Incidental to that are such questions as "What is Jake Gyllenhaal/Chis Cooper/Laura Dern, etc. really like?" and "What's it like to have a movie made about your life?" and "Why are the book and movie different?" and "Why are both book and movie still so popular after all these years?" The answers to those questions and a lot more are in Homer Hickam's new Kindle Single "From Rocket Boys to October Sky." If you think you know the story of the book and the movie, you don't! Hickam says "Writing Rocket Boys wasn't easy. In fact, I got a million dollars of psychotherapy I didn't even know I needed!" The making of October Sky wasn't easy, either. "From Rocket Boys to October Sky" gives lots of behind-the-scenes stories both on-set and off. Before the first frame of film was exposed, Hickam was involved with the writing of the screenplay and his comment when he saw the first draft -"I'm going to have to go up to West Virginia and apologize to everyone in the state!"-gives an idea of how that went. Be with Homer Hickam as he struggles with the complexities of how a major Hollywood motion picture is made, and how he disagreed with aspects of the film even while he admired the dedication and professionalism of the men and women making it. Readers will also be alongside the director, producers, actors, and crew as they create one of the most beloved movies ever. The book has lots of photos taken on the various sets, too!

    Now, for the first time, all twelve of multiple Eisner Award-winner Tony Millionaire s acclaimed Sock Monkey all-ages comic books (1998-2007, originally published by Dark Horse Comics) are collected under one cover, as well as the full-color graphic novella Uncle Gabby (2004) and the full-color illustrated storybook, The Glass Doorknob (2002), ready to be devoured by a new generation of young readers. The precocious sock monkey Uncle Gabby and his innocent pal Mr. Crow are the heroes of this funny, unsettling and endearing collection. Follow them as they try to find a home for a shrunken head, play matchmakers between the bat in the doll s house and the mouse in the basement, unlock the mysteries of a glass doorknob, hunt salamanders, try to get to heaven, and much more. The book also includes the only full-length Sock Monkey graphic novel, The Inches Incident. Inches the doll was the cutest in the whole house and loved by everyone. Then one day... Inches turned EVIL! What will Mr. Crow and Uncle Gabby do? Beloved by adults and children, Sock Monkey harkens back to a time when comics actually were for kids."

    Now Under Secretary for Art, History, and Culture Richard Kurin, aided by a team of top Smithsonian curators and scholars, has assembled a literary exhibition of 101 objects from across the Smithsonian's museums that together offer a marvelous new perspective on the history of the United States.Ranging from the earliest years of the pre-Columbian continent to the digital age, and from the American Revolution to Vietnam, each entry pairs the fascinating history surrounding each object with the story of its creation or discovery and the place it has come to occupy in our national memory. Kurin sheds remarkable new light on objects we think we know well, from Lincoln's hat to Dorothy's ruby slippers and Julia Child's kitchen, including the often astonishing tales of how each made its way into the collections of the Smithsonian. Other objects will be eye-opening new discoveries for many, but no less evocative of the most poignant and important moments of the American experience. Some objects, such as Harriet Tubman's hymnal, Sitting Bull's ledger, Cesar Chavez's union jacket, and the Enola Gay bomber, tell difficult stories from the nation's history, and inspire controversies when exhibited at the Smithsonian. Others, from George Washington's sword to the space shuttle Discovery, celebrate the richness and vitality of the American spirit. In Kurin's hands, each object comes to vivid life, providing a tactile connection to American history.Beautifully designed and illustrated with color photographs throughout, The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects is a rich and fascinating journey through America's collective memory, and a beautiful object in its own right.

    

    Kennedy died almost half a century ago-yet because of his extraordinary promise and untimely death, his star still resonates strongly. On the anniversary of his assassination, celebrated political scientist and analyst Larry J. Sabato-himself a teenager in the early 1960s and inspired by JFK and his presidency-explores the fascinating and powerful influence he has had over five decades on the media, the general public, and especially on each of his nine presidential successors. A recent Gallup poll gave JFK the highest job approval rating of any of those successors, and millions remain captivated by his one thousand days in the White House. For all of them, and for those who feel he would not be judged so highly if he hadn't died tragically in office, The Kennedy Half-Century will be particularly revealing. Sabato reexamines JFK's assassination using heretofore unseen information to which he has had unique access, then documents the extraordinary effect the assassination has had on Americans of every modern generation through the most extensive survey ever undertaken on the public's view of a historical figure. The full and fascinating results, gathered by the accomplished pollsters Peter Hart and Geoff Garin, paint a compelling portrait of the country a half-century after the epochal killing. Just as significantly, Sabato shows how JFK's presidency has strongly influenced the policies and decisions-often in surprising ways-of every president since. Among the hundreds of books devoted to JFK, The Kennedy Half-Century stands apart for its rich insight and original perspective. Anyone who reads it will appreciate in new ways the profound impact JFK's short presidency has had on our national psyche.

    Winner of a Pulitzer Prize, he has written more than forty-five plays, including True West, Fool for Love, and Buried Child. Shepard has also appeared in more than fifty films, beginning with Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in The Right Stuff. Despite the publicity his work and life have attracted, however, Shepard remains a strongly private man who has said many times that he will never write a memoir. But he has written intensively about his inner life and creative work to his former father-in-law and housemate, Johnny Dark, who has been Shepard's closest friend, surrogate brother (they're nearly the same age), and even artistic muse for forty-five years and counting.Two Prospectors gathers nearly forty years of correspondence and transcribed conversations between Shepard and Dark. In these gripping, sometimes gut-wrenching letters, the men open themselves to each other with amazing honesty. Shepard's letters give us the deepest look we may ever get into his personal philosophy and creative process, while in Dark's letters we discover insights into Shepard's character that only an intimate friend could provide. The writers also reflect on the books and authors that stimulate their thinking, their relationships with women (including Shepard's anguished decision to leave his wife and son--Dark's stepdaughter and grandson--for actress Jessica Lange), personal struggles, and accumulating years. Illustrated with Dark's candid, revealing photographs of Shepard and their mutual family across many years, as well as facsimiles of numerous letters, Two Prospectors is a compelling portrait of a complex friendship that has anchored both lives for decades, a friendship also poignantly captured in Treva Wurmfeld's film, Shepard & Dark.

