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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 Unpeople: The Lawful Kidnapping of America's Disposable Class
by Julie L. Belshe
An American couple is kidnapped from their home by a Las Vegas court. Two thousand miles away, a journalist investigates the same thing happening to thousands of Michigan residents. Victims of conservatorship abuse, they are stripped of their freedom, rights, identity, possessions, and life savings by a professional guardian, and it's all perfectly legal. In the early morning of August 30, 2013, Rudy and Rennie North were enjoying breakfast in their Las Vegas home when there was a knock at the door. Expecting their daughter Julie Belshe and her children, the Norths were instead confronted by a woman who called herself an Officer of the Court. Under the threat of imprisonment, she had them forcibly removed and assumed complete control over their lives. When Julie arrived later that day, she found the house locked up and her parents missing. In 2019, journalist Gretchen Hammond discovered thousands of such victims in Detroit, Michigan. As with the Norths, their homes, possessions, savings, and basic human freedoms were taken from them by a judge, without a trial. Conservatorship abuse is often found in situations where a professional legal guardian has themselves declared the executor of a conservatorship by a judge, usually in cases involving the elderly, and often without their client's invitation or knowledge. As legal guardian, they then have the ability to possess and sell their client's entire estate, and even forcibly remove them from their home into a care facility. The client and client's family have minimal legal recourse to prevent or reverse this form of abuse and theft. Julie launched a desperate battle for her parents' freedom. Gretchen fought to uncover the unchecked and corrupt legal system that had similarly left countless numbers of innocents abandoned in nursing homes against their will. Both women found themselves up against a powerful court and skeptical public. What took place became the biggest and most infamous case of abuse and exploitation in Nevada history, and a tragic secret Michigan would do anything to protect. American Unpeople is a tragic true story and journalistic deep dive into a system that can suddenly turn anyone's life into a terrifying dystopia. This is happening right now, to thousands of people in the US. It can happen to anyone.
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Aristocracy, American Style: Class Privilege and the Persistence of Elite Power
by Nancy Isenberg
A New York Times bestselling historian confronts the myth of American meritocracy and our enduring reverence for the uber-rich--and how that feedback loop corrodes democracy Americans are taught to see aristocracy as everything we are not. Yet from the Revolution forward, the nation has cultivated elites in all but name--dynasties of wealth, pedigree, and corporate power--while praising them as proof the system works. In Aristocracy, American Style, bestselling historian Nancy Isenberg shows that the feel-good myths of the self-made man and opportunity for all have not simply distracted us; they have supplied a durable logic that launders privilege across generations. Drawing on public policy, popular culture, and political rhetoric, Isenberg pierces the veil that shields the most privileged among us. Ranging from Gilded Age robber barons to modern moguls and influencers, from Brahmins to nepo babies, she demonstrates how American elites have long borrowed aristocratic forms--crests reborn as logos, courts reborn as corporate suites, noblesse oblige reborn as naming rights--while media infrastructures keep us awed by scandal and celebrity churn. The result is not just a roll call of the rich but a working model of power. From the racetracks and jockey clubs of early America to the halls of the Ivy League and the red carpets of Hollywood, Aristocracy, American Style reframes today's inequality as the predictable outcome of an old, distinctly American regime--one that thrives under democratic slogans while narrowing democratic possibility--and shows what it costs a republic to mistake prestige for merit.
