Adult

Andrew R. Graybill sheds light on the overlooked interracial Native-white relationships critical in the development of the trans-Mississippi West in this multigenerational saga. At the center of Graybill’s history is the virtually unexamined 1870 Marias Massacre, on a par with the more infamous slaughters at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee.

California now has more trees than at any time since the late Pleistocene. This green landscape, however, is not the work of nature. It’s the work of history. In the years after the Gold Rush, American settlers remade the California landscape, harnessing nature to their vision of the good life. TREES IN PARADISE offers an insightful, new perspective on the history of the Golden State and the American West.

THE HUNTED WHALE is a spectacular photographic exploration of the material culture of American whaling in the age of sail. Before the coming of steam and diesel ships with instruments of mechanized slaughter, the hunt was a relatively even contest between two wily mammals --- man and the sperm whale.

To Sam Blount, meeting Julia is the best thing that has ever happened to him. Working at the local college, he’d been feeling troubled about his approaching 40th birthday, but being with Julia makes him feel young and hopeful. Their relationship is tested by a shy young man with a secret, Marcus Broley, who is also infatuated with Julia.

Wealthy New York socialite Beret Osmundsen has been estranged from her younger sister, Lillie, for a year when she gets word from her aunt and uncle that Lillie has died suddenly in Denver. What they do not tell her is that Lillie had become a prostitute and was brutally murdered in the brothel where she had been living. When Beret discovers the sordid truth of Lillie’s death, she makes her way to Denver, determined to find her sister’s murderer.

What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway?
 
Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.

In 1961, 20 year-old Phyllis Chesler arrived in Kabul with her Afghan bridegroom, now the property of her husband’s family with no rights of citizenship.Upon arrival, her husband, a wealthy, westernized college student with dreams of reforming his country, reverted to traditional and tribal customs. Chesler fought against her imposed seclusion and lack of freedom, her Afghan family’s attempts to convert her from Judaism to Islam, and her husband’s wish to permanently tie her to the country through childbirth.Drawing upon her personal diaries, Chesler recounts her ordeal, the nature of gender apartheid --- and her longing to explore this beautiful, ancient, and exotic country and culture.