Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Oklahoma

In alternating chapters, two ill-matched people--Jack Ernest Stokes and his wife, Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes--describe their lives together and apart

A Virtuous Woman

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Christina McDowell

Florida

"A compulsively readable novel in the vein of The Bonfire of the Vanities-by way of The Nest-about what Washington, DC's high society members do away from the Capitol building and behind the closed doors of their suburban mansions"--

The Cave Dwellers

58676104-2b34-499f-b4f9-c35b0589fdb5-1

Virginia

Muhammad Khan

New York

A powerful novel about standing out and being heard from Muhammad Khan, the Branford Boase Award-winning author of I Am Thunder.

Mark My Words

576b5161-cc74-4517-b9a6-85f82b303f36-0

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

From the author of The Seed Collectors comes a darkly comic take on power, privilege, and the pressure put on young women to fit in--and be thin--at their all-girls boarding school

It's already the second week of term when Natasha, the daughter of a Russian oligarch, arrives at a vast English country house for her first day of boarding school. She soon discovers that the headmaster gives special treatment to the skinniest girls, and Tash finds herself thrown into the school's unfamiliar, moneyed world of fierce pecking orders, eating disorders, and Instagram angst.

The halls echo with the story of Princess Augusta, the White Lady whose portraits--featuring a hypnotizing black diamond--hang everywhere and whose ghost is said to haunt the dorms. It's said that she fell in love with a commoner and drowned herself in the lake. But the girls don't really know anything about the woman she was, much less anything about one another. When Tash's friend Bianca mysteriously vanishes, the routines of the school seem darker and more alien than ever before. Tash must try to stay alive--and sane--while she uncovers what's really going on.

Darkly hilarious, Oligarchy is Heathers for the digital age, a Prep populated with the teenage children of the European elite, exploring youth, power, and affluence. Scarlett Thomas captures the lives of these privileged young women, in all their triviality and magnitude, seeking acceptance and control in a manipulative world.

Oligarchy

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Maryland

Jamie Sumner

"A big-hearted story that's as sweet as it is awesome." --R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder
"An honest, emotionally rich take on disability, family, and growing up." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In the tradition of Wonder and Out of My Mind, this big-hearted middle grade debut tells the story of an irrepressible girl with cerebral palsy whose life takes an unexpected turn when she moves to a new town.

Ellie's a girl who tells it like it is. That surprises some people, who see a kid in a wheelchair and think she's going to be all sunshine and cuddles. The thing is, Ellie has big dreams: She might be eating Stouffer's for dinner, but one day she's going to be a professional baker. If she's not writing fan letters to her favorite celebrity chefs, she's practicing recipes on her well-meaning, if overworked, mother.

But when Ellie and her mom move so they can help take care of her ailing grandpa, Ellie has to start all over again in a new town at a new school. Except she's not just the new kid--she's the new kid in the wheelchair who lives in the trailer park on the wrong side of town. It all feels like one challenge too many, until Ellie starts to make her first-ever friends. Now she just has to convince her mom that this town might just be the best thing that ever happened to them!

Roll with It

68a3f039-c471-4eaf-b8a8-6e302dbbae79-1

Iowa

Nickolas Butler

New Jersey

In this riveting new novel by the bestselling and award-winning author of Shotgun Lovesongs, three troubled construction workers get entangled in a dangerous plan against an impossible deadline. Why is it being built here, and why so quickly? These are the questions Cole, Bart, and Teddy, the three principals of True Triangle Construction, ask themselves when they are hired to finish a project for a mysteriously wealthy homeowner. Nestled in the mountains outside of Jackson, Wyoming, the house is a masterpiece, unlike anything they've done before. Once finished, it promises to be the architectural prize of Jackson and could put True Triangle on the map. But despite the project's lure, the owner is intent on having it built in a matter of months, an impossible task made irresistible by the exorbitant bonus that awaits them if they succeed. A bonus that could change the course of their business, and their lives. Up against the fateful deadline, and the looming threat of a harsh Wyoming winter, Cole, Bart, and Teddy are willing to do anything to get the money, even if it means risking life, limb, and family. And what becomes an obsession for all three quickly builds to tragic consequences for some. Struck through with heart-pounding danger and an arresting lyricism, Godspeed is a stark exploration of the haves and the have-nots, a cautionary tale of greed and violence that asks: How much is never enough?

Godspeed

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Worn on the cover edges, but pages are complete and look fine. First 20 pages have a light crease. Set in the Caribbean with gothic vibes, this is a story of a woman sold into marriage. Their society is skewed with hatred, and the woman must fight for her sanity. Moody, introspective, and memorable. 172 pages plus discussion questions. Size 5-1/2 x 8”.

