With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other—a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue—it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and—the author's favorite— historical tourism. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.

     Fans of Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, and Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini will love this New York Times bestselling tale of the Civil War. Mary Sutter is a brilliant young midwife who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Eager to run away from recent heartbreak, Mary travels to Washington, D.C., to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of two surgeons, who both fall unwittingly in love with her, and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the difficult birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career against all odds. Rich with historical detail—including cameo appearances by Abraham Lincoln and Dorothea Dix, among others—My Name Is Mary Sutter is certain to be recognized as one of the great novels about the Civil War.

    Rescued by French fur trapper Jacques Ducharme, Annie learns to love the strong, brooding man and resolves to live out her days as his “River Wife.” More than a century later, in 1930, Hedie Rails comes to Jacques’ Landing to marry Clement Ducharme, a direct descendant of the fur trapper and river pirate, and the young couple begin their life together in the very house Jacques built for Annie so long ago. When, night after late night, mysterious phone calls take Clement from their home, a pregnant Hedie finds comfort in Annie’s leather-bound journals. But as she reads of the sinister dealings and horrendous misunderstandings that spelled out tragedy for the rescued bride, Hedie fears that her own life is paralleling Annie’s, and that history is repeating itself with Jacques’ kin.Among the family’s papers, Hedie encounters three other strong-willed women who helped shape Jacques Ducharme’s life–Omah, the freed slave who took her place beside him as a river raider; his second wife, Laura, who loved money more than the man she married; and Laura and Jacques’ daughter, Maddie, a fiery beauty with a nearly uncontrollable appetite for love. Their stories, together with Annie’s, weave a haunting tale of this mysterious, seductive, and ultimately dangerous man, a man whose hand stretched over generations of women at a bend in the river where fate and desire collide.The River Wife richly evokes the nineteenth-century South at a time when lives changed with the turn of a card or the flash of a knife. Jonis Agee vividly portrays a lineage of love and heartbreak, passion and deceit, as each river wife comes to discover that blind devotion cannot keep the truth at bay, nor the past from haunting the present.From the Hardcover edition.

    While her brothers are off fighting for the Patriots, she longs to do more than tedious household chores and attend spinning bees in sleepy City Point, Virginia. When British General Cornwallis invades her family’s Bollingbrook Plantation, she overhears his secret plan to defeat the Patriots. Much to her shock, she finds herself at the center of the war. Now America’s fight for liberty hinges on her. But can she overcome her mother’s objections, face her own fears, and outwit the famed General and his entire Army?

    I did not believe he could survive it.” When Major Gryffth Hockaday is called to the front lines of the Civil War, his new bride is left to care for her husband’s three-hundred-acre farm and infant son. Placidia, a mere teenager herself living far from her family and completely unprepared to run a farm or raise a child, must endure the darkest days of the war on her own. By the time Major Hockaday returns two years later, Placidia is bound for jail, accused of having borne a child in his absence and murdering it. What really transpired in the two years he was away? Inspired by a true incident, this saga conjures the era with uncanny immediacy. Amid the desperation of wartime, Placidia sees the social order of her Southern homeland unravel as her views on race and family are transformed. A love story, a story of racial divide, and a story of the South as it fell in the war, The Second Mrs. Hockaday reveals how that generation--and the next--began to see their world anew.

