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Dark Archives

Megan Rosenbloom

On bookshelves around the world, surrounded by ordinary books bound in paper and leather, rest other volumes of a distinctly strange and grisly sort: those bound in human skin. Would you know one if you held it in your hand?

In Dark Archives, Megan Rosenbloom seeks out the historic and scientific truths behind anthropodermic bibliopegy—the practice of binding books in this most intimate covering. Dozens of such books live on in the world’s most famous libraries and museums. Dark Archives exhumes their origins and brings to life the doctors, murderers, and indigents whose lives are sewn together in this disquieting collection. Along the way, Rosenbloom tells the story of how her team of scientists, curators, and librarians test rumored anthropodermic books, untangling the myths around their creation and reckoning with the ethics of their custodianship. 

A librarian and journalist, Rosenbloom is a member of The Order of the Good Death and a cofounder of their Death Salon, a community that encourages conversations, scholarship, and art about mortality and mourning. In Dark Archives—captivating and macabre in all the right ways—she has crafted a narrative that is equal parts detective work, academic intrigue, history, and medical curiosity: a book as rare and thrilling as its subject.

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Year of the Tiger

Alice Wong

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • ONE OF USA TODAY'S MUST-READ BOOKS • This groundbreaking memoir offers a glimpse into an activist's journey to finding and cultivating community and the continued fight for disability justice, from the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project

“Alice Wong provides deep truths in this fun and deceptively easy read about her survival in this hectic and ableist society.” —Selma Blair, bestselling author of Mean Baby

In Chinese culture, the tiger is deeply revered for its confidence, passion, ambition, and ferocity. That same fighting spirit resides in Alice Wong.
 
Drawing on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more, Alice uses her unique talent to share an impressionistic scrapbook of her life as an Asian American disabled activist, community organizer, media maker, and dreamer. From her love of food and pop culture to her unwavering commitment to dismantling systemic ableism, Alice shares her thoughts on creativity, access, power, care, the pandemic, mortality, and the future. As a self-described disabled oracle, Alice traces her origins, tells her story, and creates a space for disabled people to be in conversation with one another and the world. Filled with incisive wit, joy, and rage, Wong’s Year of the Tiger will galvanize readers with big cat energy.

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The Other Olympians

Michael Waters

Finalist for the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History and the 2025 Mark Lynton History Prize. Named one of the Best Books of 2024 by The New Yorker, NPR and BookPage.

"Michael Waters performs an Olympian act of storytelling, using the stories of these extraordinary athletes to explore in brilliant detail the struggle for understanding and equality." —Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

The story of the early trans athletes and Olympic bureaucrats who lit the flame for today’s culture wars. 

In December 1935, Zdeněk Koubek, one of the most famous sprinters in European women’s sports, declared he was now living as a man. Around the same time, the celebrated British field athlete Mark Weston, also assigned female at birth, announced that he, too, was a man. Periodicals and radio programs across the world carried the news; both became global celebrities. A few decades later, they were all but forgotten. And in the wake of their transitions, what could have been a push toward equality became instead, through a confluence of bureaucracy, war, and sheer happenstance, the exact opposite: the now all-too-familiar panic around trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming athletes. 

In The Other Olympians, Michael Waters uncovers, for the first time, the gripping true stories of Koubek, Weston, and other pioneering trans and intersex athletes from their era. With dogged research and cinematic flair, Waters also tracks how International Olympic Committee members ignored Nazi Germany’s atrocities in order to pull off the Berlin Games, a partnership that ultimately influenced the IOC’s nearly century-long obsession with surveilling and cataloging gender.

Immersive and revelatory, The Other Olympians is a groundbreaking, hidden-in-the-archives marvel, an inspiring call for equality, and an essential contribution toward understanding the contemporary culture wars over gender in sports.

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Minor Feelings

Cathy Park Hong

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE • A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness

“Brilliant . . . To read this book is to become more human.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen

In development as a television series starring and adapted by Greta Lee • One of Time’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, New Statesman, BuzzFeed, Esquire, The New York Public Library, and Book Riot

Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world.

Binding these essays together is Hong’s theory of “minor feelings.” As the daughter of Korean immigrants, Cathy Park Hong grew up steeped in shame, suspicion, and melancholy. She would later understand that these “minor feelings” occur when American optimism contradicts your own reality—when you believe the lies you’re told about your own racial identity. Minor feelings are not small, they’re dissonant—and in their tension Hong finds the key to the questions that haunt her. 

With sly humor and a poet’s searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.

Praise for Minor Feelings

“Hong begins her new book of essays with a bang. . . .The essays wander a variegated terrain of memoir, criticism and polemic, oscillating between smooth proclamations of certainty and twitches of self-doubt. . . . Minor Feelings is studded with moments [of] candor and dark humor shot through with glittering self-awareness.”The New York Times

“Hong uses her own experiences as a jumping off point to examine race and emotion in the United States.”Newsweek

“Powerful . . . [Hong] brings together memoiristic personal essay and reflection, historical accounts and modern reporting, and other works of art and writing, in order to amplify a multitude of voices and capture Asian America as a collection of contradictions. She does so with sharp wit and radical transparency.”Salon

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The Way Home

This is the story of a 7-year-old boy, Sang-woo, born and raised in the big city, and his mute grandmother, who has spent her whole life in a small rural village.

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The Gown

Jennifer Robson

One of the most anticipated reads from USA Today, InStyle, HelloGiggles, Hypable, Bookbub, and Bookriot!

One of Real Simple's Best Historical Fiction novels of the year!

"For fans of “The Crown,” looking for history served up as intimate drama, and those seeking another angle on royal lives, “The Gown” seems likely to dazzle and delight." – The Washington Post

“The Gown is marvelous and moving, a vivid portrait of female self-reliance in a world racked by the cost of war.”--Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network

From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it.

“Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of color on the long road we have to travel.”

—Sir Winston Churchill on the news of Princess Elizabeth’s forthcoming wedding

London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown.

Toronto, 2016: More than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy from her late grandmother. How did her beloved Nan, a woman who never spoke of her old life in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding almost seventy years before? And what was her Nan’s connection to the celebrated textile artist and holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin?  

With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns in history was created. Balancing behind-the-scenes details with a sweeping portrait of a society left reeling by the calamitous costs of victory, she introduces readers to three unforgettable heroines, their points of view alternating and intersecting throughout its pages, whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love.

 

 

 

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Cry, the Beloved Country

Alan Paton

“The greatest novel to emerge out of the tragedy of South Africa, and one of the best novels of our time.” —The New Republic

“A beautiful novel…its writing is so fresh, its projection of character so immediate and full, its events so compelling, and its understanding so compassionate that to read the book is to share intimately, even to the point of catharsis, in the grave human experience.” —The New York Times

An Oprah Book Club selection, Cry, the Beloved Country, was an immediate worldwide bestseller when it was published in 1948. Alan Paton’s impassioned novel about a black man’s country under white man’s law is a work of searing beauty.

Cry, the Beloved Country, is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.

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An American Tragedy

Theodore Dreiser

An American Masterpiece 

Clyde Griffiths finds his social-climbing aspirations and love for a rich and beautiful debutante threatened when his lower-class pregnant girlfriend gives him an ultimatum.

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A Field Guide to American Houses

Virginia McAlester

Here at last: the fully expanded, updated, and freshly designed second edition of the most comprehensive and widely acclaimed guide to domestic architecture--in print since its publication in 1984, and acknowledged everywhere as the unmatched, essential reference to American houses.

Focusing on dwellings in urban and suburban neighborhoods and rural locations all across the continental United States--houses built over the past three hundred years reflecting every social and economic background--this guide provides in-depth information on the essentials of domestic architecture with facts and frames of reference that will enable you to look in a fresh way at the houses around you. With more than 1,600 detailed photographs and line illustrations, and a lucid, vastly informative text, it will teach you not only to recognize distinct architectural styles but also to understand their historical significance. What does that cornice signify? Or that porch? The shape of that door? The window treatment? When was this house built? What does the style say about its builders and their eras? You'll find the answers to these and myriad other questions in this encyclopedic and eminently practical book.

Here are more than fifty styles and their variants, spanning seven distinct historical periods. Each style is illustrated with a large schematic drawing that highlights its most important identifying features. Additional drawings and photographs provide, at a glance, common alternative shapes, principal subtypes, and close-up views of typical small details--windows, doors, cornices, etc.--that can be difficult to see in full-house illustrations. The accompanying text explains the identifying features of each style, describing where and in what quantity they can be found, discussing all of its notable variants, and tracing their origin and history.

The book's introductory chapters provide invaluable general discussions of construction materials and techniques, house shapes, and the various traditions of architectural fashion that have influenced American house design through the past three centuries. A pictorial key and glossary simplifies identification, connecting easily recognized architectural features--the presence of a tile roof, for example--to the styles in which that feature is likely to be found.

Among the new material included in this edition are chapters on styles that have emerged in the thirty years since the previous edition; a groundbreaking chapter on the development and evolution of American neighborhoods; an appendix on approaches to construction in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; an expanded bibliography; and 600 new photographs and line drawings throughout.

