All the Land to Hold Us

All the Land to Hold Us
Author: Rick Bass
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780547687124

A masterfully crafted novel of seekers that spans three generations set amidst the harsh terrain of West Texas.

Our Unfinished March

Our Unfinished March
Author: Eric Holder
Publisher: One World
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2023-06-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0593445767

A brutal, bloody, and at times hopeful history of the vote; a primer on the opponents fighting to take it away; and a playbook for how we can save our democracy before it’s too late—from the former U.S. Attorney General on the front lines of this fight Voting is our most important right as Americans—“the right that protects all the others,” as Lyndon Johnson famously said when he signed the Voting Rights Act—but it’s also the one most violently contested throughout U.S. history. Since the gutting of the act in the landmark Shelby County v. Holder case in 2013, many states have passed laws restricting the vote. After the 2020 election, President Trump’s effort to overturn the vote has evolved into a slow-motion coup, with many Republicans launching an all-out assault on our democracy. The vote seems to be in unprecedented peril. But the peril is not at all unprecedented. America is a fragile democracy, Eric Holder argues, whose citizens have only had unfettered access to the ballot since the 1960s. He takes readers through three dramatic stories of how the vote was won: first by white men, through violence and insurrection; then by white women, through protests and mass imprisonments; and finally by African Americans, in the face of lynchings and terrorism. Next, he dives into how the vote has been stripped away since Shelby—a case in which Holder was one of the parties. He ends with visionary chapters on how we can reverse this tide of voter suppression and become a true democracy where every voice is heard and every vote is counted. Full of surprising history, intensive analysis, and actionable plans for the future, this is a powerful primer on our most urgent political struggle from one of the country's leading advocates.

A Promised Land

A Promised Land
Author: Barack Obama
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 801
Release: 2024-08-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1524763179

A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making—from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND PEOPLE NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times • NPR • The Guardian • Slate • Vox • The Economist • Marie Claire In the stirring first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office. Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden. A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,” and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible. This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.

This Tender Land

This Tender Land
Author: William Kent Krueger
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2019-09-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1476749310

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! “If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, you’ll love This Tender Land...This story is as big-hearted as they come.” —Parade The unforgettable story of four orphans who travel the Mississippi River on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression. In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota’s Gilead River, Odie O’Banion is an orphan confined to the Lincoln Indian Training School, a pitiless place where his lively nature earns him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee after committing a terrible crime, he and his brother, Albert, their best friend, Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own. Over the course of one summer, these four orphans journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

Hawks Rest

Hawks Rest
Author: Gary Ferguson
Publisher: Torrey House Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2015-11-23
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1937226530

"Among the many pleasures of re–reading Gary Ferguson's Hawks Rest, is finding the prose even more accomplished than remembered, the wit more agile, the observations more revelatory, its stance in the world proved once again so precisely wise. Hawks Rest is a book I will return to again and again." —MARK SPRAGG, author of Where Rivers Change Direction and An Unfinished Life "Gary Ferguson is one of the preeminent historians of the American West, and of the place and value of wilderness within that history. Hawk's Rest is an intense journal of the politics and ecology of one of America's wildest cores, in Yellowstone National Park. In many ways, this book is an important portrait of one of the foundations of our country's democracy, and of the struggles to hold on to that idea." —RICK BASS, author of All the Land to Hold Us "Hawks Rest is a long step toward a user's guide to wilderness, and a reverential and beautifully said hymn to the wild." —TIM CAHILL, author of Hold the Enlightenment and Jaguars Ripped My Flesh "A lyrical and often tough–minded evocation of a summer spent in the Yellowstone backcountry, a place that is, unexpectedly, full of larger-than-life characters, some of whom are admirable and some of whom are not.” —WILLIAM KITTREDGE, author of Hole in the Sky and The Nature of Generosity "Dazzling…an Edward Abbey–esque book, full of snappy vignettes and chiseled writing." —SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "A sharp and ironic sense of what it's like to live in the American outback, twenty–first–century style." —NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE "A well-written work…if you love Yellowstone, a great treat." —DESERET NEWS "Ferguson evoke(s) feelings of solitude, timelessness and aching beauty in the smallest details…" —THE OREGONIAN "Mournful and defiant as a wolf howl…an eloquent tribute to a threatened place and its lone protectors." —LOS ANGELES TIMES Hawks Rest brings the wonder, politics, and wildness of one of America’s most vast and popular national parks to readers everywhere. With a new introduction by the author, this edition offers fresh insight into the condition of parks nationwide, while reintroducing readers to Ferguson's timeless tales and unique wisdom. Gary Ferguson is the author of twenty–two books including Through the Woods and, most recently, The Carry Home. He lives with his wife, Mary, in Montana's Beartooth Mountains, and in Portland, Oregon.

