Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning. Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from California's subdivisions, where the... (more)

Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy

Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy

by Arlie Russell Hochschild, Barbara Ehrenreich

Women are moving around the globe as never before. But for every female executive racking up frequent flier miles, there are multitudes of women whose journeys go unnoticed. Each year, millions leave third world countries to work in the homes, nurseries, and brothels of the first world. This broad-scale transfer of labor results in an odd displacement, in which the female energy that flows to wealthy countries is... (more)

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

by Jeffrey Sachs

A landmark exploration of the way out of extreme poverty for the world’s poorest citizens Among the most eagerly anticipated books of any year, this landmark exploration of prosperity and poverty distills the life work of an economist Time calls one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Sachs’s aim is nothing less than to deliver a big picture of how societies emerge from poverty. To do so he ... (more)

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work: Simple Ways to Minimize Stress and Conflict While Bringing Out the Best in Yourself and Others (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff Series)

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work: Simple Ways to Minimize Stress and Conflict While Bringing Out the Best in Yourself and Others (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff Series)

by Richard Carlson

Carlson shows readers how to interact more peaceably and joyfully with colleagues, clients, and bosses and reveals tips to minimize stress and bring out the best in themselves and others.

The Jew Store

by Stella Suberman

The Bronsons were the first Jews to ever live in the small town of Concordia, Tennessee-a town consisting of one main street, one bank, one drugstore, one picture show, one feed and seed, one hardware store, one beauty parlor, one barber shop, one blacksmith, and many Christian churches. That didn't stop Aaron Bronson, a Russian immigrant, from moving his young family out of New York by horse and wagon and... (more)

Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel

by Jane Smiley

Over an extraordinary twenty-year career, Jane Smiley has written all kinds of novels: mystery, comedy, historical fiction, epic. “Is there anything Jane Smiley cannot do?” raves Time magazine. But in the wake of 9/11, Smiley faltered in her hitherto unflagging impulse to write and decided to approach novels from a different angle: she read one hundred of them, from classics such as the thousand-year-old Tale... (more)

China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power

China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power

by Luann Walther, Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl Wudunn, Nicholas D. Kristoff

Two Pulitzer Prize-winning Beijing correspondents for The New York Times examine the evolution of China as it struggles for economic and political power, providing a fascinating portrait of the human implications of recent Chinese events. 40,000 first printing. Tour.

Lost for Words

by John Humphrys

From empty cliche to meaningless jargon, dangling participle to sentences without verbs, the English language is reeling. It is under attack from all sides. Politicians dupe us with deliberately evasive language. Bosses worry about impacting the bottom line while they think out of the box. Academics talk obscure mumbo jumbo. Journalists and broadcasters, who should know better, lazily collaborate. John Humphrys... (more)

World Politics in a New Era (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)

World Politics in a New Era (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)

by Steven L. Spiegel

WORLD POLITICS IN A NEW ERA provides a basic overview of international relations, providing a strong historical foundation coupled with the integration of current issues and a cohesive theme of globalization and fragmentation. Completely reorganized in the Third Edition to cover theoretical issues in the beginning, highlight the importance of political economy, then spotlight both historical and current global... (more)

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

by Jennifer Armstrong, Irene Gut Opdyke

IRENE GUT WAS just 17 in 1939, when the Germans and Russians devoured her native Poland. Just a girl, really. But a girl who saw evil and chose to defy it. “No matter how many Holocaust stories one has read, this one is a must, for its impact is so powerful.”— School Library Journal , Starred A Book Sense Top Ten Pick A Publisher’s Weekly Choice of the Year’s Best Books A Booklist Editors... (more)

Anything Your Little Heart Desires: An American Family Story

Anything Your Little Heart Desires: An American Family Story

by Patricia Bosworth

Through the prism of the life of her father--lawyer and well-known political activist Bartley Crum--Patricia Bosworth sheds light on an important era in modern American history--from the heady, hope-filled days of Roosevelt's New Deal to the dawn of the Cold War. of photos.

The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics

The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics

by Mark Lilla

The Reckless Mind is a study of how a number of important 20th-century European intellectuals came to support tyrannical regimes and totalitarian political ideas. Lilla demonstrates how the convulsions of the 20th century shaped the political sensibilities of important thinkers who were so deluded by the ideologies of the time that they closed their eyes to brutality, coercion, and state-sponsored terror. He... (more)

Daughter of China: A True Story of Love and Betrayal

Daughter of China: A True Story of Love and Betrayal

by Meihong Xu, Larry Engelmann

The critically acclaimed memoir of a forbidden love affair in communist China "An important work."–San Francisco Chronicle "Riveting."–Kirkus Reviews "This memoir is a must-read."–San Jose Mercury News Now in paperback, here is the stunning true tale of a remarkable woman trained as an elite soldier in the Chinese army, her forbidden love for an American, and her seemingly impossible... (more)

Iris Murdoch as I Knew Her

by A. N. Wilson

Wild Europe

by Boz?idar Jezernik

Combining witty commentary with meticulous research, Jezernik reveals how "the Balkans" have been perceived by Western European travellers and experts from the mid-sixteenth to late 20th centuries: many of them have regarded the region as part of Asia, and sought accordingly to inform their contemporaries of its "exotic", "outlandish" and "primitive" ways. Exploring over a thousand first-hand reports and comparing... (more)

European Culture Since 1848: From Modern to Postmodern and Beyond

European Culture Since 1848: From Modern to Postmodern and Beyond

by James A. Winders

Emerging from the convergence of intellectual history, and European Culture Since 1848 is the first book that meets the challenge of the new cultural history by offering a thematic survey of modern European culture that synthesizes new directions and interpretive debates. James Winders explores the themes in clear and accessible language and fills a longstanding need for a wide-ranging, thematic study of modern... (more)

Romancing Vietnam

by Justin Wintle

For three months in 1989-1990, British journalist Wintle traveled across Vietnam, getting to know Vietnamese from all walks in Hanoi, Hue, Danang, My Lai, Ho Chi Minh City and many lesser-known spots. His goal was "to furnish an alternative to the received picture," which, for Americans, is top-heavy with Vietnam war memories and/or analysis. The most pleasant surprise about this entertaining and informative... (more)

BROTHER LOVE: Murder, Money, and a MessiahSydney P. Freedberg

by the editors of Time-Life Books, of Time-Life Books

Farang: Thailand Through the Eyes of an Ex-pat

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by Eric Schlosser