New Nonfiction Releases
February 2013

These books are being published and released this month. They have been ordered by the Library and will be available soon.

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• Biography and Memoir 
• General Nonfiction

Biography & Memoir

The Backyard Parables: Lessons on Gardening and Life
By Margaret Roach
An author, editor, blogger and experienced, self-taught gardener reflects upon the life-affirming effects that gardening has had on her life, offers meditations on the spirituality of the natural world and encourages everyone to get outside and start digging.

Chanel Bonfire
By Wendy Lawless
A memoir of a stage actress’ wrenching childhood with a suicidal, alcoholic mother describes how her sister and she were victimized by their mother’s destructive highs and lows, recounting how the author tapped inner strengths to survive and protect the family’s privacy.

Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior
By Rorke Denver and Ellis Henican
Explaining the unique psychology behind the SEALs’ legendary training program, a high-level SEAL officer reveals the modern techniques that transform a chosen few into lethal warriors and details how the SEALs’ creative operations became front-and-center in America’s War on Terror.

Days that I’ll Remember: Spending Time with John Lennon and Yoko Ono
By Jonathan Cott
A Rolling Stone contributing editor and decades-long friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono presents an intimate account of the couple’s relationship that reveals the profoundly positive influence of Ono on Lennon and the ways they inspired each other creatively before Lennon’s death.

Death Grip: A Climber’s Escape from Benzo Madness
By Matt Samet
A world-class climber and former editor-in-chief of Climbing magazine traces his extreme training regime and the pursuit  of his climbing goals as well as his near-fatal struggle with depression, anxiety and addiction to prescription medications.

An Enlarged Heart: A Personal History
By Cynthia Zarin
A New York City writer shares a poignant series of episodes from her life that reflect the cyclical nature of the past and her relationships with a colorful range of people and places, from an energetic tailor and a twice-married mom to a literary co-worker and the patrons of vanished restaurants.

The Friedkin Connection: A Memoir
By William Friedkin
This highly anticipated memoir from the legendary Academy Award-winning director of The Exorcist and The French Connection offers a fast-paced and thrilling glimpse into the life and work of the maverick of American cinema in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked
By James Lasdun
In an account that also shares meditations on mental illness, Middle Eastern politics and the meaning of reputation in the Internet age, Lasdun chronicles his harrowing ordeal at the hands of an obsessed former student whose campaign of hate mail, violently anti-Semitic online postings and false public accusations were orchestrated to destroy his professional and personal life.

Here I Am: The Story of Tim Hetherington, War Photographer
By Alan Huffman
Huffman traces the life and career of the award-winning photojournalist whose life was ended in 2011 by a mortar blast while he was covering the Libyan Civil War, honoring his advocacy on behalf of countless war victims while tracing how his achievements reflected the realities of 21st-century war reporting.

How Literature Saved My Life
By David Shields
The National Book Critics Circle Award finalist author of Reality Hunger blends criticism, anthropology and biography to celebrate the fundamental power of literature while analyzing his own deeply ambivalent personality, concluding that the fundamental truths found in literature render it an essential component of life.

I, Rhoda
By Valerie Harper
A memoir by the Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-winning actress best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda traces her New York childhood, her relationships with fellow celebrities and her recent battle with lung cancer.

The Last Line of Defense: The New Fight for the American Constitution
By Ken Cuccinelli
The attorney general of Virginia documents his fight against what he believes to be the Obama administration’s unprecedented overreach in such areas as the EPA, the FCC and labor, arguing that the administration’s goals of redistributing wealth and concentrating power in Washington are illegal and contrary to the intentions of the Founding Fathers.

The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
By Thom Hatch
An in-depth history of the legendary Old West outlaw duo traces their numerous daring robberies before new technologies and advancing civilizations rendered their methods ineffective. Hatch shares insight into their flight to South America and reports about their mysterious deaths.

Mad Girl’s Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted
By Andrew Wilson
Wilson draws on exclusive interviews with friends and lovers as well as previously unavailable archives and papers to illuminate the famous writer’s life outside her relationship with Ted Hughes, offering insight into her lesser-known poetry and prose while revealing the origins of her unique style.

Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment
By Katrina Kenison
An author and editor offers observations on life, making changes and embarking on spiritual journeys as she experiences and accepts a new reality of living alone after her children have grown and moved out.

The Master of Us All: Balenciaga, His Workrooms, His World
By Mary Blume
A tribute to the life and work of the innovative haute couture designer shares the perspectives of his personal advisor Florette Chelot, who worked with Balenciaga for three decades until his abrupt departure in protest of the dominant rise of youth-oriented fashion in Paris.

Maverick Genius: The Pioneering Odyssey of Freeman Dyson
By Phillip F. Schewe
A definitive portrait of the scientific visionary who has influenced fields ranging from quantum physics and national defense to space and religion describes his relationships with leading world thinkers and documents his contributions to nuclear rocket technology, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and other world-changing endeavors.

Miracles of Life: Shanghai to Shepperton, an Autobiography
By J. G. Ballard and China Mieville
Published for the first time in the United States, “the most original English writer of the last century,” who authored such novels as Empire of the Sunand Crash, recalls his childhood, his first attempts at writing science fiction and his life as a single father after the premature death of his wife.

Remembering Whitney: A Mother’s Story of Life, Loss, and the Night the Music Stopped
By Cissy Houston
The Grammy Award-winning American soul and gospel singer and mother of Whitney Houston reflects on her daughter’s life, the events that led up to her death and the aftermath of a senseless tragedy.

Servants’ Hall: A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance
By Margaret Powell
The author of Below Stairspresents a new collection of accounts about life in the servants’ halls of England’s great houses, sharing the true story of under-parlourmaid Rose who, after eloping with her employer’s only son, was swept up in a maelstrom of gossip and rejected or admired by people from both classes.

She Matters: A Life in Friendships
By Susanna Sonnenberg
The best-selling author of Her Last Death presents an illuminating and provocative assessment of the women who have profoundly shaped her life, in a candid series of portraits that explores the powerful bonds and complex nuances that mark female friendships.

Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division
By Peter Hook
The legendary bassist for the band “Joy Division,” the godfathers of alternative rock who reinvented music in the post-punk era, recounts how four young men from Manchester and Salisbury rose from the punk scene to create a haunting, atmospheric music that would define a generation.

Vow: A Memoir of Marriage and Infidelity
By Wendy Plump
Told from the point of view of both the betrayed and the betrayer, the author, after finding out about her husband’s second family, explores the wreckage of her own marriage, offering a beautifully told narrative of hope and recovery that reawakens a belief in the value of fidelity and commitment.

General Nonfiction

American Turnaround: Reinventing AT&T and GM and the Way We Do Business in the USA
By Edward Whitacre
The man who was selected by President Obama to come out of retirement and turn around General Motors from near bankruptcy after its financial bailout in 2009 offers a memoir of his successes at that company, as well as at AT&T.

Any Given Monday: Sports Injuries and How to Prevent Them for Athletes, Parents, and Coaches – Based on My Life in Sports Medicine
By James R. Andrews
A renowned sports surgeon counsels young athletes on the best methods for the prevention and treatment of sports-related injuries, drawing on the philosophies of the “STOP Program” to enable supporter participation while explaining how to properly treat injuries and protect the body for a lifetime of physical activity.

The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6: Life and Death in the British Secret Service
By Gordon Corera
A security correspondent for the BBC offers insight into the secret world of the agents and spies in Britain’s MI6 from the early days of the Cold War, through the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall and September 11 attacks.

The Art of Freedom: Teaching the Humanities to the Poor
By Earl Shorris
Shorris documents his observations of circumstances reflected in a maximum-security prison and subsequent launch of a humanities college course for dropouts, immigrants and former inmates who eventually became high-achieving contributors to society, tracing how his course expanded throughout the world to help combat poverty-related imprisonment rates.

