- Table View
- List View
The Last Full Measure
by Jack CampbellFrom the New York Times bestselling author of the epic Lost Fleet series comes a story of a nightmarish America that could have been—and the Civil War that would set her free once more…America, 1863: the dream of the Founding Fathers has become a nightmare. The ideals of freedom and individualism have fallen to tyranny, corruption and greed. Wealthy industrialists of the North and slave-holding plantation owners of the South now hold power through the might of the military and puppet politicians—and all who defy them are declared traitors to the United States of America.Condemned for daring to speak against the government, Prof. Joshua Chamberlain is on his way to a penal plantation when his prison train is captured by the Army of the New Republic—a growing force of courageous soldiers who wish to restore the United States to its original righteous path. Joining a company of heroes with names such as Hancock, Longstreet and Armistead, Chamberlain finds himself joining the fight for freedom. But to win that freedom—and keep it—the rebellion needs a leader who is not a soldier, but a living symbol of the cause with the wisdom and fortitude to lead America back into the light.Chamberlain knows exactly where to find such a leader. A man who is currently being held in the most secure and dangerous prison in the country, where his treasonous ideals cannot be heard. A man whose refusal to bow to those who proudly claim slavery as a way of life has already made him a legend. A man they must rescue at all costs…A man called Lincoln.
The Return of the Discontinued Man: The Burton And Swinburne Adventures (A Burton & Swinburne Adventure #5)
by Mark HodderPhilip K. Dick Award-winning author Mark Hodder continues his Burton & Swinburne Adventures in an electrifying tale in which the future and the past collide―and the world itself may be altered forever…Years ago, a madman from the future assassinated the beloved Queen Victoria―which inadvertently sparked the explosion of scientific and industrial advancement that thrust England into a technological age beyond anything ever imagined. And the effects of that event are about to be felt more than ever.When a renowned scientist attempts to experiment on the assassin’s time-travelling suit, he unleashes a wave of chaos and conflicting timelines, resulting in blood red snow falling from the sky, and the adventurer Sir Richard Burton being tormented by jarring visions of alternate realities that are somehow both unavoidable and yet changeable. Time and reality may have just reached their breaking point.But most disturbing of all, the legendary Spring Heeled Jack has returned―in several different places at the same time! These numerous “Jacks” are all very confused, very irritable, and very dangerous…And they are all looking for Sir Richard Burton.
The Hand of the Sun King (Pact & Pattern #1)
by J. T. Greathouse“An original fantasy filled with magic and culture, the story of a character torn between two names, two loyalties, and two definitions of good and evil.”—Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of Spine of the DragonWen Alder was born into two worlds.On his father’s side, a legacy of proud loyalty and service to the god-like Sienese Emperor spanning generations. And it is expected that Alder, too, will follow this tradition by passing the Imperial exams, learning the accepted ways of magic and, if he serves with honor, enhancing his family's prominence by rising to take a most powerful position in Sien—the Hand of the Emperor.But from his mother he has inherited defiance from the Empire, a history of wild gods and magic unlike anything the Imperial sorcerers could yet control. It began when his spirited, rebellious grandmother took Alder into the woods and introduced him to her ways—ways he has never been able to forget.Now, on the verge of taking the steps that will forge the path of his life, Alder discovers that the conflict between the Empire and the resistance is only the beginning of a war that will engulf both heaven and earth, gods and man—and he may be the key to final victory for whichever side can claim him as their own…“Sublime prose and pin-sharp characterisation combine to produce a captivating epic of conflicted loyalties and dangerous ambition.” —Anthony Ryan, New York Times bestselling author“The Hand of the Sun King is a masterpiece. Alder Wen's growth as a character is supremely satisfying, his navigation of societal pressures and warring factions of an imperialist campaign captivating. J.T.’s writing is as smooth as silk; this is world-class modern fantasy with delightful undertones of the classic fantasy epics.” —Scott Drakeford, author of Rise of the Mages“The Hand of the Sun King is not the gentle story of a boy’s rise to power; instead, it digs its fingernails into the layers of an empire that would consume and erase half that