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Black Folk

Blair Kelley

An award-winning historian illuminates the adversities and joys of the Black working class in America through a stunning narrative centered on her forebears.

 

There have been countless books, articles, and televised reports in recent years about the almost mythic "white working class," a tide of commentary that has obscured the labor, and even the very existence, of entire groups of working people, including everyday Black workers. In this brilliant corrective, Black Folk, acclaimed historian Blair LM Kelley restores the Black working class to the center of the American story.

 

Spanning two hundred years--from one of Kelley's earliest known ancestors, an enslaved blacksmith, to the essential workers of the Covid-19 pandemic--Black Folk highlights the lives of the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers who established the Black working class as a force in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Taking jobs white people didn't want and confined to segregated neighborhoods, Black workers found community in intimate spaces, from stoops on city streets to the backyards of washerwomen, where multiple generations labored from dawn to dusk, talking and laughing in a space free of white supervision and largely beyond white knowledge. As millions of Black people left the violence of the American South for the promise of a better life in the North and West, these networks of resistance and joy sustained early arrivals and newcomers alike and laid the groundwork for organizing for better jobs, better pay, and equal rights.

As her narrative moves from Georgia to Philadelphia, Florida to Chicago, Texas to Oakland, Kelley treats Black workers not just as laborers, or members of a class, or activists, but as people whose daily experiences mattered--to themselves, to their communities, and to a nation that denied that basic fact. Through affecting portraits of her great-grandfather, a sharecropper named Solicitor, and her grandmother, Brunell, who worked for more than a decade as a domestic maid, Kelley captures, in intimate detail, how generation after generation of labor was required to improve, and at times maintain, her family's status. Yet her family, like so many others, was always animated by a vision of a better future. The church yards, factory floors, railcars, and postal sorting facilities where Black people worked were sites of possibility, and, as Kelley suggests, Amazon package processing centers, supermarkets, and nursing homes can be the same today. With the resurgence of labor activism in our own time, Black Folk presents a stirring history of our possible future.

Edited by Kate 

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A Beginner's Guide to Astrology

Lisa Butterworth

A beginner’s guide to harnessing the night skies, with everything you need to know to begin practicing astrology.

The ancient art of astrology interprets the stars and planets to examine what the universe tells us. The bodies in the sky affect each of our lives, and understanding this connection can provide answers to your questions and enrich your relationships with yourself and others.

This beautifully illustrated and photographed book offers an introductory guide to the zodiac signs. Learn about what astrology is, its history and the basics, including the elements, modalities, planets, and the astrological houses. Build a foundation in understanding how different celestial bodies interact and how they influence all the parts of your life, including love, friendship, and work.

Understand your sun, moon, and rising signs, learn about how the planets and houses affect you, and find out what crystals and essential oils can give you a boost. With A Beginner’s Guide to Astrology, you can explore how the stars influence who you are while shining a light on who you can be.

Edited by Kate 

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Do This, Not That: Dating

Hayley Quinn

A must-have step-by-step guide on what to do (and what NOT to do) while dating featuring clear instructions and helpful scripts so you can deal with any difficult circumstance in every aspect of your love life.

How do you deal with dating apps, that commitment question, or if you want kids but they don't? Do This, Not That: Dating is here to help with all your relationship situations.

Romantic relationships can be full of challenging situations and emotions, and no matter how passionate, frustrated, excited, or downright angry you feel, it’s important for you to communicate and find a solution that works for both you and your partner. Whether you’re struggling to find the right words or simply aren’t sure how to approach a topic, this book will give you the tools you need to move forward productively…or learn when to let go and move on.

In Do This, Not That: Dating, you’ll find eighty common relationship issues that cover everything from your first date to your first fight—and beyond. For each situation, you’ll discover exactly what to do and what to avoid, then learn exactly how to make it happen. Find tips to reframe your thinking, simple scripts to help you figure out what to say, and even advice on your next steps depending on your initial conversation. This book is your must-have guide to any unexpected situation relationships throw your way.

Edited by Kate 

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Beginners Guide to Water-Mixable Oils

Sarah Wimperis

Discover the numerous merits of working with water-mixable oil paints in this accessible beginner's guide. Water-mixable oils are more environmentally friendly and easy to use for artists of all skill levels.

Water-mixable oil paints offer a simple and easy way into the world of oil painting. They offer all the qualities of traditional oils - rich pigments, buttery consistency, long drying times and the ability to change and evolve as you paint - but with one big difference, there is no requirement for solvents or other mediums.

The aim of the book is to encourage and inspire beginners and to provide them with all the skills and knowledge they need to produce successful oil paintings. It starts with an introduction to the medium, and explains what water-mixable oils are and why they offer a good alternative to conventional oil paints. This introduction is followed by several sections on materials, preparation (getting your space ready, how to care for your brushes, storage of paints, etc.), color (selecting your basic palette), mixing the paints and preparing your surfaces. The first demonstration explains how to explore colour to paint in the style of Vincent van Gogh.

There are then five longer projects that guide the reader through an entire painting from start to finish, on themes such as abstraction, still life, landscapes, buildings and working from a photograph. The projects are designed for success, which fosters confidence and encourages practice, which in turn makes people into enthusiastic, happy painters!
Each project will be accompanied by a clear list of materials needed as well as top tips and skills practised; Sarah also interjects with useful anecdotes and words of wisdom garnered from her experience working in this vibrant and exciting medium.

At the end of the book, the reader discovers how best to store and transport finished paintings, especially if the paint is still tacky to the touch, and how to crop a painting for greatest impact.

Edited by Kate 

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Cute Kawaii Cross Stitch

Sosae Caetano

Stitch your way to cute with thIs huge collection of over 400 kawaii-style cross stitch motifs - a veritable encyclopedia of kawaii cuteness.

Designed for stitchers of every skill level, this book features colorful and detailed motifs in all kinds of super-cute subject areas, including Sweet Treats, Fruits & Veggies, Summer Fun, and Adorable Animals, and many more.

Its comprehensive motifs collection makes it unlike any other cross stitch book on the market, drawing in even beginner stitchers who will delight in creating something fun, colorful, and instantly gratifying. The book appeals to a broad age-range, from very young crafters to adults, and even first-time stitchers who will be enchanted by the cuteness between its covers.

Organized into nine themed chapters, each chapter includes full-color symbol charts of each motif, plus a key. Also included in the book are photographs of 36 stitched sample motifs, and a how to cross stitch guide so that even complete beginners can give this addictive craft a try.

As well as framed hoops, there are also ideas for other projects you could make including adorable gift tags, bookmarks, ornaments, and the sweetest embellishments for homewares.

Authors Dennis and Sosae Caetano are a husband and wife design team, and fans of all things adorable. When they're not out gardening, they spend their days designing, writing, sewing, and stitching. Kawaii is their favorite cross stitch style, and Cute Kawaii Cross Stitch celebrates their love of cuteness overload.

Edited by Kate 

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Vitamin C+

Rebecca Morrill

Over 100 global artists working with collage, as chosen by a team of art experts - an indispensable who's who of the most exciting and innovative names working in the medium

Collage is an artistic language comprising found images, fragmentary forms, and unexpected juxtapositions. While it first gained status as high art in the early twentieth century, the past decade has seen a fresh explosion of artists using this dynamic and experimental approach to image making.

Organised in an A-Z sequence by artist, the book features both well-known collagists including Njideka Akunyili Crosby; Ellen Gallagher; Peter Kennard; Linder, Christian Marclay; Wangechi Mutu; Deborah Roberts; Martha Rosler; and Mickalene Thomas, and a plethora of lesser-known names deserving of greater attention. Taking a broad definition - from analog cut-and-paste compositions and photomontages to digital composed imagery and animations - Vitamin C+ showcases 108 living artists who employ collage as a central part of their visual-art practice, as selected by 69 leading experts, including museum directors, curators, critics, and collectors. The survey also features an engaging and informative introduction by Yuval Etgar, an internationally renowned expert in the area.

The 69 expert nominators include: Cecilia Alemani; Iwona Blazwick; David Campany; Raphael Chikukwa; Patrick Elliott; Max Hollein; Hettie Judah; Christine Macel; Roxana Marcoci; Duro Olowu; Scott Rothkopf; Russell Tovey; Zoe Whitley; and Heidi Zuckerman.

Artists include: Njideka Akunyili Crosby; Kader Attia; Adam Broomberg; Sara Cwynar; Moyna Flannigan; Ellen Gallagher; Lauren Halsey; Lyle Ashton Harris; Thomas Hirschhorn; Peter Kennard; Justine Kurland; Linder; Christian Marclay; Wangechi Mutu; Frida Orupabo; Heather Philipson; Tabita Rezaire; Deborah Roberts; Martha Rosler; Dee Shapiro; Eva Stenram; John Stezaker; Mickalene Thomas; Kara Walker; and Billie Zangewa.

Edited by Kate 

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Crip Up the Kitchen

Jules Sherred

"I've never felt so understood and supported as I did reading Crip Up the Kitchen. Sherred is the kitchen whisperer for chronic pain folks like me who have avoided that room in the house for most of my life." --J. Albert Mann, author of The Degenerates and Fix

A comprehensive guide and recipe collection that brings the economy and satisfaction of home cooking to disabled and neurodivergent cooks.

cripping / crip up: A term used by disabled disability rights advocates and academia to signal taking back power, to lessen stigma, and to disrupt ableism as to ensure disabled voices are included in all aspects of life.

When Jules Sherred discovered the Instant Pot multicooker, he was thrilled. And incensed. How had no one told him what a gamechanger this could be, for any home cook but in particular for those with disabilities and chronic illness? And so the experimenting--and the evangelizing--began.

The kitchen is the most ableist room in the house. With 50 recipes that make use of three key tools--the electric pressure cooker, air fryer, and bread machine--Jules has set out to make the kitchen accessible and enjoyable. The book includes pantry prep, meal planning, shopping guides, kitchen organization plans, and tips for cooking safely when disabled, all taking into account varying physical abilities and energy levels.

Organized from least to greatest effort (or from 1 to "all your spoons," for spoonies), beginning with spice blends and bases, Jules presents thorough, tested, inclusive recipes for making favourites like butter chicken, Jules's Effin' Good Chili, Thai winter squash soup, roast dinners, matzo balls, pho, samosas, borshch, shortbread, lemon pound cake, and many more.

Jules also provides a step-by-step guide to safe canning and a template for prepping your freezer and pantry for post-surgery. With rich accompanying photography and food histories, complete nutritional information and methods developed specifically for the disabled and neurodivergent cook, Crip Up the Kitchen is at once inviting, comprehensive, and accessible. If you've craved the economy and satisfaction of cooking at home but been turned off by the ableist approach of most cookbooks--this one's for you!

Edited by Kate 

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Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul

Dorcas Cheng-Tozun

A timely, delightfully readable, and much-needed book. --Booklist, starred review

Social justice work, we often assume, is raised voices and raised fists. It requires leading, advocating, fighting, and organizing wherever it takes place--in the streets, slums, villages, inner cities, halls of political power, and more. But what does social justice work look like for those of us who don't feel comfortable battling in the trenches?

Sensitive souls--including those who consider themselves highly emotional, empathic, or introverted--have much to contribute to bringing about a more just and equitable world. Such individuals are wise, thoughtful, and conscientious; they feel more deeply and see things that others don't. We need their contributions. Yet, sustaining justice work can be particularly challenging for the sensitive, and it requires a deep level of self-awareness, intentionality, and care.

In Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul, writer Dorcas Cheng-Tozun (Enneagram 4, INFJ, nonprofit/social enterprise professional, and multiple-burnout survivor) offers six possible pathways for sensitive types:

- Connectors relational activists whose interactions and conversations build the social capital necessary for change

- Creatives artists and creators whose work inspires, sheds light, makes connections, and brings issues into the public consciousness

- Record Keepers archivists who preserve essential information and hold our collective memory and history

- Builders inventors, programmers, and engineers who center empathy as they develop society-changing products and technologies

- Equippers educators, mentors, and elders who build skills and knowledge within movements and shepherd the next generation of changemakers

- Researchers data-driven individuals who utilize information as a persuasive tool to effect change and propose options for improvement

Alongside inspiring, real-life examples of highly sensitive world-changers, Cheng-Tozun expands the possibilities of how to have a positive social impact, affirming the particular gifts and talents that sensitive souls offer to a hurting world.

Edited by Kate 

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Soldiers Don't Go Mad

Charles Glass

A brilliant and poignant history of the friendship between two great war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, alongside a narrative investigation of the origins of PTSD and the literary response to World War I

From the moment war broke out across Europe in 1914, the world entered a new, unparalleled era of modern warfare. Soldiers faced relentless machine gun shelling, incredible artillery power, flame throwers, and gas attacks. Within the first four months of the war, the British Army recorded the nervous collapse of ten percent of its officers; the loss of such manpower to mental illness – not to mention death and physical wounds – left the army unable to fill its ranks. Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen was twenty-four years old when he was admitted to the newly established Craiglockhart War Hospital for treatment of shell shock. A bourgeoning poet, trying to make sense of the terror he had witnessed, he read a collection of poems from a fellow officer, Siegfried Sassoon, and was impressed by his portrayal of the soldier’s plight. One month later, Sassoon himself arrived at Craiglockhart, having refused to return to the front after being wounded during battle.

Though Owen and Sassoon differed in age, class, education, and interests, both were outsiders – as soldiers unfit to fight, as gay men in a homophobic country, and as Britons unwilling to support a war likely to wipe out an entire generation of young men. But more than anything else, they shared a love of the English language, and its highest expression of poetry. As their friendship evolved over their months as patients at Craiglockhart, each encouraged the other in their work, in their personal reckonings with the morality of war, as well as in their treatment. Therapy provided Owen, Sassoon, and fellow patients with insights that allowed them express themselves better, and for the 28 months that Craiglockhart was in operation, it notably incubated the era’s most significant developments in both psychiatry and poetry.

Drawing on rich source materials, as well as Glass’s own deep understanding of trauma and war, Soldiers Don't Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial warfare on the human psyche. Writing beyond the battlefields, to the psychiatric couch of Craiglockhart but also the literary salons, halls of power, and country houses, Glass charts the experiences of Owen and Sassoon, and of their fellow soldier-poets, alongside the greater literary response to modern warfare. As he investigates the roots of what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder, Glass brings historical bearing to how we must consider war’s ravaging effects on mental health, and the ways in which creative work helps us come to terms with even the darkest of times.

Edited by Kate 

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My Hijacking

Martha Hodes

In this moving and thought-provoking memoir, a historian offers a personal look at the fallibilities of memory and the lingering impact of trauma as she goes back fifty years to tell the story of being a passenger on an airliner hijacked in 1970.

On September 6, 1970, twelve-year-old Martha Hodes and her thirteen-year-old sister were flying unaccompanied back to New York City from Israel when their plane was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and forced to land in the Jordan desert. Too young to understand the sheer gravity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Martha coped by suppressing her fear and anxiety. Nearly a half-century later, her memories of those six days and nights as a hostage are hazy and scattered. Was it the passage of so much time, or that her family couldn't endure the full story, or had trauma made her repress such an intense life-and-death experience? A professional historian, Martha wanted to find out.

Drawing on deep archival research, childhood memories, and conversations with relatives, friends, and fellow hostages, Martha Hodes sets out to re-create what happened to her, and what it was like for those at home desperately hoping for her return. Thrown together inside a stifling jetliner, the hostages forged friendships, provoked conflicts, and dreamed up distractions. Learning about the lives and causes of their captors--some of them kind, some frightening--the sisters pondered a deadly divide that continues today.

A thrilling tale of fear, denial, and empathy, My Hijacking sheds light on the hostage crisis that shocked the world, as the author comes to a deeper understanding of both what happened in the Jordan desert in 1970 and her own fractured family and childhood sorrows.

Edited by Kate 

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Fancy Bear Goes Phishing

Scott J. Shapiro

"Unsettling, absolutely riveting, and—for better or worse—necessary reading." —Brian Christian, author of Algorithms to Live By and The Alignment Problem

An entertaining account of the philosophy and technology of hacking—and why we all need to understand it.

