Adult

Sarah Vowell sets out to discover the odd, emblematic and exceptional history of Hawaii, the 50th state. In examining the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn, she finds America again, warts and all.

From a master of modern American letters comes a collection of short fiction about people who, as E. L. Doctorow notes in his Preface, are somehow “distinct from their surroundings --- people in some sort of contest with the prevailing world.” 

When Bee hears that Tess, her younger sister, is missing, she returns home to London immediately. She expects to find Tess and give her the usual big sister lecture scolding her flighty behavior --- but Bee never could have prepared for what really awaits her. 

Emily Maxwell, a widow with grown children far away, grapples with her new independence, discovering hidden strengths and realizing that life always offers new possibilities. 

Still recovering from his last case and struggling with his personal life, Kari Vaara is pushed into the case of a 90-year-old national hero for war crimes committed during World War II --- which may be related to a murder-by-torture case that he’s also investigating.

In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues. Rickey's is the classic American tale of a poor boy from Ohio whose faith and dogged work ethic took him to the pinnacle of success.