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Barnet 1471: Death of a Kingmaker (Battleground Wars of the Roses)
by David ClarkOn 14 April 1471 the forces of Lancaster under the Earl of Warwick and those of York under Edward IV clashed at Barnet in Hertfordshire in one of the decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses. In a bloody encounter the two armies fought to resolve a bitter dynastic dispute that had already fuelled twenty years of war. Warwick's death and Edward's victory changed the course of English history.In this new guide to the battle, David Clark, one of the leading battlefield historians, gives a gripping account of the fighting and of the intrigue that led to it, and he provides a full tour of the battlefield itself.
Fighter Aces: Knights of the Skies (Casemate Short History)
by John Sadler Rosie SerdivilleA readable and entertaining introduction to aerial combat in the series that &“would be excellent for someone with an early interest in military history&” (Army Rumour Service). Just over a decade after the first successful powered flight, fearless pioneers were flying over the battlefields of France in flimsy biplanes. Though the infantry in their muddy trenches might see aerial combat as glorious and chivalric, the reality was very different and undeniably deadly: new Royal Flying Corps subalterns in 1917 had a life expectancy of eleven days. In 1915 the term &“ace&” was coined to denote a pilot adept at downing enemy aircraft, and top aces like the Red Baron, René Fonck, and Billy Bishop became household names. The idea of the ace continued after the 1918 Armistice, but as the size of air forces increased, the prominence of the ace diminished. But still, the pilots who swirled and danced in Hurricanes and Spitfires over southern England in 1940 were, and remain, feted as &“the Few&” who stood between Britain and invasion. Flying aircraft advanced beyond the wildest dreams of Great War pilots, the &“top&” fighter aces of World War II would accrue hundreds of kills, though their life expectancy was still measured in weeks, not years. World War II cemented the vital role of air power, and postwar innovation gave fighter pilots jet-powered fighters, enabling them to pursue duels over huge areas above modern battlefields. This entertaining introduction explores the history and cult of the fighter ace from the first pilots through late twentieth-century conflicts, which leads to discussion of whether the era of the fighter ace is at an end.
The First Jihad: Khartoum, and the Dawn of Militant Islam
by Daniel Allen ButlerA &“well-researched&” account of the nineteenth-century Sudanese cleric who led a bloody holy war, from a New York Times-bestselling author (Publishers Weekly). Before bin Laden, al-Zarqawi, or Ayatollah Khomeini, there was the Mahdi—the &“Expected One&”—who raised the Arabs in pan-tribal revolt against infidels and apostates in Sudan. Born on the Nile in 1844, Muhammed Ahmed grew into a devout, charismatic young man, whose visage was said to have always featured the placid hint of a smile. He developed a ferocious resentment, however, against the corrupt Ottoman Turks, their Egyptian lackeys, and finally, the Europeans who he felt held the Arab people in subjugation. In 1880, he raised the banner of holy war, and thousands of warriors flocked to his side. The Egyptians dispatched a punitive expedition to the Sudan, but the Mahdist forces destroyed it. In 1883, Col. William Hicks gathered a larger army of nearly ten thousand men. Trapped by the tribesmen in a gorge at El Obeid, it was massacred to a man. Three months later, another British-led force met disaster at El Teb. This was followed by the infamous conflict at Khartoum, during which a treacherous native—or patriot, depending upon one&’s point of view—let the Madhist forces into the city, resulting in the horrifying death of Gen. Charles &“Chinese&” Gordon at the hands of jihadists. In today&’s world, the Mahdi&’s words have been repeated almost verbatim by the jihadists who have attacked New York, Washington, Madrid, and London, and continue to wage war from the Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean. Along with Saladin, the Mahdi stands as an Islamic icon who launched his own successful crusade against the West. This deeply researched work reminds us that the &“clash of civilizations&” that supposedly came upon us in September 2001 in fact began much earlier, and &“lays important tracks into the study of terror, fundamentalism and the early clash between Islam and Christianity&” (Publishers Weekly).