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Between the River and the Railroad Tracks: A Memoir
by Nicole R. Fleetwood
Meticulously crafted and unflinchingly vulnerable, Nicole R. Fleetwood's multigenerational family portrait braids the intimate life of a neighborhood with the historic arc that shaped it to offer an untold story of the black Midwest. In 1973, Hamilton, Ohio, was a mill town so typical it prided itself on being quintessentially American. In harder times, it proved to be a bellwether. Here, young Nicole is born into a fourth-generation household in the Second Ward, a segregated neighborhood between the river and the railroad tracks. In this tight-knit community, most of Nicole's neighbors are like her relatives: large, intergenerational families a few decades up from the South. They build their own institutions, create music with global influence, and uphold a code of conduct centered around safety and belonging. But the legacy of slavery and the entrenched racism of the Midwest cast a shadow over the Second Ward. The Fleetwoods bear their struggles as an ancestral curse, one that dooms their menfolk and burdens their women. The family lore echoes in Nicole's earliest memories. As Nicole grows up, the curse spreads through her community. She witnesses the Second Ward undergo devastating changes that impact her family and neighbors. The loss of factory jobs, growing political divides, and the crack epidemic wreak havoc, seeping through the walls of her family home and replacing the sense of community and familiarity with destitution and violence. Nicole nurtures her intellectual curiosity and independence, dreaming of college and the world beyond. But she fears that leaving the Second Ward means abandoning everything she's known--the neighborhood map that kept her safe, the community that raised her, and the family that loves her. In a powerful testament to black love and inheritance, Between the River and the Railroad Tracks asks whether we can ever leave home. Oprah Daily's Best Books of Fall 2026
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Collapse: A Global History of the Second World War, 1931-1941
by Jonathan Fennell
In the first of a three-volume series, a brilliant young scholar of World War II and award-winning author of Fighting the People's War offers a fresh and magisterial new history of the cataclysmic military struggle and the geo- and socio-political change it engendered. Between 1931 and 1949, a series of crises broke out that threatened collective security, world order, and the internal cohesion of states across the globe. At the heart of these crises was a world war that shook the foundations of global power, a watershed moment in the history of the twentieth century. Collapse is the first volume of an authoritative trilogy that tells the story of the Second World War through this international lens, covering theatres of war in multiple continents and analyzing worldwide trends. Through exciting new sources in fourteen languages and from over fifty archives across the world, Professor Jonathan Fennell examines the first part of this long war, from 1931-1941, and explores what it really meant to live through this violent time. Using an innovative approach which explores the personal alongside the political, the global alongside the local, he shows how a world that many considered civilized collapsed into barbarity. Through immersive storytelling and a cast of characters, from bands of brothers to sisters in arms and warwoven lovers, Collapse links the home and battle fronts and ties together the stories of great campaigns with the dramatic political and social changes of the twentieth century, and in doing so, transforms our understanding of this monumental conflict.
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Department of Fate: The Promise, the Power, and the Collapse of America's Most Consequential Institution
by Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow leads a revelatory, rollicking trip through the history of the Justice Department, finding heroism and treachery in equal measure--and, in the end, a rescue effort for our battered democracy. Over its nearly 150 years, the United States Department of Justice became America's most consequential institution, determining the rules and limits of what makes us who we are as a country: our political freedoms, our economy, and our nation's most revolutionary core principle: equal protection under the law. As the Department made wildly consequential decisions about what types of Americans to target, and for what crimes, it has been steered at times by patriotism, bravery, and self-sacrifice, but just as often by lust for power, corruption, and vengeance. Its political masters have cherrypicked economic winners and losers, determined which causes will be allowed to succeed or fail, and dictated which people and places will thrive and which will be beaten down. The department has fixed the path of the nation's political swings. In this searing new history, Rachel Maddow traces these triumphs and misdeeds through the founding and rise of the KKK, the riotous chaos of the Red Scare, civil rights murders and violence, railroad barons' crushing of unions, cabinet scandals that make Watergate look like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the faux erudite lawlessness of the Reagan Administration, and the collapse into thug rule in the Trump Administration. Written in her typical whip-smart prose and with a biting sense of clarity, Department of Fate invites us to see how the history of this key institution illuminates a path ahead for a more resilient, re-democratized America committed to making good on even its loftiest promises. In a moment beset with polarization and misinformation, Maddow's voice shines in this blistering demand to do better--to rebuild the republic, and stronger this time.
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Grant's Betrayal: Power, Corruption, and the Theft of the Black Hills
by John Reeves
The controversial story of the secret conspiracy inside Ulysses S. Grant's White House that led to the theft of the sacred Black Hills from the Lakota people, set against a backdrop of brazen corruption, Lakota resistance, and Gilded Age greed .A riveting account of the secret, rapacious conspiracy that led to the theft of the sacred Black Hills, Grant's Betrayal is set against a backdrop of brazen corruption, Lakota resistance, and Gilded Age greed. This unfamiliar story is about capitalism and fraud at the time of America's first centennial. It's also about loss. Over a period of several decades, the Lakota people lost most of their land, their bison herds, and their liberty to roam over their once-expansive territory.