    And two, are there UFOs.” According to Hubbell, “Clinton was dead serious.” The key to unlocking the mystery of President Kennedy’s assassination and a possible UFO connection lie in events that occurred 18 years earlier in post-war Germany. In 1945 John F. Kennedy was a guest of Navy Secretary James Forrestal, where he personally witnessed technological secrets that have still not been disclosed to the world. These secrets stemmed from extraterrestrial technologies that Nazi Germany had acquired and were attempting to use in their weapons programs. In searching for answers to who killed President Kennedy we need to start with the death of his mentor, James Forrestal in 1949. Forrestal became the first Secretary of Defense in 1947, a position he held until March, 1949. Forrestal was a visionary who thought Americans had a right to know about the existence of extraterrestrial life and technologies. Forrestal was sacked by President Truman because he was revealing the truth to various officials, including Kennedy who was a Congressman at the time.Forrestal's ideals and vision inspired Kennedy, and laid the seed for what would happen 12 years later. After winning the 1960 Presidential election, Kennedy learned a shocking truth from President Eisenhower. The control group set up to run highly classified extraterrestrial technologies, the Majestic-12 Group, had become a rogue government agency. Eisenhower warned Kennedy that MJ-12 had to be reined in. It posed a direct threat to American liberties and democratic processes. Kennedy followed Eisenhower’s advice, and set out to realize James Forrestal’s vision. The same forces that orchestrated Forrestal's death, opposed Kennedy's efforts at every turn. When Kennedy was on the verge of succeeding, by forcing the CIA to share classified UFO information with other government agencies on November 12, 1963, he was assassinated ten days later. Kennedy’s Last Stand is the story of how an American President tried to realize his friend and mentor’s vision of a world where humanity openly knows about extraterrestrial life; and of the government officials responsible for denying that vision.

    The front cover desribes the book as "Stories of people who have disappeared in remote locations of North America and five other countries." This is the third of David Paulides'"Missing 411" books.

    Heather Curtiss’ brother has bet her as well. Vowing an innocent woman won’t be forced to give up her virtue to a disreputable gambler, Mitch joins in the game of poker, and with luck, he wins and frees Heather. Heather sees this as her chance to get away from her brother and appeals to Mitch’s kindness to marry her, offering to help him care for two children and his ailing mother. He agrees and they start a life together. But Heather’s brother hasn’t gone away. And Mitch might find that being with her is going to take more than a poker game. 

    For more than a decade, Smith has honed his masterful work using LEGO(R) to re-create scenes from the Bible. Now, he turns his attention to unforgettable U.S. presidential assassinations, both fatal and failed. Rediscover some of the most profound attacks that have occurred throughout U.S. history involving the notorious assassinations on Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. But did you also know that Richard Paul Pavlick sought to assassinate President Kennedy in 1960, though at the last minute he suddenly changed his mind? Or, that an unknown assailant desperately tried to murder Lincoln just eight months before his fatal night at Ford's Theatre? In addition, Smith reveals failed assassination attempts against such presidents as Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and most recently, the 2011 attempt against President Barack Obama. With more than four-hundred highly detailed illustrations, Smith captivates the authenticity of these assassinations (re-creating famous photographs and oral history) while simultaneously demonstrating a creative new medium. Whether a historian or a LEGO(R) enthusiast, readers of all ages will surely be enthralled with Brendan Powell Smith's latest brick creation!

    That same year, Hiram Revels and Joseph Hayne Rainey became the first African-American U.S. senator and congressman respectively. In South Carolina, only twenty years after the death of arch-secessionist John C. Calhoun, a black man, Jasper J. Wright, took a seat on the state's Supreme Court. Not even the most optimistic abolitionists had thought such milestones would occur in their lifetimes. The brief years of Reconstruction marked the United States' most progressive moment prior to the civil rights movement.Previous histories of Reconstruction have focused on Washington politics. But in this sweeping, prodigiously researched narrative, Douglas Egerton brings a much bigger, even more dramatic story into view, exploring state and local politics and tracing the struggles of some fifteen hundred African-American officeholders, in both the North and South, who fought entrenched white resistance. Tragically, their movement was met by ruthless violence-not just riotous mobs, but also targeted assassination. With stark evidence, Egerton shows that Reconstruction, often cast as a “failure” or a doomed experiment, was rolled back by murderous force. The Wars of Reconstruction is a major and provocative contribution to American history.

    Everyman (2006) takes its title from a classic of early English drama, whose theme is the summoning of the living to death. It tells the story of one man’s lifelong skirmish with mortality, from his first shocking confrontation with death on the idyllic beaches of his childhood summers into old age, when, facing the end, he is a man who has become what he does not want to be.Set against the backdrop of the Korean War, Indignation (2008) is the extraordinary narrative of Marcus Messner of Newark, New Jersey, a sophomore at conservative Winesburg College in Ohio. Aspiring to intellectual independence and sexual experience while struggling to shake off the stifling conformity of his classmates and the suffocating spectre of a father mad with fear and apprehension for his beloved boy, Messner is schooled in “the terrible, the incomprehensible way one’s most banal, incidental, even comical choices achieve the most disproportionate result.”Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of The Humbling (2009), Roth’s thirtieth book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his sixties, he has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance. Into this inexplicable and terrifying self-evacuation bursts a counterplot of unusual erotic desire so risky and aberrant that it points not toward comfort and gratification but to a yet darker and more shocking end.It is the summer of 1944 and Newark playground director Bucky Cantor is waging his own private war against a terrifying polio epidemic besieging his closely knit, family-oriented neighborhood. Focusing on Cantor’s mounting dilemmas as the epidemic ravages the children he loves, Nemesis (2010) is a tenderly exact portrait of the emotions—fear and anger, bewilderment and grief—that spread with the contagion.Library of America #237

    As a bonus to this set we are including the Cookbook, Sable Does It in the Kitchen FREE.