The Angel of History
by Bruno ArpaiaThis &“finely textured novel&” of Walter Benjamin&’s final years in Paris and Spain during WWII imagines a fateful encounter with an anti-Franco rebel (The Guardian, UK). For a brief moment in 1940, the lives of a young Spanish militant and a reclusive academic of German and Jewish heritage are thrown together. Along with thousands of others across Europe, both men have fled their homeland in the face of fascist persecution. Yet, until the day their paths converge on a remote mountain pass between France and Spain, their experience of war has been vastly different. Based on true events of Benjamin's life, and ranging from Paris' Left Bank to the prison camps of southern France, The Angel of History explores how the history we think we know is not a series of events but rather a constellation of countless individual lives. And although every story is unique, each is founded on the same human desire - to be remembered.&“Clever, persuasive, compelling…The portrayal of Walter Benjamin is masterly.&”—Allan Massie, Scotsman, UK
The First Battle: Operation Starlite and the Beginning of the Blood Debt in Vietnam
by Otto J. Lehrack&“[A] brief but well-told and well-researched account . . . a good description of early U.S. Marine deployments to Vietnam&” (HistoryNet). The First Battle is a graphic account of the Vietnam War&’s first major clash. On August 18, 1965, regiment fought regiment on the Van Tuong Peninsula near the new Marine base at Chu Lai. On the American side were three battalions of Marines under the command of Col. Oscar Peatross, a hero of two previous wars. His opponent was the 1st Viet Cong Regiment commanded by Nguyen Dinh Trong, a veteran of many fights against the French and the South Vietnamese. Codenamed Operation Starlite, this action was a resounding success for the Marines, and its result was cause for great optimism about America&’s future in Vietnam. Blood debt, han tu in Vietnamese, can mean revenge, debt of honor, or blood owed for blood spilled. The blood debt came into Vietnamese usage early in the war with the United States. With this battle, the Johnson Administration began compiling its own blood debt, this one to the American people. The book also looks at the ongoing conflict between the US Army and the US Marines about the methodology of the Vietnam War. With decades of experience with insurrection and rebellion, the Marines were institutionally oriented to base the struggle on pacification of the population. The Army, on the other hand, having largely trained to meet the Soviet Army on the plains of Germany, opted for search-and-destroy missions against Communist main force units. The history of the Vietnam War is littered with many &“what ifs.&” This may be the biggest of them.
Afrika-Korps: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)
by Ian BaxterA pictorial history of the Nazi German army expeditionary force deployed to North Africa during World War II between 1941 and 1943.Afrika-Korps is an illustrated record of Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel and his desert troops that fought in North Africa against British and Commonwealth forces between 1941 and 1943. Using previously rare and unpublished photographs, many of which have come from the albums of individuals who took part in the desert campaign, it presents a unique visual account of the famous Afrika-Korps operations and equipment. Thanks to an informative caption with every photograph Afrika Korps vividly portrays how the German Army fought across the uncharted and forbidding desert wilderness of North Africa. Throughout the book it examines how Rommel and his Afrika Korps were so successful and includes an analysis of desert war tactics which Rommel himself had indoctrinated. These tactics quickly won the Afrika-Korps a string of victories between 1941 and 1942. The photographs that accompany the book are a fascinating collection that depicts life in the Afrika-Korps, as seen through the lens of the ordinary soldier.
The Corporate Commonwealth: Pluralism and Political Fictions in England, 1516–1651
by Henry S. TurnerThe Corporate Commonwealth traces the evolution of corporations during the English Renaissance and explores the many types of corporations that once flourished. Along the way, the book offers important insights into our own definitions of fiction, politics, and value. Henry S. Turner uses the resources of economic and political history, literary analysis, and political philosophy to demonstrate how a number of English institutions with corporate associations—including universities, guilds, towns and cities, and religious groups—were gradually narrowed to the commercial, for-profit corporation we know today, and how the joint-stock corporation, in turn, became both a template for the modern state and a political force that the state could no longer contain. Through innovative readings of works by Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Hobbes, among others, Turner tracks the corporation from the courts to the stage, from commonwealth to colony, and from the object of utopian fiction to the subject of tragic violence. A provocative look at the corporation’s peculiar character as both an institution and a person, The Corporate Commonwealth uses the past to suggest ways in which today’s corporations might be refashioned into a source of progressive and collective public action.
