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Nonfiction, April 2005

Bird, Kai: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (April 2005)

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Bird has written a rich evocation of America in mid-century and a compelling portrait of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, a man who was shaped by, or helped to shape, its major events — the Depression, World War II and the Cold War.
Blackburn, Julia: With Billie (April 2005)

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Here are the voices of piano players and dancers, pimps and junkies, producers and critics, narcotics agents, friends, lovers and fellow musicians, who provide a complete and complex picture of Billie Holiday.
Brookes, Tim: Guitar: An American Life (May 2005)

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What was it about a small, humble folk instrument that allowed it to become an American icon? The guitar represents freedom, the open road, protest and rebellion, the blues, youth, lost love and sexuality. With adoration Brookes explores these ideas and how they became entwined with the history of America.
Burdick, Alan: Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion (May 2005)

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In this work of narrative nonfiction, the author tours the front lines of ecological invasion — in Hawaii, Tasmania, Guam, San Francisco, in lush rainforests, through underground lava tubes and on the deck of an Alaska-bound oil tanker.
Carlson, Richard: Easier Than You Think: — Because Life Doesn't Have to Be So Hard: The Small Changes That Add up to a World of Difference (May 2005)

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The author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff is back with 40 easy ways to make an enormous difference by making small changes to how one thinks and acts.
Coontz, Stephanie: Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage (May 2005)

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In this surprising book, family historian Coontz explodes every cherished assumption about marriage, starting with the notion of the traditional marriage.
Daniel, John: Rogue River Journal: A Winter Alone (May 2005)

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In November of 2000, John Daniel climbed into his pickup, drove to a cabin in the Rogue River Gorge, and quit civilization for six months. The strictures set up were severe: no two-way human communications, no radio, no music, no news, no clocks, and no calendars. In addition to the physical rigor of working in isolation, Daniel had assumed a hard spiritual task in deciding to live alone: to confront his now dead father. Rogue River Journal is the result, a memoir of both vivid present and past interwoven.
Davis, William C.: The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf (May 2005)

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Davis untangles the lives of Jean and Pierre Laffite, buccaneers during the most colorful period in New Orleans' history, the era from just after the Louisiana Purchase through the War of 1812.
Deutscher, Guy, Dr.: The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention (May 2005)

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Drawing on recent groundbreaking discoveries in modern linguistics, Deutscher exposes the elusive forces of creation at work in human communication, giving fresh insight into how language emerges, evolves and decays.
DeWoskin, Rachel: Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China (May 2005)

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Hoping to improve her Chinese and broaden her cultural horizons, the author went to work in China, eventually becoming the star of a wildly successful soap opera. Living the culture clashes in real life while playing out a parallel version onscreen, she witnesses the country's vast changes.
Eban, Katherine: Dangerous Doses: How Counterfeiters Are Contaminating America's Drug Supply (May 2005)

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Dangerous Doses exposes the dark side of America's pharmaceutical trade. With the conscience of a crusading reporter, Eban shows how, when the public most needs protection, it may be most at risk.
Ellerbee, Linda: Take Big Bites: Adventures Around the World and Across the Table (May 2005)

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The celebrated journalist, producer and bestselling author takes readers on a remarkable culinary journey through her life.
Eyman, Scott: Lion of Hollywood; The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer (May 2005)

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Based on some 150 interviews and access to previously unavailable archival sources, Lion of Hollywood follows Louis B. Mayer's life from the Russian shtetls through his reign as chief executive of MGM to his embittered exile.
Faber, Toby: Stradivari's Genius: One Cello, Five Violins, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection (April 2005)

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Faber tells the story of Antonio Stradivari, the 17th-century Italian whose incomparable craftsmanship single-handedly revolutionized the violin and the entire history of Western music.
Feuer, Alan: Over There: From the Bronx to Baghdad (June 2005)

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Ambitious yet deeply ambivalent about the impending war, New York Times reporter Feuer was sent to cover the U.S. invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003. In this gin-soaked yet scrupulously honest look at a reporter in wartime, he describes the international media swarm, not to mention the local opportunists and unscrupulous profiteers.
Florence, Tyler: Eat This Book: Cooking with Global Fresh Flavors (April 2005)

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Tyler draws inspiration from kitchens around the world to enliven America's favorite foods in more than 150 recipes for everyday occasions. Each recipe zeroes in on the bright notes of fresh, global fare and a handful of readily available ingredients that engage the senses and spark the palate, and all are as easy to prepare as they are flavorful.
Fonda, Jane: My Life So Far (May 2004)

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Born into the Hollywood of her legendary father Henry Fonda, the actress and bestselling author tells the story of her remarkable life — the movies, the men and the times.
Fowles, John: The Journals (May 2005)

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This firsthand account of the years before Fowles achieved recognition reads with all the emotional power and narrative complexity of his novels, providing invaluable insight into the relationship between Fowles' life and his work.
Gershenfeld, Neil A.: Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop — From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication (April 2005)

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What if we could someday put the manufacturing power of a Ford factory in our own garage? According to MIT's technoprognosticator Gershenfeld, the next big thing is personal fabrication — the ability to make your own products, in your own home, with a miniaturized machine that combines consumer electronics with industrial tools.
Gray, Francine du Plessix: Them: A Memoir of Parents (May 2005)

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The acclaimed biographer gives an unflinchingly honest, wise and forgiving portrait of her own famous parents, two talented Russian émigrés who fled wartime Paris to become one of New York's first and grandest "power couples."
Herbert, Bob: Promises Betrayed: Waking Up From the American Dream (May 2005)

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In this commentary, Herbert makes the case that America has too often failed to live up to its creed of fairness and justice in the lives of working people, racial minorities, children and others not among the powerful.
Hopkins, Evans D.: Life After Life: A Story of Rage and Redemption (April 2005)

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This powerful memoir encompasses the triumphs and tragedies of a generation — from a childhood in the Jim Crow South, intense participation in the Black Panther Party, imprisonment and the redemption one man continues to seek after prison.
Johnson, Diane: Into a Paris Quartier: Reine Margot's Chapel and Other Haunts of St.-Germain (May 2005)

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Novelist Johnson, author of Le Divorce, brings to life the legendary St. Germain-des-Près quarter of Paris — her adoptive home for many years — with riveting stories that explain its continued mystique in the heart of the world's most alluring city.
Kotkin, Joel: The City: A Global History (April 2005)

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Cities are the fulcrum of civilization. In this short, authoritative, yet winningly informal account, urbanist Joel Kotkin examines the evolution of cities and urban life over thousands of years.
Lacey, Robert: Great Tales from English History. Joan of Arc, the Princes in the Tower, Bloody Mary, Oliver Cromwell, Sir Isaac Newton, and More (June 2005)

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With insight, humor and fascinating detail, Lacey brings vividly to life the stories that made England — from Ethelred the Unready to Richard the Lionheart, the Venerable Bede to Piers the Ploughman.
Latifi, Afschineh: Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran (April 2005)

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This is an immigrant saga unlike any other. It is the story of a self-made man and the schoolteacher with whom he fell in love, of a family torn apart by war and violence, and of the two little girls who found themselves on their own in America, forced to become strong young women before they even had a childhood.
Lende, Heather: If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska (June 2005)

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Lende writes the obituaries and the social column in tiny Haines, Alaska, 90 miles north of Juneau, accessible mainly by water or air. Her warm, folksy style brings us inside her busy life. We meet a colorful assortment of friends and neighbors, including aging hippies, salty fisherman, native Tlingit Indians and volunteer undertakers, as well as the moose, eagles, sea lions and bears with whom they share this wild and perilous land.
Lisle, Laurie: Four Tenths of an Acre: Reflections on a Gardening Life (May 2005)

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This series of linked essays offers a thoughtful meditation on the natural world, a portrait of writers and artists who garden, a view of past and present gardening rituals in a traditional New England town and ultimately the story of finding personal fulfillment in nature.
Louv, Richard: Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (May 2005)

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Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers and environmentalists to find ways for children to experience the natural world more deeply.
Markoff, John: What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry (April 2005)

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While there have been several histories written of the personal computer, a well-known technology writer has created the first ever to spotlight the unique political and cultural forces of the 1960s that gave rise to this revolutionary technology.
Matsen, Bradford: Descent: The Heroic Discovery of the Abyss (April 2005)

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A fusion of history and adventure writing, Descent is a vivid account of the bathysphere, one of the seminal scientific ventures of the 20th century.
Mazower, Mark: Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430–1950 (April 2005)

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Mazower offers a richly textured social history of the Aegean seaport that has been a crossroads of civilization since the dawn of Byzantium.
McCullough, David G.: 1776 (May 2005)

