Tom Weiner
By the acclaimed journalist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day, eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of a great foreign correspondent.
CBS radio broadcaster William L. Shirer was virtually unknown in 1940 when he decided there might be a book in the diary he had kept in Europe during the 1930s—specifically
...3) Valis
"Dick is one of the ten best American writers of the twentieth century, which is saying a lot. Dick was a kind of Kafka steeped in LSD and rage."*
What...
For decades, Fred Burton, a key figure in international counterterrorism and domestic spy craft, has secretly been on the front lines in the fight to keep Americans safe around the world. Now, in this hard-hitting memoir, Burton emerges from the shadows to reveal who he is, what he has accomplished, and the threats that lurk unseen except by an experienced, world-wise few.
In the mid-80s, the idea of defending Americans against terrorism
...Are you one of the eighty-two million Americans currently diagnosed with cardiovascular disease—or one of the millions more who think they are healthy but are at risk? Whether your goal is to get the best treatment or stay out of the cardiologist’s office, your heart's...
9) The tourist
11) Dead Souls
Dead Souls is a socially critical black comedy. Set in Russia before the emancipation of serfs in 1861, the "dead souls" are dead serfs still being counted by landowners as property, as well as referring to the landowners' morality. Through surreal and often dark comedy, Gogol criticizes Russian society after the Napoleonic Wars. He intended to also offer solutions to the problems he satirized, but died before he ever completed the second
...On September 16, 2007, machine gun fire erupted in Baghdad's Nisour Square, leaving seventeen Iraqi civilians dead, among them women and children. The shooting spree, labeled "Baghdad's Bloody Sunday," was neither the work of Iraqi insurgents nor US soldiers. The shooters were private forces working for a mercenary company: Blackwater USA, the world's most secretive, powerful, and fastest growing private army.
A largely untold facet of the
...This title offers a withering and clear-eyed critique about—but not for—intellectuals that explores their impact on public opinion, policy, and society at large.
The thesis of Intellectuals and Society states that the influence of intellectuals is not only greater than in previous eras but also takes a very different form from that envisioned by those like Machiavelli and others who have wanted to directly influence rulers. It
...The true story of the events that inspired the feature film Blood Diamond
First discovered in 1930, the diamonds of Sierra Leone have funded one of the most savage rebel campaigns in modern history. These "blood diamonds" are smuggled out of West Africa and sold to legitimate diamond merchants in London, Antwerp, and New York, often with the complicity of the international diamond industry. Eventually, these very diamonds find their way into
...In 1862, Ulysses S. Grant achieved what President Lincoln had sought since the start of the War: the first decisive Union victory. Fought on the western edge of the theater, the Forts Henry and Donelson campaign was a gruesome omen of what was to come.
Grant, until then an obscure brigadier general with a reputation for drink, became the fighting man of the hour, earning the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant for his relentless pounding
...16) Lucky Bastard
From the master of suspense and political intrigue comes this hilarious and richly perceptive novel about a gifted politician with dangerous friends and a zipper problem.
John Fitzgerald Adams, known by the voters who love him as Jack, has good reason to believe he is the illegitimate son of John F. Kennedy. His goal is the same as that of any Kennedy: to reclaim the presidency and enjoy as many women as possible along the way.
Jack
...Robert A. Heinlein has written some of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time, including the beloved classic Stranger in a Strange Land. Now, in The Cat Who Walks through Walls, he creates his most compelling character ever: Dr. Richard Ames, ex-military man, sometime writer, and unfortunate victim of mistaken identity.
When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Ames is thrown headfirst
...Deepwater Horizon was supposed to be the cutting edge of energy exploration: drilling five thousand feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, the $560 million rig would be indispensable in helping to solve the ongoing energy crisis.
Then, on April 20, 2010, BP's dismal safety record came home to roost. An explosion followed by a massive fireball resulted in eleven lives lost, the sinking of the rig, and the release of millions of barrels
...Death has gotten a bad rap. It's time to take a closer look at what the Deep Thinkers have to say on the subject, and there are no better guides than Cathcart and Klein, the authors of the New York Times bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar.
This book is a hilarious take on the philosophy, theology, and psychology of mortality and immortality—that is, Death. The authors pry open the coffin lid on this one, looking at the
...The masterful second novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writing duo, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, finds Beck searching Budapest for a well-known Swedish journalist who has disappeared without a trace. With an introduction by Val McDermid: "So many of the elements that have become integral...in the police procedural subgenre started life in these ten novels....Their plots are second
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