Narrator

Liisa Ivary

Liisa Ivary
  • Can a woman be smart, empowered, and happy?

    Happiness has become a serious business. Where twentieth-century psychology focused on depression and illness, in the new millennium scientists have begun focusing on “positive psychology”—the study of happiness. Ariel Gore first became intrigued by this subject when she discovered that a class on positive psychology was the most popular course on the Harvard campus.

    As she read deeper into the topic, she noticed something disturbing: everyone in this happy land was a man. Worse still, some of these new “experts” seemed hell-­bent on proving that women with traditional values and bread-winning husbands—those who had made “an effort to expect less,” according to one sociologist—were more content than women with feminist values. The more she read, the more she wondered: Can a woman be smart, empowered, and happy?

    Determined to find out, Gore began her own “study in living”— a journey into the feminine history, science, and experience of happiness. Her results, chronicled with humor and curiosity in F*ck Happiness, are by turns fascinating and enriching. A woman’s happiness may not come easily and it may not take the forms prescribed by popular culture. But, as Gore discovers, it is not only possible but necessary.

    F*ck Happiness is a smart, no­-nonsense, uplifting study of the real secret of joy and whether it’s truly at odds with the goals of modern women.

  • Navigate downsizing and the emotions that come with it—the practical guide

    Downsizing your home or possessions can be a tough project to finish—or even start. From simple logistics to complex feelings, the process can quickly overwhelm without a plan in place. Here’s help organizing and accomplishing your decluttering; Downsizing: The 5-Step Method for Life Transitions Big and Small.

    Written by a minimalism expert, this straightforward guide draws from real life experience and offers actionable advice for specific situations. Whether you’re facing a family move, an empty nest, or changing senior living arrangements, let the hands-on planning materials keep you on track. The emotional check-ins at each chapter will help you recognize, understand, and process the unique feelings that each of these downsizing events can create.

    Downsizing: The 5-Step Method for Life Transitions Big and Small includes:

    • Make an action plan—Discover concrete steps forward in your downsizing with sorting logs, planning checklists, and blank floor maps.
    • Create added value—Learn how to turn your old items into profit through tax incentives and ways to sell high ticket goods.
    • Preserve memories and space—Find the best way to store old photos with techniques that don’t take up room.

    Downsizing is smoother and easier when you have the right plan and support.

  • A middle-grade retelling of Richard Nixon’s downfall, Bringing Down a President: The Watergate Scandal is an inventive and timely look at one of the biggest scandals to ever rock our nation by Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy.

    Comprised almost completely of primary source quotes (good thing Nixon’s recorder was on) and interspersed with contextual narrative, this captivating account of the trials and tribulations of the Nixon Administration has been rendered screenplay style offering an extraordinarily immediate narrative of one of America’s most turbulent eras.

  • Learn the latest tips and tricks for managing your personal financial life.

    Personal finance is not taught in school—and the process of learning how to manage your own finances can be fraught with painful missteps. In Money Is Everything, Amanda Reaume, the author behind Millennial Personal Finance and host of the Millennial Personal Finance podcast, helps walk you through everything you need to learn to manage your money, including the best ways to make it, spend it, borrow it, and save it.

    Specifically written by and for Millennials, Money Is Everything will help you

    • get the internships and jobs you want,
    • understand and implement a financial plan (a.k.a. a budget),
    • create a steady flow of side income,
    • learn how to save money on small and big purchases (and get some free stuff),
    • take control of your credit score,
    • turn the tables on banks and borrowers, and
    • become debt-free.

    Learn from personal finance experts—not the hard way!

  • Around the world, populist movements are gaining traction among the white working class. Meanwhile, members of the professional elite―journalists, managers, and establishment politicians―are on the outside looking in, left to argue over the reasons. In White Working Class, Joan C. Williams, described as having “something approaching rock star status” by the New York Times, explains why so much of the elite’s analysis of the white working class is misguided, rooted in class cluelessness.

    Williams explains that many people have conflated “working class” with “poor”―but the working class is, in fact, the elusive, purportedly disappearing middle class. They often resent the poor and the professionals alike. But they don’t resent the truly rich, nor are they particularly bothered by income inequality. Their dream is not to join the upper middle class, with its different culture, but to stay true to their own values in their own communities―just with more money. While white working-class motivations are often dismissed as racist or xenophobic, Williams shows that they have their own class consciousness.

    White Working Class is a blunt, bracing narrative that sketches a nuanced portrait of millions of people who have proven to be a potent political force. For anyone stunned by the rise of populist, nationalist movements, wondering why so many would seemingly vote against their own economic interests, or simply feeling like a stranger in their own country, White Working Class will be a convincing primer on how to connect with a crucial set of workers―and voters.