These titles were recently added to the collection of Yakima Valley Libraries
The illegals : Russia's most audacious spies and their century-long mission to infiltrate the West
Walker, Shaun (Journalist), author.
A century ago, the new Bolshevik government began sending Soviet citizens abroad as deep-cover spies, training them to pose as foreign aristocrats, merchants, and students. Over time, this became the most ambitious espionage program in human history. Many intelligence agencies use undercover operatives, but the KGB was the only one to go to such lengths, spending years training its spies to pass for foreigners, then sending them on missions that could last for decades. These spies were known as the illegals. During the Cold War, illegals were dispatched to assassinate world leaders and steal technological secrets-the greatest among them performed remarkable feats, while many others failed in their missions or cracked under the strain of living a double life. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with illegals and their descendants, as well as archival research in more than a dozen countries, Shaun Walker brings the illegals to life in a page-turning tour-de-force that takes us into the heart of the KGB's most secretive program. A riveting spy drama peopled with richly drawn characters, The Illegals also uncovers a hidden thread in the story of Russia itself. As Putin extols Soviet achievements and the KGB's espionage prowess, and Moscow continues to infiltrate illegals across the globe, this timely narrative shines new light on the long arc of the Soviet experiment, its messy aftermath, and its influence on our world at large.....
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Lost at sea : poverty and paradise collide at the edge of America
Kloc, Joe, author.
In the wake of the financial crisis, the number of anchor-outs living in Richardson Bay more than doubles as their long-simmering feud with the wealthy residents of Marin County--one of the richest counties in the country--finally boils over. Many of the shoreline's well-heeled yacht club members and mansion owners blame their unhoused neighbors for rising crime on the waterfront. Meanwhile, local politicians accuse them of destroying the Bay Area's marine ecosystem and demand their eviction. When the pandemic breaks out, a slew of city and regional authorities heed the call: they seize and crush the anchor-outs' boats, arresting dissenters as they dismantle one of the nation's oldest unhoused communities. Kloc's near-decade-long firsthand account of the joys, hardships, and eventual demise of the anchor-outs is in many ways the story of being poor in America. Examining the profit-driven policies that exacerbate the contemporary housing crisis, Lost at Sea weaves together tales of comradery and survival on the anchorage with the rich history of the region, from the creation of unspeakable wealth during the San Francisco Gold Rush era to the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906, when the first unhoused people dropped their anchors in Marin County. Along the way, Kloc discovers the quiet beauty of the world the anchor-outs built: how they've learned to care for each other, band together to fend off real estate developers and NIMBY neighbors, and fight for a way of life that is entirely unrecognizable to those on shore. Lost at Sea explores the often overlooked world of poverty and homelessness that exists in even the wealthiest enclaves of America, where people who have fallen on hard times struggle to rebuild their lives among those who would rather just wish them away.....
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The fate of the day : the war for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
Atkinson, Rick, author.
The first twenty-one months of the American Revolution -- which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton -- was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world's most formidable fighting force. Two years into the war, George III is as determined as ever to bring his rebellious colonies to heel. But the king's task is now far more complicated: fighting a determined enemy on the other side of the Atlantic has become ruinously expensive, and spies tell him that the French and Spanish are threatening to join forces with the Americans. Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution. Stationed in Paris, Benjamin Franklin woos the French; in Pennsylvania, George Washington pleads with Congress to deliver the money, men, and materiel he needs to continue the fight. In New York, General William Howe, the commander of the greatest army the British have ever sent overseas, plans a new campaign against the Americans--even as he is no longer certain that he can win this searing, bloody war. The months and years that follow bring epic battles at Brandywine, Saratoga, Monmouth, and Charleston, a winter of misery at Valley Forge, and yet more appeals for sacrifice by every American committed to the struggle for freedom.....
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Who deserves your love : how to create boundaries to start, strengthen, or end any relationship
Davis, KC, author.
Who Deserves Your Love by KC Davis is a compassionate and practical guide to evaluating and managing your relationships--romantic, platonic, or otherwise. Drawing from her experience as a therapist, Davis helps readers identify which relationships are healthy and worth nurturing, and which may be harmful. She addresses difficult topics like conditional love, emotional boundaries, and when to step away from someone--even if they're trying their best. With a focus on emotional regulation, setting standards, and understanding conflict, Davis offers tools like The Decision Tree to guide readers through complex decisions. The book is especially accessible to those with ADHD or depression, using short sections, lists, and diagrams to present insights in a clear, digestible format. Ultimately, it's a gentle, honest approach to navigating hard relationships with care and clarity.....
