New Non-Fiction Arrivals at MPL
August 2025
 
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Here are our new arrivals, click the title to view in our catalog:
Beast in the Machine: How Robotics and AI Will Transform Warfare and the Future of Human Conflict
by George M. Dougherty

A defense technology expert and military leader reveals the future of robotic warfare, and illuminates the path to navigate the approaching storm of global change
 
The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers
by Cheryl McKissack Daniel

The riveting story of the McKissack family, the founders of the leading Black design and construction firm in the United States, from its beginnings in the mid-1800s to its thriving status today--in a moving celebration of resilience and innovation.
 
Bogart and Huston: Their Lives, Their Adventures, and the Classic Movies They Made Together
by Nat Segaloff

From 1941 to 1953, director John Huston and actor Humphrey Bogart made one classic film after another, from The Maltese Falcon to The African Queen. Here is the story of their close but combative friendship that produced some of the best movies ever made.
 
Bringing Up Beaver: Two Orphaned Beaver Kits, Their Humans, and Our Journey Back to the Wild
by John Aberth

A lively and charming account of one human's relationship with an orphaned beaver kit.
 
Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together
by Ilana Kurshan

A mother's celebration of the power and wonder of lifelong reading
 
The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership That Rocked the World
by Peter Guralnick

From the award-winning biographer of Elvis Presley, a groundbreaking dual portrait of the relationship between the iconic artist and his legendary manager--drawing on a wealth of the Colonel's never-before-seen correspondence to reveal that this oft-reviled figure was in fact a confidant, friend, and architect of his client's success
 
Coming Up Short: A Memoir of America
by Robert B. Reich

From political economist, cabinet member, beloved professor, media presence, and bestselling author of Saving Capitalism and The Common Good, a deeply felt, compelling memoir of growing up in a baby-boom America that made progress in certain areas, fell short in so many important ways, and still has lots of work to do.
 
Ghosts of Hiroshima
by Charles Pellegrino

A story of ordinary people, both victims and survivors, thrown into extraordinary history. SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER JAMES CAMERON.

also available in audio
The Harmonious Home: Using Landscapes to Create Peaceful, Personal Spaces
by Rebecca Atwood

A holistic approach to creating a home using the colors, patterns, and textures found in the natural world, from the author of Living with Color and Living with Pattern.
 
Illumino: A History of Medieval Britain in 12 Illuminated Manuscripts
by Michelle P. Brown

Incandescent with illustrations, a history of Britain as told through a remarkable collection of illuminated manuscripts--at once chronicles of their time and works of art.
 
King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: a Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation
by Scott Anderson

Chaos is strewn by foolhardy leaders acting on bad information in this riveting history of the Iranian revolution from journalist Anderson (The Quiet Americans). 
Launching Liberty: The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War
by Doug Most

Out of nothing but the government's behest, a few bold men conjured a giant ship-building industry in 1940 and launched the ships that took America to war and to victory.
 
The Invention of Charlotte Bronte: A New Life
by Graham Watson

A profoundly moving, ground-breaking biography that challenges the established narrative to reveal the Brontë family as they've never been seen before.
 
The Man No One Believed: The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders
by Joshua Sharpe

When award-winning journalist and South Georgia native Joshua Sharpe retraces the case, he discovers a winding path of corruption, devastating missteps, and secrets.
The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America
by David Baron

Long before NASA began contemplating a visit to our neighboring world, a turn-of-the-century Mars craze invaded the public's imagination, here thrillingly retold in David Baron's The Martians.
Operation Wrath of God: The Secret History of European Intelligence and Mossad's Assassination Campaign
by Aviva Guttmann

Reveals for the first time the key role of European intelligence agencies in facilitating Mossad's Operation Wrath of God.
Organizing America: Stories of Americans Who Fought for Justice
by Erik Loomis

From the acclaimed author of A History of America in Ten Strikes, a sweeping account of the impact of organizers on United States history.
 
The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why
by Madeleine Beekman

Challenging conventional theories on the origin of language, Australian scholar Beekman begins by exploring the evolution of humans, discussing the work and theories of Charles Darwin, Stephen J. Gould, and other evolutionary biologists.

also available in audio
Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home
by Gregg Olsen

From a girl's abduction by a serial killer to the harrowing aftermath--a gripping and heart-wrenching true-crime story by Gregg Olsen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell.
 
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
by Susana M. Morris

"A magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work."

also available in audio
Ring of Fire: A New History of the World at War 1914
by Alexandra Churchill

The dramatic story of 1914--the start of World War I--presenting an expansive, dynamic history of the start of this truly global conflict.
 
Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Good Book from Fundamentalists, Fascists and Flock-Fleecing Frauds
by John Fugelsang

In the spirit of George Carlin and Christopher Hitchens, the son of a former Catholic nun and a Franciscan brother delivers a deeply irreverent and biblically correct takedown of far-right Christian hatred--a book for believers, atheists, agnostics, and anyone who'll ever have to deal with a Christian nationalist.

also available in audio
 
Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion
by Chris Deville

The definitive history of twenty-first-century indie rock--from Iron & Wine and Death Cab for Cutie to Phoebe Bridgers and St. Vincent--and how the genre shifted the musical landscape and shaped a generation.
 
Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse
by Thomas Williams Chatterton

An incisive, culturally observant analysis of the evolving mores, manners and taboos of social justice ("anti-racist") orthodoxy, which has profoundly influenced how we think about diversity and freedom of expression, often with complex or paradoxical consequences.
 
Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City
by LaShawn Harris

The life and 1984 murder of a beloved Black grandmother that changed community activism forever--and sparked the ongoing movement against racist policing and brutality.
 
Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run
by Peter Ames Carlin

Prolific music journalist Carlin (The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.) addresses the genesis of Bruce Springsteen's iconic 1975 album Born To Run.
Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity
by Fergus Butler-Gallie

Karen Armstrong meets Pico Iyer in this sweeping history of Christianity that visits a dozen places of worship on every inhabited continent to tell their often wild stories and examine their sometimes difficult legacies.
 
What is Free Speech?: The History of a Dangerous Idea
by Faramerz Dabhoiwala

A leading intellectual historian shows how free speech, once viewed as both hazardous and unnatural, was reinvented as an unalloyed good, with enormous consequences for our society today.
 
What We Eat: A Global History of Food
by Pierre Singaravélou

Historians Singaravélou (Tianjin Cosmopolis) and Venayre present 88 brief and illuminating pieces that explore the evolution of foods ranging from baguettes to yak butter.
With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories
by Nicole Nehrig

Nehrig, a psychologist and avid knitter, makes her book debut with a sweeping investigation of the role of textile work in women's lives. 
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