FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[bartveld]

Shows up at € 13.22 for me. That's how it works with Amazon; geographical restrictions very often apply with their bargains. All the same, keep up the good work everyone!

[GtrsRGr8]

I've probably mentioned this, but it's been a while. Too, the number may have increased since then.

These all appear to be backlist books (nothing in the world wrong with that)--books that are all very good quality, but The Met no longer sells in their gift shop, for example.

Navigate to this The Met webpage to find all of them, from 1964 forward.

Don't forget that The Getty (Museum) also offers a boatload of similar ebooks for free.

Thank you, The Metropolitan Museum of Art!

[sufue]

John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has dropped to $2.99/£1.99 at Kindle US/Kobo US/Kindle UK. I had a bit of trouble deciding whether to put this here, or in the Mystery thread as "true crime", but in the end, I've had friends read it who wouldn't like true crime, and did like this, so I'm putting it here and cross-posting there.

Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/Midnight-Ga...dp/B003JMFKVK/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/mid...-good-and-evil
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Midnight-...dp/B003JMFKVK/

to get non-Smile links change out the "smile" in the URL for "www"

Spoiler:

Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.

It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.

[sufue]

Yuval Noah Harari is the author of both Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, which I've read and enjoyed, and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, which is still in my TBR pile. Now his 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is on sale at Kindle UK for £0.99. That's tempting enough that I'll probably add it to the TBR pile too. I'm not quite sure why it's ranked as #1 in Amazon's "History of Israel" category through ...

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0767FS76G
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0767FS76G

Spoiler:

**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER**

In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment.

'21 Lessons is, simply put, a crucial book' Adam Kay

How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today's most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change.

Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?

'Fascinating... compelling... [Harari] has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century' Bill Gates, New York Times

'Truly mind-expanding... Ultra-topical' Guardian

[j.p.s]

Factfulness by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund is a deal of the day for $2.99 at amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=B0756J1LLV

It was recently a nominee for the New Leaf book club and got this recommendation:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...6&postcount=51

[itisbomb]

The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace
by Eric Rauchway

is $4.99 at Kobo (U.S.)

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-money-makers-6

Below is the blurb:
Shortly after arriving in the White House in early 1933, Franklin Roosevelt took the United States off the gold standard. His opponents thought his decision unwise at best, and ruinous at worst. But they could not have been more wrong.

With The Money Makers, Eric Rauchway tells the absorbing story of how FDR and his advisors pulled the levers of monetary policy to save the domestic economy and propel the United States to unprecedented prosperity and superpower status. Drawing on the ideas of the brilliant British economist John Maynard Keynes, among others, Roosevelt created the conditions for recovery from the Great Depression, deploying economic policy to fight the biggest threat then facing the nation: deflation.

Throughout the 1930s, he also had one eye on the increasingly dire situation in Europe. In order to defeat Hitler, Roosevelt turned again to monetary policy, sending dollars abroad to prop up the faltering economies of Britain and, beginning in 1941, the Soviet Union. FDR's fight against economic depression and his fight against fascism were indistinguishable. As Rauchway writes, "Roosevelt wanted to ensure more than business recovery; he wanted to restore American economic and moral strength so the US could defend civilization itself." The economic and military alliance he created proved unbeatable-and also provided the foundation for decades of postwar prosperity. Indeed, Rauchway argues that Roosevelt's greatest legacy was his monetary policy. Even today, the "Roosevelt dollar" remains both the symbol and the catalyst of America's vast economic power.

The Money Makers restores the Roosevelt dollar to its central place in our understanding of FDR, the New Deal, and the economic history of twentieth-century America. We forget this history at our own peril. In revealing the roots of our postwar prosperity, Rauchway shows how we can recapture the abundance of that period in our own.

[GtrsRGr8]

Pen & Sword is having another one of their periodic £1.99 book sales.

There are 50 titles in this sale, as usual (I think). The titles relate in some way to history-- especially military history, and especially British military history. There is also the usual smattering of medieval and ancient history books.

If you wish to buy, but are not in Great Britain, not to fear. Just follow the checkout procedure and purchase by PayPal or credit card. The conversion, etc. fees will be added on to the total price.

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/ebookpromotion

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by itisbomb

The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace
by Eric Rauchway

is $4.99 at Kobo (U.S.)

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-money-makers-6

Below is the blurb:
Shortly after arriving in the White House in early 1933, Franklin Roosevelt took the United States off the gold standard. His opponents thought his decision unwise at best, and ruinous at worst. But they could not have been more wrong.

With The Money Makers, Eric Rauchway tells the absorbing story of how FDR and his advisors pulled the levers of monetary policy to save the domestic economy and propel the United States to unprecedented prosperity and superpower status. Drawing on the ideas of the brilliant British economist John Maynard Keynes, among others, Roosevelt created the conditions for recovery from the Great Depression, deploying economic policy to fight the biggest threat then facing the nation: deflation.

