Readers > New Books > Nonfiction, September 2007
Nonfiction, September 2007
- Abala, Ken
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Whether refried, baked, falafelled or complementing a nice Chianti, the humble bean has long been a part of gourmet and everyday food culture around the globe. As Ken Albala shows, though, over its history the bean has enjoyed more controversy than its current ubiquity lets on. From the bean's status as seat of the soul (at least, that's what Pythagoras thought) to seed of sin (or so said St. Jerome, who forbade nuns to eat beans because they "tickle the genitals"), Beans is a ripping tale of a truly magical fruit.
- Ackerman, Diane
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When Germany invaded Poland, bombers devastated Warsaw — and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski smuggled Jews through the empty cages, saving hundreds of people from the Nazis.
- Blakeslee, Sandra
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The Body Has a Mind of Its Own is as entertaining as it is cutting-edge, revealing what the new science of body mapping shows us about the mind-body connection and how it can change us and our world.
- Bowen, Mark
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From acclaimed writer and physicist Bowen comes the story of the Bush administration's censorship of the world's preeminent climatologist, and the science behind global warning that the government does not want the public to know.
- Brown, Cynthia Stokes
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Brown skillfully interweaves historical knowledge and cutting-edge science in the first popularization of this new field of study.
- Brzezinski, Matthew
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For the 50th anniversary of Sputnik, the artificial satellite launched by the Russians in 1957, Brzezinski's book vividly recounts the true story of the birth of the space age in dramatic detail.
- Cash, Vivian,
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This elegant, revealing and powerful memoir of Vivian Cash, Johnny Cash's first wife of 12 years and the mother of his four daughters, features shocking new revelations, untold stories and never-before-seen photos of the couple's life together.
- Clinton, Bill
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Bill Clinton's call to action is an inspiring look at how each of us can change the world.
- Colley, Linda
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Born in 1735, Elizabeth Marsh traveled farther and more adventurously than any other woman — and most men — of her time. Relating Marsh's extraordinary accomplishments, Colley interweaves a vivid, detailed personal story with an evocation of a crucial phase of early globalization.
- Danticat, Edwidge
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Edwidge Danticat was raised by two fathers — by her natural father and by his brother, her uncle Joseph, who became a surrogate father for eight years after her parents emigrated to America. Brother, I'm Dying is the story of her attachment to her uncle Joseph, and the wrenchingly complicated emotions she experienced when, at 12, she finally rejoined her parents.
- D'Antonio, Michael
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Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael D'Antonio captures the wackiness of the first year of the space race as the Americans scrambled desperately to match the Soviets and President Eisenhower intervened to guarantee that the space program would not be run by the military.
- Dodd, Christopher
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Senator Christopher Dodd (Connecticut) presents letters his father wrote home while serving as a prosecutor at Nuremberg.
- Draper, Robert
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With unprecedented access to all the key figures of this administration — from six one-on-one sessions with the president, to Laura Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Karl Rove and perhaps 200 other players — Draper has achieved what no other journalist or contemporary historian has done thus far: he has told the story of the Bush White House form the inside, with a special emphasis on how the very personality of this strong-willed president has affected the outcome of events.
- Dully, Howard
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In this gut-wrenching memoir, Howard Dully recounts what life was like after he was needlessly lobotomized by an unlicensed physician at the age of twelve at the behest of his abusive stepmother.
- Elder, Robison John
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Look Me in the Eye is the moving, darkly funny story of growing up with Asperger's at a time when the diagnosis simply didn't exist.
- Fulghum, Robert
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The bestselling author of All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten extolls the virtues of simple pleasures and human kindness as cures for a chaotic world.
- Halberstam, David
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In this posthumous work, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist explores the untold heroism and pathos of the worst American military disaster since Little Big Horn, and the politics that set it in motion.
- Jamieson, Wendell
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New York Times editor Jamieson set out to answer the peculiar questions of his young son and wound up on an unexpected journey of his own, in this charming father-son journey.