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The Greatest Original Film Scores: An Illustrated History of the Music of Movies
by Thierry Jousse
This definitive guide to movie music, from 1930s composers to 2020s legends like John Williams and Danny Elfman, goes behind-the-scenes of more than 400 iconic global film scores--complete with a stunning collection of photos and little-known histories on composers, filmmakers, and the making of the films we love. Movies as we know and love them are not complete without their essential film scores, be it a classic Bond theme, a suspense-building horror backdrop, or a downright epic introduction to a fantastical world. The Greatest Original Film Scores is an illustrated guide to the history of movie music, featuring insightful detail on the evolution of musical styles, candid photos from on-set and recording studios, suggested playlists from early 1930s Hollywood through contemporary blockbusters, and much more. Delve into the backgrounds of individual composers and their greatest works, from the tone-setting Max Steiner to era-defining Quincy Jones to contemporary legends like Alexandre Desplat and Joe Hisaish. Discover the vast global catalogue of film scores from the Golden Age of French Cinema and the music accompanying the revolutionary works from Wong Kar-wai and Pedro Almod var. Learn how the relationships between composer and directors creative duos, like Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Hitchcock, Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone, John Williams and Steven Spielberg, and Tim Burton and Danny Elfman, resulted in musical and cinematic masterpieces. Illustrated by more than 400 photos, The Greatest Original Film Scores is the ultimate guide to the music and movies which remain with us long after the screen fades to black.
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How to Be Hopeful: A Year of Attempting to Feel Less Awful about the World
by Caitlin Moran
Caitlin Moran takes us on a personal journey from despair to hopefulness by refusing to succumb to the paralyzing news cycle and by taking action in small ways that make a difference; award-winning columnist and bestselling author of How to Be a Woman and What About Men? helps us find hope in seemingly hopeless times with this laugh-out-loud and heart-filling story of finding a way forward in dark times.Waking up from another anxious night of sleep, doomscrolling on your phone, feeling the familiar thud of dread in your chest as you watch the news: Sound familiar? One morning, Caitlin Moran awakes and realizes that she has reached Peak Despair. In a world of worsening news, increasing tribalism and digital addiction, is it any wonder that we all feel so terrible? So, Caitlin wonders: what might be done?She starts with a Big Plan to escape to the country. But, after nearly bankrupting her family in an ill-advised bid to escape societal doom, Caitlin realizes that true change starts not by escaping our circumstances, but by reckoning with ourselves. If we step back from the algorithm and take care of ourselves and each other, might amazing change be possible?And so, ditching the news, eschewing social media, and throwing herself into the analogue world just beyond our screens, Caitlin shows how recognizing the goodness in the everyday can be a radical act of rebellion against the fear and anxiety of modern life. From the magic of becoming a renegade litter-picker to the joy of finding exercise that your body loves, How to Be Hopeful is an essential, serotonin-boosting companion for anyone looking to reclaim their optimism amidst global chaos, reminding us that our own revolution of hope is never far away.
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Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?
by Judi Dench
Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea chat about her life on the stage, on the screen, and, above all, behind the scenes... In Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea take us on a heartfelt and hilarious tour of her extraordinary life and career. From growing up in York and being miffed at not getting the part of Mary in the school Nativity play, to playing before sold-out houses on Broadway and in London's West End, she's done it all. She walked the red carpets of Hollywood, turned James Bond's M into the most astute, unflinching Head of MI6 anyone could ever have imagined, and won an Oscar, a Tony, Golden Globes, Oliviers, and BAFTAs along the way. Yet despite the accolades, she has been accompanied by doubt. From the movie producer who said she had everything wrong with her face, to the theatre director who advised her against doing sitcom. Is it any wonder she leaves a bag by the rehearsal room door in case she has to make a run for it? But stepping out of her comfort zone has been Judi's guiding principle and in Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, she reveals all to Brendan - her friend and writing partner. She tells stories of pranks (both onstage and off), dissects her greatest screen roles, shares tales of her joyful marriage to actor Michael Williams, and talks about her passion for nature and animals. As told to Brendan O'Hea, this is Judi Dench's story - funny, honest, intimate, enlightening, surprising, moving, and deeply inspiring. Over ninety years in the making, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? is the story of the world's most beloved actor.
