http://mppl.org/books-movies-more/lists-and-suggestions/?category=nonfiction+books&list=New+Nonfiction+Books+for+September+24
List: New Nonfiction Books for September 24
The longest con : how grifters, swindlers, and frauds hijacked American conservatism
"A sardonic chronicle of how conservatism turned into a racketeering enterprise - and why Donald Trump became the living emblem of the American right's moral decay. The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam.
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The home I worked to make : voices from the new Syrian diaspora
"War forced millions of Syrians from their homes. It also forced them to rethink the meaning of home itself. In 2011, Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom. Brutal government repression transformed peaceful protests into one of the most devastating conflicts of our times, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions. The Home I Worked to Make takes Syria's refugee outflow as its point of departure.
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Autocracy, Inc. : the dictators who want to run the world
"From the Pulitzer-prize winning, New York Times bestselling author, an alarming account of how autocracies work together to undermine the democratic world, and how we should organize to defeat them We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.
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The genius of Judy : how Judy Blume rewrote childhood for all of us
Offers an intimate and expansive look at Judy Blume's life, work and cultural impact, focusing on her most iconic--and controversial--young adult novels, from Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret to Blubber.
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This fierce people : the untold story of America's Revolutionary War in the South
"A groundbreaking, important recovery of history; the overlooked story-fully explored, of the critical aspect of America's Revolutionary War that was fought in the South showing that the British surrender at Yorktown was the direct result of the southern campaign and, that the battles that emerged south of the Mason-Dixon line between loyalists to the Crown and patriots who fought for independence were, in fact, America's first civil war.
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Should we go extinct? : a philosophical dilemma for our unbearable times
"Philosophical advisor to the hit NBC sitcom The Good Place contemplates the future of humanity-whether we should bring new humans into the world, or if the world would be better without us"--
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Impossible monsters : dinosaurs, Darwin, and the battle between science and religion
"When the twelve-year-old daughter of a British carpenter pulled some strange-looking bones from the country's southern shoreline in 1811, few people dared to question that the Bible told the accurate history of the world.
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Lucid Dying : The New Science Revolutionizing How We Understand Life and Death
From internationally renowned expert in resuscitation and New York Times bestselling author Sam Parnia, MD, PhD, comes a groundbreaking look at what happens to us when we die, based on the largest-ever research study run on recalled experiences of death.
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Circle of Hope : A Reckoning With Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church
Americans have been leaving their churches. Some drift away. Some stay home. And some have been searching for―and finding―more authentic ways to find and follow Jesus.
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What's next : a backstage pass to The West Wing, its cast and crew, and its enduring legacy of service
"A behind-the-scenes look into the creation and legacy of The West Wing as told by cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack, with additional insight from cast and crew exploring what made the show what it was, and how its impassioned commitment to service has made the series and relationships behind it endure"--
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Meet the neighbors : animal minds and life in a more-than-human world
"Honeybees deliberate democratically. Rats reflect on the past. Snakes have friends. In recent decades, our understanding of animal cognition has exploded, making it indisputably clear that the cities and landscapes around us are filled with thinking, feeling individuals besides ourselves.
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Die hot with a vengeance : essays on vanity
Journalist and former Allure editor Sable Yong presents an essay collection about beauty and vanity, examining their stigmatization in the cultural zeitgeist, and how to shift the focus to use both for powerful tools for self-exploration, interpersonal connection, and cultural change.
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Democracy in retrograde : how to make changes big and small in our country and in our lives
"In today's political climate, it's hard not to get discouraged. Isolated, doom scrolling, lacking a sense of purpose or community... it's easy to become overwhelmed by the dire state of American democracy and do nothing, because why try when the odds are never in our favor?
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Telltale hearts : a public health doctor, his patients, and the power of story
"For over four decades, Dr. Dean-David Schillinger has been a witness to the evolution of public health in America. From his days as a young, bright eyed resident to the Chief of Internal Medicine at one of the country's largest public hospitals, Schillinger has seen thousands of patients and observed how our healthcare system can both work for and against them.
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Life as no one knows it : the physics of life's emergence
"An intriguing new scientific theory that explains what life is and how it emerges. What is life? This is among the most difficult open problems in science, right up there with the nature of consciousness and the existence of matter.
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How to be a citizen : learning to be civil without the state
"The oldest question in political philosophy is simple: What is the best way to organize society? The question used to occupy legal scholar C. L. Skach, too, whose answer was found in crafting good constitutions, until her participation in helping to do so, including in Iraq in 2009, led her to step back from law as the answer.