boy’s identity. Brilliantly told and immediately engrossing, filled with magic, mistakes and their merciless consequences.” —Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter“The Hand of the Sun King is an outstanding debut novel with very well-conceived world building and an excellent, original magic system, and twists that will keep you reading late into the night and guessing until the very end. The thing that really makes it shine is the main character—I really loved his development throughout the story. Alder is a character I look forward to following for multiple books to come.” —Michael Mammay, author of the Planetside series“A great coming of age story about a foolish boy who seeks to unravel the secrets of magic and maybe do something good in the process. I absolutely loved it.” —Nick Martell, author of Kingdom of Liars“Well written, thought provoking and enjoyable, The Hand of the Sun King is an impressive debut novel that left me eager for more.” —Lisbeth Campbell, author of The Vanished Queen“A great debut novel.” —SFFWorld“A spellbinding debut with terrific characterisations, immersive world-building, and prose that swept me away ... hands down the best debut of the year. Scratch that; this is one of the best debuts I've ever read.” —Novel Notions“Exquisite ... Greathouse's characterisation, his prose, and worldbuilding are an absolute triumph.” —The Fantasy Hive“An excellent mix of classic and modern fantasy with a grimdark undertone of despair.” —Grimdark Magazine“The Hand of the Sun King is an enjoyable novel that pays great homage to the traditions and mythologies it borrows from.” —Quill to Live“Teeming with culture, doused in war, political intrigue ... but strikes out its own path in the genre.” —FanFiAddict“Set in a fantasti
Wake of War: A Novel
by Zac ToppingIn the future, the fate of America will be decided in a valley of death…The year is 2037, and chaos reigns. The U.S. government is in the hands of a borderline fascist who rules a country that is falling apart. Economic collapse looms, whole populations are fleeing their homes, and the armed forces are caught in a seemingly helpless war. Their foe—their own countrymen.The Revolutionist Front was borne of the government’s increasingly draconian actions. But the RF is equally extreme, run by a merciless megalomaniac determined to create his own version of America. Now, both armies find themselves in a stalemate in Salt Lake City, facing each other across a vital resource mine that could decide the outcome of the war.In this maelstrom, three fighters will experience the horrors of war from different directions: a young, green infantryman about to receive his baptism of fire; a ruthless rebel sniper out to make her enemies pay for what they took from her; and a hardened mercenary being paid to protect the mine.Each will be tested to the limits of their loyalties and personal honor. But none will emerge from the coming battle the same as when they walked into hell on earth…"WAKE OF WAR is packed with intense, realistic combat action set in an all-too-believable near future. Zac Topping has clearly been there and done that, and he delivers riveting combat scenes that explode off of the page." - Michael Mammay, author of The Misfit Soldier
A Skeleton in the Family (The Family Skeleton #1)
by Leigh Perry“An effortlessly narrated, meticulously crafted cozy mystery.” — The Big ThrillAn adjunct professor worries she’s made a grave mistake returning to her hometown when she’s drawn into a decades-old murder mystery...by the victim’s skeleton!Georgia Thackery isn’t exactly thrilled to be moving back to her childhood home, not that she has much choice. As a struggling adjunct English professor and single mom to a teenage daughter, Georgia takes jobs wherever she can find them. At least with this new teaching gig in Pennycross, Massachusetts, she has a rent-free place to live. Besides, there’s a major upside to Georgia’s homecoming: Sid!Every family has secrets, but the skeleton in Georgia’s closet isn’t just real, he’s a living (kinda), breathing (sorta), cringey-joke-making part of the family–who happens to be her best friend! No one quite knows the origins of Sid’s remains, and he can’t recall anything from before meeting Georgia and taking up residence in the Thackery attic. But all that changes during an outing to the local college campus, when Sid recognizes a face from his literal past life...and it chills him to the bone.Now, Sid has questions about the circumstances of his death and Georgia will do whatever it takes to help him dig up the truth. But when all signs point to murder, is Georgia in danger of becoming the next family skeleton?Fans of Charlaine Harris and Sofie Kelly will adore this charming supernatural cozy mystery—the first in the beloved Family Skeleton series—by Agatha Award-winning author, Toni L. P. Kelner, writing as Leigh Perry.Praise for A Skeleton in the Family:“A very touching and entertaining whodunit. The mystery is intelligent and nicely done with fun insights into academia and anthropology.” — RT Book Reviews"You’ll love the adventures of this unexpected mystery-solving duo.” — Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author"A charming debut ... Amateur sleuth Georgia, and her sidekick, Sid, are just plain fun!” — Sofie Kelly, New York Times bestselling author of Cat Trick
