A lyrical and groundbreaking exploration of the misun­derstood ways women survive and forever carry trauma from the award-winning New York Times Magazine writer Jen Percy. 

After a childhood spent learning survival strategies in the wilderness, Jen Percy thought she knew how she would respond in the face of danger. But a series of unsettling interactions with men left her feeling betrayed and confounded by her body's passivity. Forced to reckon the myths of her own empowerment, Percy set off a broader inquiry into the way fear shapes behavior in the context of sexual violence, including the strange behaviors of three generations of women in her family. 
          
Drawing on original reporting, years of conversations with survivors, and her own life story, Percy explores the surprising ways in which responses to sexual violence are shaped by both evolutionary instinct and gendered scripts. She takes on taboo subjects—orgasms during assault, sexual promiscuity, female rage, freezing and passivity—illuminating how society misreads these acts as deviance or consent, rather than brilliant acts of self-preservation.
Like Joan Didion, Katherine Boo, and Janet Malcolm, Percy is a fearless cultural critic with a talent for wresting deep truths from lived experiences. Girls Play Dead meaningfully expands the language available to survivors and complicates our expectations of how a trauma story should sound—especially when belief, justice, and healing are contingent on how well a story “makes sense.” Percy examines how trauma corrupts storytelling itself, making survivors’ accounts seem fractured or surreal—and therefore less credible to institutions demanding coherence—resulting in an ambitious testament to the mind as a record of resilience.

Jen Percy is a contributing writer at New York Times Magazine and recipient of the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. She is the author of the nonfiction book Demon Camp, which was a New York Times Notable Book. Percy has received numerous awards, including a Pushcart Prize, the National Endowment for the Arts grant, and fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and MacDowell. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Percy has published essays in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Harper's, BookForum, The New Republic, Esquire, and elsewhere. She teaches writing at Columbia University.

Percy is in conversation with Rachel Louise Snyder, the author of Fugitive Denim, the novel What We’ve Lost is Nothing, No Visible Bruises, and the memoir Women We Buried, Women We Burned, a best book of the year from Kirkus and Audible, among others. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times magazine, the Washington Post and on NPR, and she was a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. She is currently a professor in creative writing in the MFA program at  American University.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9780385550048?ic_referral=wj8fhtKs_2JkGFk4GQZG7DWkRSOiD3Aon8vCMGGQqY4wM187j5VRIm7jOwgyigpDurOlJ3KIeG-kIa0_Ru7isG7DDsEfFbx9O_6SPDzl5avVPy334RJlojKFsQrP0Ya-AKzaBow

Plastic is everywhere--wrapped around our food, stitched into our clothes, even coursing through our veins. Once a marvel of modern science, plastic has become so inextricably woven into our lives that imagining a world without it can seem impossible. Over the last seventy-five years, plastic has cradled our planet in a synthetic embrace.

The Problem with Plastic critically examines the paradox of this material, first celebrated for its innovations and now recognized for its devastating environmental and public health impacts. With clarity and urgency, the book reveals how plastic pollution contributes to poisoned oceans, polluted air, a warming planet, and overwhelming waste, disproportionately impacting marginalized communities who bear the brunt of petrochemical pollution.

Revealing the alarming extent of microplastics infiltrating both the natural world and the human body, this compelling narrative challenges the illusion that recycling alone will save us. It unpacks the mechanisms of environmental racism and the deceptive greenwashing strategies used by the plastics industry to maintain the status quo.

More than a critique, The Problem with Plastic emphasizes the urgent need for action against plastic's toxic legacy. It higlights powerful stories of frontline resistance in places like Louisiana, Texas, and Appalachia, and equips readers with practical tools--including a "Household Waste Audit" to track and reduce plastic consumption, as well as model policy guides for driving legislative change.

Urgent, eye-opening, and ultimately empowering, The Problem with Plastic reminds us: plastic is a problem--but together, we can be the solution.

Judith Enck is the founder and president of Beyond Plastics, whose goal is eliminating plastic pollution everywhere. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to serve as regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served as deputy secretary for the environment in the New York Governor's Office. She is currently a professor at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution. She lives in upstate New York.

