Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life
by Adam Gopnik
Published 2009 by Knopf Publishing Group

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780307270788

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

In this bicentennial twin portrait of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, Gopnik shows how these two giants altered the way people think about death and time--about the very nature of earthly existence. On a memorable day in human history, February 12, 1809, two babies were born an ocean apart: Abraham Lincoln in a one-room Kentucky log cabin; Charles Darwin on an English country estate. It was a time of backward-seeming notions, when almost everyone still accepted the biblical account of creation as the literal truth and authoritarianism as the most natural and viable social order. But by the time both men died, the world had changed: ordinary people understood that life on earth was a story of continuous evolution, and the Civil War had proved that a democracy could fight for principles and endure. And with these signal insights much else had changed besides. Together, Darwin and Lincoln had become midwives to the spirit of a new world, a new kind of hope and faith.

Searching for the men behind the icons of emancipation and evolution, Adam Gopnik shows us, in this captivating double life, Lincoln and Darwin as they really were: family men and social climbers; ambitious manipulators and courageous adventurers; the living husband, father, son, and student behind each myth. How do we reconcile Lincoln, the supremely good man we know, with the hardened commander who wittingly sent tens of thousands of young soldiers to certain death? Why did the relentlessly rational Darwin delay publishing his "Great Idea" for almost twenty years? How did inconsolable grief at the loss of a beloved child change each man? And what comfort could either find--for himself or for a society now possessed of a sadder, if wiser, understanding of our existence? Such human questions and their answers are the stuff of this book.

Above all, we see Lincoln and Darwin as thinkers and writers--as makers andwitnesses of the great change in thought that marks truly modern times: a hundred years after the Enlightenment, the old rule of faith and fear finally yielding to one of reason, argument, and observation not merely as intellectual ideals but as a way of life; the judgment of divinity at last submitting to the verdicts of history and time. Lincoln considering human history, Darwin reflecting on deep time--both reshaped our understanding of what life is and how it attains meaning. And they invented a new language to express that understanding. "Angels and Ages" is an original and personal account of the creation of the liberal voice--of the way we live now and the way we talk at home and in public. Showing that literary eloquence is essential to liberal civilization, Adam Gopnik reveals why our heroes should be possessed by the urgency of utterance, obsessed by the need to see for themselves, and endowed with the gift to speak for us all.

The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes
by Bryan Burrough
Published 2009 by Penguin Press

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781594201998

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Bestselling author and "Vanity Fair" special correspondent Burrough chronicles the rise and fall of one of the great economic and political powerhouses of the 20th century--Texas oil. In "The Big Rich," bestselling author and "Vanity Fair" special correspondent Bryan Burrough chronicles the rise and fall of one of the great economic and political powerhouses of the twentieth centuryaTexas oil. By weaving together the epic sagas of the industryas four greatest fortunes, Burrough has produced an enthralling tale of money, family, and power in the American century.

Known in their day as the Big Four, Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson were all from modest backgrounds, and all became patriarchs of the wealthiest oil families in Texas. As a class they came to be known as the Big Rich, and together they created a new legend in Americaathe swaggering Texas oilman who owns private islands, sprawling ranches and perhaps a football team or two, and mingles with presidents and Hollywood stars.

The truth more than lives up to the myth. Along with their peers, the Big Four shifted wealth and power in America away from the East Coast, sending three of their stateas native sons to the White House and largely bankrolling the rise of modern conservatism in America. H. L. Hunt became Americaas richest man by grabbing Texasas largest oilfield out from under the nose of the man who found it; he was also a lifelong bigamist. Clint Murchison entertained British royalty on his Mexican hacienda and bet on racehorsesaand conducted dirty dealsawith J. Edgar Hoover. Roy Cullen, an elementary school dropout, used his millions to revive the hapless Texas GOP. And Sid Richardson, the Big Fouras fun-loving bachelor, was a friend of several presidents, including, most fatefully, Lyndon Johnson.