    It is the second of the two stories that feature Archie, Wolfe's live-in employee in all others stories, as Major Goodwin for the US Army Intelligence. In this, a grenade is used to create a lethal booby trap for an army colonel. "Booby Trap" is vintage Wolfe. It has everything his fans expect of their beloved character: beer, orchids, colorful exchanges with Archie, love (a woman in the brownstone), Wolfe leaving the house, Wolfe riding in a car, and Wolfe attempting to sit in an unsatisfactory chair.

    See the earliest documented use of invented spelling, the earliest attempts to guide young children through a writing process, the earliest conferences. This collection allows you to see this revolutionary shift in writing instruction-with its emphasis on observation, reflection, and approaching children as writers. Read Chapter 3: Follow the Child

    I like to read Harper’s with a chaser of Varmint Hunter Magazine. Maybe that’s why I enjoy a good show under canvas. Here we sit, brain-deep in arts and culture, but we’re also just people hanging out in a tent, some of us wearing boots, a few of us wearing Birkenstocks, but best of all we’re breathing free fresh air filled with music.”From Scandihoovian Spanglish to snickering chickens, New York Times bestselling author and humorist Michael Perry navigates a wide range of topics in this collection of brief essays drawn from his weekly appearances on the nationally syndicated Tent Show Radio program. Fatherhood, dumpster therapy, dangerous wedding rings, Christmas trees, used cars, why you should have bacon in your stock portfolio, loggers in clogs—whatever the subject, Perry has a rare ability to touch both the funny bone and the heart.

    government program, traveled to the planet Serpo and lived there for 13 years • Based on the debriefing of the Serpo team and the diary of the expedition’s commander • Explains how the aliens helped us reverse-engineer their antigravity spacecraft and develop technology to solve our planet-wide energy problems • Reveals how our government has an ongoing relationship with the Serpo aliens On July 16, 1965, a massive alien spacecraft from the Zeta Reticuli star system landed at the Nevada test site north of Las Vegas. Following a plan set in motion by President Kennedy in 1962, the alien visitors known as the Ebens welcomed 12 astronaut-trained military personnel aboard their craft for the 10-month journey to their home planet, Serpo, 39 light-years away. In November 2005, former and current members of the Defense Intelligence Agency--directed by Kennedy to organize the Serpo exchange program--came forward to reveal the operation, including details from the 3,000-page debriefing of the 7 members of the Serpo team who returned after 13 years on the planet. Working with the DIA originators of the Serpo project and the diary kept by the expedition’s commanding officer, Len Kasten chronicles the complete journey of these cosmic pioneers, including their remarkable stories of life on an alien planet, superluminal space travel, and advanced knowledge of alien technologies. He reveals how the Ebens presented the U.S. with “The Yellow Book”--a complete history of the universe recorded holographically, allowing the reader to view actual scenes from pre-history to the present. He explains how the Ebens helped us reverse-engineer their antigravity spacecraft and develop technology to solve our planet-wide energy problems--knowledge still classified. Exposing the truth of human-alien interaction and interplanetary travel, Kasten reveals not only that the Ebens have returned to Earth eight times but also that our government continues to have an ongoing relationship with them--a relationship with the potential to advance the human race into the future.

    Semipro baseball was highly competitive in the 1930s, so competitive that even out on the Great Plains a lot of money got bet on games between rival towns. Car dealer Neil Churchill managed Bismarck, North Dakota's team. He began muscling up by luring players from the Negro Leagues, the biggest prize being the great-but-perpetually-unpredictable Satchel Paige, who shocked the baseball establishment by heading west to where the buffalo roam. Paige pitched for Bismarck at the tail end of 1933 and all of 1935. The focal point of the book is that 1935 season, when events take an odd turn toward Kansas. COLOR BLIND is written with an eye beyond baseball. The narrative touches upon moonshine, gambling, Depression hard times, Dakota pioneer days and, of course, racial discrimination. Sitting Bull, Franklin Roosevelt, and Carl Sandburg are among the famous faces who make cameo appearances.

    Brimming with creative and political energy, the neighborhood’s diverse array of artists and activists took advantage of a brief period of progressivism during the war years to launch a bold cultural offensive aimed at winning democracy for all Americans, regardless of race or gender. Ardent believers in America’s promise, these men and women helped to lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement before Cold War politics and anti-Communist fervor temporarily froze their dreams at the dawn of the postwar era.In Harlem Nocturne, esteemed scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin tells the stories of three black female artists whose creative and political efforts fueled this historic movement for change: choreographer and dancer Pearl Primus, composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams, and novelist Ann Petry. Like many African Americans in the city at the time, these women weren’t native New Yorkers, but the metropolis and its vibrant cultural scene gave them the space to flourish and the freedom to express their political concerns. Pearl Primus performed nightly at the legendary Café Society, the first racially integrated club in New York, where she débuted dances of social protest that drew on long-buried African traditions and the dances of former slaves in the South. Williams, meanwhile, was a major figure in the emergence of bebop, collaborating with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell and premiering her groundbreaking Zodiac Suite at the legendary performance space Town Hall. And Ann Petry conveyed the struggles of working-class black women to a national audience with her acclaimed novel The Street, which sold over a million copies—a first for a female African American author.A rich biography of three artists and the city that inspired them, Harlem Nocturne captures a period of unprecedented vitality and progress for African Americans and women, revealing a cultural movement and a historical moment whose influence endures today.

