Staff Picks
#BroaderBookshelf 2021:Read a Book by a Journalist (Nonfiction)
- Chantal W.
- Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Collection
Here is a list of nonfiction books that will help you complete the 2021 #BroaderBookshelf prompt of reading a book by a journalist.
These were the titles that didn't make it onto the other Read a Book by a Journalist lists...here you'll find books about a host of other subjects including business, food, music, sports and travel.
Guantanamo Voices
True Accounts from the World's Most Infamous Prison
Published in 2020
In January 2002, the United States sent a group of Muslim men they suspected of terrorism to a prison in Guantanamo Bay. They were the first of roughly 780 prisoners who would be held there-and 40 inmates still remain. Eighteen years later, very few of them have been ever charged with a crime. In Guantanamo Voices, journalist Sarah Mirk and her team of diverse, talented graphic novel artists tell the stories of ten people whose lives have been shaped and affected by the prison, including former prisoners, lawyers, social workers, and service members. This collection of illustrated interviews explores the history of Guantanamo and the world post-9/11, presenting this complicated partisan issue through a new lens.
This is Cuba
An American Journalist Under Castro's Shadow
Published in 2018
"An exploration of Cuba's Cold War mindset and a people in the throes of transition, with tales of run-ins with spies, secret backrooms, and empty grocery shelves. Fidel Castro is dead. Donald Trump is in the White House. And to most outsiders, the fate of Cuba has never been more uncertain. But those who look close enough realize the blueprints for the island's next revolution may be etched in plain view. This is Cuba begins in the summer of 2009 when CNN offers David Ariosto, a wide-eyed, inexperienced journalist, the chance of a lifetime--a two-year assignment in Havana. Ariosto moves to Cuba with visions of covering the island in the fashion of such literary legends as Graham Greene and Ernest Hemingway. But as the realities of both Castro's police state and America's trade embargo set in, those rose-tinted lenses begin to clear up. Beyond the classic cars, salsa and cigars, lies a country that fiercely guards its Cold War persona--perhaps even more so after the death of its iconic leader. Though Wi-Fi hot spots and American tourists now dot the landscape, the fists of the regime are still up and guarding against the specter of its old nemesis, just 93 miles north. And a crisis is brewing. As American diplomats withdraw following suspected sonic attacks, the country is dealing with its biggest political transition in more than half a century. The fate of a country is up for grabs. By looking at Cuba from the inside-out, Ariosto's personal journey helps to navigate what's in store for the island after that transition, all while under the shadow of President Donald Trump"-- Provided by publisher.
Good to Go
What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery
Published in 2019
"In recent years recovery has become a sports and fitness buzzword. Anyone who works out or competes at any level is bombarded with the latest recovery products and services: from drinks and shakes to compression sleeves, foam rollers, electrical muscle stimulators, and sleep trackers. In Good to Go, acclaimed FiveThirtyEight science writer Christie Aschwanden takes readers on an entertaining and enlightening tour through this strange world. She investigates whether drinking Gatorade or beer after training helps or hinders performance; she examines the latest trends among athletes, from NFL star Tom Brady's infrared pajamas to gymnast Simone Biles' pneumatic compression boots to swimmer Michael Phelps' 'cupping' ritual; and she tests some of the most controversial methods herself, including cryochambers, float tanks, and infrared saunas. At a time when the latest recovery products and services promise so much, Good to Go seeks answers to the fundamental question: Do any of them actually help the body recover and achieve peak performance?"--Inside dust jacket.
Radio Okapi Kindu
The Station That Helped Bring Peace to the Congo
Published in 2017
When Jennifer Bakody steps off the plane in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2004, she walks right into the hardest and most inspiring job an idealistic young journalist from Nova Scotia could ever imagine. Six years of war involving eight countries and several million deaths have just ended in a ceasefire. Two weeks later, Bakody finds herself two thousand kilometers up the Congo River in the heart of the jungle, managing a small UN-backed radio station. Welcome to Radio Okapi Kindu. Welcome, too, to its team of hard-working local reporters determined to cover the country's rapid march towards elections. One day rebel soldiers are walking out of jungle enclaves and handing in their weapons; the next, the station is airing messages asking after missing people and staging comedy sketches. When a public lynching is followed by an outbreak of violence, Bakody begins to realize how little she understands Congolese politics?and how little she has at stake compared to her colleagues. Maintaining the rigor of Radio Okapi's editorial line suddenly seems like a matter of life and death. Can one small station known as the "frequency of peace" stand the strain? Radio Okapi Kindu is a touching memoir of a young journalist's coming of age and a love song to a poor but astonishingly beautiful country.
The Fire Next Time
Published in 1993
Contains a letter to Baldwin's nephew on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Also describes his childhood, views on Black Muslims, and his visions.
