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  All the Presidents' Gardens -...

  Marta McDowell

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  This New York Times bestseller shares the rich history of the White House grounds, revealing how the story of the garden is also the story of America. The 18-acres surrounding the White House have been an unwitting witness to history—kings and queens have dined there, bills and treaties have been signed, and presidents have landed and retreated. Throughout it all, the grounds have remained not only beautiful, but also a powerful reflection of American trends. In All the Presidents' Gardens bestselling author Marta McDowell tells the untold history of the White House grounds with historical and contemporary photographs, vintage seeds catalogs, and rare glimpses into Presidential pastimes. History buffs will revel in the fascinating tidbits about Lincoln’s goats, Ike's putting green, Jackie's iconic roses, Amy Carter's tree house, and Trump's controversial renovations. Gardeners will enjoy the information on the plants whose favor has come and gone over the years and the gardeners who have been responsible for it all. As one head gardener put it, “What’s great about the job is that our trees, our plants, our shrubs, know nothing about politics.”

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  Seven Pillars of Wisdom

  T.E. Lawrence

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  The classic account of war and adventure in the Middle East that transformed T. E. Lawrence into Lawrence of Arabia Originally intended as a study of the great cities of the Middle East, Seven Pillars of Wisdom is T. E. Lawrence’s masterful account of the Arab Revolt of 1916–18. As a liaison officer for the British Forces in North Africa, Lawrence advised local tribesmen in their rebellion against the Ottoman Turks. He fought alongside future king Emir Faisal and played a crucial role in convincing rival Arab leaders to coordinate their efforts.   A fascinating blend of autobiography, military history, and adventure story, Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a towering literary achievement befitting the man known around the world as Lawrence of Arabia.   This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

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  A Joyful Noise - Claiming the...

  Deborah Weisgall

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  “This is a lovely memoir of life in the acutely functional family of a fine and learned composer.” —John Hollander   In A Joyful Noise, Deborah Weisgall tells a moving story of her turbulent coming-of-age in the shadow of two remarkable men who lived life as if they were characters in an opera. The daughter of a mercurial composer and the granddaughter of a legendary cantor, Deborah as a child longed to be entrusted with their precious music and carry it on herself. But it was impossible; she was a girl.  A Joyful Noise recounts Deborah’s search for a place within the family tradition and, finally, her triumphant discovery of a way to make the men who would exclude her—who were also the men she loved—listen to her voice. A Joyful Noise is a tender, heartbreaking, beautifully written chronicle of the power of memory, the survival of faith, and the pursuit of a grand musical heritage.   “An absorbing memoir, with music in the background and foreground.” —The New York Jewish Week

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  To Be Loved - The Music the...

  Berry Gordy

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  The story of Motown Records and how it changed the course of American music, as told by its founder—“an African American culture hero of historic stature” (The New York Times).   Berry Gordy Jr., who once considered becoming a boxer, started a record company with a family loan of $800 in 1959. Gordy’s company, Motown Records, went on to create some of the most popular music of all time. By the time he sold the company nearly thirty years later, it was worth $61 million and had produced musical legends including Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5.   Here, the revolutionary who shattered the color barrier in the American entertainment industry and forever changed the way the world hears music, shares his story of ambition and vision. From humble beginnings, Gordy amassed a fortune and became a musical kingmaker in the cultural heydays of the 1960s and ’70s. Quelling rumors and detailing his relationships with the artists he managed, Gordy pens “a vivid recreation of a great period and a seminal company in popular music” (Kirkus Reviews).

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  Strong at the Broken Places -...

  Richard M. Cohen

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  In an extension of his New York Times bestselling book Blindsided, author Richard M. Cohen depicts one year in the lives of five individuals who are living with serious chronic illness and of their families. These "citizens of sickness," as Cohen calls them, were selected for the diversity of their ages, races, socioeconomic positions, illness types, stages of wellness, and gender. Cohen profiles: 
   
  —Denise, a woman with ALS, from suburban Los Angeles, California 
   
  —Buzz, a man with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, from Franklin, Indiana 
   
  —Sarah, a twenty-seven-year-old woman with Crohn's disease, from Cleveland, Ohio 
   
  —Ben, an eighteen-year-old freshman at Saint Mary's College of Maryland, with muscular dystrophy 
   
  —Larry, a man with bipolar disease, from Cleveland, Georgia  
   
  Intimately involved with every aspect of their lives, Cohen formed intense relationships with his subjects, interviewing their families and friends, shadowing them on the job, accompanying them to doctor's visits, and being available and present for the important moments of daily triumphs and setbacks. Though each individual's illness wreaks havoc in a different way, there is much common ground to be found in the emotional impact of chronic illness and the need to rise above the disease. Listeners will be carried into the hearts and minds of those who cope with sickness daily and will learn about self-determination, courage in the face of adversity and ignorance, keeping hope alive, and finding strength and peace.

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  The Ministry of Guidance Invites...

  Hooman Majd

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  It was an annus horribilis for Iran's Supreme Leader. The Green Movement had been crushed, but the regime was on edge, anxious lest democratic protests resurge. International sanctions were dragging down the economy while talk of war with the West grew. Hooman Majd was there for all of it. A new father at age fifty, he decided to take his blonde, blue-eyed Midwestern yoga instructor wife Karri and his adorable, only-eats-organic infant son Khash from their hip Brooklyn neighborhood to spend a year in the land of his birth. It was to be a year of discovery for Majd, too, who had only lived in Iran as a child. 
   
  The book opens ominously as Majd is stopped at the airport by intelligence officers who show him a four-inch thick security file about his books and journalism and warn him not to write about Iran during his stay. Majd brushes it off—but doesn't tell Karri—and the family soon settles in to the rituals of middle class life in Tehran: finding an apartment (which requires many thousands of dollars, all of which, bafflingly, is returned to you when you leave), a secure internet connection (one that persuades the local censors you are in New York) and a bootlegger (self-explanatory). Karri masters the head scarf, but not before being stopped for mal-veiling, twice. They endure fasting at Ramadan and keep up with Khash in a country weirdly obsessed with children. 
   
  All the while, Majd fields calls from security officers and he and Karri eye the headlines—the arrest of an American "spy," the British embassy riots, the Arab Spring—and wonder if they are pushing their luck. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay is a sparkling account of life under a quixotic authoritarian regime that offers rare and intimate insight into a country and its people, as well as a personal story of exile and a search for the meaning of home.

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