pacific Theater in WWII, told by many of the last living U.S. Marine veterans.During World War II, over 16 million Americans served in the Armed Forces. Today, less than 1 percent are still alive. The Last of the Old Breed is an unprecedented oral history of the final living United States Marines from World War II, featuring over 130 veterans, ranging in age from 90 to 103. Told in harrowing detail, the witnesses reveal the brutal reality of combat against a fanatical enemy and the heavy toll it took on their post-war lives. From retirement facilities, veteran's hospitals, and modest homes across the country, the last witnesses opened up about the war like never before, determined to leave an honest account for future generations. For many of the veterans, this was the first - and final - time telling their stories. The Last of the Old Breed is a rare, unvarnished look at the Pacific War, in the words of those who were there. These are the stories that could not be told - until now.
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Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe
by Gail Crowther
Timed to the hundredth birthday of Marilyn Monroe, and with the full cooperation of the Monroe estate, comes an investigation into the literary life of the Hollywood icon and actress, from the author of Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz and Dorothy Parker in Hollywood. Far from the spotlights of the Hollywood film sets and the flashbulbs of the press, Marilyn Monroe was a great reader and lover of books. Her association with writers did not stop at reading their words on the page. She was, of course, briefly married to one of America's best-known playwrights, Arthur Miller, and met a number of other writers who moved in his literary world. But she also met authors independently of Miller, many of whom were fans of her films and keen to meet her. Through her deep research, Gail Crowther delves into Marilyn's personal book collection and recounts some of these meetings, like when she shared an apartment with Shelley Winters in West Hollywood, where they entertained Dylan Thomas and Christopher Isherwood for drinks (probably several drinks), after which Monroe arranged for Thomas to meet his childhood hero, Charlie Chaplin. Or when Life magazine arranged for Monroe to be interviewed by Dame Edith Sitwell at the Sunset Tower Hotel, and Sitwell was both charmed and blown away by Monroe's intelligence. Marilyn And Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe charts the intellectual life of a screen legend, revealing how Monroe, who left high school before graduation, embarked on an impressive and progressive program of self-education, hungry for knowledge and devouring books as an active and engaged reader. Her personal library reflects this inquiring mind. In 2026, for her centenary, this book showcases Marilyn Monroe the reader. Because, at the end of her life, it was not her jewels or her furs, shoes, or dresses that she cared about. It was her books.
also available in audio
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Nolan: The Singular Life of an American Original
by Tim Brown
The definitive biography of Nolan Ryan, arguably the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball, from New York Times bestselling sportswriter Tim Brown. Nolan Ryan was the hero to two of America's biggest institutions: Texas and baseball. Nolan is an exploration of God, family, baseball, and America--and a tribute to one of the greatest pitchers to ever step on the mound. He grew up in the small, hard town of Alvin, Texas, was graced with a fastball, and fell in love with a woman named Ruth, then honored all three in his pursuit of hardball perfection. Alongside Nolan's personal story, renowned sportswriter Tim Brown offers a thoughtful, deeply researched history of baseball in the Lone Star State, and an unforgettable account of three glorious decades in the Major Leagues. Nolan Ryan's story is about dominating on the field, then growing old in the game, then just plain growing old. It's about the man who has become a symbol of the game at its best, the way it used to be. It's about deeds over words. About cattle matching the hat. About fastballs over all else. Nolan makes the case that there has never been another like him. And there won't be again.
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On Witness and Respair: Essays
by Jesmyn Ward
The collected creative nonfiction of a singular American writer, Jesmyn Ward, including widely shared classics, three never-before-published speeches, and an introductory essay. Respair (noun, obsolete), fresh hope after despair. From the two-time National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Jesmyn Ward, this collection of essays documents more than a decade of work in the life of a singular writer often lauded as the heir apparent to Toni Morrison (LitHub). Beginning with her upbringing in a multigenerational household in rural Mississippi, the cradle of both her youth and her gift for storytelling, Ward brings her keen wisdom and hauntingly lyrical prose to a range of topics, following in her grandmother Dorothy's footsteps when she promises always to Tell it straight. Tell it all. True to her word, in these pages Ward contemplates the writers and novels of her youth and adulthood--the transformative power of discovering Octavia Butler as a twenty-something, the mirror that Richard Wright's novels held up to her own childhood, and of course, her lifelong love for Toni Morrison. Ward ruminates on her approach to both fiction and life, reflecting on the power of the novel, how to raise a Black son in an era of rising divisiveness and cruelty, as well as her own personal tragedies--including the titular essay of the collection, which tells the story of her partner's sudden death on the eve of the COVID-19 epidemic. Every bit as piercing and moving as her fiction, On Witness and Respair is a testament to Ward's powers as one of America's finest living writers (San Francisco Chronicle) and is a monument to hope, beauty, and personal and collective resilience.
