Non Fiction
HARD CROWD: ESSAYS 2000-2020
Written by Kushner, Rachel
From a writer celebrated for her "chops, ambition, and killer instinct" (John Powers, Fresh Air), a career-spanning collection of spectacular essays about politics and culture. Rachel Kushner has established herself as "the most vital and interesting American novelist working today" (Michael Lindgren, The Millions) and as a master of the essay form.
AGITATORS: THREE FRIENDS WHO FOUGHT FOR ABOLITION AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Written by Wickenden, Dorothy
From the intimate perspective of three friends and neighbors in mid-nineteenth century Auburn, New York--the "agitators" of the title--acclaimed author Dorothy Wickenden tells the fascinating and crucially American stories of abolition, the Underground Railroad, the early women's rights movement, and the Civil War.
HISTORY OF SCARS: A MEMOIR
Written by Lee, Laura
From a writer whose work has been called "breathtaking and dazzling" by Roxane Gay, this moving, illuminating, and multifaceted memoir explores, in a series of essays, the emotional scars we carry when dealing with mental and physical illnesses--reminiscent of The Collected Schizophrenias and An Unquiet Mind.
EVA AND EVE: A SEARCH FOR MY MOTHER'S LOST CHILDHOOD AND WHAT A WAR LEFT BEHIND
Written by Metz, Julie
The author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Perfection returns with an unforgettable account of her late mother's childhood in Nazi-occupied Austria and the parallels she sees in present-day America. To Julie Metz, her mother, Eve, was the quintessential New Yorker.
PRINCESS SPY: THE TRUE STORY OF WORLD WAR II SPY ALINE GRIFFITH, COUNTESS OF ROMANONES
Written by Loftis, Larry
"What to Read in 2021" by The Washington Post The international bestselling author of the "exciting, suspenseful, inspirational" (Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author) Code Name: Lise weaves another exceptional and thrilling hidden history of an ordinary American girl who became one of the OSS's most daring spies in World War II before marrying
INVENTION OF MIRACLES: LANGUAGE, POWER, AND ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL'S QUEST TO END DEAFNESS
Written by Booth, Katie
An astonishingly revisionist biography of Alexander Graham Bell, telling the true--and troubling--story of the inventor of the telephone. We think of Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone, but that's not how he saw his own career. Bell was an elocution teacher by profession.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NEW YORK: FOUR DECADES OF SUCCESS, EXCESS, AND TRANSFORMATION
Written by Dyja, Thomas
A lively, immersive history by an award-winning urbanist of New York City's transformation, and the lessons it offers for the city's future. Dangerous, filthy, and falling apart, garbage piled on its streets and entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble; New York's terrifying, if liberating, state of nature in 1978 also made it the capital of American culture.
KEEP SHARP: BUILD A BETTER BRAIN AT ANY AGE
Written by Gupta, Sanjay
Keep your brain young, healthy, and sharp with this science-driven guide to protecting your mind from decline by neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta. Throughout our life, we look for ways to keep our mind sharp and effortlessly productive. Now, globetrotting neurosurgeon Dr.
CODE BREAKER: JENNIFER DOUDNA, GENE EDITING, AND THE FUTURE OF THE HUMAN RACE
Written by Isaacson, Walter
The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a gripping account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies. When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The
WHY FISH DON'T EXIST: A STORY OF LOSS, LOVE, AND THE HIDDEN ORDER OF LIFE
Written by Miller, Lulu
A Best Book of 2020: The Washington Post * NPR * Chicago Tribune * Smithsonian A "remarkable" (Los Angeles Times), "seductive" (The Wall Street Journal) debut from the new cohost of Radiolab, Why Fish Don't Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obs