Books related to American domestic & foreign policy and politics.

Joseph J. Ellis

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Vermont

The Revolutionary Generation

The introduction, discussion questions, suggestions for further reading, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your reading group's discussion of Joseph Ellis's Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation . We hope they will enrich your experience of this Pulitzer Prize-winning study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic--John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.

Founding Brothers

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Edmund Morris

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A shining portrait of a presciently modern political genius maneuvering in a gilded age of wealth, optimism, excess and American global ascension.”—San Francisco Chronicle WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY • “[Theodore Rex] is one of the great histories of the American presidency, worthy of being on a shelf alongside Henry Adams’s volumes on Jefferson and Madison.”—Times Literary Supplement Theodore Rex is the story—never fully told before—of Theodore Roosevelt’s two world-changing terms as President of the United States. A hundred years before the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, “TR” succeeded to power in the aftermath of an act of terrorism. Youngest of all our chief executives, he rallied a stricken nation with his superhuman energy, charm, and political skills. He proceeded to combat the problems of race and labor relations and trust control while making the Panama Canal possible and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. But his most historic achievement remains his creation of a national conservation policy, and his monument millions of acres of protected parks and forest. Theodore Rex ends with TR leaving office, still only fifty years old, his future reputation secure as one of our greatest presidents.

Theodore Rex

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American Policy & Politics

Fascinating books for animal lovers, allies, and advocates.

Jane Goodall

Phillip Berman

Clean, tight copy, cover just very slightly worn. 

A Spiritual Journey

From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in the new National Geographic documentary Jane, comes a poignant memoir about her spiritual epiphany and an appeal for why everyone can find a reason for hope.

Dr. Jane Goodall's revolutionary study of chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe preserve forever altered the very, definition of humanity. Now, in a poignant and insightful memoir, Jane Goodall explores her extraordinary life and personal spiritual odyssey, with observations as profound as the knowledge she has brought back from the forest.

Reason for Hope

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Farley Mowat

Older copy, page edges slightly discolored, but discoloration does not reach the pages.

By enquiring into the puzzle of sibling relations, Frank J. Sulloway pioneers a new view of how family affects individual development. He shows that birth-order is so fundamental to the family that it transcends gender, class and nationality.

Never Cry Wolf

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Dion Leonard

A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart

A man, a dog, and the lengths to which love will go to sacrifice for its companion. Finding Gobi is the miraculous tale of Dion Leonard, a seasoned ultramarathon runner who crosses paths with a stray dog while competing in a 150-mile race through the Gobi Desert in China. The lovable pup, who would later earn the name Gobi, proved that what she lacked in size, she more than made up for in heart, as she went step for step with Dion over the Tian Shan Mountains, across massive sand dunes, through yurt villages and the black sands of the Gobi Desert, keeping pace with him for nearly 80 miles. As Dion witnessed the incredible determination and heart of this small animal, he found his own heart undergoing a change as well. Whereas in the past these races were all about winning and being the best, his goal now was to make sure he and Gobi's friendship continued well after the finish line. He found himself letting Gobi sleep in his tent at night, giving her food and water out of his own limited supply, and carrying her across numerous rivers, even when he knew it would mean putting him behind in the race, or worse, prevent him from finishing at all. Although Dion did not cross the finish line first, he felt he had won something even greater - a new outlook on life and a new friend that he planned on bringing home as soon as arrangements were made. However, before he could take her home, Gobi went missing in the sprawling Chinese city where she was being kept. Dion, with the help of strangers and a viral outpouring of assistance on the internet, set out to track her down, and reunite forever with the amazing animal that changed his life and proved to him and the world that miracles are possible.

Finding Gobi

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Animal Lovers Shelf

Books that are beloved by readers across the country and/or the world.

Jeanne Birdsall

Edges are slightly yellowed, but the book is structurally sound and in great shape. With the original cover!

A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy

While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four young sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.

The Penderwicks

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Jacob Grimm

Wilhelm Grimm

Margaret Hunt

Oversized Paperback (4 to 6 lbs)

No home library is complete without the classics! This new collection of stories from Brothers Grimm: 101 Fairy Tales is a keepsake to be read and treasured. They are the stories of characters we’ve known since childhood: Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella. But the works originally collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 1800s are not necessarily the versions told before bedtime. They’re darker and often don’t end very happily--but they're often far more interesting. This elegant edition of Brothers Grimm: 101 Fairy Tales includes all our cherished favorites--“Sleeping Beauty,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Little Red Cap,” and many more--in their original versions. Now available as part of the Word Cloud Classics series, Brothers Grimm: 101 Fairy Tales is a must-have addition to the libraries of all classic literature lovers. Many of these stories begin with the familiar refrain of “once upon a time”--but they end with something unexpected and fascinating! About the Word Cloud Classics series: Classic works of literature with a clean, modern aesthetic! Perfect for both old and new literature fans, the Word Cloud Classics series from Canterbury Classics provides a chic and inexpensive introduction to timeless tales. With a higher production value, including heat burnished covers and foil stamping, these eye-catching, easy-to-hold editions are the perfect gift for students and fans of literature everywhere.