Flight: A Novel (Collections Litterature Ser. #Vol. 6132393)
by Sherman AlexieFrom the National Book Award–winning author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the tale of a troubled boy&’s trip through history. Half Native American and half Irish, fifteen-year-old &“Zits&” has spent much of his short life alternately abused and ignored as an orphan and ward of the foster care system. Ever since his mother died, he&’s felt alienated from everyone, but, thanks to the alcoholic father whom he&’s never met, especially disconnected from other Indians. After he runs away from his latest foster home, he makes a new friend. Handsome, charismatic, and eloquent, Justice soon persuades Zits to unleash his pain and anger on the uncaring world. But picking up a gun leads Zits on an unexpected time-traveling journey through several violent moments in American history, experiencing life as an FBI agent during the civil rights movement, a mute Indian boy during the Battle of Little Bighorn, a nineteenth-century Indian tracker, and a modern-day airplane pilot. When Zits finally returns to his own body, &“he begins to understand what it means to be the hero, the villain and the victim. . . . Mr. Alexie succeeds yet again with his ability to pierce to the heart of matters, leaving this reader with tears in her eyes&” (The New York Times Book Review). Sherman Alexie&’s acclaimed novels have turned a spotlight on the unique experiences of modern-day Native Americans, and here, the New York Times–bestselling author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian takes a bold new turn, combining magical realism with his singular humor and insight. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Sherman Alexie including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.
Lady of Mallow
by Dorothy EdenHailed by the New York Times as a novel that &“should easily satisfy the same readers who made a bestseller out of Victoria Holt&’s Mistress of Mellyn,&” Dorothy Eden&’s masterwork of Gothic romance presents the story of a governess who falls dangerously in love with the mysterious heir to a manor houseIt&’s a precarious charade with the highest stakes imaginable. Sarah Mildmay&’s entire future rests on exposing the current lord of Mallow as the great pretender he is. Blane Mallow, presumed dead after years at sea, has suddenly returned to claim his title—and the magnificent English estate that rightfully belongs to Sarah&’s fiancé, Blane&’s cousin Ambrose.Determined to unmask the imposter, Sarah talks her way into a position as governess to Blane&’s son, Titus. At Mallow Hall, she meets Blane&’s suspicious wife, Amalie, and the formidable Lady Malvina. But the deception Sarah suspects reveals itself to be far more malevolent and far-reaching than she imagined. As she fights her growing attraction to Blane, the arrival of a stranger sets in motion a series of events that will have deadly consequences. Desperate to protect Titus, Sarah moves closer to a shattering truth: The man she loves may be a cold-blooded murderer . . .
Night Work: A Novel of Vietnam (The Jim Hollister Trilogy #2)
by Dennis FoleyCaptain Jim Hollister leads his team on deadly missions through southern Vietnam in this gritty war novel from the author of Long Range Patrol.There is a little bit of Jim Hollister in all of us. Captain Jim Hollister ended his first tour of duty in Vietnam laid up in a field hospital. His most serious wounds were deep inside. Back home in America, he often woke up in the middle of the night in the grip of terrifying nightmares. But nothing—not even his long-suffering fiancée, Susan—could stop him from going back to serve his country. This time around, Jim serves as operations officer for Juliet Company, a Ranger squad with high demands placed on it to find and eliminate Viet Cong forces slipping across the Cambodian border. Fighting the enemy in the rice paddy terrain between Saigon and the border requires even more planning, training, and battlefield guile than do the tropical rain forests of the Central Highlands.Night Work brings to vivid life the courage and selfless dedication of the Army Rangers in Vietnam—and the profound costs of war.
Lady Ranelagh: The Incomparable Life of Robert Boyle's Sister (Synthesis)
by Michelle DiMeoFor centuries, historians have speculated about the life of Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh. Dominant depictions show her either as a maternal figure to her younger brother Robert Boyle, one of the most significant scientists of his day, or as a patroness of the European correspondence network now known as the Hartlib circle—but neither portrait captures the depth of her intellect or the range of her knowledge and influence. Philosophers, mathematicians, politicians, and religious authorities sought her opinion on everything from decimalizing the currency to producing Hebrew grammars. She practiced medicine alongside distinguished male physicians, treating some of the most elite patients in London. Her medical recipes, political commentaries, and testimony concerning the philosophers’ stone gained international circulation. She was an important influence on Boyle and a formidable thinker in her own right. Drawing from a wealth of new archival sources, Michelle DiMeo fills out Lady Ranelagh’s legacy in the context of a historically sensitive and nuanced interpretation of gender, science, and religion. The book re-creates the intellectual life of one of the most respected and influential women in seventeenth-century Europe, revealing how she managed to gain the admiration of diverse contemporaries, effect social change, and shape contemporary science.
