ODY New Books Collection

Vermeer

This revelatory biography persuasively addresses the two great unresolved questions about Vermeer -- why did he paint his pictures, and what do they mean?

Exemplary Humans

"Ever since the unnamed threat took over, 100-year-old Natalia has been stuck inside her Rio de Janeiro apartment, alone. Well, not entirely alone - her loved ones may be gone but they never really left her, plus she's pretty sure there's a spy watching her every move through the window. As she waits for the daily call from her daughter who lives halfway across the world, the old woman revisits scenes from her life. There's her husband Vicente, who obsessively erased maps of Brazil; her best friend Sarah, the cookie seller; Jorge, who gave tarot readings for both humans and birds; and the comrades who joined her in resisting Brazil's dictatorship, at least until they were forced into hiding. An ambitious novel about the quirks of memory and the delights and horror of aging." -- Provided by publisher

Wolvers

"Broke, dispossessed, and angry at the government after losing his family's New Mexico ranch, Trace Temple is looking for revenge. He's living out of his truck when a shadowy militia movement hires him to take down the legendary she-wolf of the Dark Canyon pack, One-Eleven. But One-Eleven is no ordinary wolf. Cunning, fiercely protective of her young, and seasoned in the ways of men, she leads her pack deep into the forbidding desert peaks and canyons, always one step ahead of pursuit. After a harrowing brush with death in the backcountry, Trace has a change of heart--only to be replaced by a professional hunter and assassin named Murdoch, who ruthlessly pursues his animal quarry while stalking Trace himself. To survive, Trace must join forces with a pair of unlikely allies: a survivalist animal protector who deploys feral senses and deep wilderness skills to protect the wolves, and Imogen Cruz, a local rancher, childhood friend, and unrequited love of Trace's early years. Together, they must fight to protect not only themselves and the Dark Canyon pack, but ultimately, the Gila Wilderness itself--the world's first designated wilderness area." -- Provided by publisher

This Vast Enterprise

"A major revisionist history of the Lewis and Clark expedition: For the first time in a generation, This Vast Enterprise offers a fresh and more accurate account of one of the most important episodes in American history, humanizing forgotten figures and shattering long-held myths." -- Provided by publisher

This Land Is Your Land

"Ride along with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Beverly Gage as she travels the country to see the museums, historic sites, roadside attractions, reenactments, and souvenir shops where Americans learn--and fight--about our history. From the birth of the nation in Philadelphia to Disneyland and the California dream, This Land Is Your Land offers a guided tour of thirteen places and thirteen key moments that define America's greatest successes and challenges."-- Provided by publisher

The Radiant Dark

"It's March 1980, and Carol Girard and her husband are living an ordinary life in a small town in the Adirondacks. They have just had their first child, and though Carol is struggling with the challenges of new motherhood, her future seems clear. Until something extraordinary happens: an inexplicable flickering of light in the sky, which is ultimately determined to be communication from intelligent life on another planet. But these beings are eleven light-years away, and nothing is known about them other than the fact that they seem to know we exist too. And so begins a decades-long exchange of messages with this mysterious, faraway civilization. As humanity reels from a shifting understanding of its place in the universe, we follow the stories of the Girard family: Carol, whose fascination with this other life sparks a desperate search for spiritual meaning; Michael, her loyal son, who finds solace not in the stars above his head but in the ground beneath his feet; and Ro, Carol's bright and ambitious daughter, whose childhood goal to work in interstellar communication will evolve into something far grander." -- Publisher's website

Nothing Random

"At midcentury, everyone knew Bennett Cerf: witty, beloved, middle-aged panelist on What's My Line?, whom TV brought into America's homes each week. They didn't know the handsome, driven young man of the 1920s who'd vowed to become a great publisher, and a decade later, was. By then, he'd signed Eugene O'Neill, Gertrude Stein, William Faulkner, and had fought the landmark censorship case that gave Americans the freedom to read James Joyce's Ulysses. With his best friend and lifelong business partner Donald Klopfer, and other young Jewish entrepreneurs like the Knopfs and Simon & Schuster, Cerf remade the book business: what was published, and how. In 1925, he and Klopfer had bought the Modern Library and turned it into an institution, then founded Random House, which eventually became a home to Truman Capote, Ralph Ellison, Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, Toni Morrison, and many more. Even before TV, Cerf was a bestselling author and columnist as well as publisher; the show super-charged his celebrity. A brilliant social networker and major influencer before such terms existed, he connected books-Broadway-TV-Hollywood-politics. A fervent democratizer, he published 'high,' 'low,' and wide, and from the roaring twenties to the swinging sixties collected an incredible array of friends, having a fabulous time along the way. For four decades, Gayle Feldman has reported on publishing for Publishers Weekly, The New York Times, The Bookseller, and others. Using new and deeply researched material from 200 interviews and many archives, she recalls Bennett Cerf to vibrant life, bringing booklovers into his world and time, and finally giving a true American original his due." -- Provided by publisher