The Brothers Grimm: 101 Fairy Tales

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Gregory Rabassa

Paper is slightly discolored from age, but beautiful condition otherwise.

Tells the story of the Buendia family, set against the background of the evolution and eventual decadence of a small South American town

One Hundred Years of Solitude

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Beloved Stories

Beloved books that support emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

Maggie Callanan

Patricia Kelley

Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying

Five years after its first publication, with more than 150,000 copies in print, Final Gifts has become a classic. In this moving and compassionate book, hospice nurses Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley share their intimate experiences with patients at the end of life, drawn from more than twenty years experience tending the terminally ill.

Through their stories we come to appreciate the near-miraculous ways in which the dying communicate their needs, reveal their feelings, and even choreograph their own final moments; we also discover the gifts—of wisdom, faith, and love—that the dying leave for the living to share.

Filled with practical advice on responding to the requests of the dying and helping them prepare emotionally and spiritually for death, Final Gifts shows how we can help the dying person live fully to the very end.

Final Gifts

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Ilana Wiles

Some light corner wear (pictured), but brand-new and perfect condition otherwise.

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A blogger presents a humorous view of parenting, using her own personal experiences to celebrate the challenges and joys of motherhood.

The Mommy Shorts Guide to Remarkably Average Parenting

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Coleman Barks

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Journeys into the Music and Silence of the Heart





Originally released in 2007, "Year of Rumi," to coincide with the poet's 800th birthday, by the pre-eminent Rumi poet Coleman Barks.

In Rumi: Bridge to the Soul, Coleman Barks--who holds an honorary doctorate in Persian language and literature by the University of Tehran for his decades-long translations of Rumi--has collected and translated ninety new poems, most of them never published before in any form. The "bridge" in the title is a reference to the Khajou Bridge in Isphahan, Iran, which Barks visited with Robert Bly in May of 2006--a trip that in many ways prompted this book. The "soul bridge" also suggests Rumi himself, who crosses cultures and religions and brings us all together to listen to his words, regardless of origin or creed.

Open this book and let Rumi's poetry carry you into the interior silence and joy of the spirit, the place that unites conscious knowing with a deeper, more soulful understanding.

Rumi: Bridge to the Soul

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Books for Better Living

Books for creative support, encouragement, and inspiration.

Chuck Klosterman

A Low Culture Manifesto

Explores a range of modern cultural phenomenon, including Internet pornography, tribute bands, baseball rivalries, and reality television.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

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Mindy Kaling

Never read. Some light edge and corner wear and very light page edge discoloration (pictured).

The writer and actress from "The Office" shares observations on topics ranging from favorite male archetypes and her hatred of dieting to her relationship with her mother and the haphazard creative process on the show.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and Other Concerns)

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David Mamet

"Essays in direct line from Stanislavsky, Chekhov, Shaw, and Brecht"
--Mike Nichols

A collection of essays from Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Mamet adressing many issues in contemporary American theater

Temporarily putting aside his role as playwright, director, and screen-writer, David Mamet digs deep and delivers thirty outrageously diverse vignettes. On subjects ranging from the vanishing American pool hall, family vacations, and the art of being a bitch, to the role of today's actor, his celebrated contemporaries and predecessors, and his undying commitment to the theater, David Mamet's concise style, lean dialogue, and gut-wrenching honesty give us a unique view of the world as he sees it.

Writing in Restaurants

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Books for Creatives!

Books about creativity and writing/creative practice, craft, and/or process.

Lynne Truss

Very minor wear top right corner of front cover, otherwise perfect.

