Popular Culture

Read by Audiofile Golden Voice Narrator January LaVoy. A New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, All About Love is the acclaimed first volume in feminist icon bell hooks' "Love Song to the Nation" trilogy. All About Love reveals what causes a polarized society, and how to heal the...

Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did...

The groundbreaking bestseller from iconic behavioral psychologist Dan Ariely, now the inspiration for the Fall 2023 NBC show The Irrational “A marvelous book that is both thought provoking and highly entertaining, ranging from the power of placebos to the pleasures of Pepsi. Ariely unmasks the...

In The 50th Law, hip hop and pop culture icon 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) joins forces with Robert Greene, bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, to write a “bible” for success in life and work based on a single principle: fear nothing. With stories from 50 Cent's life on the streets...

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas author Hunter S. Thompson rocked the literary world with his mind-bending style of Gonzo journalism. First published in 1966, Hell’s Angels is Thompson’s up-close and personal look at the infamous motorcycle gang during the time when its moniker was most feared...

In The Culting of America, cult survivor, military veteran, and bestselling author of Uncultured Daniella Mestyanek Young delivers a gripping investigation into the invisible systems of control shaping our lives.

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Could this be the best book on football ever?” —Tyler Cowen "Another masterwork from one of our greatest minds.” —Esquire “[An] essential playoff-season read.” —People A hilarious but nonetheless groundbreaking contribution to the argument...

The legendary bestseller that encouraged millions of readers to look at the hidden side of everything Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? What do real estate agents and the KKK have in common? These may not sound like typical...

Tom Wolfe's classic The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, an unflinching portrait of Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, LSD, and the 1960s, ushered in an era of New Journalism and defined a generation....

Ken Ivy pulls a square's coat on the unwritten rules that took him from the ghetto streets to the executive suites. Ken's lessons will serve any person in any interaction....

A no-nonsense and helpful guide on how to cope with a slew of mental-health issues that are hell-bent on ruining the lives of millions of people worldwide....

For over 40 years, Carlos Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan has inspired audiences to expand their world view beyond traditional Western forms....

It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system–a situation that the bank crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded....

American Cosmic examines the mechanisms at work behind the thriving belief system in extraterrestrial life, a system that is changing and even supplanting traditional religions....

When Christina Haag was growing up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, John F. Kennedy, Jr., was just one of the boys in her circle of prep-school friends....

A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book Named one of the Best Books of the Year by TIME, NPR, Elle, and The Boston Globe “Searing… rigorously researched but never stuffy… Gilbert has compiled perhaps the first comprehensive examination of turn-of-the-millennium mainstream...

From a New York Times media correspondent, a dishy history of the Condé Nast magazine empire, home of Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and more, focusing on its glitzy heyday from the 1980s through the 2000s. For decades, Condé Nast and its glittering magazines defined how to live the good...

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A fascinating and enlightening deep dive into the infamous Disney Adult community from the woman behind the popular website The Disney Food Blog. Disney Adults are grown-ups who derive singular, almost obsessive, joy from all things Disney. They devote countless...

An instant New York Times Bestseller! The new uplifting book from Matt Haig, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library, for anyone in search of hope, looking for a path to a more meaningful life, or in need of a little encouragement. Named by The Washington Post as one of...

The Psychology of Zelda applies the latest psychological findings, plus insights from classic psychology theory, to Link, Zelda, Hyrule, and the players who choose to wield the Master Sword....

If you’re not having fun, you’re not fully living. The bestselling author of The Amazing Generation and How to Break Up with Your Phone makes the case that, far from being frivolous, fun is actually critical to our well-being—and shows us how to have more of it. “This delightful book...

A Silent Spring for your wardrobe, To Dye For is a jolting exposé that reveals the true cost of the toxic, largely unregulated chemicals found on most clothing today. Many of us are aware of the ethical minefield that is fast fashion: the dodgy labor practices, the lax environmental standards...

In these eight piercing explorations on beauty, media, money, and more, Tressie McMillan Cottom embraces her venerated role as a purveyor of wit, wisdom, and Black Twitter snark about all that is right and much that is wrong with this thing we call society....

A reflective, original invitation to recover and cultivate the human experiences that have atrophied in our virtual world. We embraced the mediated life—from Facetune and Venmo to meme culture and the Metaverse—because these technologies offer novelty and convenience. But they also transform...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Now fully revised and updated, this evidence-based, user-friendly guide presents a 30-day digital detox plan that will help you set boundaries with your phone and live a more joyful and fulfilling life. “If you are a human being and you own a smartphone, you need this...

THE SECRET GUIDE TO WORD MAGIC Spelling is called spelling. Cursive is called cursive. And the most dangerous man in comedy just wrote a book explaining why. Owen Benjamin grew up hiding under a cardboard desk to survive a nuclear blast, eating margarine because the food pyramid said so, and learning about heroin from a cop who made him act out an overdose in school. He was taught he descended from a primate through random mutation, that he was spinning on a ball of liquid nickel inside an explosion that came from nothing, and that the stars he saw at night were already dead. Then he was ...

How Clothing Became One of the First Weapons of Women’s Freedom What if a pair of trousers could start a social revolution? In the middle of the Victorian era, when women were expected to wear heavy skirts, corsets, and layers that restricted movement and even endangered their health, a radical idea appeared. Women began wearing bloomers. Loose trousers gathered at the ankle. Practical. Comfortable. And, to Victorian society, absolutely scandalous. Newspapers mocked them. Cartoons ridiculed them. Respectable society declared them dangerous. Because bloomers were never just about fashion. ...

