Over the course of seven months in 1988, eleven women disappeared off the streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts, a gloomy, drug-addled coastal town that was once the whaling capital of the world. Nine turned up dead. Two were never found. And the perpetrator remains unknown to this day.   How could such a thing happen? How, in what was once one of America’s richest cities, could the authorities let their most vulnerable citizens down this badly? As Carlton Smith, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of the Green River Killer case, demonstrates in this riveting account, it was the inability of police officers and politicians alike to set aside their personal agendas that let a psychopath off the hook.   In Killing Season, Smith takes readers into a close-knit community of working-class men and women, an underworld of prostitution and drug abuse, and the halls of New England law enforcement to tell the story of an epic failure of justice.

    She and her eighteen-year-old son, Peter Reilly, lived in a drab one-bedroom house on a desolate stretch of road. An intelligent, lively woman with a wicked sense of humor, Barbara also had dark moods and drank too much. She fought loudly with neighbors and her son, and appeared to have a messy, complicated love life. When Peter came home from the Teen Center one night to discover his mother lying naked on the bedroom floor with her throat slashed, the police made him their prime suspect. After eight hours of interrogation and a polygraph test, Peter confessed. Investigators were convinced they had an open-and-shut case, but the townspeople disagreed. They couldn’t believe that the naïve teenager was capable of such a gruesome crime, and blamed detectives for taking advantage of the boy’s trust. With the help of celebrities including Mike Nichols and William Styron, who contributes an eloquent and persuasive introduction to Joan Barthel’s account of the case, the community of Canaan rallied to Peter’s defense. A gripping murder mystery and an intimate portrait of the loyalties, resentments, and secrets lurking beneath the placid surface of quiet towns across America, A Death in Canaan is a masterpiece of “first-class journalism” (The New York Times).

    But like Cassandra’s, his predictions were ignored—until Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005. Suddenly, van Heerden found himself at the center of a media maelstrom. Stepping forward to challenge the official version of events, he revealed the truth about the city’s shoddy levee construction. Now, in The Storm, van Heerden shares up-to-the-minute reporting from his investigations and connects the dots among the Army Corps of Engineers, the bureaucrats, the politicians, and the chain of events—both natural and human—that culminated in catastrophe. An epic of cutting- edge science and systemic bureaucratic failure, The Storm is the first book from a major player in the Katrina disaster and a riveting narrative that brings expertise, passion, and a human viewpoint to America’s greatest natural disaster.

    It's a riveting account of a horrible disaster."-- Chere Coen, Lafayette Advertiser“I simply could not put the book down. It is a riveting story, made all the more so because it is fully factual. Further, it could happen to Southwest Florida and our own barrier islands. …[T]he potential for this is very real.”-- Lisa Fasulo, Naples Daily News“[T]he book unwinds compelling narrative about life in mid-1800s Louisiana, the storm itself, all while integrating an important public policy message about the vulnerability of living on unprotected coastlines. [A] finely written narrative, I highly recommend the book…”-- Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle, SciGuy Blog“[F]or those who like a good read about historical events, the prose [of Island in a Storm] is elegant and fast-moving. Abby Sallenger tells a more than 150 year old story brilliantly. Not only does he spin a good historical tale, he inspires some deep thinking about the future of our fragile coastline.”-- Diane Moore, A Word’s Worth blog"Throughout Island in a Storm, Sallenger maintains a degree of narrative suspense, and he effectively captures multiple points of view. With his focus on factual details, human reactions to the storm and ... sense of empathy, the author achieves a gripping synthesis of storytelling and history."-- Thomas Uskali, Louisiana Cultural Vistas Magazine“One of the best parts of this book was the connection I felt to the characters. Knowing that they were real people, and that they had LIVED through this hurricane, made the pages turn even faster. I could hardly put it down, and took it with me everywhere until I finished it (within a DAY! YES, it is that good). One thing that good writing possesses is the ability to draw the reader in. This book has it in spades.”-- Dr. Jessie Voigts, Wandering Educators, Book Reviews“Rarely does a book combine fascinating story-telling, regional history, and a science lesson in one compelling package. Island in a Storm does just that. The tale is more than 150 years old, but there are real lessons to be learned for coastal communities on today’s vulnerable barrier islands.”-- Robert S. Young PhD, director, Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, Western Carolina University, co-author of The Rising Sea“Island in a Storm tells the riveting story of one of America's greatest hurricane disasters… Sallenger's first-class story-telling of the remarkable tales of survival … make this a book well worth reading.”-- Jeff Masters, PhD, Director of Meteorology, Weather Underground, Wunder Blog[A]n absorbing book that reads more like fiction than fact. The book is a great read for geo-novices, fans of science history and anyone who likes a good adventure tale… Sallenger’s… discussions on a range of scientific topics … are explained in such plain language that nonscientists may not even realize they are learning the basics of coastal geology.-- Erin R. Wayman, Earth Magazine“Few authors have been able to convey with such clarity and power the complex geologic processes of coastal waters under storm conditions, particularly the chaotic commingling of ocean waves, tidal currents, storm surges, sand erosion, and elevated sea level that can at times cause wholesale destruction of such fragile, low-lying landforms of sand.”-- P.R. Pinet, Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries“Abby Sallenger expertly combines the history of a hurricane and its disastrous impact with the fascinating science of hurricanes and coastal geology. He illustrates the dangers that a rising sea, a subsiding coast, and hurricanes pose to populated shores, and with a loud wake up call, he warns policymakers and home owners who insist on building or rebuilding on barrier islands.”-- Ellen Prager, PhD, chief scientist, Aquarius Reef Base and author of Chasing Science at Sea“This is a wonderful book, a must-read for anyone interested in our future, which shows how historic tragedies can be lessons, especially as climate change speeds along its merry way.”-- Ivor van Heerden, PhD, author of The Storm: What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina—the Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist“A masterful page-turner juxtaposing the remarkable parallel tales of the survival by a 19th century Creole maiden of a catastrophic hurricane with the staggering geological perils confronting the residents of the fragile Gulf coastline today.”-- Bethany Ewald Bultman, author of Reflections of the South, Compass New Orleans, and Compass Gulf South, and the descendent of thirteen victims of the 1856 Isle Dernier Hurricane“By weaving the stories of the people on Last Island with facts on history, erosion, sea levels, weather patterns and how hurricanes form, Sallenger penned a book that is both interesting and educational.”-- Pam Bordelon, Baton Rouge Advocate"In ISLAND IN A STORM one of America's top oceanographers—Abby Sallenger—documents the perils of coastal erosion. Using Isle Derniere as case-study, Sallenger brilliantly explains what happens when the sea rises and land disappears. A very important book!"-- Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History, Rice University and author of The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast“Sallenger goes into wonderful detail about the geography of the Last Island, how and when it formed and what happened to it in the storm... “[R]eally good book… "-- Greg Langley, Baton Rouge Advocate