Here is an indispensable resource--both easy and pleasurable to use--for the house lover and the curious tourist, for the house buyer and the weekend stroller, for neighborhood preservation groups, architecture buffs, and everyone who wants to know more about their own homes and communities. It is an invaluable book of American architecture, culture, and history.

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They Became Americans

Loretto Dennis Szucs

America is a nation of immigrants. Through naturalization records, genealogists, historians, and other scholars trace the immigration stores of individuals and groups that traveled from afar to call themselves Americans. They Became Americans provides an accurate, readable, and interesting historical framework for the citizenship process. It suggests ways of finding naturalization records and discusses the weaknesses and strengths of the different types of records. If naturalization records are not to be found, They Became Americans points to a variety of alternative sources for finding immigrant origins.

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Notable American Indians

Alan J. McPherson

 

 

Due primarily to a lack of accurate data, little has been written regarding the life histories of individual American Indians.

 

Biographical Indian sketches that have been published are about a few outstanding individuals, mainly leaders in warfare, such as Tecumseh, Weyapiersenwah or Blue Jacket, and Meshekinnoquah or Little Turtle.

 

The authors of this volume have compiled a broad range of biographical data and have woven them into rewarding personal stories about Indian leaders of the lower Midwest (1700-1850) that will engage the reader's attention.

 

In this book, the reader will discover what life was like for thirty-one notable American Indians of the Miami, Potawatomi Shawnee and Delaware tribes.

 

Many of these notables include renowned warriors and patriots of the Indian cause during the 18th and 19th centuries however, several individuals are peace chiefs and religious leaders, women and white captives. For many of these subjects, their lives were interwoven with each other.

 

In the gathering of this book, the authors have pored over letters, diaries, reports, books and internet and have traveled around the Midwest researching historical society archives, libraries and historic sites.

 

Accompanying the biographies are individual pen and ink drawings that add visual interest to the pages.

 

The authors write with a concerned passion about the historic Indian subjects they selected from the history pages of an earlier time.

 

The reader of American Indian history will profoundly benefit from this biographical compilation that is highly readable and informative.

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James Edwards

Pamala S. Deane

One of Hollywood's most heralded postwar African American movie stars, James Edwards catapulted to stardom following his breakout role in Stanley Kramer's Home of the Brave. In his groundbreaking performance as a U.S. soldier experiencing racial prejudice during combat in the South Pacific, Edwards proved that African American actors could handle serious film roles. Edwards performed on radio, television, and theatre, and appeared in two-dozen or more films, including Stanley Kubrick's breakthrough indie The Killing, John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, and Franklin J. Schaffner's Patton.

This book tells the story of Edwards' life and career, describing his unlikely climb to fame following a serious wartime injury and detailing how this native of Muncie, Indiana, paved the way for the careers of Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and other African American stars to follow.

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This Alien Shore

C. S. Friedman

It is the second age of space colonization. The first age, humanity's initial attempt to people the stars, ended in disaster when it was discovered that Earth's original super-luminal drive did lasting genetic damage to all who used it - permanently mutating Earth's far-flung colonists in mind and body. Abandoned by their home planet, exiles in alien star systems, these variant humans had no choice but to survive any way they could. Jamisia has always lived in Shido Habitat, a corporate satellite in Earth's outer orbit. She has no memories of her parents, but has been nurtured by the fatherly care of her tutor. Protected by her biological brain-ware systems, and accompanied by the many voices in her head, she has grown into a resourceful, if unusual, young woman. When Shido is viciously attacked by corporate raiders, Jamisia's tutor risks his life to smuggle her onto a ship bound for the nearest ainniq - the Gueran jump station to the Up-and-Out. But before he dies, he tells her something which rocks the foundation of her world - the raiders were searching for her....

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The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins

Clint McElroy

Welcome to The Adventure Zone! If your heart sings for Critical Role and Dimension 20, you’ll want to dive right into this gorgeous graphic novel adaptation of the trailblazing D&D podcast, which illustrates exploits of three lovable dummies on their journey from small-time bodyguards to world-class artifact hunters!

Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided ("guided") by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance.

With endearingly off-kilter storytelling from master goofballs Clint McElroy and the McElroy brothers, and vivid, adorable art by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins is the comics equivalent of role-playing in your friend's basement at 2am, eating Cheetos and laughing your ass off as she rolls critical failures and dies to a slime

Praise for The Adventure Zone series:

"Topping the New York Times bestseller list and building out its stories in fascinating new ways . . . it’s become a cultural phenomenon." —Entertainment Weekly

"Full of charm and snark and wit. Join the party!" —Felicia Day, author of Embrace Your Inner Weird

"The Adventure Zone is fun, hilarious, and also smart. Hey, guys, can I have a cameo next time?” —Adam Savage, MythBusters

“My excitement about this existing cannot be dwarfed by anything. You see what I did there.” —Jean Grae, hip-hop artist, actor, and comedian

“Gorgeous art—the characters come to life! I am so happy that this graphic novel is a thing that exists in the world.” —Hank Green, author of Crash Course and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Books in The Adventure Zone series:

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins (Book 1)
The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited (Book 2)
The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal (Book 3)
The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom (Book 4)
The Adventure Zone: The Eleventh Hour (Book 5)
The Adventure Zone: The Suffering Game (Book 6)

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Dead Witch Walking

Kim Harrison

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party ... and to feed.

Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining -- and it’s Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized.

A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead ... or undead.

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How High We Go in the Dark

Sequoia Nagamatsu

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE * ROXANE GAY'S AUDACIOUS BOOK CLUB PICK * FINALIST FOR THE URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE

"Moving and thought-provoking . . . offering psychological insights in lyrical prose while seriously exploring speculative conceits." -- New York Times Book Review

"Haunting and luminous . . . Beautiful and lucid science fiction. An astonishing debut." -- Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta

Recommended by New York Times Book Review * Los Angeles Times * NPR * Washington Post * Wall Street Journal * Entertainment Weekly * Esquire * Good Housekeeping * NBC News * Buzzfeed * Goodreads * The Millions * The Philadelphia Inquirer * Minneapolis Star-Tribune * San Francisco Chronicle * The Guardian * and many more!

For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague--a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice.

In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.

Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects--a pig--develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.

From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.

"Wondrous, and not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape. . . . This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future." -- Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

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The Last Man

Mary Shelley

'The last man! I may well describe that solitary being's feelings, feeling myself as the last relic of a beloved race, my companions extinct before me.' Mary Shelley, Journal (May 1824). Best remembered as the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man eight years later, on returning to England from Italy after her husband's death. It is the twenty-first century, and England is a republic governed by a ruling elite, one of whom, Adrian, Earl of Windsor, has introduced a Cumbrian boy to the circle. This outsider, Lionel Verney, narrates the story, a tale of complicated, tragic love, and of the gradual extermination of the human race by plague. The Last Man also functions as an intriguing roman à clef, for the saintly Adrian is a monument to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his friend Lord Raymond is a portrait of Byron. The novel offers a vision of the future that expresses a reaction against Romanticism, as Shelley demonstrates the failure of the imagination and of art to redeem her doomed characters. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

S. A. Chakraborty

"A thrilling, transportative adventure that is everything promised-Chakraborty's storytelling is fantasy at its best." -- R.F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and The Poppy War

"An exhilarating, propulsive adventure, stitched from the threads of real history, Amina's adventures are the reason to read fantasy." -- Ava Reid, internationally bestselling author of Juniper & Thorn

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman's determined quest to seize a final chance at glory--and write her own legend.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates, she's survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she's tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she's offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade's kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family's future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God's will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there's more to this job, and the girl's disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there's always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power...and the price might be your very soul.

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Railroad Depots of Northern Indiana

David E. Longest

Take a historic excursion across a state that is often mistaken as the home of grain and corn production, and little more. Countless manufacturing centers in northern Indiana strengthened the economic fabric of Hoosier land. The railroads that criss-crossed northern Indiana were instrumental in populating the small towns and larger cities by employing thousands over the course of many years. Through photographs of depots, freight houses, and other railroad structures, long demolished yet an integral part of community development, Railroad Depots of Northern Indiana reviews the history of the cities and towns that used the rail to transport raw materials and finished manufactured products across the state to markets such as Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. This book also tells the story of a short line railroad and the commodities it has transported for the past century, as well as the longest-existing interurban, still operating just south of Lake Michigan, the resilient South Shore Line.

