in dream auto, drunk in old Havana, brooding in Mayan ruins, sex daydreams on the West Coast, airplane vision of Kansas, lonely in a leafy cottage, lunch hour on Berkeley, beer notations on Skid Row, slinking to Mexico, wrote this last night in Paris, back on Times square dreaming of Times Square, bombed in NY again, loony tunes in the dentist chair, screaming at old poets in South America, aethereal zigzag Poesy in blue hotel room in Peru—a wind-up book of dreams, psalms, journal enigmas & nude minutes from 1953 to 1960 poems scattered in fugitive magazines here collected.

    He set out on a journey that was to last three years, visiting many sections of the country and making friends of all descriptions. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare is the result of that odyssey.

    Situating Jefferson within the context of America's evolution and tracing his legacy over the past two hundred years, Hitchens brings the character of Jefferson to life as a man of his time and also as a symbolic figure beyond it.Conflicted by power, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and acted as Minister to France yet yearned for a quieter career in the Virginia legislature. Predicting that slavery would shape the future of America's development, this professed proponent of emancipation elided the issue in the Declaration and continued to own human property. An eloquent writer, he was an awkward public speaker; a reluctant candidate, he left an indelible presidential legacy.Jefferson's statesmanship enabled him to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase with France, doubling the size of the nation, and he authorized the Lewis and Clark expedition, opening up the American frontier for exploration and settlement. Hitchens also analyzes Jefferson's handling of the Barbary War, a lesser-known chapter of his political career, when his attempt to end the kidnapping and bribery of Americans by the Barbary states, and the subsequent war with Tripoli, led to the building of the U.S. navy and the fortification of America's reputation regarding national defense.In the background of this sophisticated analysis is a large historical drama: the fledgling nation's struggle for independence, formed in the crucible of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and, in its shadow, the deformation of that struggle in the excesses of the French Revolution. This artful portrait of a formative figure and a turbulent era poses a challenge to anyone interested in American history -- or in the ambiguities of human nature.

    Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur--"Heartbreak" in English--wrote a pioneering account of one European's transformation into an American. Some two hundred years later Jonathan Raban, arrived in Crèvecoeur's wake to see how America has paid off for succeeding generations of newcomers. The result is a book that is at once a travelogue, a social history, and a love letter to the United States.In the course of Hunting Mr. Heartbreak, Raban passes for homeless in New York and tries to pass for a good ol' boy in Alabama (which entails "renting" an elderly black lab). He sees the Protestant work ethic perfected by Korean immigrants in Seattle--one of whom celebrates her new home as "So big! So green! So wide-wide-wide!"--and repudiated by the lowlife of Key West. And on every page of this peerlessly observant work, Raban makes us experience America with wonder, humor, and an unblinking eye for its contradictions.

    Contents:· The Dead Past · nv Astounding Apr ’56 · The Foundation of Science Fiction Success · pm F&SF Oct ’54 · Franchise · ss If Aug ’55 · Gimmicks Three [“The Brazen Locked Room”] · ss F&SF Nov ’56 · Kid Stuff · ss Beyond Fantasy Fiction Sep ’53 · The Watery Place · ss Satellite Oct ’56 · Living Space · ss Science Fiction Stories May ’56 · The Message · vi F&SF Feb ’56 · Satisfaction Guaranteed [Susan Calvin (Robot)] · ss Amazing Apr ’51 · Hell-Fire · vi Fantastic Universe May ’56 · The Last Trump · ss Fantastic Universe Jun ’55 · The Fun They Had · ss The Boys and Girls Page Dec 1 ’51; F&SF Feb ’54 · Jokester · ss Infinity Science Fiction Dec ’56 · The Immortal Bard · vi Universe May ’54 · Someday · ss Infinity Science Fiction Aug ’56 · The Author’s Ordeal · pm Science Fiction Quarterly May ’57 · Dreaming Is a Private Thing · ss F&SF Dec ’55

    S. Naipaul in the late 1980s through the American South. Naipaul writes of his encounters with politicians, rednecks, farmers, writers, ordinary men and women, both black and white, with the insight and originality we expect from one of our best travel writers. Fascinating and poetic, this is a remarkable book on race, culture and country.

    Their essays often begin as love stories do, with the passion of something newly discovered: the crush of subway crowds, the streets filled with manic energy, and the sudden, unblinking certainty that this is the only place on Earth where one can become exactly who she is meant to be.They also share the grief that comes like a gut-punch, when the grand metropolis loses its magic and the pressures of New York's frenetic life wear thin for even the most dedicated dwellers. As friends move away, rents soar, and love—still—remains just out of reach, each writer's goodbye is singular and universal, just like New York itself.

    Infused with a love of learning, compelling in its arguments for a unifying written culture, it argues brilliantly against the politicization of literature and presents a guide to the great works of the western literary tradition and essential writers of the ages. The Western Canon was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

    Simultaneously channeling the gonzo energy of Hunter S. Thompson and the wit and insight of Joan Didion, Sullivan shows us—with a laidback, erudite Southern charm that’s all his own—how we really (no, really) live now. In his native Kentucky, Sullivan introduces us to Constantine Rafinesque, a nineteenth-century polymath genius who concocted a dense, fantastical prehistory of the New World. Back in modern times, Sullivan takes us to the Ozarks for a Christian rock festival; to Florida to meet the alumni and straggling refugees of MTV’s Real World, who’ve generated their own self-perpetuating economy of minor celebrity; and all across the South on the trail of the blues. He takes us to Indiana to investigate the formative years of Michael Jackson and Axl Rose and then to the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina—and back again as its residents confront the BP oil spill. Gradually, a unifying narrative emerges, a story about this country that we’ve never heard told this way. It’s like a fun-house hall-of-mirrors tour: Sullivan shows us who we are in ways we’ve never imagined to be true. Of course we don’t know whether to laugh or cry when faced with this reflection—it’s our inevitable sob-guffaws that attest to the power of Sullivan’s work.

