Urban and rural collide in this wry, inspiring memoir of a woman who turned a vacant lot in downtown Oakland into a thriving farm. When Novella Carpenter -- captivated by the idea of backyard self-sufficiency as the daughter of two back-to-the-earth hippies -- moves to a ramshackle house in inner-city Oakland and discovers a weed-choked, garbage-strewn abandoned lot next door, she closes her eyes and pictures heirloom tomatoes, a beehive, and a chicken...

"For nearly ten years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration, first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President's Daily Briefing, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency....

"In this triumphant memoir, Carl Bernstein, the Pulitzer Prize-winning coauthor of All the President's Men and pioneer of investigative journalism, recalls his beginnings as an audacious teenage newspaper reporter in the nation's capital--a winning tale of scrapes, gumshoeing, and American bedlam. In 1960, Bernstein was just a sixteen-year-old at considerable risk of failing to graduate high school. Inquisitive, self-taught--and, yes, truant--Bernstein...

"A practical and poetic manifesto promoting new concepts of environmental learning: why environment, inequity, democracy, and diversity are connected challenges, how to navigate the rapid pace of change in the Anthropocene, how to better understand social and ecological networks, how to think about migration both ecologically and culturally, and how to bring a cosmopolitan perspective to place-based approaches. Covers this conceptual ground with clarity,...

A teacher recounts a year on Yamacraw Island, off the South Carolina coast, when he helped black children gain an awareness of themselves as well as the world around them.

"In 2011, Michelle Obama said, "There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made." Since leaving the White House, she has continued to live by those words. Readers explore the most current examples of her activism, but they also take a look into her past to see how her impressive educational and professional background made her a unique and historic First Lady. Detailed sidebars, vibrant photographs, and annotated...

One part memoir, one part theory, and one part DIY manual, 'Better' shows how each of us can reinvent our lives to be our greatest artistic achievements. Presented in the context of the unique story of Better Farm - a sustainability education center originally established as an intentional community - this unusual guide blends theory with practical, hands-on ideas to help you ignite your own creative adventures, including: upcycling trash into treasure;...

Tyson shares 101 letters from people across the globe who have sought him out in search of scientific answers. A luminous companion to the phenomenal bestseller Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has attracted one of the world's largest online followings with his fascinating, widely accessible insights into science and our universe. Now, Tyson invites us to go behind the scenes of his public fame by revealing his...

In 1957 Melba Pattillo turned sixteen. That was also the year she became a warrior on the front lines of a civil rights firestorm. Following the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board Education, she was one of nine teenagers chosen to integrate Little Rock's Central High School. This is her remarkable story. You will listen to the cruel taunts of her schoolmates and their parents. You will run with her from the threat of a lynch mob's...

A Cherokee boyhood of the 1930's is remembered in generous, loving detail ... an unbelievably rich life. Forrest Carter, from the age of four or five, was inseparable from his part-Cherokee grandfather, who owned a farm and ran a country store nearby. Granpa called him Little Sprout; when he grew taller, he became Little Tree. From Granpa he absorbed the Cherokee ethic; to give love without expecting gratitude, to take from the land only what you...