McPhee embarks on a fascinating journey across the basement of the continent -- the land masses forming Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and thereabouts -- with a professor and geochronologist acting as a guide.

    This is the story of lifelong musician Buzzy Martin, music teacher to the hardened criminals inside the walls of San Quentin Prison-and what he learned, note by incredible note.

    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.

    Drawing from new archival research, prize-winning historian Michael Burleigh gives new meaning to the seminal decades of 1945 to 1965 by examining the many, largely forgotten, "hot” wars fought around the world. As once-great Western colonial empires collapsed, counter-insurgencies campaigns raged in the Philippines, the Congo, Iran, and other faraway places. Dozens of new nations struggled into existence, the legacies of which are still felt today. Placing these vicious struggles alongside the period-defining United States and Soviet standoffs in Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba, Burleigh swerves from Algeria to Kenya, to Vietnam and Kashmir, interspersing top-level diplomatic negotiations with portraits of the charismatic local leaders. The result is a dazzling work of history, a searing analysis of the legacy of imperialism and a reminder of just how the United States became the world’s great enforcer.

    The mall near Newton's childhood home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-the state's first enclosed shopping mall, and the backdrop for filmmaker George A. Romero's zombie opus Dawn of the Dead-was a destination that drew hundreds of strangers together at any given time; a climate-controlled pleasuredome that boasted the first indoor ice skating rink on the East Coast; and a place where waterfalls, fish ponds, and a monolithic clock tower were illuminated year-round beneath a canopy of interconnected skylights. Part memoir and part case study, Shopping Mall examines the modern mythology of the shopping mall-not only for the place it holds in our collective memory, but also for the significant role that this ubiquitous public space has played in our shared cultural history.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

    A heritage at once nurturing and burdensome, the past allows us to make sense of the present whilst imposing powerful constraints upon the way that present develops. Some aspects of the past are celebrated, others expunged, as each generation reshapes its legacy in line with current needs. Drawing on all the arts, the humanities and the social sciences, the author uses sources as diverse as science fiction and psychoanalysis to examine how rebellion against inherited tradition has given rise to the modern cult of preservation and pervasive nostalgia. Profusely illustrated, The Past is a Foreign Country shows that although the past has ceased to be a sanction for inherited power or privilege, as a focus of personal and national identity and as a bulwark against massive and distressing change it remains as potent a force as ever in human affairs.

    In conversation with legendary rock critics and authors he respected, Reed’s interviews are as pithy and brilliant as the man himself.

    That's pretty much it, right? Well, no. There is a whole lot of weird going on in our state. Washington is home to some of the weirdest travel destinations, scariest legends, and most colorful folks in the United States.Because there are so many odd and unusual tales, cemeteries, beasts, and people here, it took two authors to traverse the state to document it all. With cameras and notepads, and apples (of course) in hand, Jefferson Davis and Al Eufrasio boldly ventured the highways and byways, back roads and forests, shorelines and mountaintops to investigate all the state has to offer.For starters, there are lots of unexplained events here—in fact, we're ranked number two in the whole country for mysterious phenomena: America's only unsolved hijacking happened here; look up, but watch out for raining rocks, mysterious flying men, and UFOs; look down, and you might uncover a body turned to soap in Crescent Lake or deadly monsters in Lake Washington.Where else can you find a tribute to a giant squirting razor clam? Discover Ozette, our own Pompeii of the Pacific Northwest, cruise by Gospodor's monumental controversy on your way to Gravity Hill, but if that's Bigfoot you see, no worries because here in Washington, Bigfoot saves lives! Investigate the elusive Northwest tree octopus, feed a hungry ghost at Starvation Heights, and see what's not going on in Aberdeen. Yes, Washington is a whole lot weirder than you ever imagined, and Weird Washington is here to show and tell you all about it.

    The complete account of the Sex Pistols saga.

    Conceived in ignorance and falsely presented to the public, it had undreamt of consequences, and this pattern has been rarely deviated from since.Immigration policy in Daniels' skilled hands shows Americans at their best and worst, from the nativist violence that forced Theodore Roosevelt's 1907 gentlemen's agreement with Japan to the generous refugee policies adopted after World War Two and throughout the Cold War. And in a conclusion drawn from today's headlines, Daniels makes clear how far ignorance, partisan politics, and unintended consequences have overtaken immigration policy during the current administration's War on Terror.Irreverent, deeply informed, and authoritative, Guarding the Golden Door presents an unforgettable interpretation of modern American history.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    With "intelligence and honesty" (Arizona Republic), she writes about guidos, bimbettes, and mammoni (mama's boys in Italy); examines the clashing aesthetics of Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace; and unravels the etymology of southern Italian dialect words like gavone and bubidabetz. According to Frances Mayes, she navigates the conflicting forces of ethnicity "with humor and wisdom."

    Abandoned by her political masters, Beth must evade Rebel soldiers and the bomb's mastermind to deliver the information to Washington before the conspirators can launch their deadly attack.Assisted by the Federal officer who loves her, Beth risks more than her life to snuff out the burning fuse of the world's first vehicle bomb and prevent disaster on the eve of victory.With its strong and resourceful heroine, Saving Lincoln will appeal to fans of Cold Mountain and Eye of the Needle.

    That game, played at Fenway Park on the afternoon of October 4, 1978, was the culmination of one of the most tense, emotionally wrought seasons ever, between baseball's two most bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Both teams finished this tumultuous season with identical 99-64 records, forcing a one-game playoff. With a one-run lead and two outs, with the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth, the entire season came down to one at-bat and to one swing of the bat. It came down, as both men eerily predicted to themselves the night before, to the aging Red Sox legend, Carl Yastrzemski, and the Yankees' free-agent power reliever, Rich "Goose" Gossage.Anyone who calls himself a baseball fan knows the outcome of that confrontation. And yet such are the literary powers of the author that we are pulled back in time to that late-afternoon moment and become filled anew with all the taut sense of drama that sports has to offer, as if we don't know what happened. As if the thoughts swirling around in the heads of pitcher and hitter are still fresh, both still hopeful of controlling events.That climactic game occurred thirty seasons ago and yet it still captures our imagination. In this delightful work of sports literature, we watch the game unfold pitch by pitch, inning by inning, but Bradley is up to something more ambitious than just recounting this wonderful game. He also tells us the stories of the participants -- how they got to that moment in their lives and careers, what was at stake for them personally -- including the rivalries within the rivalry, such as catcher Carlton Fisk versus catcher Thurman Munson, and Billy Martin versus everyone. Using a narrative that alternates points of view between the teams, Bradley reacquaints us with a rich roster of characters -- Freddy Lynn, Ron Guidry, Catfish Hunter, Mike Torrez, Jerry Remy, Lou Piniella, George Scott, and Reggie Jackson. And, of course, Bucky Dent, who craved just such a moment in the sun -- a validation he had vainly sought from the father he barely knew.Not a book intended to celebrate a triumph or lament a loss, "The Greatest Game" will be embraced in both Boston and New York, with fans of both teams recalling again the talented young men they once gave their hearts to. And fans everywhere will be reminded how utterly gripping a single baseball game can be and that the rewards of being a fan lie not in victory but in caring beyond reason, even decades after the fact.