"Indian American novelist Manil Suri grew up in a large crumbling apartment in Bombay which his parents, who were Hindu, shared with three other Muslim families. The single room his family occupied provided a safe haven from the hostilities that raged outside - sometimes over religious differences, but more often over the shared kitchen and common toilets. This refuge, however, was also a prison that held them captive - his parents stuck in a long and loveless marriage, Suri unable to explore the dawning realization he might be gay. At age 20, Suri managed to break free and come to the US, where he embarked on a journey of self-discovery, embraced his sexuality, and found a life partner. But the room, which still held his parents hostage, kept pulling him back to Bombay. By now real estate prices had risen so much that the neighbors had begun conspiring to occupy the room, which made Suri's parents dig in even more. Eventually, it was only his mother Prem left - someone who had staked all her happiness in her son, and yet was unable to escape the room's hold on her. Despite mysterious onslaughts seemingly orchestrated by the room against his mother and himself, Suri soldiered on, determined to prove to Prem that a happier life might await beyond the four walls that both enthralled and imprisoned her. A Room in Bombay is a page-turner that explores how physical attachments can shape our destiny, while delving into the difficult question of how much to prioritize our parents' welfare over our own. Based in part on over 2700 letters the author wrote home over three decades, it is ultimately a testament to the abiding, unbreakable bond tying a son to his mother"-- Provided by publisher.

"Whether it's our reality-television-star President or our expertly curated Instagram feeds, the line between fact and fiction--between what's real and what's fabricated for entertainment--has never been more blurred. Screen People explores what happens when we cede our reality to spectacle. Megan Garber explains how today's internet-inflected culture conditions us to see one another not as people but as characters in an ongoing show, and how some of our most chronic and harmful social conditions--loneliness, depression, mistrust, misinformation, cynicism--stem from our demand for diversion."

"Open your heart to the hidden wisdom and beauty found at the water's edge. Priest and fisherman Pete Nunnally loves to teach people how to fish for fish and, through that, how to fish for what their soul is yearning for: to come alive. In Catching Hope, he takes his readers fishing with him. Each chapter explores a different aspect of the fishing process--from preparing your tackle, to reading the landscape, to finally catching something (or not). But this isn't a book about how to fish. It's a book about the bigger and more profound truths about our lives that the act of fishing reveals. Along the way you'll learn how fishing connects the human condition to the divine presence in all things. And even if you never go fishing, this book will open your heart to the hidden wisdom and beauty found at the water's edge.Fishing is an exercise in hope. In a world where every answer is at our fingertips, fishing is transformative for its sheer unpredictability. You never know what is going to happen. While the potter knows they will make a pot, the fisherman knows only that they will be at the water's edge, watching and waiting, anticipating the moment when the pole bends and something wild joins the story. In an age when we are more removed from nature than ever before, fishing also reconnects and draws us into an ancient dance with the natural world, our true home. Let's walk to the edge of the water together, toss out our lines, and wait to see what happens next"-- Provided by publisher.

"Often, when we talk about food justice we focus on lack: food deserts or problems of access, unhealthy foods or government programs that don't provide enough. But we have as much to learn from stories of communal support as we do from stories of systemic lack. In Gather, anthropologist and writer Ashanté Reese offers a new vision of food justice, one that celebrates Black communities and argues for the value of togetherness in our increasingly isolated world. By exploring the ways Black people gather to nourish each other, both physically and spiritually, Gather argues that community wellbeing deserves as much consideration as individual health. In chapters centered on four spaces of gathering-gardens, family reunions, repasts, and protests-Reese offers rich, on-the-ground studies of the places and people who make up the food justice movement. From church community gardens and student protests at UT Austin to Reese's own family reunions, these moving vignettes affirm the value of reciprocity, mutual aid, and good food as vital ingredients for social change. Taken together, these chapters invite us to learn from the tactics Black communities have long used to maintain self-sufficiency and to rethink our relationship to community. There are no simple solutions to the problems of acute need; but by recognizing that food justice is already all around us, we can start working together to create the world we want to live in. As deepening economic inequality and climate crisis make questions about how and where we get our food more urgent and as social isolation becomes more pervasive, this book shows us why the work of gathering is absolutely necessary"-- Provided by publisher.

