Adult

The American Revolution is often portrayed as a high-minded, orderly event whose capstone, the Constitution, provided the ideal framework for a democratic, prosperous nation. In AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS, Alan Taylor gives us a different creation story. Rising out of the continental rivalries of European empires and their native allies, Taylor’s Revolution builds like a ground fire overspreading Britain’s mainland colonies. Conflict ignited on the frontier, where settlers clamored to push west into Indian lands against British restrictions, and in the seaboard cities, where commercial elites mobilized riots and boycotts to resist British tax policies.

1956 was one of the most remarkable years of the 20th century. All across the globe, ordinary people spoke out, filled the streets and city squares, and took up arms in an attempt to win their freedom. Simon Hall takes the long view of the year's events --- putting them in their post-war context and looking toward their influence on the counterculture movements of the 1960s --- to tell the story of the year's epic, global struggles from the point of view of the freedom fighters, dissidents, and countless ordinary people who worked to overturn oppressive and authoritarian systems in order to build a brave new world.

Cora is a young slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood --- where greater pain awaits. And so when Caesar, a slave who has recently arrived from Virginia, urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him. In Colson Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon, and people call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But behind that cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when a chatty young couple with two daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unexpected friendship which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

Maribeth Klein is a harried working mother who’s so busy taking care of her husband and twins that she doesn’t even realize she’s had a heart attack. Surprised to discover that her recuperation seems to be an imposition on those who rely on her, Maribeth does the unthinkable: she packs a bag and leaves. But, as is often the case, once we get where we’re going, we see our lives from a different perspective. Far from the demands of family and career, and with the help of liberating new friendships, Maribeth is able to own up to secrets she has been keeping from herself and those she loves.

New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history --- and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country? As Paul takes greater and greater risks, he’ll find that everyone in his path is playing their own game, and no one is quite who they seem.

Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in 11 years is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia Bloch and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the meaning of home --- and the fundamental question of how much aliveness one can bear.

Follow ink evangelist Johanna Basford down an inky trail through the Magical Jungle and discover a forgotten world of flora and fauna just waiting to be colored in this new coloring book for adults. Through intricate pen and ink illustrations, color-inners of all ages are invited to explore an exotic rainforest teeming with creatures large and small. Encounter speckled tree frogs and dainty hummingbirds, prowling tigers and playful monkeys. Let your imagination run wild in the leafy treetop canopy or find yourself drawn to the delicate world of sensational blossoms and tropical plants below.

In A LIFE IN PARTS, Bryan Cranston traces the many roles he inhabited throughout his remarkable life, both on and off screen. For the first time he shares the story of his early years as an actor on the soap opera “Loving,” his recurring spots on “Seinfeld” and his time as bumbling father Hal on “Malcolm in the Middle,” to his tour-de-force, Tony-winning performance as Lyndon Baines Johnson in Broadway’s “All the Way,” to his most iconic role of all: Walter White of “Breaking Bad” fame.

Myra and Eldon Little Shield found an abandoned baby on their doorstep. Five years later, no one has come back to claim the little girl now known as Mary Anne Little Shield. But now that she’s old enough to start school, her foster parents fear social services will take their white child away from them. Determined to adopt Mary Anne, the Little Shields hire lawyer Clint Hopkins, who wants Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden as co-counsel on the case. But before their meeting can take place, a black truck deliberately runs Hopkins down in the street. Enlisting Father John O’Malley to help investigate who would kill to stop the child’s adoption, Vicky unravels a connection between the girl and a missing alcoholic Arapaho wanted for robbery.