It’s a signal paradox of our times that we live in an information society but do not know how it works. And without understanding how our information is stored, used, and protected, we are vulnerable to having it exploited. In Fancy Bear Goes Phishing, Scott J. Shapiro draws on his popular Yale University class about hacking to expose the secrets of the digital age. With lucidity and wit, he establishes that cybercrime has less to do with defective programming than with the faulty wiring of our psyches and society. And because hacking is a human-interest story, he tells the fascinating tales of perpetrators, including Robert Morris Jr., the graduate student who accidentally crashed the internet in the 1980s, and the Bulgarian “Dark Avenger,” who invented the first mutating computer-virus engine. We also meet a sixteen-year-old from South Boston who took control of Paris Hilton’s cell phone, the Russian intelligence officers who sought to take control of a US election, and others.

In telling their stories, Shapiro exposes the hackers’ tool kits and gives fresh answers to vital questions: Why is the internet so vulnerable? What can we do in response? Combining the philosophical adventure of Gödel, Escher, Bach with dramatic true-crime narrative, the result is a lively and original account of the future of hacking, espionage, and war, and of how to live in an era of cybercrime.

Includes black-and-white images

Edited by Kate 

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70s House

Estelle Bilson

A loud-and-proud gift-style interiors guide crammed full of 70s maximalist inspiration that epitomizes the freewheeling, more-is-more energy of the era.



For many people with an interest in 70s décor and design it can be overwhelming to know where to look, what to buy, what colors to use and how to style their home without it looking like a 'junk shop' or a pastiche. That's where 70s House comes in: with advice, tips and tricks to creating a thoroughly 70s space (or even just a few featured items) this vibrant book is crammed full of 70s interiors and bright, retro imagery. Clear and attractive photos illustrate how this can translate to readers' own interior projects.



The book is split into three sections: 70s influences - what shaped the era?; How to bring the 70s to your interior design; and At home with 70s House Manchester.



Part living manual, part interiors guide, 70s House will bring not just the colors and kitsch to the modern day, but also the freedom, rebellious spirit, joy and pure fun epitomised by the era - because the 70s is so much more than just the decade that taste forgot.

Edited by Kate

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The Face Laughs While the Brain Cries

Stephen Hauser

A doctor’s powerful and deeply human memoir about the mysteries of the brain and his 40-year quest to find a treatment for multiple sclerosis.

Stephen L. Hauser is an acclaimed physician and neuroimmunologist who has spent his career performing cutting-edge research on multiple sclerosis (MS), a devastating brain disease that affects millions of people worldwide. His work has revolutionized our understanding of the genetics, immunology and treatment of MS, and led to the development of B cell therapies—the most effective therapy for all forms of MS and the only therapy currently in place for progressive MS patients.

The Face Laughs While The Brain Cries is a riveting memoir that follows Dr. Hauser from his unorthodox upbringing among the colorful cast of characters responsible for his development into a tenacious and innovative researcher, to the life-changing medical breakthroughs he has made against extremely long odds. Along the way, readers will learn the incredible stories of many of his patients, whose bravery, strength, and optimism in the face of a debilitating illness were instrumental to the progress that has been made in the fight against MS. This heartwarming book, written in accessible prose and related with equal measures of humor, empathy, and excitement, is sure to inspire.

Edited by Kate 

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Tomorrow Perhaps the Future

Sarah Watling

An account of extraordinary artists and activists whose determination to live – and to create – with courage and conviction took them as far as the Spanish Civil War

What good does taking sides do? Confounded by the confrontational politics of the present day, with its threats to justice and democracy, Sarah Watling found herself drawn, surprisingly, to the Spanish Civil War. This was a conflict that galvanized tens of thousands of volunteers from around the world. In Spain, the choice seemed clear: you were either for fascism or against it. There, Watling found the stories of individuals for whom the war was a chance to oppose the forces that frightened them.

While Watling sifted through archives for lost journals, letters, and manifestos, she discovered writers and outsiders who had often been relegated to the shadows of infamous men like Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell. Among others, she encountered the rookie journalist Martha Gellhorn coming into her own in Spain and the radical writer Josephine Herbst questioning her political allegiances. She found novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner embracing a freedom in Barcelona in 1936 impossible for queer women back at home in England, and, by contrast, Virginia Woolf struggling to keep the war out of her life, honing her intellectual position as she did so. For Salaria Kea, a nurse from Harlem, the war was a chance to combat the prejudice she experienced as a woman of color, but her story, like that of the Jewish photographer Gerda Taro, proved particularly difficult to resurrect from the records.

From a variety of backgrounds and politics, these women saw history coming, and went out to meet it. Yet the reality was far from simple. When does tolerance become apathy? Where is the line between solidarity and appropriation? Is writing about the revolution the same as actively participating in it? With clear, personal insight, Watling reveals that their answers are as relevant today as they were then.

Edited by Kate 

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Flavor+Us

Rahanna Bisseret Martinez

A mouthwatering dive into cuisines from all over the world, featuring more than 70 recipes that teach need-to-know cooking techniques and build confidence for anyone who wants a seat at the chopping board, stove, and table—from a Top Chef Junior finalist.
 
“Rahanna Bisseret Martinez’s recipes are inspiring for the ways in which they approach, transcend, and unify cultural boundaries on page after delicious page.”—Hawa Hassan, James Beard Award–winning author of In Bibi’s Kitchen

In this approachable cookbook, Rahanna Bisseret Martinez shares how to make food from around the world that respects the earth, workers, and consumers. A college freshman who has already cooked in the finest restaurants, she serves up lessons, tips, and tricks she has learned since her culinary career began at age thirteen, including techniques for everything from roasting and stir frying to pickling and infusing. The desserts and drinks chapters are perfect for hosting and making everyday meals special. Flavor+Us is filled with stories from Rahanna's experiences learning to cook in her family’s Californian kitchen, her time competing on Top Chef Junior, and the restaurants where she learned what cooking in community means.

Flavor+Us features recipes from:

• Mexico: Masa Doughnuts with Earl Gray Glaze
• Haiti: Makawoni au Graten
• Cuba: Frijoles Negros 
• Korea: Yachaejeon with Cho Ganjang
• China: Dry-Fried Green Beans
• The Philippines: Dungeness Crab Tinola
• Japan: Trinity Korokke
• Vietnam: New Orleans-Style Vietnamese Iced Coffee
• Ethiopia: Miser Wot 
• Jamaica: Jerk Eggplant Steaks
• And more!

This is the ideal resource for new cooks and anyone who wants to refine the basics. All are welcome at Rahanna's table.

Edited by Kate

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Breakup

Anjan Sundaram

Award-winning journalist Anjan Sundaram, hailed as “the Indian successor to Kapuscinski” (Basharat Peer) and praised for “remarkable” (Jon Stewart), “excellent” (Fareed Zakaria), and “courageous and heartfelt” (The Washington Post) work, must reckon with the devastating personal cost of war correspondance when he travels to the Central African Republic to report on preparations for a genocide hidden from the world, leaving his wife and newborn behind in Canada

After ten years of reporting from central Africa for The New York Times, Associated Press, and others, Anjan Sundaram finds himself living a quiet life in Shippagan, Canada, with his wife and newborn. But when word arrives of preparations for ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic, he is suddenly torn between his duty as a husband and father, and his moral responsibility to report on a conflict unseen by the world.

Soon he is traveling through the CAR, with a driver who may be a spy, bearing witness to ransacked villages and locals fleeing imminent massacre, fielding offers of mined gold and hearing stories of soldiers who steal schoolbooks for rolling paper. When he refuses to return home, journeying instead into a rebel stronghold, he learns that there is no going back to the life he left behind.

Breakup illuminates the personal price that war correspondents pay as they bear witness on the frontlines of humanitarian crimes across the world. This brilliantly introspective, grounded account of one man’s inner turmoil in the context of a dangerous journey through a warzone is sure to become a modern classic.

Edited by Kate

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The Black Guy Dies First

Robin R. Means Coleman

A definitive and surprising exploration of the history of Black horror films, after the rising success of Get Out, Candyman, and Lovecraft Country from creators behind the acclaimed documentary, Horror Noire.

The Black Guy Dies First explores the Black journey in modern horror cinema, from the fodder epitomized by Spider Baby to the Oscar-​winning cinematic heights of Get Out and beyond. This eye-opening book delves into the themes, tropes, and traits that have come to characterize Black roles in horror since 1968, a year in which race made national headlines in iconic moments from the enactment of the 1968 Civil Rights Act and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in April. This timely book is a must-read for cinema and horror fans alike.

Edited by Kate 

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A Woman's Guide to Claiming Space

Eliza VanCort

For too long, women have been told to confine themselves--physically, socially, and emotionally. Eliza VanCort says now is the time for women to stand tall, raise their voices, and claim their space.

Women fight the pressure to make themselves small in private, professional, and public spaces. Eliza VanCort, a teacher, consultant, and speaker, provides the necessary tools for women to rewrite the rules and create the stories of their choosing safely and without apology.

VanCort identifies the five key behaviors of all "Space Claiming Queens": use your voice and posture to project confidence and power, end self-sabotage, forge connections, neutralize unsafe spaces, and unite across differences. Through personal narrative, research, and actionable strategies, VanCort provides how-tos on combatting challenges like antimentors and microaggressions and gives advice for building up your "old girls" club, asking for what you're worth, and owning your space without apology.

Bold, fun, and enlightening, this book is birthed from VanCort's incredible story. Having a mother with schizophrenia forced VanCort to learn to be small and invisible at an early age, and suffering a traumatic brain injury as an adult required her to rethink communication from the ground up. Drawing on these experiences, and those of real women everywhere, VanCort empowers women to claim space for themselves and for their sisters with courage, empathy, and conviction because "when we rise together, we rise so much higher."

Edited by Kate

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Quilt Your Own Adventure

Amanda Carye

A choose-your-own-style quilt book featuring 30 quilt blocks, 7 quilt top layout formulas, and all the math done for you so you can focus on creating your own design!

In this design-it-yourself quilt book, the quilter is in the driver’s seat, empowering you to decide what size, layout, and combinations of blocks you want to use to create your own one-of-a-kind quilt. Unlike a traditional book of quilt patterns, this book does not prescribe a design. Instead, Quilt Your Own Adventure gives you a range of block options that all work together so that you can pick and choose and mix and match those blocks to create your own unique design. The book encourages and supports you, the quilter, as you explore designing your own pattern, providing all the tedious legwork (a.k.a. the math) so that you can focus on creating a final design that is all your own. In addition there will also be a suite of pre-designed patterns as inspiration for anyone who prefers a little extra structure to start.

Quilt Your Own Adventure includes:
• 30 modern quilt block designs
• 7 quilt top layout formulas
• 7 patterns that you can follow or use to help inspire your own design
• All the math & worksheets you need to get started
• Instructions that are easy to follow for beginners and advanced beginners

Whether you're a beginning quilter or an experienced maker looking for a fun, new challenge, Quilt Your Own Adventure will give you the confidence to create beautiful, modern quilts that are uniquely your own.

Edited by Kate 

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Break Free from Maternal Anxiety

Fiona Challacombe

"The time of pregnancy and after having a baby can be very positive and exciting, but we know that it can also be challenging in lots of ways and mental health difficulties are common during pregnancy and postnatally. Contrary to popular belief, the most prevalent problem is anxiety rather than depression. In fact, about 15% of women will experience a significant anxiety problem at some point during pregnancy or the first postnatal year 1. The high prevalence of anxiety during this time makes a lot of sense. The journey to, through and beyond pregnancy is paved with new experiences, uncertainty and unpredictability, all of which can generate or amplify feelings of anxiety. On top of this the stakes can feel especially high as you face new responsibilities of growing, birthing and caring for baby. The general stress of sleep deprivation and physical, emotional and financial changes all play a role. Some women will adjust well to these new conditions, but for many others this process does not occur so readily. Anxiety is a normal emotion that is triggered in all of us from time to time, but an anxiety problem is said to occur when anxiety is excessive, persistent and interferes with aspects of your life."

Edited by Kate 

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Unearthed

Meryl Frank

A thrilling mystery woven into a beautifully constructed family memoir: Meryl Frank's journey to seek the truth about a beloved and revolutionary cousin, a celebrated actress in Vilna before World War II, and to answer the question of how the next generation should honor the memory of the Holocaust.



As a child, Meryl Frank was the chosen inheritor of family remembrance. Her aunt Mollie, a formidable and cultured woman, insisted that Meryl never forget who they were, where they came from, and the hate that nearly destroyed them. Over long afternoons, Mollie told her about the city, the theater, and, above all else, Meryl's cousin, the radiant Franya Winter. Franya was the leading light of Vilna's Yiddish theater, a remarkable and precocious woman who cast off the restrictions of her Hasidic family and community to play roles as prostitutes and bellhops, lovers and nuns. Yet there was one thing her aunt Mollie would never tell Meryl: how Franya died. Before Mollie passed away, she gave Meryl a Yiddish book containing the terrible answer, but forbade her to read it. And for years, Meryl obeyed.



Unearthed is the story of Meryl's search for Franya and a timely history of hatred and resistance. Through archives across four continents, by way of chance encounters and miraculous discoveries, and eventually, guided by the shocking truth recorded in the pages of the forbidden book, Meryl conjures the rogue spirit of her cousin--her beauty and her tragedy. Meryl's search reveals a lost world destroyed by hatred, illuminating the cultural haven of Vilna and its resistance during World War II. As she seeks to find her lost family legacy, Meryl looks for answers to the questions that have defined her life: what is our duty to the past? How do we honor such memories while keeping them from consuming us? And what do we teach our children about tragedy?

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The Peking Express

James M. Zimmerman

"In 1923 Shanghai, native and foreign travelers alike are enthralled by the establishment of a new railway line to distant Peking. With this new line comes the Peking Express, a luxurious express train on the cutting edge of China's continental transportation. Among those drawn to the train are oil heiress Lucy Aldrich, journalist John Benjamin Powell, and vacationing Army Majors Roland Pinger and Scott Allen, wives and children in tow. These errant Americans and their eclectic fellow passengers all eagerly anticipate an idyllic overnight journey in first class. But the train's passengers are not the only ones enchanted by the Peking Express. The bandit revolutionary Sun Mei-yao sees in it the promise of a reckoning long overdue. From his vantage in Shantung Province, a conflict-ravaged region through which the train must pass, he identifies the Peking Express as a means of commanding the global stage. By disrupting the train and taking its wealthy passengers hostage, he can draw international attention to the plight of Shantung and, he hopes, thereby secure a solution. In the first hours of May 6, 1923, Sun and his bandit troops enact their daring plan. Wrested from the pleasures of their luxury cabins, dozens of travelers including Aldrich, Powell, Pinger, and Allen are plunged into the unfamiliar Shantung terrain. Pursued by warlords and led by their captors, they must make their way to the bandits' mountain stronghold and there await their fate. The Peking Express is the incredible, long-forgotten story of a hostage crisis that shocked China and the West. It vividly captures the events that made international headlines and later inspired Josef von Sternberg's 1932 Hollywood masterpiece Shanghai Express. James M. Zimmerman is a Beijing-based lawyer who has lived and worked in China for over 25 years. He is among China's leading foreign lawyers and represents companies and individuals confronted with the political and legal complexities of doing business in Mainland China. He is the author of the China Law Deskbook, published by the American Bar Association, and is frequently featured as a political commentator on US-China relations in various print and broadcast media around the globe. He is the former four-term Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. In addition to Beijing, he maintains a home in San Diego, California"--

 

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Advanced Parenting

Kelly Fradin

"An invaluable resource for parents and caregivers," this important, empathetic guidebook offers practical steps for managing children's health (Emily Oster, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Cribsheet and Expecting Better).



Any parent who has ever walked out of a concerning appointment with their child's doctor or teacher has experienced a heady mix of emotions--fear, love, confusion, concern, sadness, and perhaps even anger. While every parent hopes for a healthy child, the reality is that children face many common challenges, including medical issues like ADHD, asthma, food allergies, feeding issues, learning disabilities, anxiety and depression, and developmental delays, throughout their formative years. As the role of a parent becomes one of a caregiver, it can be overwhelming for parents and children alike, particularly if money, time, access, or any combination of those are in short supply.



As a balm, Dr. Kelly Fradin offers Advanced Parenting, based on her experience as a complex-care pediatrician. In this crucial guide, parents will find empathy and support as well as evidence-based practical guidance. Of greatest import is the need for tools with which to manage the emotional stress that comes from having a child who deviates from the norm, as well as coping with uncertainty and navigating the business of care. Readers will discover ways to optimize the outcomes for their family and make their day-to-day life easier.



Advanced Parenting will help families from the beginning of their journey, helping parents to decide when a child needs help, accepting the implications of a challenge, obtaining a correct diagnosis, learning about the issue, building a treatment team and coming up with a comprehensive plan. Dr. Fradin explores how a child struggling can affect the entire family dynamic including the parent's relationships and the siblings overall well-being, and with her experience as a complex care pediatrician, she will help parents avoid common mistakes. Parents will feel seen, supported, and better prepared to be both a parent and a caregiver.

 

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Palestine 1936

Oren Kessler

"Kessler's history is key to understanding the current situation between Israelis and Palestinians." --Booklist, Starred Review "[Kessler] has done an exceptional job and opened new vistas on troubles past and present." -- Wall Street Journal A gripping, profoundly human, yet even-handed narrative of the origins of the Middle East conflict, with enduring resonance and relevance for our time. In spring 1936, the Holy Land erupted in a rebellion that targeted both the local Jewish community and the British Mandate authorities that for two decades had midwifed the Zionist project. The Great Arab Revolt would last three years, cost thousands of lives--Jewish, British, and Arab--and cast the trajectory for the Middle East conflict ever since. Yet incredibly, no history of this seminal, formative first "Intifada" has ever been published for a general audience. The 1936-1939 revolt was the crucible in which Palestinian identity coalesced, uniting rival families, city and country, rich and poor in a single struggle for independence. Yet the rebellion would ultimately turn on itself, shredding the social fabric, sidelining pragmatists in favor of extremists, and propelling waves of refugees from their homes. British forces' aggressive counterinsurgency took care of the rest, finally quashing the uprising on the eve of World War II. The revolt to end Zionism had instead crushed the Arabs themselves, leaving them crippled in facing the Jews' own drive for statehood a decade later. To the Jews, the insurgency would leave a very different legacy. It was then that Zionist leaders began to abandon illusions over Arab acquiescence, to face the unnerving prospect that fulfilling their dream of sovereignty might mean forever clinging to the sword. The revolt saw thousands of Jews trained and armed by Britain--the world's supreme military power--turning their ramshackle guard units into the seed of a formidable Jewish army. And it was then, amid carnage in Palestine and the Hitler menace in Europe, that portentous words like "partition" and "Jewish state" first appeared on the international diplomatic agenda. This is the story of two national movements and the first sustained confrontation between them. The rebellion was Arab, but the Zionist counter-rebellion--the Jews' military, economic, and psychological transformation--is a vital, overlooked element in the chronicle of how Palestine became Israel. Today, eight decades on, the revolt's legacy endures. Hamas's armed wing and rockets carry the name of the fighter-preacher whose death sparked the 1936 rebellion. When Israel builds security barriers, sets up checkpoints, or razes homes, it is evoking laws and methods inherited from its British predecessor. And when Washington promotes a "two-state solution," it is invoking a plan with roots in this same pivotal period. Based on extensive archival research on three continents and in three languages, Palestine 1936 is the origin story of the world's most intractable conflict, but it is also more than that. In Oren Kessler's engaging, journalistic voice, it reveals world-changing events through extraordinary individuals on all sides: their loves and their hatreds, their deepest fears and profoundest hopes.

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Humanly Possible

Sarah Bakewell

The instant New York Times bestseller!

“A book of big and bold ideas, Humanly Possible is humane in approach and, more important, readable and worth reading. . . Bakewell is wide-ranging, witty and compassionate.” –Wall Street Journal


“Sweeping… linking philosophical reflections with vibrant anecdotes.” —
The New York Times

The bestselling author of How to Live and At the Existentialist Café explores seven hundred years of writers, thinkers, scientists, and artists, all trying to understand what it means to be truly human


Humanism is an expansive tradition of thought that places shared humanity, cultural vibrancy, and moral responsibility at the center of our lives. The humanistic worldview—as clear-eyed and enlightening as it is kaleidoscopic and richly ambiguous—has inspired people for centuries to make their choices by principles of freethinking, intellectual inquiry, fellow feeling, and optimism.

In this sweeping new history, Sarah Bakewell, herself a lifelong humanist, illuminates the very personal, individual, and, well, human matter of humanism and takes readers on a grand intellectual adventure.

Voyaging from the literary enthusiasts of the fourteenth century to the secular campaigners of our own time, from Erasmus to Esperanto, from anatomists to agnostics, from Christine de Pizan to Bertrand Russell, and from Voltaire to Zora Neale Hurston, Bakewell brings together extraordinary humanists across history. She explores their immense variety: some sought to promote scientific and rationalist ideas, others put more emphasis on moral living, and still others were concerned with the cultural and literary studies known as “the humanities.” Humanly Possible asks not only what brings all these aspects of humanism together but why it has such enduring power, despite opposition from fanatics, mystics, and tyrants.

A singular examination of this vital tradition as well as a dazzling contribution to its literature, this is an intoxicating, joyful celebration of the human spirit from one of our most beloved writers. And at a moment when we are all too conscious of the world’s divisions, Humanly Possible—brimming with ideas, experiments in living, and respect for the deepest ethical values—serves as a recentering, a call to care for one another, and a reminder that we are all, together, only human.

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Emotional Labor

Rose Hackman

For readers of Fair Play by Eve Rodsky and Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski comes a scathing, deeply-researched foray into the invisible, uncompensated work women perform every day.

We’re tired.

A stranger insists you “smile more,” even as you navigate a high-stress environment or grating commute. A mother is expected to oversee every last detail of domestic life. A nurse works on the front line, worried about her own health, but has to put on a brave face for her patients. A young professional is denied promotion for being deemed abrasive instead of placating her boss. Nearly every day, we find ourselves forced to edit our emotions to accommodate and elevate the emotions of others. Too many of us are asked to perform this exhausting, draining work at no extra cost, especially if we’re women or people of color.

Emotional labor is essential to our society and economy, but it’s so often invisible. In this groundbreaking, journalistic deep dive, Rose Hackman shares the stories of hundreds of women, tracing the history of this kind of work and exposing common manifestations of the phenomenon. But Hackman doesn’t simply diagnose a problem—she empowers us to combat this insidious force and forge pathways for radical evolution, justice, and change.

Drawing on years of research and hundreds of interviews, you’ll learn:
· How emotional labor pervades our workplaces, from the bustling food service industry to the halls of corporate America
· How race, gender, and class unequally shape the load we carry
· Strategies for leveling the imbalances that contaminate our relationships, social circles, and households
· Empowering tools to stop anyone from gaslighting you into thinking the work you are doing is not real work

Emotional labor is real, but it no longer has to be our burden alone. By recognizing its value and insisting on its shared responsibility, we can set ourselves free and forge a path to a world where empathy, love, and caregiving claim their rightful power.

Edited by Kate 

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In Living Color

Bernadette Giacomazzo

An entertaining yet candid examination of the popular sketch show In Living Color. When the pilot for In Living Color aired for the first time on April 15, 1990, America had never seen anything like it. And they loved it. Over five seasons, the show broke racial, cultural, and comedy boundaries, creating unforgettable sketches that dealt almost exclusively with Black subject matter. In Living Color: A Cultural History celebrates the iconic show and its creators, while also providing a conscientious examination of the sketches themselves. Bernadette Giacomazzo reveals how the show successfully tackled topics that are still salient today, from diversity in Hollywood and workplace racism to mass incarceration and "blackfishing," while other sketches have not aged quite so well. Giacomazzo also looks at how the show helped break the careers of Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, and David Alan Grier, amongst others, and how its most infamous sketches-such as Fire Marshall Bill, Homey the Clown, East Hollywood Squares, and Men on Film-helped shape comedy in the twenty-first century. In Living Color was one of the few sketch shows of the 1990s that effectively tackled racial and social issues with humor. It did so more successfully than Saturday Night Live ever did, because, unlike the long-standing late-night show, In Living Color had a largely Black writer's room. This cultural history finally gives the influential show and its creators the recognition they deserve for their role in changing the face of television.

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The Natural Menopause Method

Karen Newby

A guide to harnessing the power of hormones to boost energy levels, achieve nutritional balance, and celebrate the potential of midlife

A complete one-stop guide to perimenopause and menopause, looking at key issues from recognizing symptoms to managing relationships and understanding which treatments really work. Covering everything from HRT to nutrition, as well as self-help and lifestyle tips, this book takes a wholistic approach to midlife and the biological and social challenges it throws at us.

Nutritional Therapist and lifestyle coach Karen Newby has more than 10 years’ experience coaching women through the midlife, empowering clients to embrace life’s natural changes and feel reinvigorated, stronger, happier, and healthier. With realistic, easily integrated tips and guidance on sleep, stress, energy, brain fog, and hormone balance, Karen’s fresh, friendly, practical advice is a companion through the years before, during, and after menopause.

Edited by Kate 

 

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Embrace Your Space

Katie Holdefehr

Organize and style your home using home-decorating and organization expert Katie Holdefehr’s modern, chic, and simple-to-achieve design tips and tricks.

Whether giving a studio apartment a makeover to maximize every inch of space for storage, creating a functional and streamlined kitchen, or revamping a bedroom into a relaxing sanctuary, home design expert Katie Holdefehr will be your personal designer throughout each step in Embrace Your Space. As an editor for top magazines and websites such as Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, Good Housekeeping, and Apartment Therapy, Katie Holdefehr honed her expertise in home design and organization writing hundreds of articles and styling dozens of tasteful, livable rooms that anyone on any budget can achieve.

Featuring real homes from across the country and accompanied by gorgeous photographs, Embrace Your Space shares Katie’s tools of the trade, as well as designer-insider tips and tricks, to give every living space a Wow! effect. Also included are simple and affordable design projects for creating unique and custom-looking décor details.

GORGEOUS PHOTOGRAPHY: More than 150 beautiful full-color photographs show designer tips and tricks in action

DESIGN PROJECTS: Simple, affordable, and easy-to-accomplish design projects are included in each chapter

HOME ORGANIZATIONAL HACKS: Dozens of home organization tips help keep areas clutter-free

DECLUTTERING TIPS: Learn easy-and-quick ways to declutter and streamline those common problem areas such as closets, kitchen cabinets, entryways, and more.

INSIDER TIPS AND TRICKS: Having worked as a magazine editor in the home decor space, Katie Holdefehr provides information for home design and organization

BEAUTIFUL GIFT: Whether you appreciate home design or are just looking to downsize your clutter, this books makes a gorgeous and helpful gift.

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When the Light Goes On

Mike Rose

The final work from one of the most beloved voices in American education explores stories and lessons of transformative experiences in education

For more than a generation, American education has been structured as though it was built of and for concepts, not people. This has transformed education into a vast assessment, scoring, and ranking enterprise; a sales platform for high-tech entrepreneurs; and a fiercely competitive arena of advantage and status that grinds the poor and propels the middle class into debt.

In When the Light Goes On, educator Mike Rose features the stories of people of all ages and backgrounds to illuminate how education has added meaning to their lives. The inspiring stories include:

  • A supermarket checker whose job wore away his soul takes a remedial math class that starts him on a path to architecture school
  • A young man badly injured in a motorcycle accident finds both rehabilitation and a career in a welding program
  • A transgender youth’s odyssey to self-definition extends though courses in social sciences and campus advocacy groups
  • A Native American athlete finds graduate study as a way to use her celebrity to articulate the needs of her people

When the Light Goes On helps us dig through the discord and fragmentation of school politics and policy to reclaim the mind and heart of education. Through various students’ stories and his own, Rose provides an urgent reminder of the core purpose of education: to learn about ourselves and the world around us, to spark new interests, and to experience with guidance both the fulfillment and the uncertainty of exploring our limits—all in the service of creating a meaningful life.

Edited by Kate 

 

 

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The Things We Make

Bill Hammack

Discover the secret method used to build the world...

For millennia, humans have used one simple method to solve problems. Whether it's planting crops, building skyscrapers, developing photographs, or designing the first microchip, all creators follow the same steps to engineer progress. But this powerful method, the "engineering method", is an all but hidden process that few of us have heard of--let alone understand--but that influences every aspect of our lives.

Bill Hammack, a Carl Sagan award-winning professor of engineering and viral "The Engineer Guy" on Youtube, has a lifelong passion for the things we make, and how we make them. Now, for the first time, he reveals the invisible method behind every invention and takes us on a whirlwind tour of how humans built the world we know today. From the grand stone arches of medieval cathedrals to the mundane modern soda can, Hammack explains the golden rule of thumb that underlies every new building technique, every technological advancement, and every creative solution that leads us one step closer to a better, more functional world. Spanning centuries and cultures, Hammack offers a fascinating perspective on how humans engineer solutions in a world full of problems.

A book unlike any other, The Things We Make is a captivating examination of the method that keeps pushing humanity forward, a spotlight on the achievements of the past, and a celebration of the potential of our future that will change the way we see the world around us.

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Visions of the Occult

Victoria Jenkins

The first major survey of the occult collection of artworks and objects in the Tate Archive
"The word 'occult' comes from the latin occulus, meaning 'hidden.' The underlying assumption is that there is another, unseen world beyond that of the day-to-day existence--with magic offering the possibility of connecting these two worlds." --Christopher Dell, The Occult, Witchcraft & Magic, 2016

This lavishly illustrated magical volume acts a potent talisman connecting the two worlds of Tate--the seen public collection and the unseen secrets lurking in the archive. The pages of this book explore the hidden artworks and ephemera left behind by artists for the first time and will shed new light on our understanding of the art historical canon. Expect to find the unexpected with artists such as Ithell Colquhoun, John Nash, Barbara Hepworth, David Mayor, Max Armfield, Cecil Collins, Jill Smith and Bruce Lacey, Francis Bacon, Alan Davie, Joe Tilson, Henry Moore, William Blake, Leonora Carrington, and Hamish Fulton. For the first time, the clandestine, magical works of the Tate archive are revealed with archivist Victoria Jenkins acting as the depositary of its secrets. This book explores the symbiotic relationship between art and the occult and how both can act as a form of resistance to challenging environments. This book will change perceptions forever and illuminate the surprising breadth and extraordinary ways in which artists interpret not just the physical world around them but also the supernatural, and in doing so, make the unseen, seen. If you think you know Tate artists, it's time to think again.

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The Comforts of Home

Caroline Clifton Mogg

Small changes can make a big difference to your home—refresh your rooms and discover the true meaning of comfort.

The Comforts of Home is a book that enters into the spirit of how we want to live now, at a time when excess is no longer desirable. Author Caroline Clifton-Mogg puts a welcoming and beautiful haven within everyone's reach. The first section, The Elements, extols the joys of an orderly haven, covering both decorative aspects such as textiles and finishing touches, and practical topics such as storage and cleaning. The second section, The Rooms, shows how to create a home that's inviting and easy to live in – from the welcoming hallway, to the cozy kitchen, comfortable living room, satisfying study, practical bathroom and peaceful bedroom – through to the garden. The Comforts of Home offers clever decorating ideas that rely on imagination and style rather than a deep purse and suggests ways of making the most of what we have to put the heart back into our homes.

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Meal Prep Magic

Catherine McCord

Become a faster, healthier cook with secrets from Weelicious founder and meal prep genius Catherine McCord

With celebrated cookbook author and Weelicious founder Catherine McCord's step-by-step process, your kitchen will be beautifully organized and fast, healthy family meals will be at your fingertips--starting with 100 of her favorite recipes. McCord believes that success in the kitchen comes down to two things--organization and meal prep--and she'll show you how to master both in Meal Prep Magic.

One step beyond the ideological approach of Marie Kondo and The Home Edit, McCord brings you a practical guide to organizing the most important space in your home and using it. If you've ever lost leftovers to the back of the fridge, failed to find a spice that you know you bought, or faced a cabinet full of mismatched Tupperware, her advice will forever change your relationship to your kitchen.