    Presenting startling, never-before-seen revelations about such famous members as Jules Stein, Joe Glaser, Ronald Reagan, Lew Wasserman, David Bazelon & John Jacob Factor--as well as infamous, scrupulously low-profile members--Russo pulls the lid off of a half-century of criminal infiltration into American business, politics & society. At the heart of it is Sidney "The Fixer" Korshak, who from the 1940's until his death in the '90s, wasn't only the most powerful lawyer in the world, according to the FBI, but the enigmatic player behind countless 20th century power mergers, political deals & organized crime chicaneries. As the underworld's primary link to the corporate upperworld, his backroom dominance & talent for anonymity will likely never be equaled. As Supermob proves, neither will his story.Cast of charactersPrefaceThe lawyer from LawndaleFrom Lawndale to the Seneca to the underworldBirds of a feather Kaddish for CaliforniaThe future is in real estate"Hell, that's what you had to do in those days to get by"Scenes from Hollywood, part 1Jimmy, Bobby & SidneyForty years in the desert The kingmakers: Paul, Lew & Ronnie in CaliforniaThe new frontier Bistro days "He could never walk away from those people"Scenes from Hollywood, part 2"A sunny place for shady people"Coming under attack From Hoffa to HollywoodFrom Dutch sandwiches to Dutch ReaganAiring dirty laundry & laundering dirty money Pursued by the Fourth Estate The true untouchablesLegacies Appendices: A-Supermob investments/B-Pritzker holdings/C-Ziffren-Greenberg-Genis documentsNotesBibliographyIndex

    As the child of two Holocaust Survivors, Looking Up: A Memoir of Sisters, Survivors and Skokie tells the story of growing up with parents who have survived the unsurvivable, who land in Skokie, an idyllic northern suburb of Chicago, where they're suddenly free to live their lives, yet they find that their past has arrived with them. Through the pages of this book the author discovers that past, discovers why outside the house is the magic of her Skokie childhood but inside the Nazis are forever on the march, and ultimately finds that her parents' stories are her own.

    The mythmaking about this self-made man began early, some of it starting during his campaign for the presidency in 1860. As an American icon, Lincoln has been the subject of speculation and inquiry as authors and researchers have examined every aspect- personal and professional -of the president's life. In Lincoln Legends, noted historian and Lincoln expert Edward Steers Jr. carefully scrutin