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Indiana Canals

Paul Fatout

Beginning with the first Indiana canal effort in 1804, this narrative deals with the half century of canal agitation in the valleys of the Wabash and Whitewater rivers. The rising tide of enthusiasm for internal improvements reached flood stage in the mammoth system legislation of 1836, which provided for a network of canals throughout the state, several turnpikes and even a few railroads. The Wabash and Earie Canal was eventually completed to Evansville, and for a brief period flourished as a busy carrier of agriculture and industrial products. The White-water Canal also had its useful moments in a checkered career. However, Indiana went bankrupt before the canals were completed, faced with such a heavy debt that for some years the state floundered in a financial morass. Affected by the vagaries of natural forces, the perversities of human nature, and the competition of early railroads, the rise, and fall of these two waterways and the ineffective Central Canal are chartered in this carefully researched and documented history. Men political and otherwise --governors, legislators, canal officials, citizens with vested interests, and articulate voters--who were involved with the improvements mania are brought to life with all their colorful idiosyncrasies. The youthful, over-confident mood of Indiana at the time, especially in the canal towns exhilarated by internal improvements that were supposed to bring progress and prosperity, is captured in this engaging, anecdotal chronicle.

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Central Indiana Interurban

Robert Reed

Early in the 20th century, the mighty interurban provided a link from Indianapolis to nearly every city and village in existence. For little more than five or ten cents, a passenger could journey to Anderson, Franklin, Martinsville, Richmond, or Muncie, and all of the stops along the way. Its hundreds of miles of track provided the Hoosier state with the first mass transit system in history. At its zenith, the Indianapolis Traction Terminal became one of the busiest interurban stations in the world, handling 100,000 cars and over a million passengers annually.Like other titles in Arcadia's Images of Rail series, this book helps preserve an important chapter in our nation's rail history, illustrating how it shaped our landscape, aided our expansion, and accelerated our progress.

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Mapping Indiana

Indiana Historical Society

Over the last 185 the Indiana Historical Society has added cartographic gems to its collection. The scope of the maps maintained by the Society ranges from several Old World views of the North America to more contemporary views of Indiana counties and towns. While the focus of the map collection is broad geographically, its core subject is Indiana and the documentation of the states evolving history. Two introductory essays by noted cartographers relate the history of mapmaking from the early days of maps in America to the present as well as the history of maps in the state. Approximately one hundred maps from the Society's collection are highlighted with brief essays on each.

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Road Trip

Andrea Neal

The bicentennial of Indiana’s statehood in 2016 is the perfect time for Hoosiers of all stripes to hit the road and visit sites that speak to the nineteenth state’s character. In her book, Andrea Neal has selected the top 100 events/historical figures in Indiana history, some well-known like George Rogers Clark, and others obscured by time or memory such as the visit of Marquis de Lafayette to southern Indiana.

These highly readable essays and photographs that accompany them feature a tourist site or landmark that in some way brings the subject to life. This will enable interested Hoosiers to travel the entire state to experience history at firsthand. Related activities and sites  include nature hikes, museums, markers, monuments, and memorials. The sites appear in chronological order, beginning with the impact of the Ice Age on Indiana and ending with the legacy of the bicentennial itself.

 

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Now That Time Has Had Its Say

J. Darrell Bakken

Now That Time Has Had Its Say tells the story of the Indiana Central Canal, from the time when horses and flatboats carried freight and passengers down its length, to today, when museums, office buildings, and condominiums are being built along its banks. The book is the product of more than two years of research by J. Darrell Bakken, retired vice-president of engineering of the Indianapolis Water Company, who worked in previously untapped archives, discovering documents and never-before published photographs which helped yield the history of the twenty-five mile canal.This technical history begins in 1835, when Indiana caught 'canal fever' and began a multi-million dollar project to build a network of canals to transport passengers and freight throughout the state. One section of that project, the Indiana Central Canal, started in northern Marion County in Broad Ripple, continued through the city of Indianapolis, and ended in Johnson County, near the town of Waverly. For more than forty years the canal was a failure both practically and financially. Finally in 1881 the canal became part of the new Indianapolis Water Company, and from then until the current day it has been an important part of the history of the city of Indianapolis.The latter part of the book documents the impact of community leaders such as General Thomas A. Morris, F. A. W. Davis, Hugh M. K. Landon, Clarence H. Geist, and Thomas W. Moses, and reveals how, from the 1970s onward, the downtown canal became a driving force in the transformation of Indianapolis into one of America's most livable cities.

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The Other Side of Middletown

Luke E. Lassiter

Prompted by the overt omission of Muncie's black community from the famous community study by Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, the authors initiated this project to reveal the unrecorded historical and contemporary life of Middletown, a well-known pseudonym for the Midwestern city of Muncie, Indiana. As a collaboration of community and campus, this book recounts the early efforts of Hurley Goodall to develop a community history and archive that told the story of the African American community, and rectify the representation of small town America as exclusively white. The authors designed and implemented a collaborative ethnographic field project that involved intensive interviews, research, and writing between community organizations, local experts, ethnographers, and teams of college students. This book is a unique model for collaborative research, easily accessible to students. It will be a valuable resource for instructors in anthropology, creative writing, sociology, community research, and African American studies.

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The Gas Boom of East Central Indiana

James A. Glass

One of the most dramatic eras in Indiana history, the natural gas boom in the east central region transformed a mostly agricultural area into a major industrial center. The discovery of natural gas created major cities in the place of county seat towns, boomtowns where there had been villages, and factories towering over former farm land. The impact of the boom lived on even after gas itself failed. Through a collection of vintage images, authors James A. Glass and David G. Kohrman provide an overview of the boom era and its legacy in the four county seats of the gas belt: Muncie, Anderson, Kokomo, and Marion, as well as smaller communities such as Elwood, Fairmount, and Gas City.

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Winning Grants Step by Step

Lynn Jenkins English

The gold standard “how-to” manual for writing a winning grant application or proposal, thoroughly updated and revised

In the newly revised sixth edition of Winning Grants Step by Step: The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing and Writing Successful Proposals, a team of veteran nonprofit leaders delivers the most up-to-date and straightforward version of this book yet. This easy-to-read manual enables individuals and organizations alike to combine concepts and research into a strong, effective proposal.

The latest edition explores some of the most relevant developments that have occurred over the last five years, including:

  • New information and strategies for prospect research, including state-of-the art databases and AI-enabled research and prospecting
  • How to use AI for research and writing in a ways that are ethical, transparent, strategic, and efficient
  • Updated resources and information for electronically submitted grants
  • Updated guidelines and tips for federal, state, and local government grants in the US
  • New information about the increasing popularity of Donor Advised Funds (DAFs)
  • Updated discussions about mega-donors (like Mackenzie Scott and Melinda Gates) and how they give

Perfect for nonprofit executives, professionals, fundraisers, grant and proposal writers, and other stakeholders, Winning Grants Step-by-Step is the most clear-cut and simplified “how-to” guide to writing a winning proposal that incorporates the latest changes in the philanthropic sector and nonprofit community.

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The Magnificent 92 Indiana Courthouses, Revised Edition

Jon Dilts

During the last quarter of the 19th century, architects designed new courthouses all over Indiana and a flurry of construction began. About 60 of Indiana's 92 courthouses were built during this time. The years between 1900 and 1930 produced 23 more. By the 1970s, most of the county governments in Indiana were operating out of antiquated, crowded buildings, with a handful choosing to tear down their old structures and rebuild with new materials of glass and steel. While some counties were intent on building larger facilities, most counties were determined to maintain and restore the magnificence of the courthouses of old.

This beautiful book presents Indiana's magnificent collection of 19th century and early 20th century courthouses, their architects, and their history. It is a story in words and photographs of Indiana's 92 county "seats."

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The Natural Heritage of Indiana

Marion T. Jackson

The Natural Heritage of Indiana is the first survey of the natural beauty, heritage, and environmental problems of the state. Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of color photographs by some of the state's best nature photographers, as well as maps, drawings, and diagrams, it also contains essays by 38 of Indiana's leading scholar-teachers and environmental practitioners. This book explores the Indiana landscape, past and present, the seven defined natural regions of the state, and the current plant and animal life, while pondering how the land has been affected by people and how to protect what remains. The Natural Heritage of Indiana is not only a celebration of natural wonders and nature's beauty, it is also a record of misuse and ignorance and a call to arms for those interested in preserving Indiana's environment.

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Indiana's Covered Bridges

Robert Reed

Once there were hundreds of 19th-century and very early 20th-century covered bridges in Indiana--so many in fact, that the state ranked third in the nation in the number of structures still standing. By the early 1930s and 1940s, a movement was afoot to preserve those magnificent structures that had not already disappeared due to desertion and deterioration. Some were saved, but many were not. What was saved and cherished, however, was an abundance of vintage black and white images taken by pioneer photographers who willingly trekked from bridge to bridge decades ago. Captured in this volume are nearly 200 of those photographs from the mid-20th century and before, representing more than 36 Indiana counties from Adams County to Wells County.

