-Titulo Original : In The Shadow Of Statues A White Southerner Confronts History-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: The New Orleans mayor who removed the Confederate statues confronts the racism that shapes us and argues for white America to reckon with its past. A passionate, personal, urgent book from the man who sparked a national debate.There is a difference between remembrance of history and reverence for it. When Mitch Landrieu addressed the people of New Orleans in May 2017 about his decision to take down four Confederate monuments, including the statue of Robert E. Lee, he struck a nerve nationally, and his speech has now been heard or seen by millions across the country. In his first book, Mayor Landrieu discusses his personal journey on race as well as the path he took to making the decision to remove the monuments, tackles the broader history of slavery, race and institutional inequities that still bedevil America, and traces his personal relationship to this history. His father, as state legislator and mayor, was a huge force in the integration of New Orleans in the 1960s and 19070s. Landrieu grew up with a progressive education in one of the nations most racially divided cities, but even he had to relearn Southern history as it really happened. Equal parts unblinking memoir, history, and prescription for finally confronting Americas most painful legacy, In the Shadow of Statues contributes strongly to the national conversation about race in the age of Donald Trump, at a time when racism is resurgent with seemingly tacit approval from the highest levels of government and when too many Americans have a misplaced nostalgia for a time and place that never existed. Review One of Time magazines “Best Memoirs of 2018” Featured in Newsweeks 50 Coolest Books to Read This SummerIncluded in Esquires Best Nonfiction Books of 2018“[Mitch Landrieu] has done something, in his speech and his book, that other politicians should emulate. He’s tried to reckon with America’s sins while offering an optimistic, big-hearted and deeply patriotic defense of cosmopolitanism as the source of American greatness.”-The New York Times“[A] thought-provoking piece of political writing...Uncomfortable as it might be to think of our country’s history...we have to do so, if we want to live within the truth. Landrieu has shown the way.”-The Washington PostLandrieu is an example of a politician who acknowledges that America’s past isn’t pretty, but he’s also working to shift a damaged culture that he feels has been ignored for too long. This is an inspiring tale that is both political and personal - urging readers to understand the country’s past and the work that is needed to change the present.-Time[A] compelling reconsideration of what it means to be a Southerner in contemporary America.-Esquire A powerful manifesto.-NewsweekA powerful, welcome manifesto in the cause of a new and better South-and a better America.-Kirkus Reviews[A] timely message of racial reconciliation.-National JournalMitch Landrieu takes us on an extraordinarily powerful journey that is both political and personal. With a balance of humility and conviction, he recounts his path to a more profound understanding of racial justice and explains how this journey led him to remove the Confederate monuments in New Orleans. It’s an important book for everyone in America to read, because it shows how intellectual honesty can lead to moral clarity. -Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo Da Vinci and Steve Jobs Praise for Mitch Landrieu and his May 2017 speech:“The masterpiece we needed at the moment we needed it” -The New York Times “A remarkably compelling speech about race in America...stunningly eloquent” -CNN “Evocative” -POLITICO Magazine “Courageous, controversial and frankly long overdue” -US News & World Report “Eloquence, power and humility” -Chicago Tribune About the Author Mitch Landrieu is the mayor of New Orleans. He was elected in 2010 and is now completing his second four-year term. A ...

-Titulo Original : One Life-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: An instant New York Times bestseller!“Rapinoes signature pose from the 2019 FIFA Womens World Cup is synonymous to the feeling we got when finishing this book: heart full, arms wide and ready to take up space in this world.”-USA Today Megan Rapinoe, Olympic gold medalist and two-time Womens World Cup champion, reveals for the first time her life both on and off the field. Guided by her personal journey into social justice, brimming with humor, humanity, and joy, she urges all of us to ask ourselves, What will you do with your one life? Only four years old when she kicked her first soccer ball, Megan Rapinoe developed a love - and clear talent - for the game at a young age. But it was her parents who taught her that winning was much less important than how she lived her life. From childhood on, Rapinoe always did what she could to stand up for what was right-even if it meant going up against people who disagreed. In One Life, Megan Rapinoe invites readers on a remarkable journey, looking back on both her victories and her failures, and pulls back the curtain on events we know only from the headlines. After the 2011 World Cup, discouraged by how few athletes were open about their sexuality, Rapinoe decided to come out publicly as gay and use her platform to advocate for marriage equality. Recognizing the power she had to bring attention to critical issues, in 2016 she took a knee during the national anthem in solidarity with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick to protest racial injustice and police brutality-the first high-profile white athlete to do so. The backlash was immediate, but it couldn’t compare to the overwhelming support. Rapinoe became a force of change. Here for the first time, Rapinoe reflects upon some of the most pivotal moments in her life and career - from her realization in college that she was gay, through the disputes with soccer coaches and officials over her decision to kneel, to the first time she met her now-fiance WNBA champion Sue Bird, and up through suing the US Soccer Federation over gender discrimination and equal pay. Throughout, Rapinoe makes clear the obligation we all have to speak up, and the impact each of us can have on our communities. Deeply personal and inspiring, One Life reveals that real, concrete change lies within all of us, and asks: If we all have the same resource-this one precious life, made up of the decisions we make every day-what are you going to do? One Life makes it clear that Rapinoe’s greatest accomplishments may ultimately come away from the soccer pitch. She’s a new kind of American hero.-San Francisco Chronicle Review “One Life makes it clear that Rapinoe’s greatest accomplishments may ultimately come away from the soccer pitch. She’s a new kind of American hero.” -San Francisco Chronicle“One Life will inspire readers to go out and leave their mark on the world no matter how scary it is or how uncomfortable they may feel in the process.” -PopSugar “Rapinoes signature pose from the 2019 FIFA Womens World Cup is synonymous to the feeling we got when finishing this book: heart full, arms wide and ready to take up space in this world.” -USA Today“An invigorating read that’s incredibly hard to put down. . . . One Life is an outstanding narrative of an exemplary life. Megan Rapinoe’s many accomplishments on the pitch are celebrated but what takes center stage is how she uses those moments to further the causes she believes in. It’s that combination of transcendent athletic accomplishment and iconoclastic social justice activism that makes Rapinoe unique as an athlete-and now as an author.” -Out Sports“Megan Rapinoe isn’t breaking the glass ceiling- she is shattering it, all while sharing her stage with those on the margins. She is a real-life superhero, a coconspirator to the oppressed, who is as tenacious off the field as she is on the field. This is an inspiring moment for a powerful force in social justice.” -Patriss...

