Bold New Summer Books for Maverick Reader Types
Fresh Nonfiction & Big-Idea Books That Break the Mold
If you’re drawn to provocative ideas, social disruptors, and the kind of nonfiction that sparks debate, you’re a Maverick Reader. At Bookfinity, we match you with books that go beyond conventional thinking—stories that challenge norms, educate boldly, and give you something to talk about.
This summer’s June through August releases feature groundbreaking social science, controversial takes, and eye-opening narratives from fearless thinkers. Whether you're sharpening your perspective or shaking up your next dinner table discussion, these reads are anything but ordinary.
August New Releases
Patriarchy Inc.: What We Get Wrong about Gender Equality?and Why Men Still Win at Work
by Cordelia Fine
Work remains much as it always has: men occupy the vast majority of leadership roles and are overrepresented in positions from engineer to plumber. We see many jobs as "male" or "female," with women dominating in healthcare and childcare professions. Pretending that this is the natural state of things--or that, instead, both sexes should submit to working 24/7--is just not right.
In Patriarchy Inc., Cordelia Fine examines with razor-sharp and quick-witted analysis why gender inequality is embedded in the workplace and why it has to change. Drawing on theories from evolutionary science, psychology, economics, and sociology, she examines two of the most prominent movements in the corporate world. The Different But Equal viewpoint espouses that women are in the jobs they want despite their lower status and salaries. In the meantime, DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) has become a slogan that emphasizes productivity and profit, not fair play. Fine shows how both are wrong and the bad effects on everyone when men are still stuck in traditional breadwinner roles and women are having to fight for their due.
Offering perceptive and much-needed insight into the current state of work, Patriarchy Inc. explores how we can get closer to achieving equality, even if it means upturning business as usual.
A Noble Madness: The Dark Side of Collecting from Antiquity to Now
by James Delbourgo
Collectors are often praised for their taste in art or contributions to science, and considered great public benefactors. But collectors have also been seen as dangerous obsessives who love objects too much. Why? From looters and idolaters to fin de siècle decadents and Freudian psychos, A Noble Madness is a captivating history of obsessive collectors from ancient times to today.
From Roman emperors lusting after statues to modern-day hoarders, award-winning author James Delbourgo tells the extraordinary story of fanatical collectors throughout history. He explains how the idea first emerged that when we look at someone's collection, we see a portrait of their soul: complex, intriguing, yet possibly insane. What Delbourgo calls "the Romantic collecting self" has always lurked on the dark side of humanity.
But this dark side has a silver lining. Because obsessive collectors are driven by passion, not profit, they have been countercultural heroes in the modern imagination, defying respectability and taste in the name of truth to self.
A grand portrait gallery of collectors in all their decadent glory, A Noble Madness recounts the saga of the human urge to accumulate, from Caligula to Marie Antoinette, Balzac to Freud, Norman Bates to Andy Warhol. Collectors' love of objects may be mad, even dangerous. But we want to believe their love's a noble madness because by expressing that love, they are themselves.
The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces
by Seth Harp
"The Fort Bragg Cartel opens like a nonfiction thriller and never lets up. A page-turning investigation into the dark side of our forever wars."
--Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars and Directorate S
A groundbreaking investigation into a string of unsolved murders at America's premier special operations base, and what the crimes reveal about drug trafficking and impunity among elite soldiers in today's military
In December 2020, a deer hunter discovered two dead bodies that had been riddled with bullets and dumped in a forested corner of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of the dead men, Master Sergeant William "Billy" Lavigne, was a member of Delta Force, the most secretive "black ops" unit in the military. A deeply traumatized veteran of America's classified assassination program, Lavigne had done more than a dozen deployments in his lengthy career, was addicted to crack cocaine, dealt drugs on base, and had committed a series of violent crimes before he was mysteriously killed. The other victim, Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Dumas, was a quartermaster attached to the Special Forces who used his proximity to clandestine missions to steal guns and traffic drugs into the United States from abroad, and had written a blackmail letter threatening to expose criminality in the special operations task force in Afghanistan.
