National Network for Equitable Library Service

From one of the most beloved authors of our time—more than six million copies of his books have been sold in this country alone—a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home. “Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are where history ends up.” Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home.

The panic-filled summer of 1916, when multiple deadly shark attacks shocked the nation, is chronicled in this gripping addition to the New York Times Best-Selling What Was? series. On July 1, 1916, witnesses watched in horror as twenty-eight-year-old Charles Vansant was attacked and killed by a shark in shallow water off Beach Haven, New Jersey—the first recorded shark attack in American history.

Hope triumphs over fear in this poignant and impactful true story of the Holocaust—a delicate introduction to World War Two history for older audiobook listeners. During World War Two, in the concentration camp Terezin, a group of Jewish children and their devoted teacher planted and nurtured a smuggled-in sapling. Over time, fewer and fewer children were left to care for the little tree, but those who remained kept lovingly sharing their water with it. When the war finally ended and the prisoners were freed, the sapling had grown into a strong five-foot-tall maple.

One of The New York Times' Notable Books of 2024 - One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 - One of CBC Books' Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2024. Dionne Brand explores English and American literature and the colonial aesthetic that shaped her sense of self and the world—of what was possible and what was not.

*New York Times* Bestseller • A Best Book of the Year: Amazon, Smithsonian, and *Financial Times*. A glittering portrait of the golden age of American department stores and of three visionary women who led them, from the award-winning author of *The Plaza*. “Ms. Satow’s carefully researched book is compulsively readable: I found myself dashing through it like a novel. She portrays the women with verve; we get a glimpse into their lives, as well as a sense of what it was like at each of these retail meccas.” —*The Wall Street Journal*.

*The New York Times Book Review* Notable Book • The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history—until now.

National Bestseller -- A "rip-roaring" (Steve Coll), "staggeringly well-researched" (The New York Times) history of three generations at the CIA, "electric with revelations" (Booklist) about the women who fought to become operatives, transformed spycraft, and tracked down Osama bin Laden, from the bestselling author of Code Girls. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice -- A Foreign Policy and Smithsonian Best Book of the Year. In development as a series from Lionsgate Television, executive produced by Scott Delman (Station Eleven).

#1 New York Times Bestseller -- The author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War in this "riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult" (Los Angeles Times). "A feast of historical insight and narrative verve... This is Erik Larson at his best, enlivening even a thrice-told tale into an irresistible thriller." -The Wall Street Journal. A Parade Best Book of the Year. On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnet, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day.

Take a tour through the horror paperback novels of two iconic decades-if you dare! Hear shocking plot summaries that invoke devil worship, satanic children, and haunted real estate. Horror author and vintage paperback book collector Grady Hendrix offers killer commentary and witty insight on these trashy thrillers that tried so hard to be the next Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby. Complete with story summaries and artist and author profiles, this unforgettable volume dishes on familiar authors like V. C. Andrews and R. L. Stine, plus many more who have faded into obscurity.