- Jessop, Carolyn
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Choosing freedom from polygamy over fear, Carolyn Jessop flees her life within the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and now tells her harrowing story. Not only did she manage a daring escape from a brutal environment, she became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS.
- Kolodiejchuk, Brian
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Revealing the inner spiritual life of one of the most beloved and important religious figures in history, this collection of her writing and reflections sheds light on Mother Teresa's interior life in a way that reveals the depth and intensity of her holiness for the first time.
- Kraybill, Donald B.
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On October 2, 2006, a gunman entered a one-room Amish school, killing and wounding ten young girls. Within days, the Amish community expressed forgiveness of the gunman. This book explores the religious beliefs and habits that allowed the Amish to forgive so quickly.
- Lilla, Mark B.
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The quest to bring political life under God's authority has been revived, confounding expectations of a secular future. Columbia University Professor Mark Lilla reveals the sources of this age-old quest — and its surprising role in shaping Western thought.
- Liponis, Mark
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Dr. Mark Liponis of Canyon Ranch offers a powerful prescription for good health built on the science of staying healthy: ultraprevention. Presenting a crucial alternative to modern medicine's specialized, "fix-the-broken-parts" approach to fighting illness, ultraprevention is an integrated and holistic medical approach focused on maintaining good health and preventing disease.
- O'Donnell, Rosie
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Sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking and always brutally honest, this is Rosie O'Donnell's surprising account of the pain, regret and euphoria involved in withdrawing from celebrity life — and the terrifying dangers of relapsing into the spotlight.
- Pinker, Steven
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Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how words explain human nature.
- Sachs, Jeffrey
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From the author of the bestseller The End of Poverty comes this clear map of the road to sustainable and equitable global prosperity, and a warning of the economic collapse that lies ahead if policies aren't changed.
- Spalding, Linda
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Like the work of John Ruskin, Spalding's writing combines autobiography with the examination of a sensational murder case and offers insights into the vagaries of the human heart.
- Stout, Martha
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Stout offers a groundbreaking clinical and practical examination of how terror and fear politics affect the biology of the brain. She assures readers that they can interrupt the cycle of trauma and look forward to a future free of fear only by understanding their own paranoia.
- Toobin, Jeffrey
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Based on exclusive interviews with the Supreme Court Justices themselves and other insiders, The Nine is a timely and provocative state of the union about America's most elite legal institution. Toobin is a CNN senior legal analyst and New Yorker staff writer.
- Tram, Thuy
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An international bestseller, this book presents the remarkable diary of a young North Vietnamese doctor killed by American troops in 1970. Written between 1968 and her death, Tram's writing speaks poignantly of her devotion to family and country, the horrors of war and her struggle to attain her political ideals.
- Van Onselen, Charles
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This masterwork of historical reconstruction recounts the life and times of Joseph Silver, an arch criminal who may well have been Jack the Ripper. A meticulous researcher, Van Onselen offers an account as rich in history as it is in the detail and drama of Silver's career.
- Ward, Geoffrey C.
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Enriched by maps and hundreds of photographs, the companion volume to the forthcoming PBS series is the story of World War II captured in the hearts, minds, words and deeds of those who made history at its most essential level: on the battlefields and on the homefront.
- Winik, Jay
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The author of April 1865 and one of the most renowned and gifted historians returns with an epic, original portrait of the tumultuous years — 1788-1800 — that made the modern world.
- Zachter, Mort
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Mort Zachter's childhood revolved around a small shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side known in the neighborhood as the day-old bread store. It was a bakery where nothing was baked, owned by his two eccentric uncles who referred to their goods as the merchandise. Zachter grew up sleeping in the dinette of a leaking Brooklyn tenement. He lived a classic immigrant story, one of a close-knit, working-class family struggling to make it in America — only they were rich. Zachter chronicles the life-altering discovery made at age 36 that he was heir to several million dollars his bachelor uncles had secretly amassed in stocks and bonds.