Thursday, May 24, 2018

Blind Ambition: The White House Years

A six-month New York Times bestseller: “Not only the best Watergate book, but a very good book indeed” (The Sunday Times).

As White House counsel to Richard Nixon, a young John W. Dean was one of the primary players in the Watergate scandal—and ultimately became the government’s key witness in the investigations that ended the Nixon presidency. After the scandal subsided, Dean rebuilt his career, first in business and then as a bestselling author and lecturer. But while the events were still fresh in his mind, he wrote this remarkable memoir about the operations of the Nixon White House and the crisis that led to the president’s resignation.
 
Called “fascinating” by Commentary, which noted that “there can be little doubt of [Dean's] memory or his candor,” Blind Ambition offers an insider’s view of the deceptions and machinations that brought down an administration and changed the American people’s view of politics and power. It also contains Dean’s own unsparing reflections on the personal demons that drove him to participate in the sordid affair. Upon its original publication, Kirkus Reviews hailed it “the flip side of All the President’s Men—a document, a minefield, and prime entertainment.”
 
Today, Dean is a respected and outspoken advocate for transparency and ethics in government, and the bestselling author of such books as The Nixon Defense, Worse Than Watergate, and Conservatives Without Conscience. Here, in Blind Ambition, he “paints a candid picture of the sickening moral bankruptcy which permeated the White House and to which he contributed. His memory of who said what and to whom is astounding” (Foreign Affairs).

 

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The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings (the Hobbit/the Fellowship of the Ring/the Two Towers/the

THE BOOKS THAT INSPIRED THE EPIC MOTION PICTURES

J.R.R. TOLKIEN
THE LORD OF THE RINGS

THE HOBBIT
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
THE TWO TOWERS
THE RETURN OF THE KING

© New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. (s12)
Motion Picture Artwork © 2012 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The Hobbit

A great modern classic and the prelude to The Lord of the Rings.
 
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

“A glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible . . . All those, young or old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will take The Hobbit to their hearts.” – New York Times Book Review

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Isandlwana: How the Zulus Humbled the British Empire

The story of the mighty imperial British army’s defeat at Iswandlwana in 1879 has been much written about but never with the detail and insight revealed by Dr Adrian Greaves’ research. In re-constructing the dramatic and fateful events, the Author draws on recently discovered letters, diaries and papers of survivors and other contemporaries such as Henry Harford, Lt Henry Carling of the Royal Artillery, August Hammar and young British nurse Janet Wells. These, coupled with his own detailed knowledge of the ground, enable the Author to paint the most accurate picture yet of this cataclysmic battle that so shamed the British establishment.

We learn for the first time of the complex Zulu decoy, the dishonorable attempt to blame Colonel Durnford for the defeat, evidence of another ‘fugitives’ trail’. The identity of previously unknown escorts for Lts Coghill and Melville, both awarded VCs for trying to save the Colors.

Isandlwana is a brilliant and fresh account of this most famous battle which will fascinate experts and laymen alike.
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The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower

"A lively account of Israel's evolving military prowess...if The Weapon Wizards were a novel, it would be one written by Horatio Alger; if it were a biblical allegory, it would be the story of David and Goliath." —The New York Times Book Review

From drones to satellites, missile defense systems to cyber warfare, Israel is leading the world when it comes to new technology being deployed on the modern battlefield. The Weapon Wizards shows how this tiny nation of 8 million learned to adapt to the changes in warfare and in the defense industry and become the new prototype of a 21st century superpower, not in size, but rather in innovation and efficiency—and as a result of its long war experience.

Sitting on the front lines of how wars are fought in the 21st century, Israel has developed in its arms trade new weapons and retrofitted old ones so they remain effective, relevant, and deadly on a constantly-changing battlefield. While other countries begin to prepare for these challenges, they are looking to Israel—and specifically its weapons—for guidance. Israel is, in effect, a laboratory for the rest of the world.

How did Israel do it? And what are the military and geopolitical implications of these developments? These are some of the key questions Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot address. Drawing on a vast amount of research, and unparalleled access to the Israeli defense establishment, this book is a report directly from the front lines.


