Books with category 📚 Non-Fiction
Displaying books 1-48 of 74 in total

Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice

2023

by Jennifer Mullan

A call to action for therapists to politicize their practice through an emotional decolonial lens. An essential work that centers colonial and historical trauma in a framework for healing, Decolonizing Therapy illuminates that all therapy is—and always has been—inherently political.

To better understand the mental health oppression and institutional violence that exists today, we must become familiar with the root of disembodiment from our histories, homelands, and healing practices. Only then will readers see how colonial, historical, and intergenerational legacies have always played a role in the treatment of mental health.

This book is the emotional companion and guide to decolonization. It is an invitation for Eurocentrically trained clinicians to acknowledge privileged and oppressed parts while relearning what we thought we knew. Ignoring collective global trauma makes delivering effective therapy impossible; not knowing how to interrogate privilege (as a therapist, client, or both) makes healing elusive; and shying away from understanding how we as professionals may be participating in oppression is irresponsible.

My Name Is Barbra

My Name Is Barbra, the long-awaited memoir by the superstar of stage, screen, recordings, and television, is a testament to a career that spans six decades. Barbra Streisand, a living legend and one of the few EGOT winners, has one of the most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. Her story unfolds from her beginnings in Brooklyn to her ascension to stardom in New York nightclubs, her iconic performance in Funny Girl, and her myriad of successes thereafter.

Streisand's narrative is as frank, funny, opinionated, and charming as the woman herself. She shares her early challenges in acting, her venture into singing, the recording of her acclaimed albums, the painstaking journey of creating Yentl, and her directorial work on The Prince of Tides. The book also delves into her friendships with notable figures, her political activism, and the joy she's found in her marriage to James Brolin.

With a story as captivating as her performances, Barbra Streisand's memoir is a celebration of an extraordinary life in entertainment, eagerly awaited by her legions of fans.

Unmasking AI

2023

by Joy Buolamwini

"Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines" is a compelling exploration into the evolution of artificial intelligence and its implications on human rights and society. Penned by Dr. Joy Buolamwini, a leading figure in the field of AI research, this book is a call to action to mitigate the harms caused by unchecked technological development.

Starting from her early engagement with robotics in high school to her groundbreaking research at MIT, Buolamwini unfolds her journey of unmasking the "coded gaze"—a term she coined to describe the encoded discrimination within tech products. Through her work with the Algorithmic Justice League, she has been a pivotal force in the movement against AI-induced biases, advocating for a future where technology serves all of humanity equally.

With an intersectional approach, Buolamwini highlights the overlapping issues of racism, sexism, colorism, and ableism in the tech industry, urging for a collective effort towards algorithmic justice. "Unmasking AI" is not just a critique of the current state of artificial intelligence but a hopeful vision for a more inclusive and equitable technological future.

The Woman in Me

2023

by Britney Spears

The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope. In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others.

The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears's groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.

Judgment At Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia

2023

by Gary J. Bass

A landmark, magisterial history of the trial of Japan’s leaders as war criminals—the largely overlooked Asian counterpart to Nuremberg.

In the weeks after Japan finally surrendered to the Allies, the world turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. For Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, and their fellow victors, the questions of justice seemed clear: Japan’s leaders needed to be tried and punished for the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; shocking atrocities against citizens in China, the Philippines, Korea, and elsewhere; rampant abuses of POWs. For the Allied Forces, the trial was an opportunity to achieve justice against the defendants, but also to create a legal framework for the prosecution of war crimes and to prohibit the use of aggressive war, and to create the kind of liberal international order that would prevail in Europe. For the Japanese leaders facing trial, it was their chance to argue that their war had been waged to liberate Asia from Western imperialism.

For more than two years, lawyers for both sides presented their cases before a panel of judges from China, India, the Philippines, and Australia, as well as the US and Europe. The testimony ran from horrific accounts of brutality and the secret plans to attack Pearl Harbor to the Japanese military’s threats to destabilize the government if it sued for peace. Yet rather than clarity and unanimity, the trial brought division and complexity; these tensions and contradictions could also be seen playing out across Asia as the trial unfolded, from China’s descent into civil war to India’s independence and partition to Japan’s first successful democratic elections and the rewriting of a new, liberal constitution.

Judgment at Tokyo is a riveting story of wartime action, dramatic courtroom battles, and the epic formative years that set the stage for the Asian postwar era.

Some People Need Killing: A Memoir Of Murder In My Country

Some People Need Killing: A Memoir Of Murder In My Country is a riveting account by journalist Patricia Evangelista, who came of age in the aftermath of a street revolution that promised a new future for the Philippines. Decades later, as the nation grappled with mounting inequality, it witnessed the fragility of its democratic institutions under the regime of Rodrigo Duterte.

Evangelista's book is a meticulously reported chronicle of the Philippines' drug war. For six years, she immersed herself in the world of killers and survivors, documenting the police and vigilante killings carried out in the name of Duterte's war on drugs—a conflict that has led to the slaughter of thousands and created an atmosphere of fear.

The book's title comes from the words of a vigilante, reflecting a psychological accommodation that many in the country have made: "I'm really not a bad guy," he said. "I'm not all bad. Some people need killing." Through her profound act of witness and literary journalism, Evangelista offers a dissection of the grammar of violence and an investigation into the human impulses to dominate and resist.

The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary

2023

by Sarah Ogilvie

The Dictionary People is a fascinating history and celebration of the many far-flung volunteers who helped define the English language, word by word.


