Art bestsellers

A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness and the struggle to be human

“Brilliant . . . To read this book is to become more human.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen

Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to... Read more »

A paradigm-shifting book in the vein of Sapiens that brings a crucial Indigenous perspective to historical and cultural issues of history, education, money, power, and sustainability—and offers a new template for living.

As an indigenous person, Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from a unique perspective, one tied to the natural and... Read more »

Adolf Hitler's obsession with art not only fueled his vision of a purified Nazi state--it was the core of his fascist ideology. Its aftermath lives on to this day.

Nazism ascended by brute force and by cultural tyranny. Weimar Germany was a society in turmoil, and Hitler's rise was achieved not only by harnessing the military but also by... Read more »

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the pages of Vogue to the runways of Paris, this deeply revealing memoir by a legendary style icon captures the fashion world from the inside out, in its most glamorous and most cutthroat moments.

“The Chiffon Trenches honestly and candidly captures fifty sublime years of fashion.”—Manolo Blahnik

During André Leon... Read more »

The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is “a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it…Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life” (The New Yorker).

Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing... Read more »

From The New Yorker’s fiercely original, Pulitzer Prize-winning culture critic, a provocative collection of new and previously published essays arguing that we are what we watch.

“Emily Nussbaum is the perfect critic—smart, engaging, funny, generous, and insightful.”—David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF... Read more »

This program is read by the author.

Essence’s 10 BOOKS WE’RE DYING TO TOSS INTO OUR SUMMER TOTES | The Philadelphia Inquirer's BIG SUMMER BOOKS FOR 2019 | 6 BOOKS THAT COMPLICATE THE IDEA OF INDEPENDENCE by Colorlines | Bitch Media's 15 NONFICTION BOOKS FEMINISTS SHOULD READ THIS SPRING

"Everyone from the shopaholic to the clearance rack queen... Read more »

“The wonderful cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, one of the greatest achievements of European civilization, was on fire. The sight dazed and disturbed us profoundly. I was on the edge of tears. Something priceless was dying in front of our eyes. The feeling was bewildering, as if the earth was shaking.” —Ken Follett

“[A] treasure of a book.” —The... Read more »

Five women revolutionize the modern art world in postwar America in this "gratifying, generous, and lush" true story from a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist (Jennifer Szalai, New York Times).

Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic,... Read more »

The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling biography of America’s founding father and second president that was the basis for the acclaimed HBO series, brilliantly told by master historian David McCullough.

In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent,... Read more »

Art theory has great prominence since bygone era. Many people are fond of art and in fact artists are taking the art form to portray their views on any particular situation, trend, or a topic. The art theory was refined in the twentieth century by adding many other art forms. This visual language has huge demand since ages. People are exhibiting... Read more »

"Inspiration leaps off the pages from Jerry Saltz's new book on creativity. . . . This book is for the artist or non-artist, for the person who gets plain English, for the person who understands that practical talk can coax out the mystical messages that lie underneath." —Steve Martin

Art has the power to change our lives. For many, becoming an... Read more »

Journalist Maximillian Potter uncovers a fascinating plot to destroy the vines of La Romance-Conti, Burgundy's finest and most expensive wine.

In January 2010, Aubert de Villaine, the famed proprietor of the Domaine de la Romance-Conti, the tiny, storied vineyard that produces the most expensive, exquisite wines in the world, received an... Read more »

A BEST BOOK OF 2019: Library Journal, Christian Science Monitor, and Financial Times

From the bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls, the untold, "richly detailed" story of the women of Walt Disney Studios, who shaped the iconic films that have enthralled generations (Margot Lee Shetterly, New York Times bestselling author of Hidden... Read more »

An unprecedented look into the personal and creative life of the visionary auteur David Lynch, through his own words and those of his closest colleagues, friends, and family — adapted by David Lynch from the print book especially for this audio program
 
In this unique hybrid of biography and memoir, David Lynch opens up for the first time about... Read more »

In an era when there are countless competing claims on one's attention, how does one find the internal focus to be creative? For master furniture craftsman Gary Rogowski, the answer is in the act of creative work itself. The discipline of working with one's hands to create unnecessarily beautiful things shapes the builder into a more complete... Read more »

The Ephrussis were a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who "burned like a comet" in nineteenth-century Paris and Vienna society. Yet by the end of World War II, almost the only thing remaining of their vast empire was a collection of 264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them larger than a matchbox.