The Big Four produced offspring who frequently made more headlines, and in some cases more millions, than they did. With few exceptions, however, their fortunes came to an end in a swirl of bitter family feuds, scandals, and bankruptcies, and by the late 1980s, the era of the Big Rich was over. But as Texas native Bryan Burrough reveals in this hugely entertaining account, the profound economic, political, and cultural influence of Texas oil is still keenly felt today.

The Book of Dead Philosophers
by Simon Critchley
Published 2009 by Vintage Books USA

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780307390431

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

In this rigorous, profound and frequently hilarious ("The Sunday Telegraph," UK) work, philosopher Critchley recounts the deaths of more than 190 philosophers and shows how their variously tragic, amusing, bizarre, and absurd ends can help readers lead richer lives. "To philosophize is to learn how to die." --Cicero; assassinated by order of Mark Antony

"One who no longer is cannot suffer." --Lucretius; suicide, allegedly driven mad by a love potion

"Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." --Hobbes; died in bed, age 91

In this collection of brief lives (and deaths) of nearly two hundred of the world's greatest thinkers, noted philosopher Simon Critchley creates a register of mortality that is tragic, amusing, absurd, and exemplary. From the self-mocking haikus of Zen masters on their deathbeds to the last words of Christian saints and modern-day sages, this irresistible book contains much to inspire both amusement and reflection.

Informed by Critchley's acute insight, scholarly intelligence, and sprightly wit, each entry tells its own tale, but collected together they add up to a profound and moving investigation of meaning and the possibility of happiness for us all.

Confessions of a Mullah Warrior
by Masood Farivar
Published 2009 by Atlantic Monthly Press

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780871139825

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

The story of one man's extraordinary journey from the heart of the Islamic world to the halls of Harvard University and far beyond, this vibrant memoir exposes the world of militant Islam and conveys the culture shock of a Muslim living in contemporary America. Confessions of a Mullah Warrior is the story of one man's extraordinary journey from the heart of the Islamic world to the halls of Harvard University and far beyond. Born into a family whose history is inextricably tied to the history of his country, Masood Farivar was ten years old when his childhood in peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan was shattered by the Soviet invasion in 1979. His family fled to Pakistan, where Farivar entered a madrassa for refugees. At the age of eighteen, he returned to Afghanistan and joined the jihad, fighting beside not only the Afghan mujahideen but also Arab and Pakistani volunteers. Two years later, after the Soviets withdrew, he left his country again to continue his education in America, where he attended the prestigious Lawrenceville School and Harvard, and ultimately became a journalist in New York. Finally, after ten years in America, Farivar was propelled home to Afghanistan, where he currently serves his country by running a national radio program. As a native Afghan, a former mujahideen fighter, and a longtime U.S. resident, Farivar has unprecedented insight into the recent collision between Islam and the West. He not only saw war devastate his native country and turn it into a safe haven for international terrorists, he also saw terrorism turn the United States into a hotbed of racism against Muslims. In this dramatic and timely memoir, Farivar paints a vibrant portrait of his family and his nation's history, exposes the world of militant Islam by taking us deep inside the madrassas, vividly recounts his experiences on the battlefield at Tora Bora and elsewhere, and conveys the culture shock of a Muslim living in contemporary America.

Dancing at the River's Edge: A Patient and Her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness
by Alida Brill
Published 2009 by Schaffner Press

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780980139402

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

An invaluable resource for medical professionals, victims of chronic illnesses, and their loved ones, this dual memoir by a doctor and his longtime patient traces the growth of their unique friendship over a span of decades. By exploring the bond between caregiver and sufferer, this sensitive account evokes not only the constant day to day frustrations and emotional toll suffered by the chronically ill, but also an understanding of the mental struggles and conflicts that a conscientious doctor must face in deciding how best to treat a patient without compromising personal freedoms. In alternating chapters, the narrative explores the frustration, joy, despair, grief, and pain on both sides of the doctor-patient relationship.

Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor
by Brad Gooch
Published 2009 by Little Brown and Company

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780316000666

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

In this engaging and authoritative biography, Gooch brings to life Flannery O'Connor's significant friendships and her deeply felt convictions, as expressed in her communications with Thomas Merton, Elizabeth Bishop, and Betty Hester. The landscape of American literature was fundamentally changed when Flannery O'Connor stepped onto the scene with her first published book, Wise Blood, in 1952. Her fierce, sometimes comic novels and stories reflected the darkly funny, vibrant, and theologically sophisticated woman who wrote them. Brad Gooch brings to life O'Connor's significant friendships--with Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Hardwick, Walker Percy, and James Dickey among others--and her deeply felt convictions, as expressed in her communications with Thomas Merton, Elizabeth Bishop, and Betty Hester. Hester was famously known as "A" in O'Connor's collected letters, The Habit of Being, and a large cache of correspondence to her from O'Connor was made available to scholars, including Brad Gooch, in 2006. O'Connor's capacity to live fully--despite the chronic disease that eventually confined her to her mother's farm in Georgia--is illuminated in this engaging and authoritative biography.

PRAISE FOR FLANNERY

"Flannery O'Connor, one of the best American writers of short fiction, has found her ideal biographer in Brad Gooch. With elegance and fairness, Gooch deals with the sensitive areas of race and religion in O'Connor's life. He also takes us back to those heady days after the war when O'Connor studied creative writing at Iowa. There is much that is new in this book, but, more important, everything is presented in a strong, clear light." --Edmund White

"This splendid biography gives us no saint or martyr but the story of a gifted and complicated woman, bent on making the best of the difficult hand fate has dealt her, whether it is with grit and humor or with an abiding desire to make palpable to readers the terrible mystery of God's grace." --Frances Kiernan, author of "Seeing Mary Plain": "A Life of Mary McCarthy

"

"A good biographer is hard to find. Brad Gooch is not merely good-he is extraordinary. Blessed with the eye and ear of a novelist, he has composed the life that admirers of the fierce and hilarious Georgia genius have long been hoping for." -- Joel Conarroe, President Emeritus, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation

Lessons from San Quentin: Everything I Needed to Know about Life I Learned in Prison
by Bill Dallas
Published 2009 by Tyndale House Publishers

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781414326566

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Real-estate entrepreneur Dallas's charmed life changed dramatically when he was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement. Now he reveals how life was changed for the better due to the hardships encountered at the legendary maximum-security prison. Real-estate entrepreneur Bill Dallas's charmed life changed dramatically when he was charged, convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison for grand-theft embezzlement. "Lessons from San Quentin" tells the amazing true story of how one man's life was changed for the better due to the hardships encountered at the legendary maximum-security prison. Using stories and reflections from life on the inside, Bill teaches 12 core principles that will inspire readers to use tough times to develop the character God wants them to have. Chapter headings include: (1) Life in the Median Strip; (2) I am H64741; (3) Embrace Your Trials; (4) Cling to Hope; (5) Express Yourself through Your Work; (6) Choose Sustaining Faith; (7) Get Your Self-Image Right; (8) Get Rid of Self-Absorption; (9) Shape Your Attitude; (10) Give Respect; (11) Persevere Until You "Get It"; (12) Let Life Come to You; (13) Make Life Simple; (14) Find Freedom in Forgiveness; (15) Life after Prison; (16) He Was Always in Control.