Dueling with Kings
High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports
Published in 2017
"As Bringing Down the House did for card counters and Positively Fifth Street did for poker players, Daniel Barbarisi does for Daily Fantasy Sports fans in this leap down the rabbit hole of America's latest obsession"-- Provided by publisher.
A New Day Yesterday
UK Progressive Rock & the 1970s
Published in 2020
Progressive rock - a genre formed out of a creative surge in the late Sixties and throughout the Seventies - originated and flowered most spectacularly in the UK. Made by young musicians for a young audience, prog music looked towards new horizons by synthesising rock, jazz, folk, classical and other styles.
The Dynasty
Published in 2020
It's easy to forget that the New England Patriots were once the laughingstock of the NFL, a nearly bankrupt team that had never won a championship and was on the brink of moving to St. Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and soon brought on board head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut, making ten trips to the Super Bowl, winning six of them, and emerging as one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. Today, the team's twenty-year reign atop the NFL stands as the longest in league history. How was the Patriots dynasty built? And how did it last for two decades? In The Dynasty, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than two hundred insiders--including team executives, coaches, players, players' wives, team doctors, lawyers, and more--as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents, and electronic communications.
The Second Mountain
How People Move from the Prison of Self to the Joy of Commitment
Published in 2019
Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be
An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania
Published in 2015
"Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. That belief is wrong. It's cruel. And in WHERE YOU GO IS NOT WHO YOU'LL BE, Frank Bruni explains why, giving students and their parents a new perspective on this brutal, deeply flawed competition and a path out of the anxiety that it provokes. Bruni, a bestselling author and a columnist for the New York Times, shows that the Ivy League has no monopoly on corner offices, governors' mansions, or the most prestigious academic and scientific grants. Through statistics, surveys, and the stories of hugely successful people who didn't attend the most exclusive schools, he demonstrates that many kinds of colleges-large public universities, tiny hideaways in the hinterlands-serve as ideal springboards. And he illuminates how to make the most of them. What matters in the end are a student's efforts in and out of the classroom, not the gleam of his or her diploma. Where you go isn't who you'll be. Americans need to hear that-and this indispensable manifesto says it with eloquence and respect for the real promise of higher education"-- Provided by publisher.
A Meatloaf in Every Oven
Two Chatty Cooks, One Iconic Dish, and Dozens of Recipes-- from Mom's to Mario Batali's
Published in 2017
"This love letter to meatloaf incorporates history, personal anecdotes and even meatloaf sandwiches, all the while making you feel like you're cooking with two trusted and knowledgeable friends."--Back cover.
Sonic Boom
The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, from Hendrix to Fleetwood Mac to Madonna to Prince
Published in 2021
"From journalist Peter Ames Carlin-the New York Times bestselling music biographer who chronicled the lives and careers of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, the Beach Boys, and Paul Simon-Sonic Boom captures the rollicking story of the most successful record label in the history of rock and roll, Warner Bros Records, and the remarkable secret to its meteoric rise"-- Provided by publisher.
I'll Have What She's Having
How Nora Ephron's Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy
Published in 2017
Can't Stop, Won't Stop
A History of the Hip-hop Generation
Published in 2005
A history of hip-hop cites its origins in the post-civil rights Bronx and Jamaica, drawing on interviews with performers, activists, gang members, DJs, and others to document how the movement has influenced politics and culture.
The Best Advice I Ever Got
Lessons from Extraordinary Lives
Published in 2011
In this inspirational collection, CBS News anchor Couric calls upon leaders and visionaries in the fields of politics, entertainment, sports, philanthropy, the arts, and business--all of whom share heartfelt, humorous, and useful insights about success and fulfillment. Includes contributions by Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton, Chelsea Handler, Malcolm Gladwell, Steve Martin, and Michael Bloomberg.
Sidelined
Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America
Published in 2021
"Shrill meets Brotopia in this personal and researched look at women's rights and issues through the lens of sports, from an award-winning sports journalist and women's advocate"-- Provided by publisher.
Joan Didion, the 1960s & 70s
Published in 2019
"Joan Didion's influence on postwar American letters is undeniable. Whether writing fiction, memoir, or trailblazing journalism, her gifts for narrative and dialogue, and her intimate but detached authorial persona, have won her legions of readers and admirers. Now Library of America launches its multi-volume edition of Didion's collected writings, prepared in consultation with the author, that brings together her fiction and nonfiction for the first time. Collected in this first volume are Didion's five iconic books from the 1960s and 1970s: Run River, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It As It Lays, A Book of Common Prayer, and The White Album. Whether writing about countercultural San Francisco, the Las Vegas wedding industry, Lucille Miller, Charles Manson, or the shopping mall, Didion achieves a wonderful negative sublimity without condemning her subjects or condescending to her readers. Chiefly about California, these books display Didion's genius for finding exactly the right language and tone to capture America's broken twilight landscape at a moment of headlong conflict and change." -- $c Provided by publisher.