-Titulo Original : The Puzzle Palace Inside The National Security Agency, Americas Most Secret Intelligence Organization-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: In this remarkable tour de force of investigative reporting, James Bamford exposes the inner workings of Americas largest, most secretive, and arguably most intrusive intelligence agency. The NSA has long eluded public scrutiny, but The Puzzle Palace penetrates its vast network of power and unmasks the people who control it, often with shocking disregard for the law. With detailed information on the NSAs secret role in the Korean Airlines disaster, Iran-Contra, the first Gulf War, and other major world events of the 80s and 90s, this is a brilliant account of the use and abuse of technological espionage. Review In 1947, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand signed a secret treaty in which they agreed to cooperate in matters of signals intelligence. In effect, the governments agreed to pool their geographic and technological assets in order to listen in on the electronic communications of China, the Soviet Union, and other Cold War bad guys--all in the interest of truth, justice, and the American Way, naturally. The thing is, the system apparently catches everything. Government security services, led by the U.S. National Security Agency, screen a large part (and perhaps all) of the voice and data traffic that flows over the global communications network. Fifty years later, the European Union is investigating possible violations of its citizens privacy rights by the NSA, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public advocacy group, has filed suit against the NSA, alleging that the organization has illegally spied on U.S. citizens. Being a super-secret spy agency and all, its tough to get a handle on whats really going on at the NSA. However, James Bamford has done great work in documenting the agencys origins and Cold War exploits in The Puzzle Palace. Beginning with the earliest days of cryptography (code-making and code-breaking are large parts of the NSAs mission), Bamford explains how the agencys predecessors helped win World War II by breaking the German Enigma machine and defeating the Japanese Purple cipher. He also documents signals intelligence technology, ranging from the usual collection of spy satellites to a great big antenna in the West Virginia woods that listened to radio signals as they bounced back from the surface of the moon. Bamford backs his serious historical and technical material (this is a carefully researched work of nonfiction) with warnings about how easily the NSAs technology could work against the democracies of the world. Bamford quotes U.S. Senator Frank Church: If this government ever became a tyranny ... the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back, because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government ... is within the reach of the government to know. This is scary stuff. --David Wall Review There have been glimpses inside the NSA before, but until now no one has published a comprehensive and detailed report on the agency. . . Mr. Bamford has emerged with everything except the combination to the directors safe. -The New York Times Book Review About the Author James Bamfords The Puzzle Palace was a national bestseller when it was first published and now regarded as a classic. He was until recently Washington Investigative Producer for ABCs World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and has written investigative cover stories for the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine...

-Titulo Original : Franklin D. Roosevelt A Political Life-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and NPR“We come to see in FDR the magisterial, central figure in the greatest and richest political tapestry of our nation’s entire history” -Nigel Hamilton, Boston Globe“Meticulously researched and authoritative” -Douglas Brinkley, The Washington Post“A workmanlike addition to the literature on Roosevelt.” -David Nasaw, The New York Times“Dallek offers an FDR relevant to our sharply divided nation” -Michael Kazin“Will rank among the standard biographies of its subject” -Publishers WeeklyA one-volume biography of Roosevelt by the #1 New York Times bestselling biographer of JFK, focusing on his career as an incomparable politician, uniter, and deal maker In an era of such great national divisiveness, there could be no more timely biography of one of our greatest presidents than one that focuses on his unparalleled political ability as a uniter and consensus maker. Robert Dallek’s Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life takes a fresh look at the many compelling questions that have attracted all his biographers: how did a man who came from so privileged a background become the greatest presidential champion of the country’s needy? How did someone who never won recognition for his intellect foster revolutionary changes in the country’s economic and social institutions? How did Roosevelt work such a profound change in the country’s foreign relations? For FDR, politics was a far more interesting and fulfilling pursuit than the management of family fortunes or the indulgence of personal pleasure, and by the time he became president, he had commanded the love and affection of millions of people. While all Roosevelt’s biographers agree that the onset of polio at the age of thirty-nine endowed him with a much greater sense of humanity, Dallek sees the affliction as an insufficient explanation for his transformation into a masterful politician who would win an unprecedented four presidential terms, initiate landmark reforms that changed the American industrial system, and transform an isolationist country into an international superpower. Dallek attributes FDR’s success to two remarkable political insights. First, unlike any other president, he understood that effectiveness in the American political system depended on building a national consensus and commanding stable long-term popular support. Second, he made the presidency the central, most influential institution in modern America’s political system. In addressing the country’s international and domestic problems, Roosevelt recognized the vital importance of remaining closely attentive to the full range of public sentiment around policy-making decisions-perhaps FDR’s most enduring lesson in effective leadership. Review Assuredly the best single-volume Roosevelt biography.-Eric Rauchway, Times Literary Supplement“Meticulously researched and authoritative. . . . Adequate single-volume biographies about FDR abound. But none are as heroically objective and wide-angled as this fine Dallek effort. . . . By tapping into the vast correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt, Dallek discerns a more strained relationship between the leaders than presupposed. . . . Luckily for us, Roosevelt is with us again in Dallek’s outstanding cradle-to-grave study. When it comes to choosing the two indispensable presidents in U.S. history, Dallek places Roosevelt alongside Abraham Lincoln, the other great improviser with Providence on his side.” -Douglas Brinkley, The Washington Post “Dallek fully incorporates into his narrative Roosevelt’s complicated, conflicted relationship with the several women in his life and is especially good on the role Eleanor played, as goad and political advisor. He also makes it clear, in a way other biographers do not, that almost from the moment he entered office, Roosevelt set out to educate the nation to the fact that the United States was threatened not only by economic depre...

-Titulo Original : Fallen Founder The Life Of Aaron Burr-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: From the author of White Trash and The Problem of Democracy, a controversial challenge to the views of the Founding Fathers offered by Ron Chernow and David McCullough Lin-Manuel Mirandas play Hamilton has reignited interest in the founding fathers; and it features Aaron Burr among its vibrant cast of characters. With Fallen Founder, Nancy Isenberg plumbs rare and obscure sources to shed new light on everyones favorite founding villain. The Aaron Burr whom we meet through Isenbergs eye-opening biography is a feminist, an Enlightenment figure on par with Jefferson, a patriot, and-most importantly-a man with powerful enemies in an age of vitriolic political fighting. Revealing the gritty reality of eighteenth-century America, Fallen Founder is the authoritative restoration of a figure who ran afoul of history and a much-needed antidote to the hagiography of the revolutionary era. Review Full of insight and new research. An important and engaging account.--New York Times Book ReviewA sterling biography.--Boston GlobeIsenberg offers justice to a maligned man.--Wall Street JournalIsenbergs meticulous biography reveals a gifted lawyer, politician, and orator who championed civility in government and even feminist ideals, in a political climate that bears a marked resemblance to our own.--Washington Post About the Author Nancy Isenberg is the author of the New York Times bestseller White Trash: The 400-year untold history of class in America. She is the coauthor, with Andrew Burstein, of Madison and Jefferson. She is the T. Harry Williams Professor of American History at LSU, and writes regularly for Salon . Isenberg is the winner of the 2016 Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award from the Before Columbus Foundation and was #4 on the 2016 Politico 50 list. She lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Charlottesville, Virginia...

