American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic by Joseph J. Ellis

American Revolution or Evolution? In American Creation, Joseph J. Ellis, the prizewinning author of the best-selling Founding Brothers and American Sphinx, contends that, among other issues discussed, what made the founding of the United States so remarkable was the gradual pace by which it was overseen by men revealed as fully human, rather than by those depicted stereotypically as demigods or demons. He shows us why the fact that it was brought about by a group, rather than by a single individual, distinguished it from the more violent revolutions of other countries, and eventually played a major role in determining its success.

Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition by The Onion

Let’s just say the amusement is not to scale, but it’s all over the map.

Conquests of Alexander the Great by Waldemar Heckel

Waldemar Heckel provides a revisionist overview of the conquests of Alexander the Great, but we’re hoping it’s not in the cinematic Oliver Stone sense: Alexander the Great? More like Alexander the Fabulous!

The Beatles' Second Album (Rock of Ages Series) by Dave Marsh

…And Go tell Tchaikowsky the news. A better example of Capitol’s vinyl connivance, The Beatles' Second Album, in addition to serving up a few original Lennon & McCartney grabbers such as the hook ‘n’ harmony-fortified "You Can’t Do That" and the Lennon-spiked powerhouse "I Call Your Name," is mostly chock full of melodic yet raucous and harmony-driven rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, and Motown, served up American style — often breathtakingly so. And so The Beatles' Second Album, as an album, deserves an entry in the well-regarded Rock of Ages book series, so we expect that Mr. Marsh’s clinging wife does understand.

MORE NEW NONFICTION:

W.A. Mozart by Hermann Abert, Stewart Spencer, Cliff Eisen (Editor), Stewart Spencer (Translator)

Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance — and Why They Fall by Amy Chua

Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald Ford by Thomas M. DeFrank

On Ugliness by Umberto Eco

Heroic Conservatism: Why Republicans Need to Embrace America's Ideals (And Why They Deserve to Fail If They Don't) by Michael J. Gerson

Steve & Me by Terri Irwin

The President's Table: 200 Years of Dining and Diplomacy by Barry H. Landau

The Rabbi's Daughter by Reva Mann

Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music by David N. Meyer

Russians in Hollywood, Hollywood's Russians: Biography of an Image by Harlow Robinson

Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis by Ed Sikov

The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby

African American Literature and the Classicist Tradition: Black Women Writers from Wheatley to Morrison by Tracey L. Walters

Ronnie: The Autobiography by Ronnie Wood, Jeffrey Robinson