The Oxford English Dictionary is one of mankind’s greatest achievements, and yet, curiously, its creators are almost never considered. Who were the people behind this unprecedented book? As Sarah Ogilvie reveals, they include three murderers, a collector of pornography, the daughter of Karl Marx, a president of Yale, a radical suffragette, a vicar who was later found dead in the cupboard of his chapel, an inventor of the first American subway, a female anti-slavery activist in Philadelphia... and thousands of others.


With deep transgenerational and broad appeal, this is a thrilling literary detective story that, for the first time, unravels the mystery of the endlessly fascinating contributors the world over who, for over seventy years, helped to codify the way we read, write, and speak. It was the greatest crowdsourcing endeavor in human history, the Wikipedia of its time.


The Dictionary People is a celebration of words, language, and people, whose eccentricities and obsessions, triumphs, and failures enriched the English language.

Be Useful

Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is an inspirational guide that outlines the seven key rules for discovering and realizing one's true purpose in life. Schwarzenegger shares the tools he developed on his journey to becoming the world's greatest bodybuilder, highest-paid movie star, and a prominent political leader.

Arnold's father instilled in him the profound lesson to always be useful, a principle that Arnold has carried throughout his varied and successful career. In this book, Schwarzenegger speaks with a voice that is both earnest and powerful as he recounts personal stories of success and failure, some of which are being shared for the first time.

This book is not just about Arnold's achievements, but also about the mental tools he created to escape the confines of his rural Austrian upbringing. He emphasizes the importance of self-reliance and shares his wisdom, encouraging readers to apply these tools in pursuit of their own dreams and purposes. Arnold's message is clear: nobody will come to your rescue, but the good news is that you have all you need within yourself.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States offers an unflinching examination of the history of the United States from the perspective of Indigenous peoples. This profound work radically reframes over 400 years of history, centering the voices of Native Americans and their resistance to settler-colonialism and genocide.


This 10th anniversary edition includes a new foreword by Raoul Peck and a new introduction by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. The book delves into the brutal realities of the nation’s founding and its ongoing legacy, exploring events from the war in Afghanistan to the Charlottesville rallies, and from the onset of the pandemic to the election of President Biden.


Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz traces the perseverance of Indigenous peoples over four centuries, challenging myths such as America's founding as a revolution against tyranny, the passivity of Native peoples, and the narrative of the US as a "nation of immigrants."


Today, more than 500 federally recognized Indigenous nations exist in the United States, comprising nearly three million people. This classic bottom-up history aims to break the silences that have haunted the nation's narrative and brings to light the stories of those who have been marginalized.

Eve

2023

by Cat Bohannon

Eve is an ambitious, eye-opening, myth-busting and groundbreaking history of the evolution of the female body, by a brilliant new researcher and writer, Cat Bohannon. This book delves into questions scientists should have been addressing for decades, such as:

  • Why do women live longer than men?

  • Why do women have menopause?

  • Why are women more likely to get Alzheimer’s?

  • Why do girls score better at every academic subject than boys until puberty, when suddenly their scores plummet?

  • Does the female brain really exist?

With boundless curiosity and sharp wit, Bohannon covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex. Eve is not only a sweeping revision of human history, it’s an urgent and necessary corrective for a world that has focused primarily on the male body for far too long. Bohannon’s findings, including everything from the way C-sections in the industrialized world are rearranging women’s pelvic shape to the surprising similarities between pus and breast milk, will completely change what you think you know about evolution and why Homo sapiens have become such a successful and dominant species, from tool use to city building to the development of language.

A 21st-century update of Our Bodies, Ourselves, Eve offers a true paradigm shift in our thinking about what the female body is and why it matters.

How To Say Babylon

2023

by Safiya Sinclair

How to Say Babylon is a profound memoir by Safiya Sinclair, offering a glimpse into her journey to find her voice as a woman and a poet amidst a strict Rastafarian upbringing. The narrative echoes the struggles depicted in Educated and Born a Crime, presenting Sinclair's battle against her father's patriarchal views and his obsession with protecting her and her sisters from what Rastas call Babylon—the Western world's immoral and corrupting influences.

The memoir recounts how Sinclair's father, a militant Rastafari and reggae musician, imposed severe restrictions on the women in the family, including the prohibition of pants, makeup, jewelry, and personal opinions. Amidst this repressive environment, Sinclair's mother provided her children with books, including poetry, which became Safiya's solace and a means to develop her own identity.

Through education and the power of words, Sinclair forges a path toward independence, despite the inevitable confrontations with her father that escalate into violence. How to Say Babylon is not only Sinclair's personal reckoning with her cultural roots and the stifling traditions she grew up with but also a lyrical exploration of a woman's resilience and empowerment. It is a story that resonates universally, while offering an intimate look into the world of Rastafari—a culture often named but seldom understood.

End Times

In the late 1980s, two teenage girls found refuge from a world of cosy conformity, sexism and the nuclear arms race in protest and punk. Then, drawn in by a promise of meaning and purpose, they cast off their punk outfits and became born-again Christians. Unsure which fate would come first - nuclear annihilation or the Second Coming of Jesus - they sought answers from end-times evangelists, scrutinising friends and family for signs of demon possession and identifying EFTPOS and barcodes as signs of a looming apocalypse.

Fast forward to 2021, and Rebecca and Maz - now a science historian and an engineer - are on a road trip to the West Coast. Their journey, though full of laughter and conversation and hot pies, is haunted by the threats of climate change, conspiracy theories, and a massive overdue earthquake.

End Times interweaves the stories of these two periods in Rebecca's life, both of which have at heart a sleepless fear of the end of the world. Along the way she asks: Why do people hold on to some ideas but reject others? How do you engage with someone whose beliefs are wildly different from your own? And where can we find hope when it sometimes feels as if we all live on a fault line that could rupture at any moment?