-Titulo Original : Tangled Up In Blue Policing The American City-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Named one of the best nonfiction books of the year by The Washington Post“Tangled Up in Blue is a wonderfully insightful book that provides a lens to critically analyze urban policing and a road map for how our most dispossessed citizens may better relate to those sworn to protect and serve.” -The Washington Post “Remarkable . . . Brooks has produced an engaging page-turner that also outlines many broadly applicable lessons and sensible policy reforms.” -Foreign AffairsJournalist and law professor Rosa Brooks goes beyond the blue wall of silence in this radical inside examination of American policingIn her forties, with two children, a spouse, a dog, a mortgage, and a full-time job as a tenured law professor at Georgetown University, Rosa Brooks decided to become a cop. A liberal academic and journalist with an enduring interest in laws troubled relationship with violence, Brooks wanted the kind of insider experience that would help her understand how police officers make sense of their world-and whether that world can be changed. In 2015, against the advice of everyone she knew, she applied to become a sworn, armed reserve police officer with the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department.Then as now, police violence was constantly in the news. The Black Lives Matter movement was gaining momentum, protests wracked Americas cities, and each day brought more stories of cruel, corrupt cops, police violence, and the racial disparities that mar our criminal justice system. Lines were being drawn, and people were taking sides. But as Brooks made her way through the police academy and began work as a patrol officer in the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods of the nations capital, she found a reality far more complex than the headlines suggested.In Tangled Up in Blue, Brooks recounts her experiences inside the usually closed world of policing. From street shootings and domestic violence calls to the behind-the-scenes police work during Donald Trumps 2016 presidential inauguration, Brooks presents a revelatory account of what its like inside the blue wall of silence. She issues an urgent call for new laws and institutions, and argues that in a nation increasingly divided by race, class, ethnicity, geography, and ideology, a truly transformative approach to policing requires us to move beyond sound bites, slogans, and stereotypes. An explosive and groundbreaking investigation, Tangled Up in Blue complicates matters rather than simplifies them, and gives pause both to those who think police can do no wrong-and those who think they can do no right. Review “Brooks has an anthropologist’s ear for the language of policing, jumping from the reports full of passive-voice bureaucratese to the darkly humorous, profanity-laden shoptalk. She zips from hilarious descriptions . . . to bone-dry observations. . . . [Brooks’s] style recalls the work of immersion journalists like George Plimpton, Ted Conover and Barbara Ehrenreich-who happens to be Brooks’s mother. Brooks makes this part of the story, nesting in a book on policing a beautifully written mini-memoir about growing up the daughter of a famous activist and writer, who disdains the police but also values a certain toughness.” -New York Times Book Review“Tangled Up in Blue is a wonderfully insightful book that provides a lens to critically analyze urban policing and a road map for how our most dispossessed citizens may better relate to those sworn to protect and serve.” -The Washington Post“Rosa Brooks’s Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City promises without question to be the cop memoir for the late 2010s and early 2020s. An accomplished scholar, journalist, and author who has moved in the loftiest legal, nonprofit, and foreign policy circles, Brooks brings a distinctive perspective to the police memoir genre, which boasts few women’s voices to begin with . . . But Brooks’s book is also about more than just policing as an instit...

-Titulo Original : Alice Alice Roosevelt Longworth, From White House Princess To Washington Power Broker-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: An entertaining and eye-opening biography of Americas most memorable first daughterFrom the moment Teddy Roosevelts outrageous and charming teenage daughter strode into the White House-carrying a snake and dangling a cigarette-the outspoken Alice began to put her imprint on the whole of the twentieth-century political scene. Her barbed tongue was as infamous as her scandalous personal life, but whenever she talked, powerful people listened, and she reigned for eight decades as the social doyenne in a town where socializing was state business. Historian Stacy Corderys unprecedented access to personal papers and family archives enlivens and informs this richly entertaining portrait of America?s most memorable first daughter and one of the most influential women in twentieth-century American society and politics. Review One of the most entertaining and educational books of the past year, Alice is proof that scholarly biographies need not be dull--and that popular biographies need not be frivolous. --Richmond Times-Dispatch About the Author Stacy A. Cordery is chairman of the history department at Monmouth College in Illinois and is the author of Theodore Roosevelt: In the Vanguard of the Modern. She is the bibliographer for the National First Ladies’ Library. This is her third book...

-Titulo Original : Galileos Middle Finger Heretics, Activists, And One Scholars Search For Justice-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Review New York Times Book Review“[A] smart, delightful book. Galileo’s Middle Finger is many things: a rant, a manifesto, a treasury of evocative new terms (sissyphobia, autogynephyllia, phall-o-meter) and an account of the author’s transformation “from an activist going after establishment scientists into an aide-de-camp to scientists who found themselves the target of activists like me”--and back again... I suspect most readers will find that [Dreger’s] witnessing of these wild skirmishes provides a splendidly entertaining education in ethics, activism and science.”Chicago TribuneDreger tells the story in her new book on scientific controversies, Galileos Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science, an engrossing volume that is sure to undo any lingering notions that academic debate is the province of empiricists who pledge allegiance to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth... Dregers clear and well-paced prose makes for compelling-and depressing-reading. If you believe what you were taught about scientific method, about old ideas giving way under the sway of new evidence, youre an idealist and you probably know that already. The truth is sometimes closer to the much-repeated notion that a new idea cant truly take hold until the people who held the old idea die.Salon : Galileo’s Middle Finger offers a trench-level account of several hot scientific controversies from the past 30 years, told with the page-turning verve of an expose.Forbes : “Lying and deceit have been around for a long time-forever, probably-but what makes Dreger’s book so compelling is where she dug them up: among health activists, academics and ethicists who we normally associate with honesty and integrity…. Like her hero Galileo, Dreger believes that the ‘real’ truth does exist and we are all for the worse when we don’t seek it out. It is an argument that deserves more of our attention.”Nature: “Dreger ends this powerful book by call­ing for her fellow academics to counter the ‘stunningly lazy attitude toward pre­cision and accuracy in many branches of academia.’ In her view, chasing grants and churning out papers now take the place of quality and truth. It is a situation exacerbated by a media that can struggle when covering scientific controversies, and by strong pres­sures from activists with a stake in what the evidence might say. She argues, ‘If you must criticize scholars whose work challenges yours, do so on the evidence, not by poisoning the land on which we all live.’ There is a lot of poison in science these days. Dreger is right to demand better.”Library Journal (starred review): “Accomplishing deft journalistic storytelling, [Dreger] pursues relentlessly her thesis that neither truth nor justice can exist without the other and that empirical research is essential to democratic society. She challenges readers to recognize that the loudest voice is not necessarily right, the predominant view is not always correct, and the importance of fact-checking and defending true scholarship. A crusader in the mold of muckrakers from a century ago, Dreger doesn’t try to hide her politics or her agenda. Instead she advocates for change intelligently and passionately.” Kirkus (starred review): “Let us be grateful that there are writers like Dreger who have the wits and the guts to fight for truth.” Dan Savage, founder of “It Gets Better” Project; author of American Savage: “If there ever there were a book that showed how democracy requires smart activism and solid data-and how that kind of work can be defeated by moneyed interests, conservative agendas, inept governments, and duplicitous “activists”-this is it. Galileo’s Middle Finger reads like a thriller. The cliche applies: I literally couldn’t put it down. Alice Dreger leaves you wondering what’s going to happen to America if our universities continue to turn into corporate brands afraid of daring research and unpopular ideas about who w...

