Reader's Place: November 2025
Reader’s Place, November 2025
“Nonfiction November” is back! The following list of 2025 releases includes memoirs, Reconstruction-era history, and The Boss. Enjoy!
The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life, by Helen Whybrow (Library Catalog, Hoopla)
In the heart of Vermont's Green Mountains, Helen Whybrow and her partner are presented with the opportunity to steward a two-hundred-acre conserved farm. Whybrow knows that "belonging more than anything requires participation" and radically intertwines her life with the land. Six months after purchasing Knoll Farm, they unload a flock of Icelandic sheep onto the field and Whybrow becomes a shepherd entering into "nature's constant cycle of life into death into life" and all its unexpected lessons.
The challenging and profoundly rewarding work unfolds for Whybrow in the everyday rituals of farmsteading and caring for her family—birthing lambs in the late winter, harvesting blueberries in summer, fending off coyotes and foxes, seasonal shearing—while instilling the lessons of the land in her daughter and caring for her mother. As life at Knoll Farm endures years both abundant and lean, she learns that true stewardship is about accepting change and adapting. She embraces a transcendent rhythm of blood and bone, milk and muck.
At once inspiring and brave, deeply felt and gorgeously written, “The Salt Stones” is a loving look at the world through a shepherd's interconnected ethos.
Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State, by Caleb Gayle (Library Catalog)
Caleb Gayle recounts the extraordinary tale of Edward McCabe, a Black man who championed the audacious idea to create a state within the Union governed by and for Black people — and the racism, politics, and greed that thwarted him.
As the sweeping changes and brief glimpses of hope brought by the Civil War and Reconstruction began to wither, anger at the opportunities available to newly freed Black people were on the rise. As a result, both Blacks and whites searched for new places to settle. That was when Edward McCabe, a Black businessman and a rising political star in the American West, set in motion his plans to found a state within the Union for Black people to live in and govern. His chosen Oklahoma, a place that the U.S. government had deeded to Indigenous people in the 1830s when it forced thousands of them to leave their homes under Indian Removal, which became known as the Trail of Tears.
McCabe lobbied politicians in Washington, D.C., Kansas, and elsewhere as he exhorted Black people to move to Oklahoma to achieve their dreams of self-determination and land ownership. His rising profile as a leader and spokesman for Black people as well as his willingness to confront white politicians led him to become known as Black Moses. And like his biblical counterpart, McCabe nearly made it to the promised land but was ultimately foiled by politics, business interests, and the growing ambitions of white settlers who also wanted the land.
Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir, by Jeffrey Seller (Library Catalog)
A coming-of-age tale from one of the most successful American producers of our time, Jeffrey Seller, who is the only producer to have mounted two Pulitzer Prize–winning musicals—Hamilton and Rent.
Before he was producing the musical hits of our generation, Jeffrey was just a kid coming to terms with his adoption, trying to understand his sexuality, and determined to escape his dysfunctional household in a poor neighborhood just outside Detroit. We see him find his voice through musical theater and move to New York, where he is determined to shed his past and make a name for himself on Broadway.
But moving to the big city is never easy—especially not at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis—and Jeffrey learns to survive and thrive in the colorful and cutthroat world of commercial theatre. From his early days as an office assistant, to meeting Jonathan Larson and experiencing the triumph and tragedy of Rent, to working with Lin-Manuel Miranda on In the Heights and Hamilton, Jeffrey completely pulls back the curtain on the joyous and gut-wrenching process of making new musicals, finding new audiences, and winning a Tony Award—all the while finding himself.
Told with Jeffrey’s candid and captivating voice, Theater Kid is a gripping memoir about fighting through a hardscrabble childhood to make art on one’s own terms, chasing a dream against many odds, and finding acceptance and community.
Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of “Born to Run,” by Peter Ames Carlin (Library Catalog)
A fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the making of Bruce Springsteen’s ground-breaking album, Born to Run – one of the most iconic records in rock history – “Tonight in Jungleland” combines lush music writing with unprecedented inside access to Springsteen, his bandmates, and the full story behind every song… and coincides with the album’s 50th anniversary in August 2025.
From the opening piano notes of “Thunder Road,” to the final outro of “Jungleland” – with American anthems like “Born to Run” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” in between – Bruce Springsteen’s seminal album, Born to Run, established Springsteen as a creative force in rock and roll. With his back against the wall, he wrote what has been hailed as a perfect album, a defining moment, and a roadmap for what would become a legendary career.
