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Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store is an independently run bookstore serving the greater Cambridge area. The bookstore is located in Harvard Square and has been family-owned since 1932. We are known for our extraordinary selection of new, used and remaindered books and for a history of innovation. In 2009, we introduced same-day "green delivery" and a book-making robot capable of printing and binding any of millions of titles in minutes. Find out more about us at www.harvard.com.

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A Refugee's Story of Love, Loss, & Survival

Sun, Jan 29, 2017

As Head of Communications for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, **Melissa Fleming** hears plenty of terrible stories. But in her first book, _A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, & Survival,_ Flemming tells the story of Doaa Al Zamel, a young Syrian refugee in search of a better life. Doaa and her family leave war-torn Syria for Egypt where the climate is becoming politically unstable and increasingly dangerous. Tired of enduring harassment in Egypt, she decides to flee for Europe, joining the ranks of the thousands of refugees who make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean on overcrowded and run-down ships to seek asylum overseas and begin a new life. After four days at sea, the boat is sunk by another boat filled with angry men shouting threats and insults. With no land in sight and surrounded by bloated, floating corpses, Doaa is adrift with a child’s inflatable water ring around her waist, while two little girls cling to her neck. Photo: [By Ggia - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45246844 "")

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The Rise of Long-Term Solitary Confinement

Mon, Jan 9, 2017

Today it's common for a prisoner in the U.S. prison system to spend time in solitary confinement: twenty-three hours a day in featureless cells, with no visitors or human contact. Sometimes this lasts for years on end, and prisoners are held at administrators’ discretion. Keramet Reiter tells the history of one “supermax,” California’s Pelican Bay State Prison, whose extreme conditions recently sparked a statewide hunger strike by 30,000 prisoners. The product of fifteen years of research in and about prisons, this book provides essential background to a subject now drawing national attention.

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George Scialabba: Low Dishonest Decades

Mon, Dec 12, 2016

**George Scialabba**, author of _What Are Intellectuals Good For?_ and _Divided Mind_, joins Harvard Law School's **Randall Kennedy** for a discussion of his latest book,_ Low Dishonest Decades: Essays & Reviews 1980-2015_. _Low Dishonest Decades_ charts the thirty-five years in which income inequality has established itself in America as a fundamental problem. Scialabba's prose is thought-provoking and humane—qualities often missing from our current public discourse. Image: [Flickr](https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3759/13906796962_94ffc39b91_b.jpg "https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3759/13906796962_94ffc39b91_b.jpg")

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Rae Armantrout and Fanny Howe

Fri, Nov 11, 2016

Harvard Book Store and Woodberry Poetry Room welcome Pulitzer Prize winner Rae Armantrout and National Book Award finalist Fanny Howe for a discussion of their latest poetry collections, _Partly: New and Selected Poems_, 2001-2015 and _The Needle's Eye: Passing through Youth_. They will be introduced by Christina Davis of the [Woodberry Poetry Room](http://hcl.harvard.edu/poetryroom/ "").

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Sara Goldrick-Rab: Paying Too High a Price for College

Wed, Oct 26, 2016

If you are a young person, and you work hard enough, you can get a college degree and set yourself on the path to a good life, right? Not necessarily, says Sara Goldrick-Rab, and in her new book, _Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream_, she shows in damning detail exactly why. Quite simply, college is far too expensive for many people today, and the confusing mix of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid leaves countless students without the resources they need to pay for it.

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Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot: When Our Children Become Our Teachers

Mon, Oct 24, 2016

MacArthur Prize–winning sociologist and Harvard professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot has gathered the thread of lessons learned in her own mother-child relationships and those of more than 40 other parents she interviewed for this new book, _Growing Each Other Up: When Our Children Become Our Teachers_. Listen to her share some of those stories and the wisdom that comes from being open to really listening to our children.

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Alan Cumming: You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams

Sun, Sep 25, 2016

On every page of his third book, _You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams_, Alan Cumming recounts his real-life adventures (and often, misadventures), each illustrated by his own equally entertaining photographs. From an awkward bonding session with Elizabeth Taylor to poignant stories about his family and friends to some harsh words of wisdom imparted by Oprah that make up the title of this collection, _You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams_ is as eclectic, enchanting, and alive as its author.

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Ian McEwan: Nutshell

Wed, Sep 21, 2016

Bestselling author Ian McEwan, known for _Atonement_ and _The Children Act_ joins Harvard professor of Psychology Steven Pinker for a discussion of McEwan's latest novel, _Nutshell_, a tale of betrayal and murder, from one of the world’s master storytellers.

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Lawrence Wright: The Terror Years

Mon, Sep 12, 2016

Pulitzer Prize–winning author Lawrence Wright became generally acknowledged as one of our major journalists writing on terrorism in the Middle East. In _The Terror Years_—ten powerful pieces first published in The New Yorker—he recalls the path that terror in the Middle East has taken, from the rise of al-Qaeda in the 1990s to the recent beheadings of reporters and aid workers by ISIS.

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An Evening with Pangyrus

Mon, Aug 29, 2016

A handful of authors featured in the second edition of Pangyrus, Boston's new literary journal, gathered for a summer night reading at the Harvard Book Store. [Pangyrus](http://www.pangyrus.com/about-us/ "About Pangyrus") is a new journal of literature, perspective, arts and politics. Combining "Pangea"—the world continent—and "gyrus"—the ridges of the cerebral cortex crucial to verbal association, Pangyrus is about connection. Pangyrus is a Boston-based group of writers, editors, and creative professionals with a new vision for how high-quality writing can thrive on the internet. They aim to foster a community of creative individuals and organizations dedicated to art, ideas, and making culture thrive. The journal is printed at the bookstore on [Paige](http://www.harvard.com/clubs_services/custom_printing/ ""), a print-on-demand book machine. (Photo: Pangyrus)

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