Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in October. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s OverDrive website on the day of publication in eBook and downloadable audiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
Top Picks
“Freedom’s Daughters: How a Generation of Black Women Resisted Oppression Through Literacy and Education” by Celeste Headlee (Oct 6)
In the waning days of the antebellum South, millions of African Americans were suddenly released from enslavement. But they soon realized that “freedom” was not free; they were subject to hundreds of laws aimed at preventing them from voting and, in many cases, learning. Were it not for the work of an exceptional group of women — activists, educators, mothers, organizers―the foundations for Black education might never have been laid. With “Freedom’s Daughters,” Headlee set out to write into the record book the untold stories of these remarkable women. As a journalist who spent her career in public media, Headlee has long championed unheard voices and sought to tell the stories of those whose contributions have gone unacknowledged. But this project was fueled by an even deeper connection: Carrie Still Shepperson — one of the most important figures in this fight — is Headlee’s great grandmother and one of the biggest influences in her life. Now, after a decade of research spanning personal diaries to public records, “Freedom’s Daughters” paints a vivid portrait of figures intentionally erased from history, recognizing the work of a generation of Black women who believed freedom was inextricably linked with learning and free expression, and who worked tirelessly to secure access to literacy and education for a generation of children born into freedom. By turns shocking, inspiring, and deeply moving, “Freedom’s Daughters” is Headlee’s impeccably researched journey to better understand her family history and herself, and a timely examination of the influence and power of unfettered access to schools, libraries, and higher education.
“The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World” by Nathaniel Philbrick (Oct 6)
In January 1848, a carpenter spotted flecks of gold in a shallow stream at Sutter’s Mill in California, triggering the greatest voluntary migration in U.S. history, as hundreds of thousands raced west in pursuit of sudden wealth, reinvention, and power. From the feverish gold-mining camps of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the wharves and vigilance committees of San Francisco, Nathaniel Philbrick renders a combustible, all-world society: Chilean brothers reinventing themselves to outrun prejudice; Native communities navigating dispossession and violence; the merchant-showman Samuel Brannan, drawn into the center of early vigilantism; and the politicians vying for control of California’s future — the ambitious Free-Soil political boss David Broderick, who squared off against William Gwin, the Southern power broker intent on tilting the state toward slavery and the Confederacy. In “The Rush,” Nathaniel Philbrick transforms the Gold Rush from a tale of sudden riches into the origin story of America’s modern contradictions — capital consolidated at dizzying speed, democracy in thrall to private power, xenophobia weaponized in the name of liberty — and a stubborn belief in the American experiment that refuses to die. This is the story of a nation tearing at the seams and a republic tested by its own ideals. Not until ayear after the outbreak of the Civil War, when President Lincoln signed legislation that would unite the nation east to west by building a transcontinental railroad, was California’s loyalty secured. Philbrick follows the gold as it moves from riverbed to countinghouse to the halls of power, revealing how vigilantism hardened into law and how debates over slavery in the West tipped the balance in Washington. The result is a clear, human story of how a scramble for wealth reshaped ideas of freedom, labor, and belonging — and how California’s rise helped push a fractured nation toward war. “The Rush” is alive with characters whose choices still reverberate: a searing, panoramic epic that captures both the fury and the promise of America.
“Tyrant Lizard Queen: The Love, Life, and Terror of Earth’s Greatest Carnivore” by Riley Black (Oct 27)
Tyrannosaurus rex is a prehistoric celebrity. Exceeding 40 feet in length and weighing over 9 tons, the largest individuals of this dinosaurian species were intimidating predators capable of crushing bone and consuming more than a hundred pounds of flesh in a bite. But the last of the tyrant dinosaurs had a life beyond ripping and tearing. More than 66 million years ago, T. rex courted each other, nested, watched over their offspring, slept, drank and explored ancient floodplains inhabited by a fantastic cast of impressive dinosaurs like the huge long-neck Alamosaurus and burly, three-horned Torosaurus. For the first time, the life story of this impressive, sensitive predator is told as if you were there to watch it unfold. In her latest prehistoric nature walk, bestselling and award-winning author Riley Black follows the life of plucky T. rex Snaggletooth from the time she hatches through her tumultuous adulthood. The prehistoric forest Snag emerges into is full of danger, and yet, as Riley bases Snaggletooth’s life on the latest scientific discoveries, the carnivorous dinosaur survives to play, court, fight, sleep, nest, and more as she grows up in Cretaceous North America. She tussles with rival tyrannosaurs, hunts for delectable prey, and finds soft moments of connection in the forest. Even the most die-hard dinosaur fan will come away with a new perspective and appreciation for the “Tyrant Lizard Queen.”
More Notable Releases in October
- “The Wiregrass: A Tale of Murder and Retribution In the Deep South” by Matt Kessler (Oct 6)
- “An American Girl: How a Billion-Dollar Doll and Its Unlikely Founder Changed Girlhood Forever” by Amanda Fitzsimons (Oct 13)
- “Freedom’s Gate: Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Mariam Makeba, and Nina Simone Live at the New York Nightclub That Shaped the Civil Rights Movement” by Soyica Diggs Colbert (Oct 13)
- “Dispatches From Rural America: Sixteen Essays” by Wendell Berry (Oct 27)
