Cultural & Regional

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....

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

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.

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....

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

.

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....

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....

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

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.

From the governor of Maryland, the true story of two kids with the same name: One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison.

From New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Dowling Taylor comes this riveting chronicle of a critical yet overlooked chapter in American history: the inspiring rise and calculated fall of the Black elite, from Emancipation through Reconstruction to the Jim Crow Era....

The Color of Water touches listeners of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son....

An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world’s most ruthless and secretive dictatorships - and the story of one woman’s terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom....

The definitive, dramatic biography of the most important African American of the 19th century: Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who became the greatest orator of his day and one of the leading abolitionists and writers of the era....

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

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....

Notes of a Native Son inaugurated Baldwin as one of the leading interpreters of the dramatic social changes erupting in the United States in the 20th century, and many of his observations have proven almost prophetic....

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....

Born in West Africa in the early 1950s, Somé was kidnapped at age four by a French Jesuit missionary to be trained as a priest....

From surfer and writer Stuart Holmes Coleman, Eddie Would Go is the compelling story of Eddie Aikau's legendary life and legacy, a pipeline into the exhilarating world of surfing, and an important chronicle of the Hawaiian Renaissance and the emergence of modern Hawaii.

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

His second major venture into nonfiction (after Death in the Afternoon, 1932), Green Hills of Africa is Ernest Hemingway's lyrical journal....

Tracing the birth of a revolutionary, Huey P. Newton's famous and oft-quoted autobiography is as much a manifesto as a portrait of the inner circle of America's Black Panther Party.

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

Harriet Ann Jacob's autobiography documents her life as a slave and how she attained freedom. Harrowing in its descriptions of sexual abuse, Jacob's slave narrative is notable for the appeal it made to abolitionist women to open their eyes to the realities of slavery....

In Swimming to Freedom, Kent Wong captures his childhood amidst revolutionary times, where boyish adventures and school days mixed with dire poverty and political persecution. Mao’s Hundred Flower Campaign had ensnared Kent’s father. A decade later, the Cultural Revolution closed schools, plunged the country into chaos, and scattered Kent and his sisters to disparate villages, where they struggled to eke out a bare existence.

I Like It Like THAT! is a heartwarming, humorous, and inspiring collection of over 115 stories celebrating heroes from all walks of life—humans and animals alike. Written by Harold and Carmen Laski, a physician and EMT with over 50 years of marriage and storytelling experience, this book dives into tales of courage, resilience, and kindness that will make you laugh, cry, and reflect. From famous icons like Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks to unsung heroes like Wesley the subway rescuer and Lulu the doorbell-ringing pig, each story reminds us of the extraordinary power of ordinary people. ...

Designer, activist, and educator Cheryl D. Holmes-Miller is legendary for her decades of scholarship and advocacy, and as a touchstone and conscience for the design profession. In HERE: Where the Black Designers Are, Holmes-Miller documents the history of—and answers to—the question she has been asking for decades: “Where are the Black designers?” Holmes-Miller explores this essential question through the lens of her own development as a designer and leader, beginning with her own family and its rich multiethnic history.

Sonny Rollins has long been considered an enigma. Known as the "Saxophone Colossus," he is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time. His seven-decade career has been well documented, but the backstage life of the man once called "the only jazz recluse" has gone largely untold—until now. Based on more than 200 interviews with Rollins himself, family members, friends, and collaborators, as well as Rollins' personal archive, Saxophone Colossus is the comprehensive portrait of this legendary saxophonist and composer, civil rights activist and environmentalist.

Those Boys on the Hill is a biographical coming-of-age story about three inner-city, African American brothers growing up in a group home in a farming community in Pennsylvania. Elliott Glover uses a mix of humor, sadness, and raw situational honesty to share the harrowing experiences that shaped the men he and his brothers Jacque and Iszel have become.