Articulations

A well-known writer, activist, and disability rights advocate, Henrietta Bollinger's debut essay collection speaks to their experiences as a queer, disabled person, and as a twin. Articulations is a timely, personal, and poignant appraisal of life in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Soundtracked by the Topp Twins, Anika Moa, Woody Guthrie and more, Bollinger's essays take us on a journey from first crushes and first periods to parliamentary reform and Disability Pride. They challenge the norms of our ableist society, asking us to consider better ways of being with each other and ourselves.

The Book of (More) Delights: Essays

2023

by Ross Gay

The New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy is back with a new chronicle of small, daily wonders—and it is exactly the book we need in these unsettling times.


Ross Gay’s essays have been called “exquisite,” “imperative,” and “brilliant.” Now, in this new collection of genre-defying pieces, again written over the course of a year, one of America’s most original voices continues his ongoing investigation of delight.


For Gay, what delights us is what connects us, what gives us meaning, from the joy of hearing a nostalgic song blasting from a passing car to the pleasure of refusing the “ubiquitous, nefarious” scannable QR code menus, from the tiny dog he fell hard for to his mother baking a dozen kinds of cookies for her grandchildren.


As always, Gay revels in the natural world—sweet potatoes being harvested, a hummingbird carousing in the beebalm, a sunflower growing out of a wall around the cemetery, the shared bounty from a neighbor’s fig tree—and the trillion mysterious ways this glorious earth delights us.


For his many fans eagerly awaiting this new volume and for readers who have enjoyed the works of Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Zadie Smith, and Rebecca Solnit, Gay once again offers us literature that feels as fluent and familiar as a chat with a close friend. The Book of (More) Delights is a collection to savor and share.

Doppelganger

2023

by Naomi Klein

From the award-winning, bestselling author of No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, and This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein presents a revelatory analysis of the collapsed meanings, blurred identities, and uncertain realities of the mirror world.

Naomi Klein takes a more personal turn, braiding together elements of tragicomic memoir, chilling political reportage, and cobweb-clearing cultural analysis, as she dives deep into what she calls the Mirror World—our destabilized present rife with doubles and confusion, where far right movements playact solidarity with the working class, AI-generated content blurs the line between genuine and spurious, New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers further scramble our familiar political allegiances, and so many of us project our own carefully curated digital doubles out into the social media sphere.

Klein begins this richly nuanced intellectual adventure story by grappling with her own doppelganger—a fellow author and public intellectual whose views are antithetical to Klein’s own, but whose name and public persona are sufficiently similar that many people have confused the two over the years. From there, she turns her gaze both inward to our psychic landscapes—drawing on the work of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks—and outward, to our intersecting economic, environmental, medical, and political crises.

Ultimately seeking to escape the Mirror World and chart a path beyond confusion and despair, Klein delivers a treatment of the way many of us think and feel now, offering an intellectual adventure story for our times.

Never Enough

Never Enough delves into the heart of the "toxic achievement culture" that has taken hold of students, parents, and educators across America. This compelling book offers a critical look at how the quest for success is driving unprecedented levels of pressure among today's youth, leading to alarming rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm.

Award-winning reporter Jennifer Breheny Wallace takes us on a journey through the competitive landscape that demands ever more from our children, stretching family resources and time to their limits. Wallace's investigation reveals that this relentless drive for excellence is not simply a matter of personal choice but is deeply embedded in societal expectations, exacerbated by growing income inequality and shrinking opportunities.

Through extensive research, interviews, and a survey of nearly 6,000 parents, Never Enough uncovers the detrimental message being sent to children: that they are only as valuable as their achievements. Wallace highlights the necessity for a shift in adult attitudes towards children's success. By embracing the concept of 'mattering,' parents and educators can help children understand their intrinsic worth, independent of external accomplishments.

With a rich narrative and practical solutions, Never Enough provides a humane perspective on the crisis facing today's teens and lays out a framework for fostering resilience, self-confidence, and psychological security in our children, enabling them to thrive.

Unearthing

2023

by Kyo Maclear

An unforgettable memoir about a family secret revealed by a DNA test, the lessons learned in its aftermath, and the indelible power of love.

Three months after Kyo Maclear’s father dies in December 2018, she gets the results of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her are not biologically related. Suddenly Maclear becomes a detective in her own life, unravelling a family mystery piece by piece, and assembling the story of her biological father. Along the way, larger questions arise: what exactly is kinship? And what does it mean to be a family? Thoughtful in its reflections on race and lineage, unflinching in its insights on grief and loyalty, Unearthing is a captivating and propulsive story of inheritance that goes beyond heredity. What gets planted, and what gets buried? What role does storytelling play in unearthing the past and making sense of a life? Can the humble act of tending a garden provide common ground for an inquisitive daughter and her complicated mother? As it seeks to answer these questions, Unearthing bursts with the very love it seeks to understand.

Wifedom

2023

by Anna Funder

Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder is a story that delves into the marriage behind some of the most renowned literary works of the 20th century and is a thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be a wife and a writer in today's world.

Anna Funder was at a crossroads in her life in the summer of 2017, overwhelmed by family obligations and household responsibilities that were distancing her from her writing. In search of help, she turned to the works of George Orwell, whose humor and keen insights into the dynamics of power deeply resonated with her. Upon re-reading his works and biographies, Funder discovered the overlooked figure of Orwell's wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, a writer whose intellectual prowess profoundly influenced Orwell's work and whose pragmatism was vital to his survival.