-Titulo Original : Detroit An American Autopsy-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: An explosive expose of America’s lost prosperity by Pulitzer Prize­-winning journalist Charlie LeDuff“One cannot read Mr. LeDuffs amalgam of memoir and reportage and not be shaken by the cold eye he casts on hard truths . . . A little gonzo, a little gumshoe, some gawker, some good-Samaritan-it is hard to ignore reporting like Mr. LeDuffs.” -The Wall Street Journal“Pultizer-Prize-winning journalist LeDuff . . . writes with honesty and compassion about a city that’s destroying itself-and breaking his heart.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review)“A book full of both literary grace and hard-won world-weariness.” -Kirkus Back in his broken hometown, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie LeDuff searches the ruins of Detroit for clues to his family’s troubled past. Having led us on the way up, Detroit now seems to be leading us on the way down. Once the richest city in America, Detroit is now the nation’s poorest. Once the vanguard of America’s machine age-mass-production, blue-collar jobs, and automobiles-Detroit is now America’s capital for unemployment, illiteracy, dropouts, and foreclosures. With the steel-eyed reportage that has become his trademark, and the righteous indignation only a native son possesses, LeDuff sets out to uncover what destroyed his city. He beats on the doors of union bosses and homeless squatters, powerful businessmen and struggling homeowners and the ordinary people holding the city together by sheer determination. Detroit: An American Autopsy is an unbelievable story of a hard town in a rough time filled with some of the strangest and strongest people our country has to offer. Review “LeDuff returns, by the books end, to the bar where his sister was last seen, only to find it unrecognizable. A black man outside explains the changes. They trying to put something nice up in this hellhole he says, speaking of the bar specifically, though his words spread across the city and pay tribute, in equal measure, to its dreamers, its pessimists and to those, resigned and wrung out, who love it despite all. Cant say its working. But what you gonna do? You ain’t gonna be reincarnated, so you got to do the best you can with the moment you got. Do the best you can and try to be good. LeDuff has done his best, and his book is better than good.” -Paul Clemens, New York Times Book Review“One cannot read Mr. LeDuffs amalgam of memoir and reportage and not be shaken by the cold eye he casts on hard truths . . . A little gonzo, a little gumshoe, some gawker, some good-Samaritan-it is hard to ignore reporting like Mr. LeDuffs.” -The Wall Street Journal “Pultizer-Prize-winning journalist LeDuff (Work and Other Sins) delivers an edgy portrait of the decline, destruction, and possible redemption of his hometown . . . LeDuff writes with honesty and compassion about a city that’s destroying itself-and breaking his heart.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A book full of both literary grace and hard-won world-weariness. . . . Iggy Pop meets Jim Carroll and Charles Bukowski.” -Kirkus “This is our pick for a sleeper nonfiction hit next year. Charlie LeDuff is a remarkable journalist, and this book is filled with incredible writing as he witnesses his home city crumble through neglect and corruption.” -Huffington Post “What to do when you’re a reporter and your native city is rotting away? If you’re LeDuff, you leave The New York Times and head into the wreckage to ride with firemen, hang with the corrupt pols, and retrace your own family’s sad steps through drugs. Others have written well about the city, but none with the visceral anger, the hair-tearing frustration, and the hungry humanity of LeDuff.” -Newsweek“You wouldnt think a book about the stinking decay of the American dream could be this engaging, this irreverent, this laugh-at-loud funny. But not everyone can write like Charlie LeDuff. Im tempted to say hes the writer for our desperate times the way Steinbeck and Orwell...

-Titulo Original : Time Of The Magicians Wittgenstein, Benjamin, Cassirer, Heidegger, And The Decade That Reinvented Philosophy-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: “[A] fascinating and accessible account . . . In his entertaining book, Mr. Eilenberger shows that his magicians’ thoughts are still worth collecting, even if, with hindsight, we can see that some performed too many intellectual conjuring tricks.” -Wall Street JournalA grand narrative of the intertwining lives of Walter Benjamin, Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Ernst Cassirer, major philosophers whose ideas shaped the twentieth centuryThe year is 1919. The horror of the First World War is fresh for the protagonists of Time of the Magicians, each of whom finds himself at a crucial juncture. Benjamin is trying to flee his overbearing father and floundering in his academic career, living hand to mouth as a critic. Wittgenstein, by contrast, has dramatically decided to divest himself of the monumental fortune he stands to inherit, in search of spiritual clarity. Meanwhile, Heidegger, having managed to avoid combat in war by serving as a meteorologist, is carefully cultivating his career. Finally, Cassirer is working furiously on the margins of academia, applying himself to his writing and the possibility of a career at Hamburg University. The stage is set for a great intellectual drama, which will unfold across the next decade. The lives and ideas of this extraordinary philosophical quartet will converge as they become world historical figures. But as the Second World War looms on the horizon, their fates will be very different. Review “Splendid.” -Financial Times“[Eilenberger] patiently draws these four intellectual magi out of the shadows of their writings, which often tend toward complete opacity. The result is not a book of academic philosophy but rather an intellectual history that largely succeeds in bringing philosophy to life.” -The New York Times Book Review“Wolfram Eilenberger’s survey of high thoughts and low politics among German-language philosophers of the 1920s is a salutary tale for today, not just a gripping panorama of century-old dreams and feuds . . . Eilenberger shows flair in knitting complex ideas into the fabric of his sages’ lives and times.” -The Economist“[A] vibrant group portrait of four philosophers during a turbulent decade . . . Eilenberger is a terrific storyteller, unearthing vivid details that show how the philosophies of these men weren’t the arid products of abstract speculation but vitally connected to their temperaments and experiences.” -Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times “[A] fascinating and accessible account . . . In his entertaining book, Mr. Eilenberger shows that his magicians’ thoughts are still worth collecting, even if, with hindsight, we can see that some performed too many intellectual conjuring tricks.” -The Wall Street Journal “A group portrait of four brilliant young philosophers in the aftermath of the first world war . . . Eilenberger tells it with free-wheeling gusto.” -The Guardian “A tremendous feat of scholarship, but more pertinently it is also a technical masterpiece, knitting together the four mens love lives, money troubles, ontological anxieties and the wider ferment of the Weimar republic with uncommon dexterity.” -The Times (London) “Eilenberger weaves together the biographies and the developing thought of the four philosophers with great bravura and wit. We get a strong sense of their thought emerging as a response to the enveloping chaos of the time, when all the old certainties were crumbling . . . It’s a riveting read that sheds light on a crucial period in European history and thought, with some uncanny parallels to our own time.” -The Telegraph“Eilenberger clearly lays out the evolving theories of each philosopher for a non-specialist audience, embedding the philosophical discussion in their often-dramatic professional and romantic lives and the rapidly evolving social worlds that they shared. The result is an engrossing history which also acts as an introduction to post-WWI European philosophical thinkin...

