archive

Behind The Beautiful Forevers

Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

A profile of everyday life in the settlement of Annawadi as experienced by a Muslim teen, an ambitious rural mother and a young scrap-metal thief, illuminating the way their efforts to build better lives are challenged by religion, caste and economic tensions.NPR Bestseller

News and Reviews

• 10 Books To Help You Recover From A Tense 2012
• Finding 'Life, Death And Hope' In A Mumbai Slum
• 'Round House,' 'Forevers' Win National Book Awards

Iron Curtain

The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956

Anne Applebaum discusses the creation of the Communist regimes that took hold in Eastern Europe at the end of World War II and describes what daily life was like in these countries.

News and Reviews

• Hear The 2012 National Book Award Nominees
• 'Crushing Eastern Europe' Behind The 'Iron Curtain'

The Passage Of Power

The Years Of Lyndon Johnson

Robert Caro has spent decades researching Lyndon Johnson's life; previous books in his massive biography of Johnson told the story of Johnson's rise to national prominence. In this fourth volume, Caro takes up Johnson's dismal years as vice president and his sudden presidency, which he used to shepherd the 1964 Civil Rights Act through Congress.

NPR Bestseller

News and Reviews

• In 'Passage,' Caro Mines LBJ's Changing Political Roles
• May 6-12: An Apocalypse, A Trip To Malawi And Anne Boleyn
• Hear The 2012 National Book Award Nominees

The Antidote

Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

News and Reviews

• 'Antidote' Prescribes A 'Negative Path To Happiness'

Life After Life

The Investigation of a Phenomenon—Survival of Bodily Death

Reports on and draws careful conclusions from the out-of-the-body experiences of people who, revived from clinical death or near-death, regained consciousness.

News and Reviews

• Death, But Softly

Far From The Tree

Parents, Children and the Search for Identity

The National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon explores the consequences of extreme personal differences between parents and children, describing his own experiences as a gay child of straight parents while evaluating the circumstances of people affected by physical, developmental or cultural factors that divide families.NPR Bestseller

News and Reviews

• Parenting A Child Who's Fallen 'Far From The Tree'
• What Happens When Kids Fall 'Far From The Tree'

Lost at Sea

The Jon Ronson Mysteries

Jon Ronson profiles the eccentricities of contemporary culture in an investigation of such topics as indigo children, the Insane Clown Posse's fans and assisted suicide practitioners.

News and Reviews

• The Adventures Of An Investigative Satirist

Tombstone

The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962

Tombstone provides an account of the famine that killed millions of Chinese during the Great Leap Forward and examines how the communist ideologies and collectivization campaigns perpetuated by the country's leaders caused the catastrophe. Translated by Stacy Mosher and Guo Jian.

News and Reviews

• A Grim Chronicle Of China's Great Famine

Don't Shoot

One Man, A Street Fellowship, And The End of Violence in Inner-City America

Traces the story of the "Boston Miracle" criminologist who rose from obscurity to a leading figure in the fight against gang- and drug-related inner-city violence, explaining how his methods involve large-scale interventions that promote cooperative efforts between gangs, law enforcement and communities.

News and Reviews

• Interrupting Violence With The Message 'Don't Shoot'
• Interrupting Violence With The Message 'Don't Shoot'

The Second Nuclear Age

Strategy, Danger, and the New Power Politics

In this thought-provoking and agenda-setting book, the author, drawing on his years of experience analyzing defense strategy, makes a strong case that the U.S. needs to pay renewed attention to nuclear weapons and how their presence will transform the way crises develop and escalate.

News and Reviews

• Author Warns 'Second Nuclear Age' Is Here

Da Vinci's Ghost

Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image

Da Vinci's Ghost recounts the intellectual journey behind the creation of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and how the drawing represents the momentous period in Western history when the Middle Ages gave way to the Renaissance.

News and Reviews

• New In Paperback Nov. 5-11
• 'Da Vinci's Ghost' Lives On In The Vitruvian Man

Oddly Normal

One Family's Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms With His Sexuality

Sharing his family's own struggles within a culture that is quickly changing, a national correspondent for The New York Times and father of a gay teen offers crucial lessons about helping gay kids and how to cope in a potentially hostile world.

News and Reviews

• An 'Oddly Normal' Outcome For A Singular Child

The Lakota Way of Strength and Courage

Lessons in Resilience from the Bow and Arrow

News and Reviews

• Lakota Spiritual Guidance From The Bow And Arrow

Race-Baiter

How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation

A prominent media critic demonstrates how the media manipulates language to incite cultural divides, tracing the history of "race-baiting" while revealing how tactics that deliberately play on prejudice and fear are used to secure audiences and demonize opposing groups.

News and Reviews

• 'Race-Baiter': Media Feed On Fear And Prejudice