Banner Message

Did you have trouble finding what you were looking for?
Click here for our special store for hard-to-find and used items. 

Non-Fiction

American Reckoning

American Reckoning

Alter, Jonathan
$29.95
A vivid eyewitness account of the historic first criminal trial of a president and a cri de coeur for democracy from a New York Times bestselling author and presidential historian.

As one of a handful of journalists allowed in the courtroom, for 23 days Jonathan Alter sat just feet away from the most dangerous threat to democracy in American history, watching the spectacle of the century: the felony trial of Donald Trump. Highly publicized but untelevised and thus largely hidden from public view, this landmark trial offered hope of real justice amid a grueling eight-year national ordeal and foreshadowed the drama of the 2024 presidential election.

Alter shares everything he witnessed--from eviscerating takes on the colorful characters to the chilling legal ups and downs--to offer a barbed account of the trial and its aftermath, including fresh reporting about the historic events of the summer of 2024. A Zelig of journalism experiencing a crisis of faith in the good sense of the American people, Alter chronicles the shaping of his political consciousness and his bracing, unpredictable relationships with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Joe Biden, whose decision to stand down in favor of former prosecutor Kamala Harris put the criminal trial front and center as Americans render their own verdict at the polls.

Deeply personal and passionate, American Reckoning is an eye-opening book from a journalist with a front row seat on history, offering a troubled yet hopeful look at our national moment of truth.

Place Called Home

Place Called Home

Ambroz, David
$30.00
PORCHLIGHT BESTSELLER
Zibby Owens 2022 Book of the Year

A galvanizing, stirring memoir about growing up homeless and in foster care and rising to become a leading advocate for child welfare, recognized by President Obama as an American Champion of Change.

"You will fall in love with David Ambroz, his beautifully-told, gut-wrenching story, and his great big heart." --Jeanette Walls, author of The Glass Castle

"It's impossible to read A Place Called Home and not want to redouble your efforts to fight the systems of poverty that have plagued America for far too long. In this book, David shares his deeply personal story and issues a rousing call to make this a more humane and compassionate nation."--Hillary Rodham Clinton

There are millions of homeless children in America today and in A Place Called Home, award-winning child welfare advocate David Ambroz writes about growing up homeless in New York for eleven years and his subsequent years in foster care, offering a window into what so many kids living in poverty experience every day.

When David and his siblings should be in elementary school, they are instead walking the streets seeking shelter while their mother is battling mental illness. They rest in train stations, 24-hour diners, anywhere that's warm and dry; they bathe in public restrooms and steal food to quell their hunger. When David is placed in foster care, at first it feels like salvation but soon proves to be just as unsafe. He's moved from home to home and, in all but one placement, he's abused. His burgeoning homosexuality makes him an easy target for other's cruelty.

David finds hope and opportunities in libraries, schools, and the occasional kind-hearted adult; he harnesses an inner grit to escape the all-too-familiar outcome for a kid like him. Through hard work and unwavering resolve, he is able to get a scholarship to Vassar College, his first significant step out of poverty. He later graduates from UCLA Law with a vision of using his degree to change the laws that affect children in poverty.

Told with lyricism and sparkling with warmth, A Place Called Home depicts childhood poverty and homelessness as it is experienced by so many young people who have been systematically overlooked and unprotected. It's at once a gripping personal account of deprivation--how one boy survived it, and ultimately thrived--and a resounding call for readers to move from empathy to action.

Want

Want

Anderson, Gillian
$28.00
A collection of confessions from women around the world, Want is a revelatory, sensational and game-changing exploration of women's sexuality that asks, and answers: How do women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be totally anonymous?

What do you want, when no one is watching?
What do you want, when the lights are off?
What do you want, when you are anonymous?

When we talk about sex, we talk about womanhood and motherhood, infidelity and exploitation, consent and respect, fairness and egalitarianism, love and hate, pleasure and pain.

And yet for many reasons--some complicated, some not--so many of us don't talk about it. Our deepest, most intimate fears and fantasies remain locked away inside of us, until someone comes along with the key.

Here's the key.

In this generation-defining book, Gillian Anderson collects and introduces the anonymous letters of hundreds of self-identifying women from around the world (along with her own anonymous letter).

From a Sikh woman who writes about her secret lust for her brother-in-law, an Apache American woman who wants to be worshipped like a divine creature, a white British woman who just wants to be properly kissed one last time, another who likes to role play as a panther, or a Hispanic Jewish woman living in Bangladesh, for whom the pinnacle of sexual arousal is a doorknob, Want reveals how women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be totally anonymous.