    J. O'Rourke's savagely funny and national best-seller Parliament of Whores has become a classic in understanding the workings of the American political system. Originally written at the end of the Reagan era, this new edition includes an extensive foreword by the renowned political writer Andrew Ferguson -- showing us that although the names and the players have changed, the game is still the same. Parliament of Whores is an exuberant, broken-field run through the ethical foibles, pork-barrel flimflam, and bureaucratic bullrorfle inside the Beltway that leaves no sacred cow unskewered and no politically correct sensitivities unscorched.

    When an ambitious colleague, Nolan Lemay, discovers that the announcement involved disclosure of a first century letter claiming the disciple Thomas to have been the literal twin of Jesus of Nazareth, Lemay attempts to acquire the manuscript and finds his own life in danger. >>>Three Women Dedicated to Protecting the Secret Three young women, trained from their youth to safeguard the secrets of an ancient text held by a small sect of St. Thomas Christians in southern India, track Lemay across Southeast Asia as he first attempts to make public the letter’s startling contents, then flees to escape the zealous pursuit of the Guardians of the Second Son. >>>Will the truth be revealed, or be lost forever? Scroll Up and Grab Your Copy Today!

    Broadly labeled yokai, these creatures come in infinite shapes and sizes, from tengu mountain goblins and kappa water spirits to shape-shifting foxes and long-tongued ceiling-lickers. Currently popular in anime, manga, film, and computer games, many yokai originated in local legends, folktales, and regional ghost stories.Drawing on years of research in Japan, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the history and cultural context of yokai, tracing their roots, interpreting their meanings, and introducing people who have hunted them through the ages. In this delightful and accessible narrative, readers will explore the roles played by these mysterious beings within Japanese culture and will also learn of their abundance and variety through detailed entries, some with original illustrations, on more than fifty individual creatures. The Book of Yokai provides a lively excursion into Japanese folklore and its ever-expanding influence on global popular culture. It also invites readers to examine how people create, transmit, and collect folklore, and how they make sense of the mysteries in the world around them. By exploring yokai as a concept, we can better understand broader processes of tradition, innovation, storytelling, and individual and communal creativity.

    Two of the stories—later revised for What We Talk About When We Talk About Love—are particularly notable in that between the first and the final versions, we see clearly the astounding process of Carver’s literary development.

    On the Lower East Side, two boys playing at a pier discover a floating human torso wrapped tightly in oilcloth. Blueberry pickers near Harlem stumble upon neatly severed limbs in an overgrown ditch. Clues to a horrifying crime are turning up all over New York, but the police are baffled: There are no witnesses, no motives, no suspects.The grisly finds that began on the afternoon of June 26, 1897, plunged detectives headlong into the era's most baffling murder mystery. Seized upon by battling media moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, the case became a publicity circus. Reenactments of the murder were staged in Times Square, armed reporters lurked in the streets of Hell's Kitchen in pursuit of suspects, and an unlikely trio — a hard-luck cop, a cub reporter, and an eccentric professor — all raced to solve the crime.What emerged was a sensational love triangle and an even more sensational trial: an unprecedented capital case hinging on circumstantial evidence around a victim whom the police couldn't identify with certainty, and who the defense claimed wasn't even dead. The Murder of the Century is a rollicking tale — a rich evocation of America during the Gilded Age and a colorful re-creation of the tabloid wars that have dominated media to this day.

    Whatever you choose to do, planning a trip to Italy has never been this much fun, or this easy!LOOK INSIDE FOR AN INNOVATIVE, NEW TRAVEL GUIDE!Comprehensive, up-to-date, and easy to use, Fodor’s Italy 2007 remains the best resource for organizing your trip to Italia. Our 2007 edition also flaunts exclusive, new features including indispensable, customized tools for planning your trip, in addition to rich photography that illustrates the distinctive culture of the country. Plus, not only will you read the expert advice of our professional travel writers, but you’ll also review recommendations from everyday travelers like yourself, in our new “Word of Mouth” features throughout the book. Fodor's Italy 2007 is designed so that you spend less time researching and more time relishing what lies ahead on your dream vacation. Plan a perfect vacation, with these new features:Experience Italy like a local:Fodor's Italy 2007 now features insights from prominent locals to give you an authentic taste of the country! From one of Florence's most distinguished restaurateurs explaining the elements of a perfect Tuscan meal to the director of the American Academy in Rome identifying her favorite works in the Vatican Museums.“Word of Mouth” from Fodors.com:Read what fellow travelers are saying about their favorite places to explore and unwind, featured throughout the book. Then, when you return from your trip, share your opinions on Fodors.com and they may get published in our 2008 edition!Make the most of your trip:Tip boxes throughout help save money, bypass lines, and avoid common travel pitfalls. "Eating Well" boxes in every chapter identify the pleasures of regional Italian cuisine. And the is brand new edition provides cultural background on Palladian villas, Mt. Etna, wine in the Piedmont Region, and even an emperor cheat sheet. Photos and Maps:Photographs, drawings, and interactive maps illustrate Italy's most popular attractions, from Venice's Grand Canal to Rome's Forum. Always Up-to-date:Fodor’s Italy guide is updated EVERY year–it’s the most accurate book available!Visit Fodors.com for travel bargains, information on local festivals, maps, vacation planning tips, more reviews and much more! And, to view more insider secrets, visit “Travel Talk” and “Rants and Raves” at Fodors.com/forums for more recommendations from travelers like yourself.