    He foresees a new age of mechanized farming that will empty the fields of men and supplant the South’s slavery system. But the planters of his town don’t like his big ideas about changing their world or the intensity with which he’s pursuing them.As Tom hears the call of the new age, he also feels the pull of two women. Rachel, a senator’s daughter, loves him, but will she break with her family to stand by his side when the town rebukes him? Solo is the unbridled grassland filly, the feisty mulatto slave who despises Tom, along with every other man from the race that binds her. Rachel is free, but is her spirit chained? Solo is chained, but is her spirit free?Tensions between Tom and the planters peak, and the tractor is stolen. “Then a shocking murder sets into motion inextricably linked events and revelations that will change life as they know it for Tom, Rachel, and Solo” (BOOKLIST).Set at a crossroads of United States history, with an old epoch tumbling and the modern age gaining ground, this novel portrays the power struggles and clashing visions for the future of the people caught in the tumult.This is a haunting tale of the Old South, with its sweeping fields of white-gold cotton, its majestic plantations, its elegant gentry, and its embattled slaves. Capturing the turbulent lead-up to the Civil War, this gripping work of historical fiction is a tribute to the timeless call of freedom that sounds in every person's heart. A ringing maverick spirit gives the novel widespread appeal beyond its historical genre.As it delves into the souls of those who want to harness nature and those who want to harness other men, the novel poses questions for our own age: Which camp is on the rise today? Will it save us or destroy us?A DREAM OF DARING STRONGLY APPEALS TO READERS OF:Mystery, romance, and historical romantic suspense novels,Multicultural and interracial romance,United States and Civil War historical fiction,Libertarian and thought-provoking fiction, and books with inspirational and important themes.A DREAM OF DARING: inspiring the spirit through the enchantment of fiction.SEE THE REVIEWS! Scroll down to see the enthusiastic Editorial Reviews for this exciting novel.DON'T FORGET TO LOOK INSIDE! Go to Amazon and click on the LOOK INSIDE feature by the book cover to read the absorbing first pages.EDITORIAL REVIEWS FOR A DREAM OF DARING:“Throughout the narrative, LaGreca masterfully creates metaphors to explore her key themes. . . . A DREAM OF DARING is suspenseful. The crime at the center of the narrative will keep the reader guessing until the final revelation. . . . LaGreca’s exploration of how people respond to, and sometimes reject, change and progress is relevant for all generations.”—ForeWord Reviews"Old ways do not fade into the night quietly. A DREAM OF DARING is a novel set on the dawn of the industrial revolution. Tom Edmunton builds a proto-tractor, and tries to bring a world of change about Louisiana with his invention. But the whiplash is hard, as a loved one is killed, and his invention is stolen. (As Tom is) faced with a crossroads and the charms of multiple women, A DREAM OF DARING is an enticing blend of mystery and romance, much recommended reading."—Midwest Book Review"In 1859, Louisiana posed various challenges to its citizens, no matter their color, in LaGreca's thought-provoking second novel (after Noble Vision, 2005), a murder mystery set during a tumultuous period in American history. . . . (This tale) should attract readers interested in historical fiction set in the antebellum South." —Booklist“Grab your seat for a tumbling ride back to the high-stakes, hoop-flying, tumultuous time when cotton was king. Gen LaGreca takes you for a jaunt in her carriage through fields of fragrant words, luscious descriptions, and panoramic views. Hang on as the road gets bumpy, with zesty characters stirring up the dirt and sudden plot twists swerving you onto uncharted paths. Wait, the hooves have left the ground and you’re airborne till the end. You’ll come back excited, enchanted, and enlightened.”—Barry Farber, host of The Barry Farber Show and author of Cocktails with Molotov“I thoroughly enjoyed the plot twists and turns, the passionate inter-racial romance, the delicious rebellion against convention, and the challenge to subjugation of all kinds.”—Marsha Familaro Enright, President, Reason, Individualism and Freedom Institute“This is a heroic and inspiring novel that’s also packed with rich insights, lessons—and warnings—for today." —John Blundell, author of Ladies for Liberty: Women Who Made a Difference in American HistoryAWARDS FOR THE AUTHOR'S FIRST NOVEL, NOBLE VISION:ForeWord Magazine, Book of the YearFinalist in General FictionWriter’s Digest 13th Annual International Book AwardsHonorable Mention in Mainstream FictionMidwest Book AwardsFinalist in General FictionIllinois Women’s Press AssociationSecond Place in Fiction ContestA DREAM OF DARING is published by Winged Victory Press, Chicago, www.wingedvictorypress.com, inspiring the spirit through the enchantment of fiction.Genevieve (Gen) LaGreca is a Chicago novelist who writes stories with imaginative plots, strong romance, and individualist themes. Her first novel is the award-winning medical thriller Noble Vision. Aside from fiction, Gen also writes social commentary. Her articles have appeared in Forbes, The Orange County Register, The Daily Caller, Real Clear Markets, Mises Daily, and other publications.Gen has a third novel finished and in editing, which she plans to publish by early 2014, and she has completed the screenplay adaptation of Noble Vision. For more information, see www.wingedvictorypress.com.Contact Gen at genlagreca@hotmail.com Follow her on:www.facebook.com/genlagreca www.twitter.com/genlagreca

    Mistakes and misunderstandings. Perseverance and prosperity. This is the story of how a handful of explorers and settlers grew into one of the world’s greatest nations. With US History: An Overview of the Most Important People & Events. The History of United States: From Indians to Contemporary History of America, you’ll meet the leaders that founded and shaped a great nation including Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Richard Nixon and more. But, this short introduction to American History doesn’t stop at who and when. It follows the rollercoaster of events to show you how and why: Columbus’ discovery of an uncharted continent led to rapid colonization by Spanish and European nations. Fierce competition between the Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese divided the North American landmass into multiple territories. A series of great leaders founded a democracy that has withstood centuries of peace and turmoil. War, tragedy, and famine shaped the United States into a modern superpower. The United States Constitution continues to guide and shape the nation today. The major political parties of the past shaped the modern Republican and Democratic parties. This quick glimpse into the most significant people and events in American History reveals the mistakes that tore the country apart and the triumphs that rebuilt it. Start your journey through American History today with US History: An Overview of the Most Important People & Events. The History of United States: From Indians to Contemporary History of America. Scroll up to buy your copy.

