Arts & Photography / Architecture / Travel

Plantations & Historic Homes of New Orleans by Jan Arrigo, with photography by Laura McElroy (Voyageur Press)

Hurricane Katrina was an unprecedented reckoning – for New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast. After the shock of the floods, we mourned the people who perished, the neighborhoods ravaged, and the possessions lost. Now those of us living in the New Orleans area have had time to reflect on the importance of our architectural heritage and feel a curatorial responsibility as guardians and guides to our out-of-town friends and family who so often visit. After taking inventory of the oldest historic houses profiled here, it was a relief to find that all survived because they were mostly built on the higher ground of the original city. …Of course, many homes built outside the highest ground of the original city were destroyed after the levees broke and Katrina's floodwaters overtook them. The remaining structures will survive because of our attention. We are the caretakers, supporting these great homes in spirit and action. Happily, New Orleans is still a treasure trove of vernacular architecture. The city and surrounding area's collection of building styles is culturally diverse – as are the architects, builders, craftsmen, draftsmen, engineers, laborers, occupants, owners, restoration nonprofits, and work crews who created and restored them. And for those who visit New Orleans, it's hard to imagine this city without its setting of architecturally distinct houses and buildings, which provides a beautiful backdrop for strolling around to see, smell, and taste what is most assuredly nothing like what is back home. – from the Preface

Since the 1700s, a blend of peoples – Native American, French, Creole, Spanish, Caribbean, and West African – has called New Orleans home. As a result, the architectural styles showcased in the city’s homes are as diverse as the population that has lived there over the years. The Spanish-influenced garden courtyards and cast-iron balconies in the French Quarter are a stark contrast to the massive Greek revival brick columns and Victorian turrets found in homes in the Garden District and Uptown. The opulent parlors of an Old South plantation home are offset by the sparsely furnished servant’s quarters nearby.

Plantations & Historic Homes of New Orleans celebrates the grand homes and plantations of the Big Easy that largely escaped the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, most of which survive as testament to the city’s rich and colorful history.

This photographic tour takes readers to the city’s most storied mansions. From the French Quarter and Garden District to Uptown, Marigny, and Bayou St. John, many of New Orleans’ grandest old homes and nearby plantations are featured in Plantations & Historic Homes of New Orleans, showcasing the massive brick columns, intricate cast-iron balconies, wide verandas, sumptuous parlors, and humble servants quarters that give this area its charm. Inside these pages, many of New Orleans’ homes are profiled – from the Old Ursuline Convent and Madame John’s Legacy, survivors of the city’s devastating 1788 fire, to Longue Vue House and Gardens, an elaborate fountain-filled estate completed in 1943. For example, readers travel to Destrehan, the oldest plantation house in the Mississippi Valley, originally built of hand-hewn bald cypress timber using briquette entre’pateaux, mud (clay, river sand, and Spanish moss) between post; the homes artist Edgar Degas and author William Faulkner lived in during their New Orleans’ stays; and the 1850 House located in the Lower Pontalba building on Jackson Square. Readers learn about the building’s namesake, a baroness with a tumultuous family life who managed to escape murder and was also responsible for building the American embassy in Paris.

The text was written by Jan Arrigo, a New Orleans-area-based writer, and photographed by Laura McElroy, an Atlanta-based freelance travel photographer.

With lavish photographs of exteriors and rooms of special interest, gardens and curiosities, and detailed information about New Orleans’ diverse architecture and history, Plantations & Historic Homes of New Orleans is both a perfect guide for visitors and natives alike and an enchanting visual tour of one of the greatest cities in the United States.

Arts & Photography / Travel / Nature & Wildlife

Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty by Thomas Bachand, with an introduction by Charles R. Goldman (Chronicle Books)

Known across the country for its dramatic natural splendor, in many respects Lake Tahoe is a microcosm of the environmental challenges facing America – as we attempt to balance economic pressures with ecological sustainability. As hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to the region around Lake Tahoe each year, environmental researchers work tirelessly to preserve the ecosystem for future generations.

While the landscape photography in Lake Tahoe explores Tahoe's timeless beauty, rich history, and universal appeal, it also conveys the challenges of protecting the area's extraordinary character and our collective responsibility to understand and care for this unique jewel. Photographer Thomas Bachand has explored the shores and mountains of Lake Tahoe for 35 years; having visited Tahoe since childhood, he is both inspired by its beauty and concerned for its future. He has been making photographs of the lake and its environs for more than ten years, capturing the sublime beauty of this natural wonder, creating images that possess a timeless vocabulary of water, rock, and sky. Bachand's work, here for the first time, reveals the delicate balance between conservation and recreation, as images of both majestic landscapes and development are juxtaposed.

An introduction by Charles R. Goldman, founding director of the Tahoe Research Group at the University of California, Davis, professor of Limnology at UC Davis, addresses how factors as diverse as development and global climate change threaten Lake Tahoe's legendary clear blue waters.

In addition, US Poet Laureate, Robert Haas (who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry earlier this year) contributes ‘Tahoe in August’ – which offers Tahoe as a backdrop to our modern, personal, and, often, distracted lives. And in excerpts from the seminal volume ‘Roughing It’ Mark Twain writes across the centuries, as if speaking directly to our time, describing the American pioneering character, one torn between awe and exploitation.

Bachand's exploration of Tahoe's singular loveliness, rich history, and universal challenges conveys the area's character. Bachand's stunning photographs capture the sublime allure and fragility of this beloved leisure destination. Lake Tahoe is for anyone enchanted by Tahoe's beauty, engaged by its history, and concerned for its welfare.

Business & Investing / Biographies & Memoirs / Environment / Hazardous Waste

Night Fire: Big Oil, Poison Air, and Margie Richard's Fight to Save Her Town by Ronnie Greene (Amistad)

In their quest to become leader of the free world, U.S. presidential hopefuls have said little or nothing concerning the matter of environmental justice. But, if Margie Eugene Richard has her way, this soon will change.

As told in Night Fire, the Diamond neighborhood was an all-black enclave in the mostly white town of Norco, Louisiana, aptly named for the New Orleans Refining Co., an industrial processing plant. Richard was raised in the shadow of a giant chemical plant operated by Shell Oil, and witnessed her neighbors fall ill amid the toxic waste the plant emitted year after year. Her own sister, Naomi, eventually succumbed to a rare lung disease linked to environmental hazards.

Determined to see Shell take responsibility for its actions, Richard and her neighbors – largely poor and with few obvious resources – educated themselves not only on the consequences of environmental poison but also on how to fight back. The battle took them from Diamond's four streets all the way to The Hague and beyond. The unexpected results won Richard the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize and helped clean up a community. With narrative drive, Night Fire illustrates how determination and grit can move even the most stubborn of corporate giants.