Enck is in conversation with Vann R. Newkirk II, a senior editor at the Atlantic, and the host and co-creator of the Peabody-award-winning podcast Floodlines. Newkirk was a 2022 Andrew Carnegie fellow, and was a 2020 James Beard Award Finalist, a 2020 11th Hour Fellow at New America, and a 2018 recipient of the American Society of Magazine Editors's ASME Next Award. In 2024, Newkirk was named Journalist of the Year by the Washington Association of Black Journalists.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781620979457?ic_referral=6FxLaLjAs8Mz3-fuIBWVa92m2JzW-nPmSI9Shn1rfQswM_O3Lt9J4ll16XGOYCo2D5b7AObID-58NojpW4tnbvLbgLm1KQZgwoeKzH-Nrz1zn9T_6TokP8nEd0C9LEAPNn34DFY

The definitive, unbiased account of the twenty-four hours surrounding the historic January 6th attack on the Capitol

The January 6th insurrection was a stunning and unprecedented attack on the center of American government. Unlike previous national traumas that united the country in the face of turmoil, the siege has only further divided Americans, as many continue to dispute the facts and downplay its significance.  

In Storm at the Capitol, Mary Clare Jalonick delivers a deeply reported and definitive account of the violence at the Capitol told through firsthand narratives—from the rioters themselves and the police who fought them, to the lawmakers who fled the violence, and the staff, workers, and reporters who were there that day, including Jalonick herself. Her retelling begins in the predawn hours of January 6th, as Trump’s supporters travel to Washington, some with plans for violence, and ends in the early morning hours of January 7th, after Vice President Mike Pence slams his gavel on the House rostrum and declares Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election. 

A vivid, terrifying, and human portrait, Storm at the Capitol is a riveting read for anyone who is worried about the future of our democracy. 

Mary Clare Jalonick covers Congress for the Associated Press, where she has worked for two decades. She has covered politics and policy under five presidents and reported from inside the Capitol on January 6th. She lives in the Washington, DC, area. 

Jalonick is in conversation with Manu Raju, CNN’s chief congressional correspondent.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781541705982?ic_referral=gNQTA0ariY5Xz7cB8Ydlpx2zmixsO5qwe_aN41joeMowMwpfZQJsYnuSouzilsFj4DOksCEY3vdP5-ZQ42rqv2aMxXKMSxDORtpT1pw0T-On49StVqKLirx6NYdUM9NhcjQuGEw

An authoritative, practical, and entertaining guide to healthy living from one of America’s leading health experts.

Every day brings a torrent of articles, videos, and podcasts about health and longevity. The “Wellness Industrial Complex” offers conflicting advice and promises us more time to enjoy in the future—but it sure is demanding a lot of time right now. In Eat Your Ice Cream, renowned health expert Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel argues that life is not a competition to live the longest, and that “wellness” shouldn’t be difficult; it should be an invisible part of one’s lifestyle that yields maximum health benefits with the least work. Dr. Emanuel cuts through the noise with wit and good humor, giving readers just what they need: simple, high–impact, evidence–based guidelines to issues such as food and drink, exercise, sleep, mental acuity, and social engagement. Pairing common sense with uncommon wisdom based on his decades of expertise and experience, Dr. Emanuel helps readers decide which lifestyle changes are worth making and how to best implement them.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD—a bioethicist, health policy expert, and oncologist—is a vice provost and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He regularly contributes to the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Atlantic. He lives in Philadelphia.

Emanuel is in conversation with Kara Swisher, the host of the podcast On with Kara Swisher and the cohost of the Pivot podcast with Scott Galloway, both distributed by New York magazine. She was also the cofounder and editor-at-large of Recode, host of the Recode Decode podcast, and co-executive producer of the Code conference. She was a former contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and host of its Sway podcast and has also worked for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Swisher is the author of three books including Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, published in 2024.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781324117537?ic_referral=5IByfaafAZa-TmO1ls30wJQyPQn80ULRo7dB6xFTBgUwM3YlctPLED6cpt2MB2ZRs3mxCFicITTQgfKGzCI-gtYAUk74doVZTXkmxOuv5XBgjqWCJMV6FsydH1VWVCgKYblIx6A

When you've been told over and over that you belong at the bottom, how do you come out on top? Dance Moms star and triple threat Nia Sioux shows the way via her story of resilience, triumph, and defining success for herself.

Young dancer Nia Sioux was only nine years old when she stepped into stardom as one of the original cast members of Lifetime's reality TV show Dance Moms. Nia learned new choreography week after week and competed against dancers from across the country as well as at her own studio. Perhaps her greatest obstacle was suffering through her dance teacher's ranking of the girls against each other in her infamous pyramid, where Nia spent the majority of her time on the bottom--all in front of an audience of millions.

But there was much that viewers didn't see. How her experiences in the studio went far beyond what made it into the show. How she was ostracized for not fitting into an aesthetic that wasn't designed for girls like her. How her friendships and her mental health crumbled under the strain of the show. How she lost control of her story and her voice.