After showing how to maximize your space for efficiency, McCord offers up her favorite family recipes. Including tried-and-tested secrets for saving time, these recipes are easy to prep ahead, make entirely ahead, contain basic ingredients that are always in your pantry, and/or strategically employ your freezer, air-fryer, Instant Pot, slow cooker, and more. Think grab-and-go breakfasts like Raspberry Creamy Chia Puddings, creative packed lunches including easy-to-assemble Salad Jars, healthy snacks like air-fryer crispy artichokes, and irresistible dinners that are even better leftover, such as lemony chicken thighs with lots of herbs.

By following McCord's simple strategies for meal prepping, you'll always have food on-hand to enjoy throughout your busy week, limiting your trips to the grocery store and time spent in the kitchen. Eat healthy meals you love, while saving time, money, and your sanity. Never again stress out about what to make for dinner! Meal Prep Magic is a lifesaver for any and all home cooks, busy parents, and fans of Weelicious and McCord's popular book Smoothie Project.

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Black People Breathe

Zee Clarke

A thoughtful, practical guide featuring 33 mindfulness exercises centered on healing for the Black community.

In Black People Breathe, mindfulness teacher Zee Clarke draws on her professional expertise and her perspective as a Black woman to offer mindfulness exercises, breathwork practices, and meditative tools centered on healing and survival for those who have endured racial trauma. Studies show that mindfulness can ease mental health concerns, and having experienced the benefits firsthand, Clarke shares the practices that have been essential to her well-being.

Each chapter highlights one of the many systemic challenges that people of color face, offering exercises based on the emotions elicited from these experiences. Whether you're coping with police brutality, racial profiling, microaggressions, or even imposter syndrome, Clarke prescribes practical techniques that will help you process these complex feelings mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Beautifully designed with gorgeous, vibrant illustrations, Black People Breathe takes an inclusive approach to mindfulness, centering and validating the experiences of anyone who has suffered from racial injustice.

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Let's All Keep Chickens!

Dalia Monterroso

Dalia Monterroso, founder of the popular website Chickenlandia, brings a fresh, inclusive voice to the community of backyard chicken keeping with this entry-level guide designed to empower anyone who's always wanted to keep chickens but may have thought it required special knowledge and a large investment in equipment. Monterroso's enthusiasm is contagious as she conveys the basics of chicken keeping, with an emphasis on low-cost, natural practices and shares her belief that humans have an innate ability to care for chickens. Asserting that the backyard chicken community welcomes everyone, she addresses a broad audience, including those in urban and suburban locations. Readers will learn how to plan their flock, how to raise baby chicks, what to look for in a chicken coop, how to keep chickens healthy naturally, and more. Drawing from her own experience as the child of Guatemalan immigrants, Monterroso celebrates how chicken-keeping has been practiced around the world and offers an opportunity to connect with previous generations and transcend cultural, racial, economic, and political divides.

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The Milky Way Smells of Rum and Raspberries

Jillian Scudder

"[An] entertaining romp ... Scudder has a knack for homing in on bizarre cosmic phenomena ...explained in accessible prose. Armchair astronomers will come away with a renewed sense of wonder at the strangeness of the universe." Publishers Weekly

From a brilliant young professor at Oberlin College, Ohio, comes a quirky guided tour of the Universe, focusing on weird and wonderful facts.

Astrophysicist Jillian Scudder knows more than most of us what a surreal place the Universe can be. In this light-hearted book she delves into some of the more arcane facts that her work has revealed, and tells us how we have actually managed to discover these amazing truths.

 

Did you know: the galaxy is flatter than a sheet of paper; supermassive black holes can sing a super-low B flat; it rains iron on a brown dwarf, and diamonds on Neptune; you could grow turnips on Mars if its soil weren't full of rocket fuel; the Universe is beige, on average; Jupiter's magnetic field will short-circuit your spacecraft - and, of course, the Milky Way smells of rum and raspberries.

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One-Day Macramé

Mariela Artigues

Stunning Macramé Artwork for Everyone

Master the art of hand-knotting with this all-in-one guide to the beautiful macramé designs of your dreams. While the intricacy of macramé décor may appear daunting at first, artists Mariela and Carolina turn macramé into an easy and relaxing activity that you can complete in a single day. Learn how to make an array of hand-knotted plant hangers, wall hangings, a rug, a set of coasters and more to bring a cozy, boho vibe to every room of your home.

Perfect for beginners, Mariela and Carolina offer plenty of tips and tricks to assist you with their whimsical designs, and provide helpful insight into their favorite resources for macramé supplies. Their introductory guide to different types of knots will allow you to build upon your skills as you go and ensure your success in projects big or small. Whether you choose the ocean-inspired wall hanging or the stunning headboard, any of these 24 easy designs will be sure to transform your space into a sophisticated and stylish oasis you’ll never want to leave.

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Masters of the Lost Land

Heriberto Araujo

In the tradition of Killers of a Flower Moon, a haunting murder-mystery that reveals one of the great crimes of our time: the ruthless destruction of the Amazon rainforest--and anyone who stands in the way.



The city of Rondon do Pará, a remote but fast-growing outpost deep in the heart of the Amazon, lived for decades under the control of Josélio de Barros, one of Brazil's most notorious land barons. Josélio had cut a grisly path to success: he arrived in the jungle with a shady past, quickly making a name for himself as an invincible thug who grabbed up massive tracts of public land--razing and burning the jungle in the process--falsified private title deeds, summarily executed family farmers who refused to sell their plots, and kept migrant workers in conditions of modern-day slavery. The government's support of these practices has led directly to the devastating superfires we've seen in the past few years--extracting all value to be gotten from the land at any cost.

Enter José Dutra da Costa (nicknamed Dezinho), the leader of Rondon's small but robust farm workers' union, who had been fighting back against these land grabs, ecological destruction, and blatant human rights abuses for decades. When Dezinho was killed in a shocking cold-blooded assassination, some 2,000 people turned out for his funeral, and the city of Rondon held its breath. Would Josélio, whom everyone knew had ordered the hit, finally be brought to account? Or would authorities look the other way, as they had hundreds of times before?

Dezinho's widow, Dona Joelma, was not about to let that happen. After his murder, she stepped into the spotlight, orchestrating a huge push to bring national media attention to the injustice happening in the Amazon. Against great odds, and at extreme personal risk, she succeeded in expanding the campaign Dezinho had started, and since his death, has helped thousands of people through her agrarian reform and redistribution efforts. Legally, she threw her weight behind the murder charges against Josélio, using her deep network of loyal rural workers to deliver a key witness that cracked the case wide open.

Set against the backdrop of President Bolsonaro's devastating cuts to environmental protections, Brazil's rapidly changing place in the geopolitical spectrum, and the Amazon's crucial role in climate change, this book promises a gripping read that's also a timely story of how people are fighting for--and winning--justice for their futures and for the future of one of the last wild places on earth.

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Paradise Now

William Middleton

The definitive biography of fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld, written by journalist and author William Middleton, who knew the designer in Paris.

In February 2019, the world lost one of its most enduring cultural icons, Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director for the storied House of Chanel for thirty-five years. Larger than life, Lagerfeld was legendary not only for reinventing Chanel; and creating constant fashion excitement at Chloé, Fendi, and his eponymous brand; but also for his vivid personal style, including his signature uniform of dark sunglasses and a powdered white ponytail. And then there was his utter devotion to his cat, Choupette.

Journalist and author William Middleton spent years working in Paris for Women's Wear Daily, W, and Harper's Bazaar. During his time in Paris, he interviewed and socialized with Lagerfeld, coming to see a side of the designer that he kept private from the world.

In this deliciously entertaining book, Middleton takes us inside the most exclusive rooms in the fashion industry, behind the catwalk, and into a world of brilliantly talented artists, stylish socialites, and famous stars--some of the most elusive and unforgettable figures of fashion's inner circle for the past four decades.

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The Case for Cancel Culture

Ernest Owens

Refinery 29's Most Anticipated Books By Black & Latine Authors in 2023!

Philadelphia Inquirer's Best New Books for February!


"A necessary discourse about power and control, and who ultimately has a voice versus whose is often stifled." —Preston D. Mitchum, LGBTQIA attorney, activist, and adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University

The first major case for cancel culture as a fundamental means of democratic expression throughout history, and timely necessity aimed at combating systems of oppression.

“___ is canceled.”

Chances are, you’ve heard this a lot lately. What might’ve once been a niche digital term has been legitimized in the discourse of presidents, politicians, and lawmakers.

But what really is cancel culture? Blacklisting celebrities? Censorship? Until now, this has been the general consensus in the media. But it’s time to raise the bar on our definition— to think of cancel culture less as scandal or suppression, and more as an essential means of democratic expression and accountability.

The Case for Cancel Culture does just that. This cultural critique from 2023 Philly News Award-Winning journalist Ernest Owens offers a fresh progressive lens in favor of cancel culture as a tool for activism and change. Using examples from politics, pop culture, and his own personal experience, Owens helps readers reflect on and learn the long history of canceling (spoiler: the Boston Tea Party was cancel culture); how the left and right uniquely equip it as part of their political toolkits; how intersections of society wield it for justice; and ultimately how it levels the playing field for the everyday person’s voice to matter.

Why should we care? Because in a world where protest and free speech are being challenged by the most powerful institutions, those without power deserve to understand the nuance and importance of this democratic tool available to them. Readers will walk away from this first-of-its-kind exploration not despising cancel culture but embracing it as a form of democratic expression that’s always been leading the charge in liberating us all.

"Journalist Owens debuts with an incisive defense of cancel culture... his arguments are thought-provoking and well supported. The result is an invigorating survey of a hot-button political issue." —Publishers Weekly

"An important tool for all times, and for anyone looking to learn how to have the difficult but necessary conversations about race, injustice, inequality, and oppression." —Dawn Ennis, award-winning journalist, advocate, and university professor

 

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The Big Con

Mariana Mazzucato

A vital and timely investigation into the opaque and powerful consulting industry—and what to do about it

There is an entrenched relationship between the consulting industry and the way business and government are managed today that must change. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington show that our economies’ reliance on companies such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY stunts innovation, obfuscates corporate and political accountability, and impedes our collective mission of halting climate breakdown.

The “Big Con” describes the confidence trick the consulting industry performs in contracts with hollowed-out and risk-averse governments and shareholder value-maximizing firms. It grew from the 1980s and 1990s in the wake of reforms by the neoliberal right and Third Way progressives, and it thrives on the ills of modern capitalism, from financialization and privatization to the climate crisis. It is possible because of the unique power that big consultancies wield through extensive contracts and networks—as advisors, legitimators, and outsourcers—and the illusion that they are objective sources of expertise and capacity. In the end, the Big Con weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments, and warps our economies.

In The Big Con, Mazzucato and Collington throw back the curtain on the consulting industry. They dive deep into important case studies of consultants taking the reins with disastrous results, such as the debacle of the roll out of HealthCare.gov and the tragic failures of governments to respond adequately to the COVID-19 pandemic. The result is an important and exhilarating intellectual journey into the modern economy’s beating heart. With peerless scholarship, and a wealth of original research, Mazzucato and Collington argue brilliantly for building a new system in which public and private sectors work innovatively for the common good.

Edited by Kate 

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Feral

Emily Pennington

A bracing memoir about self-discovery, liberating escape, and moving forward across an adventurous and volatile American landscape. One year. One national park at a time.

This is it. No more California. I'm sifting into the underbelly of where the nomads go.

After a decade as an assistant to high-powered LA executives, Emily Pennington left behind her structured life and surrendered to the pull of the great outdoors. With a tight budget, meticulous routing, and a temperamental minivan she named Gizmo, Emily embarked on a yearlong road trip to sixty-two national parks, hell-bent on a single goal: getting through the adventure in one piece. She was instantly thrust into more chaos than she'd bargained for and found herself on an unpredictable journey rocked by a gutting romantic breakup, a burgeoning pandemic, wildfires, and other seismic challenges that threatened her safety, her sanity, and the trip itself.

What began as an intrepid obsession soon evolved into a life-changing experience. Navigating the tangle of life's unexpected sucker punches, Feral invites readers along on Emily's grand, blissful, and sometimes perilous journey, where solitude, resilience, self-reliance, and personal transformation run wild.

Edited by Kate 

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Lapidarium

Hettie Judah

Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world, this book is a beautifully designed collection of true stories about sixty different stones that have influenced our shared history

The earliest scientists ground and processed minerals in a centuries-long quest for a mythic stone that would prolong human life. Michelangelo climbed mountains in Tuscany searching for the sugar-white marble that would yield his sculptures. Catherine the Great wore the wealth of Russia stitched in gemstones onto the front of her bodices.
 
Through the realms of art, myth, geology, philosophy and power, the story of humanity can be told through the minerals and materials that have allowed us to evolve and create. From the Taiwanese national treasure known as the Meat-Shaped Stone to Malta’s prehistoric “fat lady” temples carved in globigerina limestone to the amethyst crystals still believed to have healing powers, Lapidarium is a jewel box of sixty far-flung stones and the stories that accompany them. Together, they explore how human culture has formed stone, and the roles stone has played in forming human culture.

Edited by Kate 

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Sink

Joseph Earl Thomas

"A brilliant and brilliantly different" (Kiese Laymon), wrenching and redemptive coming-of-age memoir about the difficulty of growing up in a hazardous home and the glory of finding salvation in geek culture.



Stranded within an ever-shifting family's desperate but volatile attempts to love, saddled with a mercurial mother mired in crack addiction, and demeaned daily for his perceived weakness, Joseph Earl Thomas grew up feeling he was under constant threat. Roaches fell from the ceiling, colonizing bowls of noodles and cereal boxes. Fists and palms pounded down at school and at home, leaving welts that ached long after they disappeared. An inescapable hunger gnawed at his frequently empty stomach, and requests for food were often met with indifference if not open hostility. Deemed too unlike the other boys to ever gain the acceptance he so desperately desired, he began to escape into fantasy and virtual worlds, wells of happiness in a childhood assailed on all sides.



In a series of exacting and fierce vignettes, Thomas guides readers through the unceasing cruelty that defined his circumstances, laying bare the depths of his loneliness and illuminating the vital reprieve geek culture offered him. With remarkable tenderness and devastating clarity, he explores how lessons of toxic masculinity were drilled into his body and the way the cycle of violence permeated the very fabric of his environment. Even in the depths of isolation, there were unexpected moments of joy carved out, from summers where he was freed from the injurious structures of his surroundings to the first glimpses of kinship he caught on his journey to becoming a Pokémon master. SINK follows Thomas's coming-of-age towards an understanding of what it means to lose the desire to fit in--with his immediate peers, turbulent family, or the world--and how good it feels to build community, love, and salvation on your own terms.

Edited by Kate 

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Empress of the Nile

Lynne Olson

 

The remarkable story of the intrepid French archaeologist who led the international effort to save ancient Egyptian temples from the floodwaters of the Aswan Dam, by the New York Times bestselling author of Madame Fourcade’s Secret War
In the 1960s, the world’s attention was focused on a nail-biting race against time: Fifty countries contributed nearly a billion dollars to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples, built during the height of the pharaohs’ rule, from drowning in the floodwaters of the massive new Aswan High Dam. But the extensive press coverage at the time overlooked the gutsy French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, the temples would now be at the bottom of a vast reservoir. It was an unimaginably large and complex project that required the fragile sandstone temples to be dismantled, stone by stone, and rebuilt on higher ground.

A willful real-life version of Indiana Jones, Desroches-Noblecourt refused to be cowed by anyone or anything. During World War II she joined the French Resistance and was held by the Nazis; in her fight to save the temples she challenged two of the postwar world’s most daunting leaders, Egypt’s President Nasser and France’s President de Gaulle. As she told a reporter, “You don’t get anywhere without a fight, you know.”

Yet Desroches-Noblecourt was not the only woman who played an essential role in the historic endeavor. The other was Jacqueline Kennedy, who persuaded her husband to call on Congress to help fund the rescue effort. After years of Western plunder of Egypt’s ancient monuments, Desroches-Noblecourt did the opposite. She helped preserve a crucial part of Egypt’s cultural heritage, and made sure it remained in its homeland.