In the book, prize-winning investigative reporter Ronnie Greene, journalism teacher at the University of Miami, examines three timely topics: the environment, Big Oil, and Southern Louisiana, particularly the fate of poor blacks in the area. He also leaves readers with three messages. First, Night Fire shows the power of one voice. Then, it analyses how environmental racism thrives in the U.S. Finally, it celebrates traditional family values.

Drawing on extensive interviews, court documents and other public records, Greene explains that Richard's Diamond, LA community was seemingly powerless in the face of giant Shell. It was a working-class neighborhood where only a few children went off to college and most residents were poor. Yet, from this four-street community sprouted an environmental grassroots fight that has become a revered model for activism internationally.

At its forefront, Richard was a single mother and public school student – in 1958 a pregnant 16-year-old, not someone most people might envision as an environmental activist – who lived just across the street from a chemical plant. Richard, who went on to earn a degree in Theology, became an inspired and passionate leader in her town and successfully battled the multi-billion dollar corporation using simple, grassroots techniques.

Richard and her neighbors kept at the fight, after losses in the courts and death in the streets. Attracting support from activists in and out of Louisiana, she was heard and the decades-long fight to relocate from the Chemical Corridor that was her home was won.

The Diamond neighborhood persevered in its quest, but across the U.S., many other towns have yet to find such success. From Florida to Texas to Louisiana to California and beyond, other fence-line communities have encountered contamination from big industry, but they are still in the fight for relocation. They have one thing in common: they are minority communities of working-class and poor residents that straddle companies of great wealth. "You won't find any chemical plants close to a country club in Louisiana," a community lawyer told Greene. Scholars in the field contend this sentiment echoes across the country.

As told in Night Fire, the battle in Diamond resonates on many levels, raising issues of race, wealth, Civil Rights and environmental justice. The lessons Richards learned as a child from her father helped shape her fight decades later. "People of industry have children too," she told neighbors, insisting that even corporate giants would want to know if their plant was spoiling the air. "If we don't tell them, how will they know?"

Ronnie Greene is one of the finest investigative reporters in the country. He's also a first-rate writer. I can't think of a better person to tell the outrageous story of how a Shell chemical plant poisoned a small Louisiana community, and how a handful of ordinary citizens fought back against all odds to save their town. – Carl Hiaasen

This passionate book . . . demonstrates that humble grassroots activism can eventually unsettle a corporate Goliath. . . . Greene's mix of vivid oral history and hard evidence is a rousing reminder that with stubborn determination, ordinary citizens can prevail against the most powerful of opponents. – Publishers Weekly

A passionate, exquisitely written book about one woman's decades-long fight for justice. For those who believe there's no winning against corporate monoliths, Ronnie Greene presents Margie Richard.... A poignant story about the triumph of justice over callous indifference and a lasting testament to the idea that a few good people can change the world. – Ana Menendez, bestselling author of Loving Che

A personality-rich narrative of one community's successful fight against a polluter, as well as a wade mecum for other towns facing similar problems... – Kirkus Reviews

Night Fire is a poignant and riveting story of one community's success. This passionate book from a Miami Herald journalist demonstrates that humble grassroots activism can eventually unsettle a corporate Goliath. Greene's mix of vivid oral history and hard evidence is a rousing reminder that with stubborn determination, ordinary citizens can prevail against the most powerful of opponents. But it also is a reminder that other such battles continue.

Business & Investing / Careers / Retirement / Health, Mind & Body / Self-Help

Smart Women Don't Retire – They Break Free: From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time by The Transition Network & Gail Rentsch, with a foreword by Lynn Sherr (Springboard Press)

You spent your career seeking out new challenges.
You enjoyed countless successes.
You broke new ground in your field.

To those readers who are approaching what is traditionally thought of as retirement age, the last thing they want to do is spend the next twenty, thirty, or more years taking trips to the mall or per­fecting their recipes for peach cobbler.

Boomer women have been trailblazers throughout their professional lives. Now that their careers are losing their edge and children leave the nest, these women are ready to do for retirement what they did for the working world – redefine it.

They are not alone. Several years ago, a group of highly successful, professional women found themselves facing retirement with trepida­tion. They didn't want to let go of the fast pace and intellectual stimulation they had enjoyed throughout their careers, so they formed The Transition Network, now a national organiza­tion that has reinvented this stage of life.

Smart Women Don't Retire – They Break Free is the first book from The Transition Network; in it Gail Rentsch, a founding member of the network and a veteran book-publishing professional, focuses on the unique needs of women as they explore new possibilities and redesign the old model of retirement, which no longer offers the challenges that these women experienced throughout their careers. The book is a response to what is fast becoming the outdated model of retirement showing how to create new and exciting work and volunteer oppor­tunities, and how to discover new outlets for creativity and passion.

From determining what professional expe­rience readers would like to pursue next, to building a new community like the one they enjoyed with their colleagues, to rethinking how they would like to spend their evenings and weekends now that the kids have left the nest, Smart Women Don't Retire – They Break Free is a blueprint for women seeking a new set of life choices and reinventing retirement. Drawing on research and interviews, Rentsch explores a range of topics, from preparing for and deciding when to retire to overcoming self-defeating stereotypes about aging women and uplifting ideas about a meaningful retirement.

Whereas parents before aspired to the ideal of completely escaping the work world for a warmer climate, baby boomers are developing new models for their ‘golden years.’ … Each chapter presents frank discussions, inventories and checklists, and case studies of real women's lives. Interpersonal topics like coordinating retirement with a spouse and cultivating friendships as one ages are also covered... This insightful book reinforces the idea that retirement can be transformative and even ‘cool.’ – Library Journal
All women 50+ should read this book ... regardless of where they are on their retirement journey! – Jeri Sedlar, co-author, Don't Retire, REWIRE! and Senior Advisor to the Conference Board on the Mature Workforce
Women are investing in their health by being part of the Transition Network, making the connections to explore retirement, finding new friends, and engaging in social and volunteer activities. This book will spread that message to women across the country. – Eileen Hoffman, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine
The Transition Network (TTN) ... is the only organization I know that zeroes in on the needs of successful women as they enter a new and productive transition in their lives.... Now they have developed an invaluable handbook that spells out the challenges along the way, along with solid advice about how to meet them. – Suzanne Braun Levine, first editor-in-chief of Ms. Magazine and author of Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women is Second Adulthood
… This book from The Transition Network provides a valuable orientation to this process; it is rich in practical advice and inspiring stemming from the stories of women who have just recently journeyed through and navigated this complex stage of their lives... – Jennie Chin Hansen, President-Elect, AARP

At last, an inspiring alternative to the R-word.