The Skeleton Takes a Bow (The Family Skeleton #2)
by Leigh Perry“This is a great cozy filled with sparkling humor and lots of twists and turns ... Every cozy lover will revel in The Skeleton Takes A Bow." — Criminal ElementEnglish adjunct Georgia Thackery and her best friend, Sid the skeleton, must find a murderer and the victim after the local high school auditorium becomes the scene of a late-night murder...and Sid is the only witness!Against her better judgment, Georgia allows her daughter Madison to sneak Sid into the Pennycross High School Drama Club’s spring production of Hamlet. As a bona fide member of the Thackery family, Sid is thrilled to lend a hand—or in this case, a skull—to help Madison’s thespian pursuits. But when Sid accidentally overhears a murder occurring off the stage, he and Georgia suspect something’s rotten in the state of...well, Massachusetts.As an adjunct English professor, Georgia is familiar with Hamlet’s typical body count. So, she knows the scene Sid heard from the wings—long after rehearsals ended and the high school closed for the night—was definitely off-script. But how can she and Sid investigate a murder if the victim’s corpse is nowhere to be found?It seems like a dead end. But even a bare bones investigation is better than none at all, because if Georgia and Sid don’t act quickly, Madison and her classmates could be in danger of something far worse than stage fright...Readers will be delighted by the second book in the Family Skeleton cozy mystery series by Agatha award-winning author Toni L. P. Kelner, writing as Leigh Perry—perfect for fans of Charlaine Harris and Bailey Cates!Praise for The Skeleton Takes a Bow:“This mystery moves effortlessly with good plotting, amusing dialogue and a suspenseful and funny ending. Georgia’s endearing family of crime solvers will have readers clamoring for the next in the series.” — RT Book Reviews“The humor and wit are razor sharp ... Leigh Perry, the pen name of Toni Kelner, shines in this delightfully funny and unique series that blends paranormal with mystery and academic satire.” — Kings River Life Magazine“The family love and humor are forefront in an enjoyable mystery ... THE SKELETON TAKES A BOW deserves applause for its refreshing departure from the cozy mystery formula.” — Lesa’s Book Critiques
The Skeleton Haunts a House (The Family Skeleton #3)
by Leigh Perry"The Skeleton Haunts A House, and the entire Family Skeleton Mystery series for that matter, is a fun-filled, action-packed read that engrosses the reader from the first page to the last. Highly recommended!” — Open Book SocietyPennycross is spooked after a student is murdered at a popular haunted house, and now it’s full scream ahead for English adjunct professor Georgia Thackery and Sid the Skeleton as they scramble to solve the case...No bones about it, Halloween is Sid the Skeleton’s absolute favorite season! It’s the one time of year he can freely cavort around town with his best friend, English adjunct professor Georgia Thackery. Sid’s especially looking forward to Pennycross’s infamous Halloween Howl. The annual, month-long event celebrates all things spooky, but its main attraction is undoubtedly the haunt at “McHades” Hall.Every October, to raise scholarship funds, McQuaid University transforms McQuaid Hall, the oldest building on campus, into an immersive haunted house experience, serving scares at the dilapidated mansion with swarms of student zombies, gallons of gag blood, and piles of plastic bones. But unfortunately, this year, visitors to McHades Hall stumble upon something unexpected—one very real murder victim...McQuaid student Kendall Fitzroy was beloved by family, friends, and her boyfriend—no one knows why anyone would want to kill her. But with the community mourning a dead co-ed, the authorities threatening to shut down the attraction, and the University standing to lose thousands in donations, it’s up to Sid, Georgia, and the entire Thackery family to scare up some clues and unmask the haunt’s true ghoul before they strike again.The third book in the Family Skeleton cozy mystery series by Agatha award-winning author Toni L. P. Kelner, writing as Leigh Perry, is sure to charm fans of Charlaine Harris and Sophie Kelly!Praise for The Skeleton Haunts a House:"This is a smart, fun book with lots of twists and a wry humor, making it the perfect Halloween book you can read late into the night and not have nightmares from." — Crimereads“One of the freshest and original voices in the subgenre of paranormal mystery.” — Talk Nerdy With Us“Sid (he likes to think of himself as Sherlock Bones) and Georgia come through in the end, of course, and there’s a lot of fun (and a bit of romance) to be had along the way. Check it out.” — Bill Crider
