Picasso's War sheds light on the conflict that was an ominous prelude to WWII and delivers an unforgettable portrait of a genius whose visionary statement about horror and terrible wounds of war still resonates today. Learn More

The Orchid Thief is the true story of John Laroche, an obsessed Florida plant dealer willing to go to any lengths to steal rare and protected wild orchids and clone them, all for a tidy profit. Learn More

Codell's portrait of an inner-city elementary school is funny, poignant, and inspiring. Learn More

Report from Engine Co. 82 is the story of one company of New York firefighters battling unimaginable death and destruction every day. Learn More

How could a seashell get into a rock? And how could that rock get to the top of a mountain? The "seashell question" plagues 17th century thinkers who fervently believed the planet was young and the human race supreme. Learn More

Gordon S. Wood, a leading historian of the revolutionary era, gives a convincing reappraisal of Benjamin Franklin and his remarkable life. Learn More

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Friday Night Lights follows baseball's 2004 National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa through a three-game series with the arch-rival Chicago Cubs. Learn More

From the 1950s through 1997, Louis “Studs” Terkel, bestselling author of Hard Times, Working, The Great War, Coming of Age, and eight other books, hosted a daily one-hour show on WFMT Radio in Chicago. This nationally syndicated, Peabody Award-winning program was an ideal showcase for his curmudgeonly wit, his maverick opinions, and his genius as an interviewer.

The 48 interviews in this collection, span Terkel’s five decades on radio and encompass a wide range of entertainers, scientists, writers and thinkers, including Dorothy Parker, Pete Seeger, Bob Woodward, Simone de Beauvoir, and many more. Learn More

The best-selling biography of Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, written by the woman who knows him best: his wife. Learn More

The National Book award finalist puts a human face on the AIDS crisis in Africa. Learn More

A gripping true account of courage and survival at sea against impossible odds—and one of the finest untold World War II sagas of our time. Learn More

The first book to capture both the Soviet and American sides of the event that started the space race and changed our world. Learn More

What would make someone rush into a towering inferno and dash up stairs toward danger against a flow of human beings running in the opposite direction? Only someone who's been there can tell us. Learn More

Devoid of salacious gossip and groundless speculation, Diana's Boys is the first candid chronicle of the world's two most celebrated royals—and far more. Learn More

An intimate and absorbing historical narrative that goes right to the heart of America's deepest despairs—and most fiercely held dreams—and tells us more than we had understood before about this complicated man and the heightened dramas of his times. Learn More

Norman Maclean's classic account of the deadliest day in the U.S. Forest Service's history, the Mann Gulch tragedy. Winner of a 1992 National Book Critic Award. Learn More

The rollicking true story of British spies who shaped American policy during WWII, based on never-before-seen wartime letters, diaries, and interviews. Learn More

A powerful chronicle of loyalty, love, and astonishing bravery, The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle takes you into the heart of the war above 20,000 feet, and into the unforgettable life of one of America's greatest World War II heroes. Learn More

A provocative work of nonfiction that reads like a Victorian thriller, and in it author Kate Summerscale has fashioned a brilliant, multilayered narrative that is as cleverly constructed as it is beautifully written. Learn More