For the female pioneers who shattered the glass ceiling, Smart Women Don't Retire – They Break Free is a practical and inspiring guide to reinventing what's next. The voices in this book will inspire readers to find their way and further prove that life after fifty can be a special and valuable time. Filled with practical advice and stories from women who have successfully navigated this stage, the book is a blueprint for women seeking a whole new set of life choices.

Business & Investing / Economics

High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families by Peter Gosselin (Basic Books)

For a generation, our nation's leaders told us that they'd freed the American economy from the dead hand of Washington and re-kindled the entrepreneurial spirit. Before us lay a dazzling landscape of free-market fortunes and with assets and investments, family units could play right along with the big boys of Wall Street – looking out for themselves, investing and diversifying their ways to wealth and security. But, for nearly a year now we've had to hold our breath as one disaster after another has swept over us. The fear has been so palpable, the problems seemingly so unsolvable, that no one has stepped back to spot the broader lessons in our current crisis.

Drawing on interviews with hundreds of Americans and new statistics he developed, prize-winning journalist Peter Gosselin in High Wire traces a quarter-century shift of economic risk onto backs of working people. It is a shift that has shaken the pillars of most families’ lives – stable jobs, solid benefits, government protections. This threat to working Americans’ security – and what to do about it – is a pressing concern to economists, policy-makers, and everyone who works for a living.

Gosselin, visiting fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, is national economics correspondent for the Los Angeles Times in the Washington bureau. Gosselin takes readers across the terrain of their material lives to show how changes in work, benefits, homeownership, college and retirement, even brought-and-paid-for insurance, have shifted economic risks once borne by business and government to the backs of working families. With new data and real-life examples, he explains why Americans' mounting anxiety is warranted and how everyone from the working poor to those making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year are on a high wire, only one misstep away from financial disaster.

Gosselin shows that the full dimensions of this shift have gone largely unnoticed because economists and journalists have mostly looked at pieces of the puzzle such as the employer-employee relationship, government programs such as welfare, or pensions, and 401(k)s. While Gosselin looks at the big picture and supports his argument with new statistics developed for High Wire, he also puts a human face to this new reality.

High Wire explains the distressing reality that the old struts underpinning the American Dream – a good education, savings, sensible insurance, strong work ethic, company loyalty, prudent living – are no longer the guarantees of financial security they once were. Families are not, after all, the mini-financial firms the leaders of the last generation told us they were; households are not hedge funds. Our near-exclusive reliance on free market principles to solve every financial and social problem has led the nation down a political and ethical dead-end. Even with two earners in many households, families are more apt than they were a generation ago to take steep financial falls, ones from which they have a tougher time recovering. And as the sub-prime mortgage crisis has spread to other parts of the economy, many people are seeing their worst fears realized. More and more of us are operating on a high wire, just one misstep away from a financial free fall.

[Peter Gosselin] has done the most convincing job I’ve seen in capturing the failures of America to deal with a changing, complex and far less generous economy than it has known in the past… The main theme of Gosselin, a veteran reporter for the Los Angeles Times, is the rise of deep-seated financial, health and material risk. He gathers the many pieces of the new economic America together quite beautifully, even elegantly, and brings them alive with interesting and not the usually predictable individual examples. I learned many things in this book, and I’ve been covering this territory for a long time. – Jeff Madrick, economic analyst on Truthdig.com

Gosselin, the Los Angeles Times economic correspondent in Washington, has got something special going in the pages of High Wire. He has answered – analytically and lyrically – a question that clogs debate on economic matters in the nation’s capital: Why do Americans feel so anxious, even when the U.S. economy, on the whole, is performing quite ably? – John Aloysius Farrell, Robert Emmet Blog

In this alarming and vividly reported book, Gosselin puts to rest the notion that anyone can make it on their own with only a winning plan. This book must be a central part of the discussion on how to cure America's economic ills, before the ‘high wire’ becomes a trip wire for us all. – Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch

Incomes and living standards have become more volatile, and many families today are left bearing risks that they simply cannot handle. Peter Gosselin sets out to be the voice of the ordinary family, and he does an eloquent and convincing job of it in this important book. – Bob Solow, Nobel Prize-winning MIT economist

Gosselin’s spirit of humanity penetrates beyond dry statistics to reveal some of the deepest and most important economic issues facing the country today. – Robert Shiller, Yale finance theorist and author of Irrational Exuberance

Meticulously researched and written with verve, High Wire is a rare masterpiece of chilling logic about mounting economic risks in our families, our homes, and our jobs. All Americans should read this book. – Peter Bernstein, economic consultant and author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

Gosselin's book is a provocative, controversial re-examination of every cherished economic assumption of the last three decades, and a vital contribution to learning what must be done to a secure a brighter financial future for America's families. High Wire reveals a quiet revolution in Americans' economic circumstances and shows how the ‘ownership society’ is fast becoming the ‘on-your-own society.’ Now is the time for a new direction.

Business & Investing / Organizational Behavior

Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block (Berrett-Koehler Publishers)

Modern society is plagued by fragmentation. The various sectors of our communities – businesses, schools, social service organizations, churches, government – do not work together. Likewise, many individual citizens, who long for connection end up marginalized, their gifts overlooked, their potential contributions lost. This disconnection and detachment makes it hard to envision a common future and work towards it together.

We know what healthy communities look like, and they've been described in detail. What Peter Block provides in Community is an exploration of the exact way community can emerge from fragmentation: How is community built? How does the transformation occur? What fundamental shifts are involved? There are many success stories out there. The challenge is how to create one in our own place.

Block, author of numerous books, partner in Designed Learning, is the recipient of the American Society for Training and Development Award for Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance and the Association for Quality and Participation President's Award and a member of Training magazine's HRD Hall of Fame. In Community he explores a way of thinking about our places that creates an opening for authentic communities to exist. He helps readers see how they can change the existing context of community from one of deficiencies, interests, and entitlement to one of possibility, generosity, and gifts. Questions are more important than answers in this effort, which means leadership is not a matter of style or vision but is about getting the right people together in the right way: convening is a more critical skill than commanding. As he explores the nature of community and the dynamics of transformation, Block outlines six kinds of conversation that will create communal accountability and commitment and describes how we can design physical spaces and structures that will foster a sense of belonging.

He also includes numerous examples of how individuals, on a small scale, are doing innovative work to rebuild community.

