THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF MUSIC d’Andrew Ford

From prehistory to now, the fascinating story of why music is vital to the human experience.

THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF MUSIC
by Andrew Ford
Black Inc. (Australia), August 2024

From award-winning broadcaster and composer Andrew Ford, The Shortest History of Music is a lively, authoritative tour through several thousand years of music. Packed with colourful characters and surprising details, it sets out to understand what exactly music is – and why humans are irresistibly drawn to making it.

This is not a traditional chronological account. Instead, Andrew Ford focuses on key themes in the history of music and considers how they have played out across the ages. How has music interacted with other social forces, such as religion and the economy? How have technological changes shaped the kinds of music humans make? From lullabies to concert halls, songlines to streaming services, what has music meant to humans at different times and in different places?

Andrew Ford OAM is a composer, writer and broadcaster who has won awards in each of those capacities, including the Paul Lowin Prize for his song cycle Learning to Howl, a Green Room Award for his opera Rembrandt’s Wife and the Albert H Maggs Prize for his large ensemble piece, Rauha. He has been composer-in-residence for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. In 2014 he was Poynter Fellow and visiting composer at Yale University, in 2015 visiting lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory, and in 2018 HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the Australian National University. Ford has written widely on all manner of music and published ten previous books. He has written, presented and co-produced five radio series for the ABC and, since 1995, presented The Music Show each weekend on Radio National. He was awarded an OAM in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

A NEW CAPITALISM de Seth Levine et Elizabeth MacBride

A NEW CAPITALISM by Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride is a provocative and optimistic look at the next stage of capitalism.

A NEW CAPITALISM
A Realist’s Guide to the Next Golden Age
by Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride
Matt Holt Books, 2025
(via The Martell Agency)

A NEW CAPITALISM will explore what many experts consider to be a “turning point” in capitalism, a profound shift away from neo-liberalism and a profit-above-all mentality in corporate thinking and practice to systems where companies are becoming more responsible to their countries, employees, and communities. This new way of governance is happening right now and is not driven by altruism but is the natural outcome of vast technological innovation, the effects of the climate crisis and changing social norms. It is the authors’ contention that this re-imagining, will unleash a period of wealth generation and shared prosperity and is emblematic of capitalism’s essential dynamism and ability to reconfigure itself.

Because of their standing and thus exceptional connections, the authors have conducted extensive and invaluable interviews with over 50 the global business leaders, including Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan, Larry Fink, co-founder and CEO of BlackRock and Dick Parsons, former chairman and CEO of Time Warner and Citibank, who will provide compelling insights and often visionary thinking, almost no readers otherwise would be privy to. Challenging the perspectives of the right and the left, the book will examine the emerging consensus about the role these large companies should play and the benefits to the long-term health of businesses that are possible. It’s critical that the authors write from the perspective of business owners themselves, bringing pragmatism and level-headedness to a discussion that is often paralyzed with rigid ideological posturing.

Seth Levine, a partner and co-founder at Boulder, CO-based Foundry Venture Capital, is one of the world’s leading venture capitalists. In addition to his work at Foundry, Seth actively supports entrepreneurs around the country and across the world, serving as an advisor to funds and companies throughout the United States, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2016 Seth co-founded Pledge 1% – an international organization that encourages startups to give back to their local communities through gifts of equity, profit, product, and time.

Elizabeth MacBride is an award-winning business writer, speaker, and expert in the intersection of technology, finance, and economics. A former managing editor of Crain’s New York Business, her work has been featured in MIT Tech Review, Forbes, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Quartz, HBR.com, and many others. She was one of the first 12 employees of Wealthfront, the first online financial advisor. A regular contributor to CNBC and Forbes, she is the founder of New Builders Dispatch, which focuses on leveraging finance to create a fairer world. Elizabeth has reported on business, economics, and entrepreneurship around the world, from New York City to Gaza, to Northern Idaho, to Cambodia.

KILLER STORY de Claire St. Amant

Behind the scenes of every major murder story, there is an entirely separate drama playing out in newsrooms across the country.

