Other books that might interest you

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  How To Master Small Talk

  Danny Carlson

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  How to Master Small Talk is a practical and easy-to-read guide for people who would like to learn the art of small talk and become more confident, likeable, and outgoing individuals. Small talk, although seemingly superficial, is an integral part of everyone’s lives. We all need to make small talk once in a while, and it’s not so easy for most of us. We all need to put some effort into making small talk, especially with people we don’t know well. Mastering small talk requires some skill and practice, which is why this book was written.After reading this book, you will gain a broader perspective about people in general. The more you begin to appreciate everyone you meet in your everyday life, the easier it will be for you to master the skill of small talk. You will learn what makes some people nervous while talking to others, and how they can overcome it, ways to remember things to say, and lots of tips and tricks so as to never run out of interesting conversation ideas.The essence of How To Master Small Talk is to help you understand your own value as an individual. You have the ability to conquer anything and be the most charismatic person you could ever be!

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  Maya Blue - A Memoir of Survival

  Brenda Coffee

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  MAYA BLUE: A Memoir of Survival is Working Girl meets Taken, a true story of love, cocaine, abduction, and survival, and in the end, Brenda Coffee is the last one standing. Recipient of the coveted Kirkus starred review and nominated for the prestigious 2025 Kirkus Prize, MAYA BLUE is a memoir that reads like a thriller, a compelling, fast-paced story that underscores the power of our voice.  
  "It was a fairy tale until it wasn't... " For a long time, that's what successful businesswoman Brenda Coffee told herself whenever she dared to look back on her twenties and thirties. The memories of what really happened were hidden in the back of her emotional closet.  
  At twenty-one, Brenda did almost anything her charismatic and powerful older husband, Philip Ray, wanted. Regardless of whether it was dangerous, adventurous, sexual, or illegal, she wanted to be the one woman he couldn’t live without. With unflinching honesty and written and narrated in first person present, Brenda pulls the listener into the life she once lived—and all the secrecy, madness, trauma, abuse, and danger that came with a brilliant and revered husband who learned to make cocaine in the basement, and after his death, when Brenda was taken at gunpoint in Guatemala.  
  The author has narrated this powerful and moving memoir, and at times, she breaks down in tears. MAYA BLUE is an inspiring reminder of our universal capacity to survive the unspeakable.

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  Splitting the Confederacy: The...

  Editors Charles River

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  Given its importance, it’s somewhat surprising in retrospect that the Union managed to capture New Orleans in an easier manner than places like Vicksburg and Atlanta. Admiral David Farragut’s naval forces battered their shaky Confederate counterparts and were able to get over a dozen ships upriver past a couple of crucial Confederate forts along the Mississippi. By May 1862, Union forces occupied the city and General Benjamin Butler became its military governor, leaving the last true bastion of Confederate defenses on the Mississippi at Vicksburg. 
  At the start of 1863, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been frustrating the Union in the Eastern theater for several months, but the situation in the West was completely different. The Confederates had lost control of several important states throughout 1862, and after New Orleans was taken by the Union, the North controlled almost all of the Mississippi River, which Confederate general James Longstreet called “the lungs of the Confederacy”. By taking control of that vital river, the North would virtually cut the Confederacy in two, putting the South in a dire situation. 
  The only domino left to fall was the stronghold of Vicksburg, and both sides knew it. The Union Army of the Tennessee, led by Ulysses S. Grant, would spend months trying to encircle the army and eventually force John Pemberton’s Confederate army to surrender. Grant eventually succeeded on July 4, 1863, but since it came a day after the climactic finish of the Battle of Gettysburg, Vicksburg was (and still is) frequently overlooked as one of the turning points of the Civil War. In fact, had the Confederate’s military leadership listened to Longstreet, who advocated detaching soldiers from Lee’s army to head west and help the Confederates deal with Grant or Rosecrans in that theater, the Battle of Gettysburg might never have happened.

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  Design Against Racism - Creating...

