But when a neighbor invited him to lend a hand at the annual buffalo roundup, O'Brien was inspired to convert his own ranch, the Broken Heart, to buffalo. Starting with thirteen calves, "short-necked, golden balls of wool," O'Brien embarked on a journey that returned buffalo to his land for the first time in more than a century and a half.Buffalo for the Broken Heart is at once a tender account of the buffaloes' first seasons on the ranch and an engaging lesson in wildlife ecology. Whether he's describing the grazing pattern of the buffalo, the thrill of watching a falcon home in on its prey, or the comical spectacle of a buffalo bull wallowing in the mud, O'Brien combines a novelist's eye for detail with a naturalist's understanding to create an enriching, entertaining narrative.

     It's gonna be. I believe. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant." -- Russ Hodges, October 3, 1951 On the fiftieth anniversary of "The Shot Heard Round the World," Don DeLillo reassembles in fiction the larger-than-life characters who on October 3, 1951, witnessed Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Jackie Gleason is razzing Toots Shor in Leo Durocher's box seats; J. Edgar Hoover, basking in Sinatra's celebrity, is about to be told that the Russians have tested an atomic bomb; and Russ Hodges, raw-throated and excitable, announces the game -- the Giants and the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds in New York. DeLillo's transcendent account of one of the iconic events of the twentieth century is a masterpiece of American sportswriting.

    It ends in around 1800 when the rough outline of the contemporary North America could be perceived.Dropping the usual Anglocentric description of North America's fate, Taylor brilliantly conveys the far more vivid and startling story of the competing interests--Spanish, French, English, Native, Russian--that over the centuries shaped and reshaped both the continent and its 'suburbs' in the Caribbean and the Pacific. It is one of the greatest of all human stories.

    The explosive controversy and resulting lawsuit also raised a far more fundamental question: Who owns history? Many Indians see archeologists as desecrators of tribal rites and traditions; archeologists see their livelihoods and science threatened by the 1990 Federal reparation law, which gives tribes control over remains in their traditional territories.In this new work, Thomas charts the riveting story of this lawsuit, the archeologists' deteriorating relations with American Indians, and the rise of scientific archeology. His telling of the tale gains extra credence from his own reputation as a leader in building cooperation between the two sides.

    The discovery of a crime, a theatrical performance in a small town, or the recollection of a cruel wartime decision are equally affecting in Orner’s vivid scenarios. Esther Stories is divided into four distinct parts, each with its own momentum. The first half of the book concerns the lives of unrelated strangers, and the second introduces two Jewish families, one on the East Coast, the other in the Midwest. These stories cover considerable geographic ground — from Nova Scotia to Mississippi, from Fall River, Massachusetts, to Chicago — but the real territory is emotional. As the narrator of the title story tries to piece together his late aunt Esther’s life from the fragments of stories told about her, he remembers what she told him in a dark kitchen when he was a child: “You pay for everything. When you think you’re getting something for free — remember this — you’ll pay later.” All thirty-two wide-ranging pieces — funny or sorrowful, urban or rural, simple or innovative — are welcome additions to the art of the story.

    As McCarthyism swept across the United States and capitalism was king, white America enjoyed a feeling of pride and security that was reflected in advertising.

    Coe, the noted Mayanist, and Mark Van Stone, an accomplished calligrapher, have made the difficult, often mysterious script accessible to the nonspecialist. They decipher real Maya texts, and the transcriptions include a picture of the glyph, the pronunciation, the Maya words in Roman type, and the translation into English. For the second edition, the authors have taken the latest research and breakthroughs into account, adding glyphs, updating captions, and reinterpreting or expanding upon earlier decipherments.After an introductory discussion of Maya culture and history and the nature of the Maya script, the authors introduce the glyphs in a series of chapters that elaborate on topics such as the intricate calendar, warfare, royal lives and rituals, politics, dynastic names, ceramics, relationships, and the supernatural world. The book includes illustrations of historic texts, a syllabary, a lexicon, and translation exercises.