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Lower than the angels : a history of sex and Christianity
MacCulloch, Diarmaid, author.
A groundbreaking history of sexual emotion, sexual activity, gender relations, marriage and the family--and how Christianity has interacted with this panorama of human concerns... Few matters produce more public interest and public anxiety than sex and religion. Much of the political contention and division in societies across the world centres on sexual topics, and one-third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook. The issue goes to the heart of present-day religion. This book seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding through telling a three-thousand-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender, and the family. The message of Lower than the Angels is simple, necessary and timely: to pay attention to the complexity and contradictions in the history of Christianity. The reader can decide from the story told here whether there is a single Christian theology of sex, or many contending voices in a symphony that is not at all complete. Oxford's Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church introduces an epic of ordinary and extraordinary Christians trying to make sense of themselves and of humanity's deepest desires, fears and hopes.....
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Money management essentials
Tyson, Eric (Eric Kevin), author.
Money Management Essentials For Dummies is your cheat sheet on becoming financially secure, now and into the future. Small and value-priced for the budget conscious, this book offers strategies for anyone to say goodbye to excess debt and prepare to achieve their goals. You'll discover the easy steps you can start taking today to get to a place of stability with your money. Create an emergency fund, manage outstanding debt, get good insurance, invest your money, and set financial goals ― with this easy-to-follow guidance. This Essentials For Dummies guide will help you set yourself up for financial success.....
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Carbon : the book of life
Hawken, Paul, author.
Carbon is the only element that animates the entirety of the living world. Though comprising a tiny fraction of Earth's composition, our planet is lifeless without it. Yet it is maligned as the driver of climate change, scorned as an errant element blamed for the possible demise of civilization. Here, Paul Hawken looks at the flow of life through the lens of carbon. Embracing a panoramic view of carbon's omnipresence, he explores how this ubiquitous and essential element extends into every aperture of existence and shapes the entire fabric of life. Hawken charts a course across our planetary history, guiding us into the realms of plants, animals, insects, fungi, food, and farms to offer a new narrative for embracing carbon's life-giving power and its possibilities for the future of human endeavor. In this stirring, hopeful, and deeply humane book, Hawken illuminates the subtle connections between carbon and our collective human experience and asks us to see nature, carbon, and ourselves as exquisitely intertwined — inseparably connected.....
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Secrets of the icewomen : the power of cold and breathwork to balance hormones, bolster health, and unlock inner potential
Hof, Isabelle, author.
Isabelle and Laura Hof, longtime practitioners and instructors of the Wim Hof Method (WHM), have created a resource aimed at making the method more accessible to women. Based on three core pillars--breathing, cold therapy, and mindset--the WHM is supported by scientific research and associated with benefits such as improved energy, sleep, immunity, and overall well-being. Recognizing the method's specific applications for women, the Hof sisters founded the Icewomen community and authored Secrets of the Icewomen to explore these connections. The book discusses potential advantages for mental health, hormonal balance, confidence, and stages such as pregnancy and menopause. It also offers guidance on how women can tailor their practice to align with their physical and emotional needs. Through this work, the authors aim to broaden the reach of WHM and encourage more women to explore its potential.....
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The hollow half : a memoir of bodies and borders
Aziza, Sarah, author.
"You were dead, Sarah, you were dead." In October 2019, Sarah Aziza, daughter and granddaughter of Gazan refugees, is narrowly saved after being hospitalized for an eating disorder. The doctors revive her body, but it is no simple thing to return to the land of the living. Aziza's crisis is a rupture that brings both her ancestral and personal past into vivid presence. The hauntings begin in the hospital cafeteria, when a mysterious incident summons the familiar voice of her deceased Palestinian grandmother. In the months following, as she responds to a series of ghostly dreams, Aziza unearths family secrets that reveal the ways her own trauma and anorexia echo generations of violent Palestinian displacement and erasure--and how her fight to recover builds on a century of defiant survival and love. As she moves towards this legacy, Aziza learns to resist the forces of colonization, denial, and patriarchy both within and outside her. Weaving timelines, languages, geographies, and genres, The Hollow Half probes the contradictions and contingencies that create “nation” and “history.” Blazing with honesty, urgency, and poetry, this stunning debut memoir is a fearless call to imagine both the self and the world anew.....
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Strangers in the land : exclusion, belonging, and the epic story of the Chinese in America
Luo, Michael, author.