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Digital Preservation for Libraries, Archives, and Museums

Edward M. Corrado

This new edition of Digital Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums is the most current, complete guide to digital preservation available today. For administrators and practitioners alike, the information in this book is presented readably, focusing on management issues and best practices. Although this book addresses technology, it is not solely focused on technology. After all, technology changes and digital preservation is aimed for the long term. This is not a how-to book giving step-by-step processes for certain materials in a given kind of system. Instead, it addresses a broad group of resources that could be housed in any number of digital preservation systems. Finally, this book is about "things (not technology; not how-to; not theory) I wish I knew before I got started." Digital preservation is concerned with the life cycle of the digital object in a robust and all-inclusive way. Many Europeans and some North Americans may refer to digital curation to mean the same thing, taking digital preservation to be the very limited steps and processes needed to insure access over the long term. The authors take digital preservation in the broadest sense of the term: looking at all aspects of curating and preserving digital content for long term access. The book is divided into four part: 1.Situating Digital Preservation, 2.Management Aspects, 3.Technology Aspects, and 4.Content-Related Aspects. Digital Preservation will answer questions that you might not have even known you had, leading to more successful digital preservation initiatives.

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Beginner's Guide to Genealogy

W. Daniel Quillen

Quillen Does It Again!

 

Professional genealogist and writer Daniel Quillen has done it again. After writing genealogy books for genealogists of all experience levels, he's focused almost solely on beginning genealogists with his latest book: Beginner's Guide to Genealogy. If you are a beginner to the passion of genealogy (or even if you have some experience and need more!), this up-to-date, concise, and information-packed book will show you tips and tricks, essential records, and websites you need to know to enable you to begin tracing your ancestors - and be successful! Quillen reveals the secrets the pros use in a logical, step-by-step approach in a way that's fun and easy to follow. If you apply the advice in Beginner's Guide to Genealogy, you'll be on your way to finding even your most elusive ancestors.

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Preserving Your Family Photographs

Maureen Alice Taylor

Maureen A. Taylor, author of Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs, provides all the information you need to care for your family photograph collection. She outlines in straightforward steps how to add value to your home collection by using the methods that conservators and photo curators use every day Youll learn how to: * Identify the types of damage already done to the photos in your collection. * Take care of all your photos going forward, so that damage is a thing of the past. * Preserve your digital images - for you and future generations. * Select a conservator to repair damaged photos and protect them from more deterioration. * Select a restoration expert to restore damaged photos using airbrushing, digital manipulation, or photographic enhancements. * Create a stunning scrapbook that will endure, using archival quality guidelines. * Properly handle cased images such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes. * Explore techniques to share your images. * Take advantage of low-cost alternatives to traditional photo preservation techniques.

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Nonprofit Management All-in-One For Dummies

Beverly A. Browning

Learn the ins-and-outs of managing, funding, and handling the accounting for a nonprofit

Nonprofits are not like other businesses. They’re special. It doesn’t matter if you’re launching a career as part of a multi-million dollar organization or a volunteer running your local little league, you’ll need special know-how to navigate the accounting practices and funding needs of a not-for-profit. Nonprofit Management All-in-One For Dummies is your guide for know-how on making a nonprofit organization operate properly. This beginner-friendly reference helps replace your shelf of nonprofit how-to books with a single reference to answer your questions on how to manage a mission-focused organization, build budgets, and raise funds while staying within the confines of the laws governing nonprofits. You'll also find advice on valuable skills like marketing that benefit your organization.

  • Learn how to run a nonprofit organization
  • Find funding for your organization and stay tax compliant
  • Get a grasp on nonprofit accounting principles
  • Market your organization and fulfill your mission

This 5-books-in-1 Dummies guide is excellent for volunteers who step up to run a nonprofit that’s near and dear to their hearts or would-be professional non-profit managers who need advice on how to manage and grow an organization.

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Grant Writing with AI For Dummies

Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts

Supercharge your next grant proposal with the power of AI

A stand-out grant proposals can be the difference between your organization thriving, surviving, or folding. So don't miss the opportunity presented by artificial intelligence (AI) to take your grant proposals to the next level! In Grant Writing with AI For Dummies, business writer extraordinaire Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts delivers an exciting new guide to supercharging your next grant proposal with AI. She's helped countless organizations win millions of dollars in funding.

In the book:

  • Boost your chances of being selected for funding.
  • Craft inspiring stories that tug at reviewer's heartstrings and wallets.
  • Learn to write spot-on executive summaries.
  • Crack the keyword code so electronic scanners notice you.
  • Find loads of examples of actual AI output in addition to AI websites.

With AI as your virtual assistant, you have a secret weapon to take your grant proposals to the next level. Grab a copy of Grant Writing with AI For Dummies today and see the difference a dash of AI can make!

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Impact Redefined

Nick Lynch

Create opportunities for your nonprofit or social enterprise with partnerships and social media

In Impact Redefined: Transforming Partnerships, Social Moments, and Personal Connections to Drive Change, social entrepreneur and advisor Nick Lynch delivers an insightful exploration of how to use a variety of social opportunities to your advantage. Easy-to-understand, this book is for folks who desire positive change and are looking for strategies to create long-lasting impact via partnerships, real-life opportunities, and social media. You’ll discover the importance of self-branding, nurturing healthy collaborations and connections, championing empathy, and multiplying impact through relationships.

In the book, you’ll find:

  • Methods for developing social moments to foster connection and build community
  • Tips for building and maintaining successful partnerships and collaborations with influencers and other people
  • Ways to nurture human connections to form a wider network that benefits your social organization

A can’t-miss roadmap to maximizing your impact on your community and the wider world around you, Impact Redefined is an essential resource for social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and other philanthropically minded professionals.

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Finding Your Hispanic Roots

George R. Ryskamp

This is quite possibly the most useful manual on Hispanic ancestry ever published. Building on the previously published Tracing Your Hispanic Heritage (1984), it provides detailed information on the records, sources, and reference works used in research in all major Hispanic countries.

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Still Here

Mike Floyd

Still Here is a pictorial of several participating individuals in Indiana's Native American Culture, Activities and events throughout the State. Contains a listing of Powwows, Groups, Businesses, Dictonary, places, names and more. Full color pictures from several State Wide Powwows and events

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The Other Side of Middletown

Luke E. Lassiter

Prompted by the overt omission of Muncie's black community from the famous community study by Robert S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, the authors initiated this project to reveal the unrecorded historical and contemporary life of Middletown, a well-known pseudonym for the Midwestern city of Muncie, Indiana. As a collaboration of community and campus, this book recounts the early efforts of Hurley Goodall to develop a community history and archive that told the story of the African American community, and rectify the representation of small town America as exclusively white. The authors designed and implemented a collaborative ethnographic field project that involved intensive interviews, research, and writing between community organizations, local experts, ethnographers, and teams of college students. This book is a unique model for collaborative research, easily accessible to students. It will be a valuable resource for instructors in anthropology, creative writing, sociology, community research, and African American studies.

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The German-Americans

Willi Paul Adams

From “We present this essay, a translation from the German, as an example of one ethnic group’s experience in the United States. At a time, when ethnic or nationalist conflicts have caused some countries to disintegrate, ethnicity has become associated with nationalist passions, fundamentalist ideology and religious fervor. Actually, the term ‘ethnicity’ refers to group identification, to things held in common, such as language, cultural values, and history. It is about our lives as part of deeply-felt traditions, about cultural identity, belonging and understanding, based on these commonalities. After a half century of dormancy, the interest in roots re-awakened; in the United States during the 1960s, ethnicity has become respectable. In the political arena this resulted in demands for, and acceptance of, civil rights, the eschewing of once popular ethnic jokes and slurs, and an affirmative approach to cultivating the status of minorities. In family circles it generated a vigorous pursuit of genealogy and heritage which today is fostered by ready access to records. These include microfilms of federal manuscript censuses, the Latter-day Saints’ Library in Salt Lake City which opened its vast records to the public, and organizations and commercial services that have arisen in many countries to assist the researcher. And it has led to affirming the United States as a multicultural nation, not a melting pot, but a patchwork quilt, in which the various elements are a source of strength and pride. The motto of the United States, e pluribus Unum (One out of many), reminds us that each generation is called upon to work toward ethnic and racial harmony and to overcome tensions and violence born out of indifference, misunderstanding and distrust. Professor Adams’ essay wants to be such a reminder.”--LaVern J. Rippley, Eberhard Reichmann

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Muncie, India(na): Middletown and Asian America

Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Muncie, Indiana, remains the epitome of an American town. Yet scholars built the image of so-called typical communities across the United States on an illusion. Their decades of studies ignored the racial, ethnic, and religious diversity and tensions woven into the American communities that Muncie supposedly embodied. Himanee Gupta-Carlson puts forth an essential question: what do nonwhites, non-Christians, and/or non-natives mean when they call themselves American? A daughter in one of Muncie's first Indian American families, Gupta-Carlson merges personal experience, the life histories of others, and critical analysis to explore the answers. Her stories of members of Muncie's South Asian communities unearth the silences imposed by past studies while challenging the body of scholarship in fundamental ways. At the same time, Gupta-Carlson shares personal memories and experiences that illuminate her place within the historical, political, and socio-cultural currents she engages in her work. It also reveals how that work informs and transforms her as a scholar and a person. As meditative as it is insightful, Muncie, India(na) invites readers to feel the truth of the fascinating stories behind one woman's revised portrait of an American community.