""Heartland Rock," that most commercial of music genres, is beloved by some and derided by others, but known to virtually everyone. Unknown to most, however, the genre arose in large part in opposition to 1980s conservatism and the Reagan Revolution. In Won't Back Down, music critic Erin Osmon, acclaimed for her books on John Prine and Jason Molina, delves into the story of the music and its politics. She explores the lives and work of its key musicians, including Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp; '80s cultural developments that fostered it, such as the rise of MTV and the switch to CDs; how it became central to major moments of '80s political activism, including Farm Aid, Nuclear Freeze marches, and the fight for LGBTQ and other identity issues. Through it all she explains how some of the most popular music of the time was made--and by whom--reframing Heartland Rock beyond its white-male stereotype to show how important women like Lucinda Williams and Melissa Etheridge were. She also reveals how legendary figures like Prince were inspired by and expanded Heartland Rock, how it lured older, declining stars like Bob Dylan, Don Henley, and Neil Young out of artistic slumps. A clear-eyed critic with an ear for a great behind-the-scenes story, Osmon maintains that not all the music was good--some of it was awful, and often just an empty-hearted cash grab--but that at its best, Heartland Rock connected with millions of overlooked people longing to be heard by America's power structures"-- Provided by publisher.

From preproduction sketches to final episode designs, this book offers fans an inside look at the creative process that brought Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to life. Discover concept art, character development, and background designs that capture the series’ distinct style. Featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes commentary from the cast and crew, and the evolution of iconic characters like Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and April, this collection celebrates the innovation that made the show a standout in the franchise.

"From Elise Ann Allen, journalist and Rome correspondent for Crux comes this intimate biography of Pope Leo XIV, including his first-ever public interview as Pope"-- Provided by publisher.

"Crystal Schmidt, best-selling author of Freeze Fresh, offers a unique approach to meal prep, with 160 recipes for complete meals as well as meal starters-dishes that can be partially prepared and frozen, then combined with pantry ingredients to make a complete meal. Using garden fresh vegetables and fruits, Schmidt offers original recipes for soup starters, sauces and dips, side dishes, beverage starters, baked goods, frozen treats, pie or cobbler fillings, and freezer jams"-- Provided by publisher.

Mealtimes should be filled with nutritious dishes made to satisfy everyone at the table--including the pickiets of eaters--without sacrificing time. With helpful tips and easy-to-follow instructions, this book shows the reader how to adapt meals for everyone, from breaking down the components of a perfect salad to making soup with ingredients you already have in the fridge.

"A curated collection of Martha's signature, timeless advice for home keeping, entertaining, and living well"-- Provided by publisher.

"An investigation of the forgotten trails of the Western United States"-- Provided by publisher.

"From one of today's foremost King scholars comes the revelatory origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who shaped America. We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became--but who was he before he stepped into our collective history? In Young King, Lerone Martin offers a new understanding of the preacher and activist's life by turning to his formative years. Until now, we have almost presumed that his path to greatness was a foregone conclusion. But the truth is more complicated. Lerone Martin strips away the mythos and gets to King's roots--his days as 'Little Mike' on Auburn Avenue, his academic struggles and flashes of brilliance, summers spent in the tobacco fields of Connecticut, his first experiences of racism and encounters with the police, his teenage missteps and adventures in love, and his winding road to seminary. We witness King in his search for a name, an identity, a God, a partner, and a life. Compassionately told and diligently researched, Young King is a testament to how history shapes a leader and a reminder that our heroes--like ourselves--are human, extraordinary and ordinary at once"--