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The King Under the Mountain: In Search of J.R.R. Tolkien
by D. J. Taylor
A sparkling exploration of the myths that J. R. R. Tolkien created around himself, examining the social and political worlds that surrounded the creator of Middle-Earth, by award-winning biographer D. J. Taylor.
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The Last Emperor of China: Twilight of the Forbidden City
by Paul French
New York Times bestselling author Paul French tells the extraordinary story of the last Emperor of China and the final two years during which he and his court occupied Peking's secretive Forbidden City. A monarch without a crown, a ruler without a people, an emperor without a realm. In the early 1920s, the former-Emperor of China, Puyi and his Empress, Wanrong, were sequestered inside Peking's ancient Forbidden City. Surrounded by scheming courtiers, fawning servants, and corrupt eunuchs, Puyi did not know from one day to the next whether he would experience restoration, expulsion, or assassination. The Last Emperor of China delves into the final years of the Manchu Dynasty, beginning with China's last royal wedding. Contrary to established belief, this was not a loveless marriage between an impotent Emperor and a neglected Empress. Paul French calls upon previously unpublished letters from the Emperor's tutor and the diary of Wanrong's English teacher, her closest companion. These sources shed an entirely new light on the final days of China's last dynasty before the imperial court's brutal expulsion, revealing a loving relationship and an Emperor attempting to assert control of the Forbidden City. More than just the tale of the royal couple, The Last Emperor of China is also the story of the ancient citadel itself--the Forbidden City. It was a haven prohibited to all except the imperial family and their court. It survived looting, conflagration, and bombardment. A redoubt of the old dynasty, the Forbidden City was perhaps the greatest symbol of constancy and power in China--as it remains today.
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Life Is a Cabaret: The Amazing Story of the Real Lives Who Inspired the Iconic Musical
by Brian Fairbanks
The untold story of the extraordinary people who inspired Christopher Isherwood's characters in Cabaret, the landmark Broadway musical and Oscar-winning film, and the vibrant Bohemia that escaped from Berlin or endured under the Nazi regime. Even diehard fans of Cabaret remain unaware that Isherwood's Berlin Stories, celebrated as one of the best novels of the 20th Century, is based on a true story--and real people, from the larger-than-life landlady to the immortal, flighty, fantastical Sally Bowles, whose escapades in 1930s Weimar Berlin were comically exaggerated in one of the most memorable characters in Broadway history. In a novelistic style that captures the joyful art-making and wild final parties of a democratic Germany before Hitler, Life is a Cabaret is a group biography of these enigmatic and provocative muses. Thanks to exhaustive research, investigative reporter Brian Fairbanks recounts the weird and wondrous lives of Jean Ross (the real Sally, a brilliant writer, free-loving film critic secretly working for Stalin's communists), Wilfrid Israel (who saved more Jews than Oskar Schindler), Gerald Hamilton (a gay conman with questionable Nazi ties), and all of the others immortalized in the iconic, eternal Berlin Stories. Fairbanks unearths belief-defying details of survival, tragedy, sex, and brilliant art from these people and the world they inhabited--a world with illuminating, and at times disturbing, parallels to the one we live in today.
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Linocuts: A History
by Ella Ravilious
A beautifully illustrated global history of linocuts, from the emergence of the printing medium in the first decade of the twentieth century to works by today's practitioners around the world.
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Look at Me
by Dustin Hoffman
A deeply entertaining and intimate memoir by Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman, one of the most acclaimed actors of our time, whose work across Hollywood, film, and theater has reflected the changing zeitgeist of America over the past sixty years. For nearly six decades, Dustin Hoffman has been one of the most compelling and unpredictable figures in American culture. From his breakthrough performance in The Graduate to his unforgettable roles in Midnight Cowboy, Tootsie, Rain Man, and beyond, he has spent a lifetime inhabiting extraordinary characters and redefining what a Hollywood leading man could be. Now, in Look at Me, Hoffman turns his remarkable powers of observation on himself. Warm, candid, hilarious, and deeply moving, Look at Me is an intimate memoir about art, ambition, family, friendship, love, aging, and the mysteries of a creative life. Written with acclaimed author Ariel Levy, the book traces Hoffman's journey from a young actor searching for purpose to a two-time Academy Award winner reflecting on what matters most as he enters his ninth decade. Along the way, Hoffman shares stories that are by turns outrageous, poignant, and unforgettable: an unexpected clash with Steve McQueen, adventures in Greenwich Village during the turbulent 1960s, encounters with legends including Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Mike Nichols, Robert Duvall, Arthur Miller, and Gene Hackman, and the personal experiences that shaped some of his most celebrated performances. But Look at Me is more than a chronicle of a storied Hollywood career. It is a meditation on mortality, identity, and the enduring need to create. With the wit, vulnerability, and emotional honesty that have defined his finest work, Hoffman invites readers into the private world behind the public icon. The result is a memoir as distinctive as the man himself: funny, searching, wise, and impossible to forget.