गुरुवर्य कृष्णराव अर्जुन केळूसकर गेल्या शतकातील एक महान चरित्रकार आहेत. छत्रपती शिवाजी महाराजांचे मराठीतील पहिले विस्तृत चरित्र त्यांनी लिहिले. विख्यात चरित्रकार डॉ. धनंजय कीर लिहितात, 'केळूसकरकृत शिवचरित्राएवढे समग्र व सविस्तर चरित्र आजपर्यंत कोणीही लिहिले नाही. तसेच गौतमबुद्ध आणि संत तुकाराम यांचे पहिले चरित्रकारही केळूसकरच आहेत.' राजकीय ऋषी मामा परमानंद, न्यायमूर्ती माधवराव रानडे, महाराजा सयाजीराव गायकवाड यांनी गुरुवर्य केळूसकरांच्या लेखणी व विचारांची प्रशंसा केली.

Denise Meridith is a Brooklyn-born African-American, whose 29 years in Federal service involved living and working in six different states and the District of Columbia twice, as well as visits to every state except South Dakota, China, South Africa and other countries. This book details her recollections (i.e., her Thoughts While Chillin') of her challenges and successes in a white dominated profession and agency, a struggle which propelled her to the highest rank of career public service in Washington, D.C.

Told through the eyes of a witty, outgoing, and curious little girl, Francie beautifully weaves together personal narratives and historical information about the ever-present American tragedy known as Appalachia. She peels back layers of her early life while walking us through the patches where coal miners and their families once lived, the impact of surviving in a contaminated environment, and the everyday threat of pollution, addiction, toothlessness, chronic depression, and abuse. An area where drugs and alcohol numb the pain of reality.

Have you ever dreamed of starting a new life in a tropical paradise far from home? The Bali Paradigm chronicles such a leap through the prose, poetry and illustrations of author Michael M Clements, who sold his business, his house and all his possessions and moved with his partner and son to start a new life in Bali, and in the process, created this raw and inspiring account of what it feels like to jump from one life paradigm into the next.

Imagine if Tina Fey were Asian and describing her home country. A brilliant collection of hilariously poignant true stories follow the unbelievable tales of an American Born Chinese female executive conquering the China market. This book divulges the China you never knew in a funny and snappy way. In process, the stories illustrate what China teaches us about happiness, wealth, love, power, and getting what you want. Based on a successful and witty blog loved by worldwide readers, the book illuminates how China changes your world at home.

In 1931 Molly led her two sisters on an extraordinary 1600-kilometre walk across remote Western Australia. Aged eight, eleven and fourteen, they escaped the confinement of a government institution for Aboriginal children removed from their families. Barefoot, without provisions or maps, tracked by Native Police and search planes, the girls followed the rabbit-proof fence, knowing it would lead them home. Their journey – longer than many of the celebrated treks of recognised explorers – reveals a past more cruel than we could ever imagine.

People like to say, "It's not rocket science." But Fallingstar's father designed space rockets and satellites, so in her childhood it was all rocket science. Fallingstar's rollicking trajectory from a Republican cold war upbringing to Pagan Priestess is a unique, yet utterly relatable portrait of a culture growing from denial to awareness.

"Resilience Across Borders: From Iran to America" encapsulates the riveting memoir, "SplendidVenus, A Dream," weaving a tapestry of courage, perseverance, and the pursuit of freedom. Across its expansive 89,000-word narrative, the author unveils a rich mosaic of life experiences set against the tumultuous backdrop of post-revolutionary Iran. Within this landscape of societal constraints and pervasive misogyny, the author embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery and resilience, ultimately charting a course towards the shores of America.

Floy Dean: Moments with Her, An Unwritten Memoir is a collection of fond, heartwarming, and bittersweet memories celebrating my mother, Floy Dean. Though her life was short, her impact was immeasurable. She set an example for me through her kind heart, her strong will, and her unwavering dedication to motherhood. For years, I’ve struggled with grief, trying to learn how to reconcile my feelings of loss, anger, confusion, and sorrow. The essays in this book reflect my emotions and became exercises in therapy as I wrote them over the years since she passed.

In this bittersweet reminiscence, novelist Seán Kenny takes us on a journey that spans over four decades and two continents. Through a series of revelations he learns that the Irish family life of his youth was not what it seemed. As one revelation after another hits him his life becomes an odyssey in which he must constantly reinvent himself to explore and conquer his demons, most of all the conviction that he is the son of a pedophile.