-Titulo Original : On The Trail Of The Serpent The Epic Hunt For The Bikini Killer-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: The complete story of Charles Sobhraj, the serial killer who inspired the hit Netflix series The Serpent.Charles Sobhraj remains one of the worlds great conmen, and as a serial killer, the story of his life and capture endures as legend. Born in Vietnam to a Vietnamese mother and Indian father, Sobhraj grew up deprived of a sense of identity, moving to France before being imprisoned and stripped of his multiple nationalities. Driven to floating from country to country, continent to continent, he became the consummate con artist, stealing passports, smuggling drugs and guns across Asia, busting out of prisons and robbing wealthy associates. But as his situation grew more perilous, he turned to murder, preying on Western tourists dropping out across the 1970s hippie trail, leaving dead bodies and gruesome crime scenes in his wake, triggering an international manhunt that put him at the top of INTERPOLs most wanted list.On the Trail of the Serpent draws its readers into the story of Sobhrajs life as told exclusively to journalists Richard Neville and Julie Clarke by the investigators, families of the victims, and even Sobhraj himself. Blurring the boundaries between true crime and novelization, this remains the definitive book about Sobhraj--a riveting tale of sex, drugs, adventure, and murder. Review Extraordinary -The Guardian About the Author Richard Neville was an Australian writer and commentator who first came to prominence as the editor of the counterculture magazine OZ. Having travelled the pot trail throughout the 1960s and 70s, Neville and his partner Julie Clarke were commissioned by Random House to write the story of con man and serial killer, Charles Sobhraj. The result, On the Trail of the Serpent was a global bestseller. His other books include Play Power; Hippie, Hippie, Shake; Out of My Mind and Amerika Pyscho. Neville died in 2016.Julie Clarke trained as a journalist on the Sydney Telegraph before joining ABC television. She later became a New York correspondent for Australian Consolidated Press and worked as a TV producer. She was commissioned to write On the Trail of the Serpent along with her partner Richard Neville, an endeavor that took the pair all over the world for three years. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1 The Face of an Angel Late on a sultry afternoon in Paris in July 1976, a middle-aged man strolled from his office and into the rush-hour crowds. He wore horn-rimmed glasses and carried a battered briefcase. Alain Benard, a lawyer, had been a corporate executive for fifteen years but looked more like an academic. Billboards of bronzed girls in bikinis smiled down on Benard as he jostled his way towards the Metro. It was nearing the time of year when millions of Parisians would leave the city for their annual summer holidays. Benard sidestepped an elderly man bent over a pile of magazines. The man was cutting the twine from the bundle and stacking the copies of Paris Match on the racks of the news stand. Benards eyes followed the recognizable bright red logo. Then, having glimpsed the cover photo, he froze. The dark eyes glowering from the familiar face had stopped him in his tracks. A cold, arrogant but handsome face. There was no mistake. It was Charles Sobhraj. The headline read Death Rides the Road to Kathmandu. Benard hurriedly bought a copy of the magazine, sat down at a pavement caf and contemplated the cover. Charles was pictured in a pose Benard knew well, one hand on his hip and the other on a table scattered with dollars. Next to Charles was a dark-haired young woman wearing sunglasses and leaning forward in a low-cut T-shirt. She looked more attractive than Benard remembered her. Police have embarked on a massive manhunt for three brutalkillers, read the photo caption. They slay young hitchhikers on the holiday road - a dozen victims have so far been found. Horrified, he quickly opened the m...

-Titulo Original : Traveling With Pomegranates A Mother And Daughter Journey To The Sacred Places Of Greece, Turkey, And France-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: The New York Times bestselling memoir of pilgrimage and self-discovery by Sue Monk Kidd, the author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Book of Longings, and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor Sue Monk Kidd has touched the hearts of millions of readers with her beloved novels and acclaimed nonfiction. Now, in this wise and engrossing dual memoir, she and her daughter, Ann, chronicle their travels together through Greece and France at a time when each was on a quest to redefine herself and rediscover each other. As Sue struggles to enlarge a vision of swarming bees into a novel, and Ann ponders the classic question of what to do with her life, this modern-day Demeter and Persephone explore an array of inspiring figures and sacred sites. They also give voice to that most protean of human connections: the bond of mothers and daughters.An absorbing book about spiritual growth and finding ones destiny, Traveling with Pomegranates is both a revealing self-portrait by a beloved author and her daughter, and a momentous story that will resonate with women everywhere. Review Praise for Traveling with Pomegranates:“Thoughtful, honest, and uplifting.” -The Los Angeles Times“Any mother or daughter would enjoy or relate to the touching struggle of developing a close relationship as adult women.” -The Associated Press“Read this one as a memoir, a travelogue and as a self-renewal book” -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel About the Author SUE MONK KIDD is the author of the novels, The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, and the memoirs, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, When the Heart Waits, and Firstlight, a collection of early writings. The Secret Life of Bees has spent more than 125 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted into an award-winning movie. The Mermaid Chair, a #1 New York Times bestseller, was adapted into a television movie. Each of her novels has been translated into more than 24 languages. The recipient of numerous literary awards, Sue lives in South Carolina with her husband.Ann Kidd Taylor is a graduate of Columbia College in South Carolina. She has published articles and essays in Skirt! magazine in Charleston, SC, where she worked for two years after college as an editorial assistant. She left to pursue a career in writing, working on a book about her travels, which evolved into Traveling with Pomegranates, a memoir she co-authored with her mother Sue Monk Kidd. It is her first book. Ann lives near Charleston with her husband and son. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. SueNational Archaeological Museum-AthensSitting on a bench in the National Archaeological Museum inGreece, I watch my twenty-two-year-old daughter, Ann, angle hercamera before a marble bas- relief of Demeter and Persephoneunaware of the small ballet she’s performing- her slow, precisesteps forward, the tilt of her head, the way she dips to one knee asshe turns her torso, leaning into the sharp afternoon light. The scenereminds me of something, a memory maybe, but I can’t recall what.I only know she looks beautiful and impossibly grown, and forreasons not clear to me I’m possessed by an acute feeling of loss.It’s the summer of 1998, a few days before my fiftieth birthday.Ann and I have been in Athens a whole twenty- seven hours, agood portion of which I’ve spent lying awake in a room in theHotel Grande Bretagne, waiting for blessed daylight. I tell myselfthe bereft feeling that washed over me means nothing- I’mjet- lagged, that’s all. But that doesn’t feel particularly convincing.I close my eyes and even in the tumult of the museum, wherethere seem to be ten tourists per square inch, I know the feeling isactually everything. It is the undisclosed reason I’ve come to theother side of the world with my daughter. Because in a way whichmakes no sense, she seems lost to me now. Because she is grownand a stranger. And I miss her almost violently. Our trip to Greece began ...

