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This &“revealing dual biography . . . succeeds in lifting up two underappreciated figures of the antislavery movement" (Publishers Weekly).…
In the 1820s, few Americans could imagine a viable future for black children. In Educated for Freedom, Anna Mae Duane tells the story of James McCune Smith and Henry Highland Garnet, two black children who came of age and into freedom as their country struggled to grow from a slave nation into a free country. Smith and Garnet met as schoolboys at the Mulberry Street New York African Free School, an educational experiment created by founding fathers who believed in freedom&’s power to transform the country. Smith became the first African American to run a pharmacy and used his medical expertise to refute notions of black inferiority. Garnet became a minister whose oratory reputation surpassed even that of Frederick Douglass. The sons of enslaved mothers, these schoolboy friends would go on to travel the world, address Congress, and speak before cheering crowds of thousands. The lessons they took from their days at the New York African Free School #2 shed light on how antebellum Americans viewed black children as symbols of America&’s possible future. The story of their lives, their work, and their friendship testifies to the imagination and activism of the free black community that shaped the national journey toward freedom.American Hostage: A Memoir Of A Journalist Kidnapped In Iraq And The Remarkable Battle To Win His Release
By Micah Garen, Marie-Hélène Carleton. 2005
A rare and powerful story of hope, love, survival,and the struggle to bring back alive a hostage in Iraq Micah…
Garen and Marie-Hélène Carleton were journalists and filmmakers working in Iraq on a documentary about the looting of the country's legendary archaeological sites, with their Iraqi translator Amir Doshi. In the late summer of 2004, they began to wrap up their work, and Marie-Hélène returned home while Micah remained for a final two weeks of filming. As Micah and Amir were filming in a Nasiriyah market, something went horribly wrong: Micah, who wore a bushy mustache and was dressed in Iraqi clothing, was unmasked as a foreigner and kidnapped by militants in southern Iraq. Home in New York, Marie-Hélène awoke to a gut-wrenching phone call from Micah's mother with word of his abduction. She promised Micah's mother the impossible--that together they would bring Micah back alive. American Hostage is the remarkable memoir of Micah Garen's harrowing abduction and survival in captivity, as well as the heroic and successful struggle of Marie-Hélène; Micah's sister, Eva; along with family and friends to win Micah's and Amir's release from their captors. The world watched and waited as Micah's drama unfolded, but the authors, now safely home and engaged to be married, detail the dramatic untold story. After learning of Micah's abduction, Marie-Hélène took a risky and unusual step: instead of relying on the authorities to rescue Micah, she used her recent experience in Iraq to construct a massive grassroots effort to reach out to Micah's captors and plead for his release. As fighting between Coalition forces and the Mahdi Army raged in Najaf, Micah and Amir became pawns in a terrible political game. The kidnappers released a video threatening to kill Micah unless the United States withdrew from Najaf within forty-eight hours. In response, Marie-Hélène's and Micah's families redoubled their efforts, eventually sending a representative to Nasiriyah to lobby for Micah. While Marie-Hélène worked on his release, Micah, imprisoned alongside Amir under armed guard deep in the marshes of southern Iraq, lived the nightmare of a hostagehaunted by the alternating impulses of hope and despair, his desire for survival and plans of escape. His experience reveals a great deal about the lives and minds of militants in southern Iraq. American Hostage is an engrossing and rare story of how hope, love, and communal effort can overcome war, distance, and cultural differences in Iraq.Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern-Day Matchmaker
By Samantha Daniels. 2005
Fans of Sex and the City and Bridget Jones's Diary, and anyone who loves to date vicariously, will fall in…
love with Matchbook. In this irresistible read, America's hippest Matchmaker borrows from her real-life experiences to create an urban love story about searching for "The One." When people learn what Samantha Daniels does for a living, they have to know more: How did she become a Match-maker? How many matches have led to marriage? How does it work? Who's her craziest client? And most of all, how can a Matchmaker be single? Samantha Daniels is unlike any Matchmaker you've ever heard of. Young, ambitious, and, yes, single, she's the founder of Samantha's Table, an introduction service that caters to singles in New York and Los Angeles who are ready to invest seriously in the task of finding The One. After handpicking their matches, Daniels works with her clients as their cheerleader, part-time therapist, dating coach, voice of reason, and closest confidante as she helps them down the road to happily ever after. Readers learn how Daniels started her Matchmaking business (How much do you