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Guilty creatures : sex, God, and murder in Tallahassee, Florida
"From the critically-acclaimed author and psychoanalyst Mikita Brottman comes the murky retelling of the murder of Mike Williams committed under the haze of faith and devotion. Perfect for true-crime and literary fiction fans alike"--
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Midnight in Moscow : A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia's War Against the West
A memoir of service by the American ambassador who was on the diplomatic front lines when Putin invaded Ukraine, Midnight in Moscow is the first behind-the-scenes account of how U.S.-Russia relations hit their nadir—and a playbook for our unfolding confrontation.
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Dinner tonight : simple meals full of Mediterranean flavor
"Meliz Berg shares her go-to home cooking--quick and nourishing meals, instant dinners that come together with pantry essentials, clever shortcuts, one-pot and sheet-pan winners, easy Friday "fake-out" ideas, and lazy weekend inspiration for beautiful food that takes care of itself in the oven--perfect for stress-free gatherings with family and friends."--
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Alexander at the end of the world : the forgotten final years of Alexander the Great
This biography of Alexander the Great's final years focuses on his seven-year journey through the unknown eastern borderlands of the Persian empire to reach Afghanistan and fulfill his quest to rule the world.
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Kent State : an American tragedy
"On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, political fires that had been burning across America during the 1960s exploded. Antiwar protesters wearing bell-bottom jeans and long hair hurled taunts and rocks at another group of young Americans--National Guardsmen sporting gas masks and rifles.
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A hunger to kill : a serial killer, a determined detective, and the quest for a confession that changed a small town forever
"In this fascinating & profoundly chilling account, Detective Kim Mager, a real-life version of Clarice Starling, reveals how she closed in on-and broke-one of Ohio's most infamous serial killers. On September 13, 2016, in the small town of Ashland, Ohio, emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from a terrified woman who claimed to be kidnapped.
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Lonely Planet's Guide to Death, Grief and Rebirth
Divided into four key chapters: Celebrating, Commemorating, Mourning, and Offering, readers will discover resting places, burials, rituals, and symbols that have been associated with death throughout time.
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Feeding the Machine : The Hidden Human Labor Powering A.i.
Silicon Valley has sold us the illusion that artificial intelligence is a frictionless technology that will bring wealth and prosperity to humanity. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the grim reality of a precarious global workforce of millions laboring under often appalling conditions to make A.I. possible. This book presents an urgent, riveting investigation of the intricate network that maintains this exploitative system, revealing the untold truth of A.I.
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The bluestockings : a history of the first women's movement
This illuminating group portrait delves into the lives of a circle of 18th-century women called the Bluestockings, who came together in glittering salons to discuss and debate as intellectual equals with men, fighting for women to be educated and have a public role in society.
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Madoff : the final word
"Some $68 billion evaporated during Bernie Madoff's epic confidence game. Two people were driven to suicide in the wake of the Ponzi Scheme's exposure. Others went to prison. But there has never been a satisfying accounting for how Bernie got away with so much, for so long.
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The secret lives of numbers : a hidden history of math's unsung trailblazers
Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. But despite its reputation as the study of fundamental truths, the stories we have been told about it are wrong--warped like the sixteenth-century map that enlarged Europe at the expense of Africa, Asia and the Americas. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, renowned math historian Kate Kitagawa and journalist Timothy Revell make the case that the history of math is infinitely deeper, broader, and richer than the narrative we think we know.
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The boys of Riverside : a deaf football team and a quest for glory
"The incredible story of an all-deaf high school football team's triumphant climb from underdog to undefeated, their inspirational brotherhood, a fascinating portrait of deafness in America, and the indefatigable head coach who spearheaded the team"--
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Into the clear blue sky : the path to restoring our atmosphere
In Into the Clear Blue Sky, climate scientist and chair of the Global Carbon Project Rob Jackson explains that we need to redefine our goals. As he argues here, we shouldn't only be trying to stabilize the Earth's temperature at some arbitrary value. Instead, we can restore the atmosphere itself in a lifetime--and this should be our moral duty. Restoring the atmosphere means reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the air to pre-industrial levels--starting with super-potent methane--to heal the harm we have done.
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The Age of Loneliness : Essays
How do we add to archives of ecological memory? How can we notice and document what’s missing in the landscapes closest to us? In her debut essay collection, Laura Marris reframes environmental loss by setting aside the catastrophic framework of the Anthropocene in favor of that of the Eremocene, the age of loneliness, which is marked by the dramatic thinning of wildlife populations and by isolation between and among species.
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On the edge : the art of risking everything
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise, the definitive guide to our era of risk--and the players raising the stakes. In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates "The River," or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape--and dominate--so much of modern life.
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Sharks don't sink : adventures of a rogue shark scientist
"From a marine biologist and co-founder of Minorities in Shark Sciences, a powerful debut memoir: the uplifting story of a young Black scientist's challenging journey to flourish outside the traditional confines of academia, inspired by her innate connection to nature's most misunderstood animal-the shark. You never forget your first shark.
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