Funder's journey through the Orwells' marriage, from the Spanish Civil War to the Second World War in London, is not just a historical recount but also a personal quest to understand the sacrifices and contributions of a writer's spouse. Wifedom is an intimate portrayal of one of the most significant literary partnerships of the twentieth century and resonates with the present as much as it sheds light on the past. This genre-bending biography is a tribute to the unacknowledged efforts of women everywhere.

Congratulations, The Best Is Over!: Essays

2023

by R. Eric Thomas

The beloved bestselling author of Here for It returns with an all-new collection of heartening, deeply relatable, and laugh-out-loud essays about what happens after happily ever after.

After going viral "reading" the chaotic political news, having one-too-many awkward social encounters, and coming to terms with his intersecting identities, R. Eric Thomas finally knew who he was and where he was going. He was living his best life. But then everything changed.

In this collection of insightful and hilarious essays, Thomas moves back to his perpetually misunderstood hometown of Baltimore (a place he never wanted to return, even to be buried) and behaving completely out of character. They say you can't go home again, but what if you and home have changed beyond recognition?

From attending his twenty-year high school reunion and discovering another person's face on his name badge, to splattering an urgent care room with blood à la The Shining, to being terrorized by a plague of gay frogs who've overtaken his backyard, Thomas provides the nitty, and sometimes the gritty, details of wrestling with the life he thought he'd left behind while trying to establish a new one.

With wit, heart, and hope for the future, Congratulations, The Best Is Over! is the not-so-gentle reminder we all need that even when life doesn't go according to plan, we can still find our way back home.

American Prometheus

American Prometheus is the gripping biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the enigmatic physicist who became known as the father of the atomic bomb. Co-authored by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, this comprehensive work delves into Oppenheimer's complex life and character, exploring his significant contributions to science, his leadership of the Manhattan Project, and the subsequent struggles he faced during the Red Scare.

Oppenheimer's story is not just about scientific triumph but also about tragedy, as the very weapon he helped create brought about profound ethical questions and fears about the future of humanity. The biography captures the essence of a man who was both a brilliant scientist and a person of conflicting emotions and loyalties, providing insight into the human side of the scientific endeavors that reshaped the world.

I Always Wanted To Be A Dad: Men Without Children

2023

by Robert Nurden

I Always Wanted To Be A Dad is a poignant memoir by Robert Nurden, a man of 72 who always dreamed of becoming a father. This heartfelt narrative explores the pain and regret he experienced when this dream didn't materialize.

In this book, Nurden unravels the complexities of the often-neglected issue of male childlessness, showing that the grief of childlessness can affect men as much as it does women. The 17 short chapters, infused with humor, are interspersed with heartfelt testimonies from other men who also find themselves childless-not-by-choice.

The book distinguishes between being childless due to circumstances and childless because of infertility. Through a series of reflective passages, the narrative arcs away from hurt towards acceptance and optimism for the future.

Anansi's Gold: The Man Who Looted The West, Outfoxed Washington, And Swindled The World

2023

by Yepoka Yeebo

Anansi's Gold is the astounding, never-before-told story of how an audacious Ghanaian con artist pulled off one of the 20th century's longest-running and most spectacular frauds.

When Ghana won its independence from Britain in 1957, it instantly became a target for home-grown opportunists and rapacious Western interests determined to snatch any assets that colonialism hadn't already stripped. A CIA-funded military junta ousted the new nation's inspiring president, Kwame Nkrumah, then falsely accused him of hiding the country's gold overseas.

Into this big lie stepped one of history's most charismatic scammers, a con man to rival the trickster god Anansi. Born into poverty in Ghana and trained in the United States, John Ackah Blay-Miezah declared himself custodian of an alleged Nkrumah trust fund worth billions. You, too, could claim a piece--if only you would "invest" in Blay-Miezah's fictitious efforts to release the equally fictitious fund. Over the 1970s and '80s, he and his accomplices--including Ghanaian state officials and Nixon's former attorney general--scammed hundreds of millions of dollars out of thousands of believers. Blay-Miezah lived in luxury, deceiving Philadelphia lawyers, London financiers, and Seoul businessmen alike, all while eluding his FBI pursuers. American prosecutors called his scam "one of the most fascinating--and lucrative--in modern history."

In Anansi's Gold, Yepoka Yeebo chases Blay-Miezah's ever-wilder trail and discovers, at long last, what really happened to Ghana's missing wealth. She unfolds a riveting account of Cold War entanglements, international finance, and postcolonial betrayal, revealing how what we call "history" writes itself into being, one lie at a time.

Waiting To Be Arrested At Night

Waiting to Be Arrested at Night is a harrowing tale of a family's escape from genocide and the account of one of the world's most urgent humanitarian crises. Tahir Hamut Izgil, a prominent poet and intellectual, bears witness to the Chinese government's brutal persecution of the Uyghur people—a predominantly Muslim minority group in western China. The crisis reached a new scale in 2017 with the establishment of an all-seeing high-tech surveillance state and the vanishing of over a million people into China's internment camps for Muslim minorities.

Having survived three years in a re-education through labor camp in the 1990s, Tahir could not have foreseen the radical measures the government would take two decades later. From interrogations to life imprisonment of friends for peaceful advocacy, and from police seizing Uyghurs' radios to installing jamming equipment, the signs of impending doom were clear. When Tahir's neighborhood park emptied due to mass arrests, he prepared for his inevitable capture, placing shoes and warm clothes by the door for the night the police would come.

However, his family chose to flee, seeking safety from the nightmarish reality. Waiting to Be Arrested at Night not only documents the political, social, and cultural destruction of Tahir's homeland but also serves as a call to the world to recognize the catastrophe. This book stands as a tribute to the silenced voices of Uyghur intellectuals, writers, and friends, with Tahir being among the few known to have escaped China since the mass internments began.