From Hell with Love (Secret Histories #4)
by Simon R. GreenThe next thrilling chapter in New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green’s Secret Histories fantasy adventure series featuring supernatural super-agent Eddie Drood.The name’s Drood. Eddie Drood. And believe me, I wish to hell it wasn’t.Being part of an enigmatic, fractious family who’ve been keeping humanity safe from the world’s more horrifying elements is hard enough. But when the Matriarch of the clan is murdered, it’s a none-for-all, all-for-themselves family feud. And as usual, yours truly is suspect numero uno.Yeah, blood is thinner than water around here, folks.Worse still, second in line for slaughter is my main lady, the magical Molly Metcalfe. So, there’s not much to it except to go on the run and hunt down the true killer. Or should I say killers?Because it turns out there’s another kind of family out there. Think of them as the anti-Droods. They’ve been meddling with mankind in the worst sort of way for thousands of years. Because they’re apparently immortal. They’re also atrociously strong. And now they’ve decided that it’s time for the Droods to go bye-bye.Maybe I should just go home and hug it out with the family…
For Heaven's Eyes Only (Secret Histories #5)
by Simon R. GreenNew York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green’s Secret Histories fantasy adventure series featuring supernatural super-agent Eddie Drood continues.Eddie Drood here…well, not quite.Being a member of a secret-yet-legendary family of evil-battlers who have been shielding people from the darkest entities on Earth for ages can take its toll. So lately, I’ve been relaxing. Regrouping. Looking at things from a place of peace and quiet.After all, being dead does have its perks.Lucky for me my lovely witch Molly Metcalfe is able to pull me back to the mortal plane just in time for another disaster to befall the Drood clan and the world in general. It appears there is a Satanist conspiracy in the making. And I don’t mean your typical wear-black-eyeliner, mope-around-the-high-school, rebelling-against-daddy devil devotees. These Satanists are incredibly for real, extremely devoted to their dark lord, and dead serious about breaking down the gates of Hell to unleash…well, Hell.And the key to this is something called the “Great Sacrifice,” a horrific occurrence the likes of which humanity has never conceived—and will never survive. That is, unless an unlikely guardian angel leaps into the fray.Dammit…where did I put my wings and halo…?
Live and Let Drood (Secret Histories #6)
by Simon R. GreenNew York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green continues his Secret Histories fantasy adventure series featuring supernatural super agent Eddie Drood.Call me Edwin, Eddie, Shaman Bond…whatever you like. I’ve been called worse, believe me.After once again triumphing over the forces of darkness, Molly Metcalfe, the Witch of the Woods and my love, and I have returned to merry old England. After all, there’s no place like home.No. Seriously. There is no place like home—because the ancient, powerful, and supposedly invulnerable Drood family domicile has been obliterated. Along with my entire back-stabbing-yet-somehow-fiercely-loyal clan. Except that’s not quite right. I mean, sure, things look bleak as hell. But in my line of work looks can be far more than deceiving. They can be deadly.Some fiendish foe has somehow shifted the entirety of my home and kin to another dimension, replacing it with a ruin meant to throw me off the trail. Which means there is a trail. A trail I can follow…And I’m going to enjoy expressing my serious displeasure towards the dirty bastard at the end of it.
Magellan: Over the Edge of the World
by Laurence BergreenA middle-grade adaptation of Laurence Bergreen's adult bestseller, about Magellan's historic voyage around the globe.On September 6, 1522, a horribly battered ship manned by eighteen malnourished, scurvy-ridden sailors appeared on the horizon near a Spanish port. They were survivors of the first European expedition to circle the globe. Originally comprised of five ships and 260 sailors, the fleet's captain and most of its crew were dead. How did Ferdinand Magellan's voyage to circle the world—one of the largest and best-equipped expeditions ever mounted—turn into this ghost ship? The answer is provided in this thoroughly researched tale of mutiny and murder spanning the entire globe, marked equally by triumph and tragedy. Thrilling, grisly, and completely true, Magellan:Over the Edge of the World tells a story that not only marks a turning point in history, but also resonates powerfully with the present.