Edited by Kate 

 

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Africatown

Nick Tabor

An evocative and epic story, Nick Tabor's Africatown charts the fraught history of America from those who were brought here as slaves but nevertheless established a home for themselves and their descendants, a community which often thrived despite persistent racism and environmental pollution.

In 1860, a ship called the Clotilda was smuggled through the Alabama Gulf Coast, carrying the last group of enslaved people ever brought to the U.S. from West Africa. Five years later, the shipmates were emancipated, but they had no way of getting back home. Instead they created their own community outside the city of Mobile, where they spoke Yoruba and appointed their own leaders, a story chronicled in Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon.

That community, Africatown, has endured to the present day, and many of the community residents are the shipmates’ direct descendants. After many decades of neglect and a Jim Crow legal system that targeted the area for industrialization, the community is struggling to survive. Many community members believe the pollution from the heavy industry surrounding their homes has caused a cancer epidemic among residents, and companies are eyeing even more land for development.

At the same time, after the discovery of the remains of the Clotilda in the riverbed nearby, a renewed effort is underway to create a living memorial to the community and the lives of the slaves who founded it.

Edited by Kate 

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All the Knowledge in the World

Simon Garfield

From the "deliriously clever" (Boston Globe) Simon Garfield, New York Times bestselling author of Just My Type, comes the wild and fascinating story of the encyclopedia, from Ancient Greece to the present day.

"A brilliant book about knowledge itself." --Deirdre Mask, author of The Address Book

"Magnificent. ... A perfectly styled work of literature - at times sad, at times funny, but always full of life." --Engineering & Technology Magazine

The encyclopedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Created by thousands of scholars and the most obsessive of editors, a good set conveyed a sense of absolute wisdom on its reader. Contributions from Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Orville Wright, Alfred Hitchcock, Marie Curie and Indira Gandhi helped millions of children with their homework. Adults cleared their shelves in the belief that everything that was explainable was now effortlessly accessible in their living rooms.

Now these huge books gather dust and sell for almost nothing on eBay. Instead, we get our information from our phones and computers, apparently for free. What have we lost in this transition? And how did we tell the progress of our lives in the past?

All the Knowledge in the World is a history and celebration of those who created the most ground-breaking and remarkable publishing phenomenon of any age. Simon Garfield, who "has a genius for being sparked to life by esoteric enthusiasm and charming readers with his delight" (The Times), guides us on an utterly delightful journey, from Ancient Greece to Wikipedia, from modest single-volumes to the 11,000-volume Chinese manuscript that was too big to print. He looks at how Encyclopedia Britannica came to dominate the industry, how it spawned hundreds of competitors, and how an army of ingenious door-to-door salesmen sold their wares to guilt-ridden parents. He reveals how encyclopedias have reflected our changing attitudes towards sexuality, race, and technology, and exposes how these ultimate bastions of trust were often riddled with errors and prejudice.

With his characteristic ability to tackle the broadest of subjects in an illuminating and highly entertaining way, Simon Garfield uncovers a fascinating and important part of our shared past and wonders whether the promise of complete knowledge--that most human of ambitions--will forever be beyond our grasp.

Edited by Kate 

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(Serious) New Cook

Leah Su Quiroga

Inspiration and stellar instruction in a groundbreaking resource for new(ish) cooks ready to level up. Perfect for teens and college students, twenty-somethings cooking in their own first kitchens, or folks of any age who are ready to get serious about making great food.

"Learning how to cook—simply, seasonally, and organically, for family and friends—is one of the most fulfilling things you can do in life. This book is the essential (and delicious!) roadmap you need: friendly, approachable, and perfectly ready to inspire new cooks to fall in love." —Alice Waters, chef, restaurateur, author, and American culinary icon


Filled with recipes for impressive, craveable food—with all the guidance needed to make it—(Serious) New Cook is perfect for young adults or any new(ish) cooks who have ever found themselves salivating at cooking TikToks or drooling over gorgeous cookbooks, only to believe they aren’t skilled enough to attempt the recipes themselves. Here, the clear, detailed instruction and stunning step-by-step photography will have readers wowing their friends and families from their very first dish. Along with recipes that are at once aspirational and totally doable, authors Leah Su Quiroga and Cammie Kim Lin use their experience as a chef from one of America’s top restaurants and an award-winning teacher and writer to deftly share knowledge, stories, and brilliant tips with humor and insight.

It’s an homage to their own multicultural families and to the countless young adults they’ve taught and cooked with—their own kids, Cammie’s high school and college students, the new cooks who came up under Leah in the Chez Panisse kitchen. (Serious) New Cook hits all the right notes, packed with inspired takes on familiar favorites, as well as new flavors to build an expansive repertoire: crepes with compote, handmade arepas, “broken” Caesar salad, mushroom pot pie, Korean bulgogi meatballs, classic cupcakes, dalgona milkshakes, and more. With stunning step-by-step photography by Molly DeCoudreaux, the recipes are presented in trios organized around a core technique or concept. Learn one recipe and readers will be well on their way to mastering all three. Also included are guest recipes from acclaimed chefs and authors Alice Waters, Bryant Terry, Sean Sherman, Sohui Kim, Russell Moore, Claire Ptak, Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis, ushering a new generation of (serious) new cooks into the fold. More than just a collection of recipes, (Serious) New Cook is an indispensable resource and an inspiring guide.

Edited by Kate 

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Bloom

Lisa Eldred Steinkopf

In Bloom, The Houseplant Guru Lisa Eldred Steinkopf unleashes all the secrets on how to grow dozens of indoor plants that produce colorful, intricate, and sometimes fragrant blooms.

If you’ve ever struggled to get an orchid or African violet to rebloom, or if you’ve hesitated to add plants like hoya, anthurium, Madagascar jasmine, or clivia to your windowsill for fear you may never see their gorgeous flowers, Lisa reveals the insider strategies you need to encourage these plants to strut their stuff. In her signature warm and beginner-friendly tone, she introduces simple techniques you can use to encourage bloom alongside all the ins and outs of caring for these beautiful plants. Lush, full-color photography accompanies each in-depth plant profile. 

Upping your houseplant game doesn’t have to involve spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on the next trendy leafy-green foliage plant. If you want to expand both your growing skills and the number of specimens in your houseplant family, dive into the world of flowering houseplants instead. New cultivars of old favorites are taking the houseplant world by storm, and other, more unusual, species are now making their way into the limelight, thanks to the interest of millions of new houseplant parents around the world.

Inside the pages of Bloom, you’ll meet:

  • The best flowering houseplants to cascade from window ledges, hanging pots, and plant shelves
  • A collection of small blooming houseplants perfect for tabletops, desks, and windowsills
  • Houseplants with colorful blooms for the living room, dining room, and bedroom

Fill your home with foliage and flowers, and enjoy all the color and calm they’ll add to your living space. 

Edited by Kate 

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A Table Full of Love

Skye McAlpine

"The food writer (and photographer) for the world to watch." -The Spectator

From the beloved author of A Table for Friends, more than 100 nourishing recipes to bring people together-and a culinary love letter to cooking and eating with heart.

For Skye McAlpine, there's no better way to say “I love you” than with food. With recipes collected over a lifetime of meals prepared and shared, and with sections like Comfort, Seduce, Spoil, Nourish, and Cocoon, A Table Full of Love teaches you the culinary love language to say it, too.

Whether mending a friend's heartbreak with baked fennel and burrata gratin, seducing someone new with roast duck legs and winter citrus, nourishing family with the perfect eggs on toast, or gathering all of them together around a lit birthday cake, Skye McAlpine knows the flavor of any dish is more than its ingredients. Rather, it's the emotions and memories we collect over a lifetime of cooking and being cooked for.

In A Table Full of Love, these feelings are cherished and created anew through recipes for every meal that celebrate the most invaluable reason to cook: to fill a table with love.

Edited by Kate 

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Don't Think, Dear

Alice Robb

An incisive exploration of ballet's role in the modern world, told through the experience of the author and her classmates at the most elite ballet school in the country: the School of American Ballet.

Growing up, Alice Robb dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer. But by age fifteen, she had to face the reality that she would never meet the impossibly high standards of the hyper-competitive ballet world. After she quit, she tried to avoid ballet--only to realize, years later, that she was still haunted by the lessons she had absorbed in the mirror-lined studios of Lincoln Center, and that they had served her well in the wider world. The traits ballet takes to an extreme--stoicism, silence, submission--are valued in girls and women everywhere.

Profound, nuanced, and passionately researched, Don't Think, Dear is Robb's excavation of her adolescent years as a dancer and an exploration of how those days informed her life for years to come.

As she grapples with the pressure she faced as a student at the School of American Ballet, she investigates the fates of her former classmates as well. From sweet and innocent Emily, whose body was deemed thin enough only when she was too ill to eat, to precocious and talented Meiying, who was thrilled to be cast as the young star of the Nutcracker but dismayed to see Asians stereotyped onstage, and Lily, who won the carrot they had all been chasing--an apprenticeship with the New York City Ballet--only to spend her first season dancing eight shows a week on a broken foot.

Theirs are stories of heartbreak and resilience, of reinvention and regret. Along the way, Robb weaves in the myths of famous ballet personalities past and present, from the groundbreaking Misty Copeland, who rose from poverty to become an icon of American ballet, to the blind diva Alicia Alonso, who used the heat of the spotlights and the vibrations of the music to navigate space onstage. By examining the psyche of a dancer, Don't Think, Dear grapples with the contradictions and challenges of being a woman today.

Edited by Kate 

 

 

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Four Battlegrounds

Paul Scharre

An award-winning defense expert tells the story of today’s great power rivalry—the struggle to control artificial intelligence.

 

A new industrial revolution has begun. Like mechanization or electricity before it, artificial intelligence will touch every aspect of our lives—and cause profound disruptions in the balance of global power, especially among the AI superpowers: China, the United States, and Europe. Autonomous weapons expert Paul Scharre takes readers inside the fierce competition to develop and implement this game-changing technology and dominate the future.

 

Four Battlegrounds argues that four key elements define this struggle: data, computing power, talent, and institutions. Data is a vital resource like coal or oil, but it must be collected and refined. Advanced computer chips are the essence of computing power—control over chip supply chains grants leverage over rivals. Talent is about people: which country attracts the best researchers and most advanced technology companies? The fourth “battlefield” is maybe the most critical: the ultimate global leader in AI will have institutions that effectively incorporate AI into their economy, society, and especially their military.

Scharre’s account surges with futuristic technology. He explores the ways AI systems are already discovering new strategies via millions of war-game simulations, developing combat tactics better than any human, tracking billions of people using biometrics, and subtly controlling information with secret algorithms. He visits China’s “National Team” of leading AI companies to show the chilling synergy between China’s government, private sector, and surveillance state. He interviews Pentagon leadership and tours U.S. Defense Department offices in Silicon Valley, revealing deep tensions between the military and tech giants who control data, chips, and talent. Yet he concludes that those tensions, inherent to our democratic system, create resilience and resistance to autocracy in the face of overwhelmingly powerful technology.

Engaging and direct, Four Battlegrounds offers a vivid picture of how AI is transforming warfare, global security, and the future of human freedom—and what it will take for democracies to remain at the forefront of the world order.

Edited by Kate 

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I, Human

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

For readers of Sapiens and Homo Deus and viewers of The Social Dilemma, psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic tackles one of the biggest questions facing our species: Will we use artificial intelligence to improve the way we work and live, or will we allow it to alienate us?

It's no secret that AI is changing the way we live, work, love, and entertain ourselves. Dating apps are using AI to pick our potential partners. Retailers are using AI to predict our behavior and desires. Rogue actors are using AI to persuade us with bots and misinformation. Companies are using AI to hire us--or not.

In I, Human psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic takes readers on an enthralling and eye-opening journey across the AI landscape. Though AI has the potential to change our lives for the better, he argues, AI is also worsening our bad tendencies, making us more distracted, selfish, biased, narcissistic, entitled, predictable, and impatient.

It doesn't have to be this way. Filled with fascinating insights about human behavior and our complicated relationship with technology, I, Human will help us stand out and thrive when many of our decisions are being made for us. To do so, we'll need to double down on our curiosity, adaptability, and emotional intelligence while relying on the lost virtues of empathy, humility, and self-control.

This is just the beginning. As AI becomes smarter and more humanlike, our societies, our economies, and our humanity will undergo the most dramatic changes we've seen since the Industrial Revolution. Some of these changes will enhance our species. Others may dehumanize us and make us more machinelike in our interactions with people. It's up to us to adapt and determine how we want to live and work.

The choice is ours.
What will we decide?

Edited by Kate

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Infinite Country

Patricia Engel

"Remarkable...this is as much an all-American story as it is a global one." --Booklist (starred review)

For readers of Valeria Luiselli and Edwidge Danticat, an urgent and lyrical novel about a Colombian family fractured by deportation, offering an intimate perspective on an experience that so many have endured--and are enduring right now.

Talia is being held at a correctional facility for adolescent girls in the forested mountains of Colombia after committing an impulsive act of violence that may or may not have been warranted. She urgently needs to get out and get back home to Bogotá, where her father and a plane ticket to the United States are waiting for her. If she misses her flight, she might also miss her chance to finally be reunited with her family in the north.

How this family came to occupy two different countries, two different worlds, comes into focus like twists of a kaleidoscope. We see Talia's parents, Mauro and Elena, fall in love in a market stall as teenagers against a backdrop of civil war and social unrest. We see them leave Bogotá with their firstborn, Karina, in pursuit of safety and opportunity in the United States on a temporary visa, and we see the births of two more children, Nando and Talia, on American soil. We witness the decisions and indecisions that lead to Mauro's deportation and the family's splintering--the costs they've all been living with ever since.

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author Patricia Engel, herself a dual citizen and the daughter of Colombian immigrants, gives voice to all five family members as they navigate the particulars of their respective circumstances. And all the while, the metronome ticks: Will Talia make it to Bogotá in time? And if she does, can she bring herself to trade the solid facts of her father and life in Colombia for the distant vision of her mother and siblings in America?

Rich with Bogotá urban life, steeped in Andean myth, and tense with the daily reality of the undocumented in America, Infinite Country is the story of two countries and one mixed-status family--for whom every triumph is stitched with regret, and every dream pursued bears the weight of a dream deferred.

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How to Calm Your Mind

Chris Bailey

From the author of Hyperfocus, a treasure trove of practical, science-backed strategies that reveal how the key to a less anxious life, and even greater productivity, is a calm state of mind

“After rebounding from his own burnout, Bailey devised a clear-eyed, concise method that marries science and self-help; he’s equally proficient in probing the roles of serotonin and endorphins while charting concrete steps in chapters titled ‘The Mindset of More’ and ‘Heights of Stimulation.’ Slow down, breathe, and submerge into these pages.” —Oprah Daily


A PENGUIN LIFE BOOK


It took an on-stage panic attack for productivity expert Chris Bailey to recognize how critical it is to invest in calm at the same time that we invest in becoming more productive. Productivity advice works—and we need it now more than ever—but it’s just as vital that we develop our capacity for calm. By finding calm and overcoming anxiety, we don’t just feel more comfortable in our own mind—we build a deeper, more expansive reservoir of energy to draw from throughout the day. The pursuit of calm ultimately leads us to become more engaged, focused, and deliberate—while making us more satisfied with our lives. And because calm saves us time by making us more productive, we don’t even need to feel guilty about the time we spend investing in it.

How to Calm Your Mind is our crucial guide to achieving calm, navigating anxiety, and staving off burnout. It explains how our digital world drains us, and what we can do to abate the hidden sources of stress that burden our days. Bailey has learned to embrace the analog world and “stimulation fasts,” to use the science of “savoring” to become more focused and present, and to relax without guilt—and he shows us how we can reclaim calm, too. In an anxious world, investing in calm might be the best productivity strategy around.

Edited by Kate

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Trust Yourself

Melody J. Wilding

NOW IN PAPERBACK: Turn your sensitivity into a superpower with these proven strategies to regain your confidence at work, reclaim control of your life, and reach your full potential.