Let Me Tell You What I Mean
Published in 2021
"From the universally acclaimed, best-selling author of the National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking: ten pieces never before collected that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer. Here are six pieces written in 1968 from the "Points West" Saturday Evening Post column Joan Didion shared from 1964 to 1969 with her husband, John Gregory Dunne about: American newspapers; a session with Gamblers Anonymous; a visit to San Simeon; being rejected by Stanford; dropping in on Nancy Reagan, wife of the then-governor of California, while a TV crew filmed her at home; and an evening at the annual reunion of WWII veterans from the 101st Airborne Association at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. Here too is a 1976 piece from the New York Times magazine on "Why I Write"; a piece about short stories from New West in 1978; and from The New Yorker, a piece on Hemingway from 1998, and on Martha Stewart from 2000. Each one is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient"-- Provided by publisher.
Last Night at the Viper Room
River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind
Published in 2013
In Last Night at the Viper Room, acclaimed author and journalist Gavin Edwards vividly recounts the life and tragic death of acclaimed actor River Phoenix--a teen idol on the fast track to Hollywood royalty who died of a drug overdose in front of West Hollywood's storied club, the Viper Room, at the age of 23. Last Night at the Viper Room explores the young star's life, including his childhood in Venezuela growing up under the aegis of the cultish Children of God. Putting him at the center of a new generation of leading men emerging in the early 1990's--including Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage, and Leonardo DiCaprio--Gavin Edwards traces the Academy Award nominee's meteoric rise, couches him in an examination of the 1990s, and illuminates his lasting legacy on Hollywood and popular culture itself.
The Tao of Bill Murray
Real-life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party Crashing
Published in 2016
Bill Murray is one of the world's most beloved celebrities--but his off-screen antics rival his filmography for sheer entertainment value. Gavin Edwards traveled the country to the places where Murray has lived, worked, and partied, and interviewed everyone from rock stars to bartenders, in search of the most epic, outrageous, and hilarious Bill Murray stories from the past four decades, many of which have never before been reported.
The World According to Tom Hanks
The Life, the Obsessions, the Good Deeds of America's Most Decent Guy
Published in 2018
Draws on extensive research and interviews to provide insight into the optimism and integrity in both the personal life and career of actor Tom Hanks.
Our Towns
A 100,000-mile Journey into the Heart of America
Published in 2018
"A unique, revelatory portrait of small-town America: the activities, changes, and events that shape this mostly unseen part of our national landscape, and the issues and concerns that matter to the ordinary Americans who make these towns their home. For the last five years, James and Deborah Fallows have been traveling across America in a single-prop airplane, visiting small cities and meeting civic leaders, factory workers, recent immigrants, and young entrepreneurs, seeking to take the pulse and discern the outlook of an America that is unreported and unobserved by the national media. Attending town meetings, breakfasts at local coffee shops, and events at local libraries, they have listened to the challenges and problems that define American lives today. Our Towns is the story of their journey--an account of their visits to twenty-one cities and towns: the individuals they met, the stories they heard, and their portrait of the many different faces of the American future"-- Provided by publisher.
The Price of Admission
How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges--and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates
Published in 2006
Unfinished Business
Notes of a Chronic Re-reader
Published in 2020
"A series of essays exploring the different books that shaped Gornick throughout her life"-- Provided by publisher.
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
Published in 2017
Presents a true account of the early twentieth-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
The Old Man and the Gun
And Other Tales of True Crime
Published in 2018
Selection of the journalist's articles previously published in various periodicals.