    Her family, displaced by Hurricane Katrina, returns home to find a radically altered public education system. Geraldlynn's parents hope their daughter's new school will prepare her for college--but the teenager has ideals and ambitions of her own.Aidan is a fresh-faced Harvard grad drawn to New Orleans by the possibility of bringing change to a flood-ravaged city. He teaches at an ambitious charter school with a group of newcomers determined to show the world they can use science, data, and hard work to build a model school.Mary Laurie is a veteran educator who becomes principal of one of the first public high schools to reopen after Katrina. Laurie and her staff find they must fight each day not only to educate the city's teenagers, but to keep the Walker community safe and whole.In this powerful narrative non-fiction debut, the lives of these three characters provide readers with a vivid and sobering portrait of education in twenty-first-century America. Hope Against Hope works in the same tradition as Random Family and There Are No Children Here to capture the challenges of growing up and learning in a troubled world.

    Her goal: a simpler life in rural Illinois that would let her pursue her passion for writing. But then real life intervened. A fire at a neighboring farm and a misinterpreted gesture of kindness transformed her into the reluctant caretaker of a homeless menagerie of animals. Roth, coauthor of the New York Times-bestseller From Baghdad with Love, writes vividly, movingly, and often humorously of the chaos that descended into her life. One of her new tenants was a wild mustang, broken but not bowed, his restless spirit propelling him to escape the fences and pens that enclosed him—a far different life than before he was violently captured by a government-sponsored “round-up.” Ultimately these two fiercely independent characters each provide the catalyst for the other’s life-changing and life-affirming decisions. Mestengo is a captivating, emotional account that taps into readers’ love of animals: Marley and Me meets The Horse Whisperer. An entertaining and delightful read, it is a cinematic, sometimes tense, but always beautiful story of the power of healing.

    + New literature from South Korea: poetry by Hwang Byeong-seung and Moon Tae-jun, and fiction by Park Min-gyu and Kim Aeran, with an introduction by Jenny Wang Medina.+ Book Reviews: on Francesco Pacifico’s The Story of My Purity, Anne Carson’s Red Doc>, A. G. Porta’s The No World Concerto, Ray Amorisi’s Lazarus, Charles Bernstein’s Recalculating, and Nicolas Hundley’s The Revolver in the Hive.

    In these 115 titled chapters, a man, who learns he has a 5-year-old son, is caught between the life he knows and a life he may not yet be ready for. This is a book that tears down the boundaries in relationships, sentences, origin and identity, no matter how quickly its narrator tries to build them up.“In Matt Salesses’s smart novel-in-shorts, a newly-minted father flees telling his own story by any means necessary—by sarcasm, by denial, by playful and precise wordplay—rarely allowing space for his emerging feelings to linger. But the truth of who we might be is not so easily escaped, and it is in the accumulation of many such moments that our narrator, like us, is revealed: both the people we have been, and the better people we might be lucky enough to one day hope to become.”– Matt Bell, author of In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods“Matthew Salesses has written an extraordinary and startlingly original novel that explores connection and disconnection, the claims and limitations of the self, and the shifting terrain of truth. Poetic, unforgettable, shot through with fury and yearning, I’m Not Saying, I’m Just Saying captures in clear and chilling flashes our capacity for the cruelty and tenderness of love.”–Catherine Chung, author of Forgotten Country“Matthew Salesses’ I’m Not Saying, I’m Not Saying is an absolute stunner of a novel. Told is short, sharp vignettes with prose that is taut, yet overflowing with meaning, this is the story of a year in the life of a complex and haunted, cobbled together family. The beauty of Salesses’ writing here lies in his fearlessness, the emotional blows to the heart and head and gut he’s willing to deliver, as if to say: This, this is life! And we are all, in one way or another, survivors.”– Kathy Fish, author of Together We Can Bury It“I’m not Saying, I’m just Saying renders the messiness of life, family, love in its myriad complex forms—romance lost and found, blood ties, squandered, unrequited—via 115 micro-stories that add up to a pointillist masterpiece.”– Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of Somebody’s Daughter

    The young man's testimony and physical evidence was so compelling, it not only launched a serious investigation by the local sheriff's office but an all-out monster hunt that drew hundreds of people to the small town. This real-life "creature from the black lagoon" has inspired major national news coverage, even a call from the famous CBS news anchor, Dan Rather, as he and the rest of the world clamored to know more about Bishopville's elusive monster. The case is often mentioned in books, websites, and television shows, but the full story has never been told... until now. This book provides unprecedented documentation for one of the most bizarre and hair-raising cases of an unknown creature. The witnesses are convinced they've seen it, and the local law officials are backing them up. This is their story.Follow Lyle Blackburn, author of the bestselling book "The Beast of Boggy Creek," as he and his partner, Cindy Lee, revisit the sighting locations, speak to the living eyewitnesses, and consider all possible theories in their search for the truth behind the legendary Lizard Man.

    Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer sheds new light on the war by examining fifty objects from the New-York Historical Society’s acclaimed collection. A daguerreotype of an elderly, dignified ex-slave, whose unblinking stare still mesmerizes; a soldier’s footlocker still packed with its contents; Grant’s handwritten terms of surrender at Appomattox—the stories these objects tell are rich, poignant, sometimes painful, and always fascinating. They illuminate the conflict from all perspectives—Union and Confederate, military and civilian, black and white, male and female—and give readers a deeply human sense of the war. With an introduction from Pulitzer Prize winner Eric Foner and more than eighty photographs, The Civil War in 50 Objects is the perfect companion for readers and history fans to commemorate the 150th anniversaries of both the Battle of Gettysburg and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

    Her 1852 novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" converted readers by the thousands to the anti-slavery movement and served notice that slavery's days were numbered. Overnight Stowe became a celebrity, but to defenders of slavery she was the devil in petticoats.Most writing about Stowe treats her as a literary figure and social reformer while underplaying her Christian faith. But Nancy Koester's biography treats Stowe's faith as central to her life -- both her public fight against slavery and her own struggle through deep personal grief to find a gracious God.

