Non-fiction

Gleeful, naughty, sometimes perverted-like so many of the crowned heads themselves-A Treasury of Royal Scandals presents the best (the worst?) of royal misbehavior through the ages. From ancient Rome to Edwardian England, from the lavish rooms of Versailles to the dankest corners of the Bastille, the great royals of Europe have excelled at savage parenting, deadly rivalry, pathological lust, and meeting death with the utmost indignity-or just very bad luck.

2016 Books For A Better Life Award winner

When Megan Feldman Bettencourt found herself embittered after a breakup and a string of professional setbacks, she met an extraordinary man named Azim. Azim had forgiven the man who killed his beloved only son, and even reached out to the killer's family. He truly seemed to be at peace.

As a veteran journalist, Megan recognized it for the amazing story it was. But as a self-admitted grudge-holder, she was perplexed. Was there something wrong with him, or was there something wrong with her? She wondered about our ability to forgive--why we have it at all, why we do it, and whether it can help us.

Triumph of the Heart is the story of Megan's quest to understand this complex concept, from both a scientific perspective and a human one. She draws on cutting-edge research showing that forgiveness can provide a range of health benefits, from relieving depression to decreasing high blood pressure. She examines situations as mundane as road rage, as painful as cheating spouses, and as unthinkable as war crimes. Through stories of people and even communities who have forgiven in the toughest of circumstances, she shows us how they're able to do it, the profound sense of freedom they feel afterward, and the evocative implications for peacemaking worldwide.

This journey takes Megan from recovered addicts who restarted their lives by seeking forgiveness, to a Baltimore principal who used forgiveness techniques to eradicate violence in her school, to genocide survivors in Rwanda who forgave the people who killed their families and perpetrators who are still trying to redeem themselves.

Along the way, Megan strengthens her own powers of forgiveness, altering her life in ways she never expected. With grace and compassion, she reveals that our human capacity for forgiveness not only makes us healthier and happier, but is the key to healing, growing, and living well.

No one is born with these qualities, but they are the key ingredients for reaching goals, building careers, or taking a blueprint and turning it into a breathtaking skyscraper. In "The Trump Card, " Ivanka Trump recounts the compelling story of her upbringing as the ultimate Apprentice, the daughter of Donald and Ivana Trump, and shares the life lessons and hardwon insights that have made her a rising star in the business world.

From her office in the Trump Organization, where she is a vice president of development and acquisitions and co-founder of The Trump Hotel Collection, to her career as an international model to the launch of her successful jewelry collection, Ivanka offers valuable, practical advice for young women. Whether it's landing that first job, navigating the workplace, or making a lasting impact, Ivanka shows how to:
- Use uncertainty to your advantage: thrive in any environment. - Step up and get noticed at work: focus and efficiency will open doors. - Create a strong and consistent identity: your name and reputation are your best assets. - Know what you want: get the most out of any negotiation.

"The Trump Card" also features "Bulletins" from Ivanka's BlackBerry that tap into the wisdom of today's leaders, including Arianna Huffington, Tory Burch, and Cathie Black. "We've all been dealt a winning hand," Ivanka writes, "and it is up to each of us to play it right and smart."

Photographer Paul Conroy forged a close bond with Colvin as they put their lives on the line time and time again to report from the world's conflict zones, and he was by her side during her final assignment. A riveting war journal, Under the Wire is Paul's gripping, visceral, and moving account of their friendship and the final year he spent alongside her.

When Marie and Paul were smuggled into Syria by rebel forces, they found themselves trapped in one of the most hellish neighborhoods on earth. Fierce barrages of heavy artillery fire rained down on the buildings surrounding them, killing and maiming hundreds of civilians. Marie was killed by a rocket which also blew hole in Paul's thigh big enough to put his hand through. Bleeding profusely, short of food and water, and in excruciating pain, Paul then endured five days of intense bombardment before being evacuated in a daring escape in which he rode a motorbike through a tunnel, crawled through enemy terrain, and finally scaled a 12-foot-high wall.

Astonishingly vivid, heart-stoppingly dramatic. and shot through with dark humor, in Under the Wire Paul Conroy shows what it means to a be a war reporter in the 21st century. His is a story of two brave people drawn together by a shared compulsion to bear witness.

When renowned defense attorney Jose Baez received a request for representation from Aaron Hernandez, the disgraced Patriots tight-end was already serving a life sentence for murder. Defending him in a second, double-murder trial seemed like a lost cause--but Baez accepted the challenge, and their partnership culminated in a dramatic courtroom victory, a race to contest his first conviction, and ultimately a tragedy, when Aaron took his own life days after his acquittal.

This riveting, closely-observed account of Aaron's life and final year is the only book based on countless intimate conversations with Aaron, and told from the perspective of a true insider. Written with the support of Hernandez's fiancée, Unnecessary Roughness takes readers inside the high-profile trial, offering a dramatic retelling of the race to obtain key evidence that would exonerate Hernandez, and later play a critical role in appealing his first conviction.

With revelations about Aaron's personal life that weren't shared at trial, and an exploration of the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy diagnosis revealed by his autopsy, Jose Baez's Unnecessary Roughness is a startling courtroom drama and an unexpected portrait of a fallen father, fiancé, and teammate.

American diplomacy is under siege. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. We're becoming a nation that shoots first and asks questions later.

In an astonishing account ranging from Washington, D.C., to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea in the years since 9/11, acclaimed journalist and former diplomat Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. His firsthand experience in the State Department affords a personal look at some of the last standard-bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan. Farrow's narrative is richly informed by interviews with whistleblowers, policymakers, and a warlord, from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, short-sightedness, and outright malice--but it may just offer America a way out of a world at war.

Global warming, new epidemics, and the destruction of natural resources have all made the future of the planet seem increasingly dire. But the real truth, according to respected scientist Dr. Seymour Garte, is that the environment is actually in better shape than we have been led to believe.

Where We Stand will serve as a reality check for a debate surrounded by controversy. Garte presents irrefutable evidence that the state of the environment and human welfare has been improving steadily for the past two decades and that our efforts to "save the planet" are working. Contrary to popular opinion, the air and water are getting cleaner, cancer rates are decreasing, and forestation is improving. Meant to motivate -- not to lull -- Where We Stand will energize future efforts with the knowledge that we can make a difference. In giving us the good news, Garte does not neglect the bad; those issues that urgently need to be dealt with. There is still work to be done, but with a clearer picture of where we stand today, we will have a better chance for tomorrow. Hopeful, balanced, and convincing, this is a book that will change the way readers view the planet and the future.