NCW Libraries

A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts Bestseller!

"The glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunt us still." —NPR Books 

Discover the gripping and inspiring true story of The Radium Girls, a groundbreaking work by acclaimed author Kate Moore. Immerse yourself in this compelling narrative that unravels the extraordinary lives of these fearless women who fought against all odds.

The

...

At a time when Britain, America, and much of Europe have never been so secular--and when his mother's death and his Irish Catholic family's complicated history with the church prompted a reckoning with his own beliefs -- Timothy Egan decided to follow in the footsteps of centuries of seekers. He embarked on a thousand-mile pilgrimage through the theological cradle of Christianity, to explore one of the biggest stories of our time: the collapse of...

This wide-ranging overview of the turbulent and little-known history of the diverse Latino experience in America is based on hundreds of interviews and research about the fastest-growing minority in America.

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of perhaps the most bestselling and beloved literary fiction of our time comes a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring novel about children on the cusp of adulthood in a broken world, who find resilience, hope, and story. The heroes of Cloud Cuckoo Land are children trying to figure out the world around them, and to survive. In the besieged city of Constantinople in 1453, in a public library in Lakeport,...

 The National Book Award winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society.
Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America — it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every...

1932. After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fianc�e, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the war killed so many young men. Yet Violet cannot reconcile herself to a life spent caring for her grieving, embittered mother. After countless meals of boiled eggs and dry toast, she saves enough to move out of her mother's place and into the town of Winchester, home...

Devil Put the Coal is a holistic look at the impact of this legacy and the ravages of extractive industry and corporate power, as it has affected the people, communities and the environment of West Virginia.

"The 100 most iconic guitars from around the globe, from early modern beginnings to cutting-edge electric models. The guitar is the iconic instrument at the heart of all popular music. From Delta blues on acoustics to electric rock & roll, and all that came in its wake, the guitar has proven the most versatile and emotive conduit for musical expression and experimentation. Across more than 300 years, master guitar-makers have striven continually for...

The First Alphabet: Follow the evolution of the written word, from millennia-old carvings in an Egyptian turquoise mine to modern-day alphabets. How Writing Changed the World: The printing press transformed the spread of information, igniting the Industrial Revolution. How did technologies, from pen to paper to printing press, make it all possible?