Are you a sensitive striver? Often feel "not good enough?" Take things too personally? Judge yourself harshly? Struggle with burnout and setting boundaries? Highly sensitive and high performing? Being highly attuned to your emotions, environment, and the behavior of others can be the keys to success, but they can also lead to overthinking everything and burnout. Human behavior expert and executive coach Melody Wilding identifies this problem and gives the nuanced reader profile a name--"sensitive strivers." Drawing on the latest research and work with clients, she examines the intersection of sensitivity and achievement and the challenges that come along with it in the workplace, and offers neuroscience-based strategies readers can use to reclaim control of their lives and reach their full potential.

FOR READERS OF: The Highly Sensitive Person, No Hard Feelings, Quiet, and Introvert Power.

ENDORSEMENTS FROM: Susan Cain, Elaine Aron, Julia Cameron, and more.

EXPERT TAKE ON A NEWLY TRENDING TOPIC: What Susan Cain and Quiet were for introverts, and Elaine Aron and her books were for the highly sensitive, Melody Wilding is and will be for the growing number of people who identify as sensitive strivers. As a human behavior expert, executive coach, and Forbes contributor, Wilding is the perfect author to offer practical solutions for the latest embraced personality type. Her advice strikes the perfect balance between action-taking and introspective.

The perfect book for:

- Coaches and coaching clients
- Social workers
- Entry-level workers, middle managers, executive level and above
- Anyone who identifies as highly sensitive

Edited by Kate 

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Simple Origami

Adeline Klam

With simple visual step-by-step instructions and hand-drawn illustrations, effortlessly create over 50 different paper creations, from sea lions to spinning tops, Christmas decorations and colorful flowers.

This is origami at its most simple and elegant. With a special focus on a very visual method of explanation, this collection brings together 50 traditional origami projects, accessible to experts and beginners alike. The folds are organized from the simplest to the most complex.

The projects range from sea lions to spinning tops, Christmas decorations and colorful flowers, to sailboats. Detailed illustrations show you exactly where to place your hands at every step of the process, and projects are given a difficulty rating for ease of reference. Simply follow the diagrams and watch origami creations of all kinds come to life at your fingertips.

Brought to you from the Parisian boutique of Adeline Klam, this book is full of beautiful designs, fun toys, useful tips and paper surprises of every shape and size.

Edited by Kate 

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Ask Me for a Blessing (You Know You Need One)

Adrian Dannhauser

What is a blessing? Do you have to believe to receive one? Can you doubt while you pray? And can you extend grace to others while still desperately in need of it yourself?

Once a week Episcopal priest Adrian Dannhauser stands outside her Manhattan church beside a chalkboard sign that reads ""Ask me for a blessing (because God knows you need one)."" Passersby stop, chat, and ask for prayer: for a sick friend, an addicted son, an upcoming job interview, the state of our nation, or the grief of our world. Bus drivers sometimes open their doors for a quick prayer before the light turns green, and someone once took her to meet their doorman so she could bless him too. Half of those who stop are in crisis. Someone always cries. A few are simply curious.

Through the heartfelt, frank, and sincere stories of her unique ministry, Dannhauser offers glimpses into the tender, holy, and sometimes hilarious moments of sidewalk prayers. With a potent blend of reverence and irreverence, as well as insights from Christian scriptures, she delves into the power that ancient ideas--blessing, forgiveness, miracles, and prayer--hold in a disenchanted world. For people of Christian faith, other faiths, or no faith at all, having spiritual conversations, even awkward ones with strangers on the street, can help us face our vulnerability, where we may discover a grace sufficient for all.

Edited by Kate 

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Quilting Rhythm

Thomas Knauer

Innovative digital designs for the adventurous quilter Quilting Rhythm offers 98 quilting designs with a modern slant. You'll find unique designs ranging from retro to contemporary, with some offering both angular and curved variants. Explore geometric to graphically-inspired designs and summon echoes of decades past, such as skylines and mountains, and line reflections of the commonplace, such as flames, EKGs, and paper airplanes. Inside, you'll find each design in print form, plus a QR code linking to the digitized file. All designs are suitable for home free-motion quilters, quilters with long arms, and those with embroidery or domestic machines. Innovative and fresh, the quilting designs provide a vast array of texture and rhythym. Includes instructions on how to use the digitized designs and guidance for free-motion quilters.

Edited by Kate 

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Macramé Bags

Chizu Takuma

Craft your own stylish accessories worthy of a high-end boutique with this collection of 21 macramé bags, belts, and straps.

From durable market totes to cross-body boho bags, there’s a purse for every occasion.
After mastering basic macramé techniques, discover how to add special details, such as wooden handles, metal buckles, and zippers, to elevate the style and function of your designs.
With its assortment of small-scale projects, this book is great for beginners, but also provides fresh inspiration for veteran macramé enthusiasts looking to create wearable art.

Edited by Kate 

 

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Breathe In, Breathe Out

Stuart Sandeman

The internationally bestselling practical guide on how to breathe for better sleep, stress management, improved self esteem, and to care for your mental health.



It's time to get your breath back.



Since tragic loss brought him to breathwork, Stuart Sandeman has helped thousands of people transform their lives, simply by changing the way they breathe.



In Breathe In, Breathe Out, Stuart takes you on a journey to discover a hidden power within you that can change the way you think and feel. His accessible exercises, grounded in research and developed over years of practice, will help you to:
 

  • Sleep soundly and manage stress and pain.
  • Identify and let go of the beliefs that are holding you back.
  • Develop better focus and boost your performance in any field.
  • Deepen the connection with yourself, others and the world around you.

 

 

 


You can become stronger, healthier and happier than you've ever imagined. All you have to do is Breathe In, Breathe Out.

Edited by Kate

 

 

 

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Dyscalculia

Camonghne Felix

An epic meditation on loving yourself in the face of heartbreak, from the acclaimed author of Build Yourself a Boat, longlisted for the National Book Award
 
When Camonghne Felix goes through a monumental breakup, culminating in a hospital stay, everything—from her early childhood trauma and mental health to her relationship with mathematics—shows up in the tapestry of her healing. In this exquisite and raw reflection, Felix repossesses herself through the exploration of history she’d left behind, using her childhood “dyscalculia”—a disorder that makes it difficult to learn math—as a metaphor for the consequences of her miscalculations in love. Through reckoning with this breakup and other adult gambles in intimacy, Felix asks the question: Who gets to assert their right to pain?
 
Dyscalculia negotiates the misalignments of perception and reality, love and harm, and the politics of heartbreak, both romantic and familial.

Edited by Kate 

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So When Are You Having Kids

Jordan Davidson

As we expand our understanding of what “family” means, we need to change the way we think about having kids.

How much does it cost to have kids? How long can I wait? What if I have fertility issues? And, wait a minute... do I even want kids? If you’re unsure whether you want kids or struggling to decide, this book is for you.

So When Are You Having Kids? is not your parents’ parenting book, nor is it a how-to for getting pregnant. It’s a nonjudgmental, inclusive guidebook for women, men, gender-nonconforming people, same-sex couples, and prospective single parents who want to make an informed decision regarding if and how they bring children into the world. Combining research with over 100 compelling real-life stories, the resources in this book are as diverse as the generations they’re meant to serve.

With deep insight and empathy, Davidson explores:

• Ways to cope with familial and societal pressure to have children
• What makes a good parent, and the skills you need to be one
• The facts about infertility, adoption, fostering, and alternative methods of becoming a parent
• The real financial costs of having and raising kids
• How to move past fears related to pregnancy and childbirth
• The ethics and consequences of having kids in the face of climate change
• And, what it means to choose a child-free life for those who are unsure whether they want kids

So When Are You Having Kids? is a much-needed resource for family planning in the modern world, packed with the knowledge and tools you need to make one of the most important decisions—if not the most important decision—of your life.

Edited by Kate

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Chasing Icebergs

Matthew H. Birkhold

A deeply intelligent and engrossing narrative that will transform our relationship with water and how we view climate change.

The global water crisis is upon us. 1 in 3 people do not have access to safe drinking water; nearly 1 million people die each year as a result. Even in places with adequate freshwater, pollution and poor infrastructure have left residents without basic water security. Luckily, there is a solution to this crisis where we least expect it. Icebergs—frozen mountains of freshwater—are more than a symbol of climate change. In his spellbinding Chasing Icebergs, Matthew Birkhold argues the glistening leviathans of the ocean may very well hold the key to saving the planet.

Harvesting icebergs for drinking water is not a new idea. But for the first time in human history, doing so on a massive global scale is both increasingly feasible and necessary for our survival. Chasing Icebergs delivers a kaleidoscopic history of humans’ relationship with icebergs, and offers an urgent assessment of the technological, cultural, and legal obstacles we must overcome to harness this freshwater resource.

Birkhold takes readers around the globe, introducing them to a colorful cast of characters with wildly different ideas about how (and if) humans should use icebergs. Sturdy bureaucrats committed to avoiding another Titanic square off against “iceberg cowboys” who wrangle the frozen beasts for profit. Entrepreneurs selling luxury iceberg water for an eye-popping price clash with fearless humanitarians trying to tow icebergs across the globe to eradicate water shortages.

Along the way, we meet some of the world’s most renowned scientists to determine how industrial-scale iceberg harvesting could affect the oceans and the poles. And we see firsthand the looming conflict between Indigenous peoples like the Greenlandic Inuit with claims to icebergs and the private corporations that stand to reap massive profits.

As Birkhold shepherds readers from Connecticut to South Africa, from Newfoundland to Norway, to Greenland and beyond, he unfurls a visionary argument for cooperation over conflict. It’s not too late for icebergs to save humanity. But we must act fast to form a coalition of scientists, visionaries, engineers, lawyers and diplomats to ensure that the “Cold Rush” doesn’t become a free-for-all.

Edited by Kate 

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Woman, Captain, Rebel

Margaret Willson

A daring and magnificent historical narrative nonfiction account of Iceland's most famous female sea captain who constantly fought for women's rights and equality--and who also solved one of the country's most notorious robberies.

Every day was a fight for survival, equality, and justice for Iceland's most renowned female fishing captain of the 19th century.

History would have us believe the sea has always been a male realm, the idea of female captains almost unthinkable. But there is one exception, so notable she defies any expectation.

This is her remarkable story.

Captain Thurídur, born in Iceland in 1777, lived a life that was both controversial and unconventional. Her first time fishing, on the open unprotected rowboats of her time, was at age 11. Soon after, she audaciously began wearing trousers. She later became an acclaimed fishing captain brilliant at weather-reading and seacraft and consistently brought in the largest catches. In the Arctic seas where drownings occurred with terrifying regularity, she never lost a single crewmember. Renowned for her acute powers of observation, she also solved a notorious crime. In this extremely unequal society, she used the courts to fight for justice for the abused, and in her sixties, embarked on perilous journeys over trackless mountains.

Weaving together fastidious research and captivating prose, Margaret Willson reveals Captain Thurídur's fascinating story, her extraordinary courage, intelligence, and personal integrity.

Through adventure, oppression, joy, betrayal, and grief, Captain Thurídur speaks a universal voice. Here is a woman so ahead of her times she remains modern and inspirational today. Her story can now finally be told.

Praise for Woman, Captain, Rebel:

"Meticulously researched and evocatively written, Woman, Captain, Rebel provides not only a captivating insight into 19th-century Iceland, but also introduces readers to the inspirational, real-life fishing captain Thurídur, a tough and fiercely independent woman who deserves to be a role model of determination and perseverance for us all." --Eliza Reid, internationally bestselling author of Secrets of the Sprakkar

"A crime has been committed in 19th century Iceland and in steps a mysterious seawoman moonlighting as a detective, dressed in male clothes. Margaret Willson unravels this legendary casework of Captain Thurídur, down to the finest detail, with a brilliant portrait of old Iceland by the sea." --Egill Bjarnason, author of How Iceland Changed the World

"Reading about this remarkable woman's journey will challenge your ideas about history and change yours too." --Major General Mari K. Eder, author of The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line

"All credit to Margaret Willson for excavating the story of Thurídur Einarsdóttir in a century which can at long last appreciate this feisty and resilient Icelandic seafarer. The meticulous research is worn so lightly that it reads like a saga." --Sally Magnusson, author and broadcaster

"A beautiful story of one woman's perseverance against tragedy, hardship, and the open seas." --Katharine Gregorio, author of The Double Life of Katharine Clark

"With a clear, compelling narrative voice, Willson illuminates the life of an extraordinary woman and brings rural Iceland to life for her readers." --Shelf Awareness

Edited by Kate 

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Cocktails in Color

Sammi Katz

An artistic cocktail book that is as beautiful as it is practical. By utilizing design and their expertise, Sammi and Olivia have created a vibrant, knowledgeable mixology book for both seasoned and newbie drinkmakers.



Cocktails in Color celebrates the craft of drinkmaking, from raw ingredients to finished, delightful refreshments. Together, Sammi Katz and Olivia McGiff explore the elements, tastes, and techniques of all things drinks to create an accessible, visually delicious new guide to drinking that gives you the tools to design your own cocktails. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a new kid at the bar, Cocktails in Color deserves a spot on your bar cart. Each page is fully illustrated with rich, inspiring gouache paintings, making it a visual delight that stands out from other bartender books. This book encourages readers to explore a palette of ingredients for their developing palate.



Fans of cocktail recipe books like The Art of Mixology or The Home Bartender who want a fresher, more aesthetically driven alternative will find exactly what they're looking for in Cocktails in Color, with its stunning gouache illustrations on every page. Anyone looking for bartender gifts will appreciate the unique combination of essential tips and recipes and beautiful art that make this a must-have for cocktail enthusiasts everywhere.

Edited by Kate 

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Upshift

Ben Ramalingam

With over two decades’ experience both observing and interpreting how people channel disaster into opportunity in the most extreme circumstances and environments on Earth, Ben Ramalingam has a unique vantage point from which to identify the key principles that can enable anyone to use stress as an opportunity for change.

In Upshift, Ramalingam distils this expertise into an insightful, powerful, and engaging book that will show you how to reframe your set responses to stress and pressure and instead use them to harness the potential they hold not just for improving your work, your relationships, and your mindset, but for transforming them.

Upshift takes readers on an epic journey from early humans’ survival of the Ice Age to present times in our inescapable, pernicious and ever-shifting digital landscape. You will hear remarkable stories from a vast range of upshifters—all of whom carved new routes around perceived barriers using their powers to upshift. Underlying stories of how city commuters navigate train cancellations to how astronauts deal with life-threatening incidents, is one key message: We all have the power to innovate, whether or not we identify ourselves as creative or extraordinary.

Maybe you’re the challenger, who thrives by constructively disrupting the status quo like Greta Thunberg. Or perhaps you find yourself constantly tweaking, prodding, breaking, rebuilding, and improving like crafters such as the team that revolutionized space travel called the NASA Pirates. Do you love introducing people whose combined efforts will lead to greater achievements? You might be a connector, like master networker Ariana Huffington.

In a runaway world that is an engine for perpetual crisis, Upshift is not only an essential toolkit for survival, it is a roadmap for positive, and potentially life-changing transformation and influence. You don’t have to shut down – you can upshift.

Edited by Kate 

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The Wise Hour

Miriam Darlington

A Guardian Book of the Year

“A beautiful book; wise and sharp-eared as its subject.” —Robert Macfarlane 

 

Owls have existed for over sixty million years, and in the relatively short time we have shared the planet with these majestic birds they have ignited the human imagination. But even as owls continue to captivate our collective consciousness, celebrated British nature writer Miriam Darlington finds herself struck by all she doesn't know about the true nature of these enigmatic creatures.

Darlington begins her fieldwork in the British Isles with her teenage son, Benji. As her avian fascination grows, she travels to France, Serbia, Spain, Finland, and the frosted Lapland borders of the Arctic for rare encounters with the Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Long-eared Owl, Pygmy Owl, Snowy Owl, and more. But when her son develops a mysterious illness, her quest to understand the elusive nature of owls becomes entangled with a search for finding a cure.

In The Wise Hours, Darlington watches and listens to the natural world and to the rhythms of her home and family, inviting readers to discover the wonders of owls alongside her while rewilding our imagination with the mystery, fragility, and magnificence of all creatures.

Edited by Kate 

 

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All-New Twenty to Make: Sewing with Scraps

Debbie Von Grabler-Crozier

Discover 20 fresh, inspiring ways to turn your fabric stash into wonderful items and gifts.

