Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated with Our Greatest President
Edward Steers Jr. - 2007
The mythmaking about this self-made man began early, some of it starting during his campaign for the presidency in 1860. As an American icon, Lincoln has been the subject of speculation and inquiry as authors and researchers have examined every aspect- personal and professional -of the president's life. In Lincoln Legends, noted historian and Lincoln expert Edward Steers Jr. carefully scrutin
We Would Have Played for Nothing: Baseball Stars of the 1950s and 1960s Talk About the Game They Loved
Fay Vincent - 2008
These were the decades when baseball expanded across the country and truly became the national pastime. The era opened, though, with the domination of the New York teams: the Yankees, Dodgers, or Giants were in every World Series of the 1950s -- but by the end of the decade the two National League teams had moved to California. Representing those great teams in this volume are Whitey Ford, Ralph Branca, Carl Erskine, Duke Snider, and Bill Rigney. They recall the great 1951 Dodgers-Giants playoff that ended with Bobby Thomson's famous home run (served up by Branca). They remember the mighty Yankees, defeated at last in 1955 by the Dodgers, only to recover the World Series crown from their Brooklyn rivals a year later. They talk about their most feared opponents and most valued teammates, from Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle to Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella to Willie Mays. But there were great teams and great ballplayers elsewhere in the 1950s and 1960s. Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts recalls the famous Whiz Kids Phillies of 1950 and his epic duels with Don Newcombe and other leading National League pitchers. Lew Burdette remembers his years as one-half of the dominating pitching duo (with Warren Spahn) that propelled the Braves to the World Series in 1957 and 1958. Harmon Killebrew recalls belting home runs for the hapless Washington Senators, then discovering a new world of enthusiastic fans in Minnesota when the Senators joined the westward migration and became the Twins. Brooks Robinson, on the other hand, played his entire twenty-three-year career for the Baltimore Orioles, never moving anywhere except all around third base, where he earned a record sixteen consecutive Gold Gloves. When Frank Robinson left Cincinnati to join Brooks on the Orioles in 1966, that team became a powerhouse. Frank Robinson won the MVP award that year, the first player to do so in each league. He remembers taking the momentous step to become the first African-American manager in the big leagues, the final step that Jackie Robinson had wanted to take. Like Frank Robinson, Billy Williams was one of the first African-American stars not to come out of the old Negro Leagues. He spent his greatest years with the Chicago Cubs, playing alongside Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, and later Ron Santo, but here he recalls how he nearly gave up on the game in the minor leagues. We Would Have Played for Nothing is full of fascinating stories about how these great ballplayers broke into baseball, about the inevitable frustrations of trying to negotiate a contract with owners who always had the upper hand, and about great games and great stars-teammates and opponents-whose influence shaped these ballplayers' lives forever. Illustrated throughout, this book is a wonderful reminiscence of two great decades in the history of baseball.
Rising Sun / The Andromeda Strain / Binary
Michael Crichton - 1994
A. a grand opening celebration is in full swing at the new American headquarters of the immense Japanese conglomerate. On the forty-sixth floor, in an empty conference room, the dead body of a beautiful woman is discovered. The investigation immediately becomes a thrilling chase through a twisting maze of industrial intrigue, a no-holds barred conflict in which control of a vital American technology is the fiercely coveted prize - and the Japanese saying 'business is war' takes on a terrifying reality. Rising Sun is a powerful, compulsive thriller from a master of the genre.
Andromeda Strain
Five prominent biophysicists give the United States government an urgent warning: sterilisation procedures for returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere. Two years later, Project Scoop sends seventeen satellites into the fringes of space in order to 'collect organisms and dust for study'. Then a probe falls to the earth, landing in a desolate area of northeastern Arizona. A little while later, in the nearby town of Piedmont, bodies are discovered heaped and flung across the ground, faces locked in frozen surprise. But the terror has only just begun, because when they try to find the cause of death, the scientists don't realise just what kind of unearthly danger they are dealing with... Brilliantly filmed by Robert Wise in 1971, The Andromeda Strain was the first book to introduce Michael Crichton's audacious combination of believable plots and white-knuckled excitement to a wide audience.
Binary
Political radical John Wright is plotting an act of mass destruction and federal agent John Graves has him under surveillance. When a government computer is hacked and a high-security shipment of nerve gas gets hijacked, Graves puts the pieces together but can he stop Wright from unleashing his weapon and killing a million peopleincluding the U.S President?