KILLER STORY
by Claire St. Amant
BenBella Books, February 2025
(via Laura Dail Literary Agency)

If you pictured Apple TV’s The Morning Show taking place on the set of 48 Hours, you’d have Claire St. Amant’s behind-the-scenes memoir, KILLER STORY. Diving into her time as a true crime television producer, Claire reveals the inner workings of national TV murder coverage, narrating and investigating the twisting cases themselves, while also detailing her personal journey in mainstream network news.

Claire St. Amant is the host of the true crime podcast, Final Days on Earth, which has over 1.4 million downloads since its launch in 2021. She was part of the breaking news team nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for “Bringing a Nation Together,” a special report on the Dallas Police shooting. She has written for CBS News, the Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, and D Magazine. She has earned many writing accolades, including two Dallas Bar Association Stephen Philbin Awards for excellence in legal reporting. She lives in Dallas, Texas.

THE BITTER END d’Alexa Donne

Eight teens. One blizzard. Zero exits. And a killer on the loose. The trip of a lifetime might be the death of them all.

THE BITTER END
by Alexa Donne
Crown (Penguin Random House), October 2024
(via Laura Dail Literary Agency)

Willa believes she’s cursed. Now bad luck has followed her up a mountain.

Declan became TikTok-famous for pranks. But this trip is no joke.

Delaney is the perfect girlfriend. Her boyfriend? He’s the perfect liar.

Wyatt has mastered every video game. Too bad there are no extra lives IRL.

Eden has never shied away from drama. Will her secrets get the best of her?

Liam is a literal Boy Scout. Now he’ll have to put his survival skills to use.

Camille is the ultimate competitor—and she’ll fight to the death.

Piper wasn’t supposed to be on this trip at all. Or was she?

The students of LA’s elite Warner Prep can’t wait for their Senior Excursion—five days of Instagrammable adventure in one of the world’s most exclusive locations. This is not your average field trip. Which is why eight students can’t believe their bad luck when they end up on a digital detox in an isolated Colorado ski chalet. Their epic trip is panning out to be an epic bore… until their classmates start dropping in a series of disturbing deaths. The message is clear: this trip is no accident. And when a blizzard strikes, secrets are revealed, betrayals are exposed, and survival is at stake in a race to the bitter end.

Alexa Donne is the author of Brightly Burning and The Stars We Steal, YA sci-fi romances, and The Ivies and Pretty Dead Queens, YA thrillers. A graduate of Boston University, she works in TV marketing and has done pro bono college admissions mentoring since 2014. In her “free” time she manages one of the most popular writing advice channels on YouTube.

THE SECRETS OF LOVELACE ACADEMY de Marie Benedict et Courtney Sheinmel

From New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict and Courtney Sheinmel comes a historical adventure about a young girl plucked from a London orphanage to begin attending a boarding school with more secrets than she could imagine—perfect for fans of Enola Holmes.

THE SECRETS OF LOVELACE ACADEMY (Book 1)
by Marie Benedict and Courtney Sheinmel
Aladdin (Simon & Schuster), April 2025
(via Laura Dail Literary Agency)

London, 1904.

Lainey Phillips has lived at the Sycamore Home for Orphaned Children since she was three years old. Now nearly a teenager, her life is difficult, and she doesn’t expect it to get better—until a chance encounter during an open house changes everything when Lainey meets a woman who invites her to attend the prestigious Lovelace Academy.

Fitting in amongst the many privileged students at Lovelace Academy proves challenging in a different way, though. Terrified she’ll be cast out of the academy, Lainey grabs the chance to prove herself by traveling to Switzerland to witness a female scientist craft a groundbreaking theory. The journey that includes a train, a ferry, and a mysterious boy named Gen is treacherous, but the real test is what awaits her at the home of Mileva Maric, wife of Albert Einstein.

Marie Benedict is the New York Times bestselling author of several adult books of historical fiction, including The Other Einstein, the inspiration for this book. She found her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex, and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present day where readers can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues. THE SECRETS OF LOVELACE ACADEMY, written with Courtney Sheinmel, is her first book for kids. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Courtney Sheinmel is the author of nearly thirty books for kids and teens, including the acclaimed Stella Batts and My Pet Slime series for young readers. Her book, Helen Keller, was part of Chelsea Clinton’s She Persisted series. Courtney received a National Scholastic Outstanding Educator Award for her work as a writing instructor at the non-profit Writopia Lab. She lives in New York City.