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The Chip Age

"Has it occurred to you that the next world war could be fought over computer chips? Or that a single chip could trigger a nuclear crisis, upend a government, or decide the future of clean water, air, and energy? Welcome to The Chip Age — where tiny bits of silicon are reshaping the destiny of nations and the structure of our planet. In this deeply researched and compellingly told book, Rakesh Kumar reveals how semiconductors — the invisible engines of modern life — are no longer just the backbone of our gadgets, but the frontline of global power, economic might, and environmental strain. From Taiwan’s critical role in global chip supply and China’s escalating ambitions, to AI’s trillion-dollar hunger and datacenters resurrecting nuclear plants, The Chip Age exposes the political, military, and ecological consequences of our chip obsession. Spanning six decades of innovation, espionage, warfare, and disruption, this is not just a history of technology — it’s a vivid account of how chips quietly came to command the world. The book tackles the triumphs and trade-offs of globalization, the fragility of our supply chains, and the existential risks of trust in tampered hardware. As geopolitical fault lines harden and the world races to build chip sovereignty, one truth becomes clear: whoever controls the chips may control the future. Clear, accessible, and filled with gripping stories, The Chip Age is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the forces that will shape the next era — and the hidden circuits powering it." -- Amazon

Nebraska

"The captivating and tragicomic story of the Chatterjee family and the catastrophe that tore them apart. For fans of Kiran Desai's The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny and Jonathan Franzen's Crossroads."-- Provided by publisher

Portrait of an Unknown Woman

"A saga inspired by the incredible but true story of the iconic Klimt painting. Painted in Vienna in 1910, Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of a Lady" was purchased by an anonymous collector in 1916, retouched by the master a year later, then stolen in 1997 before reappearing in the gardens of an Italian modern art museum in 2019. No art experts, museum curators, or police investigators know the identity of the young woman in the painting, nor the mysteries that surround the turbulent history of her portrait. From the streets of Vienna in 1900 to Texas in the 1980s, and from Manhattan during the Great Depression to contemporary Italy, de Peretti imagines the destiny of this young woman as well as that of her descendants, and creates a masterful fresco that intertwines family secrets, disappearances, and thwarted loves."-- Provided by publisher

Two Ships

"In the bitterly polarized decades leading up to the American Civil War, it was commonplace to argue that America's strife could be traced back to the arrival of two ships, less than a year apart--The White Lion, which brought the first enslaved Africans to Jamestown in 1619, and the Mayflower, which brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock in 1620. In a deeper sense, David S. Reynolds shows us, in this magnificent book, those two ships, invoked by Frederick Douglass and many others, stood for two quite distinct realities: the Puritans and the Cavaliers, names and ideologies born in the bloodshed of the English Civil War. The Virginia colony, founded by royalists, was steeped in the ideas of divine right, which flowed down in rigid patriarchal hierarchies. Plymouth Colony's dissenters to the king and his church, while hardly perfect, carried the seeds of a more egalitarian political vision. These two ships of 1619 and 1620 played a key role in the battle of images and words that marked the roiling fight, and then war, over slavery. As Reynolds shows, there was a long stretch of time in America when everyone knew what Cavaliers and Puritans meant. It was North versus South, but more deeply, it was about whether social hierarchy was the natural order of things. But then, as America descended into the long night of Jim Crow, the metaphor of the two ships went to sleep as well. The meaning of the Mayflower and of Thanksgiving changed as they became mainstream, apolitical ideas. If the ships' status as cultural touchpoints before the Civil War tells us something vital about that conflict, their forgetting afterward tells us much about why the road to true equality has proved so stony. By dredging up these two ships' dueling images, the great David S. Reynolds enables us to make the same use of them that Frederick Douglass and his contemporaries did to challenge us, and to give us hope that we are up to the task." -- Provided by publisher

Trash!

"This fascinating no-bullshit account of twenty years in waste management paints a vivid portrait of the heroic labor, anarchic spirit, and violent conditions of the people who keep our cities clean. Paré-Poupart's story is atypical: he started working as a garbageman to pay for college, yet even after earning graduate degrees in sociology and business, and working in more 'respectable' fields, he is still on a truck--out of love for the physical rush, for his rough-and-tumble colleagues, and for an honesty and freedom that no other job has yet given him. His sociology background informs his inquiry into our collective failure to confront the trash we produce. Every observation comes with hilarious and hair-raising stories from the collection route." -- Back cover