Building community and bringing people of diverse cultures and abilities together to the benefit of all is work that can seem like breaking trail in a pathless forest at night without a flashlight. Peter Block provides the flashlight. – Judith Snow, Social Inclusion Advocate, ABCD Faculty

Community is a gift; in this remarkable work, the arrhythmic heartbeat of today's fragmented communities beats again with new hope and possibility. It is an irresistible call to true citizenship and a desperately needed revival of community. – Sadanand Ward Mailliard, Founding Member of The Mount Madonna Center Community and Head of Community Studies Development, Mount Madonna Institute

From the person who gave us the best book written on business stewardship comes the best book on how to transform the places where we live, work, and play into authentic, effective communities. Some of Peter Block's conclusions may surprise you, but this compelling book is a must for all who love the places we call home enough to rethink our approach to building and maintaining community. – Dennis Bakke, CEO, Imagine Schools, Cofounder and CEO Emeritus, AES Corporation, and author of Joy at Work

Every earnest public servant, every volunteer, every disillusioned citizen, every civic leader, and every community activist or businessperson who truly want to make their communities better should read this book. It can serve as a guide or manual, but Community at its heart is a book of questions, and Peter gently and persistently reminds us that we are the answers. – James Keene, President, Alliance for Innovation and Western Director, International City/County Management Association

In this wonderfully practical book, Peter Block defines the nature of a community with manageable dimensions, creative directions, and hopeful possibilities. His methods lead us to a restoration of the joy of a genuine common life. – John McKnight, Professor of Education and Social Policy, and Codirector, Asset-Based Community Development Institute, Northwestern University

Peter Block clearly identifies the essential ingredients, qualities, questions, atmosphere. and actions needed to create and build vital communities filled with possibility, generosity, accountability, and deep engagement. Outstanding in its relevance, practicality, and clarity. – Angeles Arrien, PhD, cultural anthropologist and author of The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom

This book is more than practical advice on execution of theory; it is a spiritual primer for the building up of community and transforming hope that we so desperately need in today's world. Peter has touched us once again in that place we call ‘soul’ – Clint Kemp, Founding Pastor, New Providence Community Church

Peter's work has become the cornerstone of how our police department has developed over the years. What we have pleasantly discovered is that the more our capacity grows to work in partnership with each other, the more our capacity to serve our community is enhanced. – Michael Butler, Chief of Police, Longmont, Colorado

In the inspiring Community, bestselling Block explores a way of thinking about our places that creates an opening for authentic communities to exist and, with moving examples, details what each of us can do to make that happen. He combines penetrating and often contrarian insights into the nature of community with specific, pragmatic advice on how to restore and nurture it.

Business & Investing / Economics / Sociology

Not Keeping Up with Our Parents: The Decline of the Professional Middle Class by Nan Mooney (Beacon Press)

Educator, artist, social worker, not-for-profit administrator, journalist – these white-collar professions are typically populated with college-educated, middle-class professionals who pass up big-money careers in finance, medicine or law to pursue more personally meaningful work in creative and service-oriented sectors. Increasingly, though, these career choices are leaving middle-class professionals struggling to make ends meet, let alone fulfill social expectations and reach the economic stability of the ‘American dream.’

In Not Keeping Up with Our Parents, award-winning journalist Nan Mooney traces how and why today's educated professional middle class is experiencing financial volatility more profound and paralyzing than the struggles experienced by previous generations. Drawing on her own experiences and those of the hundreds of individuals she interviewed across America, Mooney highlights the struggles this group is facing, including negotiating massive student loans and credit card debt, struggling to pay high housing, health and child care costs, and choosing between funding their children's education and their own retirement. "The sort of family I grew up in seems near extinction these days, a middle-class family who can support themselves on a pair of middle-class jobs," Mooney writes. "Not only do many of today's educated middle-class professionals worry that they won't exceed their parents when it comes to financial success, they fear they can't even keep up with the middle-class, and often the working-class, lifestyles their parents modeled for them decades ago."

Drawing on more than a hundred interviews with diverse families across America, Mooney delves into the professional middle class’s sense of economic security and their plans for and fears about the future. She shows how profoundly middle-class expectations and realities have shifted: college tuition has increased 35 percent in the past five years; only 18 percent of middle-class families have three months' income saved, and 90 percent of those filing for bankruptcy are middle class. Additionally, the share of family income devoted to ‘fixed costs’ – housing, childcare, health insurance, and taxes – has climbed from 53 percent to 75 percent in the past two decades, and raising one child through age eighteen costs $237,000 for a middle-income family.
In Not Keeping Up with Our Parents, Mooney reveals the intimate financial lives of this strata of society – the social worker who makes $30,000 a year, the environmental scientist who makes $40,000, the college professor who makes $50,000 – to show how shifts in government policies and labor and business practices have meant plummeting financial and emotional security for this once comfortable center section. She illustrates how those in this class are increasingly choosing to delay or forgo having children, carrying significant debt well into middle age, and struggling so hard to keep their own finances secure that they have little resources to offer those less fortunate.

With up-to-date and accessible research, includ­ing a short history of the middle class, Mooney in Not Keeping Up with Our Parents explains what it has meant historically to be mid­dle class and how these definitions have changed so dramatically over the decades. She shows that social programs once aided the growth of this class but shifts in policies and labor prac­tices – and increases in fixed costs, such as health care, housing, education, childcare, and household debt – are making it increasingly difficult for families to retain their middle-class status.

Despite the difficult reality of middle-class struggles, Mooney offers proactive and concrete ideas on how individuals and society can stop this downward spiral. She advocates improving government-backed education, healthcare, and childcare programs as well as drawing on successful models from individual states and other countries.

Ultimately, Not Keeping Up with Our Parents encourages today's professional middle class to overcome their sense of fear and resignation and engage in the prospect of change. "Our expensive educations provided us with a sense of autonomy and activism. They gave us the cultural savvy and analytical tools to understand that social justice involves digging your heels in, risking something, sometimes everything, to accomplish core-level change," notes Mooney. "We are an educated, smart, organized, generous, frustrated, and frightened population. What better ingredients to start a revolution?"

[Mooney] gives an excellent analysis of the problems facing the large and important professional middle class. – Booklist

What happens when the center cannot hold? With great empathy and infectious alarm, Nan Mooney charts the travails of America's middle class in this important book. – Anya Kamenetz, author of Generation Debt
If you're wondering why, in our age of plenty, the financial treadmill keeps moving faster and faster for America's increasingly educated – and increasingly insecure – middle class, you owe it to yourself to read this book. It's all here: the big trends, the compelling portraits, the ideas for personal and political change, and the call to arms we so desperately need. – Jacob S. Hacker, author of The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health Care and Retirement and How You Can Fight Back
A book for the distressed and confused because their life plan has gone to pieces. Mooney illuminates what has happened to them – and why. – Nicholas Von Hoffman, columnist for NY Observer and regular contributor to The Nation
We hear a lot about the runaway wealth of American professionals. In this important book, Nan Mooney reminds us that most have no such luck. Working in jobs they love provides a sense of moral worth, but doesn't cover the bills for teachers, legal aid lawyers, practicing artists, and others. Something has gone wrong in America and this book gives us a grip on the crisis. – Katherine Newman, coauthor of The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America and the Forbes Class of 1941 Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton

The first book to exclusively target the struggles of the professional middle class –educated indi­viduals who purposely choose humanistic, intel­lectual, or creative pursuits –Mooney's Not Keeping Up with Our Parents is a simultaneously sobering and proactive work that captures a diversity of voices. Intimate personal accounts com­bined with Mooney's incisive analysis will make the book resonate deeply for America's professional middle class.

