Nonfiction – Bickerstaff Booksellers

Machiavelli

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:14:31 +0000

The Prince, Niccol Machiavelli’s handbook on power how to get it and how to keep it has been enormously influential in the centuries since it was written, garnering a heady mixture of admiration, fear, and contempt. Its author, born to an established middle-class family, was no prince himself. Machiavelli (1469-1527) worked as a courtier and diplomat for the Republic of Florence and enjoyed some small fame in his time as the author of bawdy plays and poems. Upon the Medici’s return to power, however, he found himself summarily dismissed from the government he had served for decades and exiled from the city where he was born. In this discerning new biography, Ross King rescues Machiavelli’s legacy from caricature, detailing the vibrant political and social context that influenced his thought and underscoring the humanity of one of history’s finest political thinkers. Ross King’s Machiavelli visits fortune-tellers, produces wine on his Tuscan estate, travels Europe tirelessly on horseback as a diplomatic envoy, and is a passionate scholar of antiquity but above all, a keen observer of human nature.

Wonder

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:42 +0000

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Beginning from Auggie’s point of view and expanding to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others, the perspectives converge to form a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance. In a world where bullying among young people is an epidemic, this is a refreshing new narrative full of heart and hope.

Unbroken

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:41 +0000

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: 2014’s Unbroken and the upcoming Unbroken: Path to Redemption. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. Praise for Unbroken Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.

Ulterior Motives

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:40 +0000

The fascinating true story of the murder of a Texas millionaire and the complex web of family intrigue and twisted relationships with his sons and wives that not even murder could obliterate. 16 black-and-white photographs.

The Prize of All the Oceans

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:39 +0000

In September 1740 Commodore George Anson set sail from Spithead with a six-vessel British warship expedition. His orders were to sail around the world, rout the Spanish fleet, and seize “the great galleon that made the annual voyage from Acapulco to Manila…laden with Peruvian silver, the prize of all the oceans”. Anson did achieve this goal, but at a great price: only one of his squadron, the flagship Centurion, completed its mission. The other vessels were wrecked, scuttled, or forced back in shattered condition. And of the 1900 men with whom Anson set sail, almost 1400 died, most from disease or starvation. But Commodore Anson’s expedition was considered a success, and the true and disastrous facts were covered up. The voyage was Britain’s first to combine a maritime expedition with commercial enterprise, and represented the beginning of the nation’s ambitious designs in the Pacific. Glyn Williams tells a compelling tale of adventure and tragedy, combined with thoughtful analysis and commentary, and gives us a vivid portrait of a commander who hauled ropes alongside his men and tended them when they were ill — but never wavered in his determination to return home triumphant.

The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:38 +0000

The artistic genius of Michelangelo (1475-1564) is beyond question. One the most important figures in the history of art, his monumental paintings in the Sistine Chapel, his sculpture David in Florence, and his PietÃ at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome are among the greatest human achievements of all time and remain the most visited and admired works of art in the world. Michelangelo’s life has been the subject of many biographies over the centuries, but it was not until the appearance of John Addington Symonds’s The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, in 1893, that a biographer had complete access to the artist’s family archives.The Buonarroti archives were to be available to the public with the passing of the last family member, but even when that event occurred, in 1858, material from the archives remained closely guarded and only fragments emerged through the hands of family friends. The Italian government, predisposed to Symonds for his impeccable scholarship of Renaissance art, gave Symonds full access to the Buonarroti archives in the 1880s, the first independent scholar so honored.With the ability to consult the massive amount of material in the archives, Symonds produced the first documented, and considered by many still to be the best, biography of Michelangelo. Symonds’s expertise as a historian and critic gives added depth to this biography, and it is here that the public first learned that translations of Michelangelo’s poetry had been altered to opaque the artist’s sexuality. Yet this great work, the last of Symonds’s life, has largely been forgotten by students of Michelangelo. In this new edition, the first in more than fifty years, preeminent art historian Creighton E. Gilbert reintroduces Symonds’s masterful study of Michelangelo to a new audience through a discussion of the historical context in which the biography appeared, a biographical sketch of Symonds, an openly gay man who worked rigorously to evaluate and promote the contributions of gay artists and scholars to mainstream life, and concludes with an appreciation of The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, for its scholarly and literary merits, as an account of the most brilliant painter and sculptor of the Italian Renaissance.

