Another remarkable collection of poetry from one of America's masters of the medium. The first part gathers together poems of love and nostalgic memory, while Part II portrays confrontations inherent in a racist society. Views: 515
Patrick O'Brian's first novel about the sea, The Golden Ocean, took inspiration from Commodore George Anson's fateful circumnavigation of the globe in 1740. In The Unknown Shore, O'Brian returns to this rich source and mines it brilliantly for another, quite different tale of exploration and adventure.
The Wager was parted from Anson's squadron in the fierce storms off Cape Horn and struggled alone up the coast of Chile until she was driven against the rocks and sank. The survivors were soon involved in trouble of every kind. A surplus of rum, a disappearing stock of food, and a hard, detested captain soon drove them into drunkenness, mutiny, and bloodshed. After many months of privation, a handful of men made their way northward under the guidance of a band of Indians, at last finding safety in Valparaiso.
This saga of survival is the background to the adventures of two young men aboard the Wager: midshipman Jack Byron and his friend Tobias Barrow, an alarmingly naive surgeon's mate. Patrick O'Brian's many devoted readers will take particular interest in this story, as Jack and Toby form a kind of blueprint for Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, the famed heroes of the great Aubrey/Maturin series to come. Views: 515
In the aftermath of World War II, Kuki Kyūzō, a Japanese youth raised in the puppet state of Manchuria, struggles to return home to Japan. What follows is a wild journey involving drugs, smuggling, chases, and capture. Kyūzō finally makes his way to the waters off Japan but finds himself unable to disembark. His nation remains inaccessible to him, and now he questions its very existence. Beasts Head for Home is an acute novel of identity, belonging, and the vagaries of human behavior from an exceptional modern Japanese author. Views: 514
Hailed as a masterpiece since its publication in 1962, The Death of Artemio Cruz is Carlos Fuentes's haunting voyage into the soul of modern Mexico. Its acknowledged place in Latin American fiction and its appeal to a fresh generation of readers have warranted this new translation by Alfred Mac Adam, translator (with the author) of Fuentes's Christopher Unborn.
As in all his fiction, but perhaps most powerfully in this book, Fuentes is a passionate guide to the ironies of Mexican history, the burden of its past, and the anguish of its present. Views: 514
In 'Shooting Star', a famous movie star is found dead on the set of his latest picture - drugs hastily disposed of at the scene of the crime. In 'Spiderweb', Eddie Haines is collecting secrets from his wealthy clients in order to blackmail them. Views: 513
Young Dr. Martin West has just arrived to take up an important medical post on a British island colony in the Tropics which is on the verge of being granted self-government, and where corruption is rife. His chief, Dr. Garland, shows him over an isolation establishment for lepers on a neighbouring island which is to be developed. Soon he is involved in a conflict of personalities and a maze of violent events. At a fiesta, when the population goes crazy with joyous abandon and fancy-dress is worn, a masked murderer kills Dr. Garland's assistant. A second murder follows. Susan Anstruther, the girl Martin falls in love with, almost becomes the third victim. Then Martin goes on the warpath. For a time he finds himself with a lot of riddles and no answers, until Dr. Garland's glamorous wife Celeste gives a dramatic turn to events and precipitates the climax. Views: 513
Young novelist Dave Newton is instantly smitten when he meets blonde, beautiful Peggy. But Peggy has a past full of abuse and terror—and she’s involved with Jerry, a lawyer with mob connections and an old rival from Dave’s college days. Soon, Dave finds himself caught in a love triangle with Peggy and Jerry, desperate to win her affections. But when corpses begin to pile up in Peggy’s wake, Dave must face the truth that either Jerry is a mass murderer—or Peggy is. Views: 513
EDITORIAL REVIEW:A sinister psychic force spreads throughout the galaxy. The Mooffs have issued their ultimatum and, for Perry Rhodan, it spells deadly danger.Meanwhile, seven hundred members of the New Power’s crew are critically ill. The Aras, medical masters of the known universe, must be found. And the answer to their whereabouts lies in an alien world of 250-million-an-hour hurricanes and seas of ammonia…This is the stirring story of– MAN AND MONSTER! Views: 513
Regarded as one of the most important sociological and business commentaries of modern times, The Organization Man developed the first thorough description of the impact of mass organization on American society. During the height of the Eisenhower administration, corporations appeared to provide a blissful answer to postwar life with the marketing of new technologies—television, affordable cars, space travel, fast food—and lifestyles, such as carefully planned suburban communities centered around the nuclear family. William H. Whyte found this phenomenon alarming.As an editor for Fortune magazine, Whyte was well placed to observe corporate America; it became clear to him that the American belief in the perfectibility of society was shifting from one of individual initiative to one that could be achieved at the expense of the individual. With its clear analysis of contemporary working and living arrangements, The Organization Man rapidly... Views: 512
In the year 1754, the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, is shattered by the terrifying cries of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day that had promised new happiness, finds herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War.
It is a harrowing march north. Miriam can only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy stream to be crossed. At the end of the trail waits a life of hard work and, perhaps, even a life of slavery. Mingled with her thoughts of Phineas Whitney, her sweetheart on his way to Harvard, is the crying of her sister’s baby, Captive, born on the trail.
Miriam and her companions finally reach Montreal, a city of shifting loyalties filled with the intrigue of war, and here, by a sudden twist of fortune, Miriam meets the prominent Du Quesne family, who introduce her to a life she has never imagined. Based on an actual narrative diary published in 1807, Calico Captive skillfully reenacts an absorbing facet of history. Views: 512