Still the One
Olivia Miles - 2019
She’s also the wedding dress consultant, inevitable crisis manager, sometimes cake tester, and reluctant therapist to all the brides who come through the doors of Bayside Brides in downtown Oyster Bay. And after years of standing back and watching other women find their happy endings, she makes a promise to herself that this year, she will be one of them. With her brother’s wedding approaching, she sees an opportunity to expand her business and finally shed those last few (okay, more than a few) pounds she put on since chocolate and wine replaced her no-good boyfriend a year ago. But when her ex snags an invitation to the event, Melanie turns to her best friend to pose as her date. Back in town to take over his retiring father’s medical practice, Jason Sawyer is sweet, smart, and reliable. He’s also been in love with Melanie since they were kids—not that she ever noticed. Now, with a second chance within reach, he has to decide if he will admit his feelings or move on for good. All Melanie wants is the same promise she makes to her clients every day, but when professional and personal plans collide, she realizes that happy endings don’t all come in the same form, and that sometimes, the life you thought you wanted isn’t nearly as wonderful as the one you already have.
Every Contact Leaves a Trace
Connie Fletcher - 2006
They may also contaminate evidence, or not know what to look for in crime scenes that typically are far more chaotic and confusing, whether inside or outside, than on TV. Forensic experts will tell you that the most important person entering a scene is the very first responding officer - the chain of evidence starts with this officer and holds or breaks according to what gets stepped on, or over, collected or contaminated, looked past, or looked over, from every person who enters or interprets the scene, all the way through the crime lab and trial. And forensic experts will tell you the success of a case can depend on any one expert's knowledge of quirky things, such as:"The Rule of the First Victim": (the first victim of a criminal usually lives near the criminal's home) Criminals' snacking habits at the scene"Nature's Evidence Technicians," the birds and rodents that hide bits of bone, jewelry, and fabric in their nestsThe botanical evidence found in criminals' pants cuffs Baseball caps as prime DNA repositoriesThe tales told by the application of physics to falling blood drops. Forensic experts talk about their expertise and their cases here. They also talk about themselves, their reactions to the horrors they witness, and their love of the work. For example, a DNA analyst talks about how she drives her family crazy by buccal-swabbing them all at Thanksgiving dinner. A latent print examiner talks about how he examines cubes of Jell-O at any buffet he goes to for tell-tale prints. A crime scene investigator gives his tips on clearing a scene of cops: he slaps "Bio-hazard" and "Cancer Causing Agent" stickers on his equipment. And an evidence technician talks about how hard it is to go to sleep after processing a scene, re-living what you've just witnessed, your mind going a hundred miles an hour. This is a world that TV crime shows can't touch. Here are eighty experts - including beat cops, evidence technicians, detectives, forensic anthropologists, blood spatter experts, DNA analysts, latent print examiners, firearms experts, trace analysts, crime lab directors, and prosecution and defense attorneys - speaking in their own words about what they've seen and what they've learned to journalist Connie Fletcher, who has gotten cops to talk freely in her bestsellers What Cops Know, Pure Cop, and Breaking and Entering. Every Contact Leaves A Trace presents the science, the human drama, and even the black comedy of crime scene investigation. Let the experts take you into their world. This is their book - their words, their knowledge, their stories. Through it all, one Sherlock Holmesian premise unites what they do and what it does to them: Every contact leaves a trace.
Tangled Hearts
Roseanne Evans Wilkins - 2010
She is living a lonely life. Her parents have died and her sister, Brooke, hasn't spoken to her in years. When Brooke shows up with her son in tow and asks Serra to watch him while she and her husband go on vacation to France, Serra's whole life is turned upside down. Serra's decision to hide from Brooke's in-law's create problems she doesn't anticipate. When the tires to her new SUV are slashed, she knows she has more to fear than having her nephew taken.
Growing Up Between Stops on the A-train
Jennifer Y. Johnson-Garcia
By seventeen, Jennifer leaves home and supports herself through her senior year of high school, graduating on-time with her class. But she has much more to prove. Determined, Jennifer kisses Colorado goodbye and sets off on a one-way trip to New York City.In the city, Jennifer hits the ground hustling, securing a job selling beepers on the street and singing for strangers every chance she gets. Not long after, she is discovered by a music producer on the A-train, records a demo, and signs her first record deal. However, Jennifer's budding career is interrupted by an unplanned pregnancy, destroying her odds in a male-dominated and cutthroat music industry. Unyielding, Jennifer persists for several years before landing a chance audition with platinum-selling producers, Full Force, who sign her.In the blink of an eye, Jennifer skyrockets from starving artist to New York City's best kept secret, songwriting for superstars and all but sealing her fate as a future household name. However, just as she is on the brink of fame to go with the small fortune she earns from publishing deals, an unexpected turn of events sets her on the rockiest road to dreams come true.Growing Up Between Stops on the A-train is the inspirational true story about how one woman discovered the secret to success and life happiness, the hard way.GUBSOTAT will be published in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audio formats on November 7, 2019. Follow Jennifer Y. Johnson-Garcia on Facebook or @jyjohnsongarcia and @GUBSOTAT on Instagram to become an advanced reader or get a copy of the book sooner!