    The pulsating heart of the West pumps greenbacks through the veins of Manhattan, the richest place in the world. Power emanates from it's corporate brains and financial muscle across the whole surface of the globe. So how is it that even in the body of America, land of eternal youth, there is failure, death and decay hidden just beneath its glossy surfaces? A new breed of urban adventurers take a savage ride through the invisible story of the North Eastern USA. From NYC to the infamous Rust Belt, once home to America's heavy industry, States of Decay brings you a glimpse of the broken, the doomed, the entropic dreamlands on the flipside of the silver dollar coin. A unique exploration of everything from abandoned power plants, hospitals, asylums, schools, theatres, steel mills, prisons, factories, hotels, cathedrals, blast furnaces, convents to a boat graveyard. This extended photo-essay functions as a visual poem allowing the reader to draw their own experiences and conclusions from the images themselves. No interpretation necessary. This book will ask disturbing questions and inspire unexpected answers from anyone with an imagination and a heart. Sit back and let us take you on a walk around the Bad Apple.

    Kennedy was not done by one man. Whether you’ve read one or a dozen of the books on this topic, there’s no way to fully grasp the depth of this conspiracy. For the first time ever, New York Times bestselling authors Jesse Ventura and Dick Russell have teamed up with some of the most respected and influential assassination researchers to put together the ultimate compendium that covers every angle—from the plot to the murder—of JFK. They Killed Our President will not only discuss the most famous of theories, but will also bring to light new and recently discovered information, which together shows that the United States government not only was behind this egregious plot, but took every step to make sure that the truth would not come out.With 2013 marking the fiftieth anniversary of JFK’s assassination, this is the perfect time for They Killed Our President to be available to readers. The research and information in this book are unprecedented, and there’s nobody better to bring this to everyone’s attention than the former governor of Minnesota and US Navy SEAL, Jesse Ventura.

    By the established comedy conventions of their era, Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were true game changers. Never playing to the balcony, Bob and Ray instead entertained each other. Because they believed in their nuanced characters and absurd premises, their audience did, too. Their parodies broadcasting about broadcasting existed in their own special universe. A complete absence of show-biz slickness set them apart from the very institution they were mocking, yet were still a part of. They resisted being called comedians and never considered themselves "an act." Bob and Ray, Keener Than Most Persons traces the origins and development of the pair's unique sensibility that defined their dozens of local and network radio and TV series, later motion picture roles, Carnegie Hall performances, and hit Broadway show Bob and Ray The Two and Only . Together for 43 years (longer than Laurel and Hardy, Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello, and Martin and Lewis), the twosome deflected all intrusions into the personalities behind their many masks and the dynamics of their relationship, and rarely elaborated on their career trajectory or methodology. Now, with the full cooperation of Bob Elliott and of Ray Goulding's widow, Liz, together with insights from numerous colleagues, their craft and the culture that made them so relevant is explored in depth.

    The New York Times reporter who first broke the story of the sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village takes readers inside the most spectacular failure in real estate history, using this single deal as a lens to see how and why the real estate crisis happened.How did the smartest people in real estate lose billions in one single deal? How did the Church of England, the California public employees’ pension fund, and the Singapore government lose more than one billion dollars combined investing in a middle-class housing complex in New York City? How did MetLife make three billion dollars on the deal without any repercussions from a historically racist policy of housing segregation? And how did nine residents of a sleepy enclave in New York City win one of the most unlikely lawsuits in the history of real estate law?Not only does Other People’s Money answer those questions, it also explains the current recession in stark, clear detail while providing riveting first-person accounts of the titanic failure of the real estate industry to see that a recession was coming. It’s the definitive book on real estate during the bubble years—and what happened when that enormous bubble exploded.

    

    Thousands lined the streets cheering; others hung out of windows to catch a glimpse of the much-loved First Lady and President. Suddenly, the unthinkable: three shots - bang…bang, bang - rang out. In front of the world, John F Kennedy was fatally wounded.Lee Harvey Oswald was caught.But did he fire the fatal bullet?Who REALLY killed JFK?Fifty years after the tragic events in Dallas, JFK: The Smoking Gun solves the ultimate cold case. With the forensic eye of a highly regarded ex-cop, Colin McLaren gathered the evidence, studied 10,000 pages of transcripts, discovered the witnesses the Warren Commission failed to call, and uncovered the exhibits and testimonies that were hidden until now. What he found is far more outrageous than any fanciful conspiracy theory could ever be.JFK: The Smoking Gun proves, once and for all, who did kill the President.

    Kennedy and replete with many never-before-seen photographs, this posthumous memoir draws on previously unpublished oral histories, gallery talks, and speeches by Jacques Lowe, JFK’s official photographer. Jacques Lowe was the official photographer of John F. Kennedy’s pivotal 1960 campaign for the presidency as well as his personal photographer following his election, with unprecedented access to the President’s family and inner circle. Fifty years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, it is finally possible to publish Lowe’s own, never-before-revealed account of his experiences during the Camelot years, supplemented with previously unseen material from his private files, the Kennedy Archives, and a range of other sources. In both words and pictures, Lowe captures the charisma of Kennedy relaxing at home with Jackie and daughter Caroline, engaging with the public on the campaign trail, at work in the White House, and as a leader on the world stage. These photographs are an astonishing record of an era when political image-making was far less calculated than it is today. Lowe’s 40,000 negatives of the Kennedy years were stored in the vaults of the World Trade Center. After 9/11—which came just months after Lowe’s death—it was learned that this priceless collection had been reduced to ashes, leaving Lowe’s original contact sheets as the only record of a most remarkable era.

