ODY New Books Collection

Bad Company

Bad Company by Megan Greenwell exposes the pervasive influence of private equity in American life, from healthcare and housing to media and infrastructure. Through the personal stories of four workers devastated by private equity takeovers, the book reveals how these firms enrich a powerful elite while destabilizing communities and deepening inequality. Combining investigative journalism with human-centered storytelling, it offers a powerful critique of one of the most consequential yet opaque forces in the U.S. economy.

The Silk Road

"In 2019, Christopher embarked on an ambitious 40,000 kilometer overland expedition. Camera in hand, he followed the historic trade route from one end of Eurasia to the other. As he traveled across 15 different countries via car, bus, train, ferry, horse, and camel, his lens captured the essence of the Silk Road, from the Renaissance masterpieces of Venice to the bustling bazaars of Iran and the serene landscapes of Kyrgyzstan. The resulting collection of 160 photographs offers an intimate glimpse into the richness of cultures and the enduring legacy of connectivity that define the legendary trade network. Featuring thoughtful essays by the photographer and a preface by Oxford historian and bestselling author Peter Frankopan, The Silk Road: A Living History tells the story of one journey across Eurasia. It is a celebration of diversity, the traditional practices and customs that live on today, and the flourishing connections that endure along this historical, human network." -- Amazon

The Beast in the Clouds

"The Himalayas--a snowcapped mountain range that hides treacherous glacier crossings, raiders poised to attack unsuspecting travelers, and air so thin that even seasoned explorers die of oxygen deprivation. Yet among the dangers lies one of the most beautiful and fragile ecosystems in the world. During the 1920s, dozens of expeditions scoured the Chinese and Tibetan wilderness in search of the panda bear, a beast that many believed did not exist. When the two eldest sons of President Theodore Roosevelt sought the bear in 1928, they had little hope of success. Together with a team of scientists and naturalists, they accomplished what a decade of explorers could not, ultimately introducing the panda to the West. In the process, they documented a vanishing world and set off a new era of conservation biology. Along the way, the Roosevelt expedition faced an incredible series of hardships as they disappeared in a blizzard, were attacked by robbers, overcome by sickness and disease, and lost their food supply in the mountains. The explorers would emerge transformed, although not everyone would survive. Beast in the Clouds brings alive these extraordinary events in a potent nonfiction thriller featuring the indomitable Roosevelt family. From the soaring beauty of the Tibetan plateau to the somber depths of human struggle, Nathalia Holt brings her signature 'immersive, evocative' (Bookreporter) voice to this astonishing tale of adventure, harrowing defeat, and dazzling success." -- Provided by publisher

Coded Justice

"Avery Keene is back! The fan-favorite former Supreme Court clerk has finally gone out on her own, securing a prestigious position at a high-end law firm in Washington, D.C., where she is about to earn real money and get her life in order after a tumultuous run working as a clerk on the Supreme Court. With her reputation preceding her, Avery is quickly tasked at her new job with becoming a corporate internal investigator. Her new client is Camasca--a mega-tech firm that's on the forefront of developing a new integrated AI system poised to revolutionize the medical industry, particularly by delivering vastly improved health care to veterans. The AI potential is breathtaking, but some disturbing anomalies have plagued Camasca in early testing--including the mysterious death of a Camasca engineer. Avery and her colleagues, Jared, Ling, and Noah, find themselves on a journey to determine whether the anomalies are mere technical glitches, or something much more concerning. Full of twists, behind-the-scenes financial machinations, and the continued blossoming of Avery and her vibrant cast of friends, Coded Justice finds Stacey Abrams' riveting series to be in full swing."-- Provided by publisher

The Tiny Things Are Heavier

This heart-rending debut novel follows Sommy, a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for graduate school two weeks after her brother, Mezie, attempts suicide. Plagued by the guilt of leaving Mezie behind, Sommy struggles to fit into her new life as a student and an immigrant. Lonely and homesick, Sommy soon enters a complicated relationship with her boisterous Nigerian roommate, Bayo, a relationship that plummets into deceit when Sommy falls for Bryan, a biracial American, whose estranged Nigerian father left the States immediately after his birth. Bonded by their feelings of unbelonging and a vague sense of kinship, Sommy and Bryan transcend the challenges of their new relationship. During summer break, Sommy and Bryan visit the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria, where Sommy hopes to reconcile with Mezie and Bryan plans to connect with his father. But when a shocking and unexpected event throws their lives into disarray, it exposes the cracks in Sommy's relationships and forces her to confront her notions of self and familial love. A daring and ambitious novel rendered in stirring, tender prose, "The Tiny Things Are Heavier" is a captivating portrait that explores the hardships of migration, the subtleties of Nigeria's class system, and how far we'll go to protect those we love.

