Penguin Random House Audio

Dana Brown was a college dropout playing in punk bands and partying his way through downtown New York when he first encountered Graydon Carter, the legendary editor of Vanity Fair.Carter saw what he believed to be Brown’s untapped potential, and on a whim, hired him as his assistant. Dilettante reveals Brown’s most memorable moments from the halcyon days of the magazine business, explores his own journey from outsider to established editor, and shares glimpses of some of the famous and infamous stories (and people) that tracked the magazine’s extraordinary run.

Shame is a powerful tool: When we publicly shame corrupt politicians, abusive celebrities, or predatory corporations, we reinforce values of fairness and justice. But as Cathy O’Neil argues in The Shame Machine, shaming has taken a new and dangerous turn: it has become a way to shift responsibility for social problems from institutions to individuals. O’Neil explores the machinery behind all this shame, showing how governments, corporations, and the healthcare system capitalize on it.

In The Emergency, Dr. Thomas Fisher brings us through a year of his shifts as an emergency physician, where he works with limited time and resources to treat incoming patients over the course of crushing pandemic and a violent summer. To cope with the relentless onslaught exacerbated by the pandemic, Fisher begins writing letters to patients and colleagues—letters he will never send—explaining it all to them as best he can.