    Like every one of James Villas’s cookbooks, this one is impeccably researched, with flawless recipes, history, and culture. It is filled with gorgeous color photos sure to tempt even health food fanatics, with crispy, crunchy delights in chapters featuring eggs and cheese, seafood, breads, and Southern staples like grits, rice, and potatoes. Today’s deep fryers make frying easier and healthier than ever; it’s as easy as pushing a button, with no risk of splattering oil, and Villas’s expertly written recipes like Sassy Shrimp Puffs, Georgia Bacon and Eggs with Hominy, Country Fried Steak, Turkey Hash Cakes, and Rosemary Pork Chops will ensure perfect results. This isn’t diet food, to be sure, but these are dishes that people love, and it’s safer and healthier than ever to fry without any sacrifice in flavor.

    They were masons and nurses, school teachers and field hands, 246 people owned by a man who struggled with the institution of slavery. Yet, almost no one knows their names. When a white woman begins to study the history of the plantations these people built, the plantations where she was raised, she discovers that the silence around these people's lives speaks of a silence in her country's history . . . and in her own life. A story of American slavery and the its legacy in the United States.

    For a decade between 1935 and 1946, Weegee made a name for himself snapping crime scenes, victims, and perpetrators. Armed with a Speed Graphic camera and a police-band radio, Weegee often beat the cops to the story, determined to sell his pictures to the sensation-hungry tabloids. His stark black-and-white photos were often lurid and unsettling. Yet, as this beautifully produced volume shows, they were also brimming with humanity. Designed as a series of "dossiers," this book follows Weegee's transformation from a freelancer to a photo-detective. It explores his relationship with the tabloid press and gangster culture and reveals his intimate knowledge of New York's darkest corners. It provides readers with a rich historical experience--a New York City "noir" shot through the lens of one of its most iconoclastic figures.

    "When this project began, I had no idea where it was going. Rain is like that. I did, however, have the modest ambition to write the greatest book on rain in the history of Oregon literature," said Love. Three months later, Love produced a unique volume about rain that has very little to do with weather and everything to do with life. Of Walking in Rain is a 190-page work of creative non-fiction that assays the ubiquitous subject of rain in Oregon in as many ways as rain falls in Oregon. It was written during the four wettest months of the second rainiest year in Newport history. The book blends an eclectic variety of literary genres, including memoir, essay, vignette, diary, reportage, guide, criticism, satire, stream of consciousness, homework, meditation, review, commentary, oral history, weather report, discography, liner notes, polemic, curriculum and confession. Of Walking in Rain also features the exquisite etchings of rain by renowned artist Frank Boyden.

    Each bird profile includes notes on what they eat, where they migrate from, and where to find them in Washington and Oregon. Profiles also include stunning color photographs of each bird. Birds are grouped by what they are known for or where they are most likely to be found—like beach birds, urban birds, colorful birds, and killer birds. This is an accessible guide for casual birders, weekend warriors, and families looking for an outdoor experience. Eight easy-going birding weekends, including stops in Puget Sound, the Central Washington wine country, and the Klamath Basin, offer wonderful getaway ideas and make this a must-have guide for locals and visitors alike.

    But it was also a key to connecting eastern markets through Chicago to the rising West. Two titans of American railroads set their sights on it: James J. Hill, head of the Great Northern and largest individual shareholder of the Northern Pacific, and Edward Harriman, head of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific. The subsequent contest was unprecedented in the history of American enterprise, pitting not only Hill against Harriman but also Big Oil against Big Steel and J. P. Morgan against the Rockefellers, with a supporting cast of enough wealthy investors to fill the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria.The story, told here in full for the first time, transports us to the New York Stock Exchange during the unfolding of the earliest modern-day stock market panic. Harriman vs. Hill re-creates the drama of four tumultuous days in May 1901, when the common stock of the Northern Pacific rocketed from one hundred ten dollars a share to one thousand in a mere seventeen hours of trading—the result of an inadvertent “corner” caused by the opposing forces. Panic followed and then, in short order, a calamity for the “shorts,” a compromise, the near-collapse of Wall Street brokerages and banks, the most precipitous decline ever in American stock values, and the fastest recovery. Larry Haeg brings to life the ensuing stalemate and truce, which led to the forming of a holding company, briefly the biggest railroad combine in American history, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the deal, launching the reputation of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes as the “great dissenter” and President Theodore Roosevelt as the “trust buster.” The forces of competition and combination, unfettered growth, government regulation, and corporate ambition—all the elements of American business at its best and worst—come into play in the account of this epic battle, whose effects echo through our economy to this day.

    In 1987, Graham Nown first told Madden's story in his book The English Godfather, in which he traced Madden's boyhood in England, his immigration to New York City, and his rise to mob boss. Nown also uncovered a love story involving Madden and the daughter of the Hot Springs postmaster. Before his arrival in Hot Springs, Madden was one of the most powerful gangsters in New York City and former owner of the famous Cotton Club in Harlem. The story of his life shows us a world where people can break the law without ever getting caught, and where criminality is so entwined in government and society that one might wonder what is legality and what isn't.

    Developed by Hawaiian islanders over five centuries ago, surfing began to peak on the mainland in the 1950s—becoming not just a sport, but a way of life, admired and exported across the globe. One of the key image-makers from that period is LeRoy Grannis, a surfer since 1931, who began photographing the scene in California and Hawaii in the longboard era of the early 1960s.This edition showcases Grannis's most vibrant work—from the bliss of catching the perfect wave at San Onofre to dramatic wipeouts at Oahu's famed North Shore. An innovator in the field, Grannis suction-cupped a waterproof box to his board, enabling him to change film in the water and stay closer to the action than other photographers of the time. He also covered the emerging surf lifestyle, from "surfer stomps" and hoards of fans at surf contests to board-laden woody station wagons along the Pacific Coast Highway. It is in these iconic images that a sport still in its adolescence embodied the free-spirited nature of an era—a time before shortboards and celebrity endorsements, when surfing was at its bronzed best.