The Tapestry of Fate

"Amina al-Sirafi thinks she's struck gold. Tasked with hunting down arcane artifacts for the council of immortal peris, she can savor the occasional rollicking adventure on the high seas with her cherished criminal companions while still returning home to raise her beloved daughter, Marjana. But when Raksh, the spirit of discord with whom she is reluctantly wed, provokes the council's wrath, Amina is charged with a seemingly impossible quest: steal a spindle capable of rewriting fate from a mysterious sorceress on an island no one can escape. Forced to leave Marjana--who is increasingly frustrated at being peddled what are clearly lies about her mother's life and her own past--Amina finds her mission almost immediately thrown into peril. But deadly storms, an erratic poison mistress, and old enemies are the least of her worries. For the peris' story is unraveling, hinting at a far deadlier game whose rules Amina must swiftly puzzle out. A game that sets her against an adversary more cunning and powerful than she has ever faced. A game that not everyone on her crew wants her to win."-- Dust jacket flap

The Simp

"A razor-sharp novel about the rise and fall of Raj Ladlani, a morose and unemployed actor who lands the greatest role of his life when he's hired as a personal assistant to a powerful Hollywood family that tasks him with a series of pointless, relentless menial tasks as the darkly absurd realities of their domestic life surface." -- Provided by publisher

Regime Change

From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House. Regime Change covers the first year of Trump's second presidency--a term liberated from every constraint that defined his first. The generals who once told him "no" are gone, and the lawyers have learned to pick their battles. His administration has flouted court orders and he has claimed powers that Congress once checked. What remains is a President willing to take enormous risks that have upended global markets and toppled heads of state--an imperial President operating almost entirely on instinct alone. Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration's most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader inside the Situation Room and into the secret Oval Office deliberations that have launched a new war in the Middle East and seen Trump seal the border, deploy National Guard troops into cities, and send immigration agents into deadly clashes with protesters. Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan bring us behind the scenes of a presidency that has transformed the culture, the Justice Department into an agent of retribution against the President's enemies, and the office itself into a brazen vehicle for profit. They reveal a second term propelled by a historical irony that Trump himself has come to understand: that the indictments, the convictions, the assassination attempts, and four years of exile made him not weaker but far more powerful, more vengeful, and more willing to gamble than any President in modern history. This is the story of how Trump has used that power, who has tried to stop him, and why nearly all of them have failed. It is also the story of something American journalists are more accustomed to chronicling in distant capitals than in their own: a President who has fundamentally altered the nature of the office he holds--and how the rest of the world understands American power. It is an account of Regime Change right here in America--a landmark real-time history of a modern presidency like no other. -- Front book flap

Rabbit, Fox, Tar

"When Baby appears in Original Hill, her name is on everyone's lips. A young Black woman is a rare sight in this part of town, and she sits all day on the Foxes' garden wall, swinging her bare feet and speaking to no one. That is, until the charismatic Lucius 'Lucky' Foote comes along and touches her, sparking their romance. Arm-in-arm with Baby, who seems to exert a seemingly supernatural pull on the other residents, Lucky is confident he will secure the open city council seat over Baby's uncle Eugene Fox, the back-from-retirement white incumbent. With protestors reopening old wounds around the Black neighborhood that was leveled by the nearby highway decades ago and Lucky threatening his position, Fox believes it's not just a city council seat at stake, but the "soul" of Original Hill. As Baby is woven further into the unraveling community, she begins to stray from Fox's strict rules and question everything, from where she came from to who--and what--she truly is." -- Dust jacket

The Picture Book Book

Seymour Chwast, co-founder of Push Pin Studios, reimagined the picture book as a space for graphic experimentation and narrative play. The Picture Book Book, curated by Steven Heller, gathers more than 40 of his works and traces a practice that moves fluidly between design, illustration, and storytelling. Defined by bold compositions, subtle humor, and a distinctive graphic language, Chwast's books challenge conventions of both children's literature and visual communication. The result is a body of work that continues to shape how images are read across generations.

The Original

This historical novel portrays the early life and career of actress Katharine Hepburn, from her decision to pursue acting after a family tragedy through her rise within the Hollywood studio system during the 1930s. As her career develops, she navigates professional expectations, personal relationships, and public scrutiny while maintaining her independence and sense of identity. The novel features fictionalized portrayals of historical figures and explores themes of fame, ambition, and self-determination.

The Midnight Special

"This [book] explores the rich tradition of music behind bars and shows how policing and prisons have shaped our musical culture from blues to hip-hop." -- Dust jacket flap

Make Believe

"Make Believe is bestselling children's author Mac Barnett's rallying cry for art and imagination, and a celebration of the power of storytelling in all our lives. It's an incisive, intimate, and timely invitation to approach children's literature not only as an art form worthy of deep study and criticism, but as a portal into the lives of the children. And at a time when we are faced with a national literacy crisis, he champions the profound joys of literature and the importance of reading for pleasure. What if children are a great audience for art? What if they are in fact better equipped to engage deeply with stories than adults? What if humans' ability to appreciate art is, if not innate, awakened early in childhood? Well, then we'd better do our best to make some good kids' books. Written with humor and academic rigor, Make Believe reads like a letter from your smartest and funniest friend." -- Jacket