The Young Investigator's Guide to Ancient Aliens
by History ChannelAs a tie-in to the wildly successful History Channel show, here's a book filled with fascinating tales, ancient folklore, and compelling evidence of the role extraterrestrials may have played in human history. What really happened to the dinosaurs? Who actually built the ancient pyramids in Egypt? Are airplanes really as modern as we think they are? This book takes a close look at landmark events throughout history and asks the question: What if aliens were involved? Spanning history, from the earliest of human civilizations to the modern period, this book exposes evidence of the presence of extraterrestrials in some of our most triumphant and devastating moments.
Destination Moon: The Remarkable and Improbable Voyage of Apollo 11
by Richard MaurerThe history of NASA's Apollo program from Earth orbital missions to lunar landings in a propulsive nonfiction narrative.Only now, it is becoming clear how exceptional and unrepeatable Apollo was. At its height, it employed almost half a million people, many working seven days a week and each determined that “it will not fail because of me.”Beginning with fighter pilots in World War II, Maurer traces the origins of the Apollo program to a few exceptional soldiers, a Nazi engineer, and a young eager man who would become president.Packed with adventure, new stories about familiar people, and undeniable danger, Destination Moon takes an unflinching look at a tumultuous time in American history, told expertly by nonfiction author Richard Maurer.
James Z. George: Mississippi’s Great Commoner
by Timothy B. Smith“When the Mississippi school boy is asked who is called the ‘Great Commoner’ of public life in his state," wrote Mississippi’s premier historian Dunbar Rowland in 1901, “he will unhesitatingly answer James Z. George.” While George’s prominence, along with his white supremacist views, have decreased through the decades since then, many modern historians still view him as a supremely important Mississippian, with one writing that George (1826–1897) was “Mississippi's most important Democratic leader in the late nineteenth century.” Certainly, the Mexican War veteran, prominent lawyer and planter, Civil War officer, Reconstruction leader, state Supreme Court chief justice, and Mississippi’s longest-serving United States senator to that time deserves a full biography. And George’s importance was greater than just on the state level as other southerners copied his tactics to secure white supremacy in their own states. That James Z. George has never had a full, academic biography is inexplicable. James Z. George: Mississippi’s Great Commoner seeks to rectify the lack of attention to George’s life. In doing so, this volume utilizes numerous sources, never or only slightly used, primarily a large collection of George’s letters held by his descendants and never used by historians. Such wonderful sources allow a glimpse not only into the life and times of James Z. George, but perhaps more importantly an exploration of the man himself, his traits, personality, and ideas. The result is a picture of an extremely commonplace individual on the surface, but an exceptionally complicated man underneath. James Z. George: Mississippi’s Great Commoner will bring this important Mississippi leader of the nineteenth century back into the minds of twenty-first-century Mississippians.
Eudora Welty and Surrealism
by Stephen M. FullerEudora Welty and Surrealism surveys Welty's fiction during the most productive period of her long writing life. The study shows how the 1930s witnessed surrealism's arrival in the United States largely through the products of its visual artists. Welty, a frequent traveler to New York City, where the surrealists exhibited, and a keen reader of magazines and newspapers that disseminated their work, absorbed and unconsciously appropriated surrealism's perspective in her writing. In fact, Welty's first solo exhibition of her photographs in 1936 took place next door to New York's premier venue for surrealist art. In a series of readings that collectively examine A Curtain of Green and Other Stories, The Wide Net and Other Stories, Delta Wedding, The Golden Apples, and The Bride of the Innisfallen and Other Stories, the book reveals how surrealism profoundly shaped Welty's striking figurative literature. Yet the influence of the surrealist movement extends beyond questions of style. The study's interpretations also foreground how her writing refracted surrealism as a historical phenomenon. Scattered throughout her stories are allusions to personalities allied with the movement in the United States, including figures such as Salvador Dalí, Elsa Schiaparelli, Caresse Crosby, Wallace Simpson, Cecil Beaton, Helena Rubinstein, Elizabeth Arden, Joseph Cornell, and Charles Henri Ford. Individuals such as these and others whom surrealism seduced often lead unorthodox and controversial lives that made them natural targets for moral opprobrium. Eschewing such parochialism, Welty borrowed the idiom of surrealism to develop modernized depictions of the South, a literary strategy that revealed not only cultural farsightedness but great artistic daring.