The End of Life As We Know It
Ominous News from the Frontiers of Science
Published in 2018
"In all aspects of life, humans are crossing lines of no return. Modern science is leading us into vast uncharted territory--far beyond the invention of nuclear weapons or taking us to the moon.Today, in labs all over the world, scientists are performing experiments that threaten to fundamentally alter the practical character and ethical color of our everyday lives. In The End of Life as We Know It: Ominous News from the Frontiers of Science, bestselling author and Emmy award winning science journalist Michael Guillen takes a penetrating look at how the scientific community is pushing the boundaries of morality, including: Scientists who detached the head of a Russian man from his crippled, diseased body, and stitching it onto a healthy new donated body. Fertility experiments aimed at allowing designer babies to be conceived with the DNA from three or more biological parents. The unprecedented politicization of science - for example, in the global discussion about climate change that is pitting "deniers" against "alarmists" and inspiring Draconian legislation, censorship, and legal prosecutions. The integration of Artificial Intelligence into communications and the economy. The End of Life as We Know It takes us into labratories and boardrooms where these troubling advances are taking place and asks the question no scientists seem to be asking: What does this mean for the future of humanity?" -- (Source of summary not specified)
Soul Full of Coal Dust
Published in 2020
In a devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby uncovers the tragic resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachia, its Big Coal cover-up, and the resilient mining communities who refuse to back down. Decades ago, a grassroots uprising forced Congress to enact long-overdue legislation designed to virtually eradicate black lung disease and provide fair compensation to coal miners stricken with the illness. Today, however, both promises remain unfulfilled. Levels of disease have surged, the old scourge has taken an aggressive new form, and ailing miners and widows have been left behind by a dizzying legal system, denied even modest payments and medical care. In this devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby traces the unforgettable story of how these trends converge in the lives of two men: Gary Fox, a black lung-stricken West Virginia coal miner determined to raise his family from poverty, and John Cline, an idealistic carpenter and rural medical clinic worker who becomes a lawyer in his fifties. Opposing them are the lawyers at the coal industry's go-to law firm; well-credentialed doctors who often weigh in for the defense, including a group of radiologists at Johns Hopkins; and Gary's former employer, Massey Energy, the region's largest coal company, run by a cantankerous CEO often portrayed in the media as a dark lord of the coalfields. On the line in Gary and John's longshot legal battle are fundamental principles of fairness and justice, with consequences for miners and their loved ones throughout the nation. Taking readers inside courtrooms, hospitals, homes tucked in Appalachian hollows, and dusty mine tunnels, Hamby exposes how coal companies have not only continually flouted a law meant to protect miners from deadly amounts of dust but also enlisted well-credentialed doctors and lawyers to help systematically deny much-needed benefits to miners. The result is a legal and medical thriller that brilliantly illuminates how a band of laborers - aided by a small group of lawyers, doctors and lay advocates, often working out of their homes or in rural clinics and tiny offices - challenged one of the world's most powerful forces, Big Coal, and won. A deeply troubling yet ultimately triumphant work, Soul Full of Coal Dust is a necessary and timely book about injustice and resistance.
The Undercover Economist Strikes Back
How to Run--or Ruin--an Economy
Published in 2014
"A provocative and lively exploration of the increasingly important world of macroeconomics, by the author of the bestselling The Undercover Economist. Thanks to the worldwide financial upheaval, economics is no longer a topic we can ignore. From politicians to hedge-fund managers to middle-class IRA holders, everyone must pay attention to how and why the global economy works the way it does. Enter Financial Times columnist and bestselling author Tim Harford. In this new book that demystifies macroeconomics, Harford strips away the spin, the hype, and the jargon to reveal the truth about how the world's economy actually works. With the wit of a raconteur and the clear grasp of an expert, Harford explains what's really happening beyond today's headlines, why all of us should care, and what we can do about it to understand it better. "-- Provided by publisher.
Dance of the Reptiles
Selected Columns
Published in 2014
A collection of Carl Hiaasen's best columns from the past twelve years, covering topics that have become national issues including hurricanes, off-shore drilling, voting rights, and political corruption.
Temples of Chance
How America Inc. Bought out Murder Inc. to Win Control of the Casino Business
Published in 1992
Three Cups of Deceit
How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way
Published in 2011
Argues that author and humanitarian Greg Mortenson, noted for his campaign to open schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan, has not been truthful about his past, his reasons for opening schools, or his abduction by the Taliban.
Where Men Win Glory
The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
Published in 2010
Irrepressible individualist and iconoclast Pat Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract in May 2002 to enlist in the United States Army. Deeply troubled by 9/11, he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in Afghanistan. Though obvious to most on the scene that a ranger in Tillman's own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman's family and the American public for five weeks following his death, while President Bush repeatedly invoked Tillman's name to promote his administration's foreign policy. Biographer Krakauer draws on his journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research in Afghanistan to render this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure as well as the definitive account of the events and actions that led to his death.--From publisher description.
Classic Krakauer
Essays on Wilderness and Risk
Published in 2019
"The gripping articles collected in Classic Krakauer--originally published in magazines such as The New Yorker, Outside, and Smithsonian--show why he is considered a standard-bearer of modern journalism. Spanning an extraordinary range of subjects and locations, these pieces take us from a horrifying avalanche on Mount Everest to a volcano poised to obliterate a big chunk of Seattle; from a wilderness teen-therapy program run by apparent sadists to an otherworldly cave in New Mexico, studied by NASA to better understand Mars; from the notebook of one Fred Beckey, who catalogued the greatest unclimbed mountaineering routes on the planet, to the last days of legendary surfer Mark Foo. Rigorously researched and vividly written, marked by an unerring instinct for storytelling and scoop, these pieces are unified by the author's ambivalent love affair with unruly landscapes and his relentless search for truth"-- Provided by publisher.
