Seattle Staff Faves 2025: NonfictionLike this list

67 items

• Born in Flames

  the Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City

  Ansfield, Bench

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  In the 1970s, widespread arson in cities from New York to Seattle devastated working class communities of color. Commonly blamed on BIPOC residents themselves as "tenant vandalism", historian Ansfield powerfully writes about the true perpetrators…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

  a Reckoning

  Beinart, Peter

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  A unique and complex perspective around the past and present of the relationship of Palestine, Israel, and Jews throughout the Diaspora. - Marc

• A Protest History of the United States

  Browne-Marshall, Gloria J.

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  Browne-Marshall ... explores the 400-year history of protest movements and rebellions in the U.S., from the earliest Indigenous resistance to current protests and marches—by considering both the causes and the personalities who participated in them.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Flashes of Brilliance

  the Genius of Early Photography and How It Transformed Art, Science, and History

  Burgess, Anika

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  Freelance photo editor Burgess debuts with a captivating whirlwind tour of photography’s early years. Full of colorful details about the ingenuity of early photographers ... this is a thrilling history of a medium and its seismic impact. (Publishers…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Super Gay Poems

  LGBTQIA+ Poetry After Stonewall

  Burt, Stephanie, 1971-

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  A love letter to queer poetry of the last 6 decades and a wonderful introduction to LGBTQIA+ poets writing in a wide variety of forms. - Abby

• When the Horses

  Callier, Mary Helen,

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  When the Horses recalls a girlhood spent in the American South; between the domestic and natural worlds, where the symmetry and control of human touch have begun to fall away-these are poems of encounter: with place, self, other, and the uncanny…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Superbloom

  How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart

  Carr, Nicholas G., 1959-

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  A call to change our relationship with communication technologies. Carr persuasively sounds the alarm about the destructive nature of social media and the corporations that control it. (Kirkus)

• Hardly Creatures

  Poems

  Colgate, Rob Macaisa,

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  The joyfully inventive debut by Colgate honors the disabled community. Complete with an access guide and legend denoting options for the reader to interact with the poems on their own terms, Colgate radically reenvisions how a text might support its…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Interficial Artelligence

  the Moments That Met Me

  Chuck D, 1960-

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  Chuck D presents his encounters with some of his greatest heroes and other public figures. (Publisher description)

• Invisible Differences

  a Story of Autism, Adulting, and Living Life in Full Color

  Dachez, Julie

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  Dachez and Caroline explore life with Asperger’s syndrome with candor and compassion ... This soulful and serious look at Asperger’s syndrome brings an informed and optimistic perspective to the fore. (Publishers Weekly)

• Paradiso

  Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

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  Mary Jo Bang has finally finished her translation of The Divine Comedy! What I really love about her translation is that Bang understands that Dante's original work was very much a piece of political commentary, and frankly a bit petty. She puts in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Who Deserves Your Love

  How to Create Boundaries to Start, Strengthen, or End Any Relationship

  Davis, KC

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  A practical and gentle guide to navigating the difficult relationships that shape your life, from KC Davis, beloved therapist and bestselling author of How to Keep House While Drowning. (Publisher description)

• Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

  From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins

  Demick, Barbara

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  Journalist Demick examines the history and impact of China's one child policy through the lens of twin girls who were forcibly separated, with one raised by her family in China and the other adopted by a family in the United States. (staff…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

  El Akkad, Omar, 1982-

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  A philosophically rich critique of state violence and mass apathy. (Kirkus)

• Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal

  El-Kurd, Mohammed

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  Written in an unapologetic, dignified voice, Palestinian writer and poet El-Kurd addresses Palestine's advocates and detractors: like survivors of sexual violence, and Black and Indigenous people around the globe, Palestinians need not be "perfect…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Queer Lasting

  Ecologies of Care for a Dying World

  Ensor, Sarah, 1982-

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  In this thought-provoking, timely book, Ensor  effectively positions queer studies and theory alongside ecocriticism to imagine new ways of addressing environmental crises. (Library Journal)

• Arash Fayez

  Apolis

  Fayez, Arash, 1984-

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  Apolis is a visual autobiography of Arash Fayez's life in limbo between 2014 and 2018. The 312 pages comprise the artist's complete US immigration dossier, from his arrest by law enforcement authorities to his voluntary departure from the country.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Dry Season

  a Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex

  Febos, Melissa

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  Supremely luscious writing for being titled the "dry" season. Shoutout to SPL staff Jennie for the rec, can't believe I've gone through life thus far without having read Melissa Febos' work before. - Victoria

• Could Should Might Don't

  How We Think About the Future

  Foster, Nick, 1976-

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  While the future is uncertain, most people think about it constantly. In this intriguing new book, futurist Foster asks how the future should be considered ... [defining] four ways to approach the future. (Library Journal)

• On Bullshit

  Frankfurt, Harry G., 1929-2023

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  The anniversary edition of the acclaimed book that reveals why bullshit is more dangerous than lying. Remarkably prescient and insightful, On Bullshit is a small book that explains a great deal about our time. (Publisher description)