Revenant


Carolyn Haines - 2007
    Days later two more bodies appear, begging the question--is a copycat murdererterrorizing Biloxi, or has a serial killerawoken from a twenty-five-year slumber?

JFK: The Dead Witnesses


Craig Roberts - 1994
    Kennedy, more than one hundred witnesses, investigators, and other people linked to the ambush in Dealey Plaza have died. The majority have met their fate under extremely suspicious circumstances. Murders, mysterious accidents, and "suicides" account for more than half of those who have died since that fateful day in 1963. In "JFK: The Dead Witnesses" authors Craig Roberts and John Armstrong present the results of their investigations into the deaths of each of the victims. For the first time, the cases are detailed in chronological order exposing what each witness saw, what they might know, know they died, and how they were connected to the murder of JFK and often, to each other. Follow the trail of bodies through thirty years of intrigue, coverups and scandals as Roberts and Armstrong open the curtain that have for too long hidden the facts behind…the dead witnesses!

Distraction Pieces


Scroobius Pip - 2016
    Distraction Pieces features both curated highlights from the iTunes-chart-topping podcast - from Akala to Howard Marks via the likes of Adam Buxton, Romesh Ranganathan and Amanda Palmer - and exclusive new content, with chapters on politics, social media, music, comedy and more. Featuring illustrations by tattoo artist mr heggie, this is a must-have for fans of the Distraction Pieces podcast, and a must-read for anyone interested in the creative mind.

The Looters


Harold Robbins - 2007
    Money and ego have turned the quest for art into a deadly business in which the superrich battle to possess the rarest and most beautiful objets d'art on Earth.  Sammu-ramat: Queen of Babylon. The first warrior queen in history, called by some the Whore of Babylon. Her golden death mask left a legacy of lust and violence to those who fought to possess it.  Madison Dupre: curator for the billion-dollar Piedmont collection. She fights for her career, her freedom--and her life--after she acquires the fifty-five-million-dollar golden mask of the long dead Babylonian queen.  Coby Lewis: an ex-Navy SEAL, who uses his frogman training to dive for sunken treasure. Madison knows she can't trust him… but she also can't resist him.  Abdul ibn Hussein: His father died protecting the golden mask from thieves. Abdul said that the mask was stolen when the Baghdad museum was looted as American troops entered the city. He also claims that Navy SEALs worked with Iraqis to loot the museum.  New York, London, Zurich, and Malaga are the venues as the heat is turned on Madison--and she goes on the run to clear her name and save her life.

Yours in Truth: A Personal Portrait of Ben Bradlee, Journalism's Legendary Editor


Jeff Himmelman - 2012
    “But I don’t give a [expletive deleted] what you write about me.”   So begins Ben, an intimate portrait of a fixture on the American scene for nearly half a century—close friend to John F. Kennedy, the center of D.C. social life, and a crusty, charismatic editor whose decisions at the helm of the Post during Watergate changed the course of history. Granted unprecedented access to Bradlee and his colleagues, friends, and private files, Himmelman draws on never-before-seen internal Post memos, correspondence, personal photographs, and private interviews to trace the full arc of Bradlee’s forty-five year career—from his early days as a press attaché in postwar Paris through the Pentagon Papers, Richard Nixon’s resignation, the Janet Cooke fabrication scandal, and beyond. Himmelman also unearths a series of surprises—about Watergate, and about Bradlee’s private relationships with Post owner Katharine Graham and President Kennedy and his wife, Jackie.   “Don’t feel you have to protect me,” Bradlee told Himmelman whenever the reporting started to strike close to home. “Follow your nose.” Those instructions, familiar to any Post reporter, have resulted in this thoughtfully constructed and beautifully written account of a magnetic man whose career has come to define the golden age of newspapers in America, when the press battled for its freedom—and won.

A Season in the Sun


Roger Kahn - 1978
    The result is this book, in which Kahn reports on a small college team’s successes and hopes, a young New England ball club, a failing major league franchise, and a group of heroes on the national stage.

Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local - and Helped Save an American Town


Beth Macy - 2014
    The Bassett Furniture Company was once the world's biggest wood furniture manufacturer. Run by the same powerful Virginia family for generations, it was also the center of life in Bassett, Virginia. But beginning in the 1980s, the first waves of Asian competition hit, and ultimately Bassett was forced to send its production overseas. One man fought back: John Bassett III, a shrewd and determined third-generation factory man, now chairman of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co, which employs more than 700 Virginians and has sales of more than $90 million. In Factory Man, Beth Macy brings to life Bassett's deeply personal furniture and family story, along with a host of characters from an industry that was as cutthroat as it was colorful. As she shows how he uses legal maneuvers, factory efficiencies, and sheer grit and cunning to save hundreds of jobs, she also reveals the truth about modern industry in America.