charge for finding the love of someone's life? How do you screen out the Undatables?) and get to know the colorful cast of characters whom she fondly refers to as her "Desperados." There's Mr. Cheapskate, Miss Manhunt, and Looks Good from Afar Guy. There's the 39-year-old female corporate exec who wants a husband yesterday; there's the guy who will only date women worthy of Brad Pitt; there's the gazillionaire who offers a $60,000 bonus if Samantha can find him a supermodel wife; there's the very well endowed woman who's having trouble finding men attracted to her mind; and a host of others. Will Samantha be able to make them a match? And more importantly, will this Matchmaker find herself a match? You would think that meeting hundreds of single men would make dating a snap, but not even a Matchmaker can avoid the pitfalls of single life. Readers are introduced to another lively cast of characters -- the men that Daniels herself dates. Readers meet the many Not for Me Guys and a few Maybe for Me Guys, to see that even a celebrated Matchmaker can be a Desperado herself. Throughout the book, Daniels also offers real dating advice (such as the most common first-date mistakes and tried-and-true conversation topics) and secrets of the trade (why September is the best month for Matchmaking). Like a real-life episode of The Bachelor, Matchbook is a wild ride through the flirty, unpredictable world of urban dating, with a wise and witty guide at the helm. For those who love romance and anyone looking for love, Matchbook is a perfect match.&“Compellingly chronicles one of the least studied great episodes of World War II with power and authority…A riveting read&” (Donald…
L. Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Masters of the Air) about World War II&’s largest airborne operation—one that dropped 17,000 Allied paratroopers deep into the heart of Nazi Germany.On the morning of March 24, 1945, more than two thousand Allied aircraft droned through a cloudless sky toward Germany. Escorted by swarms of darting fighters, the armada of transport planes carried 17,000 troops to be dropped, via parachute and glider, on the far banks of the Rhine River. Four hours later, after what was the war&’s largest airdrop, all major objectives had been seized. The invasion smashed Germany&’s last line of defense and gutted Hitler&’s war machine; the war in Europe ended less than two months later.Four Hours of Fury follows the 17th Airborne Division as they prepare for Operation Varsity, a campaign that would rival Normandy in scale and become one of the most successful and important of the war. Even as the Third Reich began to implode, it was vital for Allied troops to have direct access into Germany to guarantee victory—the 17th Airborne secured that bridgehead over the River Rhine. And yet their story has until now been relegated to history&’s footnotes.In this viscerally exciting account, paratrooper-turned-historian James Fenelon &“details every aspect of the American 17th Airborne Division&’s role in Operation Varsity...inspired&” (The Wall Street Journal). Reminiscent of A Bridge Too Far and Masters of the Air, Four Hours of Fury does for the 17th Airborne what Band of Brothers did for the 101st. It is a captivating, action-packed tale of heroism and triumph spotlighting one of World War II&’s most under-chronicled and dangerous operations.Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria
By Kevin F. McMurray. 2001
An in-depth look at the danger of diving the Andrea Doria, the "Everest" of deep-sea diving, by an award-winning journalist…
and photographer.On a foggy July evening in 1956, the Italian cruise liner Andrea Doria, bound for New York, was struck broadside by another vessel. In eleven hours, she would sink nearly 250 feet to the murky Atlantic Ocean floor. Thanks to a daring rescue operation, only fifty-one of more than 1,700 people died in the tragedy. But the Andrea Doria is still taking lives. Considered the Mount Everest of diving, the Andrea Doria is the ultimate deepwater wreck challenge. Over the years, a small but fanatical group of extreme scuba divers have investigated the Andrea Doria, pushing themselves to the very limits of human endurance to explore her—and not all have returned. Diver Kevin McMurray takes you inside this elite club with a hard, honest look at those who go deeper, farther, and closer to the edge than others would ever dream.Deep Descent is the riveting true story of the human spirit overcoming human frailty and of fearsome, mortal risks traded for a hard-core adrenaline rush. Chronicling these adventures in his page-turning narrative and in dozens of dramatic photos, McMurray draws us deeper into the cold heart of the unforgiving sea, giving us a powerful vision of a place to which few will ever have the skills—or the courage—to go.The Clinton Tapes: Conversations with a President, 1993–2001
By Taylor Branch. 2009
Taylor Branch’s groundbreaking book about the modern presidency, The Clinton Tapes, invites readers into private dialogue with a gifted, tormented,…
