National Network for Equitable Library Service

An Unforgettable Journey into the Dark Heart of the Information Age In Escape Velocity Mark Dery takes is on an electrifying tour of the high-tech subcultures that both celebrate and critique our wired world: would-be cyborgs who believe the body is obsolete and dream of downloading their minds into computers, cyber-hippies who boost their brainpower with smart drugs and mind machines, on-line swingers seeking cybersex on electronic bulletin boards, techno-primitives who sport "biomechanical" tattoos of computer circuitry; and cyberpunk roboticists whose Mad Max contraptions duel to the dea

The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Mommie Dearest explores WomanSpirit through the ages, from the Neolithic Goddess to the Inquisition to present day. Breaking free of the emotional wreckage of her childhood and a devastating illness that challenged her physically, emotionally, and spiritually, Christina Crawford sought out an indomitable and innate inner source of power.

Four of the most important and enduring American slave narratives together in one volume. Until slavery was abolished in 1865, millions of men, women, and children toiled under a system that stripped them of their freedom and their humanity. Much has been written about this shameful era of American history, but few books speak with as much power as the narratives written by those who experienced slavery firsthand. The basis for the film of the same name, Twelve Years a Slave is Solomon Northup's heartrending chronicle of injustice and brutality.

From slavery to liberation to life as an abolitionist, feminist, orator, and preacher-the autobiography of a woman who refused to be anything but free. Born into slavery in New York around 1797, then sold from master to master, Sojourner Truth spent her formative years witnessing the cruelty inherent in the institution of slavery. Escaping to a friendly household before emancipation, she learned that her young son had been sold illegally and launched a lawsuit that would end with his release-the first time in America that a black woman went to court against a white man and won.

A fascinating look'first published in 1894'at two philanthropists known as the "Prisoner's Friends" and the early history of prison reform. Prisons in England were once dark, inhumane places lacking any regulations. The facilities were poorly managed and unsanitary, and prisoners were treated like animals. One man and one woman, the "Prisoner's Friends," sought to change that.

A provocative and fascinating exploration of male-female relationships by the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Good Earth. Pearl S. Buck grew up in China, accustomed to its traditions, but when she moved to the United States as an adult in the 1930s she was struck by the cultural differences in gender roles and expectations. In nine short chapters, she applies this personal experience to an exploration of the power dynamics of the American household, drawing one universal conclusion: "Complete freedom is the atmosphere in which men and women can live together most happily.

With a new introduction by Adi Ophir: An early and fierce critique of Zionism from a Jewish child of Palestine who argued against nationalism and injustice. Born in 1893, Moshe Menuhin was part of the inaugural class to attend the first Zionist high school in Palestine, the Herzliya gymnasium in Tel Aviv. He had grown up in a Hasidic home, but eventually rejected orthodoxy while remaining dedicated to Judaism. As a witness to the evolution of Israel, Menuhin grew disaffected with what he saw as a betrayal of the Jews' spiritual principles.

Booker T. Washington's classic memoir of enslavement, emancipation, and community advancement in the Reconstruction Era. Born into slavery on a tobacco farm in nineteenth-century Virginia, Booker T. Washington became one of the most powerful intellectuals of the Reconstruction Era. As president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he advocated for the advancement of African Americans through education and entrepreneurship.

The classic memoir of one of the Progressive Era's most important reformers and social activists. If it is natural to feed the hungry...'t is certainly natural to give pleasure to the young, comfort to the aged, and to minister to the deep-seated craving for social intercourse that all men feel. In 1889, Jane Addams and her partner, Ellen Starr, opened the first settlement house in the United States. On Chicago's West Side, Hull House was devoted to the city's poor and forgotten, from immigrants and unwed mothers to the elderly, homeless, and hungry.

An ambitious firefighter hunts a notorious arsonist in the Edgar Award-winning true crime story the New York Times calls "stranger than fiction." From Joseph Wambaugh, the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of such classics as The Onion Field and The Choirboys, comes the extraordinary story of the chase for the "Pillow Pyro," called the most prolific American arsonist of the twentieth century. Growing up in Los Angeles, John Orr idolized law enforcement.