Trespassing Across America | One Man’s Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland by Ken Ilgunas follows the authors cross country journey along the proposed Keystone XL pipeline all on foot. Both a travel memoir and a reflection on climate change, the book is filled with colorful characters, harrowing physical trials, and strange encounters with the weather, terrain, and animals of America’s plains.
No Wall Too High | One Man’s Daring Escape from Mao’s Darkest Prison by Xu Hongci recounts the authors incredible journey escaping a Chinese labor camp. Hongci was unjustly imprisoned after the spring of 1957, and despite the horrific conditions and terrible odds, he was determined to escape. He failed three times before finally succeeding in 1972.
The Killing Wind | A Chinese County’s Descent into Madness during the Cultural Revolution by Tan Hecheng investigates the Daoxian massacre during China’s Cultural Revolution. The book is a poignant meditation on memory, moral culpability, and the failure of the Chinese government to come to terms with the crimes of the Maoist era.
A Time of Scandal | Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding, and the Making of the Veterans Bureau by Rosemary Stevens re-examines the scandal-plagues Harding administration during the creation of the Veterans Bureau. She explores how Forbes’s rise and fall in Washington illuminates President Harding’s efforts to bring business efficiency to government.
Tibet in Agony | Lhasa 1959 by Jianglin Li looks back on the Chinese governments militaristic repression of a popular uprising in Tibet’s capital. Sifting facts from the distortions of propaganda and partisan politics, the author reconstructs a chronology of events that lays to rest lingering questions about what happened in those fate-filled days and why.
The Most Wanted Man in China | My Journey from Scientist to Enemy of the State by Fang Lizhi is a brilliant memoir of a Chinese astrophysicist who challenged the authority of Communist China. His story, told with vivid detail and disarming humor, is a testament to the importance of remaining true to one’s principles in an unprincipled time and place.
The Next America | Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown by Paul Taylor looks into the future dynamics of America’s generational society. Huge generation gaps have opened up in our political and social values, our economic well-being, our family structure, our gender norms, our religious affiliation, and our technology use.
Too Much of a Good Thing | How Four Key Survival Traits Are Now Killing Us by Dr. Lee Goldman discusses the ways in which the human body has evolved with the modern environment. Dr. Lee Goldman presents a radical explanation: The key protective traits that once ensured our species’ survival are now the leading global causes of illness and death.
Empty Chairs by Liu Xia tells the author’s life story through her powerful poetry. The book presents the poetry of Liu Xia for the first time freely in both English translation and in the Chinese original, and creates a portrait of a life lived under duress, a voice in danger of being silenced, and a spirit that is shaken but so far indomitable.
The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn | An Untold Story of the American Revolution by Robert P. Watson visits the experience and impact of a British prison ship during the American Revolution. The book follows the lives and ordeals of the ship’s few survivors to tell the astonishing story of the cursed ship that killed thousands of Americans and yet helped secure victory in the fight for independence.