The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

Eats, Shoots and Leaves

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J. R. R. Tolkien

'...If you wanted to go on from the end of The Hobbit I think the ring would be your inevitable choice as the link. If then you wanted a large tale, the Ring would at once acquire a capital letter; and the Dark Lord would immediately appear. As he did, unasked, on the hearth at Bag End as soon as I came to that point. So the essential Quest started at once. But I met a lot of things along the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner of the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than Frodo did. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlorien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there.' -- J.R.R. Tolkien to W.H. Auden, June 7, 1955 J.R.R. Tolkien, cherished author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, was one of the twentieth century's most prolific letter writers. Over the years he wrote a mass of letters -- to his publishers, his family, to friends, and to fans of his books -- which record the history and composition of his works and his reaction to subsequent events. By turns thoughtful, impish, scholarly, impassioned, playful, vigorous, and gentle, Tolkien poured his heart and mind into a great stream of correspondence to intimate friends and unknown admirers all over the world. From this collection one sees a mind of immense complexity and many layers -- artistic, religious, charmingly eccentric, sentimental, and ultimately brilliant. Now newly expanded with a detailed index, this collection provides an invaluable record that sheds much light on Tolkien's creative genius, his thoughts and feelings about his own work, and the evolution of his grand design for the creation of a whole new world -- Middle-earth.

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien

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Books for Writers

Some writers and/or books I highly recommend!

Thich Nhat Hanh

Some very light discoloration top page edge (pictured).

Wisdom for Cooling the Flames

"[Thich Nhat Hanh] shows us the connection between personal, inner peace and peace on earth." –His Holiness The Dalai Lama Nominated by Martin Luther King, Jr. for a Nobel Peace Prize, Thich Nhat Hanh is one of today’s leading sources of wisdom, peace, compassion and comfort. It was under the bodhi tree in India twenty-five centuries ago that Buddha achieved the insight that three states of mind were the source of all our unhappiness: wrong knowing, obsessive desire, and anger. All are difficult, but in one instant of anger—one of the most powerful emotions—lives can be ruined, and health and spiritual development can be destroyed. With exquisite simplicity, Buddhist monk and Vietnam refugee Thich Nhat Hanh gives tools and advice for transforming relationships, focusing energy, and rejuvenating those parts of ourselves that have been laid waste by anger. His extraordinary wisdom can transform your life and the lives of the people you love, and in the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, can give each reader the power "to change everything."

Anger

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Annie Dillard

Older copy in good condition. Excellent book! 

An exhilarating meditation on nature and its seasons-a personal narrative highlighting one year's exploration on foot in the author's own neighborhood in Tinker Creek, Virginia. In the summer, Dillard stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays -King of the Meadow' with a field of grasshoppers.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

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Bookseller Recommends

Books that are current or former indie bookstore bestsellers.

Michael Chabon

Top page edge lightly discolored, inside looks great.

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

This brilliant epic novel set in New York and Prague introduces us to two misfit young men who make it big by creating comic-book superheroes. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdiniesque escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed in New York City. His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit America the comic book. Inspired by their own fears and dreams, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapists, The Monitor, and Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is the winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

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Paul Harding

On his deathbed, surrounded by his family, George Washington Crosby's throughts drift back to his childhood and the father who abandoned him when he was twelve.

Tinkers

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Leslie Jamison

Essays

A collection of essays explores empathy, using topics ranging from street violence and incarceration to reality television and literary sentimentality to ask questions about people's understanding of and relationships with others.

The Empathy Exams

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Bookstore Bestsellers

Books that push (or pushed for their time) against the conventional boundaries and expectations for their topic and/or genre.

Sherwood Anderson

Charles E. Modlin

Ray Lewis White

A collection of short stories dealing with a small town in Ohio.

Winesburg, Ohio

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Alan Lightman

Young Albert Einstein's dreams are imagined in a book that joins science and art to ponder such questions as the viscosity and flexibility of time. Reissue.

Einstein's Dreams

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Boundary-Pushing Books

Elizabeth Bishop

Poems

Whether writing about waiting as a child in a dentist's office, viewing a city from a plane high above, or losing items ranging from door keys to one's lover in the masterfully restrained "One Art," Elizabeth Bishop somehow conveyed both large and small emotional truths in language of stunning exactitude and even more astonishing resonance. As John Ashbery has written,"The private self . . . melts imperceptibly into the large utterance, the grandeur of poetry, which, because it remains rooted in everyday particulars, never sounds 'grand,' but is as quietly convincing as everyday speech."

Geography III

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Ernest Hemingway

Older copy in great condition, light crease mark on front cover corner, remainder mark on the bottom edge, and an old price sticker on the back (all pictured).

Offers fifteen vignettes concerning the conflicts, situations, problems, and personalities characteristic of society in Hemingway's day.

In Our Time

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Classics

Books that are generally considered modern classics in their genre.

Cormac McCarthy

In a novel set in an indefinite, futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, a father and his young son make their way through the ruins of a devastated American landscape, struggling to survive and preserve the last remnants of their own humanity.