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Murder in Paris '68: A True Story of Death and Glamour
by Edward Chisholm
Evocative, gripping and beautifully written. I've recommended this book to everyone I know --Emerald Fennell, award winning film director of Saltburn and Wuthering Heights A riveting true crime investigation into the 1960s Parisian underworld and an unsolved murder that brought the country to its knees. An intimate, shocking true story from the Parisian demi-monde of the 1960s, Murder in Paris '68 evokes an era when the high-life and the low-life went hand in hand. It was a time when the French New Wave of cinema was taking the world by storm, a time of glamour, sports cars, casinos, and night clubs--and at the heart of it all, the man of the moment, the enigmatic film star Alain Delon, dubbed the most beautiful man in the world. With a shady past and a taste for bad company and high-living, Delon lived on the edge. But when a dead body turns up in the outskirts of Paris that turns out to be Stevan Markovic, Delon's friend, bodyguard, and associate, questions begin to be asked. That Delon shot to stardom playing Tom Ripley with all those stylish and murderous associations does not go unnoticed. Is art imitating life or is life imitating art? What is Delon involved in? And who was Stevan Markovic? In an exceptionally skillful and highly readable work of narrative nonfiction, Edward Chisholm uses his own detailed in-depth research to weave the reader into an intimate patchwork of events as they unfold, submersing us in 1960s Paris. And as we meet the characters--actresses, directors, petty criminals, state prosecutors, high-level gangsters, star-struck policemen, compromised politicians--we witness what became to be known as The Markovic Affair from the inside, as it spirals out of control and not only pulls down Alain Delon, but everyone within his orbit.
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My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments
by Eric Dane
A moving personal narrative from Grey's Anatomy and Euphoria star Eric Dane, on the most impactful days--past, present, and future--of his life. In 2006, Eric Dane guest starred on Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Mark McSteamy Sloan, a moment that would change his life. What was intended to be a one-time guest appearance, landed him a regular role on the Emmy nominated show and would launch his acting career, leading to other roles in hit series like The Last Ship and Euphoria. Years later, Dane experienced another life-changing moment: being diagnosed with ALS. The sudden diagnosis caused him to slow down and reflect on the moments that had shaped him. In My Book of Days, Dane shares these reflections and invites readers to do the same with their lives. Told through a series of days that each illuminate a defining experience or emotional truth, My Book of Days captures everything from the grind of his early years in Hollywood and the hard-won peace of sobriety to the profound clarity that came with his ALS diagnosis. With his newfound perspective that our days are all we truly have, Dane reflects on the beauty and weight of each one--on the joy, the pain, the lessons, and the grace found in simply being present. Dane also looks beyond his lifetime to the future days that would come after he was gone--days meant for his daughters to read, to remember, and to carry forward. He leaves behind not just a record of his life, but a lasting guide to cherishing time itself: a reminder that while most of us don't think in days, we should, because each day is both a story and a gift. Poignant, vulnerable and deeply human, My Book of Days is a profound meditation on the passing of time and what matters most when you're looking at life through the lens of a terminal illness.