But don't be fooled--this is a story about resilience. Nia is not looking for pity, sympathy, or validation as she reflects on her experiences. Instead, she is choosing to use her story as a celebration of triumph. Nia finally gets to tell her story in her own way and in her own words. In this captivating memoir, Nia reclaims both the spotlight and her narrative.

In addition to going behind the scenes of the seven seasons of Dance Moms, she shows how she fought against the negative perceptions that dominated her tween and teen years and emerged as a confident young woman secure in her talents and her direction. Anyone who has ever felt misunderstood, overlooked, or stuck at the bottom of the pyramid will be inspired by Nia's story of overcoming. "Despite barriers and constant naysayers, assumptions and criticisms, only you know who you are inside and out," Nia says. "And you have the power to create your own narrative, your own level of success."

Nia Sioux has been entertaining the world since she was 9 years old, and is continuing to grow and evolve as a performer, singer, actress, author, entrepreneur, and social justice advocate (she regularly worked with The White House on various campaigns). With over 15 million followers and many facets of the entertainment industry already under her belt, Nia is truly a multi-hyphenate talent that is up for any challenge. With an already established and impressive resume, Nia’s most recent projects include starring in the Lifetime original movie, ‘Imperfect High’, as well as her critically acclaimed original Facebook Watch series, ‘Dance With Nia’, which she executive produced. In 2021, Nia also released her first children's book, “Today I Dance”. Nia believes in the importance of being a positive role model and encourages kids to “star” in their own lives, which is a message that is very dear to her.

Sioux is in conversation with Yasmine Cheyenne, a TODAY Show wellness expert and three-time author whose work helps millions reconnect with who they were before the world had a say. Through three books with HarperCollins—The Sugar Jar, Wisdom of the Path, and The Comeback Era—plus partnerships with global corporations such as Google, Pepsi, GE, Well & Good, Meta, and more, she's become the trusted guide for creating a life that feels as good as it looks. An Air Force Veteran, TEDx speaker, and mother of two, Yasmine proves that whether you're setting boundaries, navigating challenges, or ready for your comeback, transformation is always possible.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781400253043?ic_referral=qKcBb7awBFJrX0S_a9SCvqHSK-WJbRJ3fLVuu-aLtYwwM8MsA1kBWAMUux_2fT16FifLBM1JA1Kh9rMop-dj4sptlhr7yZ_4eoLCGa5ncP1aRtbzA0M0MX87h4QhFWcc7MTeafg

From the Pulitzer-winning author of the New York Times bestseller The Nazis Next Door, a deeply reported exploration of the violent resurgence of hatred and white supremacy through the lens of Orange County, California—“ground zero” for racial extremism—and the story of one brutal murder there that revealed the deep roots of violent bigotry as a bellwether for the country. 
 
One night in early 2018, while he was home from college, an Ivy League student named Blaze Bernstein snuck out of his parents’ house in Orange County. Waiting for him in a car outside was an old high-school classmate: Sam Woodward, someone who Blaze mostly remembered as a brooding, bigoted loner. But that night, after months of flirtatious messaging, Sam had succeeded in coaxing Blaze—a gay, Jewish sophomore at UPenn—out for a rendezvous. No one would ever see him alive again.
In American Reich, veteran investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau uses the story of Blaze’s life and death to shine a light on the epidemic of hate in Southern California and, increasingly, the nation as a whole. Orange County has long been a bastion of the ultra-right: carved out of farmland as a haven for wealthy whites fleeing the diversifying metropolis to the north, it was the birthplace of the far-right John Birch Society, a hub for neo-Nazi recruitment, and a powerful springboard for race-baiting Republican politicians including Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. But in the years leading up to Blaze’s disappearance, Orange County was changing: like the country as a whole, it was rapidly diversifying, to the outrage of many of its white residents. No one was more opposed to the changes than America’s resurgent neo-Nazi groups, one of which had recently gained a new member: Sam Woodward.
Revealing how Orange County has exported racial hatred to the rest of the country and the world, American Reich weaves this tragic tale together with stories from across the nation, showing what this haunted place and the colliding paths of two of its residents reveal about America's fractured soul and our hope for healing.