The renowned... Read more »

Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school―in her sixties―to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves,... Read more »

"One of the finest writers of the new non-fiction" (Harper's Bazaar) explores the role of art in the tumultuous twenty-first century. In the age of Trump and Brexit, every crisis is instantly overridden by the next. The turbulent political weather of the twenty-first century generates anxiety and makes it difficult to know how to react. Olivia... Read more »

National Best Seller 

From the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids: an unforgettable odyssey of a legendary artist, told through the prism of the cafés and haunts she has worked in around the world. It is a book Patti Smith has described as “a roadmap to my life.”

M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes... Read more »

An expertly crafted work of reportage, memoir, and biography on the subject of loneliness told through the lives of six iconic artists, by the acclaimed author of The Trip to Echo Spring. You can be lonely anywhere, but there is a particular flavor to the loneliness that comes from living in a city, surrounded by thousands of strangers. The... Read more »

Featuring an introduction by Neil Gaiman!

“J. Michael Straczynski is, without question, one of the greatest science fiction minds of our time.”   -- Max Brooks (World War Z)

For four decades, J. Michael Straczynski has been one of the most successful writers in Hollywood, one of the few to forge multiple careers in movies, television and comics. ... Read more »

It is time to reevaluate the merits of the inconspicuous life, to search out some antidote to continuous exposure, and to reconsider the value of going unseen, undetected, or overlooked in this new world. Might invisibility be regarded not simply as refuge, but as a condition with its own meaning and power? The impulse to escape notice is not... Read more »

What is your art really about? Where is it going? What stands in the way of getting it there?

These are questions that matter, questions that recur at each stage of artistic development—and they are the source for this volume of wonderfully incisive commentary. Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made,... Read more »

As a teenager visiting the Andy Warhol Museum, Beth Pickens realized theimportance of making art. As an adult, she has worked as a consultant empowering artists. Intimate yet practical, Your Art Will Save Your Lifehelps artists build a sustainable practice while navigating the world of MFAs,residencies, and institutional funding. Read more »

A collection of riveting, inspiring, and stereotype-shattering stories that reveal the beauty, diversity, and strength of Muslim women both past and present.

Tired of seeing Muslim women portrayed as weak, sheltered, and limited, journalist Seema Yasmin reframes how the world sees them, to reveal everything they CAN do and the incredible,... Read more »

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
One of LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2020
An expansive, radiant, and genre-defying investigation into bonding—and how we are shaped by forces we cannot fully know
 
Is love a force akin to gravity? A kind of invisible fabric which enables communications through space and time? Artist Harry Dodge... Read more »

Now adapted for young readers ages 12 through 18, the national bestseller that makes real American history come alive in all of its conflict, drama, and complexity Lies My Teacher Told Me is one of the most important-and successful-history books of our time. Having sold nearly two million copies, the book won an American Book Award and the... Read more »

NOMINATED FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Velazquez Laura Cumming shares the riveting story of her mother’s mysterious kidnapping as a toddler in a small English coastal village—and how that event reverberated... Read more »

Brilliantly funny, frank, and shattering, this is the bittersweet memoir by Peter McGough of his life with artist David McDermott. Set in New York’s Lower East Side of the 1980s and mid-1990s, it is also a devastatingly candid look at the extreme naiveté and dysfunction that would destroy both their lives.
 
Escaping the trauma of growing up gay... Read more »

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Dapper Dan is a legend, an icon, a beacon of inspiration to many in the Black community. His story isn’t just about fashion. It’s about tenacity, curiosity, artistry, hustle, love, and a singular determination to live our dreams out loud.”—Ava DuVernay, director of Selma, 13th, and A Wrinkle in Time

NAMED ONE OF THE... Read more »

The World Needs Your Art, and only you can make it.
Ever wondered why you just HAVE to make something, anything, or you will just burst? Artists are born, not made. And if you yearn to create, that makes you an artist, no matter your medium. Photography, painting, performance art, writing, singing, or fashion, all are forms of expression of the... Read more »

A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away is a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most influential films of the last fifty years by Paul Hirsch, a film editor who worked on more than forty features.