Fear Itself
Andrew Rosenheim - 2011
With forty million citizens of German ancestry, there is great pressure within America to stay out of the fight. Elements ranging from the Nazi-sympathetic German-American Bund to the WASP-led America First movement are working feverishly to make sure America does not intervene on the side of a beleaguered Great Britain.Jimmy Nessheim, a young Special Agent in the fledgling FBI, is assigned to infiltrate a German–American organization known as the Bund. Ardently pro-Nazi, the Bund is conspiring to sabotage American efforts against Adolf Hitler. But as Nessheim’s investigation takes him into the very heart of the Bund, it becomes increasingly clear that something far more sinister is at work, something that seems to lead directly to the White House. Drawn into the center of Washington’s high society, Nessheim finds himself caught up in a web of political intrigue and secret lives. But as he moves closer to the truth, an even more lethal plot emerges, one that could rewrite history.With sharp wit and a keen eye for period details, Rosenheim fully immerses the reader in Depression-era America. He seamlessly weaves into the narrative larger-than-life figures such as J. Edgar Hoover, Clyde Tolson, and Lucy Mercer Rutherford, as well as historical events like the 1939 pro-Nazi rally held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The first in a series chronicling Agent Nessheim’s adventures throughout the war, Fear Itself establishes Andrew Rosenheim as a spectacular new talent.
Mother Country
Libby Purves - 2002
A heroin addict living in a sordid London squat, she was already close to death when her American lover took charge, carrying off the baby Alexander to give him an affluent future and a loving home in the Midwest. But now Alex is 27 and afflicted by his lost roots and a romantic vision of England. When a business trip provides the chance to go and trace his unknown relatives, he discovers that while some British people are, indeed, very hard to get along with, others turn out to be more closely akin to him than he ever could have imagined.
My Life After Life: A Posthumous Memoir
Galen Stoller - 2011
He was able to make contact in dream states with his intuitive father within days and verbal contact by the end of the first month. Two years later he requested his father write down communication from Galen about his new circumstances. Dr. Stoller’s only comments in this revelatory account appear in Editor’s Notes at the end of each chapter. While there are many accounts of near-death experiences, never has an account been written documenting a personal encounter with such detail and clarity. The story of this gifted boy intent on getting through to earth the knowledge of what lies beyond is both comforting and sobering with a message relevant for all of us still living in this dimension.
Exodus
John Walker - 2021
A mindless alien race has swept across the colonies, consuming structures and people along the way. As humanity stands on the brink of destruction, we have one hope to preserve what’s left of our culture and very lives. The Passage.One of the greatest scientific achievements of humanity, a gateway that will hyper-accelerate our faster than light drives so we can cover an unimaginable distance. A new home waits beyond, one far from our aggressors. But can we escape the desolation of our old empire before it’s too late?
The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card
Michael O'Keeffe - 2007
First identified as valuable in the 1930s, when the whole notion of card collecting was still young, the T206 Wagner has remained the big score for collectors who have scoured card shows, flea markets, estate sales, and auctions for the portrait of baseball's greatest shortstop.Only a few dozen T206 Wagners are known to still exist. Most, with their creases, stains, and dog-eared corners, look worn and tattered, like they've been around for almost a century. But one—The Card—appears to have defied the travails of time. Thanks to its sharp corners and its crisp portrait of Honus Wagner, The Card has become the most famous and desired baseball card in the world.Over the decades, as The Card has changed hands, its value has skyrocketed. It was initially sold for $25,000 by a small card shop in a nondescript strip mall. Years later, hockey great Wayne Gretzky bought it at the venerable Sotheby's auction house for $451,000. Then, more recently, it sold for $1.27 million on eBay. Today worth over $2 million, it has transformed a sleepy hobby into a billion-dollar industry that is at times as lawless as the Wild West. The Card has made men wealthy, certainly, but it has also poisoned lifelong friendships and is fraught with controversy—from its uncertain origins and the persistent questions about its provenance to the possibility that it is not exactly as it seems.Now for the first time, award-winning investigative reporters Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson follow the trail of The Card from a Florida flea market to the hands of the world's most prominent collectors. They delve into a world of counterfeiters and con men and look at the people who profit from what used to be a kids' pastime, as they bring to light ongoing investigations into sports collectibles. O'Keeffe and Thompson also examine the life of the great Honus Wagner, a ballplayer whose accomplishments have been eclipsed by his trading card, and the strange and fascinating subculture of sports memorabilia and its astonishing decline.Intriguing and eye-opening, The Card is a ground-breaking look at a uniquely American hobby.
Born a Colored Girl
Michael Edwin Q. - 2017
From her mother's diary, Etta Jean will learn to love the mother she never knew. And from the same diary, a mother will finally give of herself.