The Country of the Blind

2023

by Andrew Leland

The Country of the Blind is an exploration of the transition from sightedness to blindness through the personal narrative of Andrew Leland. His journey begins in a state of uncertainty, as his condition, retinitis pigmentosa, gradually diminishes his vision. Leland's world becomes increasingly constricted, like looking through a narrow tube, with a complete loss of sight looming on the horizon.

Despite the challenges, Leland's memoir is not just about adjusting to life's alterations; it's a quest to understand the richness of blindness as a distinct culture. He navigates the shifting dynamics within his family and confronts his evolving identity. The Country of the Blind is more than a memoir; it's a historical and cultural odyssey that delves into the experiences, languages, politics, and traditions associated with blindness.

This book represents Leland's commitment to not only endure the changes in his life but to embrace them. With a mix of introspection, humor, and intellectual vigor, The Country of the Blind offers readers a glimpse into a world often unexamined, providing valuable insights from a perspective that is enlightening and profound.

Leading Through Disruption

2023

by Andrew Liveris

Andrew Liveris offers a masterclass in collaborative, forward-looking leadership in Leading Through Disruption. This work provides a revolutionary leadership paradigm, essential for fostering resilience and agility in today's ever-evolving world.

Readers will learn how to:

  • Create impactful metrics that benefit all societal members.

  • Engage collaboratively with a broad spectrum of stakeholders to develop actionable policies.

  • Harmonize the pursuit of long-term sustainability with immediate profitability.

  • Invest in and advocate for the strengthening of local communities.

  • Select team members who are committed to advancing global betterment.

  • Adapt swiftly and decisively to navigate uncertainties.

With insights drawn from four decades of global leadership across business, government, academia, and civic society, Andrew Liveris' book stands as an invaluable resource for any aspiring leader.

When Crack Was King: A People's History Of A Misunderstood Era

When Crack Was King offers an account of the crack cocaine era and a community's resilience, told through a cast of characters whose lives illuminate the rise and fall of the epidemic. Journalist Donovan X. Ramsey provides an exacting analysis beginning with the myths inspired by Reagan's war on drugs.

The book follows four individuals: Elgin Swift, who represents American industry and ambition and is the son of a crack-addicted father; Lennie Woodley, a former crack addict and sex worker; Kurt Schmoke, the longtime mayor of Baltimore and an advocate of decriminalization; and Shawn McCray, community activist and a founding member of Newark's most legendary group of drug traffickers.

With riveting research and the voices of survivors, this book is a crucial reevaluation of the era and a powerful argument for providing historically violated communities with the resources they deserve.

A Thread Of Violence

2023

by Mark O'Connell

From the award-winning author comes a gripping account of one of the most scandalous chapters in modern Irish history, at once a propulsive work of true crime and an act of literary subversion.

Malcolm Macarthur was a well-known Dublin socialite and heir.  Suave and urbane, he passed his days mingling with artists and aristocrats, reading philosophy, living a life of the mind. But by 1982, his inheritance had dwindled to almost nothing, a desperate threat to his lifestyle. Macarthur hastily conceived a He would commit bank robbery, of the kind that had become frightfully common in Dublin at the time. But his plan spun swiftly out of control, and he needlessly killed two innocent people. The ensuing manhunt, arrest, and conviction amounted to one of the most infamous political scandals in modern Irish history, contributing to the eventual collapse of a government.

Author Mark O'Connell spent countless hours in conversation with Macarthur—interviews that veered from confession to evasion. Through their tense exchanges and O’Connell’s independent reporting, a pair of narratives a riveting account of Macarthur's crimes and a study of the hazy line between truth and invention. We come to see not only the enormity of the murders but the damage that’s inflicted when a life is rendered into story.

The Art Thief

2023

by Michael Finkel

One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser.

In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, bestselling author Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, instead, he kept all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.

For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals across Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who served as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.

In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Breitwieser never stole for money. He displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed with remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a number of audacious thefts. However, these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.

This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.

El lado B de las emociones

2023

by Eduardo Calixto

¿Qué nos produce turbación, desprecio o asco? ¿Por qué a veces el llanto nos desborda y nos deja exhaustos? ¿Qué nos lleva a culpar a los demás de lo que no somos capaces de resolver? ¿En qué momento nos convertimos en seres furibundos si perdemos el control?

En este libro sabremos por qué cedemos y en qué circunstancias a los deseos sexuales más intensos; cómo se proyectan en nuestro presente los traumas de la infancia; qué indica reír sin control si pasamos por una tragedia, un dolor físico severo o una gran tristeza; cuáles son las señales de una soledad profunda o un miedo sin límites que pueden derivar en una enfermedad crónica.

El lado B de las emociones es una obra provocadora porque nos confronta con lucidez y contundencia sobre aspectos que tememos, negamos o sencillamente odiamos. Eduardo Calixto llega hasta lo más hondo para hablarnos de nuestro enojo, el resentimiento, la vergüenza, el resultado: un libro con explicaciones impactantes sobre nuestras conductas más siniestras, la verdad sobre los actos perversos y, más que nada, las claves para conocer nuestros abismos, enfrentarlos y llenarlos de luz.

How to Stay Married

How to Stay Married is a shockingly candid, hilarious, voyeuristic, and inspiring account of one man's personal journey through hell and back when his wife's infidelity threatens their marriage. Written by Harrison Scott Key, winner of the 2016 Thurber Prize for American Humor, this memoir dives into the complexities of love and the challenges of maintaining a marriage.