    Dating from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, these narratives range in mood from "Heat," Joyce Carol Oates's chilling tale of murder, to "Why I Live at the P.O.," Eudora Welty's comic monologue in the Southern Gothic tradition. Other contributors include Flannery O'Connor, Kate Chopin, and Edna Ferber as well as lesser-known, newly rediscovered writers. Edith Wharton examines the issue of divorce and remarriage in "The Other Two," and Willa Cather explores life among Greenwich Village artists at the turn of the twentieth century in "Coming, Aphrodite!" Stories with modern settings include Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," an insightful look at the role of heritage in African-American culture, and Louise Erdrich's "The Shawl," a meditation on memory and the transformation of old stories into new ones. Together, the tales offer a revealing panorama of perspectives on women's ongoing struggles for dignity and self-sufficiency.

    Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike. The story takes place in the extreme conditions of the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush where strong sled dogs were in high demand. After Buck, a domesticated dog, is snatched from a pastoral ranch in California, he is sold into a brutal life as a sled dog. The work details Buck's struggle to adjust and survive the cruel treatment he receives from humans, other dogs, and nature. He eventually sheds the veneer of civilization altogether and instead relies on primordial instincts and the lessons he has learned to become a respected and feared leader in the wild.White Fang is the story of a wild dog's journey toward becoming civilized in the Canadian territory of Yukon during the Klondike gold rush at the end of the nineteenth century. White Fang is a companion novel (and a thematic mirror) to Jack London's best-known work, The Call of the Wild, which concerns a kidnapped civilized dog turning into a wild wolf. The book is characteristic of London's precise prose style and his innovative use of voice and perspective. Much of the novel is written from the viewpoint of the animals, allowing London to explore how animals view their world and how they view humans. White Fang examines the violent world of wild animals and the equally violent world of supposedly civilized humans. The book also explores such complex themes as morality and redemption.The Son Of The Wolf is a collection of short stories, all with a common subject – the northern part of the American continent, the pursuit of gold during the rush in Yukon, and mainly the dealings between the locals (Native Americans) and the European settlers. Though the stories are different, they have much in common, and the mostly the same characters appear throughout them. Jack London gained a lot of fame by writing about the Klondike gold rush, and rightly so. London certainly has a very good insight into the minds of the men and women that occupy the raw, unforgiving North. The stories tell of endurance, hardships and strife but also about true friendship, brave men and virtuous women.

    The village was once recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for its ratio of over thirty dead to every live resident. Notable permanent residents of Forest Park's hallowed grounds include the parents of Ernest Hemingway; serial killer Belle Gunness; Emma Goldman and other important members of the anarchist movement; evangelist Billy Sunday; Elizabeth Taylor's husband Mike Todd; as well as victims of the Eastland disaster, the Iroquois Theater fire, and the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train wreck. Inspired by Edgar Lee Masters's classic 1915 work, Spoon River Anthology, the Historical Society of Forest Park invited local authors, playwrights, journalists, and historians to pen individual narratives of those buried within Forest Park, in the style of the original work. Jay Bonansinga, a New York Times bestselling author (The Walking Dead); noted local historians Robert Loerzel and Richard Lindberg; Chicago-area novelists Michael A. Black, Frances McNamara, and Stephanie Kuehnert; and playwright Amy Binns-Calvey are just a few of those whose work is included in this volume.

    We should be inspired.From the depths of near obscurity at the turn of the last century, a young African American man rose to fame through those ordinary things--listening to his grandfather sing the old slave songs as he lit the streetlamps, sweating through a rented suit during an audition, having a chance meeting with a musical legend as he was mopping the halls of his school. Through the seemingly insignificant pieces of life, God led Harry T. Burleigh along the path to fame, and through him preserved the songs that would form the basis of a uniquely American music.Now Harry T. Burleigh, once world-renowned for his career as a beautiful baritone soloist, an arranger of Negro spirituals, and a composer in his own right, is lifted out of obscurity once more by Craig von Buseck. This inspiring true story will take you back in time to Southern plantations and Northern boom towns, to minstrel shows and soaring sanctuaries, and into the heart of a man who never suspected that God had destined him for greatness.

    Helens is that of an active volcano and human interaction with it. The mountain is culturally important to the regional native people. Its Cowlitz name, Lawetlat’la, means “Person From Whom Smoke Comes.” Early European settlers saw opportunities to make a living from the natural resources, and people fell in love with the forested valleys and slopes of the glacier-clad peak with the blue lake at its foot. Forgotten were the eruptions of the 19th century and the fact that the landscape was a product of frequent violent explosions. A report from the 1970s reminded locals that Mount St. Helens is an active volcano and could erupt again before the end of the 20th century. Only a few people at that time were aware of what the mountain was capable of, and many were surprised at the events that took place in 1980.

    I try them on. It's a weird feeling: part bondage gear, part adult diaper. I feel stupid and just a tiny bit sexy...”Follow Bill and his friends as they pedal over hill and dale on a bike ride across the United States. It's 2000 miles of meth heads and road rage; rail trails; Mississippi River murder; psychic waitresses; anarchists; haunted Unitarian churches; soybeans from Satan; farm dogs with bad attitudes; and coconut cream pie.

    The book chronicles the thirty-year history of the evolution and development of Seaside, Florida, its global influence on town planning, and the resurgence of place-making in the built environment. Through a rich repository of historical materials and writings, the book chronicles numerous architectural and planning schemes, and outlines a blueprint for moving forward over the next twenty-five to fifty years. Among the many contributors are Deborah Berke, Andrés Duany, Steven Holl, Léon Krier, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Aldo Rossi, and Robert A. M. Stern.