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton

"A dual-timeline murder mystery set in an English country manor, when an ambitious professor discovers the long-lost manuscript of a Reformation-era prophetess Historian Alison Sage has made a groundbreaking archival discovery--she found a manuscript containing the prophecies of a 16th century nun, Elizabeth Barton. Barton's prophecy condemning Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn led to her execution and the destruction of all copies of her prophecies--or so the world believed. With Alison's discovery, she is catapulted to academic superstardom and scores an invitation to the exclusive Codex Consortium, a week of research among a select handful of fellow historians at a crumbling manor in England, located next to the ruins of the priory where Elizabeth herself once lived. What begins as a promising conference turns into a nightmare as the eerie house becomes the site of a murder. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect, and it seems that answers lie at the root of a local legend about centuries-old hidden treasure. Alison's research makes her best-suited to solve the mystery--but when old feelings resurface for a former colleague, and the stakes of the search skyrocket, everyone's motives become murky. Alison's cutthroat world of academia is almost as dangerous as Elizabeth Barton's sixteenth-century England, where heretics are beheaded, visions can kill, and knowing who to trust is a deadly art."-- Provided by publisher

Lifeguard

"A memoir from New York City's first female lifeguard chief, this coming-of-age story plunges into the rough-and-tumble, sun-soaked world of Rockaway Beach in the 1970s and 1980s."-- Provided by publisher

I Want You to Be Happy

"Chuck and Joey meet in a bar. He's in his mid-thirties; she's twelve years younger. He long ago abandoned his ambition of being a novelist and works as a copywriter at a big ad agency. 'Lead copywriter,' he corrects himself. Joey is living paycheck to paycheck on her barista wages and privately dreams of making it as a poet. They go back to Chuck's luxury flat--a world away from Joey's cramped house-share, the crumbs in her bed. Soon, Joey is imagining a future between them and Chuck is moving on from a mistake in his recent past. Amazing, how meeting a new person can make you feel so new."-- Book jacket

The Foursome

"When Eng and Chang Bunker arrive in Wilkes County in 1839, they're not just a curiosity--they're a sensation. Everyone is eager to learn whether the salacious rumors about them are true. Within months, the twins have opened a general store, bought land, and begun building a plantation. Now, word has it, they're looking for wives--and in a place that thrives on gossip and legacy, their ambitions set the community on edge. Sarah and Adelaide Yates, daughters of a once-prominent local family brought low by scandal, are drawn into their orbit. Bold, beautiful Adelaide sees in the twins' fame a chance to reclaim her future. Sarah, quiet and observant, isn't so sure. When the twins' lives become entangled with theirs, they must navigate loyalty, longing, and identity in a world where everything--including race, class, and gender--is rigidly defined." -- Provided by publisher

Empire of Ink

"No society had ever generated so much ink and paper in so little time. Between the Revolutionary War and the dawn of the twentieth century, the number of American newspapers increased five hundredfold, producing the greatest outpouring of printed matter the world had ever seen. In Empire of Ink, Alex Wright tells the story of how an unruly young democracy found its voice, fueled by a mix of new technologies, bold public policies, and a distinctly American zeal for free expression that unleashed a torrent of newsprint, knitting together a fractious republic. It was a wild, boisterous era populated by gunslinging editors, tramp printers, zealous reformers, brilliant inventors, and literal snake-oil salesmen. Together, they transformed journalism, built a new industry, and helped forge the nation's character. By century's end, this freewheeling press had yielded to corporate interests. Wealthy media barons seized on new technologies and economies of scale to consolidate power, shaping the mass media that would define the twentieth century. Vividly bringing to life a pivotal chapter in American history, Empire of Ink reveals how the same struggles over truth, technology, and power continue to echo into today's digital age."-- Provided by publisher

Dekonstructing the Kardashians

"From the creator of the highly popular Kardashian Kolloquium comes a New Media manifesto for the TikTok age, blending theory and cultural analysis to explain the meteoric rise of the Kardashians and explore what their fame can teach us about the way media functions today. Since 2007, Kim Kardashian and the extended Kardashian family have been mesmerizing--and scandalizing--America. Whether we've liked it or not, we've been inundated with stories of their social lives, scandals, and reality show shenanigans and have witnessed the subsequent ascent of their multibillion-dollar fashion, beauty, and media empire. But the question remains: why are the Kardashians so famous in the first place? And what does this tell us about the New Media that has delivered them to us? In Dekonstructing the Kardashians, MJ Corey, creator of the viral social media presence Kardashian Kolloquium, brings us not only the definitive chronicle of the family that's captivated a nation, but, perhaps more importantly, the story of how media has transformed in the internet age and how it continues to transform us as individuals and as a culture at large. Part media theory, part cultural analysis, Dekonstructing the Kardashians interweaves history from the past 50 years of Western media--from the Old Hollywood studio system to the advent of the 24-hour news cycle to tabloid culture and beyond--with analysis of the cultural influence Kim Kardashian wields over us all and the influences that have shaped her in kind. In so doing, Corey offers proof that the Kardashians are, in fact, the First Family of our image-saturated and deeply divided nation, while also demonstrating how they hold the keys to understanding the schizophrenic, self-referential reality of our current era." -- Provided by publisher

