Beneath a Ruthless Sun
Gilbert King
Nonfiction / History / Biography
"Compelling, insightful and important, Beneath a Ruthless Sun exposes the corruption of racial bigotry and animus that shadows a community, a state and a nation. A fascinating examination of an injustice story all too familiar and still largely ignored, an engaging and essential read." —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just MercyFrom the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller Devil in the Grove, the gripping true story of a small town with a big secret.In December 1957, the wife of a Florida citrus baron is raped in her home while her husband is away. She claims a "husky Negro" did it, and the sheriff, the infamous racist Willis McCall, does not hesitate to round up a herd of suspects. But within days, McCall turns his sights on Jesse Daniels, a gentle, mentally impaired white nineteen-year-old. Soon Jesse is railroaded up to the state hospital for the insane, and locked away without trial. But crusading...
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Flash Flood cr-1
Chris Ryan
Nonfiction / Science / History
Ben's on a trip to London to meet his mum. But an accident at the Thames Barrier, combined with a tidal surge and a dramatic thunderstorm — and suddenly his trip turns into something totally different as the Barrier is breached and London is flooded. With streets underwater, communications down, rats pouring up out of the sewers and thousands of people in a state of panic, survival becomes a key issue. But as Ben tries to get across London to meet his mother, little does he know that two terrorists have a similar rendezvous…
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Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Horse Lover's Companion
Bathroom Readers' Institute
Humor and Comedy / History
Why the long face? This book really ponies up the fun! From Old West cowboy companions to magnificent Kentucky Derby winners, Uncle John trots out a beloved tome dedicated to our equine friends. Saddle up and read about the most hair-raising, hilarious, and heartfelt horse tales from around the world. You'll ride into the sunset with...The high-stepping Budweiser ClydesdalesThe secrets of Secretariat and other Triple Crown winnersHorse-tastic superlatives—the biggest, smallest, oldest, and fastestEquine myths exposed (such as, Seabiscuit wasn't really that famous)Pressing equine questions (Just how big is a hand, anyway?)The wild ponies of ChincoteagueWhat it takes to be a jockeyThe real horse whispererThe Texas prison rodeoStrange horsey lawsAnd much, much more!
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Ashes of Roses
Mary Jane Auch
Children's Books / History
The honest and compelling story of a young girl's newfound independence, from her entrance into a new country to her frightening involvement in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911.My heart filled with fear and hope at the same time. I had the feeling that I was brought to America for a purpose. Something important would happen to me here.I remembered the words of the poem, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses . . .""Here we are, America," I whispered. "We're just exactly what you ordered."When she arrives on Ellis Island as a seventeen-year-old Irish immigrant, Rose Nolan is looking for a land of opportunities; what she finds is far from all she'd dreamed. Stubborn and tenacious, she refuses to give up. Left alone to fend for herself and her younger sister, Rose is thrust into a hard-knock life of tenements and factory work.When the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of...
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Dead Men (and Women) Walking
Anthology
War / Military Fiction / History
Review"...this is the perfect collection for zombiephiles and folks looking for something a bit off center in their horror readings." -- Diverse Books, October 2006 "Anyone who likes the paranormal will enjoy this book." -- Reader Views, October 2006 "...new ways to present zombie tales with a fresh spin, making it an entertaining read for horror fans in general." -- Speculative Fiction Reader, January 2007 "Dead Men (and Women) Walking contains a handful of works that find fresh or amusing new approaches to its subject matter." -- The Harrow, 2006 ...this is the perfect collection for zombiephiles and folks looking for something a bit off center in their horror readings. -- Diverse Books, October 2006 4 out of 5. "...original takes on the worlds of zombies and vampires." -- Lighthouse Literary Reviews, November 2006Product DescriptionZombies. Vampires. Undead things that should not be. Now the dead share their tales, with over two dozen tales of brain-feasting, blood-drinking, revenge-seeking horror. Follow the walking dead through playgrounds, shopping centers, deserted towns, and corporate complexes as they continue their relentless quests.
