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Distant Witness
Social Media, the Arab Spring and a Journalism Revolution
Andy Carvin had unusual access to the people and events of the Arab Spring: from NPR headquarters in DC, he built a highly active twitter community of revolutionaries, witnesses and reporters. In this blend of memoir and history, he shares stories of the Arab Spring while exploring the benefits and difficulties of reporting from a distance.
News and Reviews
Calling Dr. Laura
A Graphic Memoir
Nicole Georges had always been told that her father was dead — until a psychic told her that he was very much alive. In this graphic memoir, Georges recounts how she learned the truth about her family... and then turned to the Dr. Laura show for advice.
News and Reviews
The Insurgents
David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War
Based on secret documents, private emails, and interviews, The Insurgents is the inside story of the small group of soldier-scholars, led by General David Petraeus, who plotted to revolutionize one of the largest, oldest, and most hidebound institutions — the United States military. Their aim was to build a new Army that could fight the new kind of war in the post–Cold War age: not massive wars on vast battlefields, but "small wars" in cities and villages, against insurgents and terrorists.
News and Reviews
Mind and Cosmos
Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False
News and Reviews
The First Muslim
The Story of Muhammad
Lesley Hazleton's researched account of Mohammed's life adds depth and complexity to a story that is simultaneously famous and little-understood.
News and Reviews
Barack Obama
The Story
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of They Marched Into Sunlight draws on hundreds of interviews and written sources to present a richly textured account of the 44th president and the forces that shaped his character and beliefs, tracing the experiences of family members before his birth through his entry into politics.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
The World America Made
Robert Kagan responds to those who anticipate — or even long for — a post-American world order by showing what a decline in America's influence would truly mean for the United States and the rest of the world, as the vital institutions, economies and ideals currently supported by American power wane or disappear. As Kagan notes, it has happened before: one need only consider the consequences of the breakdown of the Roman Empire and the collapse of the European order in World War I.
News and Reviews
Quiet
The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Susan Cain demonstrates how introverted people are misunderstood and undervalued in modern culture, charting the rise of extrovert ideology while sharing anecdotal examples of how to use introvert talents to adapt to various situations.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
Never Goin' Back
Winning the Weight-Loss Battle for Good
News and Reviews
Kill Anything That Moves
The Real American War in Vietnam
Based on classified documents and interviews, a controversial history of the Vietnam War argues that American acts of violence against millions of Vietnamese civilians were a pervasive and systematic part of the war.
News and Reviews
The Real Jane Austen
A Life in Small Things
Through an assortment of mundane objects, literary biographer Paula Byrne tells the story of Jane Austen's personal and creative life.
News and Reviews
Manifest Injustice
The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers Who Fought for His Freedom
Bill Macumber served 38 years in prison for a double homicide he vehemently denies committing. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barry Siegel tells the story of Macumber's imprisonment and the long struggle for his freedom.
News and Reviews
Ship It Holla, Ballas!
How a Bunch of 19-Year-Old College Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker's LOUDEST, CRAZIEST, and RICHEST Crew
Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback trace the rise and fall of Internet poker through the eyes of its most unlikely stars: a group of teenage college dropouts, united by social media, who bluffed their way to the top of the game.
News and Reviews
Help, Thanks, Wow
The Three Essential Survival Prayers
Help, Thanks, Wow describes the three simple prayers — asking for assistance from a higher power, expressing gratitude and feeling awe — that help to deal with the hardships of daily life.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
My Beloved World
A Memoir
The first Hispanic-American on the U.S. Supreme Court shares the story of her life before becoming a judge, describing such experiences as her youth in a Bronx housing project, her relationship with a passionately spiritual grandparent, the ambition that fueled her Ivy League education, and the individuals who helped shape her career.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
I Could Pee On This
And Other Poems By Cats
Francesco Marciuliano, author of the comic strip Sally Forth, gives voice to the thoughts and feelings of cats in this collection of poems attributed to felines.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
The World Until Yesterday
What Can We Learn From Traditional Societies?
Jared Diamond uses decades of fieldwork in the Pacific Islands and other world regions to explore the degree to which modern society draws from earlier and ancient cultures. NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
Wild
From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
At 22, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington state — and she would do it alone.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
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
The Dude And The Zen Master
A lighthearted and inspiring dialogue between the Oscar-winning actor and his longtime spiritual guru explores the challenges of Bridges' Hollywood career, and the ways in which Zen teachings have informed his efforts to do good in the modern world.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
Unbroken
A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Unbroken tells the gripping true story of a U.S. airman who was the sole survivor when his bomber crashed into the sea during World War II. He faced thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft and an even greater trial. NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
Going Clear
Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
Based on more than 200 personal interviews with current and former Scientologists, both famous and less well-known, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright uses his investigative ability to uncover the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
The Signal And The Noise
Why So Many Predictions Fail — But Some Don't
The founder of FiveThirtyEight.com challenges myths about predictions in subjects ranging from the financial market and weather to sports and politics, profiling the world of prediction to explain how to distinguish true signals from hype.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
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
Team Of Rivals
The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
An analysis of Abraham Lincoln's political talents identifies the strengths and abilities that enabled his election and describes how he used those same abilities to rally former opponents to win the Civil War.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
In The Garden Of Beasts
Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
The best-selling author of Devil in the White City documents the efforts of William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Hitler's Germany, to acclimate to a residence in an increasingly violent city where he is forced to associate with the Nazis while his daughter pursues a relationship with Gestapo chief Rudolf Diels. NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
The Swerve
How the World Became Modern
A humanities professor describes the impact of the translation of the last remaining manuscript of On the Nature of Things by Roman philosopher Lucretius, which fueled the Renaissance and inspired artists, great thinkers and scientists.NPR Bestseller, Literary Award Winner
News and Reviews
Bossypants
The breakout star of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock gives a humorous account of her life, as well as behind-the-scenes stories from her hit shows.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
The writer and actor best known for her role on The Office shares observations on everything from favorite male archetypes and her hatred of dieting to her relationship with her mother and the haphazard creative process of The Office's writers' room.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
Tiny Beautiful Things
Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar
A collection of advice on everything from infidelity and grief to marital boredom and financial hardships from Cheryl Strayed's popular "Dear Sugar" column in the online magazine The Rumpus.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
The Happiness Project
Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
The Happiness Project chronicles the author's year spent testing the edicts of conventional wisdom to assess their potential for improving life, describing various activities ranging from getting more sleep and singing to her children to starting a blog and imitating a spiritual master.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
F In Exams
The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers
Humor writer Richard Benson collects hilariously wrong test answers.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks documents the story of how scientists took cells from an unsuspecting descendant of freed slaves and created a human cell line that has been kept alive indefinitely, enabling numerous medical and scientific discoveries.NPR Bestseller
News and Reviews
The Hare With Amber Eyes
A Hidden Inheritance
Traces the parallel stories of 19th century art patron Charles Ephrussi and his unique collection of 264 miniature netsuke — Japanese ivory carvings — documenting Ephrussi's relationship with Marcel Proust and the impact of the Holocaust on his cosmopolitan family.NPR Bestseller