Starting with his work on Carrie, Hirsch gives insight into the production process, touching upon casting, directing, cutting, and scoring.... Read more »

In Letters of Note: Art, Shaun Usher celebrates extraordinary correspondence about art, from missives on the agony of being overlooked, the ecstasy of producing work that excites, to surprising sources of inspiration and rousing manifestos. A star-studded cast of readers brings the letters to life, with contributions from Sanjeev Bhaskar,... Read more »

In this audiobook, acclaimed actor Simon Callow narrates the gripping untold story of Michelangelo's final decades—and his transformation into one of the greatest architects of the Italian Renaissance

As he entered his seventies, the great Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo despaired that his productive years were past. Anguished by the... Read more »

"A briskly told coming-of-age memoir...Chapin has a fine eye for the game's beauty...In the course of his entertaining odyssey, Mr. Chapin offers a Zen-like secret to chess, and to living."
--Wall Street Journal

Sasha Chapin is a victim of chess. Like countless amateurs before him--Albert Einstein, Humphrey Bogart, Marcel Duchamp--the game has... Read more »

El aclamado autor de los best sellers Steve Jobs y Einstein nos vuelve a cautivar con la vida del genio más creativo de la historia en esta fascinante biografía.

Basándose en las miles de páginas de los cuadernos manuscritos de Leonardo y nuevos descubrimientos sobre su vida y su obra, Walter Isaacson teje una narración que conecta el arte de... Read more »

From New York style icon and fashion insider Amanda Brooks, a charming and inspiring meditation on life in her newly adopted home, a farm in the English countryside. 

In search of a quieter, simpler life away from the hustle of the city, style icon and longtime New Yorker Amanda Brooks moved with her family in 2012 from New York City to her... Read more »

Chronicling the landmark events in Beethoven's life, this book enhances understanding of the composer's character, inspiring a deeper appreciation for his work.

George Alexander Fischer illuminates the composer’s difficult childhood, his struggle to maintain friendships and romances, his ungovernable temper, his obsessive efforts to control his... Read more »

“From this century, in France, three names will remain: de Gaulle, Picasso, and Chanel.” –André Malraux

Coco Chanel created the look of the modern woman and was the high priestess of couture.

She believed in simplicity, and elegance, and freed women from the tyranny of fashion. She inspired women to take off their bone corsets and cut their hair.... Read more »

An investigation into the damage wrought by the colossal clothing industry and the grassroots, high-tech, international movement fighting to reform it 

What should I wear? It’s one of the fundamental questions we ask ourselves every day. More than ever, we are told it should be something new. Today, the clothing industry churns out 80 billion... Read more »

Frank Lloyd Wright has long been known as a rank egotist who held in contempt almost everything aside from his own genius. Harder to detect, but no less real, is a Wright who fully understood, and suffered from, the choices he made.

This is the Wright whom Paul Hendrickson reveals in this masterful biography: the Wright who was haunted by his... Read more »

The definitive biography of Edward Gorey, the eccentric master of macabre nonsense.

From The Gashlycrumb Tinies to The Doubtful Guest, Edward Gorey's wickedly funny and deliciously sinister little books have influenced our culture in innumerable ways, from the works of Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman to Lemony Snicket. Some even call him the... Read more »

Design doesn't have to complicated, which is why this guide to human-centered design shows that usability is just as important as aesthetics.

Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door.

The fault, argues this ingenious -- even... Read more »

The true story of the intimate relationship that gave birth to the Farnsworth House, a masterpiece of twentieth-century architecture—and disintegrated into a bitter feud over love, money, gender, and the very nature of art.

“An amazing story, brilliantly told.”—Sebastian Smee, Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic and author of The Art of Rivalry

In... Read more »

“There are more than 50 creative prompts for the artist (or artist at heart) to explore. Take the title of this book as affirmation, and get started.” —Fast Company

More than 50 assignments, ideas, and prompts to expand your world and help you make outstanding new things to put into it

Curator Sarah Urist Green left her office in the basement of... Read more »

Journalist Julie Satow's thrilling, unforgettable history of how one illustrious hotel has defined our understanding of money and glamour, from the Gilded Age to the Go-Go Eighties to today's Billionaire Row.
From the moment in 1907 when New York millionaire Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt strode through the Plaza Hotel's revolving doors to become... Read more »