Lake Bluff Library Adult Reading Lists

Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative skills to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology. (Description from catalog)

From the Pulitzer-prize winning reporters who broke the news of Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment and abuse comes the thrilling untold story of their investigation and its consequences for the #MeToo movement.
(Description from catalog)

An investigation into the growing radical right reveals a network of wealthy people with extreme Libertarian views, led by the Koch brothers, that has been systematically influencing and controlling academic institutions, the courts, and the United States government. (Description from NoveList)

Describes the author's investigation of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and rape accusations against Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer, and the many obstacles he faced, not only from Weinstein but also from his own employer, NBC. (Description from NoveList)

A groundbreaking chronicle of the birth--and death--of a pair of jeans, that exposes the fractures in our global supply chains, and our relationships to each other, ourselves, and the planet. (Description from catalog)

The full inside story of Theranos and founder/CEO Elizabeth Holmes, a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood testing significantly faster and easier. Back by investors, Theranos sold shares that valued the company at $9 billion and put Holmes' net worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem...the technology didn't work.
(Description from catalog)

In a book that includes deeply human and unforgettable portraits of the families and first responders affected, the author takes readers into the epicenter of America's more than 20-year struggle with opioid addiction. (Description from NoveList)

A full-length account of the story investigated by the award-winning Serial podcast draws on some 170 documents and letters to trace the experiences of Adnan Syed, who in 2000 was sentenced to life for the murder of his ex-girlfriend and who the author and other supporters are certain is innocent. (Description from NoveList)

Draws on evidence from recently redacted FBI files, declassified police archives and modern interviews to outline a revisionist theory about the Black Dahlia murder of 1947, citing the roles of a corrupt LAPD, a ruthless media and mid-20th-century predators who targeted aspiring young actresses. (Description from NoveList)

A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer-- the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade-- from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case.
(Description from catalog)

On a cool June evening in 2009, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist grabbed hundreds of bird skins - some collected 150 years earlier - and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds?
(Description from catalog)

A Wall Street Journal reporter travels the globe to tell the story behind the misleadingly simple phrase online shoppers increasingly take for granted: "arriving today." From factory laborers in Vietnam to longshoremen at the port of LA to truckers crawling our interstate highways to robots lurking in Amazon's "dark warehouses," here is an eye-opening investigation of the way online commerce is reshaping the globe, rewriting the rules of business, and redefining consumer expectations. (Description from catalog)

Doctors took her cells without asking. Those cells never died. They launched a medical revolution and a multimillion-dollar industry. More than twenty years later, her children found out. Their lives would never be the same. (Description from catalog)

After returning to the United States, Kennan set out to generate public outrage over the plight of the exiles, writing the renowned Siberia and the Exile System. He then went on a nine-year lecture tour to describe the suffering of the Siberian exiles, intensifying the newly emerging diplomatic conflicts between the two countries which last to this day.
(Description from catalog)

An investigation of the overlooked contributions of Martha "Marty" Goddard, who pioneered the rape kit and advocated for the rights of sexual assault survivors in the 1970s, while also confronting the troubling history of forensics in America and reflecting on her personal experiences with injustice.
(Description from NoveList)

An award-winning journalist takes us deep into the Appalachian Mountains where the last truly quiet town of America exists and where its residents live a life free from constant digital connectivity, challenging us to rethink the role of tech in our lives. (Description from catalog)