The As If Principle: The Radically New Approach to Changing Your Life
By Richard Wiseman
The best-selling author of 6challenges popular self-help approaches while counseling readers to take specific actions to improve outlook and circumstances, drawing on scientific findings to demonstrate how simple physical activities such as smiling or walking briskly can alleviate common challenges.

The Aztec Diet: Get Skinny Fast and Unlock the Power of Chia, the Original Superfood
By Bob Arnot
Showing readers how to make chia—the secret weapon that helped the ancient Aztecs achieve their greatness—a central part of their daily diet, the host of the Dr. Danger reality television series presents a three-part plan that reveals how this super-food can help boost metabolism, energy and weight loss.

Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients
By Ben Goldacre
Goldacre argues that doctors are deliberately misinformed by profit-seeking pharmaceutical companies that casually withhold information about drug efficacy and side effects, explaining the process of data manipulation and its global consequences.

Bébé Day by Day: 100 Keys to French Parenting
By Pamela Druckerman
An alternative guide to raising children shares wisdom and insights with American parents on the most effective practices being used by their French contemporaries, drawing on the author’s considerable research to offer essential insights into a range of modern concerns.

The Big Truck that Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster
By Jonathan M. Katz
A critical assessment of how Haiti has fared after the 2010 earthquake reveals how the country continues to suffer from poverty, illness and a broken infrastructure, assessing the government corruption and other factors that prevent money and aid from reaching people most in need.

Blackett’s War: The Men Who Defeated the Nazi U-Boats and Brought Science to the Art of Warfare
By Stephen Budiansky
The author documents the lesser-known story of a small group of British and American scientists who applied intellectual strategies to battle techniques and revolutionized the process of how wars are waged and won, citing the particular contributions of operational research founder and future Nobel winner Patrick Blackett.

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People
By Mahzarin R. Benaji and Anthony G. Greenwald
A pair of leading psychologists argues that prejudice toward others is often an unconscious part of the human psyche, providing an analysis of the science behind biased feelings while sharing guidelines for identifying and learning from hidden prejudices.

The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance
By Elizabeth Wayland Barber
An ethnographic and archaeological exploration of ancient traditions and folklore pertaining to “dancing goddesses” traces their roots in early Roman, Greek and European cultures to reveal the origins of such customs as ritual dancing, coloring Easter eggs and throwing rice at brides.

Dinner with Churchill: Policy-Making at the Dinner Table
By Cita Stelzer
Stelzer describes what it was like dining at the table of Winston Churchill before, during and after World War II, discussing the good food, fine champagnes and Cuban cigars that were served alongside arguments, diplomatic insights and gossip.

The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57
By John N. MacLean
An award-winning Chicago Tribune journalist and author of the acclaimed Fire on the Mountaintraces the 2006 Esperanza Fire in southern California, the tragic deaths of the five-man Forest Service engine crew and the high-profile murder trial of the person convicted of setting the fire.

The Feminine Mystique (50th Anniversary Edition)
By Betty Friedan
Featuring a new introduction by Gail Collins, this commemorative edition of the trail-blazing women’s reference shares revealing anecdotes and interviews that were originally collected in the early 1960s to inspire women to develop their intellectual capabilities and reclaim lives beyond period conventions.

The Future
By Al Gore
The former vice president and best-selling author of An Inconvenient Truth offers a frank assessment of six critical drivers of global change in the decades to come: economic globalization, worldwide digital communications, a growing balance of global power, unsustainable population growth, scientific revolution and disruption of ecosystems.

Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic
By Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett
Two renowned Middle East analysts present revisionary approaches to engaging with Iran, challenging decades of failed strategy to argue that Iran is demonstrating political strength, support from the Islamic Republic and a rational approach to foreign policy.

A History of Future Cities
By Daniel Brook
A pioneering exploration of four cities that reflect a blend of Eastern and Western cultures traces the historical threads connecting the regions of St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Mumbai and Dubai while offering insight into their conflicted embrace of modernity and the roles of architects, revolutionaries and other contributors in their transformations.

