In current events, Malcolm Harris presents a true, unvarnished history of California, capitalism, and the world in Palo Alto while Barbara Rae-Venter profiles an amateur DNA sleuth who unmasked the Golden State Killer and changed crime fighting forever in I Know Who You Are. Will Sommer chronicles the rise of QAnon and the conspiracy that unhinged America in Trust the Plan. Bruce Schneier examines how the powerful bend society’s rules – and how to bend them back – in The Hacker’s Mind while Kenji Yoshio and David Glasgow teach readers how to talk about identity, diversity and justice in Say the Right Thing.
In wellness and self improvement, Katherine May (Wintering) invites readers to reawaken wonder in an anxious age in Enchantment while Tara Schuster returns with simple practices to heal your soul – from someone who has learned the hard way – in Glow in the F*cking Dark. The latest from Mark Hyman, Young Forever, reveals the secrets to living your longest, healthiest life while MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan gives people the confidence to successfully debate, persuade and speak in public in Win Every Argument. Lisa Damour provides parents and guardians with the tools for raising connected, capable and compassionate adolescents in The Emotional Lives of Teenagers. And Robert Irvine, host of the Food Network’s “Restaurant Impossible,” helps entrepreneurs learn to lead, build a team and catapult their business to success in Overcoming Impossible.
History buffs have much to read this month. In Dinner With the President, Alex Prud’homme chronicles a history of breaking bread at the White House while Simon Garfield celebrates the extraordinary history of the encyclopedia in All the Knowledge in the World. Nina Siegal looks at World War II in the Netherlands, as written by the people who lived through it, in The Diary Keepers. Adam Brookes debuts with the story of the race to save the treasures of China’s Forbidden City leading up to World War II in Fragile Cargo while Lynne Olson profiles the daredevil archaeologist who saved Egypt’s ancient temples from destruction in Empress of the World. Janina Ramirez offers a reappraisal of the Middle Ages, through the women written out of it, in Femina; Nick Tabor considers the impact of the Clotilda, America’s last slave ship and the community it created, in Africatown; and Sathnam Sanghera looks at how imperialism has shaped modern Britain in Empireland. And Joel Warner reports on a notorious scandal, a mythical manuscript, and the biggest scandal in literary history in The Curse of the Marquis de Sade.
In science, Miriam Darlington journeys into the wild and secret world of owls in The Wise Hours while Erica Berry blends science and history to understand myths about wolves and stories we tell about fear in Wolfish. Activist Greta Thunberg says we still have time to change the world, and presents facts and solutions, in The Climate Book while Jake Bittle warns about climate change’s role in the next American migration in The Great Displacement. Kate Zernike introduces readers to the sixteen female scientists who forced M.I.T. to publicly admit that they discriminated against female faculty in The Exceptions. And Johan Eklöf details the impact of light pollution and its effect on the ancient rhythms that sustain life in The Darkness Manifesto.
Four moving memoirs are being released this month. Will Schwalbe (The End of Your Life Book Club) discusses an improbable and life-changing college friendship over 40 years in We Should Not Be Friends; Camonghne Felix recovers from heartbreak in a love story of epic miscalculation in Dyscalculia; Anne Glenconner (Lady in Waiting) returns with more lessons from an unexpected life in Whatever Next?; and Patrick Bringley recalls the decade he spent as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in All the Beauty in the World.
Finally, crafty folks have several new releases to improve, or learn, a new skill. Andrea Brauneis shows how to knit using steeking to create scarves, shawls and stoles in Knitting Wraps in the Round while Melanie Porter presents 30 contemporary knitting projects for your living space in Knitted Home. In Watercolour Lessons, Emma Lefebvre provides beginners with 20 tutorials on how to paint and unwind; in Be A Polymer Clay Pro, Lauren Tomlinson gives clay artists 15 projects and more than 20 skill-building techniques; and in
Quilt-As-You-Go for Scrap Lovers, Judy Gauthier gives fabric artists 12 fun projects, with color and piercing strategies, for sensational quilts.
~posted by Frank
Shelf Talk 