Small Fry

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:37 +0000

A NEW YORK TIMES AND NEW YORKER TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR “Beautiful, literary, and devastating.”–New York Times Book Review – “Revelatory.”–Entertainment Weekly – “A masterly Silicon Valley gothic.”–Vogue -“Mesmerizing, discomfiting reading… A book of no small literary skill.”–New Yorker – “Extraordinary… An aching, exquisitely told story.”–People – “The sleeper critical hit of the season.”–Vulture A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR NPR, AMAZON, GQ, VOGUE (UK), BUSTLE, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, AND INDIGO Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs. Lisa Brennan-Jobs’s childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. When she was young, Lisa’s father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, vacations, and private schools. His attention was thrilling, but he could also be cold, critical and unpredictable. When her relationship with her mother grew strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping he’d become the parent she’d always wanted him to be. Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties, Small Fry is a poignant coming-of-age story from one of our most exciting new literary voices. Praise for Small Fry “An intimate, richly drawn portrait… The reader of this exquisite memoir is left with a loving, forgiving remembrance and the lasting impression of a resilient, kindhearted and wise woman who is at peace with her past.”–San Francisco Chronicle “A heartbreaking memoir, beautifully rendered…It’s a love story for the father that she had, flaws and all… A wise, thoughtful, and ultimately loving portrayal of her father.”–Seattle Times

Sisters

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:36 +0000

Here’s the blockbuster bestseller that spent more than one year on the New York Times bestseller list. This tribute to the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood has touched the hearts of thousands of women across the country. Read tales of love, sacrifice, support, jealousy, and devotion from the famous and not-so-famous, including Christy Turlington, Dixie Carter, Coretta Scott King, and Chris Evert.

Shattered Dreams

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:35 +0000

Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in marrying her brother-in-law Verlan LeBaron, becoming his second wife at age 16. When the government raided the fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona, Irene and her family fled to Verlan’s brothers’ Mexican ranch. They lived in squalor and desolate conditions in the Mexican desert with Verlan’s four brothers, one mentally ill sister, and numerous wives and children–Irene herself bore thirteen. The dramatic story of her life, and her escape to an outside world for which she was little prepared, reveals how far religion can be stretched and abused and how one woman and her children found their way to truth and redemption.

Same Kind of Different as Me

Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:12:32 +0000

Read the critically acclaimed #1 New York Times best-seller with more than one million copies in print. Same Kind of Different as Me released as a major motion picture by Paramount in fall 2017.Gritty with pain and betrayal and brutality, this true story also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love.Meet Denver, raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana until he escaped the “Man” – in the 1960’s – by hopping a train. Non-trusting, uneducated, and violent, he spent another 18 years on the streets of Dallas and Fort Worth.Meet Ron Hall, a self-made millionaire in the world of high priced art deals — concerned with fast cars, beautiful women, and fancy clothes.And the woman who changed their lives — Miss Debbie: “The skinniest, nosiest, pushiest, woman I ever met, black or white.” She helped the homeless and gave of herself to all of “God’s People,” and had a way of knowing how to listen and helping others talk and be found – until cancer strikes.Same Kind of Different as Me is a tale told in two unique voices – Ron Hall & Denver Moore – weaving two completely different life experiences into one common journey where both men learn “whether we is rich or poor or something in between this earth ain’t no final restin’ place. So in a way, we is all homeless-just workin’ our way toward home.”The story takes a devastating twist when Deborah discovers she has cancer. Will Deborah live or die? Will Denver learn to trust a white man? Will Ron embrace his dying wife’s vision to rescue Denver? Or will Denver be the one rescuing Ron? There’s pain and laughter, doubt and tears, and in the end a triumphal story that readers will never forget.Continue this story of friendship in What Difference Do It Make?: Stories of Hope and Healing, available now. Same Kind of Different as Me also is available in Spanish.