Inside Rehab: The Surprising Truth about Addiction Treatment – and How to Get Help that Works
By Anne M. Fletcher
A bracingly honest insider’s view of America’s drug and alcohol rehab industry explores its strengths and weaknesses while revealing a disturbing gap between best practice and reality, tracing the author’s investigations of programs ranging from indigent and famous facilities to 12-step and unconventional therapies.

The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War
By Fred Kaplan
The “War Stories” columnist for Slate presents the inside story of a small group of soldier-scholars who have significantly changed the ways the Pentagon does business and the American military fights wars, drawing on interviews with top contributors to reveal the origins of revolutionary ideas and how they have overcome formidable internal resistance.

The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time
By Bob Harris
The television personality and regular contestant on Jeopardy! explains how he was compelled to use his good fortune to help the world’s working poor, describing the founding of his Kiva.org micro-load portal and his visits to world regions where his organization’s loans have enabled people and small businesses to revitalize.

Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present
By Max Boot
Boot describes the history of unconventional and nontraditional warfare from the nomads used by Alexander the Great to the shadowy modern battlefields of the post-9/11 era and features a diverse cast of historical tacticians and revolutionaries from Mao Zedong to Edward Lansdale.

Kill Anything that Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam
By Nick Turse
Based on classified documents and first-person interviews, a controversial history of the Vietnam War argues that American acts of violence against millions of Vietnamese civilians were a pervasive and systematic part of the war and soldiers were deliberately trained and ordered to conduct hate-based slaughter campaigns.

The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement
By Taylor Branch
A succinct and accessible chronicle of key events in the Civil Rights Movement by the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of the trilogy that includes Parting the Waters traces how the Movement evolved from a bus strike to a political and social revolution.

The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley’s Masterpiece
By Roseanne Montillo
Blending grotesque 19th-century science with literary creation, this fascinating volume, which traces the origins of the greatest horror story of all time, explores how Shelley and her contemporaries were intrigued by the occultists and scientists who risked everything to advance our understanding of human anatomy and medicine.

The Last Best Cure: My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain – and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life
By Donna Jackson Nakazawa
The award-winning author of The Autoimmune Epidemic traces her long-time struggle with autoimmune disorders and her effort to improve life quality, documenting her year-long experimentation with various therapies before discovering a transformative treatment for negative childhood experiences.

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia
By Patrick Thorpe
A historical overview of the land where the popular Legend of Zelda video game series is set includes never-before-seen concept art, a chronology of the games, an exclusive manga comic and an introduction by the man who created the game that started it all.

The MELT Method: A Breakthrough Self-Treatment System to Eliminate Chronic Pain, Erase the Signs of Aging, and Feel Fantastic in Just 10 Minutes a Day!
By Sue Hitzmann
A nationally recognized somatic-movement educator and manual therapist presents a revolutionary program that, recognizing the crucial role of the body’s connective tissue, boosts the body’s natural healing and repair mechanisms.

Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior
By John Man
Combining mythology and anthropology, this meticulously researched true history of the superbly trained warriors with extraordinary skills in combat, climbing, deception, disguise and camouflage traces their birth in a Japan mired in civil war during the 15th century to the present day.

On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes
By Alexandra Horowitz
The author of the best-selling Inside a Dog counsels readers on how to rediscover everyday joys in typically overlooked areas of life, sharing guidelines for focusing attention on the senses and engaging in simple activities to reconnect with the real world.

The One Plan: A Week-by-Week Guide to Restoring Your Natural Health and Happiness
By Yogi Cameron Alborzian
Based on the traditions of yoga and Ayurveda, the life guru to such stars as Ellen DeGeneres and Natalie Portman presents a 52-week program to lead readers to greater health and happiness, which is based on an ancient, proven system that is relevant to modern life.

Our Occulted History: Do the Global Elite Conceal Ancient Aliens?
By Jim Marrs
Sifting through historical, scientific and cultural records, a celebrated journalist overturns conventional knowledge and beliefs by presenting compelling evidence that the earth once hosted prehistoric civilizations using technologies that may have originated from non-humans.