  Omari Souza

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  A historical and philosophical exploration of the impact of design on underserved communities, examining the field’s shortcomings as well as its potential to create positive change. Through essays that delve into history and practice, and case studies that demonstrate practical strategies, Design Against Racism explores how designers of all disciplines can address, through their work, the legacies of racism and oppression. 
    
  Design profoundly influences culture. The heart of this book is its powerful blend of essays on design history, case studies, and discussions of practical methods to approach design work, adapted from the restorative justice movement. It explores how design as a professional practice and academic discipline directly affects historically excluded communities, offering frameworks and examples that foster collective improvement. 
    
  Topics from author Omari Souza, founder of the annual State of Black Design conference, and contributing design professionals include:  
  • Unveiling the White Gaze: The Narrative of Whiteness and Colonial Nostalgia  
  • Language as a Tool for Marginalization—and Resistance  
  • Hip-Hop Architecture: Transforming Spaces through Culture and Innovation  
  • Afrofuturism as a Design Strategy  
  • Whose Knowledge Is It? Reclaiming Histories, Narratives, and the Plurality of Knowledge  
  • Nonhierarchical Engagement with Communities—Anti-Racist Design Community Pop-Up  
    
  This is a critique of design and a practical handbook that will teach designers and educators how a restorative justice approach can transform their design practice to counteract and fight racism. 
    
  TIMELY AND ESSENTIAL TOPICS: Thought-provoking essays from leaders in design diversity offer an anti-racist approach to design practice based in an understanding of history, a focus on community building, and a commitment to inclusion. 
    
  AUTHOR & CONTRIBUTORS: Omari Souza is an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at the University of North Texas and co-host of the highly acclaimed minisode podcast The Design of Business | The Business of Design. Contributors include preeminent design professionals George Fourlas, Shamika Klassen, Kaleena Sales, Zariah Cameron, Lesley-Ann Noel, Cassini Nazir, Yolanda A. Rankin, Soniyah Robinson, and Danielle Lake. 
    
  Perfect for:  
  • Student and professional design practitioners of all disciplines, including graphic designers, product designers, architects, and more  
  • Course adoption for design programs  
  • Anyone eager to explore the themes of anti-racism and decolonizing design

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  You Might Go to Prison Even...

  Justin Brooks

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  Justin Brooks has spent his career freeing innocent people from prison. With You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You're Innocent, he offers up-close accounts of the cases he has fought, embedding them within a larger landscape of innocence claims and robust research on what we know about the causes of wrongful convictions. Putting listeners at the defense table, this book forces us to consider how any of us might be swept up in the system, whether we hired a bad lawyer, bear a slight resemblance to someone else in the world, or are not good with awkward silence. The stories of Brooks's cases and clients paint the picture of a broken justice system, one where innocence is no protection from incarceration or even the death penalty. Simultaneously relatable and disturbing, You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You're Innocent is essential listening for anyone who wants to better understand how injustice is served by our system.

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  Find Your Fight - Make Your...

  Jay Ruderman

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  Speak out, spark controversy, and fight for what matters most!
  
  Before you can become an effective activist or trusted ally, you must first find your fight and pinpoint the issue or issues that matter most to you. Once you figure this out, you can start moving what’s inside you to the outside, where change happens. 
       Jay Ruderman, an accomplished activist, has been doing just that for more than three decades—working to change popular opinion and influence public policy on the issues that move him. In this inspiring call to action, Ruderman offers hard-earned wisdom, sure-fire strategies, and actionable lessons for how to create controversy, speak up, and grab attention for the causes closest to your heart.
       With authenticity and purpose, Ruderman details his many successes (and more than a few setbacks) to illustrate these lessons in action. Complementing his stories are profiles of notable activists and advocates from the past and present. Urgent and unapologetic, this practical and empowering guide teaches the next generation of activists and advocates how to step up, shout out, and start doing the hard work of bringing about lasting change.

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