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Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, McCullough returns with the story of the Revolutionary War — a book certain to be another landmark in the literature of American history.
McGough, Matthew: Bat Boy: My True Life Adventures Coming of Age with the New York Yankees (May 2005)

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In the fall of 1991, 16-year-old Matthew McGough asked the general manager of the New York Yankees for a position as a bat boy. He got the job and walked into the madness of the Yankee clubhouse on Opening Day, thus beginning two years of adventures and misadventures.
Mittelbach, Margaret: Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger (April 2005)

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Comic travel writing in the tradition of Bill Bryson, the first mainstream book about Tasmania is perfect for armchair explorers and nature lovers. Along with descriptions of bizarre species and Tasmania's surprising history, the book is laced with Rockman's evocative artwork — originally crafted from organic materials picked up on this postmodern safari.
Navasky, Victor S.: A Matter of Opinion (May 2005)

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Standing at the helm of The Nation for almost 30 years, Navasky delivers a scintillating reflection on his journalistic experiences and offers a spirited, provocative argument for independent journals of opinion as vital to the health of democracy.
O'Donnell, James Joseph: Augustine: A New Biography (April 2005)

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Much of Augustine's writing consists of sermons and letters rich in vivid primary material about the events of his time. Prosperous men converting to Christianity to get ahead, priests covering up their sexual and financial peccadilloes, generals playing coldly calculated games of Roman barbarian geopolitics — these are the figures who stand out in Augustine's world and who populate O'Donnell's intriguing portrait set against a background of the battle over the future of Christianity. This book reveals much of what Augustine didn't confess.
Ojito, Mirta A.: Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus (April 2005)

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Here is a vibrant, moving memoir of one family's life in Cuba and their wrenching departure. Ojito was born in Havana and raised there until the unprecedented events of the Mariel boatlift brought her to Miami, one teenager among more than 100,000 fellow refugees.
Polk, William Roe: Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation (April 2005)

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From a leading expert on the Middle East comes a penetrating historical explanation of the current U.S. intervention and the future relationship with Iraq.
Quadagno, Jill S.: One Nation, Uninsured: Why the U.S. Has No National Health Insurance (April 2005)

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Ranging across the 20th century, Quadagno offers a vividly written, path-breaking history of America's failed efforts to address the health care needs of its citizens.
Ransom, Roger L.: The Confederate States of America: What Might Have Been (May 2005)

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Ransom, a master of historical analysis, follows the consequences of "what if" scenarios surrounding the Civil War over an extended period of time, showing logical and historically valid outcomes of his counterfactuals.
Sanders, Michael S.: Families of the Vine: Seasons Among the Winemakers of Southwest France (April 2005)

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A rare glimpse into the intricacies of winemaking is achieved through this intimate look at three French families and their vineyards.
Schroen, Gary C.: First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan (May 2005)

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From a CIA agent who led the first team of Americans into Afghanistan after 9/11, this is the first book to explain the crucial role the agency played in defeating the Taliban.
Seierstad, Asne: A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal (April 2005)

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The author of The Bookseller of Kabul paints an intimate portrait of Baghdad under siege. The only woman in the world to cover both the fall of Kabul in 2001 and the bombings of Baghdad in 2003, Seierstad has redefined war reporting with her mesmerizing book.
Shields, Brooke: Down Came the Rain (May 2005)

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In this compelling memoir, Shields talks candidly about her experience with postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter and provides millions of women with an inspiring example of recovery.
Stratton, W. K.: Chasing the Rodeo: On Wild Rides and Big Dreams, Broken Hearts and Broken Bones, and One Man's Search for the West (May 2005)

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Stratton creates a portrait of rodeo that is at once loving and critical, personal and cultural, and mixes colorful characters and high stakes with a story of finding one's truth.
Tobar, Héctor: Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States (April 2005)

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Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Tobar takes readers on a tour of the Spanish-speaking United States — a parallel nation, 35 million strong, that is changing the very notion of what it means to be an American in unprecedented and unexpected ways.
Vaillant, John: The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed (May 2005)

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As vividly as Jon Krakauer put readers on Everest, John Vaillant takes them into the heart of North America's last great forest, where trees grow to 18 feet in diameter, sunlight never touches the ground and the chainsaws are always at work.
Wolf, Naomi: The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to Live, Love, and See (May 2005)

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The critically acclaimed writer and feminist thinker shares the enduring wisdom of her father, Leonard Wolf, a poet and teacher who believes every person is an artist in some unique way, and that personal creativity is the secret of happiness.