http://mppl.org/books-movies-more/lists-and-suggestions/?category=new+books&list=New+Nonfiction+Books+for+July+2025
List: New Nonfiction Books for July 2025
Bad company : private equity and the death of the American dream
"Private equity executives, meanwhile, are not only among the wealthiest people in American society, but have grown to become modern-day barons with outsized influence on our politics and legislation. CEOs of firms like Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR, and Apollo are rewarded with seats in the Senate and on the boards of the country's most august institutions; meanwhile, entire communities are hollowed out as a result of their buyouts. Workers lose their jobs. Communities lose their institutions. Only private equity wins"-- Provided by publisher.
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Murderland : crime and bloodlust in the time of serial killers
"Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and '80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome?
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The Story of Abba: Melancholy Undercover
Through exclusive interviews and over a decade of deep research, a renowned music journalist explores the secrets to ABBA’s success.
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Insectopolis : a natural history
"This visually immersive work of graphic nonfiction dives into a world where ants, cicadas, bees, and butterflies visit a library exhibition that displays their stories and humanity's connection to them throughout the ages. Kuper's thrilling visual feast layers history and science, color and design, to tell the remarkable tales of dung beetles navigating by the stars, hawk-size prehistoric dragonflies hunting prey, and mosquitoes changing the course of human history.
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The Big Hop : the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean and into the future
"In 1919, in Newfoundland, four teams of aviators came from Britain to compete in "the Big Hop": an audacious race to be the first to fly, nonstop, across the Atlantic Ocean. One pair of competitors was forced to abandon the journey halfway, and two pairs never made it into the air. Only one team, after a death-defying sixteen-hour flight, made it to Ireland"-- Provided by publisher.
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Matisse in Morocco : a journey of light and color
Matisse in Morocco tells the story of the artist's groundbreaking time in Tangier and how it altered Matisse's development as a painter and indelibly marked his work for the next four decades. Through Koehler's research and travel, we experience Matisse's time in Tangier, the paintings and their subjects, his relationships with his wife Amélie and his two important collectors, and then come to understand the impact Morocco--its light, colors, culture, and artistic traditions--had on his art.
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The family dynamic : a journey into the mystery of sibling success
"What explains those rare families that boast multiple children who achieve extraordinary success? An award-winning New York Times journalist weaves story with science to explore the circumstances that set those families apart. An Olympic athlete. An award-winning novelist. A successful entrepreneur. All raised under one roof. What can we learn from those families whose children aim high and succeed, sometimes in widely varied fields? Just as important: What were the costs along the way, and what can we glean from their travails and triumphs? ... Susan Dominus offers compelling profiles of six such families, in search of the factors that led to their success--was it an inherited quality, a specific way of parenting, the influence of a sibling, or a twist of luck?"-- Dust jacket flap.
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Field Guide to the Birds of North America
A complete, yet compact and user-friendly, field guide to all the birds of the USA and Canada. Drawing on years of guiding experience, the book is designed to be the easiest guide to use in the field while birding. Covering 1,100 species with over 6,000 illustrations.
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Big Asian energy : an unapologetic guide for breaking barriers to leadership and success
"In his groundbreaking leadership book, John Wang, a top empowerment coach to Asian American professionals across Fortune 500 companies, offers research-backed guidance for Asian Americans to embody their most confident selves in business, relationships, and their everyday lives"-- Provided by publisher.
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50 ideas that changed the world of work : the essential guide to the best business thinking
"The world of work is full of ideas. Some of these ideas shape the work we do and the way we do it. But it can often be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. When ideas really do break new ground and change the way we think about what we do, they can help all of us to be better, happier, and more productive. The trick is to know which ones offer the most reliable vision, and how they can be adapted and deployed to the best effect. By encapsulating and explaining the best of this thinking, 50 Ideas that Changed the World of Work is equal parts vision and road map; an invaluable and insightful guide to navigating the world of work today"-- Provided by publisher.
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The mind electric : a neurologist on the strangeness and wonder of our brains
"A feminist view of the intimate stranger that is the brain, and an overdue reckoning with the misogyny and racism within neuroscience"-- Provided by publisher.
