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Serpico
by Peter MaasPeter Maas calls Serpico "the most significant project he has worked on in his 15 years as a writer." The saga of Frank Serpico's lonely fight against the corruptions of the New York City Police Department is as extraordinary as Maas implies.
Slackjaw
by Jim KnipfelIt wasn't until he was in his early twenties that doctors discovered that Jim Knipfel's nearsightedness was the result of an untreatable rare genetic eye disease known as retinitis pigmentosa, which, they said, would leave him blind within a few short years.
Slaves in the Family
by Edward BallThe Ball family hails from South Carolina―Charleston and thereabouts. Their plantations were among the oldest and longest-standing plantations in the South. Between 1698 and 1865, close to four thousand black people were born into slavery under the Balls or were bought by them. In Slaves in the Family, Edward Ball recounts his efforts to track down and meet the descendants of his family's slaves. Part historical narrative, part oral history, part personal story of investigation and catharsis, Slaves in the Family is, in the words of Pat Conroy, "a work of breathtaking generosity and courage, a magnificent study of the complexity and strangeness and beauty of the word ‘family.'"<P><P> Winner of the National Book Award
Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier
by Siegfried Knappe Ted BrusawThe Dell War Series takes you onto the battlefield, into the jungles and beneath the oceans with unforgettable stories that offer a new look at the terrors and triumphs of America's war experience. Many of these books are eyewitness accounts of the duty-bound fighting man. From the intrepid foot soldiers, sailors, pilots, and commanders, to the elite warriors of the Special Forces, here are stories of men who fight because their lives depend on it.
The Mole People
by Jennifer TothThis is a largely anecdotal examination of the homeless who inhabit the subway and other tunnels beneath New York City. The author is a journalist, and there is a goodly amount of discription of the conditions both of the inhabitants and the underground environment itself.
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy
by Richard D. MahoneyMahoney, former JFK Scholar at the U. of Massachusetts and the Kennedy Library and current teacher at the Thunderbird School of International Management in Phoenix, provides a dual biography of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, describing their relationship and the role their bond played in their accomplishments, blunders and, ultimately, their murders. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia
by Peter MaasIn March of 1992, the highest-ranking member of the Mafia in America ever to defect broke his blood oath of silence and testified against his boss, John Gotti. He is Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano, second-in-command of the Gambino organized- crime family, the most powerful in the nation. Because of Gotti's uncanny ability to escape conviction in state and federal trials despite charges that he was the Mafia's top chieftain, the media had dubbed him the "Teflon Don." With Sammy the Bull, this would all change. Today, Gotti is serving life in prison without parole. And as a direct consequence of Gravano's testimony, Cosa Nostra--the Mafia's true name--is in shambles. Peter Maas is the author of the international bestseller The Valachi Papers, which Rudolph Giuliani, then a federal prosecutor and now the mayor of New York City, hailed as "the most important book ever written about the Mafia in America." Until now. In Underboss, based on dozens of hours of interviews with Gravano, much of it written in Sammy the Bull's own voice, we are ushered as never before into the uppermost secret inner sanctums of Cosa Nostra--an underworld of power, lust, greed, betrayal, deception, sometimes even honor, with the specter of violent death always poised in the wings. It is a real world we have often read and heard about from the outside; now we are able to experience it in rich, no-holds-barred detail as if we were there ourselves. Unlike his glamorous boss John Gotti, Sammy the Bull honored Cosa Nostra's ancient traditions, jigging the shadows, avoiding the limelight, staying far from flashbulbs and reporters. But he was present at such key events of the modern Cosa Nostra as the sensational slaying of mob boss Paul Castellano, Gotti's predecessor, in front of a mid- town Manhattan steakhouse. Compulsively readable, Gravano's revelations are of enormous historical significance. "There has never been a defendant of his stature in organized crime," the federal judge in the Gotti trial declared, "who has made the leap he has made from one social planet to another." Gravano's is a story about starting out on the street, about killing and being killed, revealing the truth behind a quarter-century of shocking headlines. It is also a tragic story of a wasted life, of unalterable choices and the web of lies, weakness, and treachery that underlie the so-called Honored Society.