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Berlin Diary
William L. Shirer
History / Nonfiction / Memoirs
A radio broadcaster and journalist for Edward R. Murrow at CBS, William Shirer was new to the world of broadcast journalism when he began keeping a diary while in Europe during the 1930s. It was in 1940, still a virtual unknown, that Shirer wondered whether his reminiscences of the collapse of the world around Nazi Germany could be of any interest or value as a book.Shirer's Berlin Diary, which is considered the first full record of what was happening in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich, first appeared in 1941. The book was an instant success. But how did Shirer get such a valuable firsthand account? He had anonymous sources willing to speak with him, provided their identity remained protected and disguised so as to avoid retaliation from the Gestapo. Shirer recorded his and others' eyewitness views to the horror that Hitler was inflicting on his people in his effort to conquer Europe. Shirer continued his job as a foreign correspondent and radio reporter for CBS unti...
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Dragon Keeper
Robin Hobb
Science Fiction & Fantasy / History / Mystery
SUMMARY:
Enter the spellbinding world of dragons . . . and those who tend them One of the most gifted fantasy authors writing today, New York Times bestselling author Robin Hobb has dazzled readers with brilliantly imaginative, emotionally resonant, and compulsively readable tales set in far-flung realms not unlike our own. In this enthralling new novel, she returns to the territory of her beloved Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies with a story of dragons and humans, return and rebirth, and the search for meaning, belonging, and home. For years, the Trader cities valiantly battled their enemies, the Chalcedeans. But they could not have staved off invasion without the powerful dragon Tintaglia. In return, the Traders promised to help her serpents migrate up the Rain Wild River after a long exile at sea—to find a safe haven and, Tintaglia hopes, to restore her species. But too much time has passed, and the newly hatched dragons are damaged and weak, and many die. The few who survive cannot use their wings; earthbound, they are powerless to hunt and vulnerable to human predators willing to kill them for the fabled healing powers of dragon flesh. But Tintaglia has vanished and the Traders are weary of the labor and expense of tending useless dragons. The Trader leadership fears that if it stops providing for the young dragons, the hungry and neglected creatures will rampage—or die along the river's acidic muddy banks. To avert catastrophe, the dragons decree a move even farther up the treacherous river to Kelsingra, their ancient, mythical homeland whose mysterious location is locked deep within the dragons' uncertain ancestral memories. To ensure their safe passage, the Traders recruit a disparate group of young people to care for the damaged creatures and escort them to their new home. Among them is Thymara, an unschooled forest girl of sixteen, and Alise, a wealthy Trader's wife trapped in a loveless marriage, who attaches herself to the expedition as a dragon expert. The two women share a deep kinship with the dragons: Thymara can instinctively communicate with them, and Alise, captivated by their beauty and majesty, has devoted her life to studying them. Embarking on an arduous journey that holds no promise of return, the band of humans and dragons must make their way along the toxic and inhospitable Rain Wild River—an extraordinary odyssey that will teach them lessons about themselves and one another, as they experience hardships, betrayals, and joys beyond their wildest dreams.
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Infidels: A History of the Conflict Between Christendom and Islam
Andrew Wheatcroft
History
Here is the first panoptic history of the long struggle between the Christian West and Islam. In this dazzlingly written, acutely nuanced account, Andrew Wheatcroft tracks a deep fault line of animosity between civilizations. He begins with a stunning account of the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, then turns to the main zones of conflict: Spain, from which the descendants of the Moors were eventually expelled; the Middle East, where Crusaders and Muslims clashed for years; and the Balkans, where distant memories spurred atrocities even into the twentieth century. Throughout, Wheatcroft delves beneath stereotypes, looking incisively at how images, ideas, language, and technology (from the printing press to the Internet), as well as politics, religion, and conquest, have allowed each side to demonize the other, revive old grievances, and fuel across centuries a seemingly unquenchable enmity. Finally, Wheatcroft tells how this fraught history led to our present maelstrom. We cannot, he argues, come to terms with today's perplexing animosities without confronting this dark past.
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