Island Nonfiction

“Compulsively readable—a masterpiece, maybe the masterpiece of science journalism.” —Bill McKibben, Audubon A brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope and far-reaching in its message, The Song of the Dodo is a crucial book in precarious times. Through personal observation...

Since the East India Company merged seven islands into Bombay (now Mumbai), change has been constant-but now it is used as a weapon for displacement, disguised as development. Slums are erased overnight to make way for luxury towers priced in tens of crores. The working class is pushed to the...

In his final novel - which he considered his most important - Aldous Huxley transports us to the remote Pacific island of Pala, where an ideal society has flourished for 120 years. Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala, and events are set in motion when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and - to his amazement - give him hope.

In the Spring of 1915, a Parisian playboy took to the lethal skies of World War I, becoming the world’s first fighter pilot. Never before had a lone pilot hunted down other aviators. Roland Garros’ aerial exploits unleashed unlimited air combat and changed warfare forever. Before leaving French café society for the Western Front, the young pilot set aviation records, won air races, and introduced manned flight to thrilled crowds in the USA, Europe, and Latin America. Garros scouted for the US Army, strolled as a Boulevardier, sold sports cars, played classical piano, was a lawyer, a ...

Would you sacrifice your balls to live in paradise? Sam's tropical cruise vacation has been a total disaster until the ship makes a port of call at NoNut Island, a paradise founded entirely by women where testicles are outlawed by the local government. At the port, Sam is offered an intriguing opportunity. Immigration in exchange for castration. This female domination, castration erotica short story is about 15,000 words long.

The Hawaiian kingdom was tiny, and the big world was huge. The 19th century was the high water mark of Western imperialism, worldwide, and the great powers were planting their flags across the Pacific. Hawai'i was in their sights. By late in the century, two strong American currents were running: one east from the islands, one west from the continent. Sugar plantations had become Hawai'i's biggest moneymaker. And many of the biggest names in the business were of American blood - the sons of missionaries, devout capitalists.

The most brutal and profitable genocide you've never heard of. In the early 17th century, a single spice was worth more than gold. Nutmeg—exotic, intoxicating, and found on only one tiny cluster of volcanic islands: the Banda Archipelago. When the ruthless Dutch East India Company (VOC)—the world’s first true multinational corporation—discovered this monopoly, they initiated a campaign of unrivaled cruelty to secure it. This is the untold micro-history of imperial greed. In just a few harrowing years, the VOC’s Governor-General, J.P. Coen, orchestrated the near-total extermination...

Things were bad enough when Luke, Lyssa, Will, J.J., Ian, and Charla were stuck alone on the island. But now they have company--really bad company. Plus, Will is seriously injured and needs help immediately. Before, escape was something the kids could only hope for. Now it's a matter of life and death.

The harrowing adventure-at-sea memoir recounting the heroic search-and-rescue mission for lost Montauk fisherman John Aldridge, which Daniel James Brown calls "A terrific read." I am floating in the middle of the night, and nobody in the world even knows I am missing. Nobody is looking for me...

The Acclaimed International Bestseller “It is impossible to do justice to the beauty of Returning Light. The whole book is a poem.” — New York Times Book Review By the lighthouse keeper on the remote, otherworldly Irish island of Skellig Michael, a ""profound memoir about the importance of...

The author of My Name Is Maria Isabel offers an inspiring look at her childhood in Cuba in this collection that includes "Where the Flame Trees Bloom", "Under the Royal Palms", five new stories, and more. These true autobiographical tales from renowned Hispanic author and educator Alma Flor Ada are filled with family love and traditions, secrets and deep friendships, and a gorgeous, moving picture of the island of Cuba, where Alma Flor grew up.

Alex Kotlowitz's There Are No Children Here was more than a bestseller; it was a national event. His beautifully narrated, heartbreaking nonfiction account of two black boys struggling to grow up in a Chicago public housing complex spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, was a...

“A mosaic mystery told in vignettes, cliffhangers, curious asides, and some surreal plot twists as Raffel investigates the secrets of the man who changed infant care in America.”—NPR, 2018's Great Reads What kind of doctor puts his patients on display? This is the spellbinding tale of...

A hugely entertaining social history of the elite and exclusive Caribbean island of St. Barthélemy from the New York Times bestselling author of Model and 740 Park. St. Barthelemy is revered for its luxury, its stunning beaches and its VIP fans. Those who’ve either been there or hope to...

This riveting and entertaining thriller by Thomas Perry follows a husband-and-wife con team on the run from the Mob, a soldier of fortune between jobs, a two-bit operator with grandiose dreams of tribal dynasty, a sultry CIA operative with divided loyalties, the most dazzling defector ever to hurl a split-fingered fastball, and 20th-century buccaneers who wash up on a tiny island in the Caribbean and turn it into a multinational cash machine. But then the shooting starts.

Sometimes in life you may get to live some of your dreams. Standing on my front gallery on St. Croix I look across the channel. On a sunny day I can see St. Thomas and St. John off to my left about 39 miles away. These two islands make up two sides of the three island trinity of this the Virgin Islands, a U.S. possession. St. Croix is the third island. Gazing slightly to my right I can see Tortola in the distance, too. Tortola and so many more islands are located in the British Virgin Islands. These two separate island chains are remarkably close geographically together. These tiny bits of ...

World War II was a truly global conflict, but no theatre of the war tested the limits of human endurance, strategy, and brutality like the Pacific. In Island by Island: The Pacific War in Brutal Detail, author Cyril Marlen delivers a visceral, unflinching account of the long, bitter struggle between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan. This is not a broad-strokes overview—it’s a deep dive into the raw, punishing reality of the Pacific War, told through vivid detail, gripping analysis, and a relentless focus on the battles that defined the ocean-spanning campaign.

An exuberant young man, seeking adventure at sea, an elderly couple and a naive young Danish girl add up to nonstop action in this fast-paced sailing story. After departing Charlotte Amalie bay in St. Thomas, VI., the Lima begins her odyssey northward ... through the Bermuda Triangle. "To be sailing offshore is to be free" S.J. Alexander

When was the last time you had writer's block? You wanted very badly to write, but you couldn't think of what to write about! This collection of writing prompts will get your creative juices flowing and having you fill up page after page in no time, at all! This collection of writing prompts is a powerful and useful reference to use whenever you need something to kick-start your writing! And best of all, you have no excuse to not get started right away!

For twenty-five years, millions of Americans watched Jack Perkins on NBC News as a correspondent, commentator, and anchorman. People were familiar with his face, his bearing, and his rich, reassuring bass. Yet at the age of fifty-two and at the height of his career, Jack Perkins disappeared...