NONFICTION TITLES
THEY CAME FOR MY NEIGHBORS (University of Nevada Press, 2020)
Las Vegas immigration lawyer's account of his work, as director of the University of Nevada Law School Immigration Clinic, helping the city's many immigrants handle the increased pressures on them from the Trump Administration.
BY CARLA SPIVACK
THE SAVVY WOMAN'S GUIDE TO PROPERTY LAW: HOW WOMEN ARE CHEATED AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020)
The author, a leading authority on women's property law, Oxford Research professor of law at Oklahoma City University School of Law describing the many ways in which the law discriminates against women in wills, estates and marriage settlements, and the actions they can take to improve their lot. With an introduction by Naomi Cahn, George Washington University law professor, contributing writer at Forbes magazine, and guest on numerous media outlets including NPR and MSNBC.
BY ANNE BOYD RIOUX
MEG, JO, BETH, AMY: THE STORY OF LITTLE WOMEN AND WHY IT STILL MATTERS, (Norton, August 2018, hardcover)
The author of Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist has written a cultural history of Louisa M. Alcott's iconic American novel, shortly to celebrate its 150th anniversary: who reads it now, who should read it and why, and how its writing changed its author's life.
Foreign rights to Spain (Ampersand)
The New Yorker | USA Today | Newsday | Lit Hub Book Excerpt | WSJ Review | The Atlantic Article | Library Journal Best Books of 2018 | Daily Mail Best Books of 2018
New Republic Article | Christian Science Monitor 10 Best Books of August | The Rumpus Article
Newsday Best Summer Books 2018 | Lit Hub Article | The Washington Post | NPR | The Boston Globe
"Rioux's deeply informed, multifaceted, ardently argued, and mind-expanding celebration of Little Women affirms its pleasures and significance as a tale ripe for reconsideration and recommendation to YA and adult readers across the gender spectrum." --Booklist, Aug 2018
"An enlightening, well-documented argument for why this novel is essential--will inspire readers to become acquainted or reacquainted with this influential classic." --Kirkus, May 2018
CONSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON: The Portrait of a Lady Novelist (Norton, Feb 2016, hardcover)
Today Woolson is primarily known as a close friend of Henry James and the model for Isabel Archer in his Portrait of a Lady. In this biography, Rioux, an English professor, reconsiders this author’s life, her books, and the meaning of her relationship with James.
Chicago Tribune Best Books of 2016 | Bookslut Review | LARB Review | NYTB Review | WSJ Review | Boston Globe Book Review | Chicago Tribune Review | Also reviewed in the New Yorker, the Star Tribune, Booklist, Library Journal, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, & elsewhere.
Articles by Rioux: Salon | The Daily Beast | Lit Hub
BY HOPE FERDOWSIAN
PHOENIX ZONES: WHERE STRENGTH IS BORN AND RESILIENCE LIVES
(University of Chicago Press, April 2018, hardcover)
Human and animal rights activist Dr. Hope Ferdowsian's book shows how humans and animals across the globe can help each other recover from trauma and heal—an experience known as "the Phoenix Effect."
"With clarity and poignancy, [Dr. Ferdowsian] lays out a case that human and animal suffering are closely connected." -Times Literary Supplement Review
"An extraordinary, vital book... an absorbing read that combines hard science with adventure, personal observation, and compassion." -Ingrid Newkirk, president and cofounder of PETA
"This is a gem of a book... It radiates light and offers hope in these dark and dangerous times." -David Livingstone Smith, author of Less Than Human
Times Literary Supplement Review | San Francisco Book Review | Center for Humans & Nature Review | UNM Health Sciences
BY SOPHIA ERICKSON
THE CHINA OPTION: A GUIDE FOR MILLENNIALS: HOW TO WORK, PLAY, AND FIND SUCCESS IN CHINA (Travelers' Tales, August 2018)
The author, a 24-year-old Oxford graduate, explains in great detail how young people can teach English in China as a way to pay off their student loan debt--using her own experience as a guide. Part travel guidebook, part career advice, part memoir, 100% useful, and often funny. It addresses the many quirks and oddities of living in China in a practical fashion, and provides a fine perspective on cultural nuances. Up-to-date on the fast-changing environment of Beijing. The text is entertaining and resourceful as it navigates the uncertainty and adventure underlying the move to a foreign country, while keeping in mind the reality of career and financial obligations.
BY STEPHEN ROSENFIELD
MASTERING STANDUP: The Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Comedian (Chicago Review Press, Nov 2017, paperback)
Rosenfield, founder and director of the American Comedy Institute, has written a guidebook, offering a system of writing and performing standup, drawing on his own extensive experience (and those of countless stars, like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Louis C.K., & many more). Audio to Tantor, narrated by the author.