As soon as Seth Harp, an Iraq war veteran and investigative reporter, begins looking into the double murder, he learns that there have been many more unexplained deaths at Fort Bragg recently, other murders connected to drug trafficking in elite units, and dozens of fatal overdoses. Drawing on declassified documents, trial transcripts, police records, and hundreds of interviews, Harp tells a scathing story of narco-trafficking in the Special Forces, drug conspiracies abetted by corrupt police, blatant military cover-ups, American complicity in the Afghan heroin trade, and the pernicious consequences of continuous war.
Hotshot: A Life on Fire
by River Selby
"A beautiful reflection on justice, the environment, the self, and much more."--George Saunders
The fierce debut memoir of a female firefighter, Hotshot navigates the personal and environmental dangers of wildland firefighting
From 2000 to 2010, River Selby was a wildland firefighter whose given name was Anastasia. This is a memoir of that time in their life--of Ana, the struggles she encountered, and the constraints of what it means to be female-bodied in a male-dominated industry. An illuminating debut from a fierce new voice, Hotshot is a timely reckoning with both the personal and environmental dangers of wildland firefighting.
By the time they were nineteen, Selby had been homeless, addicted to drugs, and sexually assaulted more than once. In a last-ditch effort to find direction, they applied to be a wildland firefighter. Two years later, they joined an elite class of specially trained wildland firefighters known as hotshots. Over the course of five fire seasons, Selby delves into the world of the people--almost entirely men--who risk their lives to fight and sometimes prevent wildfires. Simultaneously hyper visible and invisible, Selby navigated an odd mix of camaraderie and rampant sexism on the job and, when they challenged it, a violent closing of ranks that excluded them from the work they'd come to love.
Drawing on years of firsthand experience on the frontlines of fire and years of research, Selby examines how the collision of fire suppression policy, colonization, and climate change has led to fire seasons of unprecedented duration and severity. A work of rare intimacy, Hotshot provides new insight into fire, the people who fight it, and the diversity of ecosystems dependent on this elemental force.
Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization
by Tim Queeney
A unique and compelling adventure through the history of rope and its impact on civilization, in the vein of single-subject bestsellers like Salt and Cod
Tim Queeney is a sailor who knows more about rope and its importance to humankind than most. In Rope, Queeney takes readers on a ride through the history of rope and the way it weaves itself through the story of civilization. From Magellan's world-circling ships, to the 15th-century fleet of Admiral Zheng He, to Polynesian multihulls with crab claw sails, he shows how without rope, none of their adventurous voyages and discoveries would have been possible. Time traveling, he describes the building of the pyramids, the Roman Coliseum, Hagia Sofia, Notre Dame, the Sultan Hasan Mosque, the Brooklyn Bridge, and countless other constructions that would not have been possible without rope.
Not content to just look at rope's past, Queeney looks at its present and possible future and how the re-invention of rope with synthetic fibers will likely provide the strength for cables to support elevators into space. Making the story of rope real for readers, Queeney tells remarkable nautical stories of his own reliance on rope at sea. Rope is history, adventure, and the story of one of the world's most common tools that has made it possible for humans to advance throughout the centuries.
Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization
by Bill McKibben
Our climate, and our democracy, are melting down. But Bill McKibben, one of the first to sound the alarm about the climate crisis, insists the moment is also full of possibility. Energy from the sun and wind is suddenly the cheapest power on the planet and growing faster than any energy source in history--if we can keep accelerating the pace, we have a chance.
Here Comes the Sun tells the story of the sudden spike in power from the sun and wind--and the desperate fight of the fossil fuel industry and their politicians to hold this new power at bay. From the everyday citizens who installed solar panels equal to a third of Pakistan's electric grid in a year to the world's sixth-largest economy--California--nearly halving its use of natural gas in the last two years, Bill McKibben traces the arrival of plentiful, inexpensive solar energy. And he shows how solar power is more than just a path out of the climate crisis: it is a chance to reorder the world on saner and more humane grounds. You can't hoard solar energy or hold it in reserves--it's available to all.
There's no guarantee we can make this change in time, but there is a hope--in McKibben's eyes, our best hope for a new civilization: one that looks up to the sun, every day, as the star that fuels our world.
july new releases
A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile
by Aatish Taseer
A blend of travelog and memoir spanning from Turkey to Mexico, exploring Aatish Taseer's uniquely blended identity and asking: Why do certain cities become epicenters of great historical shifts and sites of unpredictable communities?