Illinois

Wide Sargasso Sea

Louisiana

Preti Taneja

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

A Novel

When a billionaire hotelier and political operator attempts to pit his three daughters against one another, a brutal struggle for primacy begins in this modern-day take on Shakespeare's King Lear. Set in contemporary India, where rich men are gods while farmers starve and water is fast running out, We That Are Young is a story about power, status, and the love of a megalomaniac father. A searing exploration of human fallibility, Preti Taneja's remarkable novel reveals the fragility of the human heart--and its inevitable breaking point.

We That Are Young

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Kristen Simmons

Pennsylvania

An enthralling YA story of friendship and rebellion from the acclaimed author of Article 5 and Glass Arrow. Kristen Simmons's Metaltown, where factories rule, food is scarce, and hope is in short supply. The rules of Metaltown are simple: Work hard, keep your head down, and watch your back. You look out for number one, and no one knows that better than Ty. She’s been surviving on the factory line as long as she can remember. But now Ty has Colin. She’s no longer alone; it’s the two of them against the world. That’s something even a town this brutal can’t take away from her. Until it does. Lena’s future depends on her family’s factory, a beast that demands a ruthless master, and Lena is prepared to be as ruthless as it takes if it means finally proving herself to her father. But when a chance encounter with Colin, a dreamer despite his circumstances, exposes Lena to the consequences of her actions, she’ll risk everything to do what’s right. In Lena, Ty sees an heiress with a chip on her shoulder. Colin sees something more. In a world of disease and war, tragedy and betrayal, allies and enemies, all three of them must learn that challenging what they thought was true can change all the rules. An enthralling story of friendship and rebellion, Metaltown will have you believing in the power of hope.

Metaltown

2e01ad7f-b733-4fe3-b2c3-88c3ca04b7f7-1

Kaye Gibbons

Utah

Andre M. Perry

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Wisconsin

Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities

The deliberate devaluation of Blacks and their communities has had very real, far-reaching, and negative economic and social effects. An enduring white supremacist myth claims brutal conditions in Black communities are mainly the result of Black people's collective choices and moral failings. "That's just how they are" or "there's really no excuse": we've all heard those not so subtle digs.

But there is nothing wrong with Black people that ending racism can't solve. We haven't known how much the country will gain by properly valuing homes and businesses, family structures, voters, and school districts in Black neighborhoods. And we need to know.

Noted educator, journalist, and scholar Andre Perry takes readers on a tour of six Black-majority cities whose assets and strengths are undervalued. Perry begins in his hometown of Wilkinsburg, a small city east of Pittsburgh that, unlike its much larger neighbor, is struggling and failing to attract new jobs and industry. Bringing his own personal story of growing up in Black-majority Wilkinsburg, Perry also spotlights five others where he has deep connections: Detroit, Birmingham, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. He provides an intimate look at the assets that should be of greater value to residents--and that can be if they demand it.

Perry provides a new means of determining the value of Black communities. Rejecting policies shaped by flawed perspectives of the past and present, it gives fresh insights on the historical effects of racism and provides a new value paradigm to limit them in the future.

Know Your Price demonstrates the worth of Black people's intrinsic personal strengths, real property, and traditional institutions. These assets are a means of empowerment and, as Perry argues in this provocative and very personal book, are what we need to know and understand to build Black prosperity.

Know Your Price

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Missouri

Joe Bageant

Colorado

Dispatches from America's Class War

Years before Hillbilly Elegy and White Trash, a raucous, truth-telling look at the white working poor -- and why they have learned to hate liberalism. What it adds up to, he asserts, is an unacknowledged class war. 

By turns tender, incendiary, and seriously funny, this book is a call to arms for fellow progressives with little real understanding of "the great beery, NASCAR-loving, church-going, gun-owning America that has never set foot in a Starbucks."

Deer Hunting with Jesus is Joe Bageant's report on what he learned when he moved back to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia. Like countless American small towns, it is fast becoming the bedrock of a permanent underclass. Two in five of the people in his old neighborhood do not have high school diplomas or health care. Alcohol, overeating, and Jesus are the preferred avenues of escape. 

He writes of:

* His childhood friends who work at factory jobs that are constantly on the verge of being outsourced
* The mortgage and credit card rackets that saddle the working poor with debt
* The ubiquitous gun culture--and why the left doesn' t get it
* Scots Irish culture and how it played out in the young life of Lynddie England

Deer Hunting with Jesus

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Daniel Golden

How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges--And Who Gets Left Outside the Gates

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "A fire-breathing, righteous attack on the culture of superprivilege."--Michael Wolff, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Fire and Fury, in the New York Times Book Review
 
NOW WITH NEW REPORTING ON OPERATION VARSITY BLUES

In this explosive and prescient book, based on three years of investigative report­ing, Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Golden shatters the myth of an American meri­tocracy. Naming names, along with grades and test scores, Golden lays bare a corrupt system in which middle-class and working-class whites and Asian Ameri­cans are routinely passed over in favor of wealthy white students with lesser credentials--children of alumni, big donors, and celebrities. He reveals how a family donation got Jared Kushner into Harvard, and how colleges comply with Title IX by giving scholarships to rich women in "patrician sports" like horseback riding and crew.
 