Eric Lichtblau is a Washington journalist and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He was a reporter in the Washington bureau of the New York Times for nearly 15 years until 2017, and a reporter for the Los Angeles Times for 15 years before that. He has also written for the New Yorker, TIME, USA Today, and other publications. He is the author of three nonfiction books, including The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men, a New York Times bestseller;  Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice; and Return to the Reich: A Holocaust Refugee's Secret Mission to Defeat the Nazis. He lives outside Washington, DC.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9780316564717?ic_referral=ZNytz3wUgvzDkxvgbGQXXrToer_q_GrmZvPMuP9LkvwwM2M-xmGP6EdVmH16rwfKT-crr3ugM7Py7yn3grzn719IFluygRwLrijdmFGpB5F22AWqjOrdUSbFAM6QVdpzux4i3ZM

As warming reshapes our planet, the Arctic--a region that once seemed unchangeable, beyond the reach of modern problems--is quickly coming undone. While the old cold world can still be glimpsed in the movements of caribou, the hidden lives of wolves, or the hunting skill of an Inupiat elder, look closer and you'll find a new Arctic emerging in its place.

In Frostlines, Neil Shea blends natural history, anthropology, and travel writing to explore how the beauty, chaos, and power of change in the far north are reflected in the lives of people and animals. He sojourns with a wolf pack on Canada's Ellesmere Island and travels with Indigenous hunters in Alaska, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. He tracks dwindling caribou herds across the top of North America, searches for vanished Vikings in Greenland, and explores the new Cold War rising between Russia and Europe. What Shea finds is not one Arctic but many--all still linked by shattering cold, seasons of darkness, and a pure, inimitable light.

Written with masterful prose and a spark of adventure, Frostlines is an expansive yet intimate revelation of the Arctic during a time of transformation, and a journey along the threshold of this stunning and sometimes frightening world that's emerging right before our eyes.

Neil Shea is a writer and journalist based in Brooklyn. He's written for National Geographic for over fifteen years, reporting around the world at the intersections of conflict, climate science, and cultural change. He's a co creator of the Peabody Award-nominated podcast Unfinished: Deep South, and he also writes for film and television, scripted and documentary.

Shea will be in conversation with Peter Gwin, an award-winning writer and Shea’s longtime editor at National Geographic. Over his two decade career at the magazine, Gwin headed its adventure and exploration coverage and hosted the podcast, Overheard. He’s contributed feature stories on a wide range of subjects, including pirates in the Malacca Straits, South Africa’s rhino poaching crisis, ship breakers in Bangladesh, the Serengeti's wildebeest migration, Tuareg rebels in the Aïr Mountains, and exploring New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness on horseback. A native of Fayette County, Georgia, he began his career as an English teacher and freelance writer in a small village in northern Botswana.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9780063138575?ic_referral=HmprpqRmomPfCgiARCQH1R0rZvZl6McFvos0s5btUEQwM8FGfBKxr4wblaB6x2HsJqkocDXEOGisNZ1knZoFZFJrgO5949DK3ZLRYDFPbTGHiosIPlksgwE9M3-5i2Yqd5XmUaY

The Green Heart of Italy provides an intimate portrait of the lush and verdant region of Umbria, known as 'Tuscany without tourists.' The pandemic halted international travel and access to most areas of Europe, creating lasting impacts on these regions which benefit greatly from outside visitors. Now, in the post-Covid reboot of Italy's ever growing tourist industry, Umbria is poised to attract much needed visitors to help support this central region of the country. The Green Heart of Italy weaves between exteriors and interiors of this unique emerging region, painting a picture of an oasis unknown to most. This monograph also incudes an extensive body of text, written by Frank Van Riper that provides a first hand account of these often overlooked gems.

Frank Van Riper and Judith Goodman are husband and wife documentary and fine art
 photographers, whose work has been published internationally. Goodman's photography has hung in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Baltimore Museum; she also is an award-winning assemblage sculptor and a member of the Washington Sculptors' Group. Van Riper's photography is in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC) as well as the Portland Gallery of Art (Portland, Maine.) His 1998 book of photography and essays, Down East Maine: A World Apart, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won the silver award for photography from the Art Director's Club of Metropolitan Washington.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781954119482?ic_referral=fEAI0toaqKxJmLZLYyA-_5iX0CtFl06-W-6WPeJDGxEwM4tqLf_8LfbZ3YZKfruRsfMeGUi21LtFIjm5SzNu2yDOK67U_JIcxL1Zd8HSUxu2cXdQ5fDisB4qLY94TQLIX0opqC8

“Shepard, the Bob Dylan of American Drama, had an almost unbelievably eventful life, and Robert M. Dowling’s essential biography illuminates every corner of it, while providing a wonderfully clear guide to Shepard’s tangled, massively influential body of work.”

