In “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue,” Julie Satow celebrates the savvy leaders who made Bonwit, Bendel’s and Lord & Taylor into retail meccas of their moment.

In “We Refuse,” Kellie Carter Jackson explores the many forms of activism that oppressed people have resorted to and offers a more nuanced picture of their lives.

In “Triumph of the Yuppies,” Tom McGrath revels in the stories of a generation that turned its back on protest and bought into consumer culture.

In “Fire Exit,” a white man raised on a reservation wrestles with whether he should reveal to his daughter the complications of her heritage.

A fire left Lucy Yu’s literary hub in Chinatown gutted. She was determined to rebuild it.

She was hailed for her books and admired for promoting women’s rights. But her support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict angered many.