     Now, two years later, deep in the Comancheria, Josh Logan rides to fulfill his dying friend’s request. As he rides through the rolling, West Texas hills, blood-thirsty Comanches could wait in the next ravine or around the next hill. Yet, he is determined to fulfill his promise. His message delivered, he must make a decision that could cost him his life. Will Josh stay and help Rory’s father save his ranch from sharp-shooters, murderers, and land-grabbers, or continue to Colorado to join his brother Callum before the snow flies? Logan’s Word, Logan Family Western Series Book One, is a fast-paced, action-packed Western in the tradition of the great Western writer, Louis L’Amour.

    Unfolding in a graveyard over the course of a single night, narrated by a dazzling chorus of voices, Lincoln in the Bardo is a literary experience unlike any other—for no one but Saunders could conceive it.February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy’s body.From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory, where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices—living and dead, historical and invented—to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?

    Grace had already scraped away accumulated dirt and grime to reveal a crudely chiselled out initial, name and date. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Amelia read the inscription.”When their parents died, Amelia and Grace Farrell believed they had no other family. Then out of the blue a letter arrives informing them they have inherited a cottage from their paternal grandfather. Amelia and Grace move into the cottage and make Woodbury their home, but when Grace finds a headstone in the garden, they are plunged straight into an age-old mystery.Infatuated with the handsome vicar, Amelia looks to him for help, and Grace wants to know if he has any gravestones missing. But it is an elderly aunt, and an old diary which hold the answers to secrets long buried. Grace decides to look into their past for the truth, but someone is determined to stop her. Unknowingly, Grace puts both their lives in danger and they realise they must face the consequences so that the dead can be laid to rest at last.1911-1928:When the wrong twin, Laurence Deverell, is brutally murdered, John Farrell does his best to cover up the crime, trying only to protect his wife and daughter. Seventeen years later when history is about to repeat itself, the murderer strikes again, and this time, they make no mistakes.

    From the New York Times bestselling author of Cane River comes the dramatic, intertwining story of two families and their struggles during the tumultuous years that followed the Civil War.

    This simple fact, writes James McPherson, has escaped a generation of historians who have looked to faulty morale, population, economics, and dissent as the causes of Confederate failure. These were all factors, he writes, but the Civil War was still a war--won by the Union army through key victories at key moments.With this brilliant review of how historians have explained the Southern defeat, McPherson opens a fascinating account by several leading historians of how the Union broke the Confederate rebellion. In every chapter, the military struggle takes center stage, as the authors reveal how battlefield decisions shaped the very forces that many scholars (putting the cart before the horse) claim determined the outcome of the war. Archer Jones examines the strategy of the two sides, showing how each had to match its military planning to political necessity. Lee raided north of the Potomac with one eye on European recognition and the other on Northern public opinion--but his inevitable retreats looked like failure to the Southern public. The North, however, developed a strategy of deep raids that was extremely effective because it served a valuable political as well as military purpose, shattering Southern morale by tearing up the interior. Gary Gallagher takes a hard look at the role of generals, narrowing his focus to the crucial triumvirate of Lee, Grant, and Sherman, who towered above the others. Lee's aggressiveness may have been costly, but he well knew the political impact of his spectacular victories; Grant and Sherman, meanwhile, were the first Union generals to fully harness Northern resources and carry out coordinated campaigns. Reid Mitchell shows how the Union's advantage in numbers was enhanced by a dedication and perseverance of federal troops that was not matched by the Confederates after their home front began to collapse. And Joseph Glatthaar examines black troops, whose role is entering the realm of national myth.In 1960, there appeared a collection of essays by major historians, entitled Why the North Won the Civil War, edited by David Donald; it is now in its twenty-sixth printing, having sold well over 100,000 copies. Why the Confederacy Lost provides a parallel volume, written by today's leading authorities. Provocatively argued and engagingly written, this work reminds us that the hard-won triumph of the North was far from inevitable.