Maggie Vitek

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 here, and not in other wealthy, diversifying nations? And what can we do to save it?

The number one New York Times best-selling story about American Olympic triumph in Nazi Germany, the inspiration for the PBS documentary The Boys of '36, broadcast to coincide with the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 80th anniversary of the boys' gold medal race. Out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times - the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant.

Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end.

Feelings of abandonment filled Helen at a too-young age when her mother died and her father walked out. Left in the care of her sister, Claire, she moved on, but never truly healed. Now thirty-five, married, and starting her own family, she must confront her inability to bear children by accepting the idea of adopting. But just when Helen experiences holding her new baby for the first time, she is blindsided with the worst possible news: Claire has cancer. Helen’s wounds are again torn open as she balances the delight of parenthood with the grief of her ailing sister.A poignant and probing exploration of life and loss, Daughters for a Time is a tale of unconditional love, the destructive and healing powers of family, and the search for solid ground between pain and joy.