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A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Immigrant & Ethnic Ancestors

Sharon DeBartolo Carmack

Research techniques specific to the reader's own ancestors' national and ethnic backgrounds enable them to learn where and how to find information they need. Ethnic research techniques and ethnic resources make this book unique from any we've ever published. Ethnic research techniques lead researchers to records based on customs or migration patterns of specific ethnic groups. Ethnic resources are organized around national and cultural backgrounds rather than geography and social statuses such as married, divorced, sued, and so on. Clear, authoritative instruction typifies both the content of this book and the reputation of its author, Sharon DeBartolo Carmack.

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They Came in Ships

John Philip Colletta

Chances are excellent that your ancestors came to America from somewhere-England, Spain, Germany, China, Africa. Can you imagine how they felt as they left their homes, what they left behind? Do you want to know? Would you know where to even start looking for the details? Author and genealogist John P. Colletta prepares you to undertake the search. He tells you not only what fundamental facts you need to know about your immigrant ancestor before beginning, but suggests where you may find that information as well.

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Partnerships Reimagined

Linda Garnett

Times are tough for non-profits. Funding is harder to come by, so they have to be creative to survive and thrive. Yet, ask most non-profits about corporate partnerships and they look blank or offer a sheaf of rejection letters. That's because they've focused solely on the money.

Modern partnerships are less about an exchange of value and more about creating new value together. In the face of pressure from customers and investors to respond to societal issues, corporates are seeking to engage with strong social purpose programs.

Every non-profit has the potential for partnership success. Succeeding means moving away from the traditional models of philanthropy, sponsorship and cause-related marketing to explore collaborative partnerships that deliver business value and social impact.

You just need a roadmap to get there.

Partnerships Reimagined is a guide for non-profits starting out in corporate partnerships. It provides the foundational elements to successfully avoid the pitfalls, mistakes and trials the authors experienced across their decades of corporate strategy and non-profit fundraising.

The book is full of easy-to-use tools, techniques and templates that you can immediately put into practice. They will change your view of corporate partnerships and inspire you with the potential for your organisation.

If you want to raise more funds and create lasting social impact, this is the way to get started.

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The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again

J. R. R. Tolkien

A great modern classic and the prelude to THE LORD OF THE RINGS Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum. "A glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible . . . All those, young or old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will take The Hobbit to their hearts." ? New York Times Book Review.

Source: Publisher

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The Wonder

Emma Donoghue

Now a Netflix film starring Florence Pugh: In this “old-school page turner” (Stephen King, New York Times Book Review) by the bestselling author of Room, an English nurse is brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle—a girl said to have survived without food for months—and soon finds herself fighting to save the child's life.

Tourists flock to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell, who believes herself to be living off manna from heaven, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensation. Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale's Crimean campaign, is hired to keep watch over the girl.

Written with all the propulsive tension that made Room a huge bestseller, The Wonder works beautifully on many levels -- a tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a powerful psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.

Acclaim for The Wonder:

"Deliciously gothic.... Dark and vivid, with complicated characters, this is a novel that lodges itself deep" (USA Today, 3/4 stars)

"Heartbreaking and transcendent"(New York Times)

"A fable as lean and discomfiting as Anna's dwindling body.... Donoghue keeps us riveted" (Chicago Tribune)

"Donoghue poses powerful questions about faith and belief" (Newsday)

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The Anxious Generation

Jonathan Haidt

THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A Wall Street Journal Top 10 Book of 2024 • A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book • One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2024 • A TIME 100 Must-Read Book of 2024 • Named a Best Book of 2024 by the Economist, the New York Post, and Town & Country • The Goodreads Choice Award Nonfiction Book of the Year

A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.” —Shannon Carlin, TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.

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Ruby Red

Kerstin Gier

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era!
Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon—the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.
Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red is young adult novel full of fantasy and romance.

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The Hunter

Tana French

A New York Times Bestseller • A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 • A New York Times Best Crime and Best Thriller Novel of 2024 • A Washington Post Best Thriller of 2024 • An NPR, New York Post, Chicago Sun-Times, and Globe and Mail Best Book of 2024 • A Wall Street Journal, Parade, and AirMail Best Mystery Book of 2024 • An Elle Best Mystery and Thriller Book of 2024 

“Extraordinary.”—Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post

“Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family.” —TIME

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.

It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.

Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” (The New York Times), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.

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Falling

T. J. Newman

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Terrifying…buckle up for a chilling summer read.” —People (Best Books of the Week)
“The perfect thriller! A must-read.” —Gillian Flynn
“Stunning and relentless. This is Jaws at 35,000 feet.” —Don Winslow

You just boarded a flight to New York.

There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.

What you don’t know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.

The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.

Enjoy the flight.

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Howl’s Moving Castle

Diana Wynne Jones

Now an animated movie from Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, the oscar-winning director of Spirited Away

In this beloved modern classic, young Sophie Hatter from the land of Ingary catches the unwelcome attention of the Witch of the Waste and is put under a spell . . .

Deciding she has nothing more to lose, Sophie makes her way to the moving castle that hovers on the hills above her town, Market Chipping. But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl, whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the souls of young girls...

There Sophie meets Michael, Howl’s apprentice, and Calcifer the fire demon, with whom she agrees a pact. Her entanglements with Calcifer, Howl and Michael and her quest to break her curse come alive with Diana Wynne Jones’s unique combination of magic, humour and imagination.

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The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell

Chris Colfer

Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change.

When the twins' grandmother gives them a treasured fairy-tale book, they have no idea they're about to enter a land beyond all imagining: the Land of Stories, where fairy tales are real.

But as Alex and Conner soon discover, the stories they know so well haven't ended in this magical land - Goldilocks is now a wanted fugitive, Red Riding Hood has her own kingdom, and Queen Cinderella is about to become a mother!

The twins know they must get back home somehow. But with the legendary Evil Queen hot on their trail, will they ever find the way?

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell brings readers on a thrilling quest filled with magic spells, laugh-out-loud humour and page-turning adventure.

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How Y'all Doing?

Leslie Jordan

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

Viral sensation and Emmy Award-winner Leslie Jordan regales fans with entertaining stories about the odd, funny, and unforgettable events in his life in this unmissable essay collection that echoes his droll, irreverent voice.

When actor Leslie Jordan learned he had “gone viral,” he had no idea what that meant or how much his life was about to change. On Instagram, his uproarious videos have entertained millions and have made him a global celebrity. Now, he brings his bon vivance to the page with this collection of intimate and sassy essays.

Bursting with color and life, dripping with his puckish Southern charm, How Y’all Doing? is Leslie doing what Leslie does best: telling stories that make us laugh and lift our spirits even in the darkest days. Whether he’s writing about his brush with a group of ruffians in a West Hollywood Starbucks, or an unexpected phone call from legendary Hollywood start Debbie Reynolds, Leslie infuses each story with his fresh and saucy humor and pure heart.

How Y’all Doing? is an authentic, warm, and joyful portrait of an American Sweetheart— a Southern Baptist celebutante, first-rate raconteur, and keen observer of the odd side of life whose quirky wit rivals the likes of Amy Sedaris, Jenny Lawson, David Rakoff, and Sarah Vowell.

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The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat

Edward Kelsey Moore

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STREAMING ON HULU •  A warmhearted, "complex, believable, and always intriguing story” (The New York Journal of Books) that celebrates female friendship and second chances

This diner in Plainview, Indiana is home away from home for Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean. Dubbed "The Supremes" by high school pals in the tumultuous 1960s, they’ve weathered life’s storms for over four decades and counseled one another through marriage and children, happiness and the blues 

Now, however, they’re about to face their most challenging year yet. Proud, talented Clarice is struggling to keep up appearances as she deals with her husband’s humiliating infidelities; beautiful Barbara Jean is rocked by the tragic reverberations of a youthful love affair; and fearless Odette is about to embark on the most terrifying battle of her life. 

With wit, style and sublime talent, Edward Kelsey Moore brings together three devoted allies in a warmhearted novel that celebrates female friendship and second chances.

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The Love of My Afterlife

Kirsty Greenwood

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK 

AN INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER! 

"This book has it all. Humor, heart, and a heroine I was desperately rooting for. Kirsty Greenwood has a new fan!”
—Colleen Hoover, New York Times bestselling author

A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up…

If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only did she just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, but now she’s standing in her ‘shine like a star’ nightie in front of the hottest man she’s ever seen. And he’s smiling at her.

As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise. That is until someone comes running out of a door, yelling something about a huge mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth. And here Delphie was thinking her luck might be different in the afterlife.  

When Delphie is offered a deal in which she can return to earth and reconnect with the mysterious man, she jumps at the opportunity to find her possible soulmate and a fresh start. But in a city of millions, Delphie is going to have to listen to her heart, learn to ask for help, and perhaps even see the magic in the life she’s leaving behind…

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Black's Law Dictionary

Bryan A. Garner

For more than a century, Black's Law Dictionary has been the gold standard for the language of law. This edition contains more than 50,000 terms, including more than 7,500 terms new to this edition. It also features expanded bibliographic coverage, definitions of more than 1,000 law-related abbreviations and acronyms, and reviewed and edited Latin maxims.