Moments of Clarity: Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recovery
by Christopher Kennedy Lawford
Published 2009 by William Morrow & Company

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780061456213

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

The author of the "New York Times" bestseller "Symptoms of Withdrawal" explores the shift in time and perception from addiction to recovery based on his own experiences and those of other recovered addicts from all walks of life. On February 17, 1986, after years of addiction and self-destruction, Christopher Kennedy Lawford reached a turning point in his life, one that would mark the beginning of his long road to recovery. In his "New York Times" bestselling memoir, "Symptoms of Withdrawal," he chronicled his deep descent into near-fatal drug and alcohol addiction, and his subsequent hard-won journey back to sobriety, which he has maintained for more than twenty years. The Before and the After. But before and after "what"? What happened at that point in time to trigger the understanding within himself that he had to change? What finally forces any person to choose life over death? The overwhelming response he received to his book impressed upon Lawford the number of people struggling to find their own way back from addiction and the need to share their stories. There was no easy way out for any of them. They all had to go through a moment of humility, vulnerability, and transformation and choose to take that first step of the journey. And each had their own intensely personal moment that signaled a Before and an After. The histories gathered here are the recollections of lives snatched back from the brink of a precipice so wide and deep it threatened to engulf them. Every segment of society has been touched by addiction and its aftermath. "Moments of Clarity" collects stories from men and women, young and old, and across all barriers of celebrity, color, and class. Represented in these pages are the singer and the actress, the writer and the anchorman, the man from the movie screen and the woman who lives down the street. A myriad of different moments but all with the common understanding of where these men and women have been and where they must go. As they bravely share their stories, they shed light not only on their own experiences but also on the journey we all take as human beings, looking to make sense of our world.

Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans
by Dan Baum
Published 2009 by Spiegel & Grau

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780385523196

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Originating in a heralded series of "New Yorker" articles, "Nine Lives" explores New Orleans through the lives of nine characters over 40 years, bracketed by two epic hurricanes. It brings back to life the doomed city, its wondrous subcultures, and the rich and colorful lives that played themselves out within its borders. The hidden history of a haunted and beloved city told through the intersecting lives of nine remarkable characters

After Hurricane Katrina, Dan Baum moved to New Orleans to write about the city's response to the disaster for "The" "New Yorker." He quickly realized that Katrina was not the most interesting thing about New Orleans, not by a long shot. The most interesting question, which struck him as he watched residents struggling to return, was this: Why are New Orleanians--along with people from all over the world who continue to flock there--so devoted to a place that was, even before the storm, the most corrupt, impoverished, and violent corner of America?

Here's the answer. "Nine Lives "is a multivoiced biography of this dazzling, surreal, and imperiled city through the lives of nine characters over forty years and bracketed by two epic storms: Hurricane Betsy, which transformed the city in the 1960's, and Katrina, which nearly destroyed it. These nine lives are windows into every strata of one of the most complex and fascinating cities in the world. From outsider artists and Mardi Gras Kings to jazz-playing coroners and transsexual barkeeps, these lives are possible only in New Orleans, but the city that nurtures them is also, from the beginning, a city haunted by the possibility of disaster. All their stories converge in the storm, where some characters rise to acts of heroism and others sink to the bottom. But it is New Orleans herself--perpetually whistling past the grave yard--that is the story's real heroine.

"Nine Lives" is narrated from the points of view of some of New Orleans's most charismatic characters, but underpinning the voices of the city is an extraordinary feat of reporting that allows Baum to bring this kaleidoscopic portrait to life with brilliant color and crystalline detail. Readers will find themselves wrapped up in each of these individual dramas and delightfully immersed in the life of one of this country's last unique places, even as its ultimate devastation looms ever closer. By" "resurrecting this beautiful and tragic place and portraying the extraordinary lives that could have taken root only there, "Nine Lives "shows us what was lost in the storm and what remains to be saved.

DAN BAUM is a former staff writer for "The New Yorker," and has written for numerous other magazines and newspapers. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Practicing Catholic
by James Carroll
Published 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780618670185

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

From a National Book Award-winning and bestselling author comes one man's examination and explanation of why he is still a practicing Catholic--set against the history of the Church in America and the sometimes glorious, sometimes discouraging actions of its leaders. From a National Book Award-winning and bestselling author, James Carroll's examination and explaination of why he is till a practicing catholic, set against the history of the Catholic Church in America and the sometimes glorious, sometimes discouraging actions of its leaders.