    Now, jazz authority Robert O’Meally has collected the very best of Ellison’s inspired, exuberant jazz writings in this unique anthology.

    The beautiful, densely wooded area off a dirt road seemed such an incongruous place for a violent crime that at first the couple had a hard time believing what they were seeing. It was all too real; the man fled, leaving behind a bloody, dying woman. Indeed the investigation into the death of young street walker Anita Paley would lead from that idyllic spot to the seamy underbelly of Denver and a world of prostitution, drug dealers and violent criminals. And it would expose the lives of two of that world’s inhabitants, the suspect, Robert Riggan, and Anita’s friend, Joanne Cordova, a former cop-turned-crack addict and hooker. In the past, Cordova had submitted to violent sex with Riggan in exchange for drugs; it was just part of her life on the mean streets. But when her friend Anita was murdered, Joanne had to make a choice. She could go to her former colleagues on the police department and tell them what she suspected, which would put her own life in danger as “a snitch.” Or she could look the other way, and let a suspected killer walk free and continue his violent attacks on women. ROUGH TRADE by New York Times bestselling author Steve Jackson is more than the recounting of a murder, an investigation, and the prosecution of a suspect. It’s also the story of two people from the seething criminal underworld of Denver, Colorado and how their paths crossed on the streets and in the courtroom. There was Riggan, who was raised in his own private hell that included rape, incest and extreme abuse to become a violent sexual predator. And there was Cordova, who had to summon the courage, and suffer the humiliation, in order to pull herself out of the abyss into which she'd fallen to testify against the man she believed killed her friend. And in doing so, find her own personal redemption.

    Includes "He Sees you When You're Sleeping" by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark","Louisa May Alcott's Christmas Treasury", " The Christmas Shoes" by Donna VanLiere, and"The Christmas Train" by David Baldacci

    The mood was up, prosperity ruled and the standard of living was flying high. It was the land of plenty for a new generation who reinvented the way we lived. With colorful memorabilia and vintage photos, Southern California in the '50s: Sun, Fun and Fantasy showcases this space-age promised land and the society that jump-started a cultural explosion. Charles Phoenix leads a nostalgic tour of his homeland, providing an up-close view of the way Southern Californians lived, where they worked and how they played. Readers will cruise in hot rods to Bob's Big Boy, go to the drive-in for Cokes and a movie, enjoy pools, patios and barbecues, and pull into that first McDonald's. Southern California in the '50s covers the suburban spread of stylish tract homes, coffee shops, supermarkets, shopping centers and bowling alleys, the modern conveniences that replaced rural valley farms, dairy pastures and fragrant orange groves. Readers rub elbows with the elite in Hollywood, and enjoy novelty of themed restaurants, motels and roadside attractions, attend fairs, festivals and parades and tour Knott's Berry Farm, Santa's Village, Marineland, Pacific Ocean Park and Disneyland when all were brand new. Anyone who loves or lives the Southern California lifestyle must have Southern California in the '50s.

    Like Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn, Shuggie Akins tells his story of a reluctant descent into the world of adults in this unforgettable and ultimately moving novel.

    Wallace wrote to Caroline Henderson to praise her contributions to American "understanding of some of our farm problems." His comments reflected the national attention aroused by Henderson’s articles, which had been published in Atlantic Monthly since 1931. Even today, Henderson’s articles are frequently cited for her vivid descriptions of the dust storms that ravaged the Plains.Caroline Henderson was a Mount Holyoke graduate who moved to Oklahoma’s panhandle to homestead and teach in 1907. This collection of Henderson’s letters and articles published from 1908 to1966 presents an intimate portrait of a woman’s life in the Great Plains. Her writing mirrors her love of the land and the literature that sustained her as she struggled for survival.Alvin O. Turner has collected and edited Henderson’s published materials together with her private correspondence. Accompanying biographical sketch, chapter introductions, and annotations provide details on Henderson’s life and context for her frequent literary allusions and comments on contemporary issues.

