A distant mirror: the calamitous fourteenth century /Barbara W. Tuchman. Tuchman examines the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life: what childhood was like; what marriage meant; how money, taxes, and war dominated the lives of serf, noble, and clergy alike. She re-creates the lives of proud cardinals, university scholars, grocers and clerks, saints and mystics, lawyers and mercenaries, and, dominating all, the knight in all his valor and furious follies, a terrible worm in an iron cocoon.

 A Narnian vision of the atonement: a defense of the ransom theory /Charles Taliaferro. Ancient Christians proposed a ransom theory, according to which God pays the ransom for us through heroic self-sacrifice so we can be liberated from the power of the demonic, sin, and death. This theory is widely rejected by philosophers and theologians, yet C. S. Lewis boldly portrays atonement in precisely such terms in his seven-volume The Chronicles of Narnia. Taliaferro defends the integrity and beauty of redemption in these stories and offers a Narnia-inspired theory of atonement. Taliaferro argues that Lewis’s work is no mere entertaining fairytale for children but an important lens through which to view deep themes of redemption and atonement, and all the vital stages involved in overcoming evil with the superabundant good of God’s loving self-sacrifice.

 Between worlds: essays on culture and belonging /Marilyn R. Gardner ; illustrations by Annie Rebekah Gardner. Gardner was raised in Pakistan and went on to raise her own five children in Pakistan and Egypt before moving to New England. This book will resonate with those who have lived outside of their passport country, as well as those who have not. These essays explore the rootlessness and grief as well as the unexpected moments of humor and joy that are a part of living between two worlds.

 Biblical images: men and women of the book /Adin Steinsaltz. Steinsaltz selects 25 biblical figures from the patriarchs to Esther and tries to understand them and their motives. Based on traditional Jewish sources but with his own original approach, he attempts to make them relevant to the modern world.

 Black fortunes: the story of the first six African Americans who escaped slavery and became millionaires /Shomari Wills. Between the years of 1830 and 1927, as the last generation of blacks born into slavery was reaching maturity, a small group of industrious, tenacious, and daring men and women broke new ground to attain the highest levels of financial success. Nearly all the unforgettable personalities in this amazing collection were often attacked, demonized, or swindled out of their wealth. Black Fortunes illuminates as never before the birth of the black business titan.

 Exodus: saved for god’s glory /Philip Graham Ryken. In this expository, Ryken mines the story of Israel’s escape from Egypt for knowledge of God’s character and instruction for his followers. Theologically instructive and decidedly pastoral, this commentary leads readers to rejoice at God’s work in the life of every person who follows him on the path to spiritual freedom. Ryken skillfully relates how the Israelites’ deliverance from slavery anticipated the salvation accomplished in Jesus Christ.

 Gideon: a new play /by Paddy Chayefsky. Taken from three chapters of the Book of Judges from the Old Testament, the play Gideon explores the relationship of an ordinary man to God.

Manifesto of the Communist Party /Marx, Engels ; with an appendix, Engels Principles of Communism.  The Communist Manifesto summarises Marx and Engels’ theories concerning the nature of society and politics, namely that, in their own words, “[t]he history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”. It also briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced by socialism.  In 2013, The Communist Manifesto was registered to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme.

 Marketing 5.0: technology for humanity /Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, Iwan Setiawan. Kotler explains the greatest problem facing marketers today how to integrate three major movements that are changing global markets and customer behavior. His solution to integrating these challenging forces is Technology for Humanity–finding ways to use technology to advance customers’ non-material needs, and satisfy material desires in ways that also uplift the human spirit, and honor larger human goals, such as justice and environmental protection. Marketing 5.0 explains how marketers can use technology to address customers’ deepest needs, and make a difference.

Seven keys to Baldpate: a mysterious melodramatic farce in a prologue, two acts and an epilogue /by George M. Cohan. Based on a novel by Earl Derr Biggers, the dramatization was one of Cohan’s most innovative plays.  Novelist Billy Magee makes a bet that he can write a 10,000 word story within 24 hours. He retires to  mountain resort named Baldpate Inn, in the dead of winter, and locks himself in, believing he has the sole key. However he is visited during the night by a rapid succession of other people, none of whom have any trouble getting into the remote inn—there appear to be seven keys to Baldpate. Magee gets no work done. Just before midnight, he finds out that everyone is an actor hired to perpetrate a hoax, orchestrated by Magee’s friend to keep him from completing the story. In the epilogue, he reveals that nothing had happened during the 24 hours; all the preceding melodrama, including the actors and hoax, constitute the story.

 The Bible and homosexual practice: texts and hermeneutics /Robert A.J. Gagnon. Gagnon offers an analysis of the biblical texts relating to homosexuality. He engages  rigorously with biblical scholars and historians who have written on the topic and demonstrates systematically why attempts to classify as irrelevant the Bible’s rejection of same-sex intercourse fail to do justice to the biblical texts. His conclusions are clear and compassionate, as he cautions readers on all sides of the debate against a truncated gospel, and challenges all to strive for a holistic view of the command to love God and neighbor.

 The burning: massacre, destruction, and the Tulsa race riot of 1921 /Tim Madigan. On the morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob numbering in the thousands marched across the railroad tracks dividing black from white Tulsa, Oklahoma, and obliterated a black community then celebrated as one of America’s most prosperous. This book recreates the town of Greenwood at the height of its prosperity; explores the currents of hatred, racism, and mistrust between Tulsa’s black residents and neighboring white population; recounts the events leading up to and including the holocaust at Greenwood and documents the subsequent silence that surrounded the tragedy.

 The Jewish gospel of John: discovering Jesus, King of all Israel /Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg. The Jewish Gospel of John is a well-rounded verse-by-verse illustrated rethinking of the fourth gospel. The book interprets it as if it was written for the first-century peoples of ancient Israel. The author takes us to a seat among those who most probably heard this gospel read in the late first century. Such exploration of variety of important contexts allows us to recover for our generation the true riches of this marvelous Judean gospel. Lizorkin-Eyzenberg has demonstrated that the Gospel of John is not an anti-Jewish, but a thoroughly Jewish book.

 The royal purple and the biblical blue: argaman and tekhelet : the study of Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog on the dye industries in ancient Israel and recent scientific contributions /editor, Ehud Spanier

 The torch-bearers: a satirical comedy in three acts /by George Kelly ; preface by Kenneth Macgowan. A satirization of the dramatics that occur during the staging of a play by amateurs.

 The world that made New Orleans: from Spanish silver to Congo Square /Ned Sublette. Focused on New Orleans’ first century of existence, a comprehensive, chronological narrative of the political, cultural, and musical development of Louisiana’s early years is presented. This innovative history tracks the important roots of American music back to the swamp town, making clear the effects of centuries-long struggles among France, Spain, and England on the city’s unique culture. The origins of jazz and the city’s eclectic musical influences, including the role of the slave trade, are also revealed. This rich historical narrative explains how New Orleans’ colonial influences shape the city still today.

 They were her property: white women as slave owners in the American South /Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. Bridging women’s history, the history of the South, and African American history, this book makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that slave-owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South’s slave market. White women actively participated in the slave market, profited from it, and used it for economic and social empowerment. By examining the economically entangled lives of enslaved people and slave-owning women, Jones-Rogers presents a narrative that forces us to rethink the economics and social conventions of slaveholding America.