Peter Ames Carlin, whose bestselling biography, “Bruce,” gave him rare access to Springsteen’s inner circle, now returns with the full story of the making of this epic album. Released in August, 1975, Born to Run now celebrates its 50th anniversary. Carlin reveals a treasure trove of untold stories, detailing the writing and recording of every song, as well as the intense and at times tortuous process that mimicked the fault lines in Springsteen’s psyche and career, even as it revealed the depth of his vision. A must-read for any music fan, “Tonight in Jungleland” takes us inside a hallowed creative process and lets us experience history.
Notorious: Portraits of Stars from Hollywood, Culture, Fashion, and Tech, by Maureen Dowd (Library Catalog, Hoopla)
A sly and chatty collection of the revered Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist’s most notorious celebrity profiles.
Shining a white-hot spotlight on America’s famous, from Hollywood legends to Broadway stars to media moguls, “Notorious” is a captivating assortment of Maureen Dowd’s most compelling style features and profiles. Using her signature wit and incisive commentary as a scalpel, Dowd dissects influential cultural elites, including: leading Hollywood women from Uma Thurman to Jane Fonda to Greta Gerwig; silver screen foxes such as Paul Newman, Idris Elba, and Ralph Fiennes; funny people like Tina Fey, Mel Brooks, and Larry David; fashionistas from Andre Leon Talley to Ann Roth to Tom Ford; and hubristic media and tech titans like Elon Musk, Bob Iger, and Peter Thiel. “Notorious” is the perfect antidote to our current political malaise and an intimate, gossipy romp through the culture of celebrity from a legend in American journalism.
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events that Created New York and Shaped America, by Russell Shorto (Library Catalog, Hoopla)
The thrilling narrative of how New York came to be, by the author of the beloved classic “The Island at the Center of the World.”
In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their archrivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he began parleying with Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch leader on Manhattan.
Bristling with vibrant characters, “Taking Manhattan” reveals the founding of New York to be the result not of an English military takeover but of clever negotiations that led to a fusion of the multiethnic capitalistic society the Dutch had pioneered to the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery. “Taking Manhattan” shows how the paradox of New York’s origins—boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement—reflect America’s promise and failure to this day. Russell Shorto, whose work has been described as “astonishing” (New York Times) and “revelatory” (New York magazine), has once again mined newly translated sources to offer a vibrant tale and a fresh and trenchant argument about American beginnings.
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe, by Marlene Daut (Library Catalog)
The essential biography of the controversial rebel, traitor, and only king of Haiti. Henry Christophe (1767 - 1820) is one of the most richly complex figures in the history of the Americas, and was, in his time, popular and famous the world over: in “The First and Last King of Haiti,” a brilliant, award-winning Yale scholar unravels the still controversial enigma that he was.
Slave, revolutionary, traitor, king, and suicide, Henry Christophe was, in his time, popular and famous the world over. Born to an enslaved mother on the Caribbean island of Grenada, Christophe first fought to overthrow the British in North America, before helping his fellow enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, as Haiti was then called, to gain their freedom from France. Yet in an incredible twist of fate, Christophe ended up fighting with Napoleon's forces against the very enslaved men and women he had once fought alongside. Later, reuniting with those he had betrayed, he offered to lead them and made himself their king. But it all came to a sudden and tragic end when Christophe--after nine years of his rule as King Henry I--shot himself in the heart, some say with a silver bullet.
“The First and Last King of Haiti” is a riveting story of not only geopolitical clashes on a grand scale but also of friendship and loyalty, treachery and betrayal, heroism and strife in an era of revolutionary upheaval.
Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America, by Beth Macy (Library Catalog)
The town of Urbana, Ohio was not a utopia when Beth Macy grew up there in the 70’s and 80’s, certainly not for her family. Her dad was an alcoholic who only fitfully worked, and people called him the town drunk, which hurt, as did their poverty. But Urbana had a healthy enough economy, and there were middle class kids at school whose families became her role models. People in Urbana were proud of their schools, and the library, and the history of their town, an important stop on the Underground Railroad. Macy loved Urbana, and though she was able to make it to college on a Pell Grant and then follow a career in journalism that took her far away, she still clung gratefully to the hometown that helped raise her. On the surface it was still picture-postcard cute.
