Book cover of America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization by Graham Hancock
Americas

America Before: The Key to Earth’s Lost Civilization

Was an advanced civilization lost to history in the global cataclysm that ended the last Ice Age? Graham Hancock, the internationally bestselling author, has made it his life’s work to find out–and in America Before, he draws on the latest archaeological and DNA evidence to bring his quest to a stunning conclusion. […Learn More]

Book cover of Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future by Bartow J. Elmore
Biological Sciences

Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future

An authoritative and eye-opening history that examines how Monsanto came to have outsized influence over our food system.

Monsanto, a St. Louis chemical firm that became the world’s largest maker of genetically engineered seeds, merged with German pharma-biotech giant Bayer in 2018—but its Roundup Ready® seeds, introduced twenty-five years ago, are still reshaping the farms that feed us. […Learn More]

Book cover of Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill
Biography & Autobiography

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties

A journalist’s twenty-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to shocking new revelations about the FBI’s involvement in this riveting reassessment of an infamous case in American history.
Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. […Learn More]

Book cover of Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind by Kermit Pattison
Archaeology

Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind

It is the ultimate mystery: where do we come from? In 1994, a team led by fossil-hunting legend Tim White uncovered a set of ancient bones in Ethiopia’s Afar region. Radiometric dating of nearby rocks indicated the resulting skeleton, classified as Ardipithecus ramidus—nicknamed “Ardi”—was an astounding 4.4 million years old, more than a million years older than the world-famous “Lucy.” The team spent the next 15 years studying the bones in strict secrecy, all while continuing to rack up landmark fossil discoveries in the field and becoming increasingly ensnared in bitter disputes with scientific peers and Ethiopian bureaucrats. […Learn More]

Book cover of Freedom by Sebastian Junger
History

Freedom

A profound rumination on the concept of freedom from the New York Times bestselling author of Tribe.

Throughout history, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals: community and freedom. The two don’t coexist easily. We value individuality and self-reliance, yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. In this intricately crafted and thought-provoking book, Sebastian Junger examines the tension that lies at the heart of what it means to be human. […Learn More]

Book cover of Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century by Josh Rogin
International & World Politics

Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century

The explosive, behind-the-scenes story of Donald Trump’s high-stakes confrontation with Beijing, from an award-winning Washington Post columnist and peerless observer of the U.S.–China relationship

There was no calm before the storm. Donald Trump’s surprise electoral victory shattered the fragile understanding between Washington and Beijing, putting the most important relationship of the twenty-first century in the hands of a novice who had bitterly attacked China from the campaign trail. […Learn More]

Book cover of Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters by Steven Pinker
Health and Psychology

Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters

Can reading a book make you more rational? Can it help us understand why there is so much irrationality in the world? Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now (Bill Gates’s “new favorite book of all time”) answers all the questions here

Today humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding–and also appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing? […Learn More]

Book cover of In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park
Asia

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom

In In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea—and to freedom. […Learn More]