How do you keep your piles of scrap fabric from growing out of control? Sew with them, of course!

In this inspirational book, best-selling author Debbie von Grabler-Crozier shows you how to stitch 20 stylish, fresh items from very small amounts of fabric. From tiny scraps that can be transformed into patchworked coasters, strips that can be made into scrap bunting and offcuts that can be used for pouches or pincushions, your treasured scraps can be given a new lease of life!

An invaluable crash-course on key techniques is included at the beginning of the book, and every project includes clear step-by-step instructions and a stunning photograph of the finished design to inspire.

Edited by Kate 

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Art Hiding in Paris

Lori Zimmer

Explore masterpieces hidden in plain sight, historic artist enclaves, and iconic works of public art in this charmingly illustrated exploration of Paris, from the authors of Art Hiding In New York.



Paris is the city of light, the city of love, and the city of more art than you could possibly explore in a lifetime--and not just in museums. Tucked away in tree-lined parks, preserved in world class restaurants, emblazoned on Metro station walls, and hidden in the most unexpected places are masterpieces worthy of the Louvre, if you know where to look!



In this whimsically illustrated celebration of Parisian art and artists, author and curator Lori Zimmer highlights more than 100 treasures. From the gorgeous remnants of the Art Nouveau era to the homes of some of the world's most influential artists--including Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and more--to an introduction to the modern masters of urban art, there are endless riches to be explored. Discover art that was hidden for decades inside cafes, shops and even a Belle Époque brothel! Paris will surprise you.



Illustrated by artist Maria Krasinski, this book provides curated itineraries for dreaming up your next urban exploration, and is perfect for displaying on any art lover's shelf.
 

Edited by Kate 

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Matisse

Ann Temkin

The adventures, mysteries and many lives of a Matisse masterpiece

Created in 1911, Henri Matisse's The Red Studio would go on to become one of the most influential works in the history of modern art. The painting, which has hung in MoMA's galleries since 1949, depicts the artist's studio in the Parisian suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux, filled with his own artworks, furniture and decorative objects. Matisse's radical decision to saturate the work's surface with red has fascinated generations of scholars and artists, yet much remained to be discovered about the painting's genesis and history.
Published in conjunction with an exhibition that reunites the artworks shown in The Red Studio for the first time since they left Matisse's work space, this copiously illustrated catalog examines the paintings and sculptures depicted in it, from familiar works such as Young Sailor II (1906) to lesser-known pieces whose locations have only recently been discovered. A narrative essay by Ann Temkin, the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Dorthe Aagesen, Chief Curator and Senior Researcher at Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, traces the life of The Red Studio, from the initial commissioning of the work in 1911 through its early history of exhibition and ownership to its arrival at MoMA after World War II. The book features a rich selection of archival materials, including photographs, letters and ephemera, many of which have never before been published or exhibited. With its groundbreaking research and close reading of the work, Matisse: The Red Studio transforms our understanding of this landmark of 20th-century art.

Edited by Kate 

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50 Spanish Coffee Breaks

Coffee Break Languages

Transform your down time into 'do time'.



The most successful language learners create a habit of studying on a regular basis. 50 Spanish Coffee Breaks makes it easy to master a simple routine of improving your Spanish by effortlessly integrating it with your calming daily ritual-from a 5-minute espresso to a 15-minute latte.



Organized by 5,10 and 15 minutes, these 50 varied and lively activities - from anagram and idiom challenges to recipes and quotations - are created for high-beginner to intermediate adult and young-adult learners and designed to keep you motivated while building your skills in key areas.



· Reading comprehension

· Writing skills

· Grammar confidence

· Translation abilities

· Vocabulary expansion

· Cultural awareness



By practicing Spanish in a fun and relaxed way in the time you have,you will stay on track to achieve your language learning aspirations. So,pick up your preferred brew and this practical book, and make learning the most pleasurable and productive part of your busy day.



The Spanish used in this book includes a variety of sources and contexts including both Peninsular Spanish and Latin American Spanish, making the book a valuable tool for learners of both.



For 15 years Coffee Break Languages has helped make it possible for millions of people to learn a language in a way that fits into their everyday life: whether that's while walking the dog,at the gym, or on their coffee break!



Teach Yourself has collaborated with Coffee Break Languages to bring their brilliant method to a wider audience by producing their first-ever printed product. All the activities are written by long-time teachers of the language in Coffee Break's characteristically friendly and conversational style. It's the perfect complement to your studies.



The activities are levelled for high-beginner to low-intermediate learners: CEFR A2-B1 and ACTFL Intermediate-low/mid

Edited by Kate 
 

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The Art of the Wedding

Relais & Châteaux North America

 

Inspiring ideas for hosting a spectacular wedding from the experts of Relais & Châteaux, the world’s finest hotel and restaurant association.

Whether intimate or grand in scale, every couple wants to create a memorable wedding that feels personal and completely unique to them. The enchanting weddings featured here showcase imaginative ideas for a wide range of celebrations, from a cozy affair on a rustic ranch to a vibrant seaside celebration to a sophisticated dinner in a city mansion. Proprietors, wedding planners, florists, and chefs offer their insights on everything from distinctive invitations and stunning floral designs to creative cakes and inviting table settings, culminating in the ultimate go-to resource for weddings.

Edited by Kate 

 

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The Gadget Show: Big Book of Cool Stuff

Craig Charles

The Gadget Show', first launched in 2004, is one of the UK's longest running returnable formats, providing its TV audience access to the largest gadget reviews and technological innovations. Based in the studio, the team, which includes Craig Charles, Georgie Barrat, Ortis Deley and Jon Bentley, inform the audience about the latest consumer gadgets to hit the market in a lively and engaging way, keeping viewers fully entertained until the end of each episode. The show is aimed at giving the mass consumer an insight into the gadget world, but also gives adequate information for the more "geeky" or knowledgeable audience, while still remaining accessible to the more casual viewer. The Gadget Show: The Big Book of Cool Stuff is a beautiful hardback book that takes the reader on a journey through the many gadgets they either have read about or heard of, to the ones they use, are about to invest in, or dream about owning. The book also discusses what the future could look like if all our lives could be made easier and more fun by gadgets. Contributors include: Craig Charles, Georgie Barrat, Ortis Deley, Jon Bentley, Harry Wallop, Jordan Erica-Webber.

Edited by Kate

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Rikers

Graham Rayman

A shocking, groundbreaking oral history of the infamous Rikers jail complex and an unflinching portrait of injustice and resilience told by the people whose lives have been forever altered by it
 
“This mesmerizing and gut-wrenching book shows the brutal realities that tens of thousands of people have been forced to navigate, and survive, in America’s most notorious jail.—Piper Kerman, New York Times bestselling author of Orange is the New Black

What happens when you pack almost a dozen jails, bulging at the seams with society’s cast-offs, onto a spit of landfill purposefully hidden from public view? Prize-winning journalists Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau have spent two years interviewing more than 130 people comprising a broad cross section of lives touched by New York City's Rikers Island prison complex—from incarcerated people and their relatives, to officers, lawyers, and commissioners, with stories spanning the 1970s to the present day. The portrait that emerges calls into question the very nature of justice in America.
 
Offering a 360-degree view inside the country’s largest detention complex, the deeply personal accounts—featured here for the first time—take readers on a harrowing journey into every corner of Rikers, a failed society unto itself that reflects society’s failings as a whole.
 
Dr. Homer Venters was shocked by the screams on his first day working at Rikers: “They’re in solitary, just yelling . . . the yelling literally never stops.” After a few months, though, Dr. Venters notes, one's ears adjust to the sounds. Nestor Eversley recalls how detainees made weapons from bones. Barry Campbell recalls hiding a razor blade in his mouth—“just in case”.
 
These are visceral stories of despair, brutality, resilience, humor, and hope, told by the people who were marooned on the island over the course of decades. As calls to shutter jails and reduce the number of incarcerated people grow louder across the country, with the movement to close the island complex itself at the forefront, Rikers is a resounding lesson about the human consequences of the incarceration industry.

Edited by Kate 

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To Tell the Truth

Lewis M. Simons

Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Lewis M. Simons's recollects his 50 years as a foreign correspondent, one whose powerful stories contributed to transforming Asia from Vietnam War-era basket case to a global boomtown that today rivals the United States. Simons's investigative work led to the toppling of a dictator in the Philippines. He covered the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, bloody coups in Thailand, attempted genocide and societal collapse in Cambodia, and economic advance, decline and rebirth in Japan. He was expelled from India for his exclusive reporting on Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's political misuse of the armed forces. Breaking his own strict rule against becoming personally involved with people whose stories he covered, he saved the life of a dying teenaged Tibetan Buddhist monk. Simons molds the narrative of his lengthy, action-packed career from foxhole mud and backroom dirt. Layered with moments of tenderness and humor, as his camp-following family often accompanies him, the result is a masterful chronicle of war and murder; extreme poverty and suffering alongside repellent wealth and indulgence; wholesale larceny and ruling-class corruption--much of which escaped the scrutiny of other journalists. Readers who appreciate real-life historic drama will be enthralled.

Edited by Kate

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Edible Economics

Ha-Joon Chang

Edible Economics brings the sort of creative fusion that spices up a great kitchen to the often too-disciplined subject of economics



For decades, a single, free-market philosophy has dominated global economics. But this intellectual monoculture is bland and unhealthy.



Bestselling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang makes challenging economic ideas delicious by plating them alongside stories about food from around the world, using the diverse histories behind familiar food items to explore economic theory. For Chang, chocolate is a lifelong addiction, but more exciting are the insights it offers into postindustrial knowledge economies; and while okra makes Southern gumbo heart-meltingly smooth, it also speaks of capitalism's entangled relationship with freedom.



Myth-busting, witty, and thought-provoking, Edible Economics serves up a feast of bold ideas about globalization, climate change, immigration, austerity, automation, and why carrots need not be orange. It shows that getting to grips with the economy is like learning a recipe: when we understand it, we can adapt and improve it--and better understand our world.
 

Edited by Kate 

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This Will Be Funny Someday

Katie Henry

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel comes to high school in acclaimed author Katie Henry's coming-of-age YA contemporary about a girl who accidentally falls into the world of stand-up comedy. Perfect for fans of John Green and Becky Albertalli!

Sixteen-year-old Izzy is used to keeping her thoughts to herself--in school, where her boyfriend does the talking for her, and at home, where it's impossible to compete with her older siblings and high-powered parents.

When she mistakenly walks into a stand-up comedy club and performs, the experience is surprisingly cathartic. After the show, she meets Mo, an aspiring comic who's everything Izzy's not: bold, confident, comfortable in her skin. Mo invites Izzy to join her group of friends and introduces her to the Chicago open mic scene.

The only problem? Her new friends are college students--and Izzy tells them she's one, too. Now Izzy, the dutiful daughter and model student, is sneaking out to perform stand-up with her comedy friends. Her controlling boyfriend is getting suspicious, and her former best friend knows there's something going on.

But Izzy loves comedy and this newfound freedom. As her two parallel lives collide--in the most hilarious of ways--Izzy must choose to either hide what she really wants and who she really is, or finally, truly stand up for herself.

* Rise: A Feminist Book Project Book of the Year * A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book of the Year *

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Our Missing Hearts

Celeste Ng

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.
 
Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.
 
Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact.

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Loveless

Alice Oseman

For fans of Love, Simon and I Wish You All the Best, a funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of a girl who realizes that love can be found in many ways that don't involve sex or romance.

From the marvelous author of Heartstopper comes an exceptional YA novel about discovering that it's okay if you don't have sexual or romantic feelings for anyone . . . since there are plenty of other ways to find love and connection.

This is the funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of Georgia, who doesn't understand why she can't crush and kiss and make out like her friends do. She's surrounded by the narrative that dating + sex = love. It's not until she gets to college that she discovers the A range of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum -- coming to understand herself as asexual/aromantic. Disrupting the narrative that she's been told since birth isn't easy -- there are many mistakes along the way to inviting people into a newly found articulation of an always-known part of your identity. But Georgia's determined to get her life right, with the help of (and despite the major drama of) her friends.

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Malinda Lo

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the feeling took root—that desire to look, to move closer, to touch. Whenever it started growing, it definitely bloomed the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly everything seemed possible. 

But America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

 

 

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The Inheritance Games

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why -- or even who Tobias Hawthorne is.

To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

** Avery's story continues in The Hawthorne Legacy and The Final Gambit

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The Girls I've Been

Tess Sharpe

Nora O'Malley's been a lot of girls. As the daughter of a con-artist who targets criminal men, she grew up as her mother's protégé. But when her mom fell for the mark instead of conning him, Nora pulled the ultimate con: escape.

For five years Nora's been playing at normal. But she needs to dust off the skills she ditched because she has three problems:

#1: Her ex walked in on her with her girlfriend. Even though they're all friends, Wes didn't know about her and Iris.

#2: The morning after Wes finds them kissing, they all have to meet to deposit the fundraiser money they raised at the bank. It's a nightmare that goes from awkward to deadly, because:

#3: Right after they enter the bank, two guys start robbing it.

The bank robbers may be trouble, but Nora's something else entirely. They have no idea who they're really holding hostage . . .

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Firekeeper's Daughter

Angeline Boulley

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.

Now, as the deceptions—and deaths—keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

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Poison Ivy

Evan Mandery

An eye-opening look at how America's elite colleges and suburbs help keep the rich rich--making it harder than ever to fight the inequality dividing us today

The front-page news and the trials that followed Operation Varsity Blues were just the tip of the iceberg. Poison Ivy tells the bigger, seedier story of how elite colleges create paths to admission available only to the wealthy, despite rhetoric to the contrary. Evan Mandery reveals how tacit agreements between exclusive "Ivy-plus" schools and white affluent suburbs create widespread de facto segregation. And as a college degree continues to be the surest route to upward mobility, the inequality bred in our broken higher education system is now a principal driver of skyrocketing income inequality everywhere.

Mandery--a professor at a public college that serves low- and middle-income students--contrasts the lip service paid to "opportunity" by so many elite colleges and universities with schools that actually walk the walk. Weaving in shocking data and captivating interviews with students and administrators alike, Poison Ivy also synthesizes fascinating insider information on everything from how students are evaluated, unfair tax breaks, and questionable fundraising practices to suburban rituals, testing, tutoring, tuition schemes, and more. This bold, provocative indictment of America's elite colleges shows us what's at stake in a faulty system--and what will be possible if we muster the collective will to transform it.

Edited by Kate 

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Purple Crayons

Ross Ellenhorn

In this joyous and inventive rereading of the beloved children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon, the author of How We Change (And Ten Reasons Why We Don't) celebrates our inherent "sacred originality" and establishes a new framework for self-reliance.

In 1955, Crockett Johnson introduced one of the world's most beloved and enduring young adventurers, Harold and his purple crayon. Today, we need Harold and his penchant for creative solutions more than ever. In Purple Crayons, Ross Ellenhorn looks to Johnson's classic for insights and answers that can help us understand our current condition and point the way towards solutions for healing. Purple Crayons tells a story about America then and now, about living one's life as art; about the powers that block us from doing so, about the pull and perils of conformity; about serious play and too much seriousness, about what it means to feel alive inside and what deadens our existence. It's also about 1955 in America, all that lay before and--presciently--all that lay ahead, as each of us struggles to draw meaningful and resilient existences on the blank pages--the future yet unlived--of our lives.

This delightful, provocative adventure is a gift of kindness and love that encourages us and gives us hope. As he traces Harold's journey, Ellenhorn offers insights into our "sacred originality"--the idea that each of our unique inner lives are worth nurturing and protecting, and the perseverance, courage, connection, and community necessary to sustain them. Engaging, thoughtful, wise--and illustrated throughout with drawings from the original Harold--Purple Crayons transcends the current divides separating us, reminding us that our fulfillment rests on tapping into what is original about ourselves, finding ways to express our originality, and understanding that doing so is rooted in who we are as Americans.

Edited by Kate

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Awakening the Crystals

Sandra Mariah Wright

A gorgeously illustrated guide to stimulating creativity, inviting in love, achieving your goals, and improving your life with crystals.

