Long considered the author's strangest novel, this work is a comic allegory aimed at the optimism and materialism of mid-18th-century America. A mysterious shape-changing confidence-man approaches passengers on a Mississippi steamboat and, winning over the (not quite innocent) victims with his charm, urges them to trust implicitly in the cosmos, in nature, and even in human nature - with predictable results. This novel represented a departure for Herman Melville, a satirical and socially acute work that was to be a further step away from his sea novels. Yet it confused and angered reviewers who preferred to pigeonhole him as an adventure writer. Some have argued that the book was a joke on the readers loyal to his sea stories, but if so, it backfired. Dismissed by critics as unreadable, and an undoubted financial failure, the novel's cold reception undermined Melville's belief in his ability to make a living writing works that were both popular and profound, and he soon gave up fiction. It was not until the mid-20th-century that critics rediscovered the book and praised its wit, modern technique, and wry view that life may be just a cosmic con game. Views: 51
Conflicted over his sinister duties with the Lokshakti, Vyas writes a confessional love-letter to his wife. But how did the letter end up with the scholar-politician, Durga Dhasal? And when the Lokshakti murders Dhasal, Vyas has to find the incriminating letter before it's too late. The trail leads Vyas to various people, including: the passionate scientist torn between exit and loyalty; the businessman who collects ruins; the beguiling actress who was once Shahzadi Jahanara; the eunuch poet fond of Jewish jokes. It leads him to a powerful, subversive new myth. The lost letter leads Vyas to himself. Views: 51
The savage, beautiful, and unforgettable memoirs of an extraordinary artist, activist, and iconoclast who lit up the New York art scene in the late twentieth centuryDavid Wojnarowicz's brief but eventful life was not easy. From a suburban adolescence marked by neglect, drugs, prostitution, and abuse to a squalid life on the streets of New York City, to fame—and infamy—as an activist and controversial visual artist whose work was lambasted in the halls of Congress, all before his early death from AIDS at age thirty-seven, Wojnarowicz seemed to be at war with a homophobic "establishment" and the world itself. Yet what emerged from the darkness was a truly extraordinary artist and human being—an angry young man of remarkable poetic sensibilities who was inordinately sympathetic to those who, like him, lived and struggled outside society's boundaries.Close to the Knives is his searing yet strangely beautiful account told in a collection of powerful essays. An... Views: 51
She has twin boys. One of them is dangerous. When a boy dies unexpectedly in the family home, Susan’s life is turned upside down. Was it an accident? Or was it Tom, one of her boys? Tom’s always been a bit of a problem, but could he really have murdered somebody? A film of the incident seems to suggest that he has. As a mother, Susan is committed to protecting him. Views: 51
Forbidden LoveHaunted by the mysterious deaths of his two brothers, Grant Roberson, 10th Earl of Straithern, fears for his life. Determined to produce an heir before it's too late, Grant has promised to wed a woman he has never met. But instead of being enticed by his bride-to-be, Grant can't fight his attraction to the understated beauty and wit of her paid companion.Gillian Cameron long ago learned the danger of falling in love. Now, as the companion to a spoiled bluestocking, she has learned to keep a firm hold on her emotions. But, from the moment she meets him, she is powerless to resist the alluring and handsome earl.Fighting their attraction, Gillian and Grant must band together to stop an unknown enemy from striking. Will the threat of danger be enough to make them realize their true feelings? Views: 51
Multiple points-of-view lead to multiple theories about what really happened after one kid turns a punishment into a protest in this hilarious new novel from Michele Weber Hurwitz.Perennial good kid Ethan Marcus has just done the unthinkable: refuse to stay seated during class. He's not causing a riot; he's not wandering around; he's just sick of sitting. But the rules aren't designed for Ethan, and so he is sent to the principal's office. When Ethan's sentence results in a Reflection Day—McNutt Middle School's answer to detention—his faculty advisor suggests that Ethan channel the energy that caused his "transgression" by entering the school's Invention Day Competition. Ethan is not exactly Mark Zuckerberg, so he doubts his ability to make anything competition-worthy. That's the department of his slightly older sister Erin. But as Ethan and his buddy Brian get into the assignment, they realize they might actually have something. Enter Romanov,... Views: 51
What is Britishness? What allowed one small island group to rule a quarter of the world and, even today, to have the most spoken language after Chinese? What makes Americans admire the guts, traditions and loyalties of these island Anglo-Saxon and Celtic peoples? What is it that makes cynical Europeans and once-dominated Asians look to the British for opinion, literature, social norms and justice? The answers lie within the creation of British institutions, both Commoner and Aristocracy, during the past 2000 years.Following the thought-provoking style of the original This Sceptred Isle, this new volume brings to life the character and frustrations so carefully studied by allies and enemies for twenty-one centuries - from Romans to al-Qaeda. Here Lee makes all the connections with institutions and changing industrial and social characteristics that even show us that Britishness is not exclusively British.At a time when a major section of the British, the English, appear to... Views: 51
CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen tells the tender story of his wife's battle with Early Onset Alzheimer's. Views: 51
On June 8, 1972, nine-year-old Kim Phuc, severely burned by napalm, ran from her blazing village in South Vietnam and into the eye of history. Her photograph-one of the most unforgettable images of the twentieth century-was seen around the world and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War.This book is the story of how that photograph came to be-and the story of what happened to that girl after the camera shutter closed. Award-winning biographer Denise Chong's portrait of Kim Phuc-who eventually defected to Canada and is now a UNESCO spokesperson-is a rare look at the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese point-of-view and one of the only books to describe everyday life in the wake of this war and to probe its lingering effects on all its participants. Views: 51
"Underground Reviews 2015 Top Pick Award"HALFSKIN (#1)Biomites are artificial stem cells that can replace any cell in your body. No more kidney failure, no severed spines or blood disease. No cancer. Pharmaceuticals become obsolete. With each dose of biomites, we become stronger, we become smarter and prettier.We become better.At what point are we no longer human?CLAY (#2)Jamie wants to be a halfskin.Her life has become dull and pointless. If she had more biomites—synthetic stem cells that promise hope—she could take control of her life. But Jamie's body is already 49.9% biomites. The rest is clay—her God-given organic cells. Any more biomites and she becomes a halfskin. And halfskins are shutdown.But there is a way.BRICKS (#3)Fabbers, slabbers and fakies were dehumanizing slurs for fabricated humans. Bricks, however, was the People's favorite. Views: 51