Arguing with Zombies
Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future
Published in 2020
"An accessible, compelling introduction to today's major policy issues from columnist, best-selling author, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. There is no better guide than Paul Krugman to basic economics, the ideas that animate much of our public policy. Likewise, there is no better foe of zombie economics, the misunderstandings that just won't die. This delightful new book finds Krugman at his best, turning readers into intelligent consumers of the daily news with quick, vivid sketches of the key concepts behind taxes, health care, international trade, and more. Arguing with Zombies will put Krugman at the front of the debate in the 2020 election year. Building on and expanding his New York Times columns and other writings, it contains short, accessible chapters on topics including the fight for national health care in the United States, the housing bubble and financial meltdown of 2007- 2008, the European Union and Brexit, the attack on Social Security, and the fraudulent argument- the ultimate zombie- that tax cuts for the rich will benefit all"-- Provided by publisher.
The Big Short
Inside the Doomsday Machine
Published in 2010
The author of the signature bestseller Liar's Poker explains how the event we were told was impossible--the free fall of the American economy--finally occurred; how the things that we wanted, like ridiculously easy money and greatly expanded home ownership, were vehicles for that crash; and how shareholder demand for profit forced investment executives to eat the forbidden fruit of toxic derivatives.
Flash Boys
A Wall Street Revolt
Published in 2014
A small group of Wall Street guys who figure out that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders the big Wall Street banks expose this institutionalized injustice and go to war to fix it.
Scraps, Peels, and Stems
Recipes and Tips for Rethinking Food Waste at Home
Published in 2018
"Scraps, Peels, and Stems is a comprehensive and accessible guide to how you can reduce food waste in your daily life. Food journalist Jill Lightner shows how to manage your kitchen for less waste through practical strategies, tips, and advice on food purchasing, prep, composting, and storage. From beef bones, Parmesan rinds, and broccoli stems to bruised apples and party leftovers, Jill explains what to do with unused food, and how to avoid the extras in the first place. With attitude, a sense of humor, and the acceptance that none of us are perfect, Jill helps all of us understand some of the larger social, economic, environmental, and agricultural issues around food and its exorbitant waste."--Amazon.
Unforgetting
Published in 2020
A Newsweek 25 Best Fall Books A The Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year "Gripping and beautiful. With the artistry of a poet and the intensity of a revolutionary, Lovato untangles the tightly knit skein of love and terror that connects El Salvador and the United States." ?Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Natural Causes and Nickel and Dimed An urgent, no-holds-barred tale of gang life, guerrilla warfare, intergenerational trauma, and interconnected violence between the United States and El Salvador, Roberto Lovato's memoir excavates family history and reveals the intimate stories beneath headlines about gang violence and mass Central American migration, one of the most important, yet least-understood humanitarian crises of our time?and one in which the perspectives of Central Americans in the United States have been silenced and forgotten. The child of Salvadoran immigrants, Roberto Lovato grew up in 1970s and 80s San Francisco as MS-13 and other notorious Salvadoran gangs were forming in California. In his teens, he lost friends to the escalating violence, and survived acts of brutality himself. He eventually traded the violence of the streets for human rights advocacy in wartime El Salvador where he joined the guerilla movement against the U.S.-backed, fascist military government responsible for some of the most barbaric massacres and crimes against humanity in recent history. Roberto returned from war-torn El Salvador to find the United States on the verge of unprecedented crises of its own. There, he channeled his own pain into activism and journalism, focusing his attention on how trauma affects individual lives and societies, and began the difficult journey of confronting the roots of his own trauma. As a child, Roberto endured a tumultuous relationship with his father Ram?n. Raised in extreme poverty in the countryside of El Salvador during one of the most violent periods of its history, Ram?n learned to survive by straddling intersecting underworlds of family secrets, traumatic silences, and dealing in black-market goods and guns. The repression of the violence in his life took its toll, however. Ram?n was plagued with silences and fits of anger that had a profound impact on his youngest son, and which Roberto attributes as a source of constant reckoning with the violence and rebellion in his own life. In Unforgetting, Roberto interweaves his father's complicated history and his own with first-hand reportage on gang life, state violence, and the heart of the immigration crisis in both El Salvador and the United States. In doing so he makes the political personal, revealing the cyclical ways violence operates in our homes and our societies, as well as the ways hope and tenderness can rise up out of the darkness if we are courageous enough to unforget.
