The Best New True Crime Stories: Well-Mannered Crooks, Rogues and Criminals, edited by Mitzi Szereto, is about actual crimes. The stories are brilliant because they are brazen, colorful, and audacious. It is about intelligent but often lucky individuals who know how to take advantage of...

History is too often recorded in dates, names, and events. Even recording the earthshaking history of WWII succumbs to academic formulae. Unless and until history is given life by recording the individual stories of the men and women who lived, indeed who were the history,...

Touchstones of Tradition: Insights From The Material Culture of Miccosukee and Seminole People is a collection of five pieces on South Florida Native American artistic traditions edited by William H. Marquardt. Inspired by artifacts in the Florida Ethnographic Collection, they address the development of Seminole...

The Inner Light: How India Influenced The Beatles by Susan Shumsky explores the profound impact of Indian philosophy and spirituality on the members of The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr – during the 1960s. Drawing on her own experiences...

The Lightning Tamers by Kathy Joseph is the history of the men and women who have worked with electricity, from discovering its existence to its place in our modern life. The book begins with the early realization of what electricity is and how it was...

The Tribal Instinct and the Yearning to Belong by Anthony T. Cluff is an insightful exploration of humanity's deep-seated inclination toward tribalism. Cluff proposes that our instinctual drive for unity and belonging influences various aspects of life including politics, sports, religion, and social interactions. He...

The Gang of Three: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle by Neel Burton should be required reading for any college class in philosophy. This is the best book on philosophy I have ever read, and I have four master’s degrees. Neel gives a fantastic overview of the pre-Socratic...

The Buster Clan: An American Saga by K.P. Kollenborn is a deep dive into the author’s family history and the ancestors who were, in their small way, a part of shaping and building the United States. Using stories, legends, and sometimes myths from his family’s...

The Shaolin Temple Story: Explore Shaolin History, Culture, Kung Fu, and Chán (Zen) Tradition by James Martin is a stunning depiction of how the temple plays a role in the traditions, history, and culture of China. This book explores a personal connection with the Shaolin...

The Preventorium is a memoir by Susan Annah Currie of being separated from her family after being deemed at high risk of contracting tuberculosis and being moved to the Magee Preventorium in Mississippi. Currie's story begins at the end of the 1950s when she...