Smart Sex

2023

by Emily Morse

From the host of the #1 podcast Sex with Emily, Emily Morse, comes a revolutionary new book that reframes our relationship to pleasure and teaches us how to have the best sex of our lives. Dr. Emily Morse has been dubbed "the Dr. Ruth of a new generation" (New York Times) and has helped millions of people navigate the world of sex and relationships. In Smart Sex, she condenses all she's learned as a doctor of human sexuality and offers a groundbreaking framework that will change the way you think about sex and pleasure.

In this essential book you'll uncover:

  • A new sexual intelligence that will allow you to connect deeply with your body, your desires, and the psychological and physical blocks that are keeping you from experiencing the pleasure that is your birthright.
  • Communication hacks to talk to your partner about topics ranging from oral sex to open relationships and everything in between.
  • The truth about orgasms and how to start having more plentiful, powerful, and satisfying orgasms.
  • Everything you need to know to be a good lover, from collaboration to technique. (Hint: it's not what you think.)

And so much more. Drawing from science, research, and lived experience, and written in a voice that's entertaining and inclusive, Smart Sex will help you radically improve your sex life, your confidence, and your relationships, including your relationship with yourself.

What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds

What an Owl Knows is a captivating exploration into the world of owls, penned by the acclaimed author Jennifer Ackerman. This book delves into the rich biology and natural history of these enigmatic birds, unraveling the complex nature of their lives.

For thousands of years, owls have intrigued humans, symbolizing wisdom and mystery. Despite their long-standing presence in human culture, detailed scientific understanding of owls has only recently emerged. Ackerman sheds light on these discoveries, revealing the sophisticated behaviors and capabilities of owls, from their unique communication methods to their impressive hunting skills.

Throughout the book, Ackerman shares her own field observations and the latest research, offering insights into how owls communicate, hunt, court, and migrate. Her narrative is enriched with personal anecdotes and scientific findings, making What an Owl Knows a spellbinding read for anyone fascinated by the natural world.

This book is a must-read for those interested in the science of owls, providing an awe-inspiring journey through the lives of one of the world's most elusive bird species.

Fire Weather: A True Story From A Hotter World

2023

by John Vaillant

Fire Weather: A True Story From A Hotter World is an urgent work for our times, as it delves into the apocalyptic consequences of climate change through the lens of a massive wildfire. The book takes readers on a riveting journey, exploring the past, present, and future of the relationship between humanity and fire's fierce energy.

In May 2016, the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta—Canada's oil industry hub—experienced a wildfire of colossal proportions. Known as the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina, this disaster turned neighborhoods into infernos and forced 88,000 people to evacuate in a single afternoon. John Vaillant presents this event not as an isolated occurrence, but a stark preview of what we must brace for in a world growing hotter and more flammable.

For hundreds of millennia, fire has played a pivotal role in human evolution, shaping culture, civilization, and perhaps even our brains. It has been essential for cooking food, defending and heating our homes, and powering the economy. Yet, this volatile element has always posed a threat to elude our control. Today, with the intensification of climate change, we are witnessing fire's destructive power on an unprecedented scale.

Vaillant masterfully weaves together the intertwined histories of North America's oil industry and the emergence of climate science, examining the alarming destruction caused by modern forest fires, and offering a window into lives irrevocably altered by these disasters.

Fire Weather: A True Story From A Hotter World is not just a narrative of a natural disaster; it is a compelling account of an ever-evolving challenge, a testament to human resilience and ingenuity, and a crucial call to action in our new century of fire, which is only just beginning.

Pageboy: A Memoir

2023

by Elliot Page

Pageboy: A Memoir is a candid and transformative journey of Academy Award-nominated actor Elliot Page. From the brink of self-discovery in a queer bar before the world premiere of Juno, through the whirlwind of Hollywood's expectations, to the pressures of performing that nearly suffocated him, Elliot Page's memoir is a tale of defiance, strength, and joy.

Elliot's story delves into the intimate aspects of sex, love, trauma, and the challenges of navigating a life in the spotlight. As he grapples with his identity and the societal pressures to conform to a binary, Elliot's narrative is both an ode to self-realization and a powerful exploration of what it means to break free from the expectations of others. Pageboy reveals the behind-the-scenes details of a life lived in the public eye and the personal interrogations that lead to a celebration of true self.

The Talk

2023

by Darrin Bell

Darrin Bell was six years old when his mother told him he couldn't have a realistic water gun. She said she feared for his safety, that police tend to think of little Black boys as older and less innocent than they really are.

Through evocative illustrations and sharp humor, Bell examines how The Talk shaped intimate and public moments from childhood to adulthood. While coming of age in Los Angeles—and finding a voice through cartooning—Bell becomes painfully aware of being regarded as dangerous by white teachers, neighbors, and police officers and thus of his mortality. Drawing attention to the brutal murders of African Americans and showcasing revealing insights and cartoons along the way, he brings us up to the moment of reckoning when people took to the streets protesting the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And now Bell must decide whether he and his own six-year-old son are ready to have The Talk.

The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World

Bestselling journalist Antony Loewenstein uncovers the widespread commercialisation and brutal deployment globally of Israel’s occupation-enforcing technologies.

For more than 50 years, the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has given the Israeli state invaluable experience in controlling an ‘enemy’ population, the Palestinians. It’s here that they have perfected the architecture of control, using the occupied Palestinian territories as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that they then export around the world.

The Palestine Laboratory shows in depth and for the first time how Israel has become a leader in developing spying technology and defence hardware that fuels some of the globe’s most brutal conflicts — from the Pegasus software that hacked Jeff Bezos’s and Jamal Khashoggi’s phones, and the weapons sold to the Myanmar army that has murdered thousands of Rohingyas, to the drones being used by the European Union to monitor refugees in the Mediterranean who are left to drown.

