Pay it down:  from debt to wealth on $100 a day by Jean Sherman Chatzky

The author demonstrates her formula for getting out of debt in three years and staying out of debt forever.  It has some good advice for all of us to think about.  --SR 

Jewish American Jared Cohen was an extensively traveled young man who was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. While there, he took a crash course in Arabic and studied the history and culture of the Middle East. In 2004-2005 he set out for Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Iraq to investigate the phenomenon of radical Islamic extremism. Reaching out to the youth in these countries, he put himself into incredible danger in order to understand their views on their own governments, on Israel, and on America. What he discovers will shock the reader, but will also offer hope for a better future for all people.
~VV

In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century by Geert Mak

Mak is a Dutch author and journalist. During 1999 he traveled through Europe to towns and cities significant in the history of the twentieth century. He presents an amazing array of interviews with participants in that history both humble and highly placed. The impact of the 20th century wars on lives and cities is detailed.

~JM

Flappers and the New American Woman: Perceptions of Women from 1918 through the 1920s by Catherine Gourley

From the Great War on through the 1920s, it was the era of the flapper and women with time to ask, "Where should I go from here?" Culminates with the stock market crash of 1929.
~SR

As good a discussion of what we want from architecture as I have ever read.  What is beautiful about a building?  How can we evaluate it?  How does it affect its users and why our society should pay attention to our built environment. 

~JM

The build-up to World War II was putting pressure on office space in Washington.  Conceptualized in weekend in July 1941, the Pentagon was finished in a year of tremendous effort.  Its design and the techniques used in its construction were part of the reason it withstood the impact of the plane on 9-11.  G. Edwin Bergstrom, yes, of those Bergstroms, was the chief architect for the War Department.
~JM