What if the most useless things you’ve ever learned were actually the most important? Basic Useless Culture: Useless Knowledge Surprisingly Useful is a journey through the invisible ideas, forgotten inventions, and strange facts that quietly built the modern world and continue to shape your everyday life. It explores questions most people never stop to ask. Why does the alphabet look the way it does? Why do clocks divide time into 60 seconds? Why can’t time move backward? Why do maps lie? Why do we have useless body parts, strange habits, and persistent myths about our own brains? This ...

The positivity industry has been lying to you. Not about everything — but about enough to matter. You've been told that positive thinking attracts positive outcomes. That gratitude practice will transform your life. That the right mindset is both necessary and sufficient for success, happiness and resilience. That if you're still struggling, you're simply not positive enough. None of this is what the science actually says. Positivity Reclaimed is written by a psychologist. Someone who has spent years as a genuine advocate for positivity, watching with growing concern as a serious ...

In an age where technological advancements and economic growth dominate global discourse, Humanity Charter: Designing a People-Centric Civilization for the 22nd Century shifts the focus back to what truly matters—humanity. Written by Dr. Gurudas Bandyopadhyay, this thought-provoking book presents a comprehensive framework for creating a future that prioritizes human dignity, justice, compassion, and sustainability. As we face unprecedented challenges—climate change, political division, and social inequality—the book calls for a collective transformation toward a more humane and ...

OVER THE LAST SEVEN DECADES, one of rock 'n' roll's most celebrated figureheads have flirted with the imagery and theater of the Third Reich. From Keith Moon and Vivian Stanshall kitting themselves out in Nazi uniforms to Siouxsie Sioux and Sid Vicious brandishing swastikas in the pomp of punk...

In a culture increasingly dominated by divisive identity politics and "woke" ideology, Bruce O'Brien refuses to sit silently by. "Spitting Back" delivers twenty-two sharp, unfiltered essays that shatter progressive orthodoxies while defending the values that built America. Drawing on historical examples and contemporary developments, O'Brien exposes what he sees as the dangerous influence of Cultural Marxism in our schools, corporations, and government. From Critical Race Theory to DEI initiatives, from campus censorship to environmental alarmism, he systematically dismantles the ...

A celebration and exploration of gossip, reclaiming it as a powerful tool for building relationships, sharing vital information and enabling women’s voices to be heard. Tittle-tattle. Hearsay. Rumours. Bitching. Tea. Call it what you will: the fact remains that gossip is entwined into our...

Frauen im Internet stehen unter ständiger Beobachtung. Sophie Passmann ist selbst Teil der widersprüchlichen Welt weiblicher Selbstdarstellung in den sozialen Medien. Radikal selbstkritisch seziert sie die Phänomene, die eine ganze Generation prägen: von der asketischen Disziplin einer Hailey Bieber über die kalkulierte Görenhaftigkeit von Charli XCX bis zur neurotischen Perfektion von Taylor Swift. Warum sind wir alle so fasziniert von Frauen, die uns etwas vormachen – und gleichzeitig hassen wir sie genau dafür?

A celebration of tardiness through funny, revealing, and deeply thoughtful essays on the nature of time and collective memory “Brilliantly argues that after toiling to build this country for free or reduced wages, people of color not only deserve the extra time for themselves, but they should...

The Post-Pandemic Delusion: The Hyper-Self, Mass Hallucination, and the Global Spread of Nonsene "Nonsense is not truth. Hallucination is not reality. Science is not a conspiracy plan; it is the measure of human evolution. And, more importantly, knowledge has its roots in curiosity, not suggestibility. Nonsense is not what transitioned us from primordial monkeys to the engineers of the masterpieces of software that now hold the world's attention. Myths, negation, and self-inflicted ignorance are not the tools that built the technologies that have, ironically, been used to trap and atrophy ...

At more than 100 million user accounts created and over $10 billion made, it is not only the most-subscribed MMORPG in the world, but the highest-grossing video game of all time. Ten years after its launch, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft is less a game and more a world unto itself, and it's a world Daniel Lisi knows well. More time in his high school years was spent in Azeroth than in his hometown of Irvine, California—a home he happened to share with Blizzard itself.

An Adult’s Guide to Modern Teen Language **Are you tired of hearing words from your kids or students and feeling completely lost? Ever wondered what “rizz,” “peng,” “NPC,” “delulu,” “snitching,” “gooning,” “W move,” or “glowdown” really mean—and which ones should concern you? You’re not alone. Teen slang is evolving faster than ever, and this book is your clear, safe, and trusted guide through it all. Whether you’re a parent, carer, teacher, youth worker, or simply curious, this resource helps you finally understand the language young people use every day—online and offline.

Barbie: A Timeless Tale of Fashion and Imagination is a captivating journey through the history and cultural impact of the world’s most iconic doll. From her debut in 1959 to her evolution as a symbol of empowerment and creativity, Barbie has inspired generations of children and collectors alike. This book explores her groundbreaking influence on fashion, design, and popular culture, tracing her transformation through the decades.

The Mount of Olives has endured endless conflicts and wars. Recent events in the Middle East have sent clouds of sorrow and anger over seven continents. The Epstein Affair is a story of lust and revenge that occurs behind a hidden door of the Israeli / Palestinian conflict.