In a global investigation that uncovers secret documents, based on revealing interviews and on-the-ground reporting, Antony Loewenstein shows how, as ethno-nationalism grows in the 21st century, Israel has built the ultimate tools for despots and democracies.

King

2023

by Jonathan Eig

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.—and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. This revelatory new portrait offers an intimate view of the preacher and activist who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself.

Eig casts fresh light on the King family's origins as well as MLK's complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. He reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death.

Following MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father—as well as the nation's most mourned martyr.

In this landmark biography, Eig presents an MLK who was a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history's greatest movements. His demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime. The book also includes 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.

Quietly Hostile: Essays

2023

by Samantha Irby

Samantha Irby invites us to share in the gory particulars of her real life, all that festers behind the glitter and glam.

The success of Irby's career has taken her to new heights. She fields calls with job offers from Hollywood and walks the red carpet with the iconic ladies of Sex and the City. Finally, she has made it. But, behind all that new-found glam, Irby is just trying to keep her life together as she always had.

Her teeth are poisoning her from inside her mouth, and her diarrhea is back. She gets turned away from a restaurant for wearing ugly clothes, she goes to therapy and tries out Lexapro, gets healed with Reiki, explores the power of crystals, and becomes addicted to QVC. Making light of herself as she takes us on an outrageously funny tour of all the details that make up a true portrait of her life, Irby is once again the relatable, uproarious tonic we all need.

Our Migrant Souls

2023

by Héctor Tobar

Our Migrant Souls is a defining exploration of the Latino identity in the United States by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Héctor Tobar. The term "Latino" is one of the most rapidly growing but loosely defined major race categories in the country.

Composed as a direct address to young people who identify or are classified as "Latino," this book stands as the first account of the historical and social forces shaping Latino identity. Tobar examines the impacts of colonialism, public policy, immigration, media, and pop culture, decoding the meaning of "Latino" as a racial and ethnic identity in contemporary America.

Our Migrant Souls gives voice to the frustrations and aspirations of young Latinos who have witnessed the transformation of Latinidad into negative stereotypes and have faced insult and division. Tobar shares his experiences as a journalist, novelist, mentor, leader, and educator, intertwining his personal narrative and his parents' migration from Guatemala with his journey across the country to uncover a narrative that is expansive, inspiring, and alive.

Truth & Beauty

2023

by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett and the late Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work.

In Grealy’s critically acclaimed memoir, Autobiography of a Face, she wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, years of chemotherapy and radiation, and endless reconstructive surgeries. In Truth & Beauty, the story isn’t Lucy’s life or Ann’s life, but the parts of their lives they shared.

This is a portrait of unwavering commitment that spans twenty years, from the long winters of the Midwest, to surgical wards, to book parties in New York. Through love, fame, drugs, and despair, this is what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined... and what happens when one is left behind.

This is a tender, brutal book about loving the person we cannot save. It is about loyalty, and being lifted up by the sheer effervescence of someone who knew how to live life to the fullest.

Ultra-Processed People

Ultra-Processed People: Why We Can't Stop Eating Food That Isn't Food is an eye-opening investigation into the science, economics, history, and production of ultra-processed food, also known as UPF. Medical doctor and broadcaster Chris van Tulleken takes us through the hard facts about our food intake and its links to various diseases such as metabolic disease, depression, inflammation, anxiety, and cancer. He also discusses the environmental damage caused by the production, distribution, and disposal of UPF.

Van Tulleken reframes the conversation around healthy eating by providing both shocking and empathetic insights into our eating habits. He delves into the concept of the 'third age of eating' characterized by the abundance of ultra-processed eating options and provides guidance on making informed choices amidst this landscape. This book is not just about diet trends or individual willpower; it's about our right to know what we eat and its effects on our bodies and our environment.

Filmlandia!

2023

by David Schmader

Filmlandia! takes you on a captivating journey through the cinematic landscape of the Pacific Northwest. From the eerie mysteries of Twin Peaks to the enchanting tales of Twilight, and the quirky humor of Portlandia!, this book highlights over 200 film and television productions that have been crafted and centered in Seattle, Portland, and the greater Pacific Northwest.

David Schmader, a renowned culture writer, has meticulously researched and curated this collection, offering hilarious and insightful synopses along with intriguing behind-the-scenes facts and trivia. Discover regional scenic highlights and delve into the minds of filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Lynn Shelton. Explore the television shows that have shaped perceptions of the region, such as Shrill and Portlandia!.

Whether you're a cinephile or simply someone who cherishes the vibrant culture of the Pacific Northwest, Filmlandia! is a must-have guide that celebrates the area's rich film culture in a visually arresting and compelling manner.

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma

2023

by Claire Dederer

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma is a passionate, provocative, and blisteringly smart interrogation of how we experience art in the age of #MeToo. Author Claire Dederer poses the critical question: What do we do with the art of monstrous men? Can we still love the work of Roman Polanski and Michael Jackson, Hemingway and Picasso? Should we love it? Does genius deserve special dispensation?

Dederer explores the concept of monstrousness in men and women artists alike, prompting readers to examine their own responses and behavior. With a focus on the tumultuous relationship between art, the artist's biography, and the audience, this book delves deep into one of our most pressing cultural conversations. It is a work that is morally wise, deeply considered, and sharply written, urging both the fan and the reader to engage with these complex issues.

Ordinary Notes

A dazzlingly inventive, deeply moving, intellectually bracing exploration of pain and beauty, private memory and public monument, art and complexity in contemporary Black life.

