Introduction by Terry Tempest Williams
Afterword by T. H. Watkins
Called a “magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom” by Howard Frank Mosher in The Washington Post Book World, Crossing to Safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage. Views: 359
EDITORIAL REVIEW:
David McCullough is known to millions as the author of the critically acclaimed, best-selling books *The Great Bridge, The Path Between the Seas,* and *Mornings on Horseback,* and as host of the popular PBS television series "Smithsonian World?' *The Johnstown Flood,* David McCullough's first book, was praised by *Time* magazine as a "meticulously researched, vivid account of one of the most stunning disasters in U.S. history."
At the end of the last century, Johnstown,.Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hard-working families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity: among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 townspeople. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal.
From research in the voluminous records, diaries, letters, interviews with numbers of survivors, and a rare, previously unknown transcript of a private investigation conducted by the Pennsylvania Railroad, David McCullough vividly re-creates the chain of events that led to the catastrophe, and then unfolds the incredible story of the flood itself and its aftermath.
Graced by David McCullough's remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, *The Johnstown Flood* is an absorbing, classic portrait of life in 19th-century America, of overweening confidence, energy, and tragedy. It also offers a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are necessarily behaving responsibly. Views: 356
The Shroud Shifter speaks: I clipped my self-sharpening, teflon-coated, brushed-steel axe and swung it at her neck. Her head was sheared cleanly off; blood burst from the cavity, her arms and legs twitched spastically, then her whole body crumpled to the floor. The force of my swing spun me around, and for one second my vision eclipsed the entire scene — blood spattered walls, the body shooting an arterial geyser out the neck, the heart still pumping in reflex... Martin Plunkett has struck again. Views: 356
A rich and compelling story about four generations of magnificent women, celebrating the love, pride, sacrifice, devotion, and unheralded triumph of all women's lives. Views: 356
A brand new glorious gift book of a much-loved classic. A celebration of words and pictures from the creator of Paddington Bear, Michael Bond, and contemporary genius Rob Biddulph! Living in the magical Herb Garden, Parsley the lion is never quite sure what's going to happen to him next . . . especially with an excitable friend like Dill the dog around. Parsley made his debut in 1968 in the children's animated TV series The Herbs, written by the creator of Paddington Bear, Michael Bond. Capturing the hearts of viewers, he went on to star in his own TV series The Adventures of Parsley in 1970, as well as in a series of books and on a wide range of merchandise. Now Michael Bond's hilarious books featuring Parsley the lion, first published nearly fifty years ago, are brought alive for a new generation in this contemporary colour gift edition, gloriously illustrated by the award-winning creator of Blown Away, Rob Biddulph. Views: 352
Donleavy continues the adventures of one of his most popular heroes, show biz impressario and libertine extraordinaire, Franz Sigmund "Isadorable" Schultz. Now amidst mayhem and confusion, Shultz turns to the eminent Rabbi Low for assistance. Views: 347
The Road rings together short stories, journalism, essays, and letters by Vasily Grossman, the author of Life and Fate, providing new insight into the life and work of this extraordinary writer. The stories range from Grossman’s first success, “In the Town of Berdichev,” a piercing reckoning with the cost of war, to such haunting later works as “Mama,” based on the life of a girl who was adopted at the height of the Great Terror by the head of the NKVD and packed off to an orphanage after her father’s downfall. The girl grows up struggling with the discovery that the parents she cherishes in memory are part of a collective nightmare that everyone else wishes to forget. The Road also includes the complete text of Grossman’s harrowing report from Treblinka, one of the first anatomies of the workings of a death camp; “The Sistine Madonna,” a reflection on art and atrocity; as well as two heartbreaking letters that Grossman wrote to his mother after her death at the hands of the Nazis and carried with him for the rest of his life.
Meticulously edited and presented by Robert Chandler, The Road allows us to see one of the great figures of twentieth-century literature discovering his calling both as a writer and as a man. Views: 330
It all began in 1946, when the bizarre, gene-altering Wild Cards virus was unleashed in the skies over New York City. A virus that created super-powered Aces and bizarre, disfigured Jokers. Now, thirty years later, the victims face a new nightmare. Views: 316
Oh, Tama! describes the haphazard lives of Natsuyuki Kanemitsu and his loosely connected circle of dysfunctional acquaintances and family. Natsuyuki is prevailed upon by his friend Alexandre, an occasional porn-film actor, to adopt the very pregnant cat Tama, who gives birth and remains throughout the novel as a silent observer of her human hosts. Further complications arise surrounding the mystery of who the father of Alexandre's sister Tsuneko's unborn child is, with Tsuneko (a bar owner) happy to collect money from anyone who may be responsible. One of these possible dads turns out to be Natsuyuki's half-brother, abandoned and forgotten long ago as easily as Tama has parted with her kittens. A "fast and comedic novel," Oh, Tama! plays out against a backdrop of cramped apartments and cheap food and drink where everyone seems to have an opinion on film, photography, and fashionable French art theory. It is part of the author's esteemed series of "Mejiro" novels, named after... Views: 316
The Hurlingford family have ruled the small town of Byron, nestled in the Blue Mountains, for generations. Wealthy, powerful and cruel, they get what they want, every time.
Missy Wright's mother, a Hurlingford by birth, has been shunned by her family since marrying for love, not money. Now widowed, the women live a quiet existence in genteel poverty. Plain, thin and unforgivably single, it seems Missy's life is destined to be dreary.
But then a stranger arrives in town. A divorcee from Sydney. And she opens Missy's eyes to the possibility of a happy ending.
This is an endearing tale, full of wit, warmth and romance, from the bestselling author of THE THORN BIRDS. Views: 313
McCammon's novel "takes place during a single twenty-four hour period in Inferno, Texas. Inferno is a town in trouble, driven to the brink by racial tension, gang violence, and a collapsing economy. But things can always get worse, and they do so with astonishing speed when an unidentified spacecraft crash lands in the desert outside of town, followed by a second craft bearing the alien being who will soon be known as Stinger. Stinger is a kind of interstellar hunter on a mission he intends to complete, whatever the cost. He brings with him an endless array of technological marvels and an infinite capacity for destruction that threaten the existence of Inferno, its inhabitants, and the larger world beyond"--Dust jacket flap. Views: 305
Ned Buntline made Cemetery Sam Jones the hero of one of his notorious dime novels and called him the fastest gun in the West. Now every gun-toting cowboy alive is out to prove it ain't so. Sam decides to shut Buntline up real quick before the cemeteries start overflowing. Of course, Sam doesn't reckon on Denver gambling brawls, New York gunfights, Indians on the warpath, and bloodthirsty outlaws after gold in the hills of Montana. But Cemetery Jones doesn't surprise too easy.... Views: 304
In this collection of stories, the characters are ordinary people who battle to maintain loyalty against all odds; women, children and men whose relationships strain under pressure and leave them bewildered, hoping, sometimes fleeing, but often finding strength in forgotten parts of themselves. Views: 292