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Stalin's Apostles: The Cambridge Five and the Making of the Soviet Empire
by Antonia Senior
The riveting story of the ring of spies known as the Cambridge Five, who infiltrated the highest levels of the British establishment and helped Stalin cement a half century of Soviet domination over Eastern Europe. A brilliant book. Deep research and dazzling writing make Stalin's Apostles an appallingly entertaining read. A definitive work on one of the 20th century's most treacherous conspiracies. Tim Weiner, author of The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century The Cambridge Five was the most infamous spy ring in history. Its members--Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, and John Cairncross--met at university, amid the left-wing ferment overtaking British campuses between the World Wars. The Five were soon recruited by Soviet agents and pledged allegiance to Stalin, and each quickly took up a place in the British government. From the 1930s, they funneled top-secret intelligence to the USSR, some so sensitive that their Soviet handlers feared a double cross. Their unmasking in 1951 rocked Britain, helping to end a chummy, boys' club stranglehold on the country's institutions of power. But, as Antonia Senior shows, the Five's treachery had much graver and more devastating consequences across the world. Their work invaluably aided Stalin as he sought to build a Red Empire, condemning millions across Eastern Europe to decades of repression, violence, and death. Rife with code names, smuggled documents, clandestine rendezvous, and copious amounts of gin, Stalin's Apostles wields impeccable research and storytelling and all the thrilling details and high tragedy of a classic spy thriller. A definitive and important account of the most infamous spy ring ever ... told with the propulsive force of a spy novel. Joseph Finder, New York Times-bestselling author of The Oligarch's Daughter
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Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter
by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
America's favorite astrophysicist has written the most entertaining and universally appealing book of his stellar career: a practical guide for dealing with Alien visitors, an exploration of how it might happen, and a cultural history of our fascination with extraterrestrials. Ever since childhood, writes Neil deGrasse Tyson, I've wanted to be abducted by Aliens. Take Me to Your Leader is the culmination of a lifetime of fascination, speculation, and the amassing of scientific data about the possibility of Aliens visiting Earth. Drawing on a wealth of depictions from history, literature, pop culture, and film, Tyson applies the universal laws of physics to make the case for what Aliens might look like, act like, how they might travel through the universe to reach us, and what they might think of us upon arrival. Should such an event occur, Tyson further offers useful etiquette tips for your first close encounter. If you've ever wondered why there are so many UFO sightings, or whether Aliens might already be among us, Tyson offers an informed perspective that is both factual and fun. Take Me to Your Leader is a tantalizing exploration of what would be the most mind-blowing experience of your life--the book for anyone who has ever wondered: Are we alone?
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True Crime: A Memoir
by Patricia Cornwell
#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell finally tells the story that rivals all of the works that precede it: her own. Let's start, and end, with this: Patricia Cornwell's autobiography, TRUE CRIME, could be the best book she's ever written. And I've read them all --James Patterson Patricia Cornwell is best known for her international bestselling thriller series about forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Every story comes from somewhere, and Scarpetta's began when Patricia Cornwell embedded herself in a morgue. In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas day, her mother being institutionalized twice, an abusive foster family, and developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham's wife Ruth. Cornwell depicts a harrowing hospitalization and near-death car accident. She unflinchingly shares overcoming obstacles that later gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter. From there it was research in a medical examiner's office that would turn into a full-time job. She would become a forensic expert and worldwide publishing phenomenon. Cornwell leaves no stone unturned in this deeply candid account of her life, offering inspiring insight into what made her into the international sensation she is today.
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Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull
by Tom Clavin
A dramatic new look at Custer's Last Stand in time for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Heart of Everything That Is. On June 25-27, 1876, the Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was fought between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. Along the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, the battle resulted in the devastating defeat of U.S. forces and was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. This dramatic look at the Little Bighorn battle includes not only the Native American point of view-with two dynamic Native figures, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, on prominent display-but also the impact it had on the Plains Indians. It turned out to be their last stand too because a vengeful nation quashed any remaining resistance, with a conclusive massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, almost simultaneous with the murder of Sitting Bull. In addition, Custer's character by June 1876 is at the heart of this world-famous disaster. For all his celebrated bravery, especially at Gettysburg 13 years earlier, Custer became a devout media hound, desperate to gain fame. Even, some say, his own demise was a misguided attempt at grabbing national headlines: He envisioned a massacre - just not his own. As both the camera and the tabloid came of age, George Armstrong Custer became America's first bona fide celebrity. Vengeance is a thrilling read, filled with action, legendary characters, and poignance for the impact this had on Native Americans and the shape of the American West.
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What's So Great about the Great Books?: Why You Should Read Classic Literature (Even Though It Might Destroy You)
by Naomi Kanakia
A popular novelist and literary blogger answers those who claim the classics are too difficult, too problematic, and too white--and explains what we gain by reading them When she was in her early twenties, then-aspiring writer Naomi Kanakia set out to read the Great Books--humankind's most highly regarded literary classics, representing the best that human beings have thought or said, as determined by the two elderly intellectuals who'd written the guidebook she consulted. After twenty years, she has made her way through about two-thirds of these books, and she's found reading them to be an immensely pleasurable and insightful activity. Plato, Milton, Tolstoy, Proust, all those dead guys--their books have stood the test of time. But since beginning her journey, Kanakia has found that although reading the Great Books is part of a longstanding tradition of engaging with the thought of previous generations, it is also a highly contingent activity that arose out of a specific time and place, the brainchild of a small group of early twentieth-century popularizers associated with Columbia University and the University of Chicago. And people have always been skeptical about the idea of reading the Great Books, asking if this is truly a realistic or even desirable goal for the ordinary person. A more recent and growing group of Great Books skeptics asks if these works are too problematic, reactionary, and irrelevant to bother reading. Kanakia, a self-described left-of-center person, grapples with these objections, attempting to restore context for the Great Books even as she sticks up for them. Because books that expose us to fundamental truths about the nature of beauty and reality are worth fighting for.
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