Books like Ghost Volcano by Sandra M. Gilbert

In an elite New England college, a charismatic classics professor lures a group of eccentric students into obsessive study, leading them from intellectual curiosity to corruption, betrayal, and ultimately murder.

In 1893 Chicago, Erik Larson weaves the story of visionary architect Daniel Burnham and the cunning serial killer H.H. Holmes, whose crimes unfolded against the backdrop of the World’s Columbian Exposition.

James Baldwin’s 1963 essay collection, written as two letters for the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, confronts America’s racial injustices and urges both black and white citizens to confront the legacy of racism.

In *Inferno*, Dante Alighieri, lost and bewildered, is guided through the nine circles of Hell by the Roman poet Virgil, beginning his quest to return to divine light.

Set on All Souls' Day in Mexico, Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, spirals into alcoholism amid a vibrant festival, while his ex‑wife and brother helplessly watch as his despair deepens.

In the redwood forests of California, solitary settler Jerome Kildee takes in skunks and raccoons—an act of animal friendship that spirals into a community story of coexistence.

"A close-up examination and exploration, How We Live Now challenges our old concepts of what it means to be a family and have a home, opening the door to the many diverse and thriving experiments of living in twenty-first century America. Across America and around the world, in cities and suburbs and small towns, people from all walks of life are redefining our "lifespaces"--the way we live and who we live with. The traditional nuclear family in their single-family home on a suburban lot has lost its place of prominence in contemporary life. Today, Americans have more choices than ever before in creating new ways to live and meet their personal needs and desires. Social scientist, researcher, and writer Bella DePaulo has traveled across America to interview people experimenting with the paradigm of how we live. In How We Live Now, she explores everything from multi-generational homes to cohousing communities where one's "family" is made up of friends and neighbors to couples "living apart together" to single-living, and ultimately uncovers a pioneering landscape for living that throws the old blueprint out the window. Through personal interviews and stories, media accounts, and in-depth research, How We Live Now explores thriving lifespaces, and offers the reader choices that are freer, more diverse, and more attuned to our modern needs for the twenty-first century and beyond"--