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A Noble Profession: Inspiring Stories of the Teachers Who Shape Our World
by Peter Mansbridge
From #1 bestselling authors Peter Mansbridge and Mark Bulgutch comes a collection of Canadian stories inviting us to celebrate the impact and influence of teachers and the students whose lives they have changed forever. Few people make more of an impact on young people's lives than teachers. Parents, of course, are vital for a child's future, but it is our teachers who choose to devote their daily lives to illuminating the world around them, selflessly spending their careers changing the trajectories of the young people in their charge. Teaching can be a thankless job, but these homeroom heroes dedicate themselves not only to following the curriculum but to protecting their students, recognizing their struggles, and intervening when necessary, helping to shape them into productive members of society and the leaders of our future. From elementary and secondary schools, to post-secondary and even in hospital and prison settings, these stories will inform, entertain, and grab you by the heart. Through dozens of profiles of teachers, and some students, Canada's most authoritative news voice, Peter Mansbridge, along with veteran journalist Mark Bulgutch, recount true stories of teachers on the front lines of this vital profession as they contend with students' challenges with their course material, mental health, language skills, sexuality, and many other matters. A Noble Profession celebrates the experiences of teachers and students, making an ideal gift for any teacher in your life and any students and parents who want to understand the challenges and witness the triumphs in the classrooms that dot the country.
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The Nuremberg Women: The Untold Story of the Eight Women Who Brought the Nazis to Justice
by Natalie Livingstone
An Instant Sunday Times Bestseller Livingstone's deeply researched, unfailingly fascinating book gives the many extraordinary women at or near the centre of the Nuremberg trials their proper, important, and often ignored place in history --Salman RushdieBestselling author and historian Natalie Livingstone tells the story of the Nuremberg trials in a new way: through the lens of the women who were there on the ground. In November 1945, the eyes of the world turned to Nuremberg. Humanity was seeking not only the truth about Nazi crimes but also a vision of what justice might look like in their aftermath. The trials are traditionally associated with a roll call of famous men, but they were only part of the story. Not only were there women involved in the trial in every role--as journalists, researchers, lawyers, interpreters, court reporters, witnesses, artists, and even defendants--but they were pivotal in the trial's outcome. The Nuremberg Women tells the story of eight women: a brilliant American lawyer, three pioneering journalists, two German, one British, an iconoclastic artist, a beautiful refugee aristocrat, a dauntless survivor of Auschwitz, and a young Russian translator. From the major stories about justice, gender, and politics at a pivotal moment in the twentieth century to the smaller, daily intimate tales of the women's affairs and bar-room disputes, The Nuremberg Women shows the most famous trial of the twentieth century in a new light--making a brave new case for it having been a more diverse and democratic exercise than has often been recognized. They reveal a Nuremberg that is more intimate, human, and haphazard; one that was lower paid and less publicized. They demonstrate that the trial was remarkable not because it was perfect but because, against all odds, it happened. Thanks to these women and many others, justice was served.
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One Minute: The Simplest Way to Go from Who You Are to Who You Want to Be
by John Strelecky
One-Minute Adjustments, Life-Changing Impacts The simplest way to change any aspect of your life isn't through massive overhauls or heroic bursts of effort. It's through something far smaller--and far more powerful: one minute adjustments. In One Minute, bestselling author John Strelecky reveals a deceptively simple, profoundly effective method for transforming any area of your life--by gently guiding it in the new direction, just one minute per day. Drawing on cutting edge insights from psychology, neuroscience, habit formation, and behavioral science, Strelecky introduces a compelling truth: you are your minutes. The life you live, and the person you become, is shaped continuously and quietly by one primary thing--what you do with your 1-minute blocks of time. When you master those, you take control of your trajectory. You become the architect of your own story. With One Minute, you'll learn how to: create space for meaningful minutes, even when you feel you have no time build a simple, resilient system that outlasts old, unhelpful habits move beyond boredom, distraction, and autopilot living experience small, daily wins, even on your most stressful days design your life so success becomes easier and more natural re-engage quickly and effortlessly when you lose focus turn ordinary moments into purposeful, meaningful ones ...and a whole lot more. No matter where you're starting from, One Minute offers a practical, proven way to guide your life in any direction you want. When planted and given the chance to grow, a tiny seed can become something extraordinary. Your one minutes are the seeds for your life.
