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Top 25 September Nonfiction

Cover art for SURVIVING SURVIVAL
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 10, 2012
Kirkus Star SURVIVING SURVIVAL: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF RESILIENCE
by Laurence Gonzales
"Survivors of traumatic events often do not recover without help from others, and Gonzales' excellent book is an education for those wishing to be of use in a stressful, often frightening world."
How can the world smite thee? Let us count the ways... Read full book review >
Cover art for HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
Kirkus Star HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED: RETHINKING CHARACTER AND INTELLIGENCE
by Paul Tough
"Well-written and bursting with ideas, this will be essential reading for anyone who cares about childhood in America."
Turning the conventional wisdom about child development on its head, New York Times Magazine editor Tough (Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America, 2008) argues that non-cognitive skills (persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence) are the most critical to success in school and life. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE DANGEROUS ANIMALS CLUB
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Star THE DANGEROUS ANIMALS CLUB
by Stephen Tobolowsky
"A copiously examined life rendered with humor and heart."
Veteran character actor Tobolowsky, perhaps best known for his role in Groundhog Day, offers a beguiling collection of autobiographical essays detailing his experiences in and out of show business. Read full book review >
Cover art for WALKING THE AMAZON
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Star WALKING THE AMAZON: 860 DAYS. ONE STEP AT A TIME.
by Ed Stafford
"A gripping celebration of physical and mental endurance."
A memoir of an astonishing trip walking "nine million-odd steps" for more than two years along the Amazon River's course from Peruvian headwaters to Brazilian mouth. Read full book review >
Cover art for LINCOLN'S CODE
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 4, 2012
Kirkus Star LINCOLN'S CODE: THE LAWS OF WAR IN AMERICAN HISTORY
by John Fabian Witt
"Truly remarkable, composed with all the precision and insight you expect from a law professor, marked by all the elegance and sparkling readability you don't."
Artfully mixing law, history and sharp analysis, a Yale law professor examines the persistent struggle to reconcile justice and humanitarianism in America's conduct of war. Read full book review >
Cover art for WHEN AMERICA FIRST MET CHINA
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 10, 2012
Kirkus Star WHEN AMERICA FIRST MET CHINA: AN EXOTIC HISTORY OF TEA, DRUGS, AND MONEY IN THE AGE OF SAIL
by Eric Jay Dolin
"A rich, highly readable examination of the seeds of poppies, trade, greed, grandeur and an international partnership that remains uneasy and perilous."
The author of Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America (2010) returns with the story of America's first voyages to the Middle Kingdom, where Americans and Chinese looked at each other with wonder, alarm and calculation. Read full book review >