Adult

After a service in the Army, Gao Aijun is on his way back to his ancestral village. Close to his arrival, he sees a strikingly attractive woman walking barefoot alongside a railway track, and he is instantly smitten. She is Xia Hongmei and lives up to her name of “beautiful flower.” Hiding their relationship from their spouses, the pair hurl themselves into the struggle to bring revolution to their backwater village. Emboldened by encouragement from the Party, the couple dig a literal “tunnel of love” between their homes, where their revolutionary and sexual fervor reaches a boiling point. But when their torrid relationship is finally discovered, and they have to answer to Hongmei’s husband, their dreams of a bright future together begin to fray.

On the heels of his third tour in Iraq, the fabric of Dave Cartwright’s life has begun to unravel. Gripped by PTSD, he finds himself losing his home, his wife, his direction. When tragedy strikes, Dave makes a dramatic decision: he and his seven-year-old daughter, Bella, will head off the grid to live in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. As they carve out a home in a cave in that harsh, breathtaking landscape, echoes of its past begin to reach them. Bella retreats into herself, absorbed by visions of a mother and son who lived in the cave thousands of years earlier, at the end of the last ice age. Back in town, Dave and Bella themselves are rapidly becoming the stuff of legend --- to all but those who would force them to return home.

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale --- from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. THE ANTHROPOCENE REVIEWED is an open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.

Joan has spent a lifetime enduring the cruelties of men. But when one of them commits a shocking act of violence in front of her, she flees New York City in search of Alice, the only person alive who can help her make sense of her past. In the sweltering hills above Los Angeles, Joan unravels the horrific event she witnessed as a child --- that has haunted her every waking moment --- while forging the power to finally strike back.

An accomplished herbalist and geographer, Dara Saville has produced an ecological manual for developing relationships with the land and plants in a new theoretical approach to using herbal medicines. Designed to increase our understanding of plants’ rapport with their environment, this trailblazing herbal speaks to our innate connection to place and provides a pathway to understanding the medicinal properties of plants through their ecological relationships. With 39 plant profiles and detailed color photographs, Saville provides an extensive materia medica in which she offers practical tools and information alongside inspiration for working with plants in a way that restores our connection to the natural world.

At the age of 12, Cam Perron started writing letters to former Negro League players, asking for their autographs and a few words about their careers. He got back much more than he expected. By the time Cam finished middle school, letters had turned into phone calls, and he was spending hours a day talking with the players. In these conversations, many of the players revealed that their careers had been unrecognized over time, and they’d fallen out of touch with their former teammates. So Cam, along with a small group of fellow researchers, organized the first annual Negro League Players Reunion in Birmingham, Alabama in 2010. At the celebratory, week-long event, 15-year-old Cam and the players --- who were in their 70s, 80s and 90s --- finally met in person. They quickly became family.

James “Cool Papa” Bell was a legend in Black baseball, a lightning fast switch hitter elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. In THE BONA FIDE LEGEND OF COOL PAPA BELL, experienced baseball writer and historian Lonnie Wheeler recounts the life of this extraordinary player, a key member of some of the greatest Negro League teams in history. Born to sharecroppers in Mississippi, Bell was part of the Great Migration, and in St. Louis, baseball saved Bell from a life working in slaughterhouses. Wheeler charts Bell’s ups and downs in life and in baseball, in the United States, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, where he went to escape American racism and MLB’s color line.

In AMERICA'S GAME IN THE WILD-CARD ERA, Bryan Soderholm-Difatte provides a compelling examination of Major League Baseball since the 1994 players’ strike. He reveals how the last quarter century has been the most dynamic in MLB history and argues that bringing wild-card teams and the division-series round into the postseason mix have fundamentally changed how dynasties should be perceived. Following the major storylines for all 30 teams, along with the division races and state of dynasties over the past 25 years, AMERICA'S GAME IN THE WILD-CARD ERA is a captivating look into a new age of baseball.

In THE RESHAPING OF AMERICA'S GAME, Bryan Soderholm-Difatte reflects on the factors and challenges that have changed Major League Baseball since the 1994-1995 players’ strike. He examines the consolidation of power in the Commissioner’s Office, the influx of Latin and Asian players, the boom in new stadiums, the influence of analytics in reshaping how rosters are constructed, the relationship between managers and the front office, and the rise of the power-game between pitchers and batters that has led to unprecedented strikeout and home run totals.

In GATHERING CROWDS, Paul Hensler details how baseball grew and evolved from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Trepidation that without the reserve clause only wealthy teams would succeed diminished when small-market clubs in Minnesota, Kansas City and Boston found their way to pennants and World Series titles. The proliferation of games broadcast on cable and satellite systems seemed to create a thirst for more baseball rather than discourage fans from going to the ballpark. And as fans clicked the turnstiles and purchased more and more team-licensed products, the national pastime proved it could survive and thrive. By the end of the 1980s, baseball had positioned itself to progress into the future stronger and more popular than ever.