Bandon Public Library

Interweaving deep historical analysis with gripping firsthand reporting on both victims and perpetrators of violence, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist charts the return of the American cycle of racial progress and white backlash and how the federal government has failed to intervene. "In 2008, Barack Obama's historic victory was heralded as a turning point for the country. And so it would be--just not in the way that most Americans hoped. The...

For millions of conservative Christians, America is their kingdom--a land set apart, a nation uniquely blessed, a people in special covenant with God. This love of country, however, has given way to right-wing nationalist fervor, a reckless blood-and-soil idolatry that trivializes the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Alberta retraces the arc of the modern evangelical movement, placing political and cultural inflection points in the context of church teachings...

"Shoji Morimoto was constantly being told that he was a 'do-nothing' because he lacked initiative. Dispirited and unemployed, it occurred to him that if he was so good at doing nothing, perhaps he could turn it into a business. And with one tweet, he began his business of renting himself out to do nothing. Morimoto, aka Rental Person, provides a fascinating service to the lonely and socially anxious. Sitting with a client undergoing surgery, accompanying...

In her introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2021, guest editor Jesmyn Ward says that the best fiction offers the reader a "sense of repair." The stories in this year's collection accomplish just that, immersing the reader in powerfully imagined worlds and allowing them to bring some of that power into their own lives. From a stirring portrait of Rodney King's final days to a surreal video game set in the Middle East, with real consequences,...

Annie is pregnant with her first child and married to the love of her life. Then on one fateful night, her husband dies in an accident and Annie is left alone. Now Annie must navigate the trials of single motherhood, mourning, and learning to love again. Crafted with lightning bolts of joy and sorrow, The Fifth Chamber is a tender and lyrical memoir about the dance of loss and life, and how grief can make the heart beat stronger than ever before.

"The author addresses one of the most pressing issues in modern American life: the pervasiveness of lies, the constitutional protection they enjoy, the harm that they cause, and how to combat them. The two most recent presidential elections, the battle against the coronavirus, and the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol demonstrate the power of lies, their pervasiveness online, and the damage that they can inflict"--

"With [this book], ... Oluo aims to show how people across America are working to create real positive change in our structures. Looking at many of our most powerful systems--like education, media, labor, health, housing, policing, and more--she highlights what people are doing to create change for intersectional racial equity. She also illustrates various ways in which the reader can find entryways into change in these same areas, or can bring some...

The New York Times best-selling author of Phil-and one of the most trusted correspondents on the front lines of golf-delivers a no-holds-barred account of LIV Golf's bid to usurp the PGA Tour -one of the most chaotic moments in golf history. Over the past two years, professional golf has been at war, and Alan Shipnuck has been our most trusted correspondent on the front lines. Following closely on the heels of his bestselling sensation Phil, Shipnuck...

"Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair's father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman's highest virtue was her obedience. In an...

"A call to reform our antiquated political institutions before it's too late-from the New York Times bestselling authors of How Democracies Die. America is undergoing a massive experiment: It is moving, in fits and starts, toward a multiracial democracy, something few societies have ever done. But the prospect of change has sparked an authoritarian backlash that threatens the very foundations of our political system. Why is democracy under assault...