In 1889, when the Supreme Court upheld the Chinese Exclusion Act-a measure barring Chinese laborers from entering the United States that remained in effect for more than fifty years-Justice Stephen Johnson Field characterized the Chinese as a people "residing apart by themselves." They were, Field concluded, "strangers in the land." Today, there are more than twenty-two million people of Asian descent in the United States, yet this label still hovers over Asian Americans. In Strangers in the Land, Luo traces anti-Asian feeling in America to the first wave of immigrants from China in the mid-nineteenth-century: laborers who traveled to California in search of gold and railroad work. Their communities almost immediately faced mobs of white vigilantes who drove them from their workplaces and homes. In his rich, character-driven history, Luo tells stories like that of Denis Kearney, the sandlot demagogue who became the face of the anti-Chinese movement, and of activists who fought back, like Massachusetts Senator George Frisbie Hoar and newspaperman Wong Chin Foo. After the halt on immigration in 1889, the Chinese-American community who remained struggled to survive and thrive on the margins of American life. In 1965, when LBJ's Immigration and Nationality Act forbade discrimination by national origin, America opened its doors wide to families like those of Luo's parents, but he finds that the centuries of exclusion of Chinese-Americans left a legacy: many Asians are still treated, and feel, like outsiders today. Strangers in the Land is a sweeping narrative of a forgotten chapter in American history, and a reminder that America's present reflects its exclusionary past.....
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Wealth building essentials
Tyson, Eric (Eric Kevin), author.
Building Wealth Essentials For Dummies is your go-to guide for learning the key concepts involved in growing your finances, no matter where you're starting. Small and value priced for the budget conscious, this book breaks down investing, taxes, retirement planning, and all the other wealth-building fundamentals you need to know. Each section gives you tips and strategies you can use to increase your net worth. Investment strategies, real estate advice, retirement account basics-and everything you need to make sure you're not getting too risky with your money. Make a plan and stay on track for your savings goal, with easy-to-understand information and guidance in this Essentials guide.....
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Hope dies last : visionary people across the world, fighting to find us a future
Weisman, Alan, author.
In this profoundly human and moving narrative, the bestselling author returns with a book ten years in the making: a study of the precarious state of our planet and what it means to be a human on the front lines of this existential crisis. His new book, Hope Dies Last, is a literary evocation of our current predicament and the core optimism of the human species against the worst odds we have ever faced. To write this book, Weisman has travelled the globe witnessing the devastation of climate change and meeting the people striving to mitigate and undo our past transgressions. From the flooding Marshall Islands to wetlands renewal in Iraq, and from the Netherlands to the Korean DMZ to cities and coastlines in the U.S. and around the world, he has witnessed personally the best of humanity battling the heat, the hunger, and the rising tides. He profiles the work of big thinkers--engineers, scientists, economists, and psychiatrists--as they devise innovative and wildly creative responses to an uncertain and frightening future. We are at an unprecedented point in history, as our collective exploits on this planet are leading us to our own undoing, and we could be one of the species marching toward extinction. A remedy to climate anxiety by one of our most important voices on humans' relationship with the Earth, Hope Dies Last fills a crucial gap in the global conversation: Now that we have passed the point of no return in our battle against climate change, how do we feel, behave, act, plan, and dream as we approach a future decidedly different from what we had expected.....
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Unfit parent : a disabled mother challenges an inaccessible world
Slice, Jessica, author.
In Unfit Parent, Slice debunks the exclusionary myths that deem disabled people “unfit” to care for their children, instead showing how disabled parents and disability culture provide valuable lessons for rejecting societal rules that encourage perfectionism and lead to isolation. Combining her personal experiences with interviews, research-backed evidence, and disability studies, Slice shares insight into what the landscape is like for disabled parents—one that is scattered with unpredictable obstacles and inaccessible barriers, including: *How do you find adaptive baby equipment? *How do two disabled parents creatively keep their children safe? *How do you get reproductive care when the medical system assumes you aren’t able to have kids? *What is it like to be in public knowing that someone might call child protective services simply because a parent is disabled? In overcoming these challenges, she describes how disabled parents are oftentimes more prepared to adapt to the demanding nature of parenthood, including the uncertainty of losing control over bodily autonomy. Uplifting and powerful, Unfit Parent illuminates how disabled bodies and minds give us the hopeful perspectives and solutions we need for transforming a societal system that has left parents exhausted, stuck, and alone.....
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