Cultural & Regional

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine....

Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a modern American classic....

United States Senator Cory Booker makes the case that the virtues of empathy, responsibility, and action must guide our nation toward a brighter future....

James Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil-rights movement with his eloquent manifesto....

Problem Child is the unbelievably true story of Terrell Carter, an American musician and actor who grew up in Buffalo, New York, in a dysfunctional family, each member crazier than the next....

With echoes of Educated and The Glass Castle, How to Say Babylon is a “lushly observed and keenly reflective chronicle” (The Washington Post), brilliantly recounting the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid religious upbringing and navigate the world on her own terms.

Helene Hadsell was "the woman who won every contest prize she desired". In Contesting: The Name It & Claim It Game, she shares her winning secrets in the vibrant, warm, and folksy manner that was uniquely her....

The true story of a couple who lost everything and embarked on a transformative journey walking the South West Coast Path in England, The Salt Path is ultimately a portrayal of home - how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways....

Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Taraji P. Henson reads her inspiring and funny book about family, friends, the hustle required to make it from DC to Hollywood....

The phenomenal true story of the Black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space....

The definitive biography of a legendary athlete. The Shrug. The Shot. The Flu Game. When most people think of him, they think of his beautiful shots with the game on the line, his body totally in sync with the ball - hitting nothing but net....

Poet and Latine therapist Kim Guerra tells a story of coming into her own power, and guides listeners through the process of finding their own.

"My name is 'J' and I'm awkward--and Black. Someone once told me those were the two worst things anyone could be."....

The Worlds I See is the moving memoir of a scientist coming of age as an immigrant in America who finds her calling at the forefront of the AI revolution.

As we confront questions of social inequality, there's no better time to revisit the lessons of the '60s and no better leader to learn from than Congressman John Lewis....

Few books have had such an impact: a popular best seller, a critically acclaimed history of China, a tragic tale of nightmarish cruelty, and an uplifting story of bravery and survival....

This inspirational New York Times best seller chronicles the lifelong friendship between a busy sales executive and a disadvantaged young boy and how both of their lives were changed by what began as one small gesture of kindness....

Booker T. Washington fought his way out of slavery to become an educator, statesman, political shaper and proponent of the "do it yourself" idea....

A thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know....

Raised in the ghetto, abandoned as a child, addicted to drugs and women all his life but still able to produce four consecutive number one hip-hop albums in a row...this is the life and times of the darkest and most dangerously introspective hip-hop artist ever....

When journalist Annabelle Tometich picks up the phone one June morning, she isn’t expecting a collect call from an inmate at the Lee County Jail. And when she accepts, she certainly isn’t prepared to hear her mother’s voice on the other end of the line.

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Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter reveals Maya Angelou's path to living well and living a life with meaning....

A personal narrative that illuminates national failures, Heavy is defiant yet vulnerable, an insightful, often comical exploration of weight, identity, art, friendship, and family....

Universally acclaimed as a musical genius, Miles Davis was one of the most important and influential musicians in the world. Here, Miles speaks out about his extraordinary life....

Before she turned 20, Cupcake Brown survived the death of a parent, childhood abuse, rape, drug addiction, and much more....

"Lass mich von vorn anfangen. Ma ..." Der Brief eines Sohnes an die vietnamesische Mutter, die ihn nie lesen wird. Die Tochter eines amerikanischen Soldaten und eines vietnamesischen Bauernmädchens ist Analphabetin, kann kaum Englisch und arbeitet in einem Nagelstudio. Sie ist das Produkt eines vergessenen Krieges. Der Sohn, ein schmächtiger Außenseiter, erzählt – von der Schizophrenie der Großmutter, den geschundenen Händen der prügelnden Mutter und seiner tragischen ersten Liebe zu einem amerikanischen Jungen.

This book is the account of Sister Charlotte's escape from two cloistered convents in which she was held for over twenty-four years in the early 1900s. Read about her horrible treatment, experiences of torture, and self-inflicted brutality in efforts to please God. She gave her testimony as recorded in this book, explaining all the details, over a series of meetings on the West Coast that spanned a week when she spoke of details that have never before been placed in print. She exposes the depths of wickedness that the human soul can endure as well as the heights of glory with which God can ...

King—A Master in the Making by Leon Wheeler tells the inspiring story of a young boy named King, whose life is profoundly shaped by his grandfather's wisdom. As King grows up, his grandfather imparts timeless lessons from Codes and Ethics for Up and Coming Players, teaching him how to navigate life with honor and dignity. Under his grandfather’s guidance, King learns about love, discipline, and the importance of maintaining integrity in a challenging world.

In AND SHE WAS, Rachel Dover takes listeners on a profound and deeply personal journey of self-discovery and transformation. Through candid reflections and poignant anecdotes, Rachel shares her experiences of transitioning, capturing the emotional highs and lows of her journey with raw honesty and humour. From the initial struggles of self-acceptance and the courage to come out, to navigating the complexities of surgical transition and finding peace in her new identity, Rachel's story is one of resilience, courage, and ultimate triumph.

Der Autor überlebt mit Gelegenheitsjobs in Tokio, feiert Weihnachten in Rio und findet heraus, dass sehr dicke Frauen in Jamaika wie Göttinnen verehrt werden. In Maine lernt er wie man Hummer fängt, in Haiti muss er vor kriegsähnlichen Zuständen fliehen, und in Alaska berappt er 200 Dollar für eine Flasche Billig-Whisky.

Violette Ailhaud serait née en 1835 et serait morte en 1925 au Saule Mort, un hameau du village du Poil, dans les Basses Alpes (les Alpes-de-Haute-Provence). Dans sa succession, il y aurait eu une enveloppe qui ne pouvait pas être ouverte par le notaire avant l’été de 1952. Après ouverture, la consigne indiquait que son contenu, un manuscrit, devait être confié à l’aîné des descendants de Violette, de sexe féminin exclusivement, ayant entre 15 et 30 ans.

"Reclaim Your Worth: A Story of Abuse, Empowerment, and Building a Life on My Terms" by Jean Ibanez Payne is a gripping memoir detailing her journey from a young Latina navigating societal expectations to reclaiming her power and identity. Jean vividly recounts experiences in male-dominated environments like the military and corporate sectors, where she faced harassment, discrimination, and personal trauma that left her feeling powerless and unseen.

Millicent E. Brown's family home at 270 Ashley Avenue in Charleston, South Carolina, was a center of civil rights activity. There Brown gained intimate knowledge of the struggle for racial justice, and those experiences set her on a life course dedicated to the civil rights struggle. Best known as the named plaintiff in the federal court case that, in 1963, forced the initial desegregation of public schools in South Carolina, her experiences as an activist range across years and well beyond her native state. Another Sojourner Looking for Truth is Brown's insightful reflection.

Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist and social entrepreneur, is renowned for his pioneering work in microfinance through the Grameen Bank, an institution he founded in 1983. Yunus's vision was to address the issue of poverty by providing financial services to the poorest segments of society, who were traditionally excluded from the conventional banking system due to lack of collateral and credit history. The Grameen Bank's core innovation lies in its microcredit model, which offers small loans to impoverished individuals, primarily women, without requiring physical collateral.

When a carrier goes to sea, those who work on the dangerous flight deck are at an average age of twenty years old. To add to the danger, those who work with aircraft ordnance, the bombs and missiles of these planes, are at even more risk of injury on the pitching deck. This is a true story of one young man, an aviation ordnanceman, who went to sea on his second cruise in 1978 at age twenty.