Someone to Hold (Wild Widows Series, Book 2)

Someone to Hold (Wild Widows Series, Book 2)
Author: Marie Force
Publisher: HTJB, Inc.
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2022-11-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1952793874

Grief brought them together. Will it also tear them apart? Iris Two and a half years after suddenly losing the love of my life, I’m coming out of the fog of early grief and taking a hard look at the rest of my life. With three young children to care for on my own while also managing their grief, I haven’t had a lot of time to ponder what’s next for me. When I think about what I really want, I keep coming back to one thing. Or I should say one person, someone who understands what I’ve been through because he’s been there, too, only his losses were far worse than mine. I find myself thinking about him all the time, but is he ready for the things I want? I have no idea, but I’m determined to find out. Read Iris’s story in book 2 of Marie’s new Wild Widows Series.

Colter

Colter
Author: Rick Bass
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0618127364

The author shares his memories of his favorite dog, Colter, and the diverse ways in which he transformed the author's life, in a look at the dynamic relationship between humans and dogs.

If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?

If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?
Author: J. Edward Chamberlin
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2010-05-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0307368696

“We need to understand our stories because our lives depend upon it.” —Ted Chamberlin The stories we tell each other reflect and shape our deepest feelings. Stories help us live our lives—and are at the heart of our current conflicts. We love and hate because of them; we make homes for ourselves and drive others out on the basis of ancient tales. As Ted Chamberlin vividly reveals, we are both connected by them and separated by their different truths. Whether Jew or Arab, black or white, Muslim or Christian, Catholic or Protestant, man or woman, our stories hold us in thrall and hold others at bay. Like the work of Joseph Campbell and Bruce Chatwin, this vital, engrossing book offers a new way to understand the hold that stories and songs have on us, and a new sense of the urgency of doing so. Drawing on his own experience in many fields—as scholar and storyteller, witness among native peoples and across cultures—Ted Chamberlin takes us on a journey through the tales of different peoples, from North America to Africa and Jamaica. Beautifully written, with insight and deep understanding, If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? examines why it is now more important than ever to attend to what others are saying in their stories and myths—and what we are saying about ourselves. Only then will we understand why they have such power over us.

Half the Sky

Half the Sky
Author: Nicholas D. Kristof
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2010-06-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0307387097

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation—the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. From the bestselling authors of Tightrope, two of our most fiercely moral voices With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope. They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS. Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty. Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears
Author: Laura van den Berg
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2020-07-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0374714983

ONE OF TIME'S 10 BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2020. Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, the New York Public Library, Library Journal, Lit Hub, Electric Literature, and Tor.com "As enchanting as fairy tales, as mysterious as dreams, these exquisitely composed fictions are as urgent and original as any being written today.” —Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend, winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction An urgent and unsettling collection of women on the verge from Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, Laura van den Berg’s first story collection since her prizewinning book The Isle of Youth, draws readers into a world of wholly original, sideways ghost stories that linger in the mouth and the mind. Both timeless and urgent, these eleven stories confront misogyny, violence, and the impossible economics of America with van den Berg’s trademark spiky humor and surreal eye. Moving from the peculiarities of Florida to liminal spaces of travel in Mexico City, Sicily, and Iceland, I Hold a Wolf by the Ears is uncannily attuned to our current moment, and to the fears we reveal to no one but ourselves. In “Lizards,” a man mutes his wife’s anxieties by giving her a LaCroix-like seltzer laced with sedatives. In the title story, a woman poses as her more successful sister during a botched Italian holiday, a choice that brings about strange and destructive consequences, while in “Karolina,” a woman discovers her prickly ex-sister-in-law in the aftermath of an earthquake and is forced to face the truth about her violent brother. I Hold a Wolf by the Ears presents a collection of women on the verge, trying to grasp what’s left of life: grieving, divorced, and hyperaware, searching, vulnerable, and unhinged, they exist in a world that deviates from our own only when you look too closely. With remarkable control and transcendent talent, van den Berg dissolves, in the words of the narrator of “Slumberland,” “that border between magic and annihilation,” and further establishes herself as a defining fiction writer of our time.