What do you want?

Vanishing at Smokestack Hollow

Vanishing at Smokestack Hollow

Anderson, Jake
$28.00
An immersive descent into one of the most mysterious and bizarre unsolved cases of this century. Through extensive research, personal interviews, and exclusive evidence, Anderson unearths the truth behind the disappearance of a loving, plucky family that was gradually worn down, warped-by pain and pathology-into a radicalized cell.

"There's dark stuff up there, sir. You know that, right? Cults and such." That's what Starlet Jamison told the Sheriff after her son and his family went missing.

On October 8th, 2009, Bobby Jamison, his wife Sherilynn, and their six-year-old daughter Madyson, set off for a drive from their home in Eufaula, Oklahoma, to the nearby Sans Bois Mountains. They didn't return that day, or the next. A week later, their truck was found abandoned on a mountain road. Inside was their dog, malnourished but alive, the family's cell phones, wallets, and $32,000 in cash.
The ensuing eight-month search was the largest in Oklahoma history, but it yielded little evidence. Online, bloggers and web sleuths put forth dozens of theories, fueled by the Jamisons' strange, trancelike behavior on a CCTV video. Some claimed the family was abducted by white supremacists or a religious cult. In 2013, there was a tragic break in the case, when deer hunters stumbled upon the skeletal remains of two adults and a child in the Smokestack Hollow area of Panola Mountain. Forensic testing confirmed the Jamisons' identities.

But the mystery was only beginning. Had the Jamisons been planning to abandon their lives and raise Madyson alone in the wilderness--and if so, why? What happened to the briefcase and handgun that Sheryilynn was seen putting into the car? And why were no arrests ever made?

Investigative journalist Jake Anderson draws on police notes, interviews, and exclusive evidence to piece together the Jamisons' last days and weeks, weaving together startling material with his own personal insights. The story is one of dark, paranoid obsessions, but also of real malevolent forces residing in those shadowy mountains--and a compulsively readable account of a true murder mystery whose chilling impact continues to be felt.

Happy High Achiever

Happy High Achiever

Anderson, Mary E
$30.00

A game-changing road map for ambitious people to transform chronic stress and anxiety into sustainable happiness and success.

Throughout her years as a licensed clinical psychologist, Mary E. Anderson, PhD--known affectionately as "Dr. A" by her clients--has noticed a pattern: Talented, productive, and often brilliant patients--from business executives to lawyers to grad students--constantly arrive on her couch, drop their flawless facades, and describe feelings of self-doubt, burnout, and worry.

The Happy High Achiever brings Dr. Anderson's unparalleled expertise to the wider world. The book is a practical guide to her 8 Essentials, a set of powerful principles with actionable, science-based strategies to combat the unique pressures and pitfalls of high-performing individuals. These CBT-based tools help ambitious people like you live free of the perpetual anxiety and fear of failure that can hold you back, and instead enjoy both happiness and high achievement.

The Happy High Achiever will teach you:

  • Why striving for perfection actually limits you
  • How to navigate uncertainty with less worry and more ease
  • How to find relief in moments of overwhelm
  • How to overcome the three most problematic ways of thinking that plague high achievers
  • Why gratitude is rocket fuel for your success
  • How to get clear about what you really want for your life
  • How to effectively manage stress to boost your calm and confidence and enhance your performance

  • Most importantly, you'll learn anxiety is not the price of admission for your success. You have the power to optimize your life and be your best. You can be a happy high achiever.

    My Inner Sky

    My Inner Sky

    Andrew, Mari
    $22.00
    From New York Times bestselling author Mari Andrew, a collection of essays and illustrations, divided into phases of the sky--twilight, golden hour, night, and dawn--that serves as a loyal companion for life's curveballs

    A whole, beautiful life is only made possible by the wide spectrum of feelings that exist between joy and sorrow. In this insightful and warm book, writer and illustrator Mari Andrew explores all the emotions that make up a life, in the process offering insights about trauma and healing, the meaning of home and the challenges of loneliness, finding love in the most unexpected of places--from birds nesting on a sculpture to a ride on the subway--and a resounding case for why sometimes you have to put yourself in the path of magic.

    My Inner Sky empowers us to transform everything that's happened to us into something meaningful, reassurance that even in our darkest times, there's light and beauty to be found.

    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    Angelou, Maya
    $18.00
    Maya Angelou's debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS's American Masters.

    Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou's debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.

    Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local "powhitetrash." At eight years old and back at her mother's side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age--and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors ("I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare") will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.

    Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.

    "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity."--James Baldwin

    Scenic Driving Florida

    Scenic Driving Florida

    Annino, Jan Godown
    $16.95
    Pack up the car and enjoy nearly thirty drives through the pine forests, citrus groves, salt marshes, and fishing villages of Florida. This indispensable, mile-by-mile highway companion maps out one- and two-day trips that help you discover the Sunshine State's early American history, outdoor recreational activities, and breathtaking scenery. Travel the highways and back roads of this diverse area, from the red hills, shorebird colonies, and cottage villages in the Panhandle to the mangrove islands, subtropical jungles, and Native American sites farther south. Whether you want to explore the Wesley Mansion at Eden State Gardens, view wildlife at Kissimmee Prairie, or sit in a lunar rover at Kennedy Space Center, this guide shows the way.Itineraries from 20 to more than 200 milesRoute map for each drive In-depth descriptions of attractions Optional side trips to museums, parks, and landmarks Tips on lodging, camping, dining, travel services, and best driving seasons
    Didion and Babitz

    Didion and Babitz

    Anolik, Lili
    $29.99
    Joan Didion is revealed at last in this outrageously provocative and profoundly moving new work on the mutual attractions--and mutual antagonisms--of Didion and her fellow literary titan, Eve Babitz.

    Could you write what you write if you weren't so tiny, Joan? --Eve Babitz, in a letter to Joan Didion, 1972

    Joan Didion, revealed at last...

    Eve Babitz died on December 17, 2021. Found in the wrack, ruin, and filth of her apartment, a stack of boxes packed by her mother decades before. The boxes were pristine, the seals of duct tape unbroken. Inside, a lost world. This world turned for a certain number of years in the late sixties and early seventies, and centered on a two-story rental in a down-at-heel section of Hollywood. 7406 Franklin Avenue, a combination salon-hotbed-living end where writers and artists mixed with movie stars, rock 'n' rollers, and drug trash.

    7406 Franklin Avenue was the making of one great American writer: Joan Didion, a mystery behind her dark glasses and cool expression; an enigma inside her storied marriage to John Gregory Dunne, their union as tortured as it was enduring. 7406 Franklin Avenue was the breaking and then the remaking--and thus the true making--of another great American writer: Eve Babitz, goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky, nude of Marcel Duchamp, consort of Jim Morrison (among many, many others), a woman who burned so hot she finally almost burned herself alive. Didion and Babitz formed a complicated alliance, a friendship that went bad, amity turning to enmity.

    Didion, in spite of her confessional style, is so little known or understood. She's remained opaque, elusive. Until now.

    With deftness and skill, journalist Lili Anolik uses Babitz, Babitz's brilliance of observation, Babitz's incisive intelligence, and, most of all, Babitz's diary-like letters--letters found in those sealed boxes, letters so intimate you don't read them so much as breathe them--as the key to unlocking Didion.

    Becoming Duchess Goldblatt

    Becoming Duchess Goldblatt

    Anonymous
    $15.99
    One of the New York Times' 20 Books to Read in 2020

    "A tonic . . . Splendid . . . A respite . . . A summer cocktail of a book."

    --Washington Post

    "Unforgettable . . . Behind her brilliantly witty and uplifting message is a remarkable vulnerability and candor that reminds us that we are not alone in our struggles--and that we can, against all odds, get through them."--Lori Gottlieb, New York Times best-selling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

    Part memoir and part joyful romp through the fields of imagination, the story behind a beloved pseudonymous Twitter account reveals how a writer deep in grief rebuilt a life worth living.

    Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is two stories: that of the reclusive real-life writer who created a fictional character out of loneliness and thin air, and that of the magical Duchess Goldblatt herself, a bright light in the darkness of social media. Fans around the world are drawn to Her Grace's voice, her wit, her life-affirming love for all humanity, and the fun and friendship of the community that's sprung up around her.

    @DuchessGoldblat (81 year-old literary icon, author of An Axe to Grind) brought people together in her name: in bookstores, museums, concerts, and coffee shops, and along the way, brought real friends home--foremost among them, Lyle Lovett.

    "The only way to be reliably sure that the hero gets the girl at the end of the story is to be both the hero and the girl yourself." -- Duchess Goldblatt

    Nora says: A funny, moving, delightful account of the creation of a fictional online character.  Duchess Goldblatt is a favorite of the literary and publishing world, plus Lyle Lovett! A fun romp, surprisingly philosophical and humane.