National Network for Equitable Library Service

Alexander Chee presents a manifesto on the entangling of life, literature, and politics, and how the lessons learned from a life spent reading and writing fiction have changed him. In these essays, he grows from student to teacher, reader to writer, and reckons with his identities as a son, a gay man, a Korean American, an artist, an activist, a lover, and a friend.

Judith Bourque reveals the true story of her love affair with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the charismatic leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement and known internationally as the Beatles' guru. Just out of college, Bourque went to India to become a teacher of Transcendental Meditation (TM). Maharishi told her not to tell anyone about their relationship, and she didn't, until he died in 2008.

This Cold War narrative takes listeners from top secret Cabinet Room meetings to exclusive social clubs, and into the pages of a powerful man's intimate diary to bring new dimension to our understanding of the inner workings of the Eisenhower White House.

Matthew Polly dreamed of journeying to the Shaolin Temple to become the toughest fighter in the world. In college, he ventured off to pursue that childhood dream and in turn found his calling.

A candid and compelling memoir about race and poverty in America from Julián Castro, the keynote speaker at the 2012 DNC, former San Antonio mayor, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, that chronicles his journey from poverty, to Stanford, Harvard, and into politics, where he was short-listed as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton, and is now seen as a future presidential candidate.

Surgeon Joshua D. Mezrich takes us inside the operating room to unlock the process of transplant surgery, a delicate, intense ballet requiring precise timing, breathtaking skill, and at times, creative improvisation. Mezrich examines centuries of medical breakthroughs, connecting this history with the stories of his patients and the ethical debates surrounding organ transplantation.

Abby Ellin's romance with The Commander was a whirlwind from the go. But his stories of international espionage soon unraveled to reveal he wasn't who he'd claimed. Then she learned how many others had been deceived. In this book, she dives into double lives, studying the science of lying, talking to women whose worlds were upended by lying men, and writing openly about her mistakes, she lays the phenomenon bare to reveal how improbable our everyday lives really are.

Mi'kmaw elder Doug Knockwood recounts the story of his life.

"This crazy beautiful quest narrative puts Don Quixote on a bicycle and sends him out to face history with a surfboard. Half hilarious dream-adventure, half marathon nightmare, the end result is a madcap love letter to Nova Scotia."- Ken McGoogan.

Somewhere North of Where I Was is the heart-rending story of a young girl whose childhood innocence was stolen. Retold with the reflective voice of a woman who has survived and transcended the trauma of childhood poverty, neglect and abuse, Spence's wisdom and poignant storytelling abilities, draw you into the world of a little girl whose tragic circumstances are tempered with fond family memories. One may be left to wonder how it is a child can survive and move beyond such experiences.