Throughout the 1930s, he also had one eye on the increasingly dire situation in Europe. In order to defeat Hitler, Roosevelt turned again to monetary policy, sending dollars abroad to prop up the faltering economies of Britain and, beginning in 1941, the Soviet Union. FDR's fight against economic depression and his fight against fascism were indistinguishable. As Rauchway writes, "Roosevelt wanted to ensure more than business recovery; he wanted to restore American economic and moral strength so the US could defend civilization itself." The economic and military alliance he created proved unbeatable-and also provided the foundation for decades of postwar prosperity. Indeed, Rauchway argues that Roosevelt's greatest legacy was his monetary policy. Even today, the "Roosevelt dollar" remains both the symbol and the catalyst of America's vast economic power.

The Money Makers restores the Roosevelt dollar to its central place in our understanding of FDR, the New Deal, and the economic history of twentieth-century America. We forget this history at our own peril. In revealing the roots of our postwar prosperity, Rauchway shows how we can recapture the abundance of that period in our own.

Just the blurb makes for interesting historical reading!

[sufue]

Hillbilly Elegy caused a big stir when it came out in 2016, and was recommended by everybody from The Economist and The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal and The National Review. And recommended by me too - my mom grew up in the same region, and even though I'm not of his political bent, much of JD Vance's story resonated with me.

Now Hillbilly Elegy is on sale for £0.99, and with a £2.99 Audible narration, in the UK, as part of today's UK Daily Deal, possibly since it's soon to be a Netflix movie. (I'm not really sure how it is going to work as a movie, but then I don't watch many movies anyway...)

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hillbilly-E...dp/B01JR1KJBC/
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Hillbilly...dp/B01JR1KJBC/

Spoiler:

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

Coming November 2020 as a major motion picture from Netflix starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close

‘The political book of the year’ Sunday Times

‘A frank, unsentimental, harrowing memoir … A superb book’ New York Post

‘I bought this to try to better understand Trump’s appeal … but the memoir is so much more than that. A gripping, unputdownable page-turner’ India Knight, Evening Standard

J. D. Vance grew up in the hills of Kentucky. His family and friends were the people most of the world calls rednecks, hillbillies or white trash.

In this deeply moving memoir, Vance tells the story of his family’s demons and of America ’ s problem with generational neglect. How his mother struggled against, but never fully escaped, the legacies of abuse, alcoholism, poverty and trauma. How his grandparents, ‘dirt poor and in love’, gave everything for their children to chase the American dream. How Vance beat the odds to graduate from Yale Law School. And how America came to abandon and then condescend to its white working classes, until they reached breaking point.

[Section8]

Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe by Brian Greene is $3.99 at amazon.com

From the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe comes a captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose.

[sufue]

Women & Power: A Manifesto is by Mary Beard, whose differently themed SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome I've read and quite enjoyed. Women has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK, and even though the subjects seem quite different, I think I'm going to give it a try. And the blurb does say she includes some examples from the classical world, including Medusa and Athena .

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Women-Power...dp/B075TZ9NKH/
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Women-Pow...dp/B075TZ9NKH/

Spoiler:

An updated edition of the Sunday Times Bestseller

Britain's best-known classicist Mary Beard, is also a committed and vocal feminist. With wry wit, she revisits the gender agenda and shows how history has treated powerful women. Her examples range from the classical world to the modern day, from Medusa and Athena to Theresa May and Hillary Clinton. Beard explores the cultural underpinnings of misogyny, considering the public voice of women, our cultural assumptions about women's relationship with power, and how powerful women resist being packaged into a male template.

A year on since the advent of #metoo, Beard looks at how the discussions have moved on during this time, and how that intersects with issues of rape and consent, and the stories men tell themselves to support their actions. In trademark Beardian style, using examples ancient and modern, Beard argues, 'it's time for change - and now!'

From the author of international bestseller SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome.

[sufue]

The Street-Wise Spanish Survival Guide, which indicates it is a "Dictionary of Over 3,000 Slang Expressions, Proverbs, Idioms, and Other Tricky English and Spanish Words and Phrases Translated and Explained" has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US as part of today's Daily Deal. My son's girlfriend (probably some day to be my daughter-in-law) is from Puebla, and we're speaking Spanish one evening a week, trying to improve my academically learned Spanish skills. I can't decide whether to buy this for myself, or for her to be able to help me , or maybe both, but one way or the other, I'm getting it!

