A probing blend of cultural reporting, history and memoir that examines how appearance shapes power, opportunity and identity in the modern world; it traces the science, economics and politics behind beauty standards—from plastic surgery and cosmetics to race, gender, immigration, social media and surveillance—while weaving in the author’s own mixed‑race family experiences to show how looks are managed, commodified and governed, and arguing that who we are perceived to be has profound social and civic consequences.

A former mayor recounts the removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans and uses that episode to examine the deeper history of racism, civic memory, and the politics of public symbols. Blending personal memoir, historical context, and policy prescription, the book argues that confronting uncomfortable truths about the past is necessary for racial justice, democratic renewal, and healing, and offers practical guidance for leaders and communities seeking to build more inclusive public spaces.

The book analyzes how job growth and innovation have become increasingly concentrated in a small number of metropolitan areas, creating “superstar” cities that attract highly educated workers and high‑paying firms. This concentration boosts productivity and wages in these hubs but also drives up housing costs, widens regional inequality, and strains local infrastructure, while producing knowledge spillovers that reinforce their advantage. It examines the roles of education, technology, and networks in these dynamics and discusses policy options to spread opportunity and manage the social costs of agglomeration.

A candid memoir by a former White House foreign policy adviser that recounts his experience shaping and defending the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts — from the Iran nuclear deal and the Cuba thaw to interventions in Libya and the complex responses to Syria and Russia — offering behind-the-scenes accounts of policy debates, strategy, and presidential decision-making. It blends detailed storytelling of negotiations and crises with reflections on the challenges of diplomacy, the limits of power, and the consequences of choices made, while chronicling the team’s efforts to communicate American values and interests. The narrative also confronts the administration’s mistakes and the political currents that culminated in a populist backlash, arguing for the importance of principled, pragmatic engagement in a turbulent world.

An intimate, candid memoir in which the narrator confronts terminal illness with wry humor, blunt honesty and fierce curiosity, reflecting on mortality, memory, family dynamics and the practical and emotional realities of care, loss and what it means to live fully while dying.

A reflective memoir about the transformative relationship between a star player and his legendary college coach, tracing how the coach’s teachings on discipline, character, and humility shaped the player’s life on and off the court. Through personal anecdotes from college and professional years, the narrative highlights lessons on leadership, education, faith, and social responsibility, showing how mentorship and moral principles guided the author’s choices and legacy.

A playful, illustrated collection of essays and art that answers quirky, provocative questions about basketball, blending humor, sharp opinion, pop-culture references, rankings, hypothetical debates, and historical reflections to celebrate the game’s players, moments, and culture while inviting both casual fans and diehard devotees into spirited, accessible arguments and thought experiments.

A gritty, noir-tinged crime novel that follows a former police detective who becomes consumed with a string of unsolved murders and the cold cases that have haunted his precinct; as he reopens investigations he confronts institutional corruption, racial tensions, and the personal costs of police work. Told through multiple perspectives, the story probes loyalty, guilt, and moral ambiguity among officers and the communities they police, blending procedural detail with sharp social critique to deliver an unflinching portrait of violence, memory, and the pursuit of justice.

In this darkly comic, violent tale set in a lawless corner of West/Central Africa, a dissolute expatriate and his former partner navigate a world of mercenaries, shady aid money, and shifting loyalties as they pursue a missing associate and a mysterious woman, leading to double-crosses, obsession, and bitter revelations about friendship, greed, and survival.

Tommy Ogden, a wealthy man outside turn‑of‑the‑century Chicago, declines to commission a Rodin bust and instead endows a boys’ school. Years later Lee Goodell’s coming of age—his decision to become a sculptor, to live on the South Side, and to enter Hyde Park’s intellectual world—unfolds against midcentury Chicago. The school’s library houses a plaster known as Rodin’s Debutante, a quiet presence as Lee confronts his past and reconnects with a childhood friend who has endured a violent trauma.

Wesley Sultan’s obituary depicts a quiet, ordinary life, but a determined narrator uses it as a roadmap to uncover a very different story. Traveling from Michigan to Miami and the French countryside and speaking with those who knew him, the narrator pieces together the life of a handsome, ambitious, and deceptive man whose relationships with women drove much of his world. As memories and corrections reshape the account, the investigation also forces the narrator to confront his own history.

A concise political biography that traces the rise of a Hollywood actor to a transformative president, examining his governing philosophy, leadership style, and key policy battles—from tax cuts and deregulation to Cold War strategy and the Iran-Contra scandal—while assessing his strengths as a communicator and the mixed legacy of economic growth, larger deficits, and a reshaped conservative movement.