Songs of Sorrow: Lucy McKim Garrison and Slave Songs of the United States (American Made Music Series)
by Samuel ChartersIn the spring of 1862, Lucy McKim, the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Philadelphia abolitionist Quaker family, traveled with her father to the Sea Islands of South Carolina to aid him in his efforts to organize humanitarian aid for thousands of newly freed slaves. During her stay she heard the singing of the slaves in their churches, as they rowed their boats from island to island, and as they worked and played. Already a skilled musician, she determined to preserve as much of the music as she could, quickly writing down words and melodies, some of them only fleeting improvisations. Upon her return to Philadelphia, she began composing musical settings for the songs and in the fall of 1862 published the first serious musical arrangements of slave songs. She also wrote about the musical characteristics of slave songs, and published, in a leading musical journal of the time, the first article to discuss what she had witnessed. In Songs of Sorrow: Lucy McKim Garrison and “Slave Songs of the United States,” renowned music scholar Samuel Charters tells McKim's personal story. Letters reveal the story of young women's lives during the harsh years of the war. At the same time that her arrangements of the songs were being published, a man with whom she had an unofficial “attachment” was killed in battle, and the war forced her to temporarily abandon her work. In 1865 she married Wendell Phillips Garrison, son of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and in the early months of their marriage she proposed that they turn to the collection of slave songs that had long been her dream. She and her husband—a founder and literary editor of the recently launched journal The Nation—enlisted the help of two associates who had also collected songs in the Sea Islands. Their book, Slave Songs of the United States, appeared in 1867. After a long illness, ultimately ending in paralysis, she died at the age of thirty-four in 1877. This book reclaims the story of a pioneer in ethnomusicology, one whose influential work affected the Fisk Jubilee Singers and many others.
Archie 1000 Page Comics Gala (Archie 1000 Page Comics #11)
by Archie SuperstarsARCHIE 1000 PAGE COMICS GALA collects 1000 pages of iconic Archie tales in this one amazing volume! Follow America's favorite red-head as he navigates the pressures of the American teenager in the awkward, charming, and hilarious way you've come to know and love.
Archie 1000 Page Comics Shindig (Archie 1000 Page Comics #12)
by Archie SuperstarsPut on your dancing shoes and head on over to a SHINDIG of your favorite Archie comic stories! In this edition of the ARCHIE 1000 PAGE COMICS series, get ready to laugh until your sides hurt and have as much fun as possible along with Archie & his pals ‘n’ gals! For 75 years, Archie and his friends have been making everyone laugh, with their dating hijinx and misadventures at Riverdale High School! Everything’s Archie in the largest Archie collection series EVER—offered at an incredible value price!
Archie 1000 Page Comics 75th Anniversary Bash (Archie 1000 Page Comics #13)
by Archie SuperstarsARCHIE 1000 PAGE COMICS 75TH ANNIVERSARY BASH collects 1000 pages of iconic Archie tales in this one amazing volume! Follow America's favorite red-head as he navigates the pressures of the American teenager in the awkward, charming, and hilarious way you've come to know and love.
Archie 1000 Page Comics BLOW-OUT! (Archie 1000 Page Comics #9)
by Archie SuperstarsARCHIE 1000 PAGE COMICS BLOW-OUT! collects 1000 pages of iconic Archie tales in this one amazing volume! Follow America's favorite red-head as he navigates the pressures of the American teenager in the awkward, charming, and hilarious way you've come to know and love.
Archie 1000 Page Comics Jam (Archie 1000 Page Comics #10)
by Archie SuperstarsARCHIE 1000 PAGE COMICS JAM collects 1000 pages of iconic Archie tales in this one amazing volume! Follow America's favorite red-head as he navigates the pressures of the American teenager in the awkward, charming, and hilarious way you've come to know and love.