Business & Investing / Management & Leadership / Personal Growth

Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life by Stewart D. Friedman (Harvard Business School Press)

What if you could improve your performance in the areas that seem to be most at odds with each other – work and life beyond work – at the same time?

Most of us assume it can't be done. But contrary to the conventional wisdom, the different domains of our lives don't have to compete in a zero-sum game. However, managing them takes real leadership skill.

Leadership can – and indeed must – be learned. But first individuals have got to choose to lead. If they are going to make a difference, thinking of themselves as leaders will make it more likely that their legacy – not their fantasy, but the real impact of their lives, today and in the long run – is the one they really want.

Most leadership development books focus only on professional skills, while books about personal growth concentrate on needs beyond work. Total Leadership is different.

With examples and instruction, Stewart Friedman provides more than thirty hands-on tools for using proven principles to produce stronger business results, find clearer purpose in what readers do, feel more connected to the people who matter most, and generate sustainable change. Friedman is the founding director of the Wharton School's Leadership Program and of Wharton's Work/Life Integration Project, and former head of Ford Motor Company's Leadership Development Center.

Adapted from Friedman's popular Wharton School course, Total Leadership helps readers identify their core values – what's fundamentally important to them – and make them come alive in their everyday actions in all domains of life. By improving these areas of life simultaneously, they will get more done with less stress.

Friedman's approach has been pressure-tested by years of working with people at every level of experience, in companies large and small. He offers step-by-step instruction, to help readers create sustainable change and achieve higher levels of performance in all parts of their lives.

In Total Leadership, the culmination of over two decades of research and practice, Friedman shows that we don't have to make trade-offs between life's most important domains, and certainly not as often as we think. Nor should we, he adds. A trade-off mindset makes people feel all manner of painful emotions – including inauthentic, unfocused, rootless, resentful, and overwhelmed. It hurts those we care about most and it prevents us from leading and performing effectively in every part of life.

In the book, Friedman provides a blueprint for how to become a more successful and satisfied leader in all dimensions of life: work, home, community, and self (mind, body, and spirit). His proven, step-by-step ‘four-way wins’ approach shows how to produce sustainable, meaningful change that benefits all life domains by:

• Being real – acting with authenticity by clarifying what's important: Understanding how crucial events in the past have shaped one's values and aspirations; assessing the relative importance of work, home, community, and self; taking stock of how much time and energy is invested in each of these four domains; and diagnosing one's level of satisfaction in each.
• Being whole – acting with integrity by respecting the whole person: Identifying the most important people in one's life and their performance expectations, determining how different expectations affect one another, assessing how one uses different media for connecting with these ‘key stakeholders,’ and preparing and conducting dialogues with each one to verify assumptions and see things through their eyes.
• Being innovative – acting with creativity by experimenting with new solutions: After seeing both what and who are important in a fresh light, designing and implementing small, smart, potent experiments that swiftly produce better results in all four parts of one's life and that transform alienation, exhaustion, and resentment into feelings of purpose, authenticity, connection, and optimism.

Total Leadership is not an abstract theory: Practicing this method results in demonstrable improvements in performance and satisfaction. Participants report increases in satisfaction across the board: an average of 20 percent in their work lives, 28 percent in their home lives, 31 percent in their community lives, and 39 percent with their physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual well-being. Similarly, participants report that their performance at work, at home, in their communities, and within themselves has improved by 9, 15, 12, and 25 percent, respectively. According to Friedman, these results occur even as they spend less time on work and more on the other parts of life – they're working smarter and enjoying the benefits of more intelligent choices for bringing the different elements into a coherent whole, creating mutual value among them.

In a world of work-life trade-offs, Stew Friedman offers what most think impossible: a field-tested program that gives you not only what you want in business, but also what you want in life. Brilliant. – Timothy Ferriss, New York Times bestselling author, The 4-Hour Workweek
Destined to be a classic, this is a remarkable book. I have studied leadership and led organizations for over twenty years. No other book has reshaped my thinking about leadership development as much as Total Leadership. – David A. Thomas, professor, Harvard Business School, and author, Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Professionals in Corporate America
Stew Friedman absolutely gets it. He is both a visionary and a much-needed advocate for a new kind of total leadership in the twenty-first century. What an empowering book! – Janet Hanson, Founder, 85 Broads
The best leaders are those who stay connected to their communities, to the people they love, to themselves. In Stew Friedman s Total Leadership, you'll learn simple, powerful new ways to make these connections happen and enjoy the rich rewards that inevitably follow. – Keith Ferrazzi, CEO, Ferrazzi Greenlight, and author, Never Eat Alone
As the pace of business continues to race forward at lightening speed, Stew Friedman offers us an innovative and sustainable model for successful leadership. Total Leadership provides a unique proposition for individuals who strive to be their very best both personally and professionally. – Dave Lissy, CEO, Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Total Leadership is so aligned with my thinking as an HR executive and medical director of a global business. With practical tools and compelling stories, Friedman demonstrates how to achieve four-way wins – a distinctive, important new concept for today s leaders. – Dr. Robert W. Carr, Vice President and Corporate Medical Director, GlaxoSmithKline

In the future, being a leader will require new ways to integrate work with the rest of one's life, resulting in more effective leadership and a more fulfilling life. Total Leadership points the away. – Robert Reich, professor, University of California, Berkeley, former U.S. Secretary of Labor

Total Leadership is a game-changing blueprint for how to perform well as a leader not by trading off one domain for another, but by finding mutual value among all four domains – work, home, community and the private self. Based on extensive research, the book is a unique and long-awaited resource. Readers gain greater clarity of purpose, accomplish more at work, and feel more connected to the people and causes that matter most to them. Many real-world examples pack this artfully crafted, fun-to-read guide for becoming a better leader and having a richer life. With clear instruction and hands-on exercises and tools, Total Leadership shows leaders at every level, and at any career stage (not just executives), how to enhance their performance and satisfaction.

Children / Ages 4-8 / Social Issues

A Girl Named Dan (Picture Books) by Dandi Daley Mackall, with illustrations by Renée Graef (Sleeping Bear Press)

A Girl Named Dan is the true story of author Dandi Daley Mackall's efforts to compete in sports as an equal, prior to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. It was this 37-word law that gave girls like Dan a chance and began to break down the discriminatory gender barriers.