-Titulo Original : A Secret Gift How One Mans Kindness--and A Trove Of Letters--revealed The Hidden History Of T He Great Depression-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: About the Author Ted Gup is the author of the bestseller The Book of Honor and of Nation of Secrets. He is a professor and chair of the journalism department at Emerson College. A former investigative reporter for The Washington Post and Time, he has also written for The New York Times, Newsweek, GQ, Slate, and Salon . A wonderful reminder that economic hardship can bring suffering but can also foster compassion and community. -The Boston GlobeIn hard economic times like these, readers will find bestselling author Ted Gups unique book uplifting as well as captivating. Inside a suitcase kept in his mothers attic, Gup discovered letters written to his grandfather in response to an ad placed in a Canton, Ohio, newspaper in 1933 that offered cash to seventy-five families facing a devastating Christmas. The author travels coast to coast to unveil the lives behind the letters, describing a range of hardships and recreating in his research the hopes and suffering of Depression-era Americans, even as he uncovers the secret life led by the grandfather he thought he knew...

-Titulo Original : Dark Mirror Edward Snowden And The American Surveillance State-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: “Engrossing. . . . Gellman [is] a thorough, exacting reporter . . . a marvelous narrator for this particular story, as he nimbly guides us through complex technical arcana and some stubborn ethical questions. . . . Dark Mirror would be simply pleasurable to read if the story it told didn’t also happen to be frighteningly real.” -Jennifer Szalai, The New York TimesFrom the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the New York Times bestseller Angler, the definitive master narrative of Edward Snowden and the modern surveillance state, based on unique access to Snowden and groundbreaking reportage around the world.Edward Snowden touched off a global debate in 2013 when he gave Barton Gellman, Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald each a vast and explosive archive of highly classified files revealing the extent of the American government’s access to our every communication. They shared the Pulitzer Prize that year for public service. For Gellman, who never stopped reporting, that was only the beginning. He jumped off from what Snowden gave him to track the reach and methodology of the U.S. surveillance state and bring it to light with astonishing new clarity. Along the way, he interrogated Snowden’s own history and found important ways in which myth and reality do not line up. Gellman treats Snowden with respect, but this is no hagiographic account, and Dark Mirror sets the record straight in ways that are both fascinating and important. Dark Mirror is the story that Gellman could not tell before, a gripping inside narrative of investigative reporting as it happened and a deep dive into the machinery of the surveillance state. Gellman recounts the puzzles, dilemmas and tumultuous events behind the scenes of his work - in top secret intelligence facilities, in Moscow hotel rooms, in huddles with Post lawyers and editors, in Silicon Valley executive suites, and in encrypted messages from anonymous accounts. Within the book is a compelling portrait of national security journalism under pressure from legal threats, government investigations, and foreign intelligence agencies intent on stealing Gellman’s files. Throughout Dark Mirror, Gellman wages an escalating battle against unknown adversaries who force him to mimic their tradecraft in self-defense. With the vivid and insightful style that is the author’s trademark, Dark Mirror is a true-life spy tale about the surveillance-industrial revolution and its discontents. Along the way, with the benefit of fresh reporting, it tells the full story of a government leak unrivaled in drama since All the President’s Men. Review One of the Washington Posts 50 best nonfiction books of 2020One of Christian Science Monitor’s best nonfiction books of 2020“As gripping as a spy thriller.” -Christian Science Monitor“Engrossing. . . . Gellman [is] a thorough, exacting reporter . . . a marvelous narrator for this particular story, as he nimbly guides us through complex technical arcana and some stubborn ethical questions. . . . Dark Mirror would be simply pleasurable to read if the story it told didn’t also happen to be frighteningly real.” -Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times “Illuminating. . . . Newsworthy. . . . Dark Mirror stands out from all the other accounts. Gellman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington Post investigative reporter and author of Angler, an influential 2008 biography of Dick Cheney, didn’t just use the Snowden files as sources; he used them as starting points for deep, labor-intensive reporting.” -The Washington Post “Gellman offers the most detailed, comprehensive and balanced take on the impact of Snowdens 2013 revelations and what they mean today, as the debate on national security versus individual privacy keeps evolving. . . . A compelling book.” -NPR“A fine and deeply considered portrait of the US-dominated 21st-century surveillance state.” -The Guardian“[A] thoughtful mix of reportage and revelation. . . . a necessary an...

-Titulo Original : A Zoo In My Luggage-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Fans of Gerald Durrell’s timeless classic My Family and Other Animals, the inspiration for The Durrells in Corfu on Masterpiece PBS, will love this hilarious tale, which finds the author as an adult still charmed by his beloved animals. A Zoo in My Luggage begins with an account of Durrell’s third trip to the British Cameroons in West Africa, during which he and his wife capture animals to start their own zoo. Returning to England with a few additions to their family-Cholmondeley the chimpanzee, Bug-eye the bush baby, and others-they have nowhere to put them as they haven’t yet secured a place for their zoo. Durrell’s account of how he manages his menagerie in all sorts of places throughout England while finding a permanent home for the animals provides as much adventure as capturing them. For animal lovers of all ages, A Zoo in My Luggage is the romping true story of the boy who grew up to make a Noah’s Ark of his own. About the Author Gerald Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1925. A student of zoology, he founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust on the Channel Island of Jersey. His other books include A Zoo in My Luggage and The Whispering Land (both available from Penguin)...

-Titulo Original : Roger Williams And The Creation Of The American Soul Church, State, And The Birth Of Liberty-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Review A gifted author. - The New York Times Book ReviewJohn Barrys Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul establishes Williams as a brave thinker and also a deft political actor . . . Mr. Barry puts Williams squarely among our great political thinkers, crediting him with bringing liberal democracy to the American colonies. - The Wall Street JournalBarry now turns his meticulous hand to the origins of two fundamental and perpetual American fixations: the conflict between church and state and that between the power of the state and the conscience of the citizen. . . . Present-day implications of an elemental clash of ideas may hover over every page, yet the vital drama of Barry’s story emblazons two competing visions of American destiny: John Winthrop’s “city on a hill” vs. Williams’s community of conscience. As Barry shows well and often prophetically, the national soul formed out of that drama remains a troubled, and occasionally tortured, one. - The Washington PostTo call it a biography sells it short. What it is, really, is the history of an idea-about the critical importance of separating church from state. So revolutionary was this idea that it caused Williams to be banished from Massachusetts. . . . Williams created the first place in the Western world where people could believe in any God they wished-or no God at all-without fear of retribution. - Joe Nocera, The New York TimesIn Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul, New York Times bestselling author John M. Barry tells the story with passion and an eye for fine detail. . . . If the story were not compelling enough, Barrys dramatic first chapter of conflict, confrontation and banishment into the wilderness is worth the price of admission alone. . . . As Barry notes, the dispute opened a fissure in America, a fault line which would rive America all the way to the present. John Barry deserves our thanks for illuminating this critical and timely chapter of American history. - The Seattle TimesTheres a recurring theme among the religiously political/politically religious that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that in this modern era we have somehow strayed from God and from our roots. John M. Barrys new book Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty is a counterargument and it is a significant reminder of whence, exactly, this little experiment in democracy of ours came . . . Absorbing. - Los Angeles TimesThis biography should be read with todays headlines in mind . . . Thoroughly researched and accessibly written . . . This is an important book because it brings back an important founding point in the development of the American character. But it also is a timely reminder that the issues that drove Williams into exile in Rhode Island are very much alive and just as perilous today. - The Washington TimesFascinating... a swath of history Barry brings to urgent life with the same focused intelligence which distinguished The Great Influenza. - BooklistA commanding history...masterly. - Library Journal A revelatory look at the separation of church and state in America-from the New York Times bestselling author of The Great InfluenzaFor four hundred years, Americans have fought over the proper relationships between church and state and between a free individual and the state. This is the story of the first battle in that war of ideas, a battle that led to the writing of the First Amendment and that continues to define the issue of the separation of church and state today. It began with religious persecution and ended in revolution, and along the way it defined the nature of America and of individual liberty. Acclaimed historian John M. Barry explores the development of these fundamental ideas through the story of Roger Williams, who was the first to link religious freedom to individual liberty, and who created in Am...

