Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire by Caroline Finkel

 

The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and most influential empires in world history. Its reach extended to three continents and it survived for more than six centuries, but its history is too often colored by the memory of its bloody final throes on the battlefields of World War I. In this magisterial work-the first definitive account written for the general reader-renowned scholar and journalist Caroline Finkel lucidly recounts the epic story of the Ottoman Empire from its origins in the thirteenth century through its destruction in the twentieth.

Life's Ratchet: How Molecular Machines Extract Order from Chaos - Peter M. Hoffmann

The cells in our bodies consist of molecules, made up of the same carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms found in air and rocks. But molecules, such as water and sugar, are not alive. So how do our cells—assemblies of otherwise “dead” molecules—come to life, and together constitute a living being?

The Road to Character by David Brooks

“A powerful, haunting book that works its way beneath your skin.”—The Guardian (U.K.)

“I wrote this book not sure I could follow the road to character, but I wanted at least to know what the road looks like and how other people have trodden it.”—David Brooks
 

The Rise of Hitler: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives - Trevor Sailsbury

 

American Warlord: A True Story Hardcover – Deckle Edge

Chucky Taylor is the American son of the infamous African dictator Charles Taylor. Raised by his mother in the Florida suburbs, at the age of 17 he followed his father to Liberia, where he ended up leading a murderous militia. Chucky is now in a federal penitentiary, the only American ever convicted of torture.
This shocking and essential work of reportage tells his tragic and terrifying story for the first time.

In Defense of a Liberal Education - Fareed Zakaria

  “In Defense of a Liberal Education brilliantly and provocatively argues that the university is much more than a vocational school. The flight from the liberal arts is leaving us impoverished. Zakaria's book couldn't have come at a more valuable moment.” (Malcolm Gladwell)

J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997-2013 - Philip W. Errington

  Rowling's books are covered in exquisite detail ... Many of the notes read like good stories in themselves and there are some fascinating snippets of information to be had. (The Bookbag)

Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World by Amir Alexander

Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower - Henry M. Paulson

 DEALING WITH CHINA takes the reader behind closed doors to witness the creation and evolution and future of China's state-controlled capitalism.

Hank Paulson has dealt with China unlike any other foreigner. As head of Goldman Sachs, Paulson had a pivotal role in opening up China to private enterprise. Then, as Treasury secretary, he created the Strategic Economic Dialogue with what is now the world's second-largest economy. He negotiated with China on needed economic reforms, while safeguarding the teetering U.S. financial system. Over his career, Paulson has worked with scores of top Chinese leaders, including Xi Jinping, China's most powerful man in decades.

In DEALING WITH CHINA, Paulson draws on his unprecedented access to modern China's political and business elite, including its three most recent heads of state, to answer several key questions:

Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania by Frank Bruni

Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no.

That belief is wrong. It's cruel. And in WHERE YOU GO IS NOT WHO YOU'LL BE, Frank Bruni explains why, giving students and their parents a new perspective on this brutal, deeply flawed competition and a path out of the anxiety that it provokes.