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Black Power Encyclopedia

Akinyele Umoja

An invaluable resource that documents the Black Power Movement by its cultural representation and promotion of self-determination and self-defense, and showcases the movement's influence on Black communities in America from 1965 to the mid-1970s.
Unlike the Civil Rights Movement's emphasis on the rhetoric and practice of nonviolence and social and political goal of integration, Black Power was defined by the promotion of Black self-determination, Black consciousness, independent Black politics, and the practice of armed self-defense. Black Power changed communities, curriculums, and culture in the United States and served as an inspiration for social justice internationally. This unique two-volume set provides readers with an understanding of Black Power's important role in the turbulence, social change, and politics of the 1960s and 1970s in America and how the concepts of the movement continue to influence contemporary Black politics, culture, and identity.

Cross-disciplinary and broad in its approach, Black Power Encyclopedia: From "Black Is Beautiful" to Urban Uprisings explores the emergence and evolution of the Black Power Movement in the United States some 50 years ago. The entries examine the key players, organizations and institutions, trends, and events of the period, enabling readers to better understand the ways in which African Americans broke through racial barriers, developed a positive identity, and began to feel united through racial pride and the formation of important social change organizations. The encyclopedia also covers the important impact of the more militant segments of the movement, such as Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers.

Gives students and general readers a comprehensive overview of the Black Power Movement and an understanding of its importance within the turbulence and politics of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States as well as in the context of modern-day civil rights

  • Provides insight into important concepts such as Black self-determination, Black consciousness, independent Black politics, and independent institutions
  • Features contributions from premier Black Power scholars as well as Black Power activists
  • Offers topical and biographical entries, a timeline of events, and a bibliography of key print and nonprint sources of additional information

 

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The Complete Encyclopedia of African American History

Celebrate the Achievements . . .

The Complete Encyclopedia of African American History chronicles 400 years of African American history. This comprehensive resource explores the past, the progress, and the present of African Americans in four volumes, each building, complementing, and expanding on the previous volume.

* Volume 1: 400 Years of Achievement presents four centuries of noteworthy accomplishments through a fascinating mix of biographies--including more than 750 influential figures--little-known or misunderstood historical facts, and enlightening essays on significant legislation and movements.
* Volume 2: Notable Firsts is an exhilarating listing of the accomplishments of black Americans in the arts, business, education, the military, medicine and science, and sports.
* Volume 3: Heroes and Heroines is an eclectic mix of profiles of 150 well-known and lesser-known individuals who have made a lasting and profound impact on our culture.
* Volume 4: Civil Rights Feats and Facts details the important people, places, and events of the black struggle for freedom.

The Complete Encyclopedia of African American History showcases a legacy of pride, struggle, and triumph through consequential events and people, covering milestones and challenges met while highlighting the considerable contributions African Americans have made to the fabric of American society and culture. It provides insights on--and inspiration from--the influence and impact of African Americans on the United States in a broad range of endeavors from politics, education, religion, business, science, medicine, the military, sports, literature, music, dance, theater, art, film, television, and more.

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Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895

Paul Finkelman

It is impossible to understand America without understanding the history of African Americans. In nearly seven hundred entries, the Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895 documents the full range of the African American experience during that period - from the arrival of the first slave ship to the death of Frederick Douglass - and shows how all aspects of American culture, history, and national identity have been profoundly influenced by the experience of African Americans.The Encyclopedia covers an extraordinary range of subjects. Major topics such as "Abolitionism," "Black Nationalism," the "Civil War," the "Dred Scott case," "Reconstruction," "Slave Rebellions and Insurrections," the "Underground Railroad," and "Voting Rights" are given the in-depth treatment one would expect. But the encyclopedia also contains hundreds of fascinating entries on less obvious subjects, such as the "African Grove Theatre," "Black Seafarers," "Buffalo Soldiers," the "Catholic Church and African Americans," "Cemeteries and Burials," "Gender," "Midwifery," "New York African Free Schools," "Oratory and Verbal Arts," "Religion and Slavery," the "Secret Six," and much more. In addition, the Encyclopedia offers brief biographies of important African Americans - as well as white Americans who have played a significant role in African American history - from Crispus Attucks, John Brown, and Henry Ward Beecher to Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Sarah Grimke, Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner, Phillis Wheatley, and many others.All of the Encyclopedia's alphabetically arranged entries are accessibly written and free of jargon and technical terms. To facilitate ease of use, many composite entries gather similar topics under one headword. The entry for Slave Narratives, for example, includes three subentries: The Slave Narrative in America from the Colonial Period to the Civil War, Interpreting Slave Narratives, and African and British Slave Narratives. A headnote detailing the various subentries introduces each composite entry. Selective bibliographies and cross-references appear at the end of each article to direct readers to related articles within the Encyclopedia and to primary sources and scholarly works beyond it. A topical outline, chronology of major events, nearly 300 black and white illustrations, and comprehensive index further enhance the work's usefulness.

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Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century

Paul Finkelman

Focusing on the making of African American society from the 1896 "separate but equal" ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson up to the contemporary period, this encyclopedia traces the transition from the Reconstruction Era to the age of Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, the Brown ruling that overturned Plessy, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ascendant influence of African American culture on the American cultural landscape.Covering African American history in all areas of U.S. history and culture from 1896 to the present, the Encyclopedia contains approximately 1,200 fully cross-referenced entries that are all signed by leading scholars and experts, making this five-volume set the most reliable and extensive treatment to be found on African American history in the twentieth century. The set also contains 500 images and roughly 640 biographies, as well as an entry on each of the fifty states. In addition to its comprehensive coverage of African Americans, the Encyclopedia also contains entries about key figures who affected the lives of African Americans in particular and Americans in general. Unrivalled in breadth and scope, this is the preeminent source of information on this topic and is destined to become a trusted reference source for years to come.

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Black Women in America

Darlene Clark Hine (Editor)

Winner of the Dartmouth Medal for Outstanding Reference Publication of 1994, the first edition of Black Women in America broke ground - pulling together for the first time all of the research in this vast but underrepresented field to provide one of the strongest building blocks of Black Women's Studies. Hailed by Eric Foner of Columbia University (for a Lingua Franca survey) as "one of those publishing events which changes the way we look at a field," it simultaneously filled a void in the literature and sparked new research and concepts regarding African American women in history.

Since the first edition was published, a new generation of American black women has flourished, demanding this landmark reference be brought up to date. Women such as Venus and Serena Williams, Condoleez...

Source: Publisher

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Legends & Lattes

Travis Baldree

"The much-beloved BookTok sensation from Travis Baldree, Legends & Lattes is a novel of high fantasy and low stakes. The new paperback edition will include a very special, never-before-seen bonus story, Pages to Fill. Come take a load off at Viv's cafe, the first & only coffee shop in Thune. Grand opening! Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve. "Take a break from epic battles and saving the world. Legends & Lattes is a wholesome, cozy novel that feels like a warm hug. This is my new comfort read"--Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch's Heart"--

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Fundraising for Social Change

Kim Klein

A popular fundraising blueprint for small- to mid-sized nonprofit organizations

In the newly revised Eighth Edition of Fundraising for Social Change, two nonprofit leadership veterans deliver a hands-on, how-to guide to establishing and expanding a diverse base of donors. The authors maintain a focus on groups working toward racial, economic, and climate justice, providing trustworthy and relevant information that can be easily understood.

The book includes a free Instructor's Manual, as well as access to supplementary online content with additional resources. Readers will also find:

  • "Spotlight" sections highlighting the reflections and wisdom of a varied group of fundraisers
  • Insightful explorations about managing fundraising, including establishing a fundraising infrastructure, hiring a development director, and using consultants and coaches
  • Discussions of budgeting and planning, as well as how to handle significant financial trouble

An indispensable resource for nonprofit board members, managers, founders, and employees, Fundraising for Social Change is a must-read roadmap to raising money. It belongs on the bookshelves of leaders, activists and organizers seeking to advance racial, economic, environmental or social justice.

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The House of Doors

Twan Eng Tan

It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer and his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert's, comes to stay. Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of his day. But he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write. The more Lesley's friendship with Willie grows, the more clearly she see him as he is - a man who has no choice but to mask his true self. As Willie prepares to leave and face his demons, Lesley confides secrets of her own, including how she came to know the charismatic Dr Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary fighting to overthrow the imperial dynasty of China. And more scandalous still, she reveals her connection to the case of an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts - a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.

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Stalingrad (2013, R)

Fedor Bondarchuk (director)

Stalingrad directed by Fedor Bondarchuk and starring Mariya Smolnikova, Yanina Studilina, and Pyotr Fyodorov.

 Synopsis from IMDb:

A group of Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to two Russian women who have been living there.