Bag Man
The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up, & Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House
Published in 2020
"The knockdown, drag-out, untold story of the other scandal that rocked Nixon's White House, and reset the rules for crooked presidents to come-with new reporting that expands on Rachel Maddow's Peabody Award-nominated podcast. Is it possible for a sitting vice president to direct a vast criminal enterprise within the halls of the White House? To have one of the most brazen corruption scandals in American history play out while nobody's paying attention? And for that scandal to be all but forgotten decades later? The year was 1973, and Spiro T. Agnew, the former governor of Maryland, was Richard Nixon's second-in-command. Long on firebrand rhetoric and short on political experience, Agnew had carried out a bribery and extortion ring in office for years, when-at the height of Watergate-three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes and launched a mission to take him down before it was too late, before Nixon's impending downfall elevated Agnew to the presidency. The self-described "counterpuncher" vice president did everything he could to bury their investigation: dismissing it as a "witch hunt," riling up his partisan base, making the press the enemy, and, with a crumbling circle of loyalists, scheming to obstruct justice in order to survive. In this blockbuster account, Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz detail the investigation that exposed Agnew's crimes, the attempts at a cover-up-which involved future president George H. W. Bush-and the backroom bargain that forced Agnew's resignation but also spared him years in federal prison. Based on the award-winning hit podcast, Bag Man expands and deepens the story of Spiro Agnew's scandal and its lasting influence on our politics, our media, and our understanding of what it takes to confront a criminal in the White House."-- Provided by publisher.
Blowout
Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth
Published in 2019
"Rachel Maddow's Blowout offers a dark, serpentine, riveting tour of the unimaginably lucrative and corrupt oil-and-gas industry. With her trademark black humor, Maddow takes us on a switchback journey around the globe-from Oklahoma City to Siberia to Equatorial Guinea-exposing the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas. She shows how Russia's rich reserves of crude have, paradoxically, stunted its growth, forcing Putin to maintain his power by spreading Russia's rot into its rivals, its neighbors, the United States, and the West's most important alliances. Chevron, BP, and a host of other industry players get their star turn, but ExxonMobil and the deceptively well-behaved Rex Tillerson emerge as two of the past century's most consequential corporate villains. The oil-and-gas industry has weakened democracies in developed and developing countries, fouled oceans and rivers, and propped up authoritarian thieves and killers. But being outraged at it is, according to Maddow, "like being indignant when a lion takes down and eats a gazelle. You can't really blame the lion. It's in her nature.""-- Provided by publisher.
Age of Greed
The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present
Published in 2011
Seven Bad Ideas
How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged America and the World
Published in 2014
"The author of the widely praised Age of Greed now gives us a bold indictment of some of our most accepted economic theories-why they're wrong, the harm they've done, and the theories that would vastly improve on them. Jeff Madrick-former New York Times business columnist and now Harper's economics columnist-mounts a comprehensive case against prevailing mainstream economic thinking, illustrating how it has damaged markets, infrastructure, and individual livelihoods, causing hundreds of billions of dollars of wasted investment; financial crisis after financial crisis; poor public education and public transportation; gross inequality of income and wealth, and stagnating wages; uncontrolled military spending; and a failed healthcare system that delivers far less than it costs. Using the Great Recession as his foremost case study, Madrick shows how the decisions America should have made before, during, and after the financial crisis were suppressed by popular theory, and how the consequences are still being felt here and around the globe. And he examines the too-often-marginalized good ideas of modern economics, and convincingly argues just how beneficial they might be if only they can gain greater traction among policy makers"-- Provided by publisher.
Invisible Americans
The Tragic Cost of Child Poverty
Published in 2020
"By official count, more than one out of every six American children live beneath the poverty line. But statistics alone tell little of the story. In Invisible Americans, Jeff Madrick brings to light the often invisible reality and irreparable damage of child poverty in America. Keeping his focus on the children, he examines the roots of the problem, including the toothless remnants of our social welfare system, entrenched racism, and a government unmotivated to help the most voiceless citizens. Backed by new and unambiguous research, he makes clear the devastating consequences of growing up poor: living in poverty, even temporarily, is detrimental to cognitive abilities, emotional control, and the overall health of children. The cost to society is incalculable. The inaction of politicians is unacceptable. Still, Madrick argues, there may be more reason to hope now than ever before. Rather than attempting to treat the symptoms of poverty, we might be able to ameliorate its worst effects through a single, simple, and politically feasible policy that he lays out in this impassioned and urgent call to arms"-- Provided by publisher.
