Each month we highlight new nonfiction books. Here is the list for May.
Planta sapiens : the new science of plant intelligence
Calvo, Paco, author.
"Decades of research document plants' impressive abilities: they communicate with one another, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is the new evidence that plants may actually be sentient. Although plants may not have brains, their microscopic commerce exposes a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them to behave in adaptive, flexible, anticipatory, and goal-directed ways"--
Checking status…
A Garden's Purpose: Cultivating Our Connection with the Natural World
de Rosen, Félix
The garden provides a powerful, generous way of looking at the world. Through stories and essays, this gracious volume, written in a highly accessible tone, invites readers on a journey to understand gardens as places where we build mutually beneficial relationships with the living world around us.
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The angel makers : arsenic, a midwife, and modern history's most astonishing murder ring
McCracken, Patti, author.
"The horror occurred in a rustic farming enclave in modern-day Hungary. To look at the unlikely lineup of murderesses--village wives, mothers, and daughters--was to come to the shocking realization that this could have happened anywhere, and to anyone. At the center of it all was a sharp-minded village midwife, a "smiling Buddha" known as Auntie Suzy, who distilled arsenic from flypaper and distributed it to the women of Nagyrév.
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The teachers : a year inside America's most vulnerable, important profession
Robbins, Alexandra, 1976- author.
"A riveting, must-read, year-in-the-life account of three teachers, combined with reporting that reveals what's really going on behind school doors, by New York Times bestselling author and education expert Alexandra Robbins Alexandra Robbins goes behind the scenes to tell the true, sometimes shocking, always inspirational stories of three teachers as they navigate a year in the classroom.
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Hitler's aristocrats : the secret power players in Britain and America who supported the Nazis, 1923-1941
Ronald, Susan, author.
"Susan Ronald, acclaimed author of Hitler's Art Thief takes readers into the shadowy world of the aristocrats and business leaders on both sides of the Atlantic who secretly aided Hitler and Nazi Germany. Hitler said, "I am convinced that propaganda is an essential means to achieve one's aims."
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The collaborators : three stories of deception and survival in World War II
Buruma, Ian, author.
"On the face of it, the three characters in this book seem to have little in common--aside from the fact that each committed wartime acts that led some to see them as national heroes, and others as villains. All three were mythmakers, larger-than-life storytellers, for whom the truth was beside the point.
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Living resistance : an indigenous vision for seeking wholeness every day
Curtice, Kaitlin B., author.
"Popular Indigenous author Kaitlin Curtice argues that resistance isn't just for professional activists but for every human who longs to see their neighbors' holistic flourishing"--
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Womb : the inside story of where we all began
Hazard, Leah, author.
"A groundbreaking investigation of the uterus--from birth to death, in sickness and in health, throughout history and into our possible future--from a midwife and acclaimed writer Leah Hazard."--
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Cucina povera : the Italian way of transforming humble ingredients into unforgettable meals
Scarpaleggia, Giulia, author.
"Cucina povera, Italian peasant cooking, is the art of making do with what you've got. This centuries-old cooking style transforms humble ingredients and leftovers into hearty, satisfying meals. Cucina Povera will be the definitive cookbook on the subject and feature recipes from all regions of Italy.
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The Wiley Canning Company cookbook : recipes to preserve the seasons
O'Leary, Chelsea J. (Entrepreneur), author, photographer.
"Chelsea J. O'Leary focuses equally on seasonal recipes and the foundational knowledge required to preserve food with sharp intuition and holistic understanding. No matter where you live--a downtown high-rise, suburban bungalow, or countryside ranch--these recipes are for you. In fact, most recipes can be created using produce picked up from any local farmers' market. As you use this cookbook, you will become a steward of your local land, farms, and home."--
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The dinner party project : a no-stress guide to food with friends
Feldman, Natasha, author.
A cooking show host and private chef shares the secrets to throwing fun, no-stress gatherings through recipes for every mood and cooking comfort level, menu suggestions, and tips and tricks for taking the pressure off of hosting.
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Provence the cookbook : recipes from the French Mediterranean
Craig, Caroline, author.