Practicing Catholicis a personal history of the American Catholic Church during James Carroll's lifetime. It traces the transformation of a medieval institution suspicious of American ideas of freedom and democracy into a church that has begun to embrace basic American principles of pluralism and respect for conscience. The book tells the story of heroes (Pope John xxiii, Thomas Merton, Cardinal Richard Cushing, William Sloane Coffin), and great events (Vatican ii, the Kennedys, the end of the Cold War). Considering the new meaning of belief in a secular world, it stands against the fundamentalisms of "neo-athetists" as well as of born again Christians. The book shows how and why the world needs a renewed, rational, vital Catholic Church. All of this is centered in the life-long journey of its author, who embraced the priesthood in his youth, but who finds in the writing life a renewal of religious belief. For James Carroll faith is a practice-- like all practice, it aims at getting better.

Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun
by Wafaa Bilal
Published 2008 by City Lights Books

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780872864917

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

The creator of "Domestic Tension," an unsettling interactive performance piece that speaks to the horrors of life in a conflict zone, reveals his experiences growing up under Saddam Hussein's rule. Wafaa Bilal's childhood in Iraq was defined by the horrific rule of Saddam Hussein, two wars, a bloody uprising, and time spent interned in chaotic refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Bilal eventually made it to the United States to become a professor and a successful artist, but when his brother was killed at a checkpoint in Iraq in 2005, he decided to use his art to confront those in the comfort zone with the realities of life in a conflict zone.Thus the creation and staging of "Domestic Tension," an unsettling interactive performance piece: for one month, Bilal lived alone in a prison cell-sized room in the line of fire of a remote-controlled paintball gun and a camera that connected him to Internet viewers around the world. Visitors to the gallery and a virtual audience that grew by the thousands could shoot at him twenty-four hours a day. The project received overwhelming worldwide attention, garnering the praise of the "Chicago Tribune," which called it "one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time," and "Newsweek"'s assessment "breath taking." It spawned provocative online debates, and ultimately, Bilal was awarded the "Chicago Tribune"'s Artist of the Year Award.Structured in two parallel narratives, the story of Bilal's life journey and his "Domestic Tension" experience, this first-person account is supplemented with comments on the history and current political situation in Iraq and the context of "Domestic Tension" within the art world, including interviews with art scholars such as Dean of the School of Art at Columbia University, Carol Becker, who also contributes the introduction. "Shoot an Iraqi "is equally pertinent reading for those who seek insight into the current conflict in Iraq and for those fascinated by interactive art technologies and the ever-expanding world of online gaming.Wafaa Bilal, a professor of art and technology at the Art Institute of Chicago, has exhibited his art worldwide and lectured extensively. He has been interviewed on NPR, the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and the History Channel.

The Ties That Bind: A Memoir of Race, Memory, and Redemption
by Bertice Berry
Published 2009 by Broadway Books

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780767924146

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

In this poignant, reflective memoir, Berry skillfully relays the evolution of relations between the races, from slavery to Reconstruction, from the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power 1970s, and on to the present day. When novelist Bertice Berry set out to write a history of her family, she initially believed she'd uncover a story of slavery and black pain, but the deeper she dug, the more surprises she found. There was heartache, yes, but also something unexpected: hope. Peeling away the layers, Berry came to learn that the history of slavery cannot be quantified in simple, black-and-white terms of "good" and "evil" but is rather a complex tapestry of roles and relations, of choices and individual responsibility.

In this poignant, reflective memoir, Berry skillfully relays the evolution of relations between the races, from slavery to Reconstruction, from the struggles of the Civil Rights movement and the Black Power 1970s, and on to the present day. In doing so, she sheds light on a picture of the past that not only liberates but also unites and evokes the need to forgive and be forgiven.