A revelatory counterhistory of postwar Germany, not as a reborn democracy but as a nation convulsed by apocalyptic visions, witchcraft fears, and supernatural obsessions In the aftermath of World War II, a succession of mass supernatural events swept through war-torn Germany. A messianic faith healer rose to extraordinary fame; enormous crowds traveled to witness apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Most strikingly, scores of people accused their neighbors of witchcraft, and found themselves in turn hauled into court in turn on charges of defamation, assault, and even murder. While many histories emphasize Germany's rapid transition from genocidal dictatorship to liberal democracy, A Demon-Haunted Land places in full view the toxic mistrust and spiritual malaise that unfolded alongside the economic miracle. Drawing on previously unpublished archival materials, acclaimed historian Monica Black argues that the surge of supernatural obsessions stemmed from the unspoken guilt and shame of a nation remarkably silent about what was euphemistically called "the most recent past." This shadow history irrevocably changes our view of postwar Germany, revealing the cost of trying to bury a horrific legacy.

Dulcie Mainwaring, the heroine of the book, is one of those excellent women who is always helping others and never looking out for herself- especially in the realms of love. The novel has a delicate tangle of schemes and unfulfilled dreams, hidden secrets and a castle or two. Told wonderfully in the deadpan honesty that has become a Pym hallmark, this book is a delight.

What if we explored our relationship to consumption with the same depth and feeling we use to tell stories of great loves and losses?</b? Americans are caught up in bulk. We guiltily watch Amazon boxes pile up on the porch, wade through endless reviews to find the perfect product, and crave the comforting indulgence of a chain restaurant. In American Bulk, Emily Mester intertwines cultural critique and personal history to explore how the things we buy, eat, amass, and discard become an intimate part of our lives. With humor and sharp intellect, she reflects on the joys and anxieties of family Costco trips, how a seasonal stint at Ulta Beauty taught her the insidious art of the sale, and what it means to get Mall Sad. In a nuanced examination of diet culture and fatness, Mester recounts her teenage summer at fat camp and the unexpected liberation she finds there. Finally, she ventures to Storm Lake, Iowa, to reckon with her grandmother’s abandoned hoard, excavating the dysfunction that lies at the heart of her family’s obsession with stuff. American Bulk introduces readers to a striking new literary talent from the American heartland, one who dares to ask us to regard consumption not with guilt but with grace and empathy.

Dulcie Mainwaring, the heroine of the book, is one of those excellent women who is always helping others and never looking out for herself- especially in the realms of love. The novel has a delicate tangle of schemes and unfulfilled dreams, hidden secrets and a castle or two. Told wonderfully in the deadpan honesty that has become a Pym hallmark, this book is a delight.

Rarely does a book come along which so transcends its apparent subject that the reader is ultimately given something larger, richer, and more revealing than he might initially have imagined. Already published in England to overwhelming acclaim, Shiva Naipaul's Journey to Nowhere is such a book – a “powerful, lucid, and beautifully written book” (The Spectator) that is destined to be one of the most controversial works of 1981. In it, this major writer takes us beyond the events and surface details surrounding the tragedy of Jonestown and the People's Temple – and gives us his remarkable, unique perspective on the deadly drama of ideas, environments, and unholy alliances that shaped those events both in Guyana and, even more significantly, in America. Journey to Nowhere is, on one level, a “brilliantly edgy safari” (New Statesman) inside the Third World itself – a place of increasing importance in our lives – and on another, a book about America, about the corrupt and corrupting ideologies and chi-chi politics of the past twenty years that enabled the Reverend Jim Jones and the Temple to flourish and grow powerful in California and Guyana, Drawing on interviews – with former members of the Temple, various officials, and such people as Buckminster Fuller, Huey Newton, Clark Kerr, and others – on documents, and most importantly, on his own strong, clear reactions on what he observed, Naipaul examines the Guyana of Forbes Burnham, the CIA stooge turned Third World socialist leader, whose stated ideals of socialism, racial brotherhood, and cooperative agricultural enterprise coincided so neatly, we learn for the first time, with those of the People's Temple – ideals that led all too easily to violence and death. “In life,” Naipaul writes, “they had been hailed by the Guyanese government as socialist heroes; in death, they had become hopelessly American.” In California, he traces the ideas generated in the 1960s in the white radical and Black Power movements – and the evolution of those ideas in the 1970s into the preoccupation with “self-realization,” ecology, and “life-style.” We learn of the Temple's formation and of its respected place in the San Francisco community; of Jim Jones and his life, from his small-town Indiana background to his coming West; of the Concerned Relatives and their attempts to totally discredit the Temple and extricate their family members from it. But above all, Naipaul relentlessly explores the American society that produced and nurtured Jones and his followers: the politicians and social workers, the Zen Buddhists and the poor – the junk people whom America professes to care about, but prefers to forget. Absolutely convincing, timely in its message, and written with “the sardonic humor which has become his trademark” (The Times), Journey to Nowhere is “a brilliant achievement” (The Sunday Times). It is certain to be talked about – and argued about – for years to come.

An international bestseller that has sold over 200,000 copies in Italy, All That is Left of Life is a sweeping, cinematic debut, for fans of Elena Ferrante and Liz Moore, that follows three generations of the Ansaldo family in 1980s Rome as they grapple with a tragic and terrible murder.It’s August 1980 when sixteen-year-old Betta Ansaldo leaves her home with her cousin Miriam one night to attend a local bonfire in their idyllic beach town near Rome and is found dead the following morning. Miriam, traumatized, stays silent, and nobody knows or even suspects that she was in Betta’s company that night. The bereft Ansaldos, struggling to cope with their grief, search for answers they cannot find. Who did Betta cross paths with on that fateful night? What was she doing there? And how could such a brutal crime happen in such a peaceful place? As the years pass and the mystery of what happened to Betta goes unsolved, the Ansaldo family fractures under the weight of their tragedy. That is, until Miriam meets Leo, a sweet-natured young man with a dark, criminal past whose tentative romance with Miriam seems to turn her fate around. But when Leo starts to pull loose the threads of Betta’s story, determined to find out what really happened, his search for the truth will either offer Miriam a way forward or risk unraveling everything. A deeply atmospheric and unputdownable family saga, All That is Left of Life explores love, loss, and the secrets we carry.

The future of storytelling is here. Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next. In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes. What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.