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Fruit of the Drunken Tree

Ingrid Rojas Contreras

"When women of color write history, we see the world as we have never seen it before. In Fruit of the Drunken Tree, Ingrid Rojas Contreras honors the lives of girls who witness war. Brava! I was swept up by this story."--SANDRA CISNEROS, author of The House on Mango Street. A mesmerizing debut set against the backdrop of the devastating violence of 1990's Colombia about a sheltered young girl and a teenage maid who strike an unlikely friendship that threatens to undo them both. Seven-year-old Chula and her older sister Cassandra enjoy carefree lives thanks to their gated community in Bogotá, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo Escobar continues to elude authorities and capture the attention of the nation. When their mother hires Petrona, a live-in-maid from the city's guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula makes it her mission to understand Petrona's mysterious ways. But Petrona's unusual behavior belies more than shyness. She is a young woman crumbling under the burden of providing for her family as the rip tide of first love pulls her in the opposite direction. As both girls' families scramble to maintain stability amidst the rapidly escalating conflict, Petrona and Chula find themselves entangled in a web of secrecy that will force them both to choose between sacrifice and betrayal. Inspired by the author's own life, and told through the alternating perspectives of the willful Chula and the achingly hopeful Petrona, Fruit of the Drunken Tree contrasts two very different, but inextricable coming-of-age stories. In lush prose, Rojas Contreras sheds light on the impossible choices women are often forced to make in the face of violence and the unexpected connections that can blossom out of desperation.

Source: Publisher

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The Persian Version (2017, NR)

Maryam Keshavarz (Director)

The Persian Version directed by Maryam Keshavarz and starring Layla Mohammadi, Niousha Noor, and Kamand Shafieisabet.

Synopsis from IMDb:

When a large Iranian-American family gathers, a family secret is uncovered that catapults the estranged mother and daughter into an exploration of the past and to discover they are more alike than they know.

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Educated

Tara Westover

#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University
 
“Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.”—The New York Times
 
NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book Prize
 
Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
 
“Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—Vogue

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, The Economist, Financial Times, Newsday, New York Post, theSkimm, Refinery29, Bloomberg, Self, Real Simple, Town & Country, Bustle, Paste, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, LibraryReads, Book Riot, Pamela Paul, KQED, New York Public Library

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In Defense of Witches

Mona Chollet

Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a “brilliant, well-documented” celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and independence in the face of misogyny and persecution.

Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed?

Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be harrassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history, the persecution of witches is an example of society’s seemingly eternal misogyny, while women today are direct descendants to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions.

With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who live their lives on their own terms.

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Of Time and Turtles

Sy Montgomery

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * AMAZON EDITOR’S PICK and BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * INDIE BESTSELLER * A SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE'S BEST SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR * THE WASHINGTON POST'S BEST NONFICTION OF THE YEAR PICK * A NEW SCIENTIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR *THE PERFECT GIFT FOR NATURE LOVERS * INCLUDES GORGEOUS ARTWORK *

"Montgomery's heart-tugging conversations with teammates and her commitment to helping an octogenarian named Fire Chief reveal turtles to be perfect conduits for meditations on aging, disability and chosen family.” —Scientific American

National Book Award finalist for The Soul of an Octopus and New York Times bestseller Sy Montgomery turns her journalistic curiosity to the wonder and wisdom of our long-lived cohabitants—turtles—and through their stories of hope and rescue, reveals to us astonishing new perspectives on time and healing. For fans of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year and An Immense World.

When acclaimed naturalist Sy Montgomery and wildlife artist Matt Patterson arrive at Turtle Rescue League, they are greeted by hundreds of turtles recovering from injury and illness. Endangered by cars and highways, pollution and poachers, these turtles—with wounds so severe that even veterinarians would have dismissed them as fatal—are given a second chance at life. The League’s founders, Natasha and Alexxia, live by one motto: Never give up on a turtle.

But why turtles? What is it about them that inspires such devotion? Ancient and unhurried, long-lived and majestic, their lineage stretches back to the time of the dinosaurs. Some live to two hundred years, or longer. Others spend months buried under cold winter water. Montgomery turns to these little understood yet endlessly surprising creatures to probe the eternal question: How can we make peace with our time?

In pursuit of the answer, Sy and Matt immerse themselves in the delicate work of protecting turtle nests, incubating eggs, rescuing sea turtles, and releasing hatchlings to their homes in the wild. We follow the snapping turtle Fire Chief on his astonishing journey as he battles against injuries incurred by a truck.

Hopeful and optimistic, Of Time and Turtles is an antidote to the instability of our frenzied world. Elegantly blending science, memoir, and philosophy, and drawing on cultures from across the globe, this compassionate portrait of injured turtles and their determined rescuers invites us all to slow down and slip into turtle time.

  • Perfect gift for nature lovers.
  • Includes a signature of photos plus stunning, photo-realistic full color paintings and black-and-white chapter opener art by wildlife artist Matt Patterson.
  • Read more books by Sy Montgomery such as How to Be a Good Creature and The Soul of an Octopus.
  • Don't miss The Book of Turtles for children.
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Iron Widow

Xiran Jay Zhao

Instant New York Times No.1 Bestseller. A YA Pacific Rim meets the Handmaid’s Tale retelling of the rise of Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history.

I have no faith in love. Love cannot save me. I choose vengeance.

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises – giant transforming robots that battle aliens beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that their female co-pilots are expected to serve as concubines and often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, her plan is to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But after miraculously surviving her first battle, Zetian sets her sights on a mightier goal. The time has come to stop more girls from being sacrificed.

‘This is the historical-inspired, futuristic sci-fi mash-up of my wildest dreams.’ Chloe Gong

‘Raging against the patriarchy in spectacular style.’ Observer, best books of the year

‘Zetian is unstoppable, and I dare you not to cheer her on.’ Elizabeth Lim, author of Spin the Dawn

A New York Times bestseller, Oct 10 2021

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Jade City

Fonda Lee

In this World Fantasy Award-winning novel of magic and kungfu, four siblings battle rival clans for honor and power in an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis. 

*Named one of TIME's Top 100 Fantasy Books Of All Time
​* World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, winner

Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed for -- and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion.

Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon's bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation.

When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone -- even foreigners -- wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones -- and of Kekon itself.

Praise for Jade City: 

"An epic drama reminiscent of the best classic Hong Kong gangster films but set in a fantasy metropolis so gritty and well-imagined that you'll forget you're reading a book." --Ken Liu, Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author

"A beautifully realized setting, a great cast of characters, and dramatic action scenes. What a fun, gripping read!" --Ann Leckie, Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author

"An instantly absorbing tale of blood, honor, family and magic, spiced with unexpectedly tender character beats." --NPR

The Green Bone Saga
Jade City
Jade War
Jade Legacy

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Red Rising

Pierce Brown

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. 

Red Rising ascends above a crowded dys­topian field.”—USA Today

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, Shelf Awareness

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power.  He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Praise for Red Rising

“[A] spectacular adventure . . . one heart-pounding ride . . . Pierce Brown’s dizzyingly good debut novel evokes The Hunger Games, Lord of the Flies, and Ender’s Game. . . . [Red Rising] has everything it needs to become meteoric.”Entertainment Weekly

“Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow.”—Scott Sigler

Red Rising is a sophisticated vision. . . . Brown will find a devoted audience.”Richmond Times-Dispatch

Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER

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Downbelow Station

C. J. Cherryh

The Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel about a space station caught in the crosshairs of an interstellar war—perfect for fans of space opera and military science fiction!

“A hell of a story.” —io9

The Beyond started with the Stations orbiting the stars nearest Earth. The Great Circle the interstellar freighters traveled was long, but not unmanageable, and the early Stations were emotionally and politically dependent on Mother Earth. The Earth Company which ran this immense operation reaped incalculable profits and influenced the affairs of nations.

Then came Pell, the first station centered around a newly discovered living planet. The discovery of Pell’s World forever altered the power balance of the Beyond. Earth was no longer the anchor which kept this vast empire from coming adrift, the one living mote in a sterile universe.

But Pell was just the first living planet. Then came Cyteen, and later others, and a new and frighteningly different society grew in the farther reaches of space. The importance of Earth faded and the Company reaped ever smaller profits as the economic focus of space turned outward. But the powerful Earth Fleet was sitll a presence in the Beyond, and Pell Station was to become the last stronghold in a titanic struggle between the vast, dynamic forces of the rebel Union and those who defended Earth's last, desperate grasp for the stars.

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The Lies of Locke Lamora

Scott Lynch

The first book of the epic fantasy caper Gentleman Bastard Sequence about a roguish group of conmen, which George R. R. Martin says “captured me right on the first page and never let me go.”
 
“If you haven’t read [The Lies of Locke Lamora], you should. If you have read it, you should probably read it again.”—Patrick Rothfuss

An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges relentless danger, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentlemen Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.
 
Don’t miss any of Scott Lynch’s epic fantasy Gentleman Bastard Sequence:
THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA • RED SEAS UNDER RED SKIES • THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES

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The Book of Koli

M. R. Carey

"This is a beautiful book. Gripping, engaging, and absolutely worth the time it takes to burrow yourself into its reality. I can't recommend it highly enough." —Seanan McGuire

The first in a masterful new trilogy from acclaimed author M. R. Carey, The Book of Koli begins the story of a young boy on a journey through a strange and deadly world of our making. 