Patriarchy Inc.

"Work remains much as it always has: men occupy the vast majority of leadership roles and are overrepresented in positions from engineer to plumber. We see many jobs as "male" or "female," with women dominating in healthcare and childcare professions. Pretending that this is the natural state of things--or that, instead, both sexes should submit to working 24/7--is just not right. In Patriarchy Inc., Cordelia Fine examines with razor-sharp and quick-witted analysis why gender inequality is embedded in the workplace and why it has to change. Drawing on theories from evolutionary science, psychology, economics, and sociology, she examines two of the most prominent movements in the corporate world. The Different But Equal viewpoint espouses that women are in the jobs they want despite their lower status and salaries. In the meantime, DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) has become a slogan that emphasizes productivity and profit, not fair play. Fine shows how both are wrong and the bad effects on everyone when men are still stuck in traditional breadwinner roles and women are having to fight for their due."-- Provided by publisher

10,000 Ink Stains

"Featuring his brilliant work from Sweet Tooth, Essex County, Black Hammer, Descender, and so much more. Lemire takes the reader book-by-book, writing essays about the making of each project, showcasing artwork from all of them, details about his personal life during the creation of each book, sharing some never-before-seen process material on each book, and unpublished stories as well."-- Provided by publisher

Nothing More of This Land

"From award-winning journalist Joseph Lee, a sweeping, personal exploration of Indigenous identity and the challenges facing Indigenous people around the world." -- Provided by publisher

Make It Ours

"Virgil Abloh's appointment as head of menswear for Louis Vuitton in 2018 shocked the fashion industry, as he became the first Black designer to serve as artistic director in the brand's 164-year history. But as Pulitzer Prize-winning culture critic Robin Givhan reveals, Abloh's story encompasses so much more than his own journey. Using Abloh's surprising path to the top of the luxury establishment, Givhan unfolds the larger story of how the cloistered, exclusive fashion world faced a revolution from below in the form of streetwear and designers unafraid to storm the gates--how their notions of what was luxury simultaneously anticipated and upended consumer preferences, and how a simple T-shirt held as much cultural power as a haute couture gown. As Givhan relays, Abloh rose during a time of existential angst for a fashion industry trying to make sense of its responsibilities to a diverse audience and the challenges of selling status to a generation of consumers who fetishized sneakers and prioritized comfort. The story of how that moment came to be, and how someone like Abloh--who had no formal training in pattern-making or tailoring--could come to symbolize and embody the industry's way forward, is the story at the heart of this book. Make It Ours is at once a remarkable biography of a singular creative force and a powerful meditation on fashion and race, taste and exclusivity, genius and luxury. With access to Abloh's family, friends, collaborators, and contemporaries, and featuring a cast of fascinating characters ranging from visionary Black designers like Ozwald Boateng to Abloh's mercurial but critical employer and mentor Kanye West, Givhan weaves a spellbinding tale of a young man's rise amid a cultural moment that would upend a century's worth of ideas about luxury and taste."-- Provided by publisher

Lawless

A Crooked Media podcast host shines a light on what she sees as the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices and shows Americans how to fight back.

The Jailhouse Lawyer

"A searing and ultimately hopeful account of Calvin Duncan, "the most extraordinary jailhouse lawyer of our time" (Sister Helen Prejean), and his thirty-year path through Angola after a wrongful murder conviction, his coming-of-age as a legal mind while imprisoned, and his continued advocacy for those on the inside Calvin Duncan was nineteen when he was incarcerated for a 1981 New Orleans murder he didn't commit. The victim of wildly incompetent public defenders and a badly compromised witness, Duncan was left to rot in the waking nightmare of confinement. Armed with little education, he took matters into his own hands. At twenty, he filed his first motion from jail: "Motion for a Law Book," which launched his highly successful, self-taught, legal career. Trapped within this wholly corrupted system, Calvin became a legal advocate for himself and his fellow prisoners as an Inmate Counsel Substitute at the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary known as Angola. During his decades of incarceration, Calvin helped hundreds of other inmates navigate their cases, offering support to individuals the state had long since written off. Despite his tremendous work, his own case remained stalled. A defense lawyer once responded to his request for documents with a response regarding his legal status: "You are not a person." Prison reform advocate Sophie Cull met Duncan after he was released from prison and began working at her firm; Calvin began to tell her his story. Together, they've written a bracing condemnation of the criminal legal system, and an intimate portrait of a heroic and brilliant man and of his resilience in the face of injustice."-- Provided by publisher

