Images in the news, social media, advertisements, memes, websites, and selfies shape how we understand ourselves, our society, and our world. Even the images we don’t see have an impact on our daily lives. But images are not innocent. And we don’t have to be passive consumers. Our racial identities, assumptions, histories, and biases filter the images we absorb and affect how we interpret them. Are they problematic? How can you tell? Why should you care?

Join the AAMI for our brand-new book club, Book Club 802. We will be reading and discussing Wake: The Hidden History of Women Led Slave Revolts, by Rebecca Hall.

Boyhood’s End is the remarkable true story of a young man finding his way through a changing culture and a world at war. From high school through his enlistment in the Army, from his experiences as a front-line combat infantryman in Patton’s Third Army during the Rhineland Campaign to his return home at end of World War II, this “memories and a memoir” provides readers with an intimate portrait of a personal journey through an epic time.  It combines history, cultural memories, and social commentary punctuated with more than a hundred of Coleman’s images and illustrations from that time.

A New History of Iowa is a comprehensive survey of the state's history from the last ice age until the end of 2020.

Join us at Art on the Prairie again this year as Poetry& and the Iowa Poetry Association present "Poetry on the Prairie" in Perry, Iowa. They will be welcoming many local poets, so mark your calendar to join in on the fun. This event is free and open to the public!

Join us at Art on the Prairie again this year as Poetry& and the Iowa Poetry Association present "Poetry on the Prairie" in Perry, Iowa. They will be many local poets featured, so mark your calendar to join in on the fun. This event is free and open to the public!

Ex-pat Stella and British aristocrat Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst are thrilled to celebrate their first Christmas together as Morrington Hall comes alive with caroling, intricate decorations . . . and a deadly murder.

This book details steps to improve student creativity through imagination. Hunter explores metacognition, teacher attitudes, exercises, ideation, and problem-solving techniques. Throughout the book there are stories of creative successes fueled by imagination: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Franz Schubert, Sherlock Holmes, Leonardo Da Vinci, and more. Hunter clearly explains the latest neuroscience on creativity. Hunter draws on humor, extensive research, and his lifetime of practicing and teaching creative work.

Chicago is revered as a musical breeding ground, having launched major figures like blues legend Muddy Waters, gospel soul icon Mavis Staples, hip-hop firebrand Kanye West, and the jazz-rock band that shares its name with the city. Far less known, however, is the vital role Chicago played in the rise of prewar country music, the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s, and the contemporary offspring of those scenes.

A travelogue about areas of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, that have sacred and spiritual meaning to people, 
now and throughout history. . .. Ideal for fans of Erickson’s work, curious readers, armchair travelers, and those who are compelled to take a spiritual pilgrimage.

Do you love to write poetry?  Or read poetry?  If so, grab a friend and head to Beaverdale Books for a free, fun, and informal evening of open mic poetry, emceed by Iowa poet Kelsey Bigelow.  

In Thunder from the Prairie, Jerry Harrington explores the life of Harold E. Hughes: a man of working-class origins who overcame severe alcoholism to become Iowa governor (1963–1969) and US Senator (1969–1974).