Martha Anne Toll

Scholar, historian, artist and raconteur Nell Irvin Painter is the author of The History of White People and Old in Art School. Her latest book is an insightful addition to her canon.

In Uchenna Awoke’s debut novel, we come to understand that 15-year-old Dimkpa’s choices are painfully constricted by the caste system into which he was born.

In writer Tanja Maljartschuk's novel, the narrator's malaise and weakening attachment to time serve as a metaphor for today's Ukraine, as well as for other struggling democracies, including our own.

In a new book, Jeff Hobbs, author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, looks at the evolution of the juvenile justice system in America — primarily through people, not statistics.

The reporter's memoir takes readers on a jaunt through her captivating life and career, nose for the jugular, forthrightness about her joys and sorrows — and the history of women in the workplace.

Jori Lewis tells eye-opening stories of individuals despite scant historical record. At the outset she asks: "How do we tell the stories of people that history forgets and the present avoids?"

The character in Namrata Poddar's novel works in a call center and dreams of a new life in the U.S. but once there, she and other emigrants feel "othered" at work and in daily life.

Bowling Alone author Robert Putnam joins with Shaylyn Romney Garrett to form the thesis that America's Gilded Age shows remarkable similarity to today — with a societal focus on "I" rather than "we."

Teacher and writer Tom Zoellner has logged tens of thousands of miles zigzagging the continent with, a small tent and backpack, investigating American places and themes — metaphors for our country.

Desmond Meade rose from addiction, homelessness, and prison to run a campaign to re-enfranchise more than one million Florida voters; it's a tale of hope, persistence, and the power of organizing.