I'll
Be Right Here

"Immigrating alone from Paris to New York after the crucible of World War II, Gazala Benamar, still a teenager, becomes fast friends with two spirited sisters, Anne and Alma. When Gazala's lost, beloved brother, Samir, finally joins her in Manhattan, this contentious, inseparable foursome, will last into the twenty-first century, becoming the beating heart of a multigenerational found family. These decades are marked by the business of everyday life and the inevitable surprises of erupting passions, great and small waves of joy and despair, from the beginning of life, to its end. Gazala and Samir make a home together, Alma loses a baby, Anne leaves her husband for his sister, and Anne's restless daughter grows up to raise a child on her own and join a throuple, becoming who she wanted to be. Through it all, and the history of the these decades, the four friends, and their best beloveds, stand by one another, protecting, annoying and celebrating each other, steadfastly unapologetic about their authentic desires and the unorthodox family they have created. As the next generation falls in and out of love, experiencing life's triumphs, mistakes and disappointments, the central pillars of their lives are the indomitable, hilarious people they call "the Greats". In I'll Be Right Here, Amy Bloom embraces the complexity and richness of humanity, the lawlessness of love, bringing her trademark voice, wry humor, and compassionate eye to the many, often mysterious ways we evolve as we love--and as we hope to be loved in return."-- Provided by publisher

The Fox Wife

"Manchuria, 1908. In the last years of the dying Qing Empire, a courtesan is found frozen in a doorway. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao, a detective with an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman's identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they've remained tantalizingly out of reach until, perhaps, now. Meanwhile, a family who owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments but can't escape the curse that afflicts them--their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. When a disruptively winsome servant named Snow enters their household, the family's luck seems to change--or does it? Snow is a creature of many secrets, but most of all she's a mother seeking vengeance for her lost child. Hunting a murderer, she will follow the trail from northern China to Japan, while Bao follows doggedly behind. Navigating the myths and misconceptions of fox spirits, both Snow and Bao will encounter old friends and new foes, even as more deaths occur."-- Provided by publisher

Exophony

"How perfect that Yoko Tawada's first essay collection in English dives deep into her lifelong fascination with the possibilities opened up by cross-hybrid- izing languages. Tawada famously writes in both Japanese and German, but her interest in language reaches beyond any mere dichotomy. The term "exo- phonic," which she first heard in Senegal, has a special allure for the author: "I was already familiar with similar terms, 'immigrant literature,' or 'creole lit- erature,' but 'exophonic' had a much broader meaning, referring to the general experience of existing outside of one's mother tongue." Tawada revels in explorations of cross-cultural and intra-language possibilities (and along the way deals several nice sharp raps to the global primacy of English). The accent here, as in her fiction, is the art of drawing closer to the world through defamiliarization. Never entertaining a received thought, Tawada seeks the still-to-be-discovered truths, as well as what might possibly be invented entirely whole cloth. Exophony opens a new vista into Yoko Tawada's world, and delivers more of her signature erudite wit-at once cross-grained and generous, laser-focused and multidimensional, slyly ironic and warmly companionable." -- Provided by publisher

Empire of the Elite

"From a New York Times media correspondent, a dishy history of the Condé Nast magazine empire, home of Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and more, focusing on its glitzy heyday from the 1980s through the 2000s." -- Provided by publisher

The Dry Season

"A wise and transformative look at relationships and self-knowledge In the wake of a disastrous two-year relationship, Melissa Febos decided to take a break--for three months she would abstain from dating, from relationships, even from casual sex. Her friends were amused. Did she really think three months was a long time? But to Febos, it was. Ever since her teens, she had been in one relationship or another. As she puts it, she could trace a "daisy chain of romances" from then to now, in her mid-thirties. It was time to focus on herself and examine the lifelong patterns that had produced her midlife disaster. When those three months ended, she feared relapsing into old habits and decided to extend her celibate period. She knew she was taking on a challenge, but had no idea that this year would become the most fulfilling and sensual of her life. No longer defined by her romantic pursuits, she learned to relish the delights of solitude, the thrill of living on her own terms, the sensual pleasures unmediated by lovers, and the freedom to pursue her ideals without distraction or guilt. Bringing her own celibate experiences into conversation with those of women throughout history--from Hildegard von Bingen to the radical feminist group Cell 16--Febos explores how women's decisions to forego sexual intimacy with others (and particularly with men) became a route to freedoms that would otherwise have been inaccessible. The Dry Season is a memoir of celibacy, but it is ultimately a profound exploration of independence, sexuality, and deep self-knowledge. By abstaining from all forms of romantic entanglement, Febos began to see her life and her self-worth in a radical new way. Her year of divestment transformed her relationships with friends and peers, her spirituality, her creative practice, and most of all her relationship to herself." --Provided by publisher