— David Auburn, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright

Sam Shepard was a true American original. A theater and film icon who lived life on a mythic scale, Shepard became an embodiment of the fierce independence and wild freedom of the American West. Taking us from the creative explosion of downtown New York City in the 1960s to Bob Dylan's legendary Rolling Thunder Revue tour, from Hollywood backlots and film shoots in the Mojave Desert to the horse ranches where Shepard went to escape it all, Robert M. Dowling's biography reveals this playwright, actor, and filmmaker as we've never known him before.

In this authoritative and gripping biography, acclaimed biographer Robert M. Dowling dives into Shepard's psyche, his imagination and his soul, to craft the most comprehensive and revelatory account yet of Shepard's enduring work and tumultuous life. Ranging from Shepard's romances with icons like Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange, to his groundbreaking artistic contributions to theater and film like True West, Buried Child, The Right Stuff, Days of Heaven, and Paris, Texas, Dowling draws on previously untapped archival resources and the help of members of Shepard's family, close friends, lovers, and collaborators to place this artistic legacy in the context of the historic upheavals that compelled this extraordinary writer to so vividly record the American zeitgeist. In this biography, we see Shepard's life, and his era, in all its splendor and chaos, from the 1960s counterculture to the rise of Trumpism.

Situating the facts of Shepard's spirited and darkly complex personality alongside keen analyses of Shepard's ingenious writing, this new biography couples rich storytelling with scholarly rigor to present the definitive biography of one of America's most innovative and troubled creative geniuses.

Robert M. Dowling is professor of English at Central Connecticut State University. He is the author of Slumming in New York: From the Waterfront to Mythic Harlem and the biography Eugene O'Neill: A Life in Four Acts, which was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for biography in 2015. He has also coedited the 2021 compendium of interviews Conversations with Sam Shepard. As an authority on American drama, he has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe, among other media venues. He serves on the editorial board of The Eugene O'Neill Review and is an elected Board member of the Eugene O'Neill Society (President of the Society, 2018-2021).

Dowling will be in conversation with Jackson R. Bryer, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. Among his books on theater and dramatic literature, he is the editor of Conversations with Lillian Hellman (1986); Conversations with Thornton Wilder (1992) Lanford Wilson: A Casebook (1994); and The Playwright’s Art: Conversations with Contemporary American Dramatists (1995); and he is the co-editor of Conversations with Beth Henley (2023), Conversations with Sam Shepard (2021), Conversations with Neil Simon (2019), Thornton Wilder in Collaboration (2018), William Inge: Essays and Reminiscences on the Plays and the Man (2014), among others. 

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781501195730?ic_referral=5adwwTEZ7U-yn4XbYzqqzLfl3rauAq25S0B_Kkp-ylcwM2YYkH68GoZYoHvKSXe5B8QK0kZ-s5z5fN-nqA3rt1hrfcavemRbiSh9z7Fa4VASaKP3iAnK8-LaCIHCLNqPGsIA_Vc

Advice from wellness instructors on how to seek and track joy in the New Year and throughout 2026. Focusing on how to specifically use the cold to reach within yourself and discover unimaginable possibilities and daily practice of “joy spotting” the act of naming small, meaningful moments.

Alex Elle is a New York Times Bestselling Author, wellness educator, and Restorative Writing teacher with more than a decade of experience. Her writing journey began as a personal therapeutic practice that evolved into a career centered on healing through journaling, self-study, and mindfulness. Through her books, workshops, courses, and retreats, Alex helps others cultivate self-discovery and expand their capacity for joy, clarity, and meaningful connection. Her work is grounded in the belief that literature and language serve as powerful tools for both personal and collective healing.

Libby DeLana is an award-winning executive creative director, author, and advocate for intentional living. She spent over three decades in the advertising world, co-founding the agency Mechanica after years as design director at MullenLowe, with work recognized by the One Show, Cannes Lions, and Communication Arts.

Over a decade ago, Libby committed to a daily morning walk, now more than 35,000 miles in (the circumference of the earth is 25k), transforming a simple habit into a powerful practice of mindfulness and presence. That journey inspired her book Do Walk and the podcast This Morning WalkTM, which she co-hosts with writer Alex Elle. Her reflections have been featured in Magnolia Journal, The Boston Globe, BBC Radio 4, NPR, The Isolation Journals by Suleika Jaouad, Good Life Project with Jonathan Field, and on We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle.

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781797235295?ic_referral=jY9VdUslABVJaQh0JdOGrAT7PBjoDqqg2thLl0DSGaswMzuwXTfViVtXxECfax_4o7ggIYxU8B9U6LIb5WOGjdVJRfRB75qFsvitLtr6V0YU3P-BzGuXp86mhUIyHddAv66OXxY