Ten-year-old Dandi (affectionately called ‘Dan’ by family and friends) lives and breathes baseball. She may not be a fence buster but she can ‘hit 'em where they ain't’ in the neighborhood pick-up games and the boys know she's a contender.

…Quickly changing out of her school dress, Dandi headed for the after-school pickup game. Before she could take her usual spot in the outfield, she heard, "You can't play... because you're a girl. From now on, it's boys only."

It wasn't fair, though Dandi in A Girl Named Dan. Nobody ever caught her napping in the outfield or chasing junk at the plate like some of the boys did.

Rejected, Dandi turned to her other passion – writing. And then she heard about a writing contest put on by the Kansas City A's – there was no bigger fan of the 1961 Kansas City A's, and first prize was the honor of being batboy for the real team.

Winning the essay contest to become a batboy for the Kansas City A's was all Dandi could think about, even when she learned that the officials would enforce the for-boys-only rule. There was no doubt Dandi would enter, and she carefully penned her essay, "Why I Want to be Batboy for the Kansas City A's."

Dandi’s essay wins, but her joy is short-lived….

In present time, Mackall has rebounded well from her early rejection by the A's; she is the award-winning author of over 400 books for kids and adults, with sales of 4 million in 22 countries. Mackall conducts writing workshops across the country and speaks frequently at conferences and young author events. She was an instructor at Highlights and taught novel writing for the Institute for Children's Literature. Artist Renee Graef is well known as the illustrator for the ‘Kirsten’ books in the American Girl collection.

Mackall's true-life story, A Girl Named Dan, gives voice to the spirit of all of the young women who fought for justice and equality on and off the field.

Children / Ages 9-12 / Humor

The Castaway Pirates: A Pop-Up Tale of Bad Luck, Sharp Teeth, and Stinky Toes by Ray Marshall, illustrated by Wilson Swain (Chronicle Books)

Their ship has sunk…
Their lifeboat is leaky…
And a hungry shark is circling!

In The Castaway Pirates the pirates of The Stinky Toes are in terrible trouble!

In this pop-up pirate adventure, five pirates try to avoid being eaten by a shark when their ship springs a leak. They try to plug the hole with the captain's coat and then with his rope. They will try almost anything to save themselves . . . but will they succeed? Young readers find out in this zany high-seas adventure, which features elaborate pop-ups that grow wilder as the disaster unfolds.

In the end it is their smelly feet that turn the shark away.

Each spread in The Castaway Pirates enchants with a colorful, intricate pop-up designed by master paper engineer Ray Marshall. Marshall began his paper-engineering career in 1980, and in 1985 he won England's Smarties Prize for Children's Books Award for Watch It Work: The Car. This book is his twenty-fifth book and the first one he has written. Wilson Swain, an artist since he was a child, loves creating quirky characters.

The Castaway Pirates is an innovative children’s book, which delights and enthralls from the first page to the last, growing more elaborate and laughable with each turn of the page.

Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling

Comparative Psychology: Evolution and Development of Behavior, Second Edition by Mauricio R. Papini (Psychology Press)

Thus the sum of things is ever being renewed, and mortal creatures live dependent one upon another. Some species increase, other diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and, like runners, pass the torch of life. – Lucretius, De rerum natura (Book II, Lines 75-79).

Standing on top of a hill and overlooking the surrounding valleys and streams, a small group of Cro-Magnon humans are planning tomorrow's hunt. Their concern is to determine when and where to attack the herd, and the solution to this problem will require some behavioral knowledge. Where would these animals be tomorrow? Can they be better approached at night? Which ones are the most vulnerable? Although imaginary, scenarios such as this one must have been common throughout much of the evolutionary history of humans, unprotected and unequipped by means other than their intelligence and social organization to face environmental challenge. – from the Introduction

Comparative Psychology, Second Edition, is directed at upper level undergraduate courses or graduate seminars. The book is a core textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate courses in Comparative Psychology, Animal Behavior, and Evolutionary Psychology. Its main goal is to introduce students to evolutionary and developmental approaches to the study of animal behavior.

The structure of the book, written by Mauricio R. Papini, Professor of Psychology at Texas Christian University, reflects the principal areas of importance to psychology students studying animal behavior: evolution, physiological issues, learning and cognition, development, and social evolution. Throughout, Comparative Psychology includes many examples drawn from the study of human behavior, highlighting general and basic principles that apply broadly to the animal kingdom.

Papini says his goals for the first edition of this book in 2002, were "to promote original research leading to new knowledge in its area of interest and to become a source of education for itself and for the larger science within which it is inserted." For this second edition, Papini says he gets closer to the original goals, and he addresses many of the comments made by colleagues and students about the original version. This second edition is clearly in line with the previous version, but also includes several differences that make Comparative Psychology more appealing.  He also adds a chapter on development and evolution and a chapter on primate evolution.

Knowledge about the behavior of animals must have had important practical implications for early humans. But this is true even today, although the actual applications may be considerably different. In our time, research on animal behavior has widespread practical implications: From the testing of drugs with medical applications, to the development of animal models for a variety of pathological conditions, animal production, the treatment of maladaptive behavior in domestic animals, the imple­mentation of conservation efforts to preserve endangered species, and many other applications. Most contemporary researchers would agree, however, that to meet many of these practical goals it is first necessary to answer many basic ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions about animal behavior. In scientific research, answers to these questions usually lead to improved understanding of natural phenomena and to new ideas of practical importance. It is this set of basic questions about the origin and causal control of behavior that constitutes the topic of Comparative Psychology.

Psychology is one of the disciplines concerned with the study of behavior in a broad sense, from social behavior and the properties of social groups, to the physiological basis of simple motor movements. Psycholo­gists ask many different questions about behavior and are thus forced to use a variety of research procedures to find the answers. Psychology is so broad that it is sometimes difficult to visualize connections between its many areas of inquiry. The connecting theme is behavior: What can organisms do? Why do they do it? How can they do it? Comparative Psychology concentrates on what might be called the ‘biological end’ of psychology, an area that is traditionally known as comparative psychology.

Comparative psychology is almost an interdisciplinary area by definition. It originated from the intersection of experimental psychology and evolutionary biology, in the last portion of the nineteenth century, and is presently concerned with the study of the evolution and development of behavior, using experimental and field methods of observation, and a wide range of species. The main goal of comparative psychology is to uncover common and divergent behavioral processes among species, including humans. The ‘comparative’ part addresses the assumption that this discipline will ultimately provide a better understanding of the evolutionary origins of human behavior and a clear view of the unique and common behavioral properties of our own species, relative to the rest of the animal kingdom.

