"What do we owe the past? How to make peace with a dark family history? Burkhard Bilger hardly knew his grandfather growing up. His parents immigrated to Oklahoma from Germany after World War II, and though his mother was an historian, she rarely talked about her father or what he did during the war. Then one day a packet of letters arrived from Germany, yellowing with age, and a secret history began to unfold. Karl G�onner was a schoolteacher and...

“In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With...

“Richard Norton Smith had brought a lifetime of wisdom, insight, and storytelling verve to the life of a consequential president—Gerald R. Ford. Ford’s is a very American life, and Smith has charted its vicissitudes and import with great grace and illuminating perspective. A marvelous achievement!” -- Jon Meacham From the preeminent presidential scholar and acclaimed biographer of historical figures including George Washington,...

"Birder, environmentalist and activist Mya-Rose Craig is an international force. In her moving memoir, Birdgirl, she chronicles her mother's struggle with mental illness, and shares her passion for social justice and fierce dedication to preserving our planet. Meet Mya-Rose - otherwise known as "Birdgirl." In her words: "Birdwatching has never felt like a hobby, or a pastime I can pick up and put down, but a thread running through the pattern of my...

"[Kogito Choko] returns to his hometown village in search of a red suitcase rumored to hold documents revealing the details of his father's death during World War II, details that will serve as the foundation for his new, and final, novel. Since his youth, renowned novelist Kogito Choko planned to fictionalize his father's fatal drowning in order to fully process the loss. Stricken with guilt and regret over his failure to rescue his father, Choko...

Eccentric Aunt Sally comes from Canada to babysit the Anderson children while their parents are on a trip to Paris and every night the bedtime story adds another piece to a very suspect family history.

"Richard Brautigan was a literary idol of the 1960sand 1970s whose comic genius and iconoclastic vision of American life caught the imagination of young people everywhere. He came to age during the Haight-Ashbury period and has been called "the last of the Beats." His early books were required reading for the hip generation, and on its publication Trout Fishing in America became an interantional bestseller. An indescribable romp, the novel is best...

A shy, lonely six-year-old wanders into the Canadian prairie and spends a summer under the protection of a badger.