The Best American Essays 2012


Robert Atwan - 2012
    Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected — and most popular — of its kind.The Best American Essays 2012 includesMarcia Angell, Miah Arnold, Mark Doty, Joseph Epstein, Jonathan Franzen,Malcolm Gladwell, Francine Prose, Lauren Slater,Sandra Tsing Loh, Jose Antonio Vargas, and others

American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds


James Maguire - 2006
    Here is a captivating slice of Americana - part sporting event, part absorbing human drama, and part celebration of the magic of words.Every spring in the nation's capital, after a starting pool of 10 million kids narrows to 250 finalists, America's top young spellers face off in a nail-biting contest. So electric is the drama that millions of viewers tune in to watch ESPN's live telecastBut this national obsession is much more than a sporting story - and this first-ever narrative nonfiction book about the National Spelling Bee immerses the reader in unique subculture, portraying the endearing fraternity of brilliant, eccentric young word nerds who vie for a gold trophy, a hefty check, and a glorious moment of national fame.Author James Maguire, who like the contestants is an inveterate word nut, captures the agony and glory of this singularly American event. He profiles the top five spellers across the country, exploring their hopes and dreams - and strategies for winning - as they prepare for their moment in the spotlight. American Bee takes readers behind the scenes at the National Bee, providing a narrative thrill ride as the tension mounts round by round.

It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music


Amanda Petrusich - 2008
    Through interviews, road stories, geographical and sociological interpretations, and detailed music criticism, Petrusich traces the rise of Americana music from its gospel origins through its new and compelling incarnations (as evidenced in bands and artists from Elvis to Iron and Wine, the Carter Family to Animal Collective, Johnny Cash to Will Oldham) and explores how the genre is adapting to the twenty-first century. Ultimately the book is an examination of all things American: guitars, cars, kids, motion, passion, enterprise, and change, in a fervent attempt to reconcile the American past with the American present, using only dusty records and highway maps as guides.

Going to the Wars


Max Hastings - 2000
    'A superb account of journalists, soldiers and the experience of modern battle, written by one of the greatest war reporters of our time' Robert Harris

Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate


Bob Woodward - 1999
    "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over," President Ford declared.But it was not. The Watergate scandal, and the remedies against future abuses of power, would have an enduring impact on presidents and the country. In Shadow, Bob Woodward takes us deep into the administrations of Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton to describe how each discovered that the presidency was forever altered. With special emphasis on the human toll, Woodward shows the consequences of the new ethics laws, and the emboldened Congress and media. Powerful investigations increasingly stripped away the privacy and protections once expected by the nation's chief executive.Shadow is an authoritative, unsettling narrative of the modern, beleaguered presidency.

A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures


Ben Bradlee - 1995
    of photos.

Maybe the Saddest Thing: Poems


Marcus Wicker - 2012
    Powell, Marcus Wicker's Maybe the Saddest Thing is a sterling collection of contemporary American poems by an exciting new and emerging voice.

Talking Back: ...to Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels


Andrea Mitchell - 2005
    She's been labeled a pushy broad, yet her intelligence, tenacity, and ability to always be where the action is have catapulted her to the top of her profession. As one of America's most watched correspondents, Mitchell has regularly shared her observations with millions of television viewers for more than three decades.Time and again, Mitchell has proven herself by taking on the tough assignments— starting with her first posting abroad in Guyana after the previous NBC correspondent had been murdered by Jim Jones’s henchmen. She has had unique access to all the presidents and their staffs from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush, and here gives us her unvarnished insights into these men and those who surround them. Whether it was revealing that Ronald Reagan’s napping caused the delay of a space shuttle landing, conducting exclusive interviews with Fidel Castro, or accompanying Condoleezza Rice on her first trip abroad as secretary of state, she is known as the one to beat to the story.But what sets this book apart is not only the unique front-row seat Mitchell has in the political world, but also the role she plays in the glamorous social scene in Washington. Her marriage to Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, has created professional challenges, but also given her special entrée to the “A” list drawing rooms of Washington and other capitals. Here she gives us glimpses of what it’s like to go from a 7 p.m. newscast to an 8 p.m. black-tie party, to go from being the reporter staking out a state dinner to being one of the invited guests.Smart and candidly written, Mitchell’s memoir will be a must read for anyone interested in politics and current affairs and will also fascinate anyone who wonders what it’s like to be a powerful woman in a man’s world.