"If it weren’t for Emma Johnson, Caryn Johnson would have never become Whoopi Goldberg. Emma gave her children the loving care and wisdom they needed to succeed in life, always encouraging them to be true to themselves. When Whoopi lost her mother in 2010—and then her older brother, Clyde, five years later—she felt deeply alone; the only people who truly knew her were gone. Emma raised her children not just to survive, but to thrive. In this...

"Dick and Doris Goodwin were married for forty-two years and married to American history even longer. In his twenties, Dick was one of the brilliant young men of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. In his thirties he both named and helped design Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and was a speechwriter and close advisor to Robert Kennedy. Doris Kearns was a twenty-four-year-old graduate student when selected as a White House Fellow. She worked directly...

Like many young professionals, Helene settled into a steady 9-5, watching the clock tick by and dreaming of seeing the world one day. But after a climbing accident leaves her bedbound for months, she finds a new voice connecting with others online and starts a blog to write about her true passion: travel. When her blog takes off and a sponsored trip overseas opens her eyes, she wonders: could she lead a stable life while traveling the world? From...

"Jacqueline Alnes was a Division One runner during her freshman year of college, but her season was cut short by a series of inexplicable neurological symptoms. What started with a cough, escalated to Alnes collapsing on the track and experiencing months of unremembered episodes that stole her ability to walk and speak. Two years after quitting the team to heal, Alnes's symptoms returned with a severity that left her using a wheelchair for a period...

As a young girl, Becky is forced to hide from phantom Nazis, subjected to dental procedures without pain medication, and torn from her mother again and again. Growing up in the shadow of her father's PTSD, she wants to know what is wrong but knows not to ask. Her father won't talk about being a Timberwolf, a unit of specially trained night fighters that went into combat first and experienced a 300 percent casualty rate. He returns home with thirteen...

"The Complications is an intimate portrait of what it’s like to live with schizoaffective disorder of the bipolar type as well as a biting, revelatory critique of America’s mental health culture. Emmett Rensin has written and edited articles for major national media outlets, and taught writing and literature at prestigious schools. But he has also lost jobs and friends, been hospitalized and institutionalized, and cycled through a daunting combination...

"In this inspiring memoir, a renowned woodworker shares how he found happiness despite real-life struggles with drug addiction, anxiety, depression, financial despair, and permanent blindness caused by a failed suicide attempt at the age of sixteen. As John struggled to free himself from addiction, search for his independence, and find his purpose, he met his future wife, Anni, an artist who also faced her own physical and mental health challenges....

"The Blind Boys of Alabama are the quintessential Gospel vocal group, and the longest-running musical institution in America. Their story intersects with pivotal moments and issues in American history and is an ideal prism through which to trace music, culture, history, and race in America. Spirit of the Century invites readers to follow along the Blind Boys’ eight-decade journey together from a segregated trade school, through the rough and tumble...

"In 2015, a team of researchers carefully removed a plastic straw from a sea turtle’s nostril off the coast of Costa Rica. The disturbing incident, which was captured on video, went viral, leading to corporate straw bans around the world. In this evocative book, the marine biologist behind the camera, Christine Figgener, recounts her own life spent studying and protecting sea turtles. Figgener describes patrolling the beach at night, swimming...

"Both a coming-of-age story and a depiction of an era, The Practical Seductress exposes the gender double standard and the dangers and joys of sexual freedom that defined the 1970s and '80s. Filled with humor and learned wisdom, this is a story of desire and survival, navigating treacherous and unpredictable paths, defying social norms, and finding redemption" --