"The best-known comedy teacher in the country." -NY Times | BBC News Interview | The Guardian Interview
"Even if you never attempt stand-up yourself, you’ll find this quick to read guide a pleasure." -Library Journal, Feb. 15, 2018
"If spending a week or four attending a comedy class in New York City sounds impractical, there's no need to drop the mic. This entertaining guide by the founder of the American Comedy Institute makes a solid stand-in for learning to humor your way into an audience's heart." -Stanford Magazine
"Unlike many books that teach acting skills or other performing art forms, this one is not dry or stuffy. Rather, it feels like a handshake and a welcome, with a wink on the side, because we are talking about comedy, after all." -Windy City Reviews, March 6
"Rosenfield and his book are breeding a new generation of comedic heroes." -Booklist, Oct. 15
BY MICHAEL E. SMITH
AT HOME WITH THE AZTECS (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, March 2016, hardcover)
Smith is a noted archaeologist who has excavated a number of Aztec sites. Focusing on the domestic life of commoners rather than remains of court elites, he offers a radically different view of the Aztecs. The book is a thoroughly readable corrective to an age-old picture of an ancient culture.
2017 recipient of the Society for American Archaeology's Book Award-Popular
BY PAUL EDWARDS
THE CONCISE GUIDE TO HIP-HOP MUSIC: A Fresh Look at the Art of Hip Hop, from Old School Beats to Freestyle Rap
(St. Martin's Griffin, Feb 2015, trade paperback)
In this comprehensive, accessible guide, Paul Edwards breaks down the difference between old school and new school, recaps the biggest influencers of the genre, and sets straight the misconceptions about hip-hop artists and their music. For fans old and new alike.
"Paul Edwards goes straight to rappers to expose the myths and seek out the truth...An entertaining and insightful read."
-Mickey Hess, author of The Dirty Version and Is Hip Hop Dead?
HOW TO RAP 2 : THE ART AND SCIENCE OF THE HIP-HOP MC (Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review Press, 2013, trade paperback)
A sequel to How to Rap that will detail the various styles of “flow” in rapping touched on in the original. Useful to people learning to rap as it will list all the techniques of rhythm, rhyme, and delivery in one book, as well as describing how the techniques were formulated and evolved.
Foreign Rights to Korea (Hansmedia)
HOW TO RAP: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF THE HIP-HOP MC (Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review Press, Dec 2009, trade paperback)
An ingenious and thorough guide to writing successful and winning rap and hip-hop lyrics, by a young London musician who has made a thorough study of the form for the past five years. The first book of its kind, sure to become a standard text on this popular subject. Includes interviews.
Foreign Rights to Russia (OOO Alpina publisher), Japan (Blues Interactions, Inc.), Korea (Hansmedia), & the UK (Virgin Books/Random House)
BY BUDDHA MONK & MICKEY HESS
THE DIRTY VERSION: On Stage, in the Studio, and in the Streets with Ol' Dirty Bastard (It Books/HarperCollins, Nov 2014, hardcover; Dec 2015, paperback)
Ol' Dirty Bastard was a rap superstar whose short life ended at 35 when he collapsed in the studio while recording an album for Wu-Tang Clan. Now his story is told by Buddha Monk, his cousin and close friend since childhood, in collaboration with writer and professor Mickey Hess.
BY FRANCES ARCHIPENKO GRAY
MY LIFE WITH ALEXANDER ARCHIPENKO (Hirmer Verlag, Oct 2014, hardcover)
The great Ukrainian avant-garde modernist sculptor Alexander Archipenko was fifty years Gray's senior when he met her as a young art student in 1955. A four-year affair was followed by a four-year marriage--and the artist's death in 1964. Now his widow tells their unlikely story.
BY INGRID STEFFENSEN
FAST GIRL: Don't Brake Until You see the Face of God and Other Good Advice from the Racetrack (Seal Press/Perseus, Sept 2012, trade paperback) What turns a seemingly conventional NJ mother and college professor on, according to her hugely lively, funny and often thoughtful memoir, is driving really fast cars on a racetrack. A woman's view of an almost exclusively male world.
"In her entertaining, tongue-in-cheek sendup of the self-help confessional, she writes of feminist release, Zen-like concentration, and simple fun of high-performance driving." -Publisher's Weekly, 6/18/12
BY PATRICIA HARMAN
ARMS WIDE OPEN : A MIDWIFE'S JOURNEY--FLOWER CHILD TO EARTH MOTHER (Beacon Press, April 2011, hardcover; March 2012, paperback)
The author of The Blue Cotton Gown recounts how, in her hippie years, she began to help women in birthing and went on to develop her skills and credentials as a midwife in accord with her vision of an enviornmentally sound and sustainable lifestyle. An action-packed memoir. | Audio rights to Audible; Foreign Rights to Denmark (Cicero/Rosinante & Co.)
THE BLUE COTTON GOWN (Beacon Press, Fall 2008, hardcover; Sept 2009, paperback)
Nurse-midwife Patricia Harman runs a West Virginia women’s health care center with her OB/GYN husband. In a page-turning narrative nonfiction account of a year in the life of their practice, we hear dozens of patients' stories. To all of them, Harman brings deep empathy and knowing care.
Audio rights to Audible; Foreign Rights to Denmark (Cicero/Rosinante & Co.)