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Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System-and Themselves

Named a Best Book of the Year by: The Economist, The Financial Times, Business Week, and 800-CEO-Read

Winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for Best Business Book

Too Big To Fail is too good to put down. . . . It is the story of the actors in the most extraordinary financial spectacle in 80 years, and it is told brilliantly.” The Economist 

“Vigorously reported, superbly organized . . . For those of us who didn’t pursue MBAs—and have the penny-ante salaries to prove it—Sorkin’s book offers a clear, cogent explanation of what happened and why it matters.” —Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune

“Sorkin’s prodigious reporting and lively writing put the reader in the room for some of the biggest-dollar conference calls in history. It’s an entertaining, brisk book.” Paul M. Barrett, The New York Times Book Review 

“Sorkin’s densely detailed and astonishing narrative of the epic financial crisis of 2008 is an extraordinary achievement that will be hard to surpass as the definitive account.” —John Gapper, Financial Times 

A brilliantly reported true-life thriller that goes behind the scenes of the financial crisis on Wall Street and in Washington, the basis for the HBO film 

In one of the most gripping financial narratives in decades, Andrew Ross Sorkin-a New York Times columnist and one of the country's most respected financial reporters-delivers the first definitive blow- by-blow account of the epochal economic crisis that brought the world to the brink. Through unprecedented access to the players involved, he re-creates all the drama and turmoil of these turbulent days, revealing never-before-disclosed details and recounting how, motivated as often by ego and greed as by fear and self-preservation, the most powerful men and women in finance and politics decided the fate of the world's economy.
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Man Called Intrepid: The Incredible WWII Narrative Of The Hero Whose Spy Network And Secret Diplomacy Changed The Course Of History

A classic about real-life WWII espionage, as conducted by its modern master

*

A Man Called Intrepid is the classic true story of Sir William Stephenson (codenamed Intrepid) and the spy network he founded that would ultimately stall the Nazi war machine and help win World War II. Ian Fleming, bestselling author of the James Bond novels, once remarked, “James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is William Stephenson.”

Illustrated with thirty-two pages of black-and-white photographs, this book describes the infamous “Camp X” spy training center in Ontario, Canada; the breaking of the Ultra Code used by Enigma; and countless tales of assassinations, clandestine activities, guerrilla armies, resistance support, and suicide missions. This modern classic, which reads like fiction, was a national bestseller when first published in 1976.


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The Road

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE

The searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

New York Times Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year
The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, New York, People, Rocky Mountain News, Time, The Village Voice, The Washington Post

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Centennial: A Novel

Written to commemorate the Bicentennial in 1976, James A. Michener’s magnificent saga of the West is an enthralling celebration of the frontier. Brimming with the glory of America’s past, the story of Colorado—the Centennial State—is manifested through its people: Lame Beaver, the Arapaho chieftain and warrior, and his Comanche and Pawnee enemies; Levi Zendt, fleeing with his child bride from the Amish country; the cowboy, Jim Lloyd, who falls in love with a wealthy and cultured Englishwoman, Charlotte Seccombe. In Centennial, trappers, traders, homesteaders, gold seekers, ranchers, and hunters are brought together in the dramatic conflicts that shape the destiny of the legendary West—and the entire country.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii.
 
Praise for Centennial
 
“A hell of a book . . . While he fascinates and engrosses, Michener also educates.”Los Angeles Times
 
“An engrossing book . . . imaginative and intricate . . . teeming with people and giving a marvelous sense of the land.”The Plain Dealer
 
“Michener is America’s best writer, and he proves it once again in Centennial. . . . If you’re a Michener fan, this book is a must. And if you’re not a Michener fan, Centennial will make you one.”The Pittsburgh Press
 
“An absorbing work . . . Michener is a superb storyteller.”BusinessWeek
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Jurassic Park: A Novel

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Timeline, Sphere, and Congo, this is the classic thriller of science run amok that took the world by storm.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

“[Michael] Crichton’s dinosaurs are genuinely frightening.”—Chicago Sun-Times

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.
 
Until something goes wrong. . . .
 
In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.

Praise for Jurassic Park
 
“Wonderful . . . powerful.”The Washington Post Book World

“Frighteningly real . . . compelling . . . It’ll keep you riveted.”—The Detroit News
 
“Full of suspense.”The New York Times Book Review
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Friday, May 18, 2018

Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - "An incredibly gripping, moving, and literate work of art, rarely does an author manage to re-create a moment in history with such mastery, authority, and psychological insight." - Nelson DeMille

At Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army.

Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Born into a cult of spiritual courage, physical endurance, and unmatched battle skill, the Spartans would be remembered for the greatest military stand in history--one that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood, leaving only one gravely injured Spartan squire to tell the tale....

"A novel that is intricate and arresting and, once begun, almost impossible to put down." - Daily News 

"A timeless epic of man and war... Pressfield has created a new classic deserving a place beside the very best of the old." - Stephen Coonts

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Wednesday, May 16, 2018