The Road

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Contemporary Classics

Rich Landau

Kate Jacoby

Joe Yonan

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

100 Plates Large and Small That Redefine Vegetable Cooking

The most exciting vegetable cooking in the nation is happening at Vedge, where in an elegant nineteenth-century townhouse in Philadelphia, chef-proprietors Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby serve exceptionally flavorful fare that is wowing vegans, vegetarians, and carnivores alike. Now, Landau and Jacoby share their passion for ingenious vegetable cooking. The more than 100 recipes here—such as Fingerling Potatoes with Creamy Worcestershire Sauce, Pho with Roasted Butternut Squash, Seared French Beans with Caper Bagna Cauda, and Eggplant Braciole—explode with flavor but are surprisingly straightforward to prepare. At dessert, fruit takes center stage in dishes like Blueberries with Pie Crust and Lemonade Ice Cream—but vegetables can still steal the show, like in the Beetroot Pots de Crème. With more than 100 photographs, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and useful tips throughout, Vedge is an essential cookbook that will revolutionize the way you cook and taste vegetables.

Vedge

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Jodi Bager

Jenny Lass

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Rediscover the joy of eating with delicious, easy-to-digest recipes and meal-planning tips. Everyday Grain-Free Gourmet provides delectable, easy-to-digest dishes that appeal to family and guests who have food limitations which simply must be accommodated. Unlike other gluten-free cookbooks, this one offers traditional favorites in whole-foods, low-lactose, refined-sugar-free versions. Moreover, this book is ideal for anyone who wants or needs to improve their health through diet, including those with lactose intolerance, celiac disease, Crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome. The benefits of a whole-foods diet are addressed in special sections of the book. The authors also include important information on kitchen tools and equipment, food storage and menu-planning, plus a list of health-related resources. Some of the mouthwatering recipes are: Brie and apple crêpes Caesar salad with ginger aïoli vinaigrette Vegetable quiche Curry risotto Cannelloni Osso bucco Heavenly hazelnut ice cream. Every breakfast, lunch and dinner dish is great for the entire family, yet meets the strict limitations and standards of grain-restricted diets.

Everyday Grain-Free Gourmet

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Georgeanne Brennan

Dana Jacobi

Annabel Langbein

For Maximum Health -  A New Way to Improve Your Diet - 150 Dlicious Ways to Expand Your Palate

An innovative new cookbook from the experts at Williams-Sonoma offers a fresh approach to healthy eating that uses six color food groups as a foundation, explaining how to select one ingredient from each of the food groups to provide maximum daily nutritional benefits and furnishing 150 tempting and healthful recipes.

Eating by Color

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Cooking & Foods

Great books with uniquely interesting and standout covers! You actually kind of CAN judge them by it…

Nina Riggs

Beautiful copy, never read. Deckled edge.

A Memoir of Living and Dying

"Built on her wildly popular Modern Love column, 'When a Couch is More Than a Couch' (9/23/2016), a breathtaking memoir of living meaningfully with 'death in the room' by the 38 year old great-great-great granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, mother to two young boys, wife of 16 years, after her terminal cancer diagnosis"--

The Bright Hour

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Cover Lover!

Books about fascinatingly specific and unique people, topics, and circumstances.

David Fontana

Some light edge wear and a small remainder mark on the bottom edge (pictured). Excellent condition overall.

A visual key to dreams and their meanings.

Secret Language of Dreams

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Curiosity Cabinet

Great books that provide information and/or insight into current events.

Sarah Glidden

Like-new book with a slight bend/crease on the upper corner of back cover (pictured), otherwise perfect.

The award-winning graphic memoir about Israel that offers more questions than answers about identity and politics

Sarah Glidden is a progressive Jewish American twentysomething who is both vocal about and critical of Israeli politics in the Holy Land. When a debate with her mother prods her to sign up for a Birthright Israel tour, Glidden expects to find objective facts to support her strong opinions. During her two weeks in Israel, Glidden takes advantage of the opportunity to ask the people she meets about the fraught and complex issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but their answers only lead her to question her own take on the conflict.

Simple linework and gorgeous watercolors spotlight Israel's countryside, urban landscapes, and religious landmarks. With straightforward sincerity, lovingly observed anecdotes, and a generous dose of self-deprecating humor, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less is accessible while retaining Glidden's distinctive perspective. Over the course of this touching memoir, Glidden comes to terms with the idea that there are no easy answers to the world's problems, and that is okay.

This debut book landed on several best-of-the-year lists, including Entertainment Weekly's; earned a YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens distinction; and won an Ignatz Award. Her second book, Rolling Blackouts, which documents her experience shadowing journalists in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, will also come out this fall from Drawn & Quarterly.

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