"Coaxing women in thin gowns to share secrets--about abusive boyfriends, OxyContin habits, unplanned pregnancies--she reminds them that they're not alone." -People Magazine
"The whole book is touchingly revelatory of how valuable a medical practitioner who commits more than the current average of four minutes to each patient can be....deeply moving." -Booklist, starred review
BY ROBERT COURLAND
CONCRETE PLANET (Rowman & Littlefield, Nov 2011, hardcover)
Concrete is the most common building material in the world today, but the way we make and use it now is environmentally harmful and needlessly subject to quick decay. Courland’s fascinating account of the history of concrete and its pioneers suggests ways it can once again be the reliable.
“Courland’s book takes a seemingly mundane topic and transforms it into a very readable and entertaining history lesson.” -Booklist
BY ARNIE BERNSTEIN
BATH MASSACRE: AMERICA'S FIRST SCHOOL BOMBING
(University of Michigan Press, April 2009, simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback)
One of the great, but comparatively little remembered, disasters of the early American 20th century was the bombing of the Bath Consolidated School in the lower Michigan peninsula, which in 1927 killed 38 schoolchildren and six adults. The story of the first school mass murder in U.S. history.
BY BLAIR KILPATRICK
ACCORDION DREAMS: A Journey into Cajun and Creole Music (University Press of Mississippi, Spring 2009, hardcover)
Kilpatrick, a practicing psychologist, was a middle-aged mother of two who became infatuated with the sound of Cajun music while on vacation in New Orleans. Though she had no musical experience, she eventually formed a Cajun Creole band, Sauce Piquante. An account of self-discovery.
BY MICHAEL D. BART & LAUREL CORONA
UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH (St. Martin's Press, May 2008, hardcover)
This unique Holocaust story offers not only an eyewitness account of the partisans from the Vilna ghetto who fought back against the Nazis, but also a love story born among them that ended only 50 years later with the deaths of two survivors in California.
Best Biography, San Diego Book and Writing Awards, 2009 | Winner of 2009 Christopher Award
BY MARTINO FAGIUOLI, ALEJANDRA ALONSO, & PEDRO CONTRERAS
HAVANA DECO (W. W. Norton, Nov 2007, hardcover)
A noted photographer, a critic, and an art historian combine to celebrate the lavish creations of the prewar Art Deco period that illuminate the Cuban capital. This beautiful volume, hitherto available only in Cuba and Italy, makes its US debut in a completely revised edition.
BY MICHAEL ATKINSON & LAUREL SHIFFMAN
FLICKIPEDIA: Perfect Films for Every Occasion, Holiday, Mood, Ordeal, and Whim by Michael Atkinson and Laurel Shiffman
(Chicago Review Press, Oct 2007, trade paperback original)
Goes through life occasions and suggests a list of appropriate movies for each, explaining why the movie works for that part of life. The result is a wonderfully wide-ranging list of movies, with pithy commentary on each. An invaluable guide to viewing.
BY GENNADY GORELIK & ANTONINA BOUIS
THE WORLD OF ANDREI SAKHAROV: A RUSSIAN PHYSICIST'S PATH TO FREEDOM
(Oxford University Press, Dec 2005, hardcover)
The story of the famed father of the Soviet nuclear weapons program, exploring his life in a scientific context for the first time, as well as his role as a humanitarian dissident.
BY ANNE DIMOCK
HUMBLE PIE: MUSINGS ON WHAT LIES BENEATH THE CRUST (Andrews McMeel, Fall 2005, 2nd printing)
The pie, once one of the iconic American symbols of home cooking, has fallen on hard times as a largely factory-made, store-bought product. Dimock, a deeply committed pie-baker, aims for a pie renaissance. A glowing combination of memoir, cookbook, and history.
BY JUDY JURACEK
SURFACES: VISUAL RESEARCH FOR ARCHITECTS, ARTISTS, AND DESIGNERS
(W.W. Norton, 1997, hardcover, CD-ROM included) | Now in its 9th printing
First in the series, including SOFT SURFACES (2000), NATURAL SURFACES (2002), and ARCHITECTURAL SURFACES: DETAILS FOR ARTISTS, ARCHITECTS, AND DESIGNERS (2005)
Foreign Rights to the UK (Thames & Hudson) & China (Dalian University of Technology Press)
Entire SURFACES series is the winner of the GOLDEN PEN AWARD from the U.S. Institute of Theatre Technology
BY JAMES ELKINS
PICTURES AND TEARS (Routledge, 2001, hardcover; 2004, paperback)
A beautiful book about art for people who don’t understand why they find certain pictures particularly affecting. Part art history, part psychology, part delighted discovery--an original and provocative approach. Translation and film rights controlled by BBA.
Foreign Rights to China (Jiangsu Fine Arts-Simplified Chinese & La Gauche Publishing Ltd.-Complex Chinese), South Korea (Artbooks Publishing Co.), & Italy (Paravia-Bruno Mondadori).
BY LARRY LACHMAN
DOGS ON THE COUCH (Overlook Press, 1999, hardcover; 2002, paperback)
First in the series, including CATS ON THE COUNTER with Frank Mickadeit (St. Martin's Press, 2000, hardcover; 2002, paperback)
and BIRDS OFF THE PERCH with Diane Grindol and Frank Kocher (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 2003, paperback original).