Here is the Vietnam War, in the air and on the ground: gritty, urgent, genuine, a story torn from the hearts and minds of those who served.

    Few could or would have predicted that the improvised raps and raw beats busting out of New York City's urban underclass would one day become a multimillion-dollar business and one of music's most lucrative genres. Among those few were two visionaries: Russell Simmons, a young black man from Hollis, Queens, and Rick Rubin, a Jewish kid from Long Island. Though the two came from different backgrounds, their all-consuming passion for hip-hop brought them together. Soon they would revolutionize the music industry with their groundbreaking label, Def Jam Records. Def Jam, Inc. traces the company's incredible rise from the NYU dorm room of nineteen-year-old Rubin (where LL Cool J was discovered on a demo tape) to the powerhouse it is today; from financial struggles and scandals-including The Beastie Boys's departure from the label and Rubin's and Simmons's eventual parting-to revealing anecdotes about artists like Slick Rick, Public Enemy, Foxy Brown, Jay-Z, and DMX. Stacy Gueraseva, former editor in chief of Russell Simmons's magazine, Oneworld, had access to the biggest players on the scene, and brings you real conversations and a behind-the-scenes look from a decade-and a company-that turned the music world upside down. She takes you back to New York in the '80s, when late-night spots such as Danceteria and Nell's were burning with young, fresh rappers, and Simmons and Rubin had nothing but a hunch that they were on to something huge. Far more than just a biography of the two men who made it happen, Def Jam, Inc. is a journey into the world of rap itself. Both an intriguing business history as well as a gritty narrative, here is the definitive book on Def Jam-a must read for any fan of hip-hop as well as all popular-culture junkies.

    Learning what it means to fully surrender character defects frees you to make amends with Steps 8 and 9, realize the Big Book’s “Promises,” and move on to Step 10.In this new follow-up resource, Fred H. explores what he calls “the ripple effect” that can be created by using Step 10 to practice Steps 6 and 7 every day and avoid picking up “the rock” again. Drawing on his years of lecturing on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, he reveals Step 10 as the natural culmination of working the previous Steps. providing a crash course on renewing your recovery program through the daily practice of Twelve Step principles.Like its predecessor, Drop the Rock—The Ripple Effect provides multiple perspectives from people successfully working a Twelve Step Program, showing Step 10 as a key to a sober life free of fear and resentment and filled with serenity and gratitude.Fred H. has worked in the field of addiction and recovery for over three decades and is the director of the retreat center for a leading addiction treatment program. He is a popular international speaker on the Big Book and the principles of the Twelve Steps.

    Leading us along rustic winding roads bordering fields and farmhouses, Eric Sloane captures our imaginations as he offers us a guided tour that evokes the America of pioneer times.This fascinating narrative describes networks of canals, corduroy roads, and turnpikes; tollgates, waterwheels, and icehouses; country inns and churches; ingenious and colorful road signs; and massive snow-rollers that packed snow into hard surfaces for great sleds. Here also are engrossing accounts of toll-road owners, sign painters, circus folk, and other entertainers of the period.Brimming with anecdotes about people and the times, this delightful, warmly written book remains a genuine and permanent contribution to the field of Americana.

    Science and politics collide in this thrilling account of America's struggle for protection against the deadly threat of violent weather. Warnings tells the dramatic true stories of the unsung weather warriors who save innocent lives, often by risking their own.

    There are 10 quotes from each of these great men and women of God. Listen to the heart and passion of Oswald Chamber, C.S. Lewis, Gen. William Booth, Dietriech Bonhoeffer, E.M. Bounds, A.B. Simpson, Kathryn Kuhlman, Charles Spurgeon, Aimee Semple McPherson and Charles Finney.

    This sensitive and detailed response to the land-former farmland in an area once rich in stone walls-is one of his most impressive and important permanent artworks. This new work starts by closely following the foundations of an old, dilapidated wall and then makes a series of increasingly voluptuous arabesques before plunging down into a lake. It rises again on the other side and heads straight up a grassy slope to stop dead at a major highway. The book's stunning color photographs show the wall from every vantage point and in all four seasons, as well as documenting ephemeral work made around it. Kenneth Baker's essay considers the Storm King wall in the context of Goldsworthy's other work. The book accompanies an exhibition at Storm King that opens in May 2000. More than 60 photographs in full color, 9 1/2 x 10 1/2" ANDY GOLDSWORTHY was born in 1956 in Cheshire, England. His work is regularly exhibited in Britain, France, the United States, Japan, and elsewhere. Although commissions take him all over the world, the landscape around his home in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, remains at the heart of his work. His previous books include Abrams' Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature, Hand to Earth, Stone, Wood, and Arch. JERRY L. THOMPSON is a highly regarded photographer who has contributed to a number of books, including Abrams' Mark di Suvero. KENNETH BAKER is art critic of the San Francisco Chronicle. EXHIBITION SCHEDULE Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York May-November 2000