Left Bank: Art, Passion, and the Rebirth of Paris, 1940–50
by Agnès PoirierAn incandescent group portrait of the midcentury artists and thinkers whose lives, loves, collaborations, and passions were forged against the wartime destruction and postwar rebirth of ParisIn this fascinating tour of a celebrated city during one of its most trying, significant, and ultimately triumphant eras, Agnes Poirier unspools the stories of the poets, writers, painters, and philosophers whose lives collided to extraordinary effect between 1940 and 1950. She gives us the human drama behind some of the most celebrated works of the 20th century, from Richard Wright’s Native Son, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, and James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room to Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Saul Bellow's Augie March, along with the origin stories of now legendary movements, from Existentialism to the Theatre of the Absurd, New Journalism, bebop, and French feminism.We follow Arthur Koestler and Norman Mailer as young men, peek inside Picasso’s studio, and trail the twists of Camus's Sartre's, and Beauvoir’s epic love stories. We witness the births and deaths of newspapers and literary journals and peer through keyholes to see the first kisses and last nights of many ill-advised bedfellows. At every turn, Poirier deftly hones in on the most compelling and colorful history, without undermining the crucial significance of the era. She brings to life the flawed, visionary Parisians who fell in love and out of it, who infuriated and inspired one another, all while reconfiguring the world's political, intellectual, and creative landscapes. With its balance of clear-eyed historical narrative and irresistible anecdotal charm, Left Bank transports readers to a Paris teeming with passion, drama, and life.
Just Kids From the Bronx: Telling It the Way It Was, An Oral History
by Arlene Alda"A down-to-earth, inspiring book about the American promise fulfilled." —President Bill Clinton "Fascinating . . . . Made me wish I had been born in the Bronx." —Barbara WaltersA touching and provocative collection of memories that evoke the history of one of America's most influential boroughs—the Bronx—through some of its many success storiesThe vivid oral histories in Arlene Alda's Just Kids from the Bronx reveal what it was like to grow up in the place that bred the influencers in just about every field of endeavor today. The Bronx is where Michael Kay, the New York Yankees' play-by-play broadcaster, first experienced baseball, where J. Crew's CEO Millard (Mickey) Drexler found his ambition, where Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dava Sobel fell in love with science early on and where music-making inspired hip hop's Grandmaster Melle Mel to change the world of music forever.The parks, the pick-up games, the tough and tender mothers, the politics, the gangs, the food—for people who grew up in the Bronx, childhood recollections are fresh. Arlene Alda's own Bronx memories were a jumping-off point from which to reminisce with a nun, a police officer, an urban planner, and with Al Pacino, Mary Higgins Clark, Carl Reiner, Colin Powell, Maira Kalman, Bobby Bonilla, and many other leading artists, athletes, scientists and entrepreneurs—experiences spanning six decades of Bronx living. Alda then arranged these pieces of the past, from looking for violets along the banks of the Bronx River to the wake-up calls from teachers who recognized potential, into one great collective story, a film-like portrait of the Bronx from the early twentieth century until today.
Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye
by Michael ShermerCollected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer's celebrated columns in Scientific AmericanFor fifteen years, bestselling author Michael Shermer has written a column in Scientific American magazine that synthesizes scientific concepts and theory for a general audience. His trademark combination of deep scientific understanding and entertaining writing style has thrilled his huge and devoted audience for years. Now, in Skeptic, seventy-five of these columns are available together for the first time; a welcome addition for his fans and a stimulating introduction for new readers.
Fighting Fire!: Ten of the Deadliest Fires in American History and How We Fought Them
by Michael L. CooperFrom colonial times to the modern day, two things have remained constant in American history: the destructive power of fires and the bravery of those who fight them.Fighting Fire! brings to life ten of the deadliest infernos this nation has ever endured: the great fires of Boston, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco, the disasters of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the General Slocum, and the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, the wildfire of Witch Creek in San Diego County, and the catastrophe of 9/11. Each blaze led to new firefighting techniques and technologies, yet the struggle against fires continues to this day. With historical images and a fast-paced text, this is both an exciting look at firefighting history and a celebration of the human spirit.