Nonfiction.

WINNER

LEGACY OF ASHES The History of the CIA | TIM WEINER: Starting with its creation during the Truman administration and chronicling the post-9/11 landscape, Weiner claims that the CIA has treaded a fine line between effective intelligence gathering and political expedience--often with disastrous consequences. (EXCELLENT SELECTION Sept/Oct 2007)

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"[As] magisterial an account of the agency's 60 years as anyone has yet produced. More than that, it is a timely and vital contribution to one of the most fraught debates now roiling our bitterly divided capital: the correct role of the intelligence agencies and their proper relationship not only to the executive and legislative branches but also to the rule of law itself." TIM RUTTEN, LOS ANGELES TIMES

BROTHER, I'M DYING | EDWIDGE DANTICAT: One day in 2004, Edwidge Danticat discovers that she is pregnant-and that her father, Andre, is terminally ill. Framed by these events, Danticat's memoir explores her family's beleaguered history in Haiti and the United States. (EXCELLENT Nov/Dec 2007)

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"This memoir is her most powerful work to date, not just because it is all true, but because it all comes down to an 81-year-old clergyman, arriving in the Greatest Nation on Earth with his passport and tourist visa to see his dying brother, who lost his identity, his dignity and his life because he filled out a form incorrectly." KATE CALLEN, SAN DIEG O UNION-TRIBUNE

GOD IS NOT GREAT How Religion Poisons Everything | CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: A contrarian political commentator, Hitchens argues for atheism by chronicling religion's sins (particularly in times of war and despotism), its sinners, and its manmade philosophies. Secularism, he argues, might forge a better world.

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"In Hitchens's Manichaean world, religion does little good and secularism hardly any evil. ... What Hitchens gets wrong is religion itself." STEPHEN PROTHERO, WASHINGTON POST

UNRULY AMERICAN S AND THE ORIGINS OF THE CONSTITUTION | WOODY HOLTON: Rather than brilliant, egalitarian-minded heroes, the framers of our Constitution were not so democratically inclined. Instead, they bowed to ordinary Americans' strong beliefs in democracy to create a more radical document than originally intended.

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"It has been said that there are two superpowers in the world today: the United States and mass public opinion. Holton's book tells the story of how the framers of the U.S. Constitution did all that they could to reverse the slide into democracy after the Revolutionary War but were thwarted by the efforts of ordinary Americans." GILES HARVEY, VILAGE VOICE

RALPH ELLISON A Biography | ARNOLD RAMPERSAD: Rampersad offers the most complete portrait of Ellison to date, and suggests he was as elusive--and at times nearly as volatile--as the unnamed narrator of Invisible Man. (EXCELLENT July/Aug 2007)

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"By discovering and connecting and explaining all that is visible about Ralph Ellison, Arnold Rampersad has triumphed. His work reveals the invisible man." DANIEL DYER, CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER