Non-fiction

Hailed as a "grand theory of the American appetite" (Rien Fertel, Wall Street Journal), food historian Paul Freedman's American Cuisine demonstrates that there is an exuberant, diverse, if not always coherent, American cuisine that reflects the history of the nation itself. Combining historical rigor and culinary passion, Freedman underscores three recurrent themes-regionality, standardization, and variety-that shape a "captivating history" (Drew Tewksbury, Los Angeles Times) of American culi...

The Nobel laureate Otto Warburg was widely regarded as one of the most important biochemists of the twentieth century. A Jewish homosexual living openly with his partner, he was also among the most despised figures in the Third Reich. Yet top Nazi officials-perhaps even Hitler himself-dreaded cancer and protected Warburg in the hope he could cure it. Using new archival sources and interviews with current cancer authorities, Sam Apple depicts a relentless figure, hungry for fame, who pursued h...

Shikake introduces the latest example of practical wisdom from abroad: shikakeology, a phenomenon sweeping Japan. Naohiro Matsumura–renowned as the founder of the study of shikake, the Japanese word for "device"-has devised a new approach to design as astonishingly simple in its logic as it is sophisticated in its psychology. For example: a staircase painted like piano keys prompts people to exercise or a symbol of a shrine placed in a public square discourages vandalism. Combining traditiona...

Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans i...

Over fifty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) is celebrated as the greatest rock guitarist of all time. But before he was setting guitars and the world aflame, James Marshall Hendrix was a shy kid in Seattle, plucking at a broken ukulele and in fear of a father who would hit him for playing left-handed. Bringing Jimi's story to vivid life against the backdrop of midcentury rock, and with a wealth of new information, acclaimed music biographer Philip Norman delivers a captivating ...