    This one took 1/250th of a second. The photograph strikes us with visceral force, even years after the instant it captured. A white man, rage written on his face, lunges to spear a black man who is being held by another white. The assailant's weapon is the American flag. Boston, April 5, 1976: As the city simmered with racial tension over forced school busing, newsman Stanley Forman hurried to City Hall to photograph that day's protest, arriving just in time to snap the image that his editor would title The Soiling of Old Glory. The photo made headlines across the U.S. and won Forman his second Pulitzer Prize. It shocked Boston, and America: Racial strife had not only not ended with the 1960s, it was alive and well in the cradle of liberty.Louis P. Masur's evocative biography of a photograph unpacks this arresting image in a tour de force of historical writing. He examines the power of photography and the meaning of the flag, asking why this one picture had so much impact. Most poignantly, Masur recreates the moment and its aftermath, drawing on extensive interviews with Forman and the figures in the photo to reveal not just how the incident happened, but how it changed the lives of the men in it. The Soiling of Old Glory, like the photograph it is named for, offers a dramatic window onto the turbulence of the 1970s and race relations in America.

    Lee lived only another five years - the forgotten chapter of an extraordinary life. These were his finest hours, when he did more than any other American to heal the wounds between North and South. Flood draws on new research to create an intensely human and a "wonderful, tragic, and powerful . . . story for which we have been waiting over a century" (Theodore H. White).

    “What Gary Beikirch did to receive his medal is unforgettable—and the story of what he overcame afterward is as big and moving as they come.”—Gary Sinise After dawn the siege began. It was April 1, 1970, and Army Green Beret medic Gary Beikirch knew the odds were stacked against their survival. Some 10,000 enemy soldiers sought to obliterate the twelve American Special Forces troops and 400 indigenous fighters who stood fast to defend 2,300 women and children inside the village of Dak Seang. For his valor and selflessness during the ruthless siege, Beikirch would be awarded a Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest and most prestigious military decoration. But Gary returned home wounded in body, mind, and soul, struggling with drug addiction. To overcome his addiction and find himself again, Gary retreated to a cave in the mountains of New England, where a redemptive encounter with God allowed Gary to find peace. New York Times best-selling author Marcus Brotherton chronicles the incredible true story of a person who changed from lost to found. Gripping and unforgettable, and written with a rich and vivid narrative voice, Blaze of Light will inspire you to answer hurt with ingenuity, to reach for faith, and to find clarity and peace within any season of storm.