resilient president. Here is what President Clinton thought and felt but could not say in public.This book rests upon a secret project, initiated by Clinton, to preserve for future historians an unfiltered record of presidential experience. During his eight years in office, between 1993 and 2001, Clinton answered questions and told stories in the White House, usually late at night. His friend Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch recorded seventy-nine of these dialogues to compile a trove of raw information about a presidency as it happened. Clinton drew upon the diary transcripts for his memoir in 2004. Branch recorded his own detailed recollections immediately after each session, covering not only the subjects discussed but also the look and feel of each evening with the president. The text engages Clinton from many angles. Readers hear candid stories, feel buffeting pressures, and weigh vivid descriptions of the White House settings. Branch's firsthand narrative is confessional, unsparing, and personal. The author admits straying at times from his primary role -- to collect raw material for future historians -- because his discussions with Clinton were unpredictable and intense. What should an objective prompter say when the President of the United States seeks advice, argues facts, or lodges complaints against the press? The dynamic relationship that emerges from these interviews is both affectionate and charged, with flashes of anger and humor. President Clinton drives the history, but this story is also about friends. The Clinton Tapes highlights major events of Clinton's two terms, including wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, the failure of health care reform, peace initiatives on three continents, the anti-deficit crusade, and titanic political struggles from Whitewater to American history's second presidential impeachment trial. Along the way, Clinton delivers colorful portraits of countless political figures and world leaders from Nelson Mandela to Pope John Paul II. These unprecedented White House dialogues will become a staple of presidential scholarship. Branch's masterly account opens a new window on a controversial era and Bill Clinton's eventual place among our chief executives.Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life
By Jane Pauley. 2014
Jane Pauley, &“America&’s baby boomer&” (Tom Brokaw) and the new anchor of CBS Sunday Morning, offers an inspirational guidebook &“chockablock…
with keen insights for career transitions&” (USA TODAY).In 2014, every baby boomer will have reached the milestone age of fifty. For most, it&’s not an end, but the beginning of something new. Research has shown that people in their fifties are more vital now than they were only ten years ago. They&’re saying, &“I&’m game, I&’m up for it, I want to do more.&” Jane Pauley, one of America&’s most beloved and trusted broadcast journalists, offers humor and insight about the journey forward. The New York Times bestseller Your Life Calling is a fresh look at ideas that have been simmering since boomers first entered midlife with a different perspective on the future than any generation before: that there was more to come—and perhaps the best of all.Jane is not an advice giver but a storyteller. Here she tells her own and introduces readers to the fascinating people she has featured on her award-winning Today show segment, &“Life Reimagined Today.&” You&’ll meet Betsy McCarthy, who traded in her executive briefcase for knitting needles; Gid Pool, who launched a career as a stand-up comic; Richard Rittmaster, who joined the National Guard Chaplain Corps; Trudy Lundgren, who took her home on the road in an RV; Paulie Gee, who opened a successful pizzeria in Brooklyn; and many more.&“Jane Pauley is a wonderful guide to all the different ways you can open new doors in life, many of which lead to unexpected places. She shows with humor and insight why the journey to reinvention can come from all kinds of places and produce all kinds of joys&” (Michael J. Fox). Your Life Calling is delightful, compelling, and motivating for anyone asking &“What am I going to do with my supersized life?&”Republic of Dreams: Greenwich Village: The American Bohemia, 1910–1960
By Ross Wetzsteon. 2003
If the twentieth century was the American century, it can be argued that it was more specifically the New York…
century, and Greenwich Village was the incubator of every important writer, artist, and political movement of the period. From the century's first decade through the era of beatniks and modern art in the 1950s and '60s, Greenwich Village was the destination for rebellious men and women who flocked there from all over the country to fulfill their artistic, political, and personal dreams. It has been called the most significant square mile in American cultural history, for it holds the story of the rise and fall of American socialism, women's suffrage, and the commercialization of the avant-garde. One Villager went so far as to say that "everything started in the Village except Prohibition," and in the 1940s, the young actress Lucille Ball said, "The Village is the greatest place in the world." What other community could claim a spectrum ranging from Henry James to Marlon Brando, from Marcel Duchamp to Bob Dylan, from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney to Abbie Hoffman? The story of the Village is, in large part, the stories old Villagers have told new Villagers