"The untold story of the many people behind one of America's most iconic photographs. Lunch on a Beam, also known as Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, shows ironworkers eating lunch on a steel beam during the construction of Rockefeller Center's RCA Building in 1932. It's a photo so famous you can likely picture it in your mind: seated in a row, eleven men chat and break bread 850 feet above the ground, the dense cityscape behind them. While the scene may look spontaneous, the photo was taken during a publicity shoot to promote Rockefeller Center's new skyscraper. And despite the image's renown, for years, little information was available about its subjects or its photographer. In Lunch on a Beam, Rockefeller Center archivist Christine Roussel interweaves the art, architectural, and social history behind the photograph with her personal experience as a confidante to the financiers who developed Rockefeller Center. She tells the stories of the fearless photographers, brazen publicity men, the ironworkers, and their immigrant and Indigenous communities. This portrait of eleven construction workers, she points out, is also a celebration of the nation's richest man. She examines how, in the depths of the Great Depression, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., took it upon himself to build a monument to American industry and sell it to the public. Featuring striking images from the Rockefeller Center Archives, Lunch on a Beam calls attention to the fascinating paradoxes contained in a single photo and celebrates the men who built an architectural marvel at great personal risk. This is a story of art and commerce, and the role of a photograph in the mythmaking of New York City"-- Provided by publisher.

"From the author of A Product of Genetics (and Day Drinking) comes a rowdy and hilarious new collection of essays on life as an elder Millennial, filled with life lessons on everything from marriage, to parenting, to rolling with the punches when Gen Z mocks your TikTok dances. In Adulting for Amateurs, Jess H. Gutierrez marvels at how--we can't avoid the fact anymore-her cohort, the Millennials, are approaching middle age. While 1998 seems like just yesterday, we are now grown ups who feel like we're still growing up. And now, at 42, Jess has quite a trove of stories to tell. Jess is leaning into her geriatric Millennial years, and reflects on how growing up does not necessarily bestow one with maturity. When the fancy dinner covers were lifted to reveal vertically posed sausages-hundreds of the fanciest wedding guests including the mayor were treated to a demure and refined Jess's explosive guffaws. While Jess's brothers now have wholesome families and responsible jobs, she can't stop one-upping them, even if it gets her brother nearly fired by a potty-brained prank right before he scrubs into surgery. When Jess and her wife booked their first grown up vacation, they discovered too late that their Hawaiian trip was to a Mormon resort and therefore completely alcohol-free. So Jess and her wife bravely put on their big girl panties-and slunk off in a makeshift escape from this cheerful teetotaler paradise. Turns out, even as a responsible mortgage-owner with three kids and a yard of chickens, Jess might not have matured much beyond her twenties. She's still the woman who had in an earlier era survived queer dating fails and aughts-era pop culture moments-ultimately discovering that an illegal rave cannot heal a broken heart, and that vampire romance franchises are terrible dating manuals for a budding trailer park lesbian. Altogether, these are the makings of delightful material for this bawdy-and sometimes poignant, and daresay occasionally wise-new read"-- Provided by publisher.

"A lyrical exploration that reimagines the cloudy stages of grief and challenges us to reexamine universal questions lodged deep within: how do we find comfort and meaning in a fevered world?"-- Provided by publisher.

"A new look at humanity's deep past to show us how our world was built not by inevitability, but by trial and error on a planetary scale. There's a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanity's deep history. Here beloved podcast host Patrick Wyman focuses on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Age--the period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word. In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didn't always replace foraging, villages didn't automatically spark agriculture, and cities didn't necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised. By the end of the Bronze Age, the world had become unrecognizable: mammoths and giant sloths replaced by cattle and sheep, scattered nomadic bands replaced by millions living in cities, and farming on nearly every continent. Wyman argues that the rise of states and steady food production wasn't inevitable, but rather, the outcome of countless choices that reshaped the planet and made us who we are today."-- Provided by publisher.