The Dark Side
The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals
Published in 2009
Dark Money
The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
Published in 2016
Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? --Publisher
Hooked
Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions
Published in 2021
"Everyone knows how hard it can be to maintain a healthy diet. But what if some of the decisions we make about what to eat are beyond our control? Is it possible that processed food is addictive, like drugs or alcohol? Motivated by these questions, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss began searching for answers, to find the true peril in our food. In Hooked, Moss explores the science of addiction and uncovers what the scientific and medical communities--as well as food manufacturers--already know, which is that food can, in some cases, be even more addictive than alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs. Our bodies are hard-wired for sweets, so food manufacturers have deployed fifty-six types of sugar to add to their products, creating in us the expectation that everything should be cloying; we've evolved to prefer convenient meals, so three-fourths of the calories we get from groceries come from ready-to-eat foods. Moss goes on to show how the processed food industry has not only tried to deny this troubling discovery, but exploit it to its advantage. For instance, in a response to recent dieting trends, food manufacturers have simply turned junk food into junk diets, filling grocery stores with "diet" foods that are hardly distinguishable from the products that got us into trouble in the first place. With more people unable to make dieting work for them, manufacturers are now claiming to add ingredients that can effortlessly cure our compulsive eating habits. A gripping account of the legal battles, insidious marketing campaigns, and cutting-edge food science that have brought us to our current public health crisis, Hooked lays out all that the food industry is doing to exploit and deepen our addictions, and shows us what we can do so that we can one again seize control"-- Provided by publisher.
The Orchid Thief
[a True Story of Beauty and Obsession]
Published in 2014
Chronicles the 1994 crime story of John Laroche, a plant dealer who teamed up with three Seminole Indians to steal rare orchids from a southern Florida swamp with the intention of having the orchids cloned to sell to collectors; examines the ramifications of the case, which concerned a wide variety of groups, including environmentalists, Native Americans, and orchid enthusiasts.
How to Change Your Mind
What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
Published in 2018
"A brilliant and brave investigation by Michael Pollan, author of five New York Times best sellers, into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into the experience of various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s, when a handful of psychedelic evangelists catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research. A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both struggle and beauty, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives"-- Provided by publisher.
The Monster of Florence
Published in 2008
New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston teams up with Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to present a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence, Italy. The Monster of Florence is a remarkable and harrowing story involving murder, mutilation, and suicide--and at the center of it, Preston and Spezi are caught in a bizarre prosecutorial vendetta.--From publisher description.
The Lost City of the Monkey God
A True Story
Published in 2017
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston takes readers on an adventure deep into the Honduran jungle in this riveting, danger-filled true story about the discovery of an ancient lost civilization"-- Provided by publisher.
Save Me the Plums
My Gourmet Memoir
Published in 2019
The journalist and author chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and her work with legendary fellow epicureans to transform how America thinks about food.
Fight
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking
Published in 2007
Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls
Women, Music, and Fame
Published in 2020
"From the effects of fame on family and vice versa to motherhood and drugs, sex, and romance, Lisa Robinson has discussed every taboo topic with nearly every significant living female artist to pass through the pages of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. Here, her interviews with and observations of fabulous female pop and rock stars, from Tina Turner and Alanis Morrissette to Rihanna, show how these powerhouse women, all with vastly different life experiences, fell in love with music, seized their ambitions, and changed pop culture. Grouped by topic, ranging from hair and makeup to sexual and emotional abuse, Robinson's interviews reveal each individual artist's sense of humor, private hopes, and personal devastations-along with the grit and fire that brought each woman to the stage in the first place and empowered her to leave her mark on the world"-- Provided by publisher.
The Storm of the Century
Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster
Published in 2015
Presents an account of the legendary hurricane to assess its destruction of Galveston, role in thousands of deaths, and influence on American history and culture. --Publisher's description.
Been There, Done That
Family Wisdom for Modern Times
Published in 2016
"Life lessons from New York Times bestselling author and Today show personality Al Roker and his wife, globetrotting ABC news journalist Deborah Roberts. Al Roker and Deborah Roberts have sixteen Emmy Awards between them. They have covered everything from the Olympics and the Gulf War to natural disasters and the AIDS crisis in Africa. Now these two married journalists and parents have collaborated on the most personal and important "story" of their lives. Been There, Done That is a funny, heartfelt, and empowering collection of life lessons, hard-won wisdom, and instructive family anecdotes from Al and Deborah's lives, from their parents and grandparents, and from dear friends, famous and not. Here, Al and Deborah candidly share childhood obstacles like obesity and growing up in the segregated south; the challenges and blessings that come from raising very different kids; hard-won truths about marriage and career; the illuminating "little things" that adults can learn from children; and the genuine wisdom that the elderly can share with a younger generation. These are real-life stories told from every perspective--from parent, spouse, daughter, son, and friend, stories that every reader can relate to, appreciate, and share. "-- Provided by publisher.
Ruthless Tide
The Heroes and Villains of the Johnstown Flood, America's Astonishing Gilded Age Disaster
Published in 2018
Presents a narrative history of the 1889 Johnstown Flood to chronicle key events, the damage that rendered the flood one of America's worst disasters, and the pivotal contributions of key figures, from dam engineer John Parke to American Red Cross founder Clara Barton.