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Scorched earth : a global history of World War II
"In popular memory, the Second World War was an unalloyed victory for freedom over totalitarianism, marking the demise of the age of empires and the triumph of an American-led democratic order. In Scorched Earth, historian Paul Thomas Chamberlin dispatches the myth of World War II as a good war. Instead, he depicts the conflict as it truly was: a massive battle beset by vicious racial atrocities, fought between rival empires across huge stretches of Asia and Europe.
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The salmon cannon and the levitating frog : and other serious discoveries of silly science
"Why would anyone research how elephants pee? Or study worms who tie themselves into a communal knot? Or quantify the squishability of a cockroach? It all sounds pointless, silly, or even disgusting. Maybe it is. But in The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog, Carly Anne York shows how unappreciated, overlooked, and simply curiosity-driven science has led to breakthroughs big and small. Got wind power? You might have humpback whales to thank.
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The Great Auk: Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife
The life, death and afterlife of one of the true icons of extinction, the Great Auk
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The art of winning : lessons from my life in football
A legendary football coach shares a comprehensive philosophy for success, drawing from his decades of experience in sports to offer principles on leadership, motivation, growth and decision-making that can be applied to any field or profession.
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The dry season : a memoir of pleasure in a year without sex
"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?
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Daughters of the bamboo grove : from China to America, a true story of abduction, adoption, and separated twins
"On a warm day in September 2000, a twenty-eight-year-old woman named Zanhua gave birth to twin girls in a small hut nestled in bamboo behind her brother's rural home in China's Hunan province. The twins, Fangfang and Shuangjie, were welcome additions to her young family but also not her first children. Hidden in the hut, they were born under the shadow of China's notorious one-child policy.
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The true happiness company : a memoir
"It is hard for Veena Dinavahi to live while her classmates keep dying. The high-achieving daughter of loving Indian immigrants, Veena lives in a typical white American suburb-except for its unusually high suicide rate. She tries to manage her mental health in all the right ways, but nothing works. Then, on one late-night Google search, her mom finds Bob Lyon-a 60-year-old man in the backwoods of Georgia who says he can make Veena want to live again. He calls himself "The True Happiness Company" and, as their relationship progresses... 'Daddy.' As Veena is sucked into his strangely close-knit community, Bob's 'suggestions' start to feel less and less optional. Before she knows it, she's a college dropout, married mother of three, and a Mormon convert who has gotten way too good at dismissing her gut feeling that something is wrong. But when Bob finally pushes her too far, Veena slowly begins to realize that true happiness cannot be one-size-fits-all. She cuts ties with Bob, only to reckon with what it means to build a life outside of his influence.
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The last great dream : how bohemians became hippies and created the sixties
"... definitive social history of everything that led up to the 1960s counterculture movement"--Dust jacket.
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The project : how Project 2025 is reshaping America
"A clear guide to Project 2025--the playbook for the second Trump administration. ... In The Project, award-winning journalist David A. Graham offers much-needed context and distills the essential elements of this sprawling document. Breaking down the Project's strategy for transforming--and radically empowering--the executive branch, Graham explains what the architects behind Project 2025 are doing with that power: enforcing traditional gender norms, decimating the civil service, performing mass deportations, reducing corporate regulation and worker protections, and more. Authoritative yet highly accessible, The Project demystifies Project 2025 for those whose lives it will affect most"-- Back cover.
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Gift of not belonging : how outsiders thrive in a world of joiners
From a renowned psychiatrist comes the first book to explore the otrovert personality--someone who feels like an outsider in any group--revealing all the advantages of being an otrovert. Were you the kid who never wanted to join after school clubs or go to sleepaway camp? Do you loathe parties but love spending time with close friends one-on-one? Are you allergic to teamwork but thrive creatively and professionally when working alone? Do you struggle to fit in? If so, you are likely an otrovert. Otroverts are not natural born joiners. Unlike introverts, they are not shy or quiet, and do not quickly tire from one-on-one socializing. Yet in large groups they feel uncomfortable, alienated, and alone. The Gift of Not Belonging urges otroverts to embrace their unique gifts, and equips them with the knowledge and tools to thrive in a communal world. -- adapted from jacket
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Mid-faith crisis : finding a path through doubt, disillusionment, and dead ends
"Navigating the Storm: Understanding the Crisis of Faith Many of us embarked on our spiritual journeys filled with hope and certainty, only to find ourselves questioning the very foundation of our beliefs as life unfolded. The faith that once seemed unshakeable may falter in the face of broken trust, unanswered prayers, and the harsh realities of worldly suffering.