"The Declaration of Independence depicted Native Americans as bloodthirsty savages, and from its founding the United States aimed to expand westward by seizing Indigenous lands. While white settlers saw these conquests as victories for 'true religion,' native people invoked the spirits in their own defense. Some claimed the powers of Christianity, while others drew on the English-language concept of religion to redefine their own ancestral traditions. As all sorts of people struggled to make their way within this new empire, a broad variety of new religious movements emerged. In this groundbreaking book, historian Tisa Wenger shows how the history of American religion unfolded on these settler colonial foundations. The imperatives of US empire, she argues, shaped the category and traditions of what we know as religion. Wenger also introduces the concept of 'settler secularism' to explain how white settlers defined and managed religion in their own image, in order to facilitate their own rule. She shows how the concept of 'religion' - whether as a special thing that requires protection or a mark of the primitive that must be transcended - has most often served the interests of those in power. Ultimately, settler colonialism organized American religion and created religious hierarchies that still influence the United States today"-- Provided by publisher.

"Francesca Albanese, the first woman to serve as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, conveys the soul of a people through ten unforgettable stories of resilience and humanity. The spirit of a place lies in the people who inhabit it, in the stories that intertwine through its streets. And this is especially true of a land like Palestine, the witness to defining historical transitions and stage to one of the most painful chapters in contemporary history. With a voice both authoritative and deeply human, Francesca Albanese, who had been living in Palestine for many years while following the legal battles of numerous Palestinian families, takes on the role of narrator of the ongoing conflict, starting from the stories of the people she met. Albanese elegantly composes a gallery of stories, characters, and places that allow us to understand what Palestine was like until a year and a half ago, and what it has become today"-- Provided by publisher.

"As populations fall and once-great migration multitudes wither away, the future of birds may seem grim. But surprisingly, from gnatcatchers and waterfowl to select groups of forest songbirds, some bird populations are soaring. Habitats and species that once neared extinction are now multiplying around the world because bird conservation is making things better. The Return of the Oystercatcher explores the recovery efforts that are not only preventing declines in bird population, but helping birds to thrive. From the spectacular recovery of North American raptors, whose numbers have tripled in the last fifty years, to the mind-bending resurgence of the Canada goose in Maine -- which increased its population by 146,000 percent during the same period -- Scott Weidensaul shares amazing stories of hope and progress in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Weidensaul also depicts the initiatives at the heart of this recovery, from the hyperlocal to the hemispherically immense: wetlands restoration, raptor protection, and bans on harmful pesticides, as well as the US Farm Bill and the preservation of sovereign lands by Indigenous communities. The result is a roadmap of breathtaking environmental resilience in some of the most unlikely places, including a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific, the vast boreal forest that stretches across Canada, a hereditary estate in England, and a watery wilderness at the edge of a Ukrainian war zone. Because birds are so diverse, so ubiquitous, and cover virtually every square mile of the Earth's surface, the fight to save the birds is also one to save the world. The Return of the Oystercatcher is an inspiring story of what's working in bird conservation -- and what can work for the rest of the planet." --

"For almost a decade, Roxana Jullapat has woken up in the middle of the night to start baking and fill the pastry case of her L.A. bakery, Friends & Family. Her rituals, and those of other bakers, infuse her new collection of recipes, all of which will expand your repertoire with 100% whole grain flour. Baking with whole grains means more sustainable farming and better health; readers will love Roxana's approach to quick breads (muffins, scones, biscuits, cornbread), all achievable in one hour or less, and she's done the work for you by crafting a Master Whole-Grain Croissant Dough that can be shaped endless ways including Espresso Pains au Chocolat or Bacon and Onion Blossoms. Beloved for her whole-grain breads, here she offers a classic sourdough loaf, fast flatbreads (e.g., Heirloom Masa Tortillas) and beautiful, Scandinavian inspired Dark Rye Rolls. Woven through her writing is an appealing California sensibility, an embrace of whole-grain bakes that start, as she does, in the morning hours. This is a book for home bakers wanting to expand to new flavors and ingredients, with gorgeous photography-including shots at Friends & Family-that invites you into the rituals and routines of professional bakers"-- Provided by publisher.