Plan D: How to Lose Weight and Beat Diabetes (Even If You Don’t Have It)
By Sherri Shepherd
Filled with humor and life-changing advice, the comedienne and co-host of The View reveals how she, with the help of a leading endocrinologist from Columbia University, devised her own diet plan, which allowed her to lose weight, regain her health and control her Type 2 diabetes.

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
By A. G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin
A successful former CEO of Procter & Gamble and a dean of the Rotman School of Management explain how companies must pinpoint business strategies to a few critically important choices, identifying common blunders while outlining simple exercises and questions that can guide day-to-day and long-term decisions.

Pukka’s Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs
By Ted Kerasote
The award-winning author of Merle’s Door draws on cutting-edge research to present a narrative guide to canine care that covers such controversial topics as the comparative health of purebred and mixed-breed dogs, the benefits and consequences of common health-care practices and the ways to identify best pet foods.

The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend
By Glenn Frankel
Frankel traces the making of the influential 1950s film inspired by the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, sharing lesser-known aspects of Parker’s 1836 abduction by the Comanche and her heartbreaking return to white culture, in an account that also explores how the movie reflects period ambiguities.

Square Peg: My Story and What It Means for Raising Innovators, Visionaries, and Out-of-the-Box Thinkers
By Todd Rose and Katherine Ellison
Part memoir, part social commentary, the author’s extraordinary personal journey sheds new light on antiquated school systems that fail a majority of students, and provides big ideas and action items for change.

Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy
By Emily Bazelon
The Slate senior editor whose reportage covered the 2010 suicide case of Phoebe Prince offers insights into teen bullying in the Internet era, counseling parents, educators, advocates and kids on how to understand its dynamics and consequences and take appropriate protective measures.

Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them
By Betsy Prioleau
The author of Seductress presents a lively study of ladies’ men that draws on research from a variety of disciplines to demystify their character, seductive secrets and allure while challenging the advice of such references as The Game and arguing that sexually disconnected 21st-century women may benefit from the examples of charming men.

Toughness: Developing True Strength On and Off the Court
By Jay Bilas
A popular ESPN basketball analyst and former Duke University player reveals the successful work ethic he learned under Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, tracing his career while imparting the importance of his mentor’s definition of toughness to explain how it can be applied effectively to athletic and personal goals.

Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain
By John Darwin
Chronicling the British Empire’s beginnings and decline and its extraordinary range of forms of rule, from settler colonies to island enclaves, this meticulously researched one-volume history of Britain’s reign reveals how the modern world came into being.

Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging Yours for Better Health, Energy, Mood, Focus, Sex, and Fertility
By Daniel G. Amen
The neuroscientist expert, public television speaker and author of the best-selling Change Your Brain, Change Your Life outlines a step-by-step program for women on how to improve health and well-being by addressing the unique needs of the female brain, answering common questions in areas ranging from fertility and menopause to weight and stress.

The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires
By Dennis Kimbro
The best-selling author of Think & Grow Rich shares interviews with prominent African-American millionaires to reveal the sources of their successes, sharing recommendations for navigating today’s turbulent economy while offering advice in such areas as developing wealth-generating habits, committing to learning and taking strategic risks.

When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests
By Leana Wen and Josh Kosowsky
The authors outline a provocative prescription for avoiding harmful medical mistakes and advocate for more productive health care, counseling readers on such topics as working with a busy doctor, communicating the full story of an illness, evaluating test risks and obtaining a working diagnosis.

The Wow Factor: Insider Style Secrets for Every Body and Every Budget
By Jacqui Stafford
A renowned style expert whose work has appeared in Vogue, Cosmopolitan and other prestigious magazines shares professional secrets on how to appear fashionable regardless of budget and body type, offering advice for identifying a personal style, making the most of an existing wardrobe and knowing what trends to follow.

The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano that Darkened the World and Changed History
By William K. Klingaman
The author of Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation traces a year of dramatic global change in the aftermath of a massive early 19th-century Indonesian volcanic eruption that disrupted weather patterns and triggered food shortages, religious revivals, migrations and a typhus epidemic.

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