From 1843 to 1873, the Native American population in California was leveled from approximately 150,000 to 30,000. This was not due to disease or starvation, but to a systematic slaughter of Native peoples who were in the way of land expansion by new settlers and the Gold Rush. Scholar and historian Benjamin Madley details the fact that prior to 1846, numerous explorers and settlers spoke about the friendliness of Native American tribes. After that time period, there was a concerted, documented effort by a broad spectrum of government agencies to portray the Native Americans as confrontational and dangerous.

In this candid memoir, Springsteen discusses his life as New Jersey’s favorite son, his Catholic upbringing, troubled relationship with his working class father, the musical influences of his youth, a failed marriage, and the rise of his political consciousness.  Extensive passages are devoted to well-known E Street Band Members: Vocalist  Patti Scialfa (Springsteen’s life partner), saxophonist  Clarence  Clemons,  guitarist Stevie Van Zandt, and drummer Max Weinberg. His writing style is a lyrical match to his songs.

The early days of The New Yorker magazine had idiosyncratic writers, who merit being called cast of characters. Included are well-known writers: James Thurber, Charles Addams, E. B. and Katharine White, John O'Hara, Wolcott Gibbs, with accompanying zany stories, and other contributors, who have been overlooked: St. Clair McKelway, Frederick Packard, and John Mosher.

In essay format, a number of writers share the story of their first celebrity crush.  Contributing writers include Stephen King, Jodi Picoult, Roxane Gay, Emily Gould, and others.  The book is full of tales of the awkward moments of late childhood and early adolescence, and is sure to send you back to that period in your own life. 

Susan Johann photographed over ninety modern American playwrights. All photographs are in black and white, mostly double-page spread images that are connected with interviews. The style of poses and interviews vary, as do the plays and personalities of these remarkably gifted artists.

In this collection of essays Kameron Hurley explores geeky media and women’s place in it, as characters, audience members, and creators. Hurley shares her experiences watching and enjoying shows that weren’t made with her in mind; her experiences trying to create fully realized female characters; and her experiences talking about both of those things online. It’s the perfect book to read if you have ever walked into a dark comic book shop, had five white guys stare at you blankly, felt uncomfortable, and walked right back out again. 

The title says it all: the genius of birds. Ackerman takes a look at the many extraordinary mental feats of birds, and the many ways they use their brains. She explains what science is telling us about what these talents mean with respect to birds and to all intelligence.  Bird lovers will definitely want to pick it up, and so will anyone interested in the question of non-human intelligence.

This fascinating memoir examines the hidden culture of Appalachia’s “Mountain People,” and how learned behaviors conspire to prevent these hillbillies, identified as working (and non-working) blue-collar whites, dispersed throughout Rust Belt America, from advancing up the economic ladder. A graduate of Yale Law School, Vance describes how he narrowly overcame a difficult family life, in a depressed Ohio steel town. He turns his critical, but sympathetic eye to the barriers his hillbilly brethren have erected, hindering their own success.  

Dean Burnett takes a close, readable look at just what your brain is doing and how it works.  Written for the lay person, Burnett examines a great deal: from how the brain regulates the body: what we know about intelligence: and how the brain is influenced by other people.  The book looks at both what we know about how things work, as well as what we know about how things can go wrong.  An interesting book that is approachable for people with no underlying knowledge of the topic.

Geobiologist Jahren has created a memoir of a life in “big science” that started with a life as the daughter of a community college science professor in Minnesota. She worked her way up through academia in a world that is not often welcoming to women, but persevered and got her own lab. Her life story is woven between stories about the lives of trees, the plants that are Jahren’s specialty and her passion.

Liesa Mignogna, an editor of children’s and young adult titles, has gathered together a group of essays by contemporary authors who tell about their love and connections with the super powered. The result is an astonishingly personal, heartfelt collection of essays that will be as recognizable as they are informative and heartwarming, while others are heartbreaking. 