Mollie Brumley's
Civil War

"Mollie Brumley, a thirteen-year-old orphan, was living on a farm in the mountainous Ozarks of northwest Arkansas when the Civil War broke out. In a borderland region on the northern periphery of slavery and the western edge of white settlement, her corner of Arkansas saw terrible destruction-but not primarily from fighting between opposing armies. Mollie Brumley's Civil War was one of guerrilla warfare and outlawry, shifting loyalties, betrayals real and imagined, and, for some, death by starvation. In telling Mollie's story, drawing largely upon her 1902 autobiography, Theodore Catton offers a rare, intimate look at the heroism and desperation of war conducted on the home front-all amidst the anything-but-ordinary romantic adventures of an adolescent who lived during an extraordinary time.In the course of this riveting narrative, Mollie-while still in her teens-falls in love with one Confederate soldier who is lost in battle, marries another who joins the Rebel guerrillas, and leaves the farm to become an army laundress during escalating guerrilla depredations against her home and family. Intertwined with Mollie's tale is that of Parthenia Hensley, an enslaved young woman living in the same rural community. The story of Parthenia and her white family of enslavers broadens Catton's portrait of a war-torn community of farmers on the edge of the Slave South.An unprecedented picture of the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi West, Mollie Brumley's Civil War is also a remarkable coming-of-age story shaped by the fight against slavery-a fight that Mollie didn't choose but that finally influenced the person she became and the outcome of her life." -- Provided by publisher

How to Be a Dissident

"A guide to fighting back-part philosophy, part history, and part manual for living with integrity in an age of conformity and authoritarian drift." -- Provided by publisher

Haven

"A summer retreat to an elite island enclave owned by a Big Tech company becomes a mother's worst nightmare in this gripping thriller. After months of financial strain and escalating arguments, Caroline is relieved when her husband, Adam, secures a job at Corridor, a prestigious Big Tech company. Though his long hours on top-secret projects often leave Caroline alone with their newborn son, Gabriel, the life-changing income seems worth the sacrifice. When Adam suggests a summer retreat to Haven, the exclusive island community popular with Corridor employees, Caroline agrees, hoping the sun-soaked paradise will help Adam relax and bring their family closer. But she can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right about the town. Though Adam assures her of their safety, the locals' behavior is oddly secretive and ritualistic-even cultish. It's clear that Corridor hasn't resolved tensions about the way the company is transforming the island. And it doesn't help that Adam's colleagues seem to have a few strange beliefs of their own. When Caroline wakes to discover that Gabriel is missing, her worst fears are confirmed. Desperate and unsure of whom to trust, she must race to find her son-and pull back the curtain on this elite enclave-before he is lost to the island forever. Tensely plotted and terrifyingly prescient, Haven is a taut, darkly compelling exploration of the costs of innovation, the far limits of human progress, and the risks we're willing to take for a brighter future"--Provided by publisher

The Future Is Peace

"Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon are unlikely peacemakers, dedicated to finding a solution to the bitter war that has decimated historical, ancient land and ended family lines. Despite the losses they have suffered, the resolve of their friendship has taught them that strength and unity are more powerful than the violence of separation. Throughout their travels, they have been constantly asked: In the face of so much pain and suffering on both sides, when there have been so many lives lost and families shattered, how can they ever find hope? Their answer is always the same. One cannot find hope. We must create it. In The Future Is Peace, Sarah and Inon take readers on their unforgettable weeklong journey across the holy land while exploring each other's personal and national histories in a land of competing narratives, amid the turbulent push and pull of near constant war, and the recent devastation that has rocked the world. Their mission--to explain the naivete in believing that more violence can bring security and prosperity to either people while in search of a true and lasting peace. Pairing unapologetic candor and inspirational prose, Sarah and Inon are sending a message to humanity that the people have the power to make change. Peace is achievable, not just between the river and the sea, but throughout the world." -- Provided by publisher

Done in a Day

"Elisa Tamarkin has written a searing reflection on America's abrupt defeat in the Vietnam War and the simultaneous demise of foreign reporting in the nation's daily newspapers, many of them soon to close. Done in a Day turns on a singular event: the April 30, 1975, departure of the last helicopter evacuating American civilians from the rooftop of the US embassy in Saigon, rising above a crowd of desperate Vietnamese looking for a way to escape. Elisa Tamarkin's interest in that helicopter begins with the fact that her father, Bob Tamarkin, the Saigon bureau chief for the Chicago Daily News, was on it-the last American correspondent evacuated from Saigon. Bob Tamarkin's report, "Diary of S. Viet's Last Hours," was filed from a Navy ship at a time when no other telexes seemed to be going through and was a major exclusive. It was also the beginning of the end of a long history of war coverage in city newspapers-papers once proud, in the words of the Chicago Daily News, for bringing readers the "literature of the day" that was "done in a day." Elisa Tamarkin braids history, memoir, and cultural criticism to tell the paired stories of Saigon's fall and America's journalistic decline. The result is a haunting essay about all that ended with America's chaotic withdrawal-and about what it means to recognize and to write about endings at all."-- Provided by publisher