Destroyer of Worlds

"The thrilling and terrifying seventy-year story of the physics that deciphered the atom and created the hydrogen bomb. Although Henri Becquerel didn't know it at the time, he changed history in 1895 when he left photographic plates and some uranium rocks in a drawer. The rocks emitted something that exposed the plates: it was the first documented evidence of spontaneous radioactivity. So began one of the most exciting and consequential efforts humans have ever undertaken. As Frank Close recounts in Destroyer of Worlds, scientists confronting Becquerel's discovery had three questions: What was this phenomenon? Could it be a source of unlimited power? And (alas), could it be a weapon? Answering them was an epic journey of discovery, with Ernest Rutherford, Enrico Fermi, Irene Joliot-Curie, and many others jockeying to decipher the dance of particles in a decaying atom. And it was a terrifying journey as well, as Edward Teller and others pressed on from creating atom bombs to hydrogen bombs so powerful that they could destroy all life on Earth. The deep history of the nuclear age has never before been recounted so vividly. Centered on an extraordinary cast of characters, Destroyer of Worlds charts the course of nuclear physics from simple curiosity to potential Armageddon." -- Provided by publisher

Misbehaving at the Crossroads

"Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is at a crossroads. Traditional African/Black American cultures present the crossroads as a place of simultaneous difficulty and possibility. In contemporary times, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the phrase "intersectionality" to explain the unique position of Black women in America. In many ways, they are at a third crossroads: attempting to fit into notions of femininity and respectability primarily assigned to White women, while inventing improvisational strategies to combat oppression. In Misbehaving at the Crossroads, Jeffers explores the emotional and historical tensions in Black women's public lives and her own private life. She charts voyages of Black girlhood to womanhood and the currents buffeting these journeys, including the difficulties of racially gendered oppression, the challenges of documenting Black women's ancestry; the adultification of Black girls; the irony of Black female respectability politics; the origins of Womanism/Black feminism; and resistance to White supremacy and patriarchy. As Jeffers shows with empathy and wisdom, naming difficult historical truths represents both Blues and transcendence, a crossroads that speaks." -- Provided by publisher

In This Economy?

"An illustrated guide to the mad math and terrible terminology of economics, from one of the internet's favorite financial educators. The stuff you really need to know about how the economy works? It's pretty simple. Yes, even if you were bored to tears in economics class, or if you're cross-eyed from reading painfully convoluted--or straight-up misguided--financial commentary. In this particularly disorienting era, many have turned to a young economic analyst named Kyla Scanlon for answers. Now, Scanlon is writing a definitive, approachable guide to the key concepts and mechanics of economics and the most common myths and fallacies to steer clear of. Through her trademark blend of creative analogies, clever illustrations, refreshingly lucid language--and even quotes from poetry, literature, and philosophy--she answers questions such as: What is Fed cred, Fed flexing, and Fedspeak? Is our national debt really a threat? What is a "mild" recession, exactly? What's really happening in the labor market, and how do we improve it for workers? At a time when experts overcomplicate simple things loudly, choosing to generate smoke rather than clearing the air, In This Economy? shows that understanding the markets--and the systems they operate in--is easier than you think. Whether you're worried about your mortgage rate, job security, bank account balance, or the health of the broader economy, this concise and witty guide will give you the confidence to make smarter financial decisions--no matter what the headlines say."-- Provided by publisher

Caravaggio

[Volume 1] "Caravaggio: The Palette and the Sword Book 1 is the first half of Milo Manara's two-volume epic biography of the hot-tempered Italian master painter. It depicts Caravaggio's early years in Rome as he struggles to capture truth on canvas, only to have his art condemned to be burned by the Church. He then is forced to flee the city when he kills a man in righteous fury over the death of a prostitute. Discover the bawdy, swashbuckling life of one of the greatest painters in history through Manara's passionate, personal tribute to his artistic idol, Michelangelo Merisi, whom the world would come to know as Caravaggio."-- from publisher's website.