Book cover of The Founders' Fortunes: How Money Shaped the Birth of America by Willard Sterne Randall
Biography & History

The Founders’ Fortunes: How Money Shaped the Birth of America

In 1776, upon the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers concluded America’s most consequential document with a curious note, pledging “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” Lives and honor did indeed hang in the balance, yet just what were their fortunes? How much did the Founders stand to gain or lose through independence? And what lingering consequences did their respective financial stakes have on liberty, justice, and the fate of the fledgling United States of America? […Learn More]

Book cover of Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination by Brian Jay Jones
Biography & Autobiography

Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination

The definitive, fascinating, all-reaching biography of Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss is a classic American icon. Whimsical and wonderful, his work has defined our childhoods and the childhoods of our own children. The silly, simple rhymes are a bottomless well of magic, his illustrations timeless favorites because, quite simply, he makes us laugh. The Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, Horton, and so many more, are his troupe of beloved, and uniquely Seussian, creations. […Learn More]

Book cover of The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle between the White House and the Media--from the Founding Fathers to Fake News by Harold Holzer
Biography & Autobiography

The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle between the White House and the Media–from the Founding Fathers to Fake News

An award-winning presidential historian offers an authoritative account of American presidents’ attacks on our freedom of the press.

“The FAKE NEWS media,” Donald Trump has tweeted, “is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” Has our free press ever faced as great a threat? Perhaps not—but the tension between presidents and journalists is as old as the republic itself. […Learn More]

Book Cover of Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke
Health and Psychology

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting… The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we’ve all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption. […Learn More]

Book cover of First Platoon: A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance by Annie Jacobsen
History

First Platoon: A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance

A powerful story of war in our time, of love of country, the experience of tragedy, and a platoon at the center of it all.

This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly nineteen-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the U.S. Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the ability to identify, monitor, catalog, and police people all over the world. […Learn More]