Dynamic Partisanship: How and Why Voter Loyalties Change
by Ken Kollman John E. JacksonWhy do people identify with political parties? How stable are those identifications? Stable party systems, with a limited number of parties and mostly stable voter identification with a party, are normally considered significant signals of a steady democracy. In Dynamic Partisanship, Ken Kollman and John E. Jackson study changing patterns of partisanship in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia over the last fifty years in order to disentangle possible reasons for shifting partisanship and party identification. The authors argue that changes in partisanship can be explained by adjustments in voters’ attitudes toward issues or parties; the success or failure of policies advocated by parties; or alterations in parties’ positions on key issues. They contend that, while all three factors contribute, it is the latter, a party changing positions on a chief concern, that most consistently leads voters to or from a particular party. Their approach provides a deeper knowledge of the critical moving parts in democratic politics.
My Sister the Moon: Mother Earth Father Sky, My Sister The Moon, And Brother Wind (The Ivory Carver Trilogy #2)
by Sue HarrisonIn prehistoric Alaska, an Aleut girl, unwanted and abused, changes the destiny of her tribe Gray Bird wanted only sons. His daughter, Kiin, would have been killed at birth to make way for a male heir if not for the tribal chief, Kayugh, who claimed the infant as a future wife for one of his two young sons. Sixteen years later, Kiin is caught between the two brothers: one to whom she is promised, the other whom she desires. But the evil spawned by her own family takes her far from her people to a place where savage cruelties, love, and fate will strengthen and change her, and lead her to her ultimate destiny. My Sister the Moon is book two of the Ivory Carver Trilogy, which also includes Mother Earth Father Sky and Brother Wind.
One-Way Ticket (The Brady Coyne Mysteries #24)
by William G. TapplyTo help an old friend with a gambling problem, a Boston lawyer confronts the mob in this &“fresh and appealing&” mystery thriller (Publishers Weekly). Dalton Lancaster could have been a lawyer, but his heart wasn&’t in it. He quit Yale after his first year, and used his inheritance to go into the restaurant business, where he might have had some luck if he&’d spent more time selling food and less time playing blackjack. As he gambled away his savings, restaurants, and family, his lawyer, Brady Coyne, stuck by him. So when Dalt is beaten up, but not robbed, by three mobsters, Brady can&’t help but think his friend is gambling again. But Dalton says he has kicked his vice. The attack wasn&’t a message to him—it was to his son. Having inherited his father&’s addiction, Robert is in even deeper trouble than his dad ever was. When he fails to square things with his creditors, he&’s kidnapped, and Brady is forced to gamble on a long shot: that Robert Lancaster is still alive.
No Time for Tears: A Novel
by Cynthia FreemanThis &“ambitious&” New York Times bestseller tells the multigenerational saga of a Russian-Jewish family who emigrates to America and eventually Israel (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Chavala Rabinsky is sixteen when her mother dies and she becomes the caretaker of her five siblings. Beautiful and wise beyond her years, Chavala catches the eye of Dovid Landau, a poor cobbler whose dreams transform her life when he marries her. But Odessa, Russia, is a dangerous place in 1905. The Landaus flee the pogroms of their homeland for Ottoman-ruled Palestine—until escalating violence forces the family to become wanderers again. Rich in passion and scope, No Time for Tears sounds a call of love and liberation that will ring out for generations to come.
