Read all about these fantastic facts--and dozens of others--in this fun-to-read book.Did you know that some pioneers took a "shortcut" to Oregon that took them perilously close to Antarctica? Or that ferryboat operators on the Oregon Trail could earn nearly $2,000 per day? Or that many pioneers found ice in the middle of the blazing hot desert? It's all true! An entertaining read for young people or anyone interested in the great western journey.

    

    Yet, while working for the New York Giants in the mid-1950s under head coach Jim Lee Howell, the pair formed what still stands as the greatest set of coordinators on one team. Given their personalities, one might have likened Howell’s job to that of Dwight Eisenhower’s as the general struggled to control the egos and politics of his allied subordinates during WWII. But for some reason, Lombardi and Landry worked almost seamlessly, leading the Giants to the top of the NFL. In the five seasons the two men coached together between 1956 and 1959, the Giants appeared in three championship games, winning the NFL title in ‘56.Both coaches would go on to NFL stardom, Lombardi with the Green Bay Packers and Landry with the Dallas Cowboys. But it was during their years as Giants coordinators that they developed the coaching philosophies they would employ later in their careers. For Lombardi, it was the reliance on the running game that started with Frank Gifford and would continue in the “Packers Sweep” days of Paul Hornung. For Landry, it was his own invention of the 4-3 defense that led to the “Flex” defense of his Super Bowl winners in Dallas. How they developed their ideas, and how they were allowed to implement them, was a testament not only to their genius, but Howell’s willingness to let them handle the strategic matters while he looked after the big picture.In Lombardi and Landry, veteran sportswriter Ernie Palladino takes an in-depth look at these two legends’ formative years in New York, offering up a vivid, revealing portrait of two brilliant coaches just coming into an understanding of their formidable powers.

    Fate has another trial in store for her, though, when her infuriated husband violently separates her from her daughter, who she is determined to track down no matter the consequences. As she follows her trail, she ends up in Clinton, where she meets Jake, who proves to be a valuable companion on her quest. She knows that from the first time she looked into his eyes, her heart skipped a beat and her traumas started healing, but will she manage to turn a new page in her life or will she have to sacrifice a piece of herself to move on?Jake Oakley, son of the mayor of Clinton, seems to have a perfect life, until he messes it all up by stumbling on a terrible family secret. When he thoughtlessly exposes it to the wrong people, there are unforeseen consequences that force him to leave town in order to fix his mistakes. However, an alarming letter about his mother’s health postpones his plans, leading him disappointed back to Clinton. Upon his arrival, a beautiful young lady shows up as a gift from heaven, as she finds a unique way to drive his guilt away and clear his mind. After all this time, his lonely heart will be warmed once again and his future won’t feel so lonely anymore. Could she be the salvation he has been looking for all along?Jake and Lizzy unite with a common goal, when their seemingly unrelated paths suddenly cross and change their lives forever. Lizzy has a hard time trusting people and Jake is determined to make things right. Just when things start looking up for them, an old threat will swoop in and risk ripping them apart. Will the powerful light of their romance dissipate the dangers that lurk in the shadows?

    It has been translated into every major language on Earth and dozens of minor ones; it has spawned entire genres of animation, and had more books written about it than all but a handful of American Presidents. Even its minor characters have become iconic, and the titular family is recognizable in almost every corner of the planet. It is a definitive and truly global cultural phenomenon, perhaps the biggest of the television age. As of this writing, if you flip on FOX at 8pm on Sundays, you will see a program that bills itself as "The Simpsons". It is not "The Simpsons". That show, the landmark piece of American culture that debuted on 17 December 1989, went off the air more than a decade ago. The replacement is a hopelessly mediocre imitation that bears only a superficial resemblance to the original. It is the unwanted sequel, the stale spinoff, the creative dry hole that is kept pumping in the endless search for more money. It is Zombie Simpsons.

    

    One eventful night, Anika and her sister Elena will meet Marty and Darcy, two brothers that will help them escape their misery for good. Although Elena will soon be encharmed by Marty, Anika has the feeling that Darcy keeps a tremendous secret... Will she follow her instinct and unravel this enigmatic mystery?Darcy Stuart is a courageous sheriff who has been on the trail of the most atrocious gang in Texas for over a year. When his investigation leads him to Anika and her family, lying seems to be the only way in. Aiming to get all the insights about the criminal business of her father, he will do whatever it takes to earn her trust. The future, however, holds many unforeseen surprises, as he will soon fall badly for Anika... How will his growing feelings affect his risky mission?While Anika and Stuart grow closer together, the dreadful truth remains still well hidden. Will secrets eventually come out and tear them apart forever? Is there any chance for them to find the path to happiness and leave their dishonest past behind?