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Motherland : a journey through 500,000 years of African culture and identity
"Historian, archaeologist, and anthropologist Luke Pepera takes us on a personal journey discovering 500,000 years of African history and cultures in order to reclaim and reconnect with this extraordinary heritage. He tackles the question many people of African descent ask -- Who are we? Where do we come from? What defines us? And it explores how knowledge of this deeper history might affect current understandings of African identity.
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False claims : one insider's impossible battle against big pharma corruption
"Lisa Pratta shares her story of going undercover as a whistleblower at a large Big Pharma company and standing up to systemic corruption, greed, and harassment-all while caring for her family as a single mother"-- Provided by publisher.
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Lone wolf : walking the line between civilization and wildness
"Weymouth journeys to understand how wolves-vilified throughout history in literature, art, and folklore-are slowly creeping back into our forests, woods, and sometimes even our towns, and what that deep-rooted terror at the back of our minds really means ... Sharply observed, searching, and written in poetic and precise prose, Lone Wolf explores the thorny connection between humans and nature, and indeed between borders themselves, and presses us to consider this much-discussed creature anew"-- Provided by publisher.
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Our dear friends in Moscow : the inside story of a broken generation
"Our Dear Friends in Moscow tells the story of a group of young Russians, part of an idealistic generation who came of age in Moscow at the end of the twentieth century, just as the communist era imploded and a future full of potential, and uncertainty, stood in front of them. Initially, the group seized and enjoyed the freedoms of the new era, but quickly the notion that Russia was destined to join the West, and Europe, in a new partnership began to fade. At home the economy crashed, civil war stalked Chechnya, and terrorism came to Moscow.
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Lost Wonders: 10 Tales of Extinction from the 21st Century
What happens when the delicate balance of life is disturbed? Lost Wonders tells ten remarkable stories of species which have become extinct since the turn of the millennium.
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Mother Emanuel : two centuries of race, resistance, and forgiveness in one Charleston church
"A sweeping history of one of the nation's most important African American churches and a profound story of grace and perseverance amidst the fight for racial justice-from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Kevin Sack"-- Provided by publisher.
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I'll look so hot in a coffin : and other thoughts I used to have about my body
"Carla Sosenko was born with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, a rare vascular disorder that resulted in legs of different sizes, a mass of flesh on her back, a hunched posture, and other idiosyncrasies big and small. She spent years trying to hide under layers of clothing, and then experimented with the opposite: wearing tiny dresses and short shorts, daring people to stare so she could make them regret it. No matter what she did, she was worried that she didn't measure up.
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Foreign fruit : a personal history of the orange
"What begins as curiosity about the origins of the orange soon becomes a far-reaching odyssey of citrus for Katie Goh. Goh follows the complicated history of the orange from east to west and west to east, from a luxury item of European kings and Chinese emperors to a modest fruit people take for granted. This investigation parallels Goh's powerful search into her own heritage.
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Fatherhood : a history of love and power
"A bold and original history of fatherhood, exploring its invention and transformation from the Bronze Age to the present through a collective portrait of emblematic fathers who have helped to define how the world should be ruled and what it means to be a man. Fatherhood is one of the most meaningful aspects of human culture, but we know little about when or where fatherhood first emerged, or even how or why.
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Green gold : the avocado's remarkable journey from humble superfood to toast of a nation
"The avocado is the quintessential symbol of aspirational living, a ubiquitous agricultural favorite, and the driver of an $18 billion global industry. How did this regional Latin American staple become a star of Super Bowl ads and a byword for wellness? Documenting more than a century of cross-cultural cooperation, cutting-edge science, and savvy marketing, Green Gold tells the remarkable story of the fruit's rise to prominence as both a culinary and cultural juggernaut.
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