    She combed through community cookbooks and searched out long-lost heirloom recipes, sure-handedly reworking every recipe in her own kitchen. THE ALL-AMERICAN COOKIE BOOK celebrates regional gems from every corner of the country: Pennsylvania Dutch Soft Sugar Cookies, New York Black and Whites, New Mexican Biscochitos, Key Lime Frosties from Florida, and Mocha Espresso Wafers from Seattle. A sophisticated hazelnut chocolate sandwich cookie that was the closely guarded secret of an Oregon hostess is here, and so is a delightfully crisp (and easy to roll out) old-fashioned gingerbread cookie recreated from a handwritten 1880 notebook. Homespun classics abound: Chocolate Whoopie Pies, Caramel Apple Crumb Bars, Chocolate Chunk Brownies, and Caramel-Frosted Brown Sugar Drops. The collection also features devastatingly delicious contemporary creations like Chewy Chocolate Chunk Monster Cookies and Cranberry-Cherry Icebox Ribbons. For children and adults alike, one of the most exciting chapters will be the lavishly illustrated “Cookie Decorating and Crafts,” which includes everything from simple projects like Christmas cookies and Chocolate Gingerbread Bears to an elaborate gingerbread house. As Nancy Baggett tells the story of America’s heritage, she slips in fascinating bits of history, showing the evolution of our homegrown baking traditions.

    How could she have known, in the years to follow, just how many strong and independent women would step forward to forge new paths in their fight for equality?From Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman to the less well-known but equally important Belva Lockwood and Maya Ying Lin, Remember the Ladies spans the centuries to provide an engaging look at one hundred outstanding women who have helped shape our great nation.Contents:Virginia DarePocahontas --Priscilla Mullins Alden --Anne Dudley Bradstreet --Phillis Wheatley --Mercy Otis Warren --Abigail Adams --Betsy Ross --Sybil Ludington --Margaret Corbin --Deborah Sampson --Sacagawea --"Mother Ann" Lee --Emma Hart Willard --Dolley Madison --Sarah Grimke --Abigail Scott Duniway --Elizabeth Cady Stanton --Lucretia Mott --Amelia Bloomer --Elizabeth Blackwell --Susan B. Anthony --Harriet Tubman --Sarah Emma Edmonds --Belle Boyd --Clara Barton --Victoria Woodhull --Louisa May Alcott --Sarah Winnemucca --Sarah J.B. Hale --Emily Dickinson --Annie Oakley --Calamity Jane --Nellie Bly --Belva Lockwood --Mary Cassatt --Lucy Stone --Carry Nation --Helen Keller --Jane Addams --Mary Harris Jones --Harriet Quimby --Isadora Duncan --Madame C.J. Walker --Mary Pickford --Juliette Gordon Low --Margaret Sanger --Ida Bell Wells-Barnett --Elizabeth Gurley Flynn --Alice Paul --Carrie Chapman Catt --Annie Smith Peck --Gertrude Ederle --Clara Bow --Annie Jump Cannon --Frances Perkins --Mary McLeod Bethune --Marian Anderson --Laura Ingalls Wilder --Shirley Temple --Amelia Earhart --Jacqueline Cochran --Eleanor Roosevelt --Katherine Dunham. Babe Didrikson Zaharias --Georgia O'Keeffe --Margaret Bourke-White --Rosa Parks --Margaret Mead --Lucille Ball --Maria Tallchief --Wilma Rudolph --Jacquelin Kennedy (Onassis) --Sylvia Earle --Rachel Carson --Betty Friedan --Shirley Chisolm --Jeannette Rankin --Dian Fossey --Joan Ganz Cooney --Julia Child --Gloria Steinem --Barbara Jordan --Sarah Caldwell --Barbara Walters --Katharine Graham --Billie Jean King --Maya Ying Lin --Grace Hopper --Sandra Day O'Connor --Antonia Novello --Sally Ride --Oprah Winfrey --Martha Stewart --Maya Angelou --Madeleine Albright --Toni Morrison --Jody Williams --Julie Taymor --Ruth Simmons --