Canon

"Yara can't comprehend why God has chosen them to slay Dominic, the ruthless leader of the army of Bad Guys. Cast out by their family and reeling from a destructive relationship, Yara has never felt weaker--but with nothing left to lose, they strike a deal. Abandoning their solitary days of embroidery and obsessive cleaning, Yara reluctantly embarks on a perilous odyssey designed to prepare them for the daunting mission ahead. Meanwhile, Adrena, a disillusioned prophet with a terrifying secret power, is determined to become the hero of this story. Desperately seeking the glory of God's approval and the promise of heaven, where she hopes to reunite with her beloved mother, Adrena must first persuade Harpo, the leader of the Good Guys, that her plan is God's will. As their journeys unfold in a series of unforgettable adventures, Yara and Adrena are propelled toward each other and transformative revelations about life, death, and destiny in this intensely captivating, irreverent epic from a singularly brilliant new voice in fiction."-- Provided by publisher

The Business of Transition

"The Business of Transition examines how the cosmopolitan bourgeoisie of the Eastern Mediterranean navigated the transition from empire to nation-state in the early twentieth century. In this social and cultural history, Paris Papamichos Chronakis shows how the Jewish and Greek merchants of Salonica (present-day Thessaloniki) skillfully managed the tumultuous shift from Ottoman to Greek rule amidst revolution and war, rising ethnic tensions, and heightened class conflict. Bringing their once powerful voices back into the historical narrative, he traces their entangled trajectories as businessmen, community members, and civic leaders to illustrate how the self-reinvention of a Jewish-led bourgeoisie made a city Greek. Papamichos Chronakis draws on previously untapped local archival material to weave a rich narrative of individual portraits, introducing us to revered philanthropists and committed patriots as well as vilified profiteers and victimized Salonicans. Offering a kaleidoscopic view of a city in transition, this book reveals how the collapse of empire shook all the constitutive elements of Jewish and Greek identities, and how Jews and Greeks reinvented themselves amidst these larger political and economic disruptions."-- Provided by publisher

Beyond Belief

"The remarkable story of the global movement championing the idea that evidence, not opinions, should guide our decisions. Today, more and more people around the globe are using scientific evidence to figure out what works--in health, government and business as well as conservation, schools and parenting. This wasn't always the case. This book tells the story of the evidence revolution--a worldwide movement that promotes evidence-based thinking--and shows how it can help us all, especially in an age of alternative facts. For many years, most medical advice was based on doctors' opinions and conventional wisdom, not solid science. Helen Pearson describes how evidence-based medicine swept the world in the 1990s--becoming the predominant form of medicine practiced today--and how the idea that evidence should guide decisions is quietly transforming a host of other fields as well. Do police patrols reduce crime? Do performance appraisals boost job performance? Do welfare programs help the poor? Do smaller classes aid learning? Do smartphones harm teenagers? At a time when science is under attack and questionable claims run rampant, Pearson underscores the importance of evidence in all facets of our lives, empowering each of us to sift fact from falsehood and misinformation from the truth. Essential reading for the rational-minded, Beyond Belief is an engaging portrait of the mavericks, visionaries and rebels who share the simple belief that decisions based on evidence make the world a better place." -- Amazon website

Bad Friend

"A smart and thought-provoking memoir, history, and cultural critique about the turmoil and complexity of female friendship. Our culture today is inundated with narratives about the strength of female friendship, whether through images of girl power, BFFs, or work wives. Yet cultural historian Tiffany Watt Smith has always found her own life much messier. She has had dramatic friend breakups, friendships that felt like too much or not enough, friendships that drifted into silence, and friendships built on convenience rather than a meeting of minds. And there are older cultural scripts to contend with: the competitive rival, the jealous backstabber, the underminer, the fair-weather friend. We have all been bad friends. It's impossible to be a perfect one; as Watt Smith points out, women's friendships have long been magnified, scrutinized, praised, and admonished, creating a legacy of impossible ideals. In Bad Friend, Watt Smith reflects on her own experience and thoroughly mines the rich cultural history of female friendship to look for a new paradigm that might encompass the struggles along with the joy."-- Provided by publisher

Axe in Blossom

"The Pulitzer Prize winner's final written work: poems of penetrating acceptance and humor, whose soul-sweeping gaze encompasses his own autobiography and the broken world he still finds beautiful and worthy of our gratitude." --Dust jacket flap