    From "Gone," the heartbreaking story of their mother's medical crisis in childbirth, to the darkly comic "Wake," which follows the grown siblings' catastrophic efforts to escort their father, "Wild Bill" Hillock's body to his funeral, the stories of Idella and Avis offer a compelling and wry vision of two remarkable women. The vivid cast includes Idella's philandering husband Edward, her bewilderingly difficult mother-in-law- and Avis, whose serial romantic disasters never quell her irrepressible spirit. Jensen's work evokes a time gone by and reads like an instant American classic. Beverly Jensen died of cancer at the age of forty-nine without publishing her work. Since her death, her fiction has been championed by a dedicated group of supporters, including Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates.

    In a unique blend of travel writing, historical reflection, and passionate polemic, Egan has produced a moving study of the West: how it became what it is, and where it is going.Winner of the Mountains and Plains Book Seller's Association Award

    It contains the name-origins and history of all the Underground stations, the dates they were opened and any former names they may have had.This fascinating book is a 'mini-history' of London and parts of the surrounding counties.The authorCyril M. Harris was born in London and has had a lifelong interest in geography, history and place-name origins.

    It is a tale of death, intrigue, obstruction of justice, corruption and politics." —People Magazine  A young woman leaves a party with a wealthy U.S. senator. The next morning her body is discovered in his car at the bottom of a pond. This is the damning true story of the death of campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick and of the senator—37-year-old Senator Ted Kennedy—who left her trapped underwater while he returned to his hotel, slept, and made phone calls to associates. It is the story of a powerful, privileged American man who was able to treat a woman's life as disposable without facing real consequences. And it is the story of a shameful political coverup involving one of the nation's most well-connected families and its network of lawyers, public relations people, and friends who ensured Ted Kennedy remained a respected member of the Senate for forty more years. Originally published in 1988 under the title Senatorial Privilege, this book almost didn't make it into print after its original publisher, Random House, judged it too explosive and backed out of its contract with author Leo Damore. Mysteriously, none of the other big New York publishers wanted to touch it. Only when small independent publisher Regnery obtained the manuscript was the book's publication made possible and the true story of the so-called "Chappaquiddick Incident" finally told. This new edition, Chappaquiddick, is being released 30 years after the original Senatorial Privilege to coincide with the nationwide theatrical release of the movie Chappaquiddick starring Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, and Jim Gaffigan.

    Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Selma, Alabama, on January 2, 1965. He came to organize non-violent demonstrations against discriminatory voting laws. Selma, Lord, Selma is their firsthand account of the events from that turbulent winter of 1965--events that changed not only the lives of these two little girls but the lives of all Alabamians and all Americans. From 1975 to 1979, award-winning journalist Frank Sikora conducted interviews with Webb and West, weaving their recollections into this luminous story of fear and courage, struggle and redemption that readers will discover is Selma, Lord, Selma.

    You'll never spend time at Walt Disney World the same way again.Each spread contains fascinating textual information and related images (drawings, photos, graphics) such as: Set-up, backgrounds, and origins of each park/land/mini-land Concept art to compare to the finished show Timeline information (opening dates, previous shows in the same venue, alterations and updates)- Photography of the details and big pictures being discussed Special props, design sources, artistic inspirations, nomenclature gags

    But in the tense years before the American Revolution, he was still just a lawyer, fighting for justice in one of the most explosive murder trials of the era.On the night of March 5, 1770, shots were fired by British soldiers on the streets of Boston, killing five civilians. The Boston Massacre has often been called the first shots of the American Revolution. As John Adams would later remember, “On that night the formation of American independence was born.” Yet when the British soldiers faced trial, the young lawyer Adams was determined that they receive a fair one. He volunteered to represent them, keeping the peace in a powder keg of a colony, and in the process created some of the foundations of what would become United States law.In this book, New York Times bestselling authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher draw on the trial transcript, using Adams’s own words to transport readers to colonial Boston, a city roiling with rebellion, where British military forces and American colonists lived side by side, waiting for the spark that would start a war.

    14, 1975, eight daring thieves ransacked 148 massive safe-deposit boxes at a secret bank used by organized crime, La Cosa Nostra, and its associates in Providence, R.I. The crooks fled with duffle bags crammed full of cash, gold, silver, stamps, coins, jewels and high-end jewelry. The true value of the loot has always been kept secret, partly because it was ill-gotten to begin with, and partly because there was plenty of incentive to keep its true worth out of the limelight. It's one thing for authorities to admit they didn't find a trace of goods worth from $3 million to $4 million, and entirely another when what was at stake was more accurately valued at about $30 million, the equivalent of $120 million today. It was the biggest single payday in the criminal history of the Northeast. Nobody came close, not the infamous James "Whitey" Bulger, not John "The Dapper Don" Gotti, not even the Brinks or Wells Fargo robbers. The heist was bold enough and big enough to rock the underworld to its core, and it left La Cosa Nostra in the region awash in turmoil that still reverberates more than forty years later. Last Good Heist is the inside story of the robbery and its aftermath.