    This new boxed set comprises his two great books plus an engaging recording of interviews, readings, and reflections.A River Runs Through It is the lyrical, deeply moving story of Maclean's Montana youth on the Big Blackfoot River, when fly-fishing was the one activity that allowed his family to bridge troubled relationships and make connections, brother with brother, father with son. It was made into an acclaimed film of the same name by director Robert Redford. This unabridged version is masterfully read by Montana novelist Ivan Doig.Young Men & Fire consumed 14 years of Maclean's life and earned a 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award. In unflinching detail, it tells the harrowing story of a 1949 Rocky Mountain forest fire that claimed the lives of 13 young "smokejumpers." Western essayist Gretel Ehrlich called it "extraordinarily wise and lyrical . . . a haunting commentary on birth, sex, death, memory, and rebirth." This unabridged version is read by Norman Maclean's son, John.On the Big Blackfoot contains archival reading by and interviews with Norman Maclean, along with recollections by his son, journalist John Maclean. Publishers Weekly called it "wise, witty, and wonderful."

    "V is for Volunteer" stimulates children to learn about their state through familiar Tennessee icons like the Grand Ole Opry and Graceland. And even lifelong Tennesseans may learn something new about the Jubilee Singers and W.C. Handy.Illustrator Bruce Langton captures the beauty, natural wonder, and history of the Volunteer state through his colorful paintings. With poetry for younger children and expository text for older readers, author and Tennessee educator Mike Shoulders shares the important lessons of the Trail of Tears, Sequoyah and his alphabet and so much more. "V is for Volunteer" will intrigue and charm readers and Tennesseans of all ages!

    A compact overview of his starkly original and technically unequalled work, Edward Weston is the perfect introduction to this master photographer.

    Kids will join Marco as he travels by caravan through vast deserts and over steep mountain ranges, stopping in exotic cities and humble villages, until at last he arrives at the palace of the Kublai Khan. Woven throughout the tale are 21 activities that highlight the diverse cultures Marco encountered along the way. Activities include making a mythical map, creating a mosaic, fun with Feng Shui, making paper, and putting on a wayang-kulit (shadow-puppet play). Just for fun, kids will learn a few words of Turkish, Persian, Mongol, Hindi, and Chinese. A complete resource section with magnificent museums and their Web sites invites kids to embark on their own expedition of discovery.

    A down-and-out sausage-casing worker by day who turned surplus animal intestines into a million-dollar condom enterprise at night; inventors who fashioned cervical caps out of watch springs; and a mother of six who kissed photographs of the inventor of the Pill -- these are just a few of the individuals who make up this riveting story.

    The region of the sacred Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina was well known for being off-limits. The second was Tibet, located high up on the roof of the world. This windswept, snow-covered Himalayan kingdom was the home of the Dalai Lama, the living reincarnation of the Buddha. Hidden behind stony mountains and a phalanx of xenophobic warrior monks, the high Lama resided in his isolated realm, serenely cut off from the outside world. Yet erect an obstacle and human beings will endeavor to get around it. Secretive Tibet was no different. A number of foreigners tried to get to Lhasa, the off-limits capital of the kingdom. They were all eventually discovered and turned back. Then in 1912 an unlikely candidate for geographic romance appeared. His name was William McGovern. He was an Oxford trained scholar, and more surprisingly, an American, for no one from that faraway country had ever attempted to beard the Tibetan lion in his den. McGovern was no ordinary Yankee traveler though. An excellent student of Tibetan culture, art, and language, he also brought a hitherto undisclosed talent in the search for Lhasa's secrets. McGovern was a scholar of Buddhist thought and prayer. It was because of this religious sympathy that Tibetan authorities grudgingly allowed the American, and his tiny caravan, to enter their country. He was ordered to go to the first border town, and stop. However as "To Lhasa in Disguise" explains, McGovern had no intention of stopping before he reached the forbidden city. What follows is one of the most intriguing tales of travel ever penned. McGovern made his way over dangerous mountain passes, avoided prowling Tibetan patrols, and finally reached his goal, only to be recognized and arrested. Still a vivid tale after all these years, if it is adventure and hair-raising travel you are seeking, then go no further. "To Lhasa in Disguise" delivers all that and more.