Culture & Language at Crossed Purposes: The Unsettled Records of American Settlement
by Jerome McGannCulture and Language at Crossed Purposes unpacks the interpretive problems of colonial treaty-making and uses them to illuminate canonical works from the period. Classic American literature, Jerome McGann argues, is haunted by the betrayal of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Indian treaties—“a stunned memory preserved in the negative spaces of the treaty records.” A noted scholar of the “textual conditions” of literature, McGann investigates canonical works from the colonial period, including the Arbella sermon and key writings of William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, Cotton Mather’s Magnalia, Benjamin Franklin’s celebrated treaty folios and Autobiography, and Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia. These are highly practical, purpose-driven works—the record of Enlightenment dreams put to the severe test of dangerous conditions. McGann suggests that the treaty-makers never doubted the unsettled character of what they were prosecuting, and a similar conflicted ethos pervades these works. Like the treaty records, they deliberately test themselves against stringent measures of truth and accomplishment and show a distinctive consciousness of their limits and failures. McGann’s book is ultimately a reminder of the public importance of truth and memory—the vocational commitments of humanist scholars and educators.
Leopold's Way: Detective Stories
by Edward D. HochFrom the Edgar Award–winning author: A collection of short detective stories featuring baffling crimes and the brilliant sleuthing of Captain Leopold. On his way to the circus, a young boy named Tommy pauses for fifteen minutes in a grassy vacant lot. It begins to rain, and by the time the storm has passed, Tommy is dead in the tall grass, strangled with a strong piece of rope. Police suspicion falls on a shifty ex-con employed by the circus, but Captain Leopold isn&’t satisfied with this too-simple solution. Something strange happened in that vacant lot, and it will take a moment of brilliance to divine what it was. Luckily, Captain Leopold has brilliance to spare. In these stories, he confronts dozens of fiendish puzzles, each murder more astonishing than the last. He is a lonely man, and his city is a cruel one, but only Leopold has the wit to find out the truth.
The Last of the Wine: A Novel (Virago Modern Classics Ser. #679)
by Mary RenaultNew York Times bestseller: A &“highly superior historical novel&” about the bond that grows between two men in ancient Athens (Saturday Review). Alexias is a young aristocrat living during the end of Athens&’s Golden Age. Prized for his beauty and athletic prowess, Alexias studies under Sokrates with his closest friend, Lysis. Together, the young men come of age in an Athens on the verge of great upheaval. They attend the Olympics, partake in symposia, fight on the battlefields of the Peloponnesian War, and fall in love. The first of Mary Renault&’s celebrated historical novels of ancient Greece, The Last of the Wine follows Alexias and Lysis into adulthood, when Athens is defeated by Sparta, the Thirty Tyrants take hold of the city, and the lives of both men are changed forever. Through their friendship, Renault opens a vista onto ancient Greek life, uncovering its vibrancy, culture, and political strife, and offers an unforgettable story of love, honor, loyalty, and the remarkable bond between two men. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Mary Renault including rare images of the author. &“Mary Renault is a shining light to both historical novelists and their readers. She does not pretend the past is like the present, or that the people of ancient Greece were just like us. She shows us their strangeness; discerning, sure-footed, challenging our values, piquing our curiosity, she leads us through an alien landscape that moves and delights us.&” —Hilary Mantel
The Angry Wife: A Novel
by Pearl S. BuckA novel of a Southern woman trapped in the past and two brothers divided by the Civil War, from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Good Earth. Lucinda Delaney is a southern belle ruled by a vision of life that no longer exists. The Civil War has come and gone and her side has lost, yet she is determined to proceed as if nothing has changed—a denial that stokes the flames of her irrational angers. Despite her returned husband&’s devotion, Lucinda is sure he is having an affair with one of their slaves. After all, his Union-sympathizing brother, Tom, did just that, scandalously running away with the woman and settling into contented family life in Philadelphia. Over the years, her racist feelings and fears only intensify, and when it&’s time for her own daughter to marry, her chief concern is the color of the children. The Angry Wife is a memorable and impassioned dissection of prejudice, as well as a riveting portrait of post–Civil War America. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author&’s estate.
Waiting to Vanish: A Novel
by Ann HoodA family heals in unexpected ways in the wake of senseless tragedyAlexander Porter is on the phone with his six-year-old son when he is struck by lightning and killed. It is a freak accident, without meaning or justice.Alex&’s sudden death disintegrates his family. His mother takes off for a new life in California. His father descends into kleptomania. His ex-wife begins selling makeup door to door. His sister mourns by taking Sam, Alex&’s son, on a journey into the family&’s past, putting her own life on hold. Young Sam, who heard his own father die, has gone silent.Narrated from a symphony of perspectives, Waiting to Vanish is the story of a family coping with devastating loss as they begin the brave, bruising business of getting on with it. In the process, they discover their own paths through life.
Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place: Stories (Penguin Modern Classics Ser.)
by Malcolm LowrySeven stories and novellas by the author of Under the Volcano, a master of twentieth-century fiction. For fans of the novel Under the Volcano, this collection of stories—many of them published for the first time posthumously—provides great insight into the author&’s genius. The stories range from heartfelt tragedy to exuberant triumph. In the novella &“Through the Panama,&” a burned-out, alcoholic writer tries to make sense of the literature that has kept him afloat while the pulse of his life grows harder to distinguish. In &“The Forest Path to Spring,&” a couple that has survived hell finds new life in the seclusion of a vast forest. And in &“The Bravest Boat,&” a young boy sends a message across the ocean to an unknown recipient. Together, these stories reveal a writer who traveled widely, observed keenly, and maintained an engrossing literary style that still reverberates today.
Not That Sort of Girl: A Novel
by Mary WesleyFrom the bestselling author of The Camomile Lawn comes the &“amusing&” story of a widow reflecting on her past as she looks toward a new future (Publishers Weekly). Rose Peel had never loved her husband. Their marriage had simply made sense, being built on honor and respect and mutual needs. But love was not a part of their union—for Rose has always kept that part of herself for Mylo Cooper, whom she was forbidden to marry. Upon the death of her husband, Rose suddenly finds herself free after almost fifty years of marriage. But as she reflects on her life—her passionate adoration of Mylo, the promises she made to her husband, the lies they both told each other, the tragedies she survived, and the joy she shared—she finds herself unsure of her next step, or what she truly wants. A finalist for the Sunday Express Book of the Year Award, Not That Sort of Girl is an unforgettable and emotional triumph of Wesley&’s one-of-a-kind insight and vivid characterization.
The Poison Master
by Liz Williams&“Part alien adventure and part existential exploration, this top-notch tale establishes Williams as an author to watch.&” —Publishers Weekly, starred review Latent Emanation is a cruel world where ordinary people do everything they can to stay out of the way of their vicious masters, the mysterious Night Lords. Apprentice alchemist Alivet Dee is more cautious than most, having devoted her life to making enough money to buy back her imprisoned sister from the Night Lords—but trouble is about to find her. When a client dies during a routine alchemical session, Alivet flees—pursued by the Night Lords, their minions, and a dark force that haunts her dreams. She is rescued by Ghairen, a Poison Master from another world who offers her a chance to save her sister—and humanity, as well. He is charming and handsome, with ruby-red eyes that glow in the night—but how can she trust a professional assassin? As she proceeds warily alongside the Poison Master, Alivet finds a chance not just to save mankind, but to unlock the mysteries of humanity&’s very existence.
Tempestuous Eden (G. K. Hall Core Ser.)
by Heather GrahamFrom the New York Times–bestselling &“master storyteller&”: The Central American jungle is as hot and dangerous as Blair&’s attraction to the mysterious Craig (RT Book Reviews). After the untimely death of her husband, Blair Morgan leaves her privileged life—against the wishes of her father—to work with the poor in Central America. Focused on helping the people of this war-torn region, she&’s uneasy when journalist Craig Taylor suddenly appears. Blair is determined to keep her true identity a secret, but finds herself confiding in brave and confident Craig. He has an agenda of his own, and when he finally puts his plans into action, both he and Claire must scramble to save their lives—and their hearts. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Heather Graham including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.
Miss America: A Novel
by Daniel SternA former pageant queen struggles with the realities of life off the runway in a novel &“reminiscent of F. Scott Fitzgerald&’s The Beautiful and the Damned&” (The State News, Lansing). After being crowned Miss America a decade ago, Cathy Forester has been in some glamorous settings—but she has little to show for it. She&’s endured a string of failed loves, a divorce, and the death of her parents. Restless by temperament, Cathy thinks she may have found a new life with a younger man, Peter Shaw. Peter is the son of a famous musician and is still battling to come into his own. Smitten by Cathy&’s beauty, he jumps at the chance to step out of his father&’s shadow. Together, the pair finds solace from the outside world, but have their frailties really disappeared? Ringing with authentic intimacy, Miss America is a powerful study of disenchanted love.