    Crammed with practical information, it is the next best thing to looking over a craftsman's shoulder as he works with his tools, asking questions and getting straight answers in plain language, seeing how each tool is held and manipulated to get the best work out of it. From bit brace, chisel, and mallet to saws, specialized planes, drawknife, and spokeshave, Aldren Watson describes in detail the actions of the tools basic to good woodworking. All the procedures are explicitly illustrated with handsome line drawings, and an appendix gives plans and dimensions for making a workbench and other necessary pieces of shop equipment.

    Each chapter is like a prose poem, shedding increasing light on the challenge of finding "home" without the illusion of permanence, a quest based not on ownership but on affinity and familiarity with an area and its people. Cynthia Huntington expands her theme through images of the landscape, the shack, the new marriage.The shack, named "Euphoria," is built as a house set on stilts above the sand, to take the wind under it. Only a partial shelter, it is inhabited for only one season a year, yet it endures. The outer cape has the feel of a place for migrants and drifters -- for birds and other wildlife, and for people such as artists, fishermen, and coast guardsmen. A place where "year-round" often means several addresses. Similarly, her narrative describes improvised, fragile beginnings: a new marriage, learning to be at home in the world, becoming intimate with the natural world, without the necessity of settling down. The Salt House shares a world that is less natural history or memoir than it is neighborhood exploration -- the process of learning a place and becoming native to it.

    The projects are built around a focal cabochon and incorporate seed beads and crystals in imaginative ways. Designers learn to make the jewelry shown in the book, and they also use the techniques learned to create innovative jewelry pieces of their own.

    Originally published by UNC Press in 1984, the book was the first investigation of colonial military life to give equal attention to official records and to the diaries and other writings of the common soldier. The provincials' own accounts of their experiences in the campaign amplify statistical profiles that define the men, both as civilians and as soldiers. These writings reveal in intimate detail their misadventures, the drudgery of soldiering, the imminence of death, and the providential world view that helped reconcile them to their condition and to the war.

    Never had homes been so thoroughly contemporary, with antiques and period styles entirely banished. Mid-Century Modern explores the interior decor of this seminal decade, concentrating on all aspects of a home's decoration-walls, flooring, surfaces, lighting, and, of course, furniture.Case studies examine beautiful present-day homes that exhibit mid-century style in an exemplary way, and suggest ideas for taking the 1950's look-complete with collector's pieces-and mixing and matching it with elements from other eras.

    Beautifully produced and presented in an attractive landscape trim, Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs will appeal to a general gift-book audience as well as Adams' legions of dedicated fans and students. The photographs are arranged chronologically into five major periods, from his first photographs made in Yosemite and the High Sierra in 1916 to his work in the National Parks in the 1940s up to his last important photographs from the 1960s. An introduction and brief essays on selected images provide information about Adams' life, document the evolution of his technique, and give voice to his artistic vision. Few artists of any era can claim to have produced four hundred images of lasting beauty and significance. It is a testament to Adams' vision and lifetime of hard work that a book of this scale can be compiled. Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs is a must-have for anyone who appreciates photography and the allure of the natural world.

    During the 1692 witch trials, more than 150 people were arrested. An estimated 25 million Americans--including author Diane Foulds--are descended from the twenty individuals executed. What happened to our ancestors? "Death in Salem" is the first book to take a clear-eyed look at this complex time, by examining the lives of the witch trial participants from a personal perspective. Massachusetts settlers led difficult lives; every player in the Salem drama endured hardships barely imaginable today. Mercy Short, one of the "bewitched" girls, watched as Indians butchered her parents; Puritan minister Cotton Mather outlived all but three of his fifteen children. Such tragedies shaped behavior and, as Foulds argues, ultimately played a part in the witch hunt's outcome. A compelling "who's who" to Salem witchcraft, "Death in Salem" profiles each of these historical personalities as it asks: Why was this person targeted?