Everything that lives hates us...

Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable landscape. A place where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will.

Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He believes the first rule of survival is that you don't venture too far beyond the walls.

He's wrong.

"A captivating start to what promises to be an epic post-apocalyptic fable." Kirkus

"Enthralling...Koli embarks upon a journey as perilous as it is enlightening."Guardian

"The best thing I've read in a long time. I loved it." —Joanne Harris

"Carey hefts astonishing storytelling power with plainspoken language, heartbreaking choices, and sincerity like an arrow to the heart." Locus

Look out for the next novels in the trilogy: The Trials of Koli and The Fall of Koli

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What Middletown Read

Frank Felsenstein

The discovery of a large cache of circulation records from the Muncie, Indiana, Public Library in 2003 offers unprecedented detail about American reading behavior at the turn of the twentieth century. Frank Felsenstein and James J. Connolly have mined these records to produce an in-depth account of print culture in Muncie, the city featured in the famed "Middletown" studies conducted by Robert and Helen Lynd almost a century ago. Using the data assembled and made public through the What Middletown Read Database (www.bsu.edu/libraries/wmr), a celebrated new resource the authors helped launch, Felsenstein and Connolly analyze the borrowing choices and reading culture of social groups and individuals.

What Middletown Read is much more than a statistical study. Felsenstein and Connolly dig into diaries, meeting minutes, newspaper reports, and local histories to trace the library's development in relation to the city's cosmopolitan aspirations, to profile individual readers, and to explore such topics as the relationship between children's reading and their schooling and what books were discussed by local women's clubs. The authors situate borrowing patterns and reading behavior within the contexts of a rapidly growing, culturally ambitious small city, an evolving public library, an expanding market for print, and the broad social changes that accompanied industrialization in the United States. The result is a rich, revealing portrait of the place of reading in an emblematic American community.

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How Dear to My Heart

Emily Kimbrough

Best known for Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, written with Cornelia Otis Skinner, Emily Kimbrough was one of the most popular writers of this century. How Dear to My Heart, first published in 1944, is her tribute to a happy childhood spent in Muncie, Indiana, a humorous glance over her shoulder at the way things used to be.

This is more than a funny book, a period piece. Dignity and love are never quaint. They were the essence of this civilization. They are the essence of a book which is going to be dear to a lot of hearts besides the author." --Boston Globe (on the original publication)

... poignant, evocative, humorous." --Indiana Magazine of History

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Muncie, Indiana, in Vintage Postcards

Milton A. Masing

From the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication, and many of the postcards produced during this "golden age" can today be considered works of art. Postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of the nation snapping photographs of busy street scenes, documenting local landmarks, and assembling crowds of local children only too happy to pose for a picture. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the country, survive as telling reminders of an important era in America's history. This fascinating new history of Muncie, Indiana, showcases more than two hundred of the best vintage postcards available.

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Andrew Carnegie

David Nasaw

Majestically told and based on materials not available to any previous biographer, the definitive life of Andrew Carnegie-one of American business's most iconic and elusive titans-by the bestselling author of The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst. Celebrated historian David Nasaw, whom The New York Times Book Reviewhas called "a meticulous researcher and a cool analyst," brings new life to the story of one of America's most famous and successful businessmen and philanthropists- in what will prove to be the biography of the season. Born of modest origins in Scotland in 1835, Andrew Carnegie is best known as the founder of Carnegie Steel. His rags to riches story has never been told as dramatically and vividly as in Nasaw's new biography. Carnegie, the son of an impoverished linen weaver, moved to Pittsburgh at the age of thirteen. The embodiment of the American dream, he pulled himself up from bobbin boy in a cotton factory to become the richest man in the world. He spent the rest of his life giving away the fortune he had accumulated and crusading for international peace. For all that he accomplished and came to represent to the American public-a wildly successful businessman and capitalist, a self-educated writer, peace activist, philanthropist, man of letters, lover of culture, and unabashed enthusiast for American democracy and capitalism-Carnegie has remained, to this day, an enigma. Nasaw explains how Carnegie made his early fortune and what prompted him to give it all away, how he was drawn into the campaign first against American involvement in the Spanish-American War and then for international peace, and how he used his friendships with presidents and prime ministers to try to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. With a trove of new material-unpublished chapters of Carnegie's Autobiography; personal letters between Carnegie and his future wife, Louise, and other family members; his prenuptial agreement; diaries of family and close friends; his applications for citizenship; his extensive correspondence with Henry Clay Frick; and dozens of private letters to and from presidents Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, and British prime ministers Gladstone and Balfour, as well as friends Herbert Spencer, Matthew Arnold, and Mark Twain-Nasaw brilliantly plumbs the core of this facinating and complex man, deftly placing his life in cultural and political context as only a master storyteller can.

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Demon Copperhead

Barbara Kingsolver

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century * An Oprah's Book Club Selection * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller * A #1 Washington Post Bestseller * A New York Times "Ten Best Books of the Year"

"Demon is a voice for the ages--akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield--only even more resilient." --Beth Macy, author of Dopesick

"May be the best novel of [the year]. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love." --Ron Charles, Washington Post

From the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees and the recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.

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Family Maps of Delaware County, Indiana

Gregory A. Boyd

  • Maps of county homestead or similar land patent purchased in the past, as recorded on the database of the General Land Office (GLO) of the Federal Bureau of Land Management (www.glorecords.blm.gov). Includes maps showing county location within state, surrounding counties, congressional townships within the county, cities and towns within the county, and county cemeteries. There is also an index of surnames for county patents (with parcel-counts for each surname), and a surname/township index (with parcel-counts for each surnames by township).
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A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Becky Chambers

Winner of the Hugo Award!

In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk and Robot series, gives us hope for the future.

It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. 

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.

They're going to need to ask it a lot.

Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

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Remarkably Bright Creatures

Shelby Van Pelt

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Soon to be a Netflix Film

A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER by: Chicago Tribune * The View * Southern Living * USA Today

"Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut. . . . Memorable and tender." -- Washington Post

For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

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Delaware County

Norma Lasley

Named for the Delaware Indians who lived in the area from about 1794 to 1820, this Indiana county was organized in 1827. It soon developed an economy based around agriculture, which remains important today. The area's first railroad, from Indianapolis to Bellefontaine, Ohio, came to Muncie in 1852. Indiana's first commercial gas well was drilled in Eaton, and many more wells were drilled in the area, which brought glass, metal, and other industries to the county, especially in towns such as Albany, Eaton, and Muncie. After the gas supply failed, automobile components--from gears to batteries--became a thriving industry. During World War II, Delaware County produced goods for the war effort ranging from land mines to submarine interiors. Ball canning jars were the area's most famous product until Jim Davis's Garfield (the cat) came along. In the 1950s and 1960s, Delaware County experienced growth and prosperity with the addition of machine and tool shops and small businesses.

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The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy

Blaine T. Bettinger

Unlock the secrets in your DNA!

Discover the answers to your family history mysteries using the most-cutting edge tool available. This plain-English guide is a one-stop resource for how to use DNA testing for genealogy. Inside, you'll find guidance on what DNA tests are available, plus the methodologies and pros and cons of the three major testing companies and advice on choosing the right test to answer your specific genealogy questions. And once you've taken a DNA test, this guide will demystify the often-overwhelming subject and explain how to interpret DNA test results, including how to understand ethnicity estimates and haplogroup designations, navigate suggested cousin matches, and use third-party tools like GEDmatch to further analyze your data. To give you a holistic view of genetic testing for ancestry, the book also discusses the ethics and future of genetic genealogy, as well as how adoptees and others who know little about their ancestry can especially benefit from DNA testing.

The book features:

  • Colorful diagrams and expert definitions that explain key DNA terms and concepts such as haplogroups and DNA inheritance patterns
  • Detailed guides to each of the major kinds of DNA tests and which tests can solve which family mysteries, with case studies showing how each can be useful
  • Information about third-party tools you can use to more thoroughly analyze your test results once you've received them
  • Test comparison guides and research forms to help you select the most appropriate DNA test and organize your results and research once you've been tested

Whether you've just heard of DNA testing or you've tested at all three major companies, this guide will give you the tools you need to unpuzzle your DNA and discover what it can tell you about your family tree.

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African Americans in Indianapolis: the story of a people determined to be free

David Leander Williams

Indianapolis has long been steeped in important moments in African American history, from businesswoman Madame C. J. Walker's success to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan to the founding of Crispus Attucks High School, which remained segregated through the 1960s.

In African Americans in Indianapolis, author and historian David Leander Williams explores this history by examining the daunting and horrendous historical events African Americans living in Indianapolis encountered between 1820 and 1970, as well as the community's determination to overcome these challenges. Revealing many events that have yet to be recorded in history books, textbooks, or literature, Williams chronicles the lives and careers of many influential individuals and the organizations that worked tirelessly to open doors of opportunity to the entire African American community.

African Americans in Indianapolis serves as a reminder of the advancements that Black midwestern ancestors made toward freedom and equality, as well as the continual struggle against inequalities that must be overcome.

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