Complexity is one feature that characterizes behavioral phenomena. Even a simple monosynaptic reflex involving a sensory and a motor neuron in a feed-forward circuit in which information flows in only one direction poses serious empirical and theoretical obstacles. The question of the extent of the integration among similarly simple reflexes becomes almost intractable, and the addition of systems that can influence the reflex pathway without being strictly a part of it adds even more complexity to this picture. It is probably correct to conclude that all behavior is caused by a multitude of independent and interacting factors. Such multi-causality invites interdisciplinary interaction. Fruitful interaction is often accompanied by the emergence of new theories or even the crystallization of a new area. Many examples are discussed in Comparative Psychology, including the application of adaptive functional analysis to human social behavior, the correlations between brain areas and behavioral capacities, and the application of genetic techniques to understanding behavioral development.

The quality, scope, and originality of the book are outstanding, in fact, extensive – Comparative Psychology covers several specific topics included because they are rarely addressed in similar textbooks. According to Papini, students rated the first edition of the book anywhere from one of the wonders of the universe to a confusing account of animal behavior. It has been translated into Japanese and Spanish.

Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling

Integrating the 12 Steps into Addiction Therapy: A Resource Collection and Guide for Promoting Recovery, with CD-ROM by James R. Finley (Wiley)

Millions of Americans have at some time in their lives participated in a 12-step program for treatment of a chemical or non-chemical addiction. For many people, 12-step programs have played a critical role in helping them to manage their addictive behaviors.

Clinicians recognize that these grassroots efforts have a very high cure rate. However, little has been written on how to integrate these programs into a traditional therapy setting.

Integrating the 12 Steps into Addiction Therapy serves as a resource for clinicians treating addiction patients who are simultaneously enrolled in 12-step programs. This text, written by James R. Finley, seasoned therapist, educator, and manager, specializing in addictions and group family therapy:

• Contains eight lesson plans and twenty-seven assignments.
• Integrates in-depth discussion of 12-step programs with hands-on resources like homework assignments, treatment plan examples, and patient handouts.
• Will also benefit 12-step program peer counselors.
• Includes a companion CD-ROM with fully customizable homework assignments, lesson plans, and presentations.

During the decades since the founding of AA, some clinicians have relied on 12-step programs as a cornerstone of treatment, while others have advocated other approaches and at times fiercely criticized the 12-step approach. The arguments of both sides of this debate are examined in Section I of Integrating the 12 Steps into Addiction Therapy. However, aside from the discussion of the pros and cons of AA and related programs, the context of the debate and the treatment field has shifted in the era of managed care. Treatment is expected to be briefer, less intensive, and less expensive, and aftercare is harder to find or fund. Behavior is now the primary focus of therapy, as evi­denced by the common replacement of the term mental health with behavioral health.

In today's world, the 12-step model is more valuable and necessary than ever before. Consistent with the emphasis on behavioral change, one of the many slogans often used in AA and its descendant programs is "you don't think your way into right acting, you act your way into right thinking." The foundation principles of 12-step life are honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness. These are non-addictive patterns of behavior and cognitive functioning that if learned and practiced will make the addict or alcoholic more open and receptive to other treat­ment interventions. They will also bring improvement in other behav­ioral problems that accompany addiction. They are often the treatment goals when dealing with marital and family relationship dysfunction and antisocial behavior.

The intent of Integrating the 12 Steps into Addiction Therapy is to provide clear explanations and practical tools for clinicians who are considering integrating 12-step par­ticipation into their work with their clients or patients and who want to learn more. It is also for those who are already using AA or other programs as resources and who are seeking tools and resources in a ready-­to-use form easily adapted to meet the needs of a particular client or situation.

Integrating the 12 Steps into Addiction Therapy is organized into three sections and two appendices. The first section contains general information and guidelines on integrating treat­ment with 12-step work. The second section consists of 27 therapeutic homework assignments pertaining specifically to 12-step work, and the third section contains eight lesson plans for psycho-educational groups on topics related to 12-step work in early recovery. Appendix A is a partial list of recommended books and films for professional reference, self-education, and bibliotherapy or videotherapy, and Appendix B consists of the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions with notes on adaptations made by various 12-step programs addressing different addictive problems.

Readers may use the enclosed CD-ROM to install the homework as­signments and lesson plans in a directory on their computer, allowing them to customize them.

Integrating the 12 Steps into Addiction Therapy serves as an indispensable resource for clinicians treating addiction patients who are simultaneously enrolled in 12-Step programs. It gives psychologists, therapists, counselors, social workers, and clinicians the tools and resources they need to fully utilize these peer therapy program techniques in treating a wide variety of addictions. Combining an in-depth discussion of the 12-Step Way with detailed treatment resources like homework assignments and client handouts, this guide belongs on the shelf of any therapist or counselor with patients suffering from addiction.
Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling / Parenting & Families

Is Your Child Bipolar?: The Definitive Resource on How to Identify, Treat, and Thrive with a Bipolar Child by Mary Ann McDonnell & Janet Wozniak (Bantam Books)

Years – eight to ten, on average – of misdiagnosis before accurate diagnosis. Treatments that made no difference or made things worse. Parents feeling helpless, hopeless, isolated, and exhausted. Kids feeling everything, but especially frustra­tion and failure.

Some but not all of these children and teens have bipolar disorder. Many have other brain disorders in addition to or instead of bipolar. With an accurate diagnosis, appropriate treatment options, and ongoing medical care and emotional support, these children and their families can grow, learn, and thrive. – from the book

More than three million American children suffer from some form of bipolar disorder, a life-impairing illness that can cause wild mood swings and even episodes of rage. But as parents, can readers tell the difference between a temperamental, moody child and one facing serious mental illness? Where do parents turn if their child’s tantrums and meltdowns are wreaking havoc?
Health experts once thought bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, did not exist in children and teens. However, leading experts like Janet Wozniak and Mary Ann McDonnell, the authors of Is Your Child Bipolar?, have shown that the illness may appear even before age six, with many cases either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Now, in the most complete and authoritative guide yet; psychiatric nurse McDonnell, executive director of S.T.E.P. Up 4 Kids, clinical university instructor, and private practitioner in pediatric psycho-pharmacology; and Wozniak, director of Pediatric Bipolar Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and assistant professor of psychiatry there and at Harvard Medical School, offer their expertise along with the latest information on this difficult condition.
In a rapidly changing field, Is Your Child Bipolar? explains what researchers know, what they suspect, and where studies now point. Drawing from their professional experience and sharing stories of families in their practices, McDonnell and Wozniak guide readers in how to:

• Navigate the ‘diagnosis tangle’ to ensure accurate identification of the disorder.
• Communicate effectively with doctors, teachers, and counselors.
• Find allies and choose a treatment team.
• Help the family cope.