    Kennedy assassination and assumedthat the facts had been examined thoroughly, and that its conclusion, thatLee Harvey Oswald acted alone, was unimpeachable.His first doubt surfaced in 1967 when he encountered Bertrand Russell’sessay, 16 Questions about the Assassination. Pratt began scouring many ofthe hundreds of books on the topic, but they raised myriad questions.Who shot President Kennedy? Did Oswald act alone or as one of a group?Was he, as he claimed, a “patsy”? What was the role of organized crime?How did Jack Ruby manage the split-second timing that allowed him tokill Oswald? How to explain the many witnesses who died sudden andviolent deaths in the aftermath of the tragedy? How trustworthy were thetwo government commissions, the Warren Commission of 1964 and theHouse Commission of 1978?As Pratt delved into the records, he noticed a gap in the literature: theabsence of a work that simply presents the evidence and allows readers tomake up their own minds. This short e-book of 25,000 words fills that gap.It is a timeline of events, presenting only firmly established factual evidenceright up to the present. Pratt’s brief commentary appears at end. His conclusions are likely to surprise

    Fish and Wildlife Service biologist in charge of condor research in the 1980s and lead author of The California Condor: A Saga of Natural History and Conservation Despite frequent depiction as a bird of California and the desert southwest, North America’s largest avian scavenger once graced the skies of the Pacific Northwest, from northern California to British Columbia. This important volume documents the condor’s history in the region, from prehistoric times to the early twentieth century, and explores the challenges of reintroduction.  Jesse D’Elia and Susan Haig investigate the paleontological and observational record as well as the cultural relationships between Native American tribes and condors, providing the most complete assessment to date of the condor’s occurrence in the Pacific Northwest. They evaluate the probable causes of regional extinction and the likelihood that condors once bred in the region, and they assess factors that must be considered in determining whether they could once again thrive in Northwest skies.  Incorporating the newest research and findings and more than eighty detailed historical accounts of human encounters with these birds of prey, California Condors in the Pacific Northwest sets a new standard for examining the historical record of a species prior to undertaking a reintroduction effort. It is a vital reference for academics, agency decision makers, conservation biologists, and readers interested in Northwest natural history. The volume is beautifully illustrated by Ram Papish and includes a number of previously unpublished photographs.

    Chicago was roiling with political and economic conflict, much of it rooted in class tensions, and the city's lawmakers and business elite fostered the growth of a professional municipal police force to protect capitalism, its assets, and their own positions in society. Together with city policymakers, the business elite united behind an ideology of order that would simultaneously justify the police force's existence and dictate its functions. Tracing the Chicago police department's growth through events such as the 1855 Lager Beer riot, the Civil War, the May Day strikes, the 1877 railroad workers strike and riot, and the Haymarket violence in 1886, Mitrani demonstrates that this ideology of order both succeeded and failed in its aims. Recasting late nineteenth-century Chicago in terms of the struggle over order, this insightful history uncovers the modern police department's role in reconciling democracy with industrial capitalism.

    In addition, Sumerians, Minoans, Romans, Celts, ancient Hebrews, Indonesians, Africans, Chinese, Japanese, Welsh, Irish, and the Knights Templar all made their indelible, if neglected, mark on our land.

    This collection of episodes is fully dramatized for audio and features a full cast, music, sound effects, and narration by some of today's biggest celebrities. The After Hours (starring Kim Fields) A young woman goes gift shopping at a department store and buys a thimble. When the store closes, she is trapped on the ninth floor--even though no such floor exists. Mr. Dingle, the Strong (starring Tim Kazurinsky) A timid vacuum cleaner salesman is given super strength in a Martian experiment. He eventually returns to normal--at least for a brief time. The Lonely (starring Mike Starr) A man convicted of murder is sentenced to spend forty years on a distant asteroid in complete solitude--that is, until a sympathetic ship captain brings him a female robot companion. Mr. Garrity and the Graves (starring Chris McDonald) Jared Garrity makes a living resurrecting the dead in the Old West. He doesn't make money from those who want people brought back to life but from those who want the dead to stay just where they are: six feet under. Of Late I Think of Cliffordville (starring H. M. Wynant) William Feathersmith, a bored, evil, wealthy businessman, gets a chance to go back in time and start over, armed with all the knowledge he's acquired--an arsenal that's not as powerful as he might think. The Bard (starring John Ratzenberger and Stacy Keach) Julius Moomer is an untalented would-be television writer whose career takes off when the ghost of William Shakespeare writes his scripts for him. Shakespeare is appalled by the sponsor's changes, including the casting of a Marlon Brando-type actor to play the lead.

    Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson explain this contradictory phenomenon as the product of the unique brand of capitalism that has developed in the US. It is this particular form of capitalism that created both the social and economic conditions that largely influence health outcomes and the inefficient, unpopular and inaccessible health care system that is incapable of dealing with them. The authors argue that improving health in America requires a change in the conditions in which people live and work as well as a restructured health care system.

    

    The Great Depression was barely over; economics, politics, and culture braced for war. There was a lull before the storm and Hollywood, as if expecting to be judged by posterity, produced a portfolio of masterpieces. No year before or since has yielded so many beloved works of cinematic art: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Gunga Din, Only Angels Have Wings, Destry Rides Again, Beau Geste, Wuthering Heights, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Ninotchka, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Dark Victory, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Women," and of course, "Gone With the Wind.""Majestic Hollywood" showcases fifty films from this landmark year, with insightful text on the cultural significance of each movie and entertaining plot descriptions. Also included are stories from the legendary artists who made the films: directors William Wellman and John Ford; cinematographers Arthur Miller and Lee Garmes; actors Judy Garland, Rosalind Russell, Ray Milland, Sir Laurence Olivier, and Olivia de Havilland.This world of entertainment is illustrated by rarely seen images. Made during the most glamorous era in movie history, whether scene stills, behind-the-scenes candids, portraits, or poster art, the photos are as distinctive, evocative, and powerful as the films they were meant to publicize. Presenting the best of these images and the stories behind them, this book is a cavalcade of unforgettable films from 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year.