-Titulo Original : Four Queens The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: For fans of Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser, acclaimed author Nancy Goldstone’s thrilling history of the royal daughters who succeeded in ruling-and shaping-thirteenth-century Europe Set against the backdrop of the thirteenth century, a time of chivalry and crusades, troubadors, knights and monarchs, Four Queens is the story of four provocative sisters-Marguerite, Eleanor, Sanchia, and Beatrice of Provence-who rose from near obscurity to become the most coveted and powerful women in Europe. Each sister in this extraordinary family was beautiful, cultured, and accomplished but what made these women so remarkable was that each became queen of a principal European power-France, England, Germany and Sicily. During their reigns, they exercised considerable political authority, raised armies, intervened diplomatically and helped redraw the map of Europe. Theirs is a drama of courage, sagacity and ambition that re-examines the concept of leadership in the Middle Ages. Review A wonderful book about four remarkable women . . . An utterly compelling read. -Alison Weir, author of Eleanor of Aquitaine A densely woven narrative of sibling rivalry, simmering resentments, and thwarted ambitions. . . . Times change but not, it seems, sisterly love. -Dr. Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire Remarkable . . . told with all the verve and aplomb and richness of detail that four such extraordinary women deserve. -Ross King, author of Brunelleschis Dome Goldstone weaves a vivid tapestry worthy of her subjects. -Entertainment Weekly On Goldstones rich, beautifully woven tapestry, medieval Europe springs to vivid life. . . . This is a fresh, eminently enjoyable history that gives women their due as movers and shakers in tumultuous times. -Publishers Weekly (starred review) About the Author Nancy Goldstone has a passion for medieval history and old and rare books. She is the author most recently of three works of non-fiction examining the role of high born women in the Middle Ages: Four Queens, The Maid and the Queen, and The Lady Queen. She and her husband have also written three acclaimed humorous memoirs on their experiences in the world of rare and antiquarian books: Used and Rare, Slightly Chipped, and Warmly Inscribed...

-Titulo Original : Undocumented A Dominican Boys Odyssey From A Homeless Shelter To The Ivy League-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: An undocumented immigrant’s journey from a New York City homeless shelter to the top of his Princeton class Dan-el Padilla Peralta has lived the American dream. As a boy, he arrived in the United States legally with his family. Together they had traveled from Santo Domingo to seek medical care for his mother. Soon the family’s visas lapsed, and Dan-el’s father eventually returned home. But Dan-el’s courageous mother decided to stay and make a better life for her bright sons in New York City. Without papers, she faced tremendous obstacles. While Dan-el was only in grade school, the family joined the ranks of the city’s homeless. Dan-el, his mother, and brother lived in a downtown shelter where Dan-el’s only refuge was the meager library. At another shelter he met Jeff, a young volunteer from a wealthy family. Jeff was immediately struck by Dan-el’s passion for books and learning. With Jeff’s help, Dan-el was accepted on scholarship to Collegiate, the oldest private school in the country. There, Dan-el thrived. Throughout his youth, Dan-el navigated two worlds: the rough streets of East Harlem, where he lived with his brother and his mother and tried to make friends, and the ultra-elite halls of a Manhattan private school, where he immersed himself in a world of books and rose to the top of his class. From Collegiate, Dan-el went on to Princeton, where he made the momentous decision to come out as an undocumented student in a Wall Street Journal profile a few months before he gave the salutatorian’s traditional address in Latin at his commencement. Undocumented is essential reading for the debate on immigration, but it is also an unforgettable tale of a passionate young scholar coming of age in two very different worlds. Praise for Undocumented: “Undocumented is an impassioned counterargument to those who feel, as did some of Peralta’s more xenophobic classmates, that ‘illegals’ are good-for-nothings who take jobs from Americans and deserve to be kicked out of the country. No one who reads this story of a brilliant young man and his proud mother will automatically equate undocumented immigrant with idle parasite. That stereotype is something else we shouldn’t take for granted.” -Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Dan-el Padilla Peralta’s story is as compulsively readable as a novel, an all-American tall tale that just happens to be true. From homeless shelter to Princeton, Oxford, and Stanford, through the grace not only of his own hard work but his mother’s discipline and care, he documents the America we should still aspire to be.” -Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter, President of the New America Foundation Review Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Undocumented is an impassioned counterargument to those who feel, as did some of Peralta’s more xenophobic classmates that “illegals” are good-for-nothings who take jobs from Americans and deserve to be kicked out of the country. No one who reads this story of a brilliant young man and his proud mother will automatically equate undocumented immigrant with idle parasite. That stereotype is something else we shouldn’t take for granted.” New York Daily News: “Undocumented is not meant to be a ‘whole hood-boy-in richy-rich-school saga.’ Peralta is merely determined to put another face to the undocumented millions, that of the son of an illegal who reached the highest pinnacle of privileged education.”Publishers Weekly: “Part memoir, part confessional, and part coming-of-age tale, Peralta’s story holds several truths on the road through loss, sacrifice, and achievement to gaining his slice of the American dream.”Kirkus Reviews: “An impassioned and honest memoir… Underscores the need for comprehensive immigration reform.” Library Journal: “Peralta’s simple and unadorned yet fast-moving narrative provides an insightful read for anyone passionate about immigration reform.” Booklist: “Peralta offers an inspiring personal story of the hardships faced by undocumented...

-Titulo Original : Crazy Horse A Life-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: About the Author Larry McMurtry is the author of twenty-one bestselling novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show. He lives in Texas. Legends cloud the life of Crazy Horse, a seminal figure in American history but an enigma even to his own people in his own day. This superb biography looks back across more than 120 years at the life and death of this great Sioux warrior who became a reluctant leader at the Battle of Little Bighorn. With his uncanny gift for understanding the human psyche, Larry McMurtry animates the character of this remarkable figure, whose betrayal by white representatives of the U.S. government was a tragic turning point in the history of the West. A mythic figure puzzled over by generations of historians, Crazy Horse emerges from McMurtry’s sensitive portrait as the poignant hero of a long-since-vanished epoch. Review This is fine writing and suggests once again that history and biography can best be restored by the creative imagination. (The New York Times Book Review) History, both poetic and relevant, at its best. (Los Angeles Times...

-Titulo Original : The Olive Farm A Memoir Of Life, Love, And Olive Oil In The South Of France-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: When Carol Drinkwater and her fiance, Michel, are given the opportunity to purchase ten acres of an abandoned olive farm in the South of France, they find the regions splendor impossible to resist. Using their entire savings as a down payment, the couple embark on an adventure that brings them in contact with the charming countryside of Provence, its querulous personalities, petty bureaucracies, and extraordinary wildlife. From the glamour of Cannes and the Isles of Lerins to the charm of her own small plot of land-which she transforms from overgrown weeds into a thriving farm-Drinkwater triumphantly relates how she realized her dream of a peaceful, meaningful life. About the Author Carol Drinkwater is a multi-award-winning actress who is best known for her portrayal of Helen Herriot in the BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small, and is the author of more than 20 books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her quartet of memoirs set on her olive farm in the south of France have sold more than a million copies worldwide, and her solo journey through the Mediterranean in search of the olive trees mythical secrets inspired a five-part documentary film series. Carol lives in the south of France, where she is writing her next novel. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Olive FarmA Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of FranceBy Carol DrinkwaterPenguin BooksCopyright © 2002 Carol DrinkwaterAll right reserved.ISBN: 0142001309Chapter OneWITH PASSIONfour months earlierShall we look inside? suggests Michel, climbing the stairway tothe main entrance, which is situated on the northwest side of the upperterrace. The estate agent, Monsieur Charpy (pronounced Sharpee), confessesthat he does not have a key. No key?. It is only now that he owns up to the fact that he is not actually representingthe property. But, he swiftly assures us, if we are genuinely interested,he will be able to faire le necessaire. I am in the south of France, gazing at the not-so-distant Mediterranean,falling in love with an abandoned olive farm. The property, once stylish andnow little better than a ruin, is for sale with ten acres of land. Once upon a time, Charpy tell us, it was a residence of haut standing,which owned land as far as the eye could see in every direction. He swingshis arms this way and that. I stare at him incredulously. He shrugs. Well,certainly that valley in front of us and the woods to the right but, helas?heshrugs again?most of the terrain was sold off. When? Years ago. I wonder why nothing else has been constructed. The villa still standsalone on its hillside, and the magnificent terraced olive groves Charpypromised us have become a jungle of hungry weeds. An olive farm with vineyard and swimming pool, he insists. We stare at the pool. It looks like an oversize, discarded sink. Dottedhere and there are various blossoming fruit trees and some very fine Italiancedars, but theres no sign of any vineyard. There are two cottages includedin the purchase price: the gatekeepers house, at the very foot of the hill,is firmly locked and shuttered, but even from the outside, it is plain thatit needs major restoration; the other, where the gardener or vine tenderwould have resided, has been swallowed up beneath rampant growth. Asfar as we can tell, for we cannot get within two hundred meters of it, allthat remains is one jagged stone wall. The villa was built in 1904 and was used as a summer residence by awealthy Italian family. They called it Appassionata. I smile. Appassionatais a musical term, meaning with passion. Pied dans leau, continues Charpy. Yes, it is ten minutes by car to the sea. From the numerous terraces,the bay of Cannes is within tantalizingly easy reach, while the two islandsof Lerins lie in the water like lizards sleeping in the sun. To the rear of the house is a pine forest. Most of the oth...

-Titulo Original : Gastrophysics The New Science Of Eating-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: The science behind a good meal: all the sounds, sights, and tastes that make us like what were eating-and want to eat more.Why do we consume 35 percent more food when eating with one other person, and 75 percent more when dining with three? How do we explain the fact that people who like strong coffee drink more of it under bright lighting? And why does green ketchup just not work? The answer is gastrophysics, the new area of sensory science pioneered by Oxford professor Charles Spence. Now hes stepping out of his lab to lift the lid on the entire eating experience-how the taste, the aroma, and our overall enjoyment of food are influenced by all of our senses, as well as by our mood and expectations. The pleasures of food lie mostly in the mind, not in the mouth. Get that straight and you can start to understand what really makes food enjoyable, stimulating, and, most important, memorable. Spence reveals in amusing detail the importance of all the “off the plate” elements of a meal: the weight of cutlery, the color of the plate, the background music, and much more. Whether we’re dining alone or at a dinner party, on a plane or in front of the TV, he reveals how to understand what we’re tasting and influence what others experience. This is accessible science at its best, fascinating to anyone in possession of an appetite. Crammed with discoveries about our everyday sensory lives, Gastrophysics is a book guaranteed to make you look at your plate in a whole new way. Review “A chatty whirl through the latest discoveries and their real-world applications, roughly organized by the five senses and different dining situations, Mr. Spence’s book is far from a systematic treatise on gastrophysics.” -Wall St Journal “[A] delicious explainer” -Real Simple Fascinating...[Spence] considers everything from marketing and cognitive neuroscience to design and behavioral economics to get the scoop on how our brains process the food on our plate.-PureWow“Spence has a light touch and a knack for framing research questions in provocative headings: Whats the link, he asks, between the humble tomato and aircraft noise? Its a question worth pondering should you have the dubious pleasure of being served an in-flight meal, just as youll learn here why the barista at Starbucks puts your name on the cup (hint: its not really a memory aid for said barista). A sharp, engaging education for food consumers and a font of ideas for restaurateurs and chefs as well.-Kirkus “If simply changing the name of a dish on a menu or the color of the plate on which it is served can dramatically alter our perception of taste and food quality, then everyone in the restaurant industry needs to read this and take a deeper look at the scientific secrets Professor Spence reveals in Gastrophysics.”-Larry Olmsted, New York Times bestselling author of Real Food, Fake Food: What You Don’t Know About What You’re Eating & What You Can Do About It“Popular science at its best. Insightful, entertainingly written and peppered throughout with facts you can use in the kitchen, in the classroom, or in the pub.-Daniel J. Levitin, New York Times bestselling author of The Organized Mind and This Is Your Brain on Music“Spence allows people to appreciate the multisensory experience of eating.”-The New Yorker “Not many people are as ready to realize the importance of the senses as Charles Spence.”-Ferran Adria, El Bulli restaurant, Spain “Can’t fail to entertain, inform, and dazzle.”-Heston Blumenthal, The Fat Duck restaurant, UK“A fascinating look at the science of food and how our perception is shaped by all our senses, not just taste.”-Sunday Times (UK)“Gastrophysics serves up a mind-bending menu of fascinating insights.”-Observer (UK) About the Author Charles