McDonnell and Wozniak understand that raising a child or teen who has bipolar is an incredibly tough job. It can be incredibly scary, too: Kids with bipolar have a greatly increased risk for substance abuse and suicide. Chaotic moods can cause severe behavior problems and dis­rupt every area of life. The also know that kids with bipolar are also some of the most remarkable kids one will ever meet: creative and smart, resilient and strong. To help children tap into those strengths, parents need more than an accurate diagnosis and effective medical treatment. They need solid information about pediatric bipolar disorder, including what makes bipolar in kids difficult but not impossible to identify; research-based treatment, including both medical and nondrug therapies; parenting and schooling strategies; and emergency planning. Support from other parents who share their experiences helps, too.

That's what Is Your Child Bipolar? is about. McDonnell and Wozniak have gone beyond the plain facts and figures of what researchers and mental health specialists know about pediatric bipolar disorder. Readers will find information about disorders that can mask or mimic bipolar as well as how the authors diagnose bipolar; how treatment works, with examples from real kids and their families; and ideas and strategies for school, home, and growing up. At every turn, readers will find stories from and about parents and their kids.

Highly informative and compassionate…reflects a deep understanding of the children and their families. This unique approach demystifies the disorder, eases the apprehension that parents feel, and equips them to better work with the professionals who treat and educate their children. [The] memorable concepts and metaphors [in this book]…will long remain with their readers. – Demitri F. Papolos, M.D. and Janice Papolos, authors of The Bipolar Child

The ‘voices’ of afflicted parents and children will speak powerfully to readers who seek answers to the troubling questions posed by pediatric bipolar disorder. – Mary A. Fristad, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., Professor, Psychiatry and Psychology, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, The Ohio State University

A practical, thoughtful book...should serve as a valuable and accessible resource to readers who are trying to understand an oftentimes very vulnerable group of children and teenagers. – Robert L. Findling, M.D., Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland

Provides essential information for the diagnosis, treatment, education, and advocacy of children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. A must-have for all family members and health providers. – Melissa Delbello, M.D., M.S., Vice-Chair for Clinical Research, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Is Your Child Bipolar? is the definitive resource on how to identify, treat, and live with a bipolar child. For families as well as professionals, here is the only book on early-onset bipolar disorder written by pediatric specialists who combine clinical care and research. From medication to coping strategies, this accessible book offers clear explanations, inspiration, encouragement, and invaluable wisdom for all involved.

History / Americas / Civil War

Journey Through Hallowed Ground: Birthplace of the American Ideal by Andrew Cockburn, with a foreword by Geraldine Brooks, with photography by Kenneth Garrett (National Geographic)

Along the 175-mile stretch from Monticello to Gettysburg – designated by Congress as the official ‘birthplace of America’ – intriguing details of our nation’s past emerge from every town and byway. Journey Through Hallowed Ground spotlights key places and personalities on the route, revealing insiders’ stories of early America.
The creative team on the book includes renowned author Andrew Cockburn, along with National Geographic photographer Kenneth Garrett and Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks. Cockburn details the development of the American character through explorations. Interwoven is the story of the nonprofit organization, The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, which is innovating sustainable economic development to support historic preservation of this corridor, as covered by the Washington Post, Smithsonian and the New York Times.

Journey Through Hallowed Ground is the official book for The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership. The book celebrates the congressionally designated ‘birthplace of America’ and spotlights the places and personalities within this corridor, revealing the personal stories of each generation of Americans who worked to create, sustain and nurture our uniquely American ideals.

"The journey from Monticello to Gettysburg can be made in a few hours, but it stretches the full length of the American experience. Ancient burial mounds, blood-soaked Civil War battlefields, the homes of iconic historic figures from James Madison to George C. Marshall, prosperous farms, and thriving Main Streets – it is all here in this 175-mile-long corridor where so much of the story of us was written," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Abraham Lincoln first used the term ‘hallowed ground’ in his Gettysburg Address, and the description is as apt now as it was for generations prior. An enduring setting for our national chronicle, the meandering stretch of land – from Pennsylvania through western Maryland, along the eastern edge of West Virginia, to Charlottesville, Va. – contains nine U.S. presidential homes, two World Heritage sites, the largest collection of Civil War battlefields, the greatest concentration of rural historic districts in America, 15 national historic landmarks and 13 national parks.

Garrett's evocative images bring the region – its past and present – to life as they explore the development of the American character through Native American burial grounds; little-known battlefields; legends of heroes, spies, and wartime romances; breathtaking secrets of the Underground Railroad; and the sagas of nine presidents who lived in the region. From Jefferson's extraordinary hilltop estate, Monticello, to dozens of decisive battlefields of the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the Civil War, this is the place where American history was made and its ideals born.

This extraor­dinary tract of land set the stage for our national chronicle and served as backdrop to transforma­tional American events, such as Captain John Smith's adventures in Monacan territory in the early 1600s and Gen. George Pickett's gallant, doomed charge at Gettysburg in 1863. It has given us Founding Fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson; heroic figures like Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross; and models of dignity such as Gen. Robert E. Lee, who fought for his native South despite his stand against slavery. Its maps are a catalog of historical sites, from key battlefields of the American Revolution and the Civil War to the first U.S. meeting site of W. E. B. Du Bois's Niagara Movement.

Citizens as well as foreign visitors to America's cradle of liberty will find their journey enhanced by keeping this handsome and perceptive book near at hand. – Ron Maxwell, writer-director of the movies Gettysburg and Gods and Generals

Journey Through Hallowed Ground traverses some of the most picturesque – and certainly some of the most historic – acreage in this country. The land itself is steeped in the stories of untold thousands of Americans. To take the Journey is to trace the very soul of our nation, from its founding and framing to its testing in the heat of battle.
The Civil War Preservation Trust is proud to be a member of this unique partnership. – James Lighthizer, President, Civil War Preservation Trust

On every page, this book evokes the beauty of America's hallowed ground. In a rich tapestry of images and words, it weaves a powerful history that stretches for centuries – across the most dramatic events this country has known. This book is a gift to everyone who cares about this nation and its past. – Edward Ayers, National BookAward and Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction

There is no place in our country more saturated with history than the region celebrated in this fascinating book. With informative text, superb photography, and an evocative selection of artifacts, this book summons up each era of the American experience as it was lived in the realm where it first took root. Illustrated with dozens of stunning modern photographs as well as evocative artifacts that summon earlier eras and aspirations, Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a book to delight travelers, U.S. history buffs, and anyone else who seeks to capture the enduring spirit and tradition of this hallowed ground.

History / Americas / Military

George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea by James L. Nelson (McGraw-Hill Professional)

From the author of the critically acclaimed Benedict Arnold's Navy, here is the story of how America's first commander-in-chief – whose previous military experience had been entirely on land – nursed the fledgling American Revolution through a season of stalemate by sending troops to sea. Mining previously overlooked sources, James L. Nelson's narrative in