about former Villagers, and to tell its story is in large part to tell its legends. Republic of Dreams presents the remarkable, outrageous, often interrelated biographies of the giants of American journalism, poetry, drama, radical politics, and art who flocked to the Village for nearly half a century, among them Eugene O'Neill, whose plays were first produced by the Provincetown Players on Macdougal Street, for whom Edna St. Vincent Millay also wrote; Jackson Pollock, who moved to the Village from Wyoming in 1930 and was soon part of the group of 8th Street painters who would revolutionize Western painting; E. E. Cummings, who lived for years on Patchin Place, as did Djuna Barnes; Max Eastman, who edited the groundbreaking literary and political journal The Masses, which introduced Freud to the American public and also published Sherwood Anderson, Amy Lowell, Upton Sinclair, Maksim Gorky, and John Reed's reporting on the Russian Revolution. Republic of Dreams is beautifully researched, outspoken, wise, hip, exuberant, a monumental, definitive history that will endure for decades to come.Not a Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson
By Kent Babb. 2015
Shortlisted for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing&“A searingly honest and intimate portrait of a captivating icon.&” —Baxter Holmes,…
ESPN NBA reporterThrough extensive research and interviews with those closest to Iverson, acclaimed Washington Post sportswriter Kent Babb gets behind the familiar, sanitized, and heroic version of the hard-changing, hard-partying athlete who played every game as if it were his last.Former NBA superstar Allen Iverson was once one of America&’s most famous athletes: a trendsetter who transcended race, celebrity, and pop culture, and emerged from a troubled past to become one of the most successful and highly compensated athletes in the world. Now, his life and career come vividly to light in this &“searingly honest&” (Baxter Holmes) biography.Babb brings to life a private, loyal, and often generous Allen Iverson who rarely made the headlines, revealing the back story behind some of Iverson&’s most memorable moments, such as his infamous &“Practice&” rant, delving even deeper to discover where Iverson&’s demons lurked. He drank too much, stayed out too late, spent more money than most people could spend in a dozen lifetimes—blowing more than $150 million of his NBA earnings alone.His then wife Tawanna, seen often as the mild-mannered woman who tamed the bad boy, tried to keep her husband and family on the rails. But, as so many others learned on basketball courts, she was no match for the force of nature that was Iverson. Jealousy, meanness, and relentless eventually wore down even his biggest fans, teammates, and, eventually, even his most formidable opponent.Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota (Chuck Klosterman On Rock Ser.)
By Chuck Klosterman. 2001
Empirically proving that—no matter where you are—kids wanna rock, this is Chuck Klosterman's hilrious memoir of growing up as a…
shameless metalhead in Wyndmere, North Dakotoa (population: 498).With a voice like Ace Frehley's guitar, Klosterman hacks his way through hair-band history, beginning with that fateful day in 1983 when his older brother brought home Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil. The fifth-grade Chuck wasn't quite ready to rock—his hair was too short and his farm was too quiet—but he still found a way to bang his nappy little head. Before the journey was over, he would slow-dance to Poison, sleep innocently beneath satanic pentagrams, lust for Lita Ford, and get ridiculously intellectual about Guns N' Roses. C'mon and feel his noize.General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse
By Joseph Glatthaar. 2009
"You would be surprised to see what men we have in the ranks," Virginia cavalryman Thomas Rowland informed his mother…
in May 1861, just after joining the Army of Northern Virginia. His army -- General Robert E. Lee's army -- was a surprise to almost everyone: With daring early victories and an invasion into the North, they nearly managed to convince the North to give up the fight. Even in 1865, facing certain defeat after the loss of 30,000 men, a Louisiana private fighting in Lee's army still had hope. "I must not despair," he scribbled in his diary. "Lee will bring order out of chaos, and with the help of our Heavenly Father, all will be well." Astonishingly, after 150 years of scholarship, there are still some major surprises about the Army of Northern Virginia. In General Lee's Army, renowned historian Joseph T. Glatthaar draws on an impressive range of sources assembled over two decades -- from letters and diaries, to official war records, to a new, definitive database of statistics -- to rewrite the history of the Civil War's most important army and, indeed, of the war itself. Glatthaar takes readers from the home front to the heart of the most famous battles of the war: Manassas, the Peninsula campaign, Antietam, Gettysburg, all the way to the final surrender at Appomattox. General Lee's Army penetrates headquarters tents and winter shanties, eliciting the officers' plans, wishes, and prayers; it portrays a world of life, death, healing, and hardship; it