June global nonfiction: From 14th to 21st century, six new books tell humanity’s essential stories

All information sourced from publishers.

Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, Ferris Jabr

The notion of a living world is one of humanity’s oldest beliefs. Though once scorned by many scientists, the concept of Earth as a vast interconnected living system has gained acceptance in recent decades. Life not only adapts to its surroundings – it also shapes them in dramatic and enduring ways. Over billions of years, life transformed a lump of orbiting rock into our cosmic oasis, breathing oxygen into the atmosphere, concocting the modern oceans, and turning rock into fertile soil. Life is intertwined with Earth’s capacity to regulate its climate and maintain balance.

Through compelling narrative, evocative descriptions and lucid explanations, Becoming Earth shows us how Earth became the world we’ve known, how it is rapidly becoming a very different world, and how we will determine what kind of Earth our descendants inherit for millennia to come.

Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The Lives and Loves of Gwen and Augustus John, Judith Mackrell

In Artists, Siblings, Visionaries, biographer Judith Mackrell turns her attention to British brother and sister artists Gwen and Augustus John.

In many ways, they were polar opposites.

Augustus was the larger of the two; vivid, volatile and promiscuous, he was a hero among romantics and bohemians, celebrated as one...

Read more