Whether you would like to take back control in an uncertain world, encourage harmony in the home, or invite in prosperity, Awakening the Crystals will help transform your life. Learn how to:



   choose stones for protection at home and on the road
   calm your nerves and boost your energy
   foster positive interactions with family
   attract love and enhance intimacy
   achieve health goals
   welcome good luck, growth, and success
   meditate and manifest results with the assistance of crystals
 
Whether it’s rose quartz for love or a tiger’s eye for protection, Salem-based intuitives Sandra Wright and Leanne Marrama show you how to put the power of these simple, ancient tools to work in your daily life, to improve your relationships, achieve success, increase health, honor those who have passed, promote self-love and -care, and make magic happen—from the bedroom to the office and everywhere in between. Beautiful watercolor illustrations demonstrate how to choose, connect with, charge, cleanse, and arrange crystals throughout your home to help you live your best life.

Edited by Kate 

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Proving Ground

Kathy Kleiman

For fans of Code Girls and Hidden Figures, PROVING GROUND is the untold, World War II-era story of the six American women who programmed the world's first modern computer.

After the end of World War II, top-secret research continued across the United States as engineers and programmers rushed to complete their confidential assignments. Among them were six pioneering women, tasked with figuring out how to program the world's first general-purpose, programmable, all-electronic computer -- a machine built to calculate a single ballistic trajectory in twenty seconds rather than forty hours by human hand -- even though there was no instruction codes or programming languages in existence. But their story, never told to the reporters and scientists who thronged the huge computer after it became public, was lost.

Kathy Kleiman, through meticulous research and vivid prose, brings these women back to life, and back into the historical record. For more than two decades, she met with four of the original six ENIAC Programmers, pored over documentation and images, and recorded extensive oral histories with the women about their work. She found stories that had been relegated and dismissed by even computer history experts, who had assumed the women in the old black-and-white pictures with ENIAC were nothing more than models. PROVING GROUND is a character-driven narrative that restores these women to their rightful place as technological revolutionaries. As the tech world continues to struggle with gender imbalance and its far-reaching consequences, the story of the ENIAC Programmers' groundbreaking work is more urgently necessary than ever before, and PROVING GROUND is the celebration they deserve.

Edited by Kate

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Vigilance

Andrew K. Diemer

The remarkable and inspiring story of William Still, an unknown abolitionist who dedicated his life to managing a critical section of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia—the free state directly north of the Mason-Dixon Line—helping hundreds of people escape from slavery.

Born free in 1821 to two parents who had been enslaved, William Still was drawn to antislavery work from a young age. Hired as a clerk at the Anti-Slavery office in Philadelphia after teaching himself to read and write, he began directly assisting enslaved people who were crossing over from the South into freedom. Andrew Diemer captures the full range and accomplishments of Still’s life, from his resistance to Fugitive Slave Laws and his relationship with John Brown before the war, to his long career fighting for citizenship rights and desegregation until the early twentieth century.

Despite Still’s disappearance from history books, during his lifetime he was known as “the Father of the Underground Railroad.” Working alongside Harriet Tubman and others at the center of the struggle for Black freedom, Still helped to lay the groundwork for long-lasting activism in the Black community, insisting that the success of their efforts lay not in the work of a few charismatic leaders, but in the cultivation of extensive grassroots networks. Through meticulous research and engaging writing, Vigilance establishes William Still in his rightful place in American history as a major figure of the abolitionist movement.

Edited by Kate

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Diaghilev's Empire

Rupert Christiansen

“Amusing and assertive . . . It distills Diaghilev’s life down to its concentrated, aromatic, essence . . . [Rupert Christiansen] seems to have undergone the task for the sheer love of it, and his delight is infectious.” —Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times

Rupert Christiansen, a renowned dance critic and arts correspondent, presents a sweeping history of the Ballets Russes and of Serge Diaghilev’s dream of bringing Russian art and culture to the West.

Serge Diaghilev, the Russian impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, is often said to have invented modern ballet. An art critic and connoisseur, Diaghilev had no training in dance or choreography, but he had a dream of bringing Russian art, music, design, and expression to the West and a mission to drive a cultural and artistic revolution.

Bringing together such legendary talents as Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse, this complex and visionary genius created a new form of ballet defined by artistic integrity, creative freedom, and an all-encompassing experience of art, movement, and music. The explosive color combinations, sensual and androgynous choreography, and experimental sounds of the Ballets Russes were called “barbaric” by the Parisian press, but its radical style usurped the entrenched mores of traditional ballet and transformed the European cultural sphere at large.

Diaghilev’s Empire, the publication of which marks the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of Diaghilev’s birth, is a daring, impeccably researched reassessment of the phenomenon of the Ballets Russes and the Russian Revolution in twentieth-century art and culture. Rupert Christiansen, a leading dance critic, explores the fiery conflicts, outsize personalities, and extraordinary artistic innovations that make up this enduring story of triumph and disaster.

Edited by Kate 

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Painting Happiness

Terry Runyan

Combat stress and anxiety and release your own inner creative with this beautiful mindful watercolour book.

In this simple and vibrant guide, hugely popular Instagram muse @TerryRunyan explores the art of watercolour through the lens of mindfulness, presenting activities and projects which you can paint along with as you allow your creative side to flourish.

This watercolour guide is easy and accessible for beginners, as Runyan gently delves into the basics of the artform, starting with simple techniques which you can follow along with, as well as presenting some fun projects ideas for painters to explore.

Alongside beautiful examples of the techniques and styles explored in the book, Runyan also encourages readers to practice mindfulness as they paint, and explores the ways in which art can be used to help improve mental health. Exploring the idea of 'perfectly imperfect watercolours', Runyan places emphasis on self-expression and allowing yourself to make mistakes.

Painting Happiness also includes fun projects for readers to try at home, including:

  • Turning blobs into birds
  • Creating wild hairstyles
  • Experimenting with different prompts to paint at least one thing a day

From technical skills and notes on materials to insight into the creative process, this book has everything you need to start flourishing in watercolour.

Edited by Kate 

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Coming Up for Air

Tom Daley

"An illuminating look at what it takes to be an Olympian... In this story, passion reigns supreme." --Cosmopolitan



"An emotionally articulate memoir...[and] an intimate insight into the good-hearted and talented young man behind the medals." --Attitude



A deeply personal and inspiring memoir from the celebrated Olympic gold medal diver and LGBTQ+ advocate



Tom Daley is one of the most beloved athletes of our time, having competed as a diver in four Olympics, garnering medals and finally, in 2021 in Tokyo, winning gold. But few people know the realities of his life beyond the pool--his struggles, his secret triumphs and the mindset he needed to cultivate to become a champion.



In this deeply personal book, Tom explores the experiences that have shaped him and the qualities that brought him success and joy--from the resilience he developed competing at a world-class level, to the courage he discovered while reclaiming the narrative around his sexuality, to the perspective that family life has brought him.



Inspiring, candid and compulsively readable, Coming Up for Air offers an intimate window into the life and mindset of an athlete and advocate who has left an indelible imprint on sports.

Edited by Kate 

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Worn Out

Alyssa Hardy

An insider's look at how the rise of "fast fashion" obstructs ethical shopping and fuels the abuse and neglect of garment workers

"With years of expertise in the fashion industry, Alyssa's reporting is consistently deep and thoughtful, and her work on sustainability and ethics has changed how I view the clothes I wear."
--Brittney McNamara, features director at Teen Vogue

 

Ours is the era of fast fashion: a time of cheap and constantly changing styles for consumers of every stripe, with new clothing hitting the racks every season as social media-fueled tastes shift.

 

 

Worn Out examines the underside of our historic clothing binge and the fashion industry's fall from grace. Former InStyle senior news editor and seasoned journalist Alyssa Hardy's riveting work explores the lives of the millions of garment workers--mostly women of color--who toil in the fashion industry around the world--from LA-based sweatshop employees who experience sexual abuse while stitching clothes for H&M, Fashion Nova, and Levi's to "homeworkers" in Indonesia who are unknowingly given carcinogenic materials to work with. Worn Out exposes the complicity of celebrities whose endorsements obscure the exploitation behind marquee brands and also includes interviews with designers such as Mara Hoffman, whose business models are based on ethical production standards.

 

 

Like many of us, Hardy believes in the personal, political, and cultural place fashion has in our lives, from seed to sew to closet, and that it is still okay to indulge in its glitz and glamour. But the time has come, she argues, to force real change on an industry that prefers to keep its dark side behind the runway curtain. The perfect book for people who are passionate about clothing and style, Worn Out seeks to engage in a real conversation about who gets harmed by fast fashion--and offers meaningful solutions for change.

Edited by Kate 

 

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Status and Culture

W. David Marx

"Subtly altered how I see the world." —Michelle Goldberg, New York Times

“[Status and Culture] consistently posits theories I'd never previously considered that instantly feel obvious.” —Chuck Klosterman, author of The Nineties

“Why are you the way that you are? Status and Culture explains nearly everything about the things you choose to be—and how the society we live in takes shape in the process.” —B.J. Novak, writer and actor

Solving the long-standing mysteries of culture—from the origin of our tastes and identities, to the perpetual cycles of fashions and fads—through a careful exploration of the fundamental human desire for status


All humans share a need to secure their social standing, and this universal motivation structures our behavior, forms our tastes, determines how we live, and ultimately shapes who we are. We can use status, then, to explain why some things become “cool,” how stylistic innovations arise, and why there are constant changes in clothing, music, food, sports, slang, travel, hairstyles, and even dog breeds.

In Status and Culture, W. David Marx weaves together the wisdom from history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, philosophy, linguistics, semiotics, cultural theory, literary theory, art history, media studies, and neuroscience to demonstrate exactly how individual status seeking creates our cultural ecosystem. Marx examines three fundamental questions: Why do individuals cluster around arbitrary behaviors and take deep meaning from them? How do distinct styles, conventions, and sensibilities emerge? Why do we change behaviors over time and why do some behaviors stick around? The answers then provide new perspectives for understanding the seeming “weightlessness” of internet culture.

Status and Culture is a book that will appeal to business people, students, creators, and anyone who has ever wondered why things become popular, why their own preferences change over time, and how identity plays out in contemporary society. Readers of this book will walk away with deep and lasting knowledge of the often secret rules of how culture really works.

Edited by Kate 

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American Midnight

Adam Hochschild

Selected as one of the most anticipated books of Fall 2022 by the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune

From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a groundbreaking reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threatened by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labo

A riveting, resonant account of the fragility of freedom."--Kirkus, STARRED review

The nation was on the brink. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced--in one notable case, only in private. Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens' arrests. Some seventy-five newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames.

This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by lynchings, censorship, and the sadistic, sometimes fatal abuse of conscientious objectors in military prisons--a time whose toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting, and contempt for the rule of law then flowed directly through the intervening decades to poison our own. It was a tumultuous period defined by a diverse and colorful cast of characters, some of whom fueled the injustice while others fought against it: from the sphinxlike Woodrow Wilson, to the fiery antiwar advocates Kate Richards O'Hare and Emma Goldman, to labor champion Eugene Debs, to a little-known but ambitious bureaucrat named J. Edgar Hoover, and to an outspoken leftwing agitator--who was in fact Hoover's star undercover agent. It is a time that we have mostly forgotten about, until now.

In American Midnight, award-winning historian Adam Hochschild brings alive the horrifying yet inspiring four years following the U.S. entry into the First World War, spotlighting forgotten repression while celebrating an unforgettable set of Americans who strove to fix their fractured country--and showing how their struggles still guide us today.

Edited by Kate 

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The Fantasy of the Middle Ages

Larisa Grollemond

This abundantly illustrated book is an illuminating exploration of the impact of medieval imagery on three hundred years of visual culture.

From the soaring castles of Sleeping Beauty to the bloody battles of Game of Thrones, from Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings to mythical beasts in Dungeons & Dragons, and from Medieval Times to the Renaissance Faire, the Middle Ages have inspired artists, playwrights, filmmakers, gamers, and writers for centuries. Indeed, no other historical era has captured the imaginations of so many creators.

This volume aims to uncover the many reasons why the Middle Ages have proven so flexible—and applicable—to a variety of modern moments from the eighteenth through the twenty-first century. These “medieval” worlds are often the perfect ground for exploring contemporary cultural concerns and anxieties, saying much more about the time and place in which they were created than they do about the actual conditions of the medieval period. With over 140 color illustrations, from sources ranging from thirteenth-century illuminated manuscripts to contemporary films and video games, and a preface by Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton, The Fantasy of the Middle Ages will surprise and delight both enthusiasts and scholars. This title is published to accompany an exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from June 21–September 11, 2022.

Edited by Kate 

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Head to Toe Crochet

Gurinder Hatchard

15 cute crochet projects for the little ones in your life

Have you ever had an itch to crochet anything as soon as a baby arrives in your life? Head to Toe Crochet contains bright, modern patterns using simple stitches. Suitable for beginners or those who have crocheted for years, these accessories will be quick to make and guaranteed to raise a smile. Including:

- Fifteen beanie hats and matching booties patterns
- Three sizes - preemie, 0-6 months and 6-12 months
- Step-by-step illustrated tutorials of basic crochet techniques

Got a sporty baby? Go with a soccer hat and matching boots! Or a colourful cupcake combination for a deliciously sweet look. The perfect book for new and experienced crocheters.

Gurinder Kaur Hatchard was taught to crochet by her mother at a young age. She is the founder of YayForCrochet.com and her designs have been published in magazines such as Inside Crochet, Crochet Now, My Weekly and Your Crochet and Knitting Magazine.

Edited by Kate

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Mary Ann Unger: To Shape a Moon from Bone

Horace D. Ballard

Rising to prominence in the downtown New York art scene in the 1980s and 1990s, multidisciplinary artist Mary Ann Unger (1945-1998) was skilled in graphic composition, watercolor, large-scale conceptual sculpture, and environmentally responsive, site-specific interventions. At the time of her death, Unger was a member of the Guerrilla Girls and acknowledged as a feminist pioneer of neo-expressionist sculptural form. Accompanying Unger's first solo museum presentation in the twenty-first century, this publication aims to revive and redirect cultural and scholarly attention on Unger's pioneering and lyrical practice, which was set aside in favor of the cishet male-dominated narrative of postwar American sculpture.

Taking the reprinting of Roberta Smith's 1999 obituary for Unger as its starting place, the book's essays provide the artist her first fulsome consideration within the New York art milieu of her day, tracing Unger's life, her studies, and her network of artists and mentors. Following the exposition of Unger's life and practice, an interview with the artist's daughter will position Unger's legacy within the collaborative discourse and activism of a multigenerational family of artists. Two other essays will closely examine Unger's work in the context of contemporary conversations around feminist revisionings of history and modes of cultural appropriation and inspiration in her oeuvre. The catalogue concludes with a bibliography of various texts for further reading, in hope that such a reconsideration gives rise to further scholarly interest in Unger's practice.

Edited by Kate 

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The Petroleum Papers

Geoff Dembicki

"Essential ... This book belongs on the shelf next to Merchants of Doubt, Dark Money, and Kochland."--Roy Scranton, author of Learning to Die in the Anthropocene

The petroleum industry is guilty of a Big Tobacco-style public cover-up, according to this vivid exposé."--Publishers Weekly STARRED Review

Burning fossil fuels will cause catastrophic global warming: this is what top American oil executives were told by scientists in 1959. But they ignored that warning. Instead, they developed one of the biggest, most polluting oil sources in the world--the oil sands in Alberta, Canada. As investigative journalist Geoff Dembicki reveals in this explosive book, the decades-long conspiracy to keep the oil sands flowing into the U.S. would turn out to be one of the biggest reasons for the world's failure to stop the climate crisis.

In The Petroleum Papers, Dembicki draws from confidential oil industry documents to uncover for the first time how companies like Exxon, Koch Industries, and Shell built a global right-wing echo chamber to protect oil sands profits--a misinformation campaign that continues to this day. He also tells the high-stakes stories of people fighting back: a Seattle lawyer who brought down Big Tobacco and is now going after Big Oil, a Filipina activist whose family drowned in a climate disaster, and a former Exxon engineer pushed out for asking hard questions.

With experts now warning we have less than a decade to get global emissions under control, The Petroleum Papers provides a step-by-step account of how we got to this precipice--and the politicians and companies who deserve our blame.

Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute

Edited by Kate 

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