Christina Sharpe begins by writing about her mother and grandmother in Ordinary Notes. This singular achievement explores profound questions about loss, and the shapes of Black life that emerge in the wake. A series of 248 brief and urgent notes gather meaning as we read them, skillfully weaving artifacts from the past—public ones alongside others that are poignantly personal—with present-day realities and possible futures, intricately constructing an immersive portrait of everyday Black existence.

Themes and tones echo throughout the pages, sometimes about life, art, language, beauty, memory; sometimes about history, photography, and literature—but always attending, with exquisite care, to the ordinary-extraordinary dimensions of Black life.

At the heart of Ordinary Notes is the indelible presence of the author's mother, Ida Wright Sharpe. Sharpe writes, "I learned to see in my mother's house," and "My mother gifted me a love of beauty, a love of words." Using these gifts and other ways of seeing, she steadily summons a chorus of voices and experiences to become present on the page. She articulates and follows an aesthetic of "beauty as a method," collects entries from a community of thinkers towards a "Dictionary of Untranslatable Blackness," and rigorously examines sites of memory and memorial. And in the process, she forges a new literary form, as multivalent as the ways of Black being it traces.

The Rediscovery Of America

2023

by Ned Blackhawk

The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History offers a sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.

Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non-Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century. In this transformative synthesis, he reveals that:

  • European colonization in the 1600s was never a predetermined success;
  • Native nations helped shape England's crisis of empire;
  • The first shots of the American Revolution were prompted by Indian affairs in the interior;
  • California Indians targeted by federally funded militias were among the first casualties of the Civil War;
  • The Union victory forever recalibrated Native communities across the West;
  • Twentieth-century reservation activists refashioned American law and policy.

Blackhawk's retelling of U.S. history acknowledges the enduring power, agency, and survival of Indigenous peoples, yielding a truer account of the United States and revealing anew the varied meanings of America.

Life in Five Senses

2023

by Gretchen Rubin

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project discovers a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, and love: by tuning in to the five senses.

For more than a decade, Gretchen Rubin had been studying happiness and human nature. Then, one day, a visit to her eye doctor made her realize that she'd been overlooking a key element of happiness: her five senses. She'd spent so much time stuck in her head that she'd allowed the vital sensations of life to slip away, unnoticed. This epiphany lifted her from a state of foggy preoccupation into a world rediscovered by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.

In this journey of self-experimentation, Rubin explores the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a path to a happier, more mindful life. Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and her own efforts to practice what she learns, she investigates the profound power of tuning in to the physical world.

Life in Five Senses is an absorbing, layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live fuller, richer lives—and, ultimately, how to move through the world with more vitality and love.

The Best Minds

2023

by Jonathan Rosen

Acclaimed author Jonathan Rosen's haunting investigation of the forces that led his closest childhood friend, Michael Laudor, from the heights of brilliant promise to the forensic psychiatric hospital where he has lived since killing the woman he loved. The Best Minds explores the ways in which we understand—and fail to understand—mental illness.

When the Rosens moved to New Rochelle in 1973, Jonathan Rosen and Michael Laudor became inseparable. Both children of college professors, the boys were best friends and keen competitors, and, when they both got into Yale University, seemed set to join the American meritocratic elite.

Michael blazed through college in three years, graduating summa cum laude and landing a top-flight consulting job. But all wasn't as it seemed. One day, Jonathan received the call: Michael had suffered a serious psychotic break and was in the locked ward of a psychiatric hospital.

Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Michael was still in the hospital when he learned he'd been accepted to Yale Law School, and still battling delusions when he decided to trade his halfway house for the top law school in the country. He not only managed to graduate, but after his extraordinary story was featured in The New York Times, sold a memoir for a large sum. Ron Howard bought film rights, completing the dream for Michael and his tirelessly supportive girlfriend Carrie. But then Michael, in the grip of an unshakeable paranoid fantasy, stabbed Carrie to death with a kitchen knife and became a front-page story of an entirely different sort.

The Best Minds is Jonathan Rosen's brilliant and heartbreaking account of an American tragedy. It is a story about the bonds of family, friendship, and community; the promise of intellectual achievement; and the lure of utopian solutions. Tender, funny, and harrowing by turns, at times almost unbearably sad, The Best Minds is an extreme version of a story that is tragically familiar to all too many. In the hands of a writer of Jonathan Rosen's gifts and dedication, its significance will echo widely.

The Wager

2023

by David Grann

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, The Wager is a riveting story of shipwreck, survival, and the wild extremes of human behavior. David Grann delivers a narrative with the suspense of a thriller, revealing the profound implications of the events aboard the Wager, and challenging the very notion of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a makeshift vessel stumbled upon the coast of Brazil with thirty severely weakened men. These survivors of the British ship, the Wager, recounted an incredible ordeal. Dispatched from England in 1740 during a war with Spain, the Wager was in pursuit of a Spanish galleon laden with treasure when disaster struck off the Patagonian coast.

Marooned and facing death, the crew constructed a crude boat and embarked on an extraordinary 2500-mile voyage across tempestuous waters, only to be branded as heroes upon their return. However, a subsequent arrival of three castaways in Chile unveiled a starkly contrasting narrative of mutiny and betrayal. As the Admiralty held a court martial to uncover the truth, the account of anarchy, conflict, and murder emerged, leading to a verdict that could mean the gallows for the accused.

Grann's masterful recounting of this historical saga echoes the literary achievements of Patrick O’Brian and the gripping survival tales akin to The Endurance. The Wager is a testament to the extremes of human conduct in the face of adversity, crafted by one of today's most exceptional nonfiction storytellers.

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