investigates the South's commitment to the war and its gradual erosion; and it depicts and analyzes Lee's men in triumph and defeat. The history of Lee's army is a powerful lens on the entire war. The fate of Lee's army explains why the South almost won -- and why it lost. The story of his men -- their reasons for fighting, their cohesion, mounting casualties, diseases, supply problems, and discipline problems -- tells it all. Glatthaar's definitive account settles many historical arguments. The Rebels were fighting above all to defend slavery. More than half of Lee's men were killed, wounded, or captured -- a staggering statistic. Their leader, Robert E. Lee, though far from perfect, held an exalted place in his men's eyes despite a number of mistakes and despite a range of problems among some of his key lieutenants. General Lee's Army is a masterpiece of scholarship and vivid storytelling, narrated as much as possible in the words of the enlisted men and their officers.The Price of Illusion: A Memoir
By Joan Juliet Buck. 2017
From Joan Juliet Buck, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris and &“one of the most compelling personalities in the world of…
style&” (New York Times) comes her dazzling, compulsively readable memoir: a fabulous account of four decades spent in the creative heart of London, New York, Los Angeles, and Paris—&“If you loved The Devil Wears Prada, you&’ll adore The Price of Illusion&” (Elle).In a book as rich and dramatic as the life she&’s led, Joan Juliet Buck takes us into the splendid illusions of film, fashion, and fame to reveal, in stunning, sensual prose, the truth behind the artifice. The only child of a volatile movie producer betrayed by his dreams, she became a magazine journalist at nineteen to reflect and record the high life she&’d been brought up in, a choice that led her into a hall of mirrors where she was both magician and dupe. After a career writing for Vogue and Vanity Fair, she was named the first American woman to edit VogueParis. The vivid adventures of this thoughtful, incisive writer at the hub of dreams across two continents over fifty years are hilarious and heartbreaking. Including a spectacular cast of carefully observed legends, monsters, and stars (just look at the index!), this is the moving account of a remarkable woman&’s rocky passage through glamour and passion, filial duty and family madness, in search of her true self.Almost Worthy: The Poor, Paupers, and the Science of Charity in America, 1877–1917
By Brent Ruswick. 2012
A history and analysis of scientific charity organizations that arose in late nineteenth century America.In the 1880s, social reform leaders…
warned that the “unworthy” poor were taking charitable relief intended for the truly deserving. Armed with statistics and confused notions of evolution, these “scientific charity” reformers founded organizations intent on limiting access to relief by the most morally, biologically, and economically unfit. Brent Ruswick examines a prominent national organization for scientific social reform and poor relief in Indianapolis in order to understand how these new theories of poverty gave birth to new programs to assist the poor.“Ruswick’s well-researched monograph traces the history of the charity organization society in the US from its origins in the Gilded Age to its merging with social work in the Progressive Era. . . . Recommended.” —Choice“[This] study provides a welcome insight into the inner workings of charity organization societies and their drive to eliminate poverty.” —Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Volume43, Issue 4, 2014“Almost Worthy offers a lot of interesting detail pulled from COS case files, professional conference proceedings, journals of the field, and more; some possibly fruitful hypotheses about what to make of changes in COS approaches over time; thoughtful new propositions about the relationship between scientific charity and eugenics (including some charity reformers’ apparent remorse); and a fresh, new mini-biography of Oscar McCulloch interspersed throughout.” —H-SHGAPE“Brent Ruswick wants to put the science back into scientific charity. He argues that the essence of organized charity was not its class prejudices and censorious attitude toward the poor, but rather its belief that systematic evidence-gathering could serve to improve the quality of charity work and public policy.” —American Historical Review, Volume119, Issue 4, October 2014Rights Talk: The Impoverishment Of Political Discourse
By Mary Ann Glendon. 1993
Political speech in the United States is undergoing a crisis. Glendon's acclaimed book traces the evolution of the strident language…
of rights in America and shows how it has captured the nation's devotion to individualism and liberty, but omitted the American traditions of hospitality and care for the community.The Ambassadors: America's Diplomats on the Front Lines
By Paul Richter. 2019
Veteran diplomatic correspondent Paul Richter goes behind the battles and the headlines to show how American ambassadors are the unconventional…
