Learning to Die in Miami By Carlos Eire (Free Press, 2011)In 1962 Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children evacuated from Cuba by Catholic parents who believed Fidel Castro would be ousted within months. Those evacuees still living are now grey-haired Cuban-Americans.

Journey to the Common GoodBy Walter Brueggemann (Westminster John Knox, 2010)In this compact study, biblical theologian Walter Brueggemann traces a remarkably similar pattern of cause and effect between the crises in today’s world—chronic war-making, ecological destruction, economic injustices—and the defining events in Jewish tradition.Brueggemann’s central focus is the Exodus-Sinai story, visite

undunThe Roots (Def Jam, 2011)The Roots are famous now as the house band on The Jimmy Fallon Show, but they’ve been legend among America’s better-informed music lovers for a couple of decades.

ComfortBy Brett C. Hoover (Riverhead Books, 2011)Don’t let the fuzzy slippers on the cover fool you: Brett C. Hoover’s book Comfort: An Atlas for the Body and Soul is less spa-getaway and more philosophical inquiry that delves into a pervasive, little-critiqued cultural value.That’s not to say Comfort is a heavy read. Hoover considers our homes, cars, food, and finances.