"We are at a unique period in world history. While advances in digital technology have brought the world closer than ever, they have also been used as tools of oppression, driving misinformation and deepening divisions. AI-generated propaganda, radicalization pipelines, and profit-driven algorithms are reshaping political landscapes, often without our awareness. How did we get here, and what can we do? In Digital Coup, international lawyer, professor, and former national security professional Darin Johnson uses his expertise to explore how AI-driven disinformation and social media echo chambers unravel truth, deepen societal divisions, and erode democracy. Johnson walks us through the digital battleground where tech companies monetize political anxieties and extremists weaponize misinformation. He introduces us to the shadowy networks trafficking in data and disinformation, showing how AI's power is being wielded to manipulate, polarize, and exploit. This world, he argues, is shaped both by those who engineer these systems and by those who refuse to challenge them. With clear-eyed urgency, Johnson dismantles the myth of a neutral internet and calls for a radical rethinking of our digital future. Digital Coup is a vital intervention, offering both a wake-up call and a vision for a more informed, united, and accountable online world" --

"The only woman in Forbes' Greatest Business Stories of All Time and the first woman to chair a company on the New York Stock Exchange, Mary Kay Ash has a life story that reads like a Barbara Taylor Bradford novel Growing up in Depression-era Texas, Mary Kathlyn Wagner is a dutiful daughter and diligent student with ambition aplenty and no place to use it. Married at sixteen, she is a grandmother at thirty-four. When she is not cooking or cleaning or taking care of the kids, she peddles cleaning products to other housewives. The work has no salary and no security but she sticks with it, sure that direct selling will somehow make her dreams come true. In 1963, after she has been divorced three times and widowed twice, she sets up her own company, selling second chance and self-invention for the price of a skin care showcase. Soon millions know her as the little lady in the big wig who gives away pink Cadillacs. From its unpromising start in a 500-square-foot Texas storefront, Mary Kay Inc. grows into a global phenomenon with 3.5 million reps in over 35 countries. She becomes the most famous saleswoman in the world. Maybe the most famous ever. Based on fifteen years of research, Selling Opportunity gives us a page-turning rags-to-riches story set against the background of direct selling in all its overstated, over-the-top glory. Here, for the first time, is the definitive history of a peculiarly American industry and a mid-century mindset that ennobled extreme self-reliance, sticking to your guns, and blind faith in the American dream"-- Provided by publisher.

"A daughter of the Asian American church wrestles with faith, exile, and belonging. Being a Christian has nothing to do with being Chinese American--that's what Kristin T. Lee learned as a child. A fissure between her identity and what she was told to believe opened wide. In We Mend with Gold, she asks: What if we can bridge the divide? Lee describes both the breaking of her young faith and the sacred art of repair. She examines how immigrant churches often assimilate to Western theology, even as they offer crucial spaces of belonging. Through lyrical storytelling about her upbringing in Asian immigrant churches as well as in white evangelicalism, Lee wrestles with history, ancestral stories, and what it means to follow Jesus. What might it look like to expand beyond the scripts we've been given and bring our questions to God--as well as building solidarity with the marginalized?Drawing on Black, Asian, and other minoritized theologians, Lee separates the theology of empire from what Jesus preached and lived. Writing of the fractures in our families, churches, and the world, Lee relies on the Japanese art of kintsugi to describe the resplendence of a faith that repairs but doesn't paper over. And she offers pieces of the Asian American experience--such as liminality, displacement, and exile--that attend to the breaking and the mending, the wounding and the healing. How might marginality bring us closer to God and others? What do we lose when we "make it"? And when we expand our notion of who belongs to our family, what do we gain? We can repair the seams between our cultural identities and our faith, Lee claims. By leaving room for mystery, we encounter God's love. We mend the fractures--between and within us--with gold." --