But as Macy’s mother’s health began its final descent in 2020, on more frequent visits home to Ohio, she couldn’t shake the feeling that her town had dramatically hardened in ways she couldn’t process. Beth grew up as the paper girl, delivering the local newspaper, which was like civic glue, mirroring the community back to itself. Now there was no local paper, no paper girl, and precious little civic glue. Yes, a lot of the work that once supported the middle class had gone away, along with all that went with it. But that was an old story that didn’t begin to cover the forces turning her town into a poorer and angrier place. High school graduation rates were plummeting as absenteeism soared in the public schools and in the workplace. A mental health crisis gripped the small city, along with a litany of other pathologies. Urbana’s pride in its institutions was parents were opting to home school, or transferring their kids elsewhere, in record numbers. Even more painfully, many of her own family members and old friends had gone down the rabbit hole of conspiracies like QAnon, and worse. What happened to Urbana?
This was not an assignment Beth Macy ever wanted to take, but she felt she had no choice. Two years ago, she began to return regularly, to deploy everything she’d learned to figure her hometown out. The result is an astonishment, a book that takes us into the heart of one specific place and through it brings into focus in a new way our most urgent set of national issues.
“Paper Girl” is a gift of courage, empathy and insight, a profoundly generous act. Beth Macy has turned to face the darkest corners in the shared life of her family and community, people she loves wholeheartedly, even the ones she struggles now to like. And in doing so, in facing the truth—in person, with respect—she has found sparks of human dignity that she has used to light a great signal fire, of warning but also of hope.
Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary, by Victoria Amelina. Foreword by Margaret Atwood. (Library Catalog)
Destined to be a classic, a poet’s powerful look at the courage of resistance When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Victoria Amelina was busy writing a novel, taking part in the country’s literary scene, and parenting her son. Now she became someone new: a war crimes researcher and the chronicler of extraordinary women like herself who joined the resistance. These heroines include Evgenia, a prominent lawyer turned soldier, Oleksandra, who documented tens of thousands of war crimes and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, and Yulia, a librarian who helped uncover the abduction and murder of a children’s book author.
Everyone in Ukraine knew that Amelina was documenting the war. She photographed the ruins of schools and cultural centers; she recorded the testimonies of survivors and eyewitnesses to atrocities. And she slowly turned back into a storyteller, writing what would become this book.
On the evening of June 27th, 2023, Amelina and three international writers stopped for dinner in the embattled Donetsk region. When a Russian cruise missile hit the restaurant, Amelina suffered grievous head injuries, and lost consciousness. She died on July 1st. She was thirty-seven. She left behind an incredible account of the ravages of war and the cost of resistance. Honest, intimate, and wry, this book will be celebrated as a classic.
Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedmen's Bank, by Justene Hill Edwards (Library Catalog, Hoopla)
A leading historian exposes how the rise and tragic failure of the Freedman’s Bank has shaped economic inequality in America.
In the years immediately after the Civil War, tens of thousands of former slaves deposited millions of dollars into the Freedman’s Bank. African Americans envisioned this new bank as a launching pad for economic growth and self-determination. But only nine years after it opened, their trust was betrayed and the Freedman’s Bank collapsed.
Fully informed by new archival findings, historian Justene Hill Edwards unearths a major turning point in American history in this comprehensive account of the Freedman’s Bank and its depositors. She illuminates the hope with which the bank was first envisioned and demonstrates the significant setback that the sabotage of the bank caused in the fight for economic autonomy. Hill Edwards argues for a new interpretation of this tragic chapter, and how the bank’s white financiers drove the bank into the ground, not Frederick Douglass, its final president, or its Black depositors and cashiers. A page-turning story, “Savings and Trust” is necessary reading for those seeking to understand the roots of racial economic inequality in America.
When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines, by Graydon Carter (Library Catalog)
When Graydon Carter was offered the editorship of Vanity Fair in 1992, he knew he faced an uphill battle—how to make the esteemed and long-established magazine his own. Not only was he confronted with a staff that he perceived to be loyal to the previous regime, but he arrived only a few years after launching Spy magazine, which gloried in skewering the celebrated and powerful—the very people Vanity Fair venerated. With curiosity, fearlessness, and a love of recent history and glamour that would come to define his storied career in magazines, Carter succeeded in endearing himself to his editors, contributors, and readers, as well as many of the faces that would come to appear in Vanity Fair’s pages. He went on to run the magazine with overwhelming success for the next two and a half decades.
With his inimitable voice and signature quip, he brings readers to lunches and dinners with the great and good of America, Britain, and Europe. He assembled one of the most formidable stables of writers and photographers under one roof, and here he re-creates in real time the steps he took to ensure Vanity Fair cemented its place as the epicenter of art, culture, business, and politics, even as digital media took hold. Charming, candid, and brimming with stories, “When the Going Was Good” perfectly captures the last golden age of print magazines from the inside out.
Compiled by Louis Muñoz Jr.