Lessons in Disaster examines the decisions that drew the United States into the Vietnam War through the reassessment of McGeorge Bundy, national security adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Drawing on Bundy’s reflections and Gordon M. Goldstein’s research, the book traces the key misjudgments and policy choices that led to escalation and distills lessons about presidential decision‑making and the limits of American power.

Christopher Flynn is trying to rebuild his life: steady job, serious relationship, and a chance to prove he’s changed. When a risky temptation at work pulls him back toward old instincts, he and his closest allies must confront rising danger and moral choices as he fights to keep his hard-won stability.

A wide-ranging call to reorient economics toward the planet’s limits and the needs of the poorest, arguing that sustainable prosperity requires coordinated global action on poverty, population, resource use and climate change. The book emphasizes investing in health, education, family planning and clean technologies, pricing environmental harms, and strengthening international cooperation and institutions to manage shared resources and achieve long-term economic and ecological stability.

A concise narrative of how a newly elected leader confronted the national economic collapse of 1933 by using bold, experimental policies and unprecedented executive action during his first hundred days, reshaping the role of the presidency and restoring public confidence; the book traces the creation and implementation of relief, recovery and reform programs, the political maneuvering and communication strategies that sold them to the public, and the long-term transformation of American government and politics that resulted.

Richly researched political biography that follows Franklin D. Roosevelt from his privileged upbringing and battle with polio to his unprecedented four-term presidency, showing how he built the New Deal coalition to confront the Great Depression and led the nation through World War II. It assesses his political skill and transformative expansion of federal power while examining controversies such as the internment of Japanese Americans and his attempt to reshape the Supreme Court.

Combining statistical analysis of public opinion, voting records, and economic data, the work shows that rising U.S. income inequality since the late 20th century has been reinforced by political processes that are far more responsive to affluent citizens than to middle- and lower-income voters. Policies such as tax cuts, deregulation, and budget priorities have tended to favor the wealthy, while electoral dynamics, campaign finance, and partisan strategies contribute to skewed representation and limited policy redress for the poor. The result is a political economy in which market forces and democratic institutions interact to concentrate income and influence at the top.

A gripping, character-driven mystery that follows private investigator Jackson Brodie and several other figures whose lives collide when a violent attack and a decades-old disappearance intersect. As Brodie traces connections between a small-town past trauma and present-day crimes, secrets surface and coincidences bind strangers together, producing a tense, darkly witty exploration of grief, resilience, morality and the long shadows cast by violence.

A self-conscious, picaresque sea tale in which an unreliable narrator recounts improbable voyages, castaway encounters and absurd adventures that parody classic nautical romance and myth. Drifting between reality and invention, the story unfolds through playful digressions and metafictional games that probe storytelling, identity, mortality and rebirth, offering a comic yet haunting meditation on narrative artifice and the human need to invent meaning.

A gripping account of the 1968 solo, non-stop round-the-world yacht race that profiles the dozen men who entered, their seamanship and motivations, and the extreme psychological pressures of prolonged isolation at sea; mixing race reportage with intimate portraits, it traces acts of courage, self-deception, and the tragic unraveling of several competitors while probing obsession, endurance, and the human cost of pushing limits.

Dream City traces two centuries of downtown Detroit’s rise, decline, and renewal. Conrad Kickert explores the stark contrast between a recently revitalized core and surrounding blight, showing how repeated reinventions—driven by the automobile, suburbanization, land consolidation, and powerful local actors—reshaped the urban fabric. Through original morphological maps and historical vignettes, he explains how competing visions and economic forces produced Detroit’s distinctive downtown and suggests its patterns resonate beyond the city.

A searing diagnosis of national decline that argues corporate capitalism, militarism, and a corrupt political class have hollowed out democratic institutions and civic life; through reporting from deindustrialized towns, veterans, addicts, and displaced workers, it portrays social fragmentation, cultural decay, and the rise of authoritarian impulses, and calls for moral resistance, community rebuilding, and radical dissent to avert further collapse.

Inner Excellence is a practical mental-skills guide from coach Jim Murphy that offers step-by-step techniques to build confidence, manage anxiety, remove mental blocks, and train your subconscious for better performance and greater calm. Drawing on his coaching experience with high-level performers, the book presents exercises grounded in the principles of love, wisdom, and courage so athletes and non-athletes alike can develop self-mastery, let go of what they can’t control, and find more purpose and fulfillment.

An alternate-universe retelling in which Harry, raised in hardship, is Sorted into Slytherin. With his brother Jim rumored to be the Boy Who Lived, Harry must navigate new alliances, darker intrigues, and a very different path through Hogwarts—no spoilers.