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Street-Wise-S...dp/B004TC14GO/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/Street-Wise...dp/B004TC14GO/

Spoiler:

If you were dropped into the middle of Managua, Mexico City, or Miami, would you know how to speak not only the language, but also the lingo? In The Street-Wise Spanish Survival Guide, the reader who is already familiar with Spanish will discover the banter and metaphor (both polite and rude) that enrich the spoken language as it is really used, hints on avoiding embarrassing mistakes in grammar, and a list of dreaded false cognates. Full of advice on pronunciation and tips on customs and manners, and keyed with time-saving symbols, this is the best guide available to understanding and appreciating Spanish as it is spoken in Latin America and the United States.

[sufue]

I seem to be finding some promising non-fiction in the US Kindle Daily Deals recently. Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America by Craig Childs is on sale today at Kindle US for $1.99, matched at Kobo US. It looks really interesting, to me, at least, and as if it could be kind of fun as well. And good ratings ~ 4.4 stars on almost 200 reviews at Amazon.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Lost-Wo...dp/B074LRM9NZ/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/Atlas-Lost-...dp/B074LRM9NZ/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/atlas-of-a-lost-world

Spoiler:

From the author of Apocalyptic Planet comes a vivid travelogue through prehistory, that traces the arrival of the first people in North America at least twenty thousand years ago and the artifacts that tell of their lives and fates.

In Atlas of a Lost World, Craig Childs upends our notions of where these people came from and who they were. How they got here, persevered, and ultimately thrived is a story that resonates from the Pleistocene to our modern era. The lower sea levels of the Ice Age exposed a vast land bridge between Asia and North America, but the land bridge was not the only way across. Different people arrived from different directions, and not all at the same time.

The first explorers of the New World were few, their encampments fleeting. The continent they reached had no people but was inhabited by megafauna—mastodons, giant bears, mammoths, saber-toothed cats, five-hundred-pound panthers, enormous bison, and sloths that stood one story tall. The first people were hunters—Paleolithic spear points are still encrusted with the proteins of their prey—but they were wildly outnumbered and many would themselves have been prey to the much larger animals.

Atlas of a Lost World chronicles the last millennia of the Ice Age, the violent oscillations and retreat of glaciers, the clues and traces that document the first encounters of early humans, and the animals whose presence governed the humans’ chances for survival. A blend of science and personal narrative reveals how much has changed since the time of mammoth hunters, and how little. Across unexplored landscapes yet to be peopled, readers will see the Ice Age, and their own age, in a whole new light.

[sufue]

Now $2.99 at Kindle US, not at Kobo US, at least as of now.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Blood-T-...dp/B00J3EU7EI/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/Fire-Blood-...dp/B00J3EU7EI/

I've read and quite enjoyed this.

Originally Posted by bfisher

A few books on sale at Amazon.ca

Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico by T.R. Fehrenbach for $CDN 1.99
https://www.amazon.ca/Fire-Blood-T-R.../dp/B00J3EU7EI
Goodreads reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...Fire_and_Blood

{edited other book}

[sufue]

My husband enjoys Joan Didion's essays, so getting Didion's Collected Essays: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The White Album, and After Henry while it's on sale at Kindle US (but not, for now, at Kobo US) for $3.99 is a no-brainer...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Ess...dp/B07B3QHCTZ/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/Collected-E...dp/B07B3QHCTZ/

Spoiler:

Three essential works that redefined the art of journalism by “one of our sharpest and most trustworthy cultural observers” (The New York Times).

In these masterpieces of razor-sharp reportage, the National Book Award–winning and New York Times–bestselling author proves herself one of the premier essayists of the twentieth century, “an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time” (Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Times Book Review).

Slouching Towards Bethlehem: America in the 1960s—a pivotal era of social change and generational divide. Here is Joan Didion on the “misplaced children” of Haight-Ashbury as well as John Wayne in Hollywood; folk singer Joan Baez and reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes; the extremes of both Death Valley and Las Vegas. Named to Time magazine’s list of the one hundred best and most influential nonfiction books, this is “a rare display of some of the best prose written today in this country” (The New York Times Book Review).

The White Album: A New York Times bestseller, this landmark essay collection confronts the dark aftermath of the 1960s. From a jailhouse visit to Huey Newton, cofounder of the Black Panther Party, to a recording session with The Doors, from the culture of shopping malls to the contradictions of the women’s movement, Joan Didion captures the paranoia and absurdity of the era with irony and insight. And in the iconic title essay, she documents her uneasy state of mind during the years leading up to and following the Manson murders—a terrifying crime that, in her memory, surprised no one.

After Henry: Whether reporting on a Hollywood murder or the “sideshows” of foreign wars, Joan Didion crystalizes her reputation as a brilliant essayist. Highlights include a portrait of the White House under the Reagans, two “actors on location”; an unexpected meditation on the Patty Hearst case; and an exposé on the racial divisions and class fault lines of New York City following the rape of the Central Park jogger. An indispensable collection from a writer on whom we can rely “to get the story straight” (Los Angeles Times).