In 2019, the government of Prime Minister Narenda Modi revoked Aatish Taseer's Indian citizenship, thereby exiling him from the country where he grew up and lived for thirty years. This loss, both practical and spiritual, sent him on a journey of revisiting the places that formed his identity, and asking broader questions about the complex forces that make a culture and a nationality, in the process.
Jfk: Public, Private, Secret
by J Randy Taraborrelli
From the New York Times bestselling Kennedy historian and author of Jackie: Public, Private, Secret comes the other side of the story--her husband's: JFK: Public, Private, Secret.
In this definitive portrait of John Fitzgerald Kennedy--one of America's most consequential and enigmatic presidents--J. Randy Taraborrelli delivers a deeply researched and authoritative biography. More than the story of a presidency, this is an intimate study of a man whose public triumphs were shaped--and at times overshadowed--by the complex realities of his private life, from his legendary family to his marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy.
Drawing from hundreds of interviews conducted over twenty-five years--as well as candid, first-hand oral histories from the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library, rare internal reports from the Secret Service, detailed files from the National Archives, and intelligence documents from both the CIA and FBI. This is JFK as never before captured by history: brilliant yet fallible, revered yet human--a figure whose legacy continues to shape America and the world.
Little Red Barns: Hiding the Truth, from Farm to Fable
by Will Potter
"We are in a fight for our lives against a rising authoritarian tide, and this clear-eyed, compelling, clarion call of a book has a message everyone needs to hear."--Astra Taylor, author of Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone
Behind the little red barns dotting the landscape and decorating so many of the products we consume is a dangerous threat. This groundbreaking investigation exposes the powerful forces at work to hide the harms of industrial agriculture, its outsize role in the climate crisis, and its links to the global rise of fascism.
Little Red Barns is the record of a harrowing journey that took investigative journalist Will Potter from factory farms to international climate summits, from Congressional hearings to neo-Nazi fascist groups. As Potter uncovers the frightening truth about animal agriculture's role in accelerating climate collapse, he shows how the authoritarian measures being taken to maintain control over this key aspect of the global food supply chain are directly linked to the proliferation and empowerment of far-right militias. Confronting a maelstrom of disturbing information, he asks searching questions about a journalist's role in the 21st century and the impact of bearing witness in a world in which we are bombarded with "news," both real and faked.
The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century
by Tim Weiner
"Masterful. ... A singular triumph." -- Kirkus, starred review
"Triumphant. ... A crucial document of the present times." --Publishers Weekly, starred review
The epic successor to Tim Weiner's National Book Award-winning classic, Legacy of Ashes: a gripping and revelatory history of the CIA in the 21st century, reaching from 9/11 through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to today's battles with Russia and China--and with the President of the United States.
One of Foreign Policy's "Most Anticipated Books of 2025"
At the turn of the century, the Central Intelligence Agency was in crisis. The end of the Cold War had robbed the agency of its mission. More than thirty overseas stations and bases had been shuttered, and scores that remained had been severely cut back. Many countries where surveillance was once deemed crucial went uncovered. Essential intelligence wasn't being collected. At the dawn of the information age, the CIA's officers and analysts worked with outmoded technology, struggling to distinguish the clear signals of significant facts from the cacophony of background noise.
Then came September 11th, 2001.
We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate
by Michael Grunwald
From the author of New York Times bestseller The New New Deal, a groundbreaking piece of reportage from the trenches of the next climate war: the fight to fix our food system.
Humanity has cleared a land mass the size of Asia plus Europe to grow food, and our food system generates a third of our carbon emissions. By 2050, we're going to need a lot more calories to fill nearly 10 billion bellies, but we can't feed the world without frying it if we keep tearing down an acre of rainforest every six seconds. We are eating the earth, and the greatest challenge facing our species will be to slow our relentless expansion of farmland into nature. Even if we quit fossil fuels, we'll keep hurtling towards climate chaos if we don't solve our food and land problems.
Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home
by Stephen Starring Grant
An exuberant, hilarious, and profound memoir by a mailman in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, who found that working for the post office saved his life, taught him who he was, gave him purpose, and educated him deeply about a country he loves but had lost touch with.
Steve Grant was laid off in March of 2020. He was fifty and had cancer, so he needed health insurance, fast. Which is how he found himself a rural letter carrier in Appalachia, back in his old hometown.