    For the past century and more, American comedy has drawn its strength and soul from the comic genius of Jewish performers and writers. An incomplete listing of names makes the point: The Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, Fanny Brice, George Burns, Milton Berle, Jackie Mason, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield, Mel Brooks, Alan King, Mort Sahl, Buddy Hackett, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman, Richard Belzer, Jerry Seinfeld. These men and women, among others, form the canon of Jewish-American comedy. In the words of the Detroit Jewish News, The Haunted Smile "offers us a deep and subtle understanding of how Jewish culture and American openness gave birth to a new style of entertainment." Often the best way to illuminate a point is to recount some of these comedians' own brilliant routines, and Epstein uses the comedian's work to great effect, making for a book that is both a thoughtful work of history and a great deal of fun.

    She is a respected national educational presenter, speaking at state and regional reading conventions across the United States. As a historian, Carol loves to read all historical markers. She is still stopping and reading them across Texas.Illustrator Alan Stacy is a self-taught artist, but his first practical art lessons came at age 6 from his mother, Jeanne, who is a fine artist. His father Fearl, an Air Force pilot and officer, took the family to Germany, Virginia, Alaska and New Mexico before settling in Texas in 1975. The time they spent outdoors siteseeing, camping and hiking in the American West and Pacific Northwest instilled within Alan a profound love of animals and nature, which is reflected in his art.With poems to engage younger readers and text to give further details for older students, "Lone Star" is a fantastic tool for sharing Texan pride with the ones you love. So lasso a copy of "L is for Lone Star" and get ready for a very special ride through the alphabet!

    People who are perhaps ourselves, searching, often in the wrong places, for something meaningful, or real, or at least, for a moment, right. Here are couples like Vincent and Laurie, who after beginning an ill-timed relationship, escape for a weekend at the beach, where they confront their inevitable separation. There is also Olive, a recovering drug addict, sent on a mission to help her nephew, who finds herself in an illicit relationship with both him and his problems. And a young boy nicknamed Flipper, sequestered for a summer at a “fat” camp, who finds unexpected comfort in the company and forbidden gifts of a pregnant teenager. In these stories, Canty demonstrates both deep understanding and a powerful grasp of language and continues to set himself apart as a master of the short story.

    If not for the advent of rocket bombs, toxic waste, and casinos, this desert of Deseret might still be left to the coyotes. It's a land so vast, unpopulated and far-removed that the most you'll hear about it is from a book like this one.

    S. Senate for more than twenty years, Charles Sumner (1811–1874) has always figured prominently in histories of the American Civil War. For the most part, however, he has been depicted as a psychologically troubled extremist, a fanatical opponent of slavery whose self-righteousness was matched only by his arrogance.In this book, Anne-Marie Taylor challenges that long-standing view, offering in its stead the portrait of a man animated more by principle than by impulse or ambition. According to Taylor, Sumner's reform-minded politics, including his fervent commitment to put an end to slavery, must be understood in the context of a young nation still struggling to live up to the Enlightenment ideals embraced by its founders and embodied in its Constitution. Focusing on the first forty years of Sumner's life, before he took public office, Taylor traces the evolution of his character and thought among Boston's cultural elite. His belief in the virtues of cosmopolitanism, in the dignity of the human intellect and conscience, and in the possibility of a cultivated and just society, all find their roots in an education steeped in Enlightenment principles. At the same time, as a child of New England Puritanism and Revolutionary republicanism, Sumner was raised to believe in the moral obligation of the individual to work for the common good. As Taylor shows in this richly drawn biography, much of the triumph and tragedy of Sumner's story—the energy of his idealism as well as the poignancy of his eventual disappointment— derives from the overpowering sense of duty and national destiny imbued by his upbringing.