Writer Stephen Gee and photographer Arnold Schwartzman are perfect partners in creating this carefully researched and exquisitely photographed history of Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library. They cover the history of why it took more than 80 years, from conception to acutalization, for a building to finally appear. The result is a compelling and engaging history of the political and social leaders, artists and architects who created a building that is home to the largest public library collection west of the Mississippi.

John Le Carré is the ultimate writer of spy novels. His own life has been as convoluted as any of the plots he creates. For now, this collection of essays provides the most candid perspectives and insights on the writer and former spy.

Two of the most enduring and pernicious myths about plant-based diets are that (1) the food is bland and (2) they don’t provide enough protein. This cookbook should put those misconceptions to rest once and for all. With mouth-watering full-color photos and easy-to-follow recipes, even the most die-hard meat-eater will want a seat at this dinner table. 

One of the most pernicious effects of depression is how isolating it is. Even though nearly seven percent of adults suffer from it, they very often feel alone. So Matt Haig’s very granular memoir dealing with mental illness is particularly important because, though he chooses a very non-traditional way of dealing with his depression, his ever-present support network should nonetheless be a reminder to those similarly afflicted that they most certainly are not alone

This book delves into the culture of women who worked as “human computers” at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the 1940s, 1950s, and beyond. The author conducted hundreds of hours of first-person interviews, and went deep into the JPL and NASA archives. The book offers a personal take on the accomplishments of these women who worked in the gendered discrimination reality of the American workplace.  Despite the obstacles these women created a collaborative support network in order to advance American space exploration.

Part hilarious memoir, part no-holds-barred apologia on fatness, this is a stand out in the abundance of new third-wave feminist nonfiction. Not one to beat around the bush, West calls out, by name, the much-loved journalist Dan Savage for his crusade against obese people, and a who’s who of edgy male stand-up comics for their insistence that rape jokes are funny and everything is fair game.

To bring money and attention to the crisis in Syria, photographer Barbara Abdeni Massaad asked world food writers, chefs and others to contribute a favorite soup recipe to a cookbook. Working with Interlink Press, the profits of the cookbook project “ . . .  will be donated to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to provide urgently needed food relief for Syrian refugees.”

Mehr's definitive biography about a band with a knack for self-sabotage, self-destruction, and being in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time is a must read for fans of the pre-Nirvana indie rock scene.

World renowned fantasy writer Neil Gaiman presents introductions, essays, and speeches about writing, awards, comics, and people who’ve impacted him as an author and person in this collection. Sometimes funny, sometimes speculative, always insightful and passionate, this is a look into the mind of a man shaped by stories.

From Beyoncé and Aziz Ansari to Taylor Swift and Emma Watson, feminists and feminism have been increasingly in the headlines. But somewhere along the way, third-wave feminism has begun a shift from actions taken to labels you wear and identities you claim. Andi Zeisler, co-founder of the quarterly Bitch: The Feminist Response to Pop Culture, chronicles this shift and insightfully explains how it detracts from the overall project of winning equality for all women. 

Even doctors become seriously ill, and of all people should know the warning signs of a deadly disease. Dr. Paul Kalanithi, a supremely talented and brilliant young neurosurgeon, proved to be more like the rest of us in ignoring what was, tantamount to flashing red lights, symptoms about his own cancer.

Le Guin is a prolific writer, best known for science fiction, however her interests and writing ability are more wide-ranging: poetry, essays, children's books, book reviews, talks. This volume is a small compilation of her other writings, which reveal her bravery to express truth with clarity and wit.

A year after his wife Hélene was killed in the Bataclan Theatre terrorist attacks in Paris, Antoine Leiris wrote this small, powerful book. She was the love of his life, the mother of their son, and their lives will never be the same. Leiris' decision not to hate those whose actions were ignited by hate, may appear to be saintly--it is not. This is a meditation on the consequences of hate, and how one man has chosen to deal with the aftermath on a daily, and probably eternal way.