The Day I Went Missing: A True Story
by Jennifer MillerIt's happened to all of us at one time: falling victim to someone who says the words we want to hear. It usually ends with a wounded heart or lost love. But in one woman's case, it took a deadly turn. Jennifer Miller, an Emmy-nominated TV writer, was a highly functioning member of the Hollywood scene who had everything going for her: great contacts, great work, and the promise of an even greater future. But what Jennifer did not have was a happy life, or even the ability to understand what happy meant. A single woman who did not know what it was like to have a love relationship, she was haunted by a deepening despair. She toyed with therapy, but Jennifer, the daughter of a shrink, was convinced that she was beyond help. Then she met Dr. David Cohen, and discovered something worse than depression. Believing she had finally found someone to trust completely, Jennifer allowed herself to get sucked into Dr. Cohen's world. What followed is a chilling tale of fraudulent therapy that is enthralling and horrifying from its skillful beginning to its shocking conclusion.
A Wonderful Journey: The Autobiography of Dick Crane
by Dick Crane Peggy O'Keefe Susan RyanThe autobiography of a blind man who ran the news stand at the Newport, Rhode Island Post Office.
Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter in the Bitterroot Wilderness
by Pete Fromm"The wardens climbed into their truck, ready to leave. 'You'll need about seven cords of firewood. Concentrate on that. You'll have to get it all in before the snow grounds your truck.'" "Though I didn't want to ask, it seemed important. 'What's a cord?'" So begins Pete Fromm's seven winter months alone in a tent in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness guarding salmon eggs. After blundering into this forbidding errand as a college lark, Fromm gradually come face to face with the blunt realities of life as a contemporary mountain man. Brutal cold, isolation, and fearful risks balance against the satisfaction of living a unique existence in modern America. This award-winning narrative is a gripping story of adventure, a rousing tale of self-sufficiency, and modern-day Walden. From either perspective, Fromm lives up to his reputation as one of the West's strongest new voices.
Murder in Spokane: Catching a Serial Killer
by Mark FuhrmanA gripping investigation of a serial killer's spree by the author of the New York Times bestsellers Murder in Brentwood and Murder in Greenwich.
Maverick: the Personal War of a Vietnam Cobra Pilot
by Dennis J. Marvicsin Jerold A. GreenfieldMemoir of a Vietnam combatant.
By Grace Alone, an Epic Journey to Faith
by Juliana RayA sad yet wonderful, and hope giving account. A true story of a Jewish, Hungarian family living through World War II and the holocaust caused by the German Nazism of that era. This is an inspiring account of God's grace and of the slow but steady progression of events that lead this family to put their faith in Him, and in His unfailing love in the midst of some of the most horrid atrocities ever committed by man.
Running North: A Yukon Adventure
by Ann Mariah CookAlaska is more than just the largest state in the Union; it's also a state of mind, as Ann Mariah Cook found out. Together with her husband, 3-year-old daughter, and 32 purebred Siberian huskies, she moved there from New Hampshire in order to train for the legendary Yukon Quest, the most rigorous sled-dog race in the world. Her tough, thoughtful memoir, Running North, chronicles the ordeals as well as the rewards of their mushers' life. In the course of their transformation from cheechakos, or greenhorns, to sourdoughs, or seasoned Alaskans, Cook and her husband learned to defend themselves and their dogs from extreme weather, adapted to mushing in Alaskan conditions, and even absorbed the niceties of Yukon social customs (hint: always put on a pot of coffee for visitors). The book ends with a harrowing account of the race, complete with packs of wolves, howling blizzards, minus-60-degree temperatures, and a few narrow escapes. But this is as much Ann's story as it is her husband's, and as a result it goes far beyond the confines of a simple adventure story. Full of intriguing glimpses into sled-dog (and musher) psychology as well as lyrical observations about the beauty of the Yukon landscape, Running North is as much concerned with the who and why of adventure as with its how and when. Leaving behind the comfort and security of Cook's New England life required a multitude of adjustments, from the design of the dogs' booties to a new appreciation of interior decorating, Alaska-style. In the end, however, it was going home that proved hard: "Returning to New Hampshire, I saw my life as a stranger might view it. I could not get used to so many houses, so many neighbors, so many social demands. Everything in my life had been redefined in only seven and a half months."
Time Flies
by Bill CosbyWE'RE ALL GETTING OLDER, AND BILL COSBY KEEPS GETTING BETTER<P> America's best-loved humorist, media personality and bestselling author now brings his unique warmth, wisdom and wit to a subject common to all: aging. From five to fifty and beyond, Bill Cosby takes us on a hilarious romp through the trials and tribulations of growing—and being—older. Funny, highly personal, and with just the right tugs on the heartstrings, Time Flies is Cosby at his best.