Being Reasonable

"Krista Lawlor offers the first comprehensive study of reasonableness. Being reasonable is critical to law, politics, and daily life. But what exactly is reasonableness? Distinguishing it from rationality and thoughtfulness, Lawlor shows that reasonable people seek to know what is valuable and do so by attending to their emotions and to each other."-- Provided by publisher

Anxietyland

"In 2018, Gemma Correll had a panic attack that lasted for weeks on end. Unable to do much more than walk aimlessly through the streets of Berkeley, Correll admitted herself to the hospital to reckon with The Bad Feeling that had been her companion since she was a child. With her ingenious and charming illustrations "bursting with personality...peppered with witty asides" (Publishers Weekly), Correll leads readers through the amusement park in her own mind--featuring severe anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, and disassociation--a frightening and darkly funny world that "feels like a place apart from 'real' life." A hilarious thrill ride exploring the mysteries of the mind-body connection, Gemma Correll's graphic memoir is shot through with the absurd knowledge that there is no linear way through Anxietyland, nor any cure-alls--but there are ways to feel better if you keep trying to move forward." -- Publisher description

Where the Music Had to Go

"From Dylan's initial dismissal of the Beatles as being for "teenyboppers" to his realization that they were "pointing the direction where music had to go"-- and from the Beatles' obsessive spinning of early Dylan records to their impromptu renditions of fifteen Dylan songs during the 1969 Get Back sessions -- the book captures the moments that pushed Dylan to "go electric" and inspired the Beatles to deepen their lyrics. Highly entertaining and packed with backstage anecdotes, Where the Music Had to Go is a deep-focus portrait of a heretofore unexamined relationship, one full of camaraderie, competition, and mutual evolution. More than a music biography, this is a front-row seat to the forces that shaped an era -- an unmissable experience for music lovers, pop-culture buffs, and anyone curious about the magic that happens when legends collide."-- Dust jacket

True Color

"An irresistibly wry, culturally rich exploration of color and how it shapes our world--from the leading lexicographer of our time." -- Provided by publisher

This Story Might Save Your Life

"Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different 'against-all-odds' survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy's experience with severe narcolepsy, they've been the best friends everyone wants to befriend -- and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy's husband, Xander, they've built a lucrative empire. The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander's home one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple's disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy's memoir. Benny will stop at nothing to find them, even as the police soon zero in on him as their prime suspect. Millions of devoted listeners think they know the 'real' Benny and Joy. But as the hours tick by and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xander being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world -- and from each other."-- Book jacket flap

See You on the Other Side

"The celebration of the thirty-fifth wedding anniversary of Russell Calloway's best friend, Washington Lee--the least likely monogamist of his acquaintance somehow having become over the years a model husband and father--at the Odeon in the spring of 2020 sparks an at once funny and moving autumnal reckoning with mortality for Russell and his wife, Corinne, as the specter of the COVID-19 virus spreads. In this moment of unprecedented upheaval--frantic and fraught real-time response, piercing personal and political impact--the Calloways find themselves and their marriage tested in ways they could never have expected as fatal consequences inexorably ensue." -- Provided by publisher

Questions 27 & 28

"In February 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order authorizing the secretary of war to remove 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes on the West Coast and corral them into inland concentration camps. To be considered for release, they were required to answer the so-called loyalty questionnaire. Question 27 asked the inmates--who had been imprisoned without cause by the US military--whether they were willing to serve in combat for the US military. Question 28 asked them--many of whom American citizens who had never visited Japan--to renounce allegiance to the Japanese emperor. Answering these questions caused volatile divisions within the camps, tore families and friends apart, and had lasting repercussions in the decades postwar. Questions 27 & 28 reaches backward and forward from the time of the questionnaire, chronicling the individuals who arrived in the US from Japan at the turn of the century, their children who came of age during war and incarceration, and their descendants who lived in its aftermath. Yamashita mixes fact with fiction and layers genres from James Bond movies to haiku to oral history, transfiguring an enormity of archival research into a chorus of stories. With her signature wit and aplomb, she gives voice to laborers, artists, scholars, informants, and activists who, over three generations, defined an immigrant community." -- Provided by publisher

The Power of Life

"In the early nineteenth century, the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed the first evolutionary theory of life and, with it, a new science: biology. Yet for centuries, evolutionary theorists have endeavored to discredit Lamarck and his theory of self-transforming organisms. In this melding of biography, history, politics, and science, Jessica Riskin sets out to correct the record, telling the story of Lamarck's life and work as an intense struggle between rival forces to answer questions that remain foundational to our modern worldview: What is a living being, and what is science?" -- Provided by publisher