"Provence is the fruit and vegetable garden of France, where much of its most beautiful produce is grown. These ingredients, combined with Provence's unique identity, position, and history have resulted in a cuisine full of heart, balance, and soul--a cuisine that showcases its peoples' reverence for the produce, the changing seasons, and the land. Caroline Rimbert Craig's maternal family comes from the southern foothills of Mont Ventoux, where the sun beats hard and dry, but aromatic herbs, vines, and fruit trees prosper.
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A living remedy : a memoir
Chung, Nicole, author.
"From the bestselling author of All You Can Ever Know comes a searing memoir of class, inequality, and grief-a daughter's search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult, and the lives she's lost. In this country, unless you attain extraordinary wealth, you will likely be unable to help your loved ones in all the ways you'd hoped. You will learn to live with the specific, hollow guilt of those who leave hardship behind, yet are unable to bring anyone else with them.
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Breakup : a marriage in wartime
Sundaram, Anjan, author.
"After ten years of reporting from central Africa for The New York Times, Associated Press, and others, Anjan Sundaram finds himself living a quiet life in Shippagan, Canada, with his wife and newborn. But when word arrives of preparations for ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic, he is suddenly torn between his duty as a husband and father, and his moral responsibility to report on a conflict unseen by the world.
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The Wager : a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder
Grann, David, author.
"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z, a mesmerizing story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell.
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Biting the hand : growing up Asian in Black and White America
Lee, Julia Sun-Joo, 1976- author.
When Julia Lee was fifteen, her hometown went up in smoke during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
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Mott Street : a Chinese American family's story of exclusion and homecoming
Chin, Ava, author.
"Mott Street follows Chinese American writer Ava Chin, who grew up estranged from her father, as she seeks the truth about her family history-and uncovers a legacy of exclusion and resilience that speaks to the American experience past and present. Chin'sancestors became lovers, classmates, sworn enemies, and, eventually, through her birth, kin-all while converging at a single Chinatown address"--
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Monsters : a fan's dilemma
Dederer, Claire, 1967- author.
"In this unflinching, deeply personal book that expands on her instantly viral Paris Review essay, "What Do We Do With the Art of Monstrous Men?" Claire Dederer asks: Can we love the work of Hemingway, Polanski, Naipaul, Miles Davis, or Picasso? Should we love it? Does genius deserve special dispensation?
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The language of trees : a rewilding of literature and landscape
Holten, Katie, author.
"Inspired by forests, trees, leaves, roots, and seeds, The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape invites readers to discover an unexpected and imaginative language to better read and write the natural world around us and reclaim our relationship with it.
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The big reveal : an illustrated manifesto of drag
Velour, Sasha, author.
From iconic queen Sasha Velour, a thought-provoking manifesto that explores the cultural influence of drag as activism, art, resistance, and identity, illustrated with her original artwork.
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Project 562 : changing the way we see Native America
Wilbur, Matika, author, photographer.
"In 2012, Matika Wilbur sold everything in her Seattle apartment and set out on a Kickstarter-funded pursuit to visit, engage, and photograph people from what were then the 562 federally recognized Native American Tribal Nations. Over the next decade, she traveled six hundred thousand miles across fifty states--from Seminole country (now known as the Everglades) to Inuit territory (now known as the Bering Sea)--to meet, interview, and photograph hundreds of Indigenous people. The body of work Wilbur created serves to counteract the one-dimensional and archaic stereotypes of Native people in mainstream media and offers justice to the richness, diversity, and lived experiences of Indian Country." --
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The rediscovery of America : native peoples and the unmaking of U.S. history
Blackhawk, Ned, author.
The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.
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You could make this place beautiful : a memoir
Smith, Maggie, 1977- author.
The award-winning poet explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself, interweaving snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself and revealing how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something beautiful.
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Saving time : discovering a life beyond the clock
Odell, Jenny (Multimedia artist), author.
"In her first book, How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell wrote about the importance of disconnecting from the "attention economy" to spend time in quiet contemplation. But what if you don't have time to spend? In order to answer this seemingly simple question, Odell took a deep dive into the fundamental structure of our society and found that the clock we live by was built for profit, not people.
Checking status…