With a riveting new chapter on Operation Varsity Blues, based on original re­porting, The Price of Admission is a must-read--not only for parents and students with a personal stake in college admissions but also for those disturbed by the growing divide between ordinary and privileged Americans.

Praise for The Price of Admission
 
"A disturbing exposé of the influence that wealth and power still exert on admission to the nation's most prestigious universities."--The Washington Post

"Deserves to become a classic."--The Economist
 

The Price of Admission (Updated Edition)

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Minor damage on cover from age and storage on a bookshelf

Rhode Island

Sequel to A Long Way from Chicago

A Year Down Yonder 

A deliciously funny, sharply observed debut of family, love, and class, this zeitgeisty novel follows three women in one wealthy Brooklyn clan

"A vibrant and hilarious debut...Pineapple Street is riveting, timely, hugely entertaining and brimming with truth." --Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest

Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected old money Stockton family, followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood but giving up far too much in the process; Sasha, a middle-class New England girl, has married into the Brooklyn Heights family, and finds herself cast as the arriviste outsider; and Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can't have, and must decide what kind of person she wants to be. 

Rife with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York's one-percenters, Pineapple Street is a smart, escapist novel that sparkles with wit. Full of recognizable, loveable--if fallible--characters, it's about the peculiar unknowability of someone else's family, the miles between the haves and have-nots, and the insanity of first love--all wrapped in a story that is a sheer delight.

Pineapple Street

84fe521f-2856-4324-ae5d-5ded2502a674-1

Jeffrey Reiman

Paul Leighton

Government

Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice

Study Questions -- Additional Resources -- Notes -- Appendix I The Marxian Critique of Criminal Justice -- Marxism and Capitalism -- Capitalism and Ideology -- Ideology and Law -- Law and Ethics -- Notes -- Appendix II Between Philosophy and Criminology -- Philosophical Assumptions of Social Science Generally -- Special Philosophical Needs of Criminology -- The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Philosophy -- Notes -- Index

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

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Vibhuti Jain

A pulsating debut about an immigrant family that gets caught in the middle of a criminal investigation, perfect for readers of Everything I Never Told You and Ask Again, Yes.

Babur "Bobby" Singh, single parent and owner of fledging Uber business "Move with Bobby," remains ever hopeful about ascending the ladder of American success. He lives in an affluent suburb of New York with his daughter Angie, an introverted teenager who is uncomfortable in her own skin unless she's swimming.

During summer break, Angie is walking home after training at the high school pool when she finds Henry McCleary, a classmate from a wealthy, prominent family, stabbed and bleeding on the football field. The police immediately focus their investigation on Chiara Thompkins, a runaway Black girl who disappears after the stabbing and--it's later discovered--wasn't properly enrolled in the public high school.

The incident sends shock waves through the community and reveals jarring truths about the lengths to which families will go to protect themselves. As the town fractures, Angie must navigate conflicting narratives and wrestle with her own moral culpability. Meanwhile, Babur's painstaking efforts to shield Angie and protect his hard-earned efforts to assimilate overshadow his ability to see right from wrong.

Alternating between multiple perspectives, Our Best Intentions is a suspenseful drama about a father and daughter re-examining their familial bonds and place in the community. Both a gripping page-turner and an intimate portrait of an immigrant family, Vibhuti Jain's provocative debut explores how easily friendships, careers, communities, and individual lives can unravel when the toxicity of privilege and racial bias are exposed.

Our Best Intentions

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New Mexico

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Kaye Gibbons

A Virtuous Woman

Christina McDowell

The Cave Dwellers

Christina McDowell

The Cave Dwellers

Muhammad Khan

Mark My Words

Scarlett Thomas

Oligarchy

Christina McDowell

The Cave Dwellers

Jamie Sumner

Roll with It

Christina McDowell

The Cave Dwellers

Nickolas Butler

Godspeed

Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea

Christina McDowell

The Cave Dwellers

Preti Taneja

We That Are Young

Kristen Simmons

Metaltown

Christina McDowell

The Cave Dwellers

Kaye Gibbons

A Virtuous Woman

Andre M. Perry

Know Your Price

Christina McDowell

The Cave Dwellers

Joe Bageant

Deer Hunting with Jesus

Daniel Golden

The Price of Admission (Updated Edition)

Richard Peck

A Year Down Yonder

Jenny Jackson

Pineapple Street

Jeffrey Reiman; Paul Leighton

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

Vibhuti Jain

Our Best Intentions

Christina McDowell

The Cave Dwellers