warriors in the Muslim world—running local government, directing drone strikes, building nations, and risking their lives on the front lines.The tale&’s heroes are a small circle of top career diplomats who have been an unheralded but crucial line of national defense in the past two decades of wars in the greater Middle East. In The Ambassadors, Paul Richter shares the astonishing, true-life stories of four expeditionary diplomats who &“do the hardest things in the hardest places.&”The book describes how Ryan Crocker helped rebuild a shattered Afghan government after the fall of the Taliban and secretly negotiated with the shadowy Iranian mastermind General Qassim Suleimani to wage war in Afghanistan and choose new leaders for post-invasion Iraq. Robert Ford, assigned to be a one-man occupation government for an Iraqi province, struggled to restart a collapsed economy and to deal with spiraling sectarian violence—and was taken hostage by a militia. In Syria at the eruption of the civil war, he is chased by government thugs for defying the country&’s ruler. J. Christopher Stevens is smuggled into Libya as US Envoy to the rebels during its bloody civil war, then returns as ambassador only to be killed during a terror attach in Benghazi. War-zone veteran Anne Patterson is sent to Pakistan, considered the world&’s most dangerous country, to broker deals that prevent a government collapse and to help guide the secret war on jihadists.&“An important and illuminating read&” (The Washington Post) and the winner of the prestigious Douglas Dillon Book Award from the American Academy of Diplomacy, The Ambassadors is a candid examination of the career diplomatic corps, America&’s first point of contact with the outside world, and a critical piece of modern-day history.Sunny Days: The Children's Television Revolution That Changed America
By David Kamp. 2020
One of the &“Best Books&” of the year from The Smithsonian, The Washington Independent Review, and more!From bestselling writer David…
Kamp, the &“fun, fascinating, and surprisingly touching,&” (People) behind-the-scenes story of the cultural heroes who created the beloved children&’s TV programs Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Mister Rogers&’ Neighborhood, Free to Be…Youand Me, and Schoolhouse Rock!—which transformed American childhood for the better, teaching kids about diversity, the ABCs, and feminism through a fun, funky 1970s lens.With a foreword by Questlove.In 1970, on a soundstage on Manhattan&’s Upper West Side, a group of men, women, and Muppets of various ages and colors worked doggedly to finish the first season of a children&’s TV program that was not yet assured a second season: Sesame Street. They were conducting an experiment to see if television could be used to better prepare disadvantaged preschoolers for kindergarten. What they didn&’t know then was that they were starting a cultural revolution that would affect all American kids.In Sunny Days, bestselling author David Kamp captures the unique political and social moment that gave us not only Sesame Street, but also Fred Rogers&’s gentle yet brave Mister Rogers&’ Neighborhood; Marlo Thomas&’s unabashed gender politics primer Free to Be…You and Me; Schoolhouse Rock!, an infectious series of educational shorts dreamed up by Madison Ave admen; and more, including The Electric Company and ZOOM. It was a unique time when an uncommon number of media professionals and thought leaders leveraged their influence to help children learn—and, just as notably, a time of unprecedented buy-in from American parents.&“Sunny Days is full of such nostalgic jolts…it makes the era a pleasure to revisit&” (The Wall Street Journal) and captures a wondrous period in the US when a determined few proved that, with persistence and effort, they could change the lives of millions. It is &“a lively and bewitching recounting of a particularly ripe period in television and cultural history&” (The New York Times Book Review) and, as the Los Angeles Times notes, &“a sublime book about a variety of creative people coming together not in the pursuit of fame or money, but to enrich the lives of children.&”Thomas Jefferson: Author of America (Eminent Lives)
By Christopher Hitchens. 2005
"A balanced, readable portrait. A refreshing perspective.” —New York Times Book ReviewWith intelligence, insight, eloquence, and wit, bestselling author Christopher…
Hitchens gives us an artful portrait of a complex, formative figure in American history and his turbulent era.In this unique biography of Thomas Jefferson, leading journalist and social critic Christopher Hitchens offers a startlingly new and provocative interpretation of our Founding Father—a man conflicted by power who wrote the Declaration of Independence and acted as ambassador to France yet yearned for a quieter career in the Virginia legislature. A masterly writer, Jefferson was an awkward public speaker. A professed proponent of emancipation, he elided the issue of slavery from the Declaration of Independence and continued to own human property. A reluctant candidate, he left an indelible presidential legacy.No Place to Hide
By Robert O'Harrow Jr.. 2005
In No Place to Hide, award-winning Washington Post reporter Robert O'Harrow, Jr., lays out in unnerving detail the post-9/11 marriage…