     Before blacks were allowed in the major leagues, Hank was determined to play. This is the story of how Hank Aaron became a great ballplayer and an inspiration to us all.

    He does not dislike his new stepfather, a former slave, but he has no desire to submit to a life of drudgery and toil on the untamed prairie. So he joins up with a motley crew headed for Texas only to be sucked into an ever-westward wandering replete with a mindless violence he can neither abet nor avoid–a terrifying trek he penitently fears may never allow for a safe return. David Anthony Durham is a genuine talent bent on devastating originality and Gabriel’s Story is as formidable a debut as we have witnessed.

    Reaching across periods, styles, and regional borders, Wideman has selected twelve works of genius–some of them celebrated literary icons, others neglected or forgotten masterpieces– and reprinted them in their entirety. The result is a book as thrilling in its passion as it is vast in scope.Though these selections come from a range of genres (verse, memoir, historical, and personal narrative), they are all, fundamentally, stories of strength and survival. Frederick Douglass’s frank narrative of escape from slavery and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s classic verse take their place beside lesser-known works like Nat Love’s stirring account of life as a black cowboy, Ida B. Wells’s haunting descriptions of lynchings, and the crisp, compelling adventures of Olaudah Equiano. Wideman prefaces each selection with an illuminating biographical essay.The fruit of a lifetime’s devotion to the best American writing, My Soul Has Grown Deep will stand as an enduring monument to the depth and beauty of African-American literature.

    He argues that blacks in American society have long-suffered from a "natural coward" stereotype that is implicit in the racism propagated from America's earliest days, and often intensified as blacks slowly received freedom in American society. For instance, blacks served admirably in various wars, returned home after their service to short-term recongnition, and then soon found themselves even more seriously entrenched in a racist system because they were perceived as a threat to whites. This was true, Edgerton argues, until the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam, though the stereotypes have not been fully eradicated. In this book, Edgerton provides an accessible and well-informed tour through this little-known, but significant aspect of race in American military history.

    This is a collection of columns originally published in the Detroit Free Press.

    SchlesingerTributes to Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations"A thorough account of the complex scientific, engineering, and managerial efforts that undergirded the astounding events that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration carried out."--Journal of American History"Another simply superb NASA official history. . . . Construction, administration, and technology are carefully interwoven in an unusually candid and frank treatment of the history of America’s first lunar launching facility."--Aerospace HistorianMoon Launch! re-creates the exciting story of the astronauts and engineers, scientists and technicians, politicians and public citizens who expanded the world’s understanding of humanity’s potential, the people responsible for the Project Apollo flights to the moon. Through their teamwork at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral became the spaceport for the nation and, in the mind of many, the gateway to the universe.A companion to Gateway to the Moon and also part of the 1978 NASA History Series Moonport volume, this illustrated book describes the seven missions to the moon launched between 1969 and 1972. With the exception of the abortive Apollo 13 flight, all landed successfully. As the story progresses, astronauts explore the moon’s surface in the lunar rover (complete with bucket seats and power steering), set up experiments, and bring back hundreds of pounds of lunar geological samples. The book concludes with a description of the last and most spectacular liftoff, Apollo 17, launched on a dark December night before a crowd of nearly 500,000 visitors.Charles D. Benson, a retired colonel of the U.S. Army, is the coauthor of the official history of the Skylab orbital workshop.William B. Faherty, director of the Museum of the Western Jesuit Missions in Hazelwood, Missouri, retired professor of history at St. Louis University, and archivist emeritus of the Midwest Jesuit Archives, is the author of 25 books, including the historical novel The Call of Pope Octavian.