Human Biography

Covering diversity and equality, globalization, human rights, modern urban living and the role of work and institutions, The Sociology Book looks at the big questions of how we cooperate: What is society? What makes it tick? Why do we interact in the way that we do with our friends, co-workers, and rivals?

When the 2010 earthquake struck Haiti, Raymond Joseph, the former Haitian ambassador to the United States, found himself rushing back to his beloved country. The earthquake ignited a passion in Joseph, inspiring him to run for president against great competition, including two well-known Haitian pop stars, his nephew Wyclef Jean and Michel Martelly. But he couldn't compete in a democratic system corrupt to the core.

In the spring of 2012, the Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the future of the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. It has already been deployed to cure deadly diseases, fight the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and make inheritable changes in the genes of babies.

What is it about humans that causes us to defy genetic programming and so often live in hope, despite all that's terrible about existence? In this audio program, Diane Ackerman shares what she has learned about human survival from working at a crisis hotline. Full of insight, drama, and self-revelation, her wisdom draws from all human knowledge - from the natural and social sciences to the insights of great artists - to show how humans, like animals, cope with stress, and to illumine the tenuous but gorgeous thread by which we all cling.

Fearless and Connected: The Human Experience by Targol Pooler is an inspiring journey through life’s challenges and triumphs, narrated with heartfelt authenticity by the author. In this captivating audiobook, listeners are invited to join an introspective voyage, following one person’s transformative path as they discover inner strength and invaluable resources for healing and growth. Pooler’s narrative explores resilience, vulnerability, and the power of human connection, offering insights and tools that foster fulfillment and purpose.

Beyond the Sand and Sea is an extraordinary and inspiring book for anyone searching for pinpricks of light in the darkness. Meticulously reported over three years, it reveals the strength of a family of Somali refugees who never lost faith in America - and exposes the broken refugee resettlement system that kept that family trapped for more than two decades and has turned millions into permanent exiles.

During their daily walks, new puppy Dea pulls her human, Alison, by the leash into making connections, handling crippling loss, and coping with the challenges of life. What might have been tragic through Alison’s eyes finds wider perspective and resonance through Dea’s as she tolerates Alison’s pathetic attempts at meditation and online dating, sees her through a second bout of cancer, and finally steers Alison toward appreciating life’s daily wonders that are a puppy’s birthright.

Human trafficking is the trade of people for forced labor or sex. It also includes the illegal extraction of human organs and tissues. It is an extremely ruthless and dangerous industry plaguing our world today. Most believe human trafficking occurs in countries with no human rights legislation. This is a myth. All types of human trafficking are alive and well in most of the developed countries of the world like the United States, Canada, and the UK.

Special Agent Floy Turner returns for her final crime-fighting battles. With the first page bringing us back to historical 9/11, Floy finds herself in a precarious situation as she and her team face the potential threats of entering and searching the apartments of the 9/11 terrorists mere hours after the attacks. From escorting renown serial killer Aileen Wournos to her execution to interrupting the insidious ploys of kidnappers, cybercrime predators, and human traffickers, Turner uses her seasoned investigator’s skills to ensure justice is served.

Several years ago, ecologist Lauren E. Oakes set out from California for Alaska's old-growth forests to hunt for a dying tree: the yellow-cedar. With climate change as the culprit, the death of this species meant loss for many Alaskans. Oakes and her research team wanted to chronicle how plants and people could cope with their rapidly changing world. Amidst the standing dead, she discovered the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again in the wake of destruction, and a diverse community of people who persevered to create new relationships with the emerging environment.

This is the story, much of it conveyed in Wanda's inimitable voice, of Wanda's ninety-seven-year-long life, encompassing everything from her English ancestors to the residents in her nursing home. Through Lucy's candid questions and Wanda's soulful stories, we are swept up into one family's legacy that transports readers right into their own experiences and memories of family.

This classic essay from Jon Krakauer is now available as an unabridged audiobook download. This essay is also included in the Classic Krakauer collection. From the best-selling author of Missoula and Into the Wild: a selection of the singular investigative journalism that made Krakauer famous, covering topics from avalanches on Mt. Everest to a volcano in Washington state; from a wilderness therapy program for teens to an extraordinary cave in New Mexico so unearthly that is used by NASA to better understand Mars.

Meredith Maran lived a daughter's nightmare: she accused her father of sexual abuse, then realized, nearly too late, that he was innocent. During the 1980s and 1990s, tens of thousands of Americans became convinced that they had repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, and then, decades later, recovered those memories in therapy. Journalist, mother, and daughter Meredith Maran was one of them.

In The Snakehead, Patrick Radden Keefe reveals the inner workings of Cheng Chui Ping aka Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of undocumented immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them.

Elizabeth G. was twenty-two years old and travelling around Australia when she came across a job opportunity at an erotic massage parlour in Sydney. Fast forward eighteen years and she had built up a trusted list of regular clientele working as a high-end London escort and was frequenting some of the city's most exclusive hotels.

On July 23, 2007, Dr. William Petit suffered an unimaginable horror: Armed strangers broke into his suburban Connecticut home in the middle of the night, bludgeoned him nearly to death, tortured and killed his wife and two daughters, and set their house on fire. He miraculously survived, and yet living through those horrific hours was only the beginning of his ordeal. Broken and defeated, Bill was forced to confront a question of ultimate consequence: How does a person find the strength to start over and live again after confronting the darkest of nightmares?

When Brooke Axtell was seven years old, her nanny subjected her to sex trafficking. Today, she is a champion and advocate for women around the world who have experienced sexual violence and trauma. Beautiful Justice shares Brooke's own gripping story, both the trauma of sex trafficking and also her pathway through healing, moving on, and reclaiming power. Along the way, she imparts warm wisdom for others who have experienced similar violence, providing lessons from her own life and from the thousands of women, advocates, and lawmakers she's spoken with.

The murder of a young Tibetan nun at the hands of Chinese border guards at the rooftop of the world offers a unique parable for the tale of modern Tibet. Chinese police are instructed to take any measures necessary to protect the border of Tibet. When a group of climbers witness the murder of a young Tibetan nun who is fleeing to India, two men have a choice: turn a blind eye and preserve their climbing careers or alert the world to the grand scale of human injustice played out daily in Tibet.

Zarah Ghahramani was born in Tehran in 1981, two years after Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran to establish the Islamic Republic. Her life changed suddenly in 2001 when, after having taken part in student demonstrations, she was arrested (literally snatched off the street by secret police) and charged with "inciting crimes against the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran". While imprisoned in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison she faced brutal interrogation: her head was shaved, and she was beaten.

Who Shot Ahmed? recounts the murder of a 22-year-old videographer, killed in cold blood in the dead of night at the height of Bahrain’s Arab Spring revolution. On a small island Kingdom swirling with political, economic, and sectarian tensions, Ahmed’s murder epitomized everything that had gone wrong since 2011, when pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in droves. Drawing on dozens of testimonies, journalist Elizabeth Dickinson traces the tale of Ahmed’s death and his family’s fearless quest for justice.