    When her best friend, Opal, returns to her hometown, she seizes this unique opportunity to join her, although she doesn’t know what to expect. While trying to adjust to her new reality in Oklahoma, she gets tangled up in her feelings for Opal’s handsome older brother, who seems rather distant and arrogant. Can Delphine break down his walls and find the stability and love she has been looking for all her life in his arms?Liam Jackson’s future seems impossible to handle ever since his business partner’s deception. When he discovers that his estranged father has passed and left him the family ranch, he accepts it with a heavy heart, desperate to save his business. Upon his arrival, a disheartening surprise awaits him, making him question his decision. Nevertheless, his unexpected interaction with a beautiful and tender woman helps him overcome the pain in his heart, giving him a reason to stay. Will he manage to let go of the past to build a future with the woman who sees beyond his mask?Both Delphine and Liam are unprepared and heartbroken when they start feeling strong, new emotions for one another. Together, they must choose what truly matters in their lives. Can Delphine be the blessing that Liam is searching for, and Liam be the knight in shining armor that she needs? With friends and rivals on their heels, can they find the everlasting love they have craved for, for so long?

    

    The fire brigade have been doing their best, as have the other emergency services, but whoever is behind the fires has been systematically running them ragged. Whitehall is worried. Something doesn’t add up, so they’ve dispatched a warlock – a former illegal mage, pressed into service of the government to deal with matters of the arcane – to look things over. Jameson Parker is that warlock, and he’s pretty okay with that. His freedoms might be heavily restricted, and any unauthorised use of magic means he’ll be struck down dead instantly, but it could be worse. He gets more or less free rein to swan around Humberside like the big I am, and it gives him a way to atone for his less than stellar past. He’s better off without magic, and he knows it. But is magic better off without him? The warlocks of Humberside don’t seem to think so, and there are rumblings that, as well as the fires, something big is about to go down. Jameson is not best pleased.

    Morton's extensively researched fiction carries the reader through three eras in the history of Abraska, or what is now southern Montana and northern Wyoming. From the days when Native American tribes dominated the landscape to the hardships of fledgling pioneer life to times of fast-paced modern development, Where the Rivers Run North introduces a shifting cast of characters as intriguing as they are diverse. One thread runs throughout--the figure of the horse, whether running wild on the plains or competing on the racetrack.

    The Drive-By Truckers, as they named themselves, grew into one of the best and most consequential rock bands of the twenty-first century, a great live act whose songs deliver the truth and nuance rarely bestowed on Southerners, so often reduced to stereotypes.Where the Devil Don’t Stay tells the band’s unlikely story not chronologically but geographically. Seeing the Truckers’ albums as roadmaps through a landscape that is half-real, half-imagined, their fellow Southerner Stephen Deusner travels to the places the band’s members have lived in and written about. Tracking the band from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, to the author’s hometown in McNairy County, Tennessee, Deusner explores the Truckers’ complex relationship to the South and the issues of class, race, history, and religion that run through their music. Drawing on new interviews with past and present band members, including Jason Isbell, Where the Devil Don’t Stay is more than the story of a great American band; it’s a reflection on the power of music and how it can frame and shape a larger culture.

    Bayles now turns that same attention to his native West.When European Americans “discovered” the American West, they fell in love with the resplendent landscape. The love affair and its congenital flaws persists to this day.Bayles writes: “. . . the question is why my people bungled our occupation of the West so badly when no one really wanted to, when there was every chance to get it right, when voices of caution were constantly raised, when what needed to be done was frequently obvious, and when, occasionally, we did get it right (think: National Parks).”Notes on a Shared Landscape engages the issues that make the West the West—widely ranging over the autobiographical and the cultural, the ecological and the epistemological, the cow and the potato. This is an intensely personal book, and though the Western library is huge, there is not another book like it. Much of the text unfolds in Yellowstone, where Bayles writes:In the Lamar valley of the Yellowstone, beaver gnaw the trunks of cottonwoods, elk browse their leaves. The shadows are long, even in summer. Even so, it is just another place. In it, just as elsewhere, we see the marks of our own hands faintly because we don’t have to know very much about the land we live in, because we are equally a part of and apart from nature, and because there is hardly any moment when humans are more delusional than when self recognition is required.

    government—an usher in the White House. For more than 200 years, a small office has operated on the State Floor of the White House Executive Residence. Known as the Usher's Office, whose mission is to accommodate the personal needs of the first family, and to make the White House feel like a home. The Usher's Office is the managing office of the Executive Residence and its staff of 90-plus. The staff consists of butlers, carpenters, grounds personnel, electricians, painters, plumbers, florists, maids, housemen, cooks, chefs, storekeepers, curators, calligraphers, doormen, and administrative support. Ushers work closely with the first family, senior staff, Social Office, Press Office, Secret Service Agency, and military leaders to carry out White House functions: luncheons, dinners, teas, receptions, meetings, conferences, and more. Chris Emery was only the 18th White House Usher since 1891, and had the honor and privilege to serve presidential families for three years during the Reagan administration, four years for President H. W. Bush, and 14 months under President Clinton. His vignettes recreate intimate White House happenings from an insider’s viewpoint. Chris Emery was the only White House Usher to be terminated in the 20th century. Turn the pages to find out which first lady fired him... “With his book, White House Usher: Stories from the Inside, former usher Chris Emery gives his readers a peek inside what happens upstairs at the White House. Chris’ anecdotes tell a rich story of how America’s house really is the First Families’ home. I loved my trip down memory lane.” - Former First Lady Barbara Bush (October 2017)

    Explore the lives of the pistol-packing, hell-raising, high-spirited gals who hung out with Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch outlaw gang.