of private data and technology companies and government anti-terror initiatives to create something entirely new: a security-industrial complex. Drawing on his years of investigation, O'Harrow shows how the government now depends on burgeoning private reservoirs of information about almost every aspect of our lives to promote homeland security and fight the war on terror. Consider the following: When you use your cell phone, the phone company knows where you are and when. If you use a discount card, your grocery and prescription purchases are recorded, profiled, and analyzed. Many new cars have built-in devices that enable companies to track from afar details about your movements. Software and information companies can even generate graphical link-analysis charts illustrating exactly how each person in a room is related to every other -- through jobs, roommates, family, and the like. Almost anyone can buy a dossier on you, including almost everything it takes to commit identity theft, for less than fifty dollars. It may sound like science fiction, but it's the routine activity of the nation's fast-growing information industry and, more and more, its new partner the U.S. government. With unrivaled access, O'Harrow tells the inside stories of key players in this new world, from software inventors to counterintelligence officials. He reveals how the government is creating a national intelligence infrastructure with the help of private companies. And he examines the impact of this new security system on our traditional notions of civil liberties, autonomy, and privacy, and the ways it threatens to undermine some of our society's most cherished values, even while offering us a sense of security. This eye-opening examination takes readers behind the walls of secrecy and shows how we are rushing toward a surveillance society with few rules to guide and protect us. In this new world of high-tech domestic intelligence, there is literally no place to hide.Made in America: The Most Dominant Champion in UFC History (Ultimate Fighting Championship Ser.)
By Matt Hughes, Michael Malice. 2008
If you know anything at all about mixed martial arts and the UFC, then you know the name Matt Hughes.…
With devastating slams and ground-and-pound -- and nine championship belts to his credit -- Matt is the most dominant fighter in UFC history. Matt was raised with his twin brother on a family farm in small-town Hillsboro, Illinois. Behind the postcard-perfect fields of corn, beans, and wheat stood a home consumed by bankruptcy, tension, and interpersonal struggles, but Matt reacted to hard times by playing hard and working even harder. In high school and college Matt was an unstoppable wrestler, and he ended up a two-time Division I All-American. Whereas every year's top eight graduating college football players become instant millionaires, Matt got to stay on as assistant wrestling coach, doing electrical work on the side for fourteen dollars an hour. All of that changed the day he met legendary MMA manager Monte Cox, as well as Pat Miletich, a trainer who also happened to be the welterweight champion of the world. Rising through the ranks of the independent fighting circuit and the UFC, Matt saw things that fans could only catch glimpses of -- until now. For the first time, a major UFC superstar has decided to answer all the questions the fans have about him, the organization, and the sport. You'll learn which fighter almost sent Matt packing from mixed martial arts; why he refused to speak to his role model, Randy Couture; and what his relationship with UFC president Dana White is like. He reveals in which match he found himself praying to God for help, why he originally refused a shot at the world title, and what it's like training at the Miletich Fighting Camp. Matt describes working on TV's The Ultimate Fighter, what really happened to Tito Ortiz during the legendary brawl on the streets of London, just how personal his rivalry with Frank Trigg became, and what it was like to go up against the mythical Royce Gracie -- and destroy him. Matt discloses his most private thoughts and feelings during both his epic victories and his crushing losses. But when the gloves come off, there's Matt Hughes the man. He talks with unflinching honesty about his early hell-raising and his near-death experience, the moment he let God into his heart, falling in love with his wife, the birth of his daughter, and all the important events of his life -- and he shares personal photographs never before seen by the public. A Christian, a family man, and a fighter, Matt Hughes could only have been made in America.The Unauthorized History of DX (Wwe Ser.)
By Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Aaron Williams. 2009
The inside story of DX, otherwise known as, D Generation-X, from their formation to today told by the men who…
created it.DX is generally considered one of the most popular factions in professional wrestling history, not to mention, one of the most notable. D-Generation X, as they were also known, headed by Triple H and Shawn Michaels and had a changing roster of rebels who did whatever they wanted, whenever, wherever- regardless of the ultimate outcome.Created as a way for two friends to work together, the clique became so popular that other wrestlers joined, and DX became one of the factions in WWE climbing back to the top and putting Ted Turner's WCW out of business.