Here are new nonfiction titles we have added to the collection. Click on title to check availability and request.
Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology by Jean-Paul Sartre (Sept 2021 originally published in 1943)
New English translation of this classic work of philosophy. What gives our lives significance, Sartre argues, is not pre-established for us by God or nature but is something for which we ourselves are responsible. Combining this with the unsettling view that human existence is characterized by radical freedom and the inescapability of choice, Sartre introduces us to a cast of ideas and characters that are part of philosophical legend: anguish; the ‘bad faith’ of the memorable waiter in the café; sexual desire; and the ‘look’ of the other, brought to life by Sartre’s famous description of someone looking through a keyhole. Above all, by arguing that we alone create our values and that human relationships are characterized by hopeless conflict, Sartre paints a stark and controversial picture of our moral universe and one that resonates strongly today.
From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Albert J. Brooks (Feb 2022)
The roadmap for finding purpose, meaning, and success as we age, from bestselling author, Harvard professor, and the Atlantic’s happiness columnist Arthur Brooks. Many of us assume that the more successful we are, the less susceptible we become to the sense of professional and social irrelevance that often accompanies aging. But the truth is, the greater our achievements and our attachment to them, the more we notice our decline, and the more painful it is when it occurs. What can we do, starting now, to make our older years a time of happiness, purpose, and yes, success?
All Our Families: Disability Lineage and the Future of Kinship by Jennifer Natalya Fink (Apr 2022)
The author argues that disability is stigmatized because it is delineated-excised from our understanding of family, cut out from the story a family tells about itself, and proposes how finding and integrating disability in our family would transform our lived experiences of both family and disability.
Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America by Megan Kate Nelson (Mar 2022)
A narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation’s history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States.
Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America by Lauren Rankin (Apr 2022)
Abortion has been legal for nearly fifty years in the United States, but with a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court and an emboldened opposition in the street, the threat to its existence has never been more pressing. Clinic escorts-everyday volunteers-are prepared to stand up and protect abortion access, as they have for decades, even in the face of terrorism and violence. They have lived, and sometimes died, to make abortion not only accessible but also fundamentally human.. Collecting the stories of these brave volunteers from around the country-including the author’s own-interviews with clinic staff and patients, and research and input from abortion rights experts, Bodies On the Line makes a clear case for the right to an abortion as a fundamental part of human dignity, and the stakes facing us all if it ends. Bodies on the Line is a celebration of the crucial, often unsung heroes of abortion access and an inspiring call to defend this basic healthcare right before it’s too late.
American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York by Nomi M. Stolzenberg & David N. Myers (Feb 2022)
Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history-but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. This book tells the story of how this group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has grown to become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in upstate New York.
The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure by Yascha Mounk (Apr 2022)
The rare book that offers both a profound understanding of an urgent problem and genuine hope for our human capacity to solve it. As Mounk contends, giving up on the prospects of building fair and thriving diverse democracies is simply not an option-and that is why we must strive to realize a more ambitious vision for the future of our societies.
Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media by Jacob Mchangama (Feb 2022)
Often hailed as the “first freedom,” free speech is the bedrock of democracy, the enemy of tyranny, and the gateway to enlightenment. Research reveals a strong correlation between freedom of speech and democracy, innovation, and advancements in human rights, as well as reductions in conflict, corruption, and discrimination. But for all its benefits, free speech remains a challenging, controversial, and often counterintuitive principle, easily subject to erosion in times of social and political upheaval. And today, in democracies and authoritarian states around the world, freedom of speech is now on the retreat. Jacob Mchangama traces the long, contested history of a powerful idea, beginning with its origins in the intellectual ferment of classical Athens, where it enabled the development of the world’s first democracy.
Discovery and Revelation: Religion, Science and Making Sense of Things by Peter Manseau & Andrew Ali Aghapour (Feb 2022)
An illustrated history of how scientific study and religious thought have influenced each other in throughout American history.
The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER by Thomas Fisher (Mar 2022)
This is the story of a dramatic year in the life of the Chicago ER-a year of an unprecedented pandemic and a ferocious epidemic of homicides-interwoven with the primer in healthcare one doctor wishes he could give his patients. Full of day-to-day drama and penetrating analysis of our most fundamental failure as a society, this is a page-turning and mind-opening work that will offer readers a fresh vision of healthcare as a foundation of social justice.
The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir by Karen Cheung (Feb 2022)
Drawing richly from her own experience, as well as countless interviews with the artists, protestors, students, and writers who have made Hong Kong their home, journalist Karen Cheung gives us an insider’s view of this remarkable city, making the case along the way that we should look to Hong Kong as a warning sign for what lies ahead for other global democracies.
The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found by Frank Bruni (Mar 2022)
One morning in late 2017, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni woke up with strangely blurred vision. Overnight, a rare stroke had cut off blood to one of his optic nerves, rendering him functionally blind in that eye–forever. And he soon learned from doctors that the same disorder could ravage his left eye, too. He could lose his sight altogether. Bruni recounts his adjustment to this daunting reality, a medical and spiritual odyssey that involved not only reappraising his own priorities but also reaching out to, and gathering wisdom from, longtime friends and new acquaintances who had navigated their own traumas and afflictions.
Fierce Mercy: Daring to Live Out God’s Compassion in Bold and Practical Ways by Abby Johnson with Cindy Lambert (Mar 2022)
Against the backdrop of her first decade involved in the prolife movement, bestselling author, speaker, and activist Abby Johnson invites you to discover God’s unrestrained mercy in your own life while learning to courageously offer it to others.
Faithful Anti-Racism: Moving Past Talk to Systemic Change by Christina Barland Edmondson & Chad Brennan (Mar 2022)
Racism presents itself as an undefeatable foe-a sustained scourge on the reputation of the church. Drawing on brand-new research, Chad Brennan and Christina Edmondson remind us that Christ has overcome the world and offer clear analysis and interventions to challenge and resist racism’s pernicious power, equipping readers to move past talk and enter the fight in practical and hopeful ways.
If you need more reading recommendations, call us at 725-5242. We are always happy to help!