Suddenly, he was the guy with the goods, delivering dog food and respirators and lube and heirloom tomato seeds and Lord of the Rings replica swords. He transported chicken feed to grandmothers living alone in the mountains and forded a creek with a refrigerator on his back. But while he carried the mail, he also carried a whole lot more than just the mail, including a family legacy of rage and the anxiety of having lost his identity along with his corporate job.
June New Releases
The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life
by Helen Whybrow
"Helen Whybrow is a to-the-bone writer, and this is a to-the-bone book--beautiful, real, full of life."--Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
Set in Vermont's Green Mountains, a profoundly moving meditation on the lessons and wisdom that come from raising a family, tending sheep, and living close to the land.
In the heart of Vermont's Green Mountains, Helen Whybrow and her partner set out to restore an old two-hundred-acre farm. Knowing that "belonging more than anything requires participation," they begin to intertwine their lives with the land. But soon after releasing a flock of Icelandic sheep onto the worn-out fields, Whybrow realizes that the art of shepherding extends far beyond the flock and fences of Knoll Farm.
Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings
by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
The New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-nominated author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois and The Age of Phillis makes her nonfiction debut with this personal and thought-provoking work that explores the journeys and possibilities of Black women throughout American history and in contemporary times.
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is at a crossroads.
Traditional African/Black American cultures present the crossroads as a place of simultaneous difficulty and possibility. In contemporary times, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the phrase "intersectionality" to explain the unique position of Black women in America. In many ways, they are at a third crossroads: attempting to fit into notions of femininity and respectability primarily assigned to White women, while inventing improvisational strategies to combat oppression.
When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World
by Jordan Thomas
A hotshot firefighter's gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season
Eighteen of California's largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term "megafire" to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been nearly impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction.
Waiting for Britney Spears: A True Story, Allegedly
by Jeff Weiss
"Like a J.D. Salinger novel rolled in Hunter S. Thompson's hallucinogen dust." --Ann Powers, author of Travelling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell
"[Waiting for Britney Spears] transformed and transported me." ―Hanif Abdurraqib, author of There's Always This Year
A frenetic, gonzo account of Britney Spears's historic rise and equally tragic fall told by an iconoclastic music journalist.
America, 2003: A country at war, its shiny veneer beginning to crack. Von Dutch and The Simple Life dominate. And on the cover of every magazine, a twenty-one-year-old pop star named Britney Spears. Tracking her every move for a third-tier gossip rag in Los Angeles was an unknown young writer taking whatever job he could while pursuing his distant literary dreams. He'd instead become an eyewitness to the slow tragedy of a changing nation, represented in spirit by “the coy it-girl at the end of history.”
False Claims: One Insider's Impossible Battle Against Big Pharma Corruption
by Lisa Pratta
In Big Pharma, lives are secondary to profit margins. But Lisa Pratta stood her ground--risking everything to expose the lies of a billion-dollar pharmaceutical business mired in deception, greed, and the systemic abuse of both patients and employees
As a rising star in pharmaceutical sales, Lisa Pratta wanted to believe that she was helping improve the lives of people who suffered from illness. But as she climbed the corporate ladder, she uncovered a sinister world of bribery, fraud, and sexual harassment--all papered over with a thin veneer of corporate respectability.
At Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Lisa found herself at a small company with a blockbuster drug that could have been a lifeline for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis--that is, if it was prescribed properly. But instead, Questcor chose profits over patients, training its sales force to push untested treatment regimens with the sole purpose of beating its competition. Lisa recognized this as not only dangerous but highly illegal. In the midst of this controversy, Questcor arbitrarily inflated the drug's price to a jaw-dropping $28,000 per vial.
So Gay for You: Friendship, Found Family, and the Show That Started It All
by Kate Moennig - Leisha Hailey
An intimate, hilarious memoir of art, friendship, queerness, and found family by Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey, stars of The L Word--including never-before-shared stories and photos from behind the scenes of the show and their personal lives.
"Are you comfortable with nudity?" my manager asked.
In the early 2000s, Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey--both young artists trying to figure it all out--met at auditions for an unknown little TV show. Given that it was a show about lesbians living in Los Angeles, with the first ever ensemble cast of openly queer female characters, Kate and Leisha knew the project was going to be unlike anything else out there--that is, if it even got picked up.