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Promise Me, America
by Joe Biden
The story of President Joe Biden's groundbreaking four years in the White House: his campaign, his presidency, his decision to run again--and to withdraw In his candid and revealing memoir, Joe Biden reflects on his time as president: the challenges, triumphs, sorrows, and accomplishments that marked his administration amid one of the most tumultuous eras in American history. Biden took the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where--just two weeks earlier--rioters had stormed the halls and threatened the very foundation of our democracy. He did so while looking out at a field of flags where crowds should have been, except that our nation was in the throes of a pandemic that kept people from gathering. With the nation still reeling from the January 6 assault, shattered by an inept response to a historic pandemic, and paralyzed by a steep recession, the mandate before him was clear but daunting: to heal a divided country, restore the integrity of its frayed institutions, and prove to a skeptical public that the world's greatest democracy could still deliver for its people. Now Biden tells the story of a historically eventful presidency. With his hallmark grit and decades of hard-won institutional wisdom, he led an administration that engineered the most sweeping domestic agenda in generations. From orchestrating a historic multibillion-dollar infrastructure renaissance and reviving American manufacturing to passing landmark legislation lowering healthcare costs and tackling the climate crisis, Biden details how he took risks, made gambles, and defied the pundits to build an economy, in his words, from the middle out and the bottom up. On the world stage, Biden recounts the urgent high-stakes diplomacy required to rebuild America's traditional alliances in the face of new threats. He shares first-person accounts of standing steadfast against authoritarian aggression, modernizing NATO, and leading the global coalition to defend Ukraine in its darkest hours. And for the first time, he reveals the deeply agonizing calculation behind his decision in the summer of 2024 to step aside from the presidential race and to put his party and the nation before his personal ambitions. Moving, historic, and filled with the unyielding optimism that has defined Joe Biden's fifty years of public service, Promise Me, America is a powerful testament to resilience, to the power of personal relationships in service of political progress, and to a leader who put country above all else.
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Rome's Age of Revolution: Augustus, Empire, and the Making of Christianity
by Tim Whitmarsh
A stimulating and expert analysis of the unique conditions that allowed Christianity to take shape and flourish across the Roman Empire during its first three centuries, from one of our leading historians of the ancient world How did the intersection of Roman rule, Greek culture, and Judaean tradition create an environment that fostered the growth of--and also shaped--the 'Jesus movement?' . . . A brilliant look at an epochal moment, with intriguing and illuminating connections to the present day. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The Western world has been shaped by its Christian heritage--years are still measured by their distance from the birth of Jesus Christ. But Christianity was built on Roman foundations: it was Julius Caesar and his adopted son Augustus who created the calendar we use today and reset time itself. They redesigned space, too, hewing through mountains, building roads, and bridging gullies to forge an interconnected Mediterranean world under Roman rule. The society into which Jesus was born was prepared for a change, for a new age, and already had--in the quasi-divine Augustus--a savior figure ready to deliver it. The factors that made the classical world so ripe for revolution provide the subject of Tim Whitmarsh's brilliant inquiry, which peers not only into the lives of the elite but into those of the wider, largely Greek-speaking population--all of whom lived amid what Whitmarsh terms the swirl the flowing and counterflowing of physical movement, ideas, and languages that characterized the pre-Constantine era. From this swirling came a new religion that draws at once from Jewish scripture, from the Greek philosophical and cultural legacy, and from the language of Roman imperial practice. In these pages we travel with Paul along the vast network of Roman roads, revisit pivotal clashes with the kingdom of Judah, and discover the reality behind common misconceptions like the exaggeration of Nero's villainy and of Christian persecution. Rome's Age of Revolution is a thoroughly engaging portrait of an era and a religion that continue to leave their mark.
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Solo and Together: Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, an Enigmatic Life and Marriage
by James R. Hansen
From the New York Times bestselling author, a fascinating exploration of one of the most famous marriages of the 20th centuryIn Solo and Together, Hansen uncovers the intricate tapestries of two of the 20th century's most iconic personalities, revealing insights that change what we thought we knew about America's pioneering aviator and his accomplished writer-wife. Through groundbreaking archival research and intimate interviews with family members, Hansen navigates the triumphs and tragedies that defined the Lindberghs' shared journey--from Charles's historic transatlantic flight to their family's darkest chapter: the infamous kidnapping and murder of their first child. The narrative delves into Charles's divisive isolationist stances during the years leading up to World War II and shares revelations of Charles's secret life, including his relationships with three European women and the seven children he fathered. Alongside this, Hansen casts light on Anne Morrow Lindbergh's own private struggles and secret desires, offering a fresh perspective on her literary achievements and personal sacrifices. Hansen delivers a deeply human portrait of the Lindberghs, one that challenges assumptions while respecting the indelible mark they left on history. A must-read for anyone captivated by the lives of those who dare to soar beyond boundaries, Solo and Together promises to enthrall and educate, providing a definitive account of love, ambition, betrayal, and resilience.
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Take My Word for It: A Memoir
by Levar Burton
The legendary actor behind Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Reading Rainbow shares never-before-told stories from a life that has shaped generations--told at last on his own terms. LeVar Burton's reverence, respect, and complete understanding of the power of story permeates this intimate weaving of his own life's narrative threads. The tapestry created depicts a man in full--spiritual seeker, literacy educator, artistic explorer, social justice warrior, and conscious human.--Noah Wyle This is my attempt to pull back the curtain. Not just on the roles I've played, but on the life I've lived. The fears. The fight. The survival. And yes, the joy. All of it. Tracing the different eras of his life--from Kunta Kinte to Geordi La Forge to Reading Rainbow and far beyond the camera--celebrated actor LeVar Burton fearlessly opens up about growing up during the Civil Rights Movement, being raised by a remarkable mother, and discovering his calling as a storyteller. He explores how acting has served as both a source of transformation and an escape from the most difficult parts of his past, while also confronting the challenges of being a parent, husband, and householder. As Burton honors the loved ones whose strength and resilience shaped him in this inspiring memoir, he also asks what we owe to our ancestors and to each other, reflecting on the deep necessity he's always felt advocating for liberation and equity. Generous, deeply moving, and illustrated with personal family photos, Take My Word For It is a courageous self-portrait of an iconic artist.
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We Thought They'd Never Leave: Musings on Food and Family
by Tony Shalhoub
From Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub comes a delightful, heartfelt memoir about food, family, recipes, and the stories we pass down around the table. Every summer for over five decades, more than fifty members of the Shalhoub family have gathered in Door County, Wisconsin, for a week of home-cooked meals, fiercely competitive card games, old stories, new memories, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting. Written with his daughter Josie Adams, We Thought They'd Never Leave is Tony Shalhoub's warm and deeply personal reflection on the people who shaped him. Through stories spanning four generations--from an orphaned Lebanese boy who survived wartime hunger to the sprawling family he would one day help create--Tony traces the Lebanese American family traditions, meals, and rituals that continue to bring the Shalhoubs back together year after year. Along the way, the beloved actor known for Monk and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel reflects on growing up as one of ten children in a lively Lebanese American household in Green Bay, Wisconsin; navigating family life, work, and parenthood; and helping preserve a reunion that has become a beloved family institution. Also included are twenty treasured family recipes, ranging from stuffed grape leaves and tabbouleh to Midwestern chili and cherry pie. Filled with unforgettable characters, deeply moving stories, and Tony's signature humor, We Thought They'd Never Leave is an invitation to join the Shalhoub table, where everyone has an opinion, everyone is expected to pitch in, and there's always room for one more.
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William Howard Taft: A Great American Life
by Walter Stahr
William Howard Taft was perhaps not a great president, although his limited view of the president's role looks better today than it did at the time. But Taft's true claim to greatness lies in his work before and after the White House: five decades of selfless public service culminating as one of the most transformational chief justices in American history.Taft was the only president to have spent much of his career as a judge, first in the state court system in Ohio, then as a federal judge on the Sixth Circuit. He dreamed of serving on the United States Supreme Court and yet, more than once, he declined a seat in order to continue his work as America's first civilian governor in the Philippines. When he returned to Washington, he took a place in Roosevelt's cabinet, effectively serving as deputy president before winning the presidency in his own right in 1908.Tariffs. Immigration. Labor unrest. Colonial possessions. Free trade with Canada. Civil war in Mexico. The national deficit. Government efficiency. These were just some of the issues Taft faced in the White House. After his disastrous defeat in the 1912 election, due in part to Roosevelt's decision to challenge him for the Republican nomination, Taft returned to private life, although often involved in public causes, such as the fight for the League of Nations. But all this was only a prelude to a second act as the most important chief justice since John Marshall, changing the very way the Court worked by securing it the power to select those cases it wished to decide.A carefully researched and gracefully written biography, displaying a deep understanding of both political history and human nature, William Howard Taft thoughtfully reassesses what makes a great American public servant worth remembering.
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