NCW Libraries

"Dividing Paradise tells the story of a rural American community whose economic growth resulted in increasing inequality and divisions between those who can and those who cannot achieve their rural visions of the American dream. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observation with individuals on both sides of the divide, the book explores the contributors to and impacts of this stark inequality that has become commonplace across the United...

"There's no such thing as rural America. Or, rather, as Steven Conn argues, "rural America" is a phrase that has been made to mean so many things that it doesn't mean anything. In fact, he maintains, rural America--so often characterized as in crisis or in danger of being left behind--has been shaped by the same major forces as the rest of the country since at least the end of the Civil War: militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and...

Relates how an enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity, and a future, to his family.

Growing up in rural Washington as the only out gay kid means Jay is constantly bombarded with reminders that everyone around him can hook up and have relationships, but his list of love-related to-do's -- his own gay agenda -- is indefinitely, frustratingly, on hold. His parents suddenly move the family to Seattle right before his senior year, however, and the thriving LGBTQ+ community means he can finally begin checking things off his list! Will...

"For most of America's history, rural people and culture have been casually mocked, stereotyped, and, in general, deeply misunderstood. Now an array of short stories, poetry, graphic short stories, and personal essays, along with anecdotes from the authors' real lives, dives deep into the complexity and diversity of rural America and the people who call it home. Fifteen extraordinary authors--diverse in ethnic background, sexual orientation, geographic...

Chipping Norton's farmer Kaleb Cooper has strong views on lots of things: sheep ('suicidal morons'), Jeremy Clarkson ('there are two types of farming, unless you count whatever it is Jeremy thinks he's doing'), goats ('they're a proper good clear-up animal, they eat everything -- no wonder they taste horrible'), New York ('if it's like London, where there are no tractors, that's no good') and more. In The World According to Kaleb, he shares his thoughts...

In Lydia Kiesling's razor-sharp debut novel, The Golden State, we accompany Daphne, a young mother on the edge of a breakdown, as she flees her sensible but strained life in San Francisco for the high desert of Altavista with her toddler, Honey. Bucking under the weight of being a single parent--her Turkish husband is unable to return to the United States because of a "processing error"--Daphne takes refuge in a mobile home left to her by her grandparents...

The characters from the popular TV series return to save the town of Hooterville from greedy developers, who are trying to force the folks to sell their land.

Oliver Douglas is a well read lawyer who has had enough of the hustle and bustle of New York, so he pulls up stakes to settle down in a more pastoral setting, much to the dismay of his glamorous wife Lisa, who's more accustomed to life in The Big Apple than on a small farm. Having said goodbye, city life, the Douglases must contend with their new surroundings.

In rural Gaotai County, two lonely, middle-aged outcasts are pushed into an arranged marriage by their families. Ma is a humble farmer with little to offer his timid and sickly wife, Cao, except for a small, abandoned house on a barren patch of land. From just a few seeds, their newly planted crops take root and flourish; similarly, an unexpected bond between them starts to blossom. As seasons pass, their dedication to each other grows stronger, but...