You Look So Much Better in Person
True Stories of Absurdity and Success
Published in 2020
The "Today Show" co-anchor shares his life lessons on success and happiness in a humorous essay collection.
Command and Control
Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
Published in 2013
The Signal and the Noise
Why So Many Predictions Fail-- but Some Don't
Published in 2012
Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair's breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger. Drawing on his own groundbreaking work, Silver examines the world of prediction.
The Outpost
An Untold Story of American Valor
Published in 2013
Jake Tapper exposes the origins of one of the Afghan War's deadliest battles for U.S. forces and details the stories of soldiers heroic and doomed, shadowed by the recklessness of their commanders in Washington, D.C. and a war built on constantly shifting sands.
Here for It, Or, How to Save Your Soul in America
Essays
Published in 2020
"R. Eric Thomas didn't know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he went--whether it was his rich, mostly white, suburban high school, his conservative black church, or his Ivy League college in a big city--he found himself on the outside looking in. In essays by turns hysterical and heartfelt, Eric redefines what it means to be an "other" through the lens of his own life experience. He explores the two worlds of his childhood: the barren urban landscape where his parents' house was an anomalous bright spot, and the verdant school they sent him to in white suburbia. He writes about struggling to reconcile his Christian identity with his sexuality, about the exhaustion of code-switching in college, accidentally getting famous on the internet (for the wrong reason), and the surreal experience of covering the 2016 election as well as the seismic change that came thereafter. Ultimately, Eric seeks the answer to the ever more relevant question: Is the future worth it? Why do we bother when everything seems to be getting worse? As the world continues to shift in unpredictable ways, Eric finds the answers to these questions by re-envisioning what "normal" means, and in the powerful alchemy that occurs when you at last place yourself at the center of your own story"-- Provided by publisher.
Pappyland
A Story of Family, Fine Bourbon, and the Things That Last
Published in 2020
"The story of how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his family's heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply. As a journalist said of Pappy Van Winkle, "You could call it bourbon, or you could call it a $5,000 bottle of liquified, barrel-aged unobtanium." Julian Van Winkle, the third-generation head of his family's business, is now thought of as something like the Buddha of Bourbon - Booze Yoda, as Wright Thompson calls him. He is swarmed wherever he goes, and people stand in long lines to get him to sign their bottles of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve, the whiskey he created to honor his grandfather, the founder of the family concern. A bottle of the 23-year-old Pappy starts at $3000 on the internet. As Julian is the first to say, things have gone completely nuts. Forty years ago, Julian would have laughed in astonishment if you'd told him what lay ahead. He'd just stepped in to try to save the business after his father had died, partly of heartbreak, having been forced to sell the old distillery in a brutal downturn in the market for whiskey. Julian's grandfather had presided over a magical kingdom of craft and connoisseurship, a genteel outfit whose family ethos generated good will throughout Kentucky and far beyond. There's always a certain amount of romance to the marketing of spirits, but Pappy's mission statement captured something real: "We make fine bourbon - at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon." But now the business had hit the wilderness years, and Julian could only hang on for dear life, stubbornly committed to preserving his namesake's legacy or going down with the ship. Then something like a miracle happened: it turned out that hundreds of very special barrels of whiskey from the Van Winkle family distillery had been saved by the multinational conglomerate that bought it. With no idea what they had, they offered to sell it to Julian, who scrambled to beg and borrow the funds. Now he could bottle a whiskey whose taste captured his family's legacy. The result would immediately be hailed as the greatest whiskey in the world - and would soon be the hardest to find. But now, those old barrels were used up, and Julian Van Winkle faced the challenge of his lifetime: how to preserve the taste of Pappy, the taste of his family's heritage, in a new age? The amazing Wright Thompson was invited to be his wingman as he set about to try. The result is an extraordinary testimony to the challenge of living up to your legacy and the rewards that come from knowing and honoring your people and your craft. Wright learned those lessons from Julian as they applied to the honest work of making a great bourbon whiskey in Kentucky, but he couldn't help applying them to his own craft, writing, and his upbringing in Mississippi, as he and his wife contemplated the birth of their first child. May we all be lucky enough to find some of ourselves, as Wright Thompson did, in Julian Van Winkle, and in Pappyland"-- Provided by publisher.
The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test
Published in 2008
One of the most essential works on the 1960s counterculture, Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Test is the seminal work on the hippie culture, a report on what it was like to follow along with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as they launched out on the "Transcontinental Bus Tour" from the West Coast to New York, all the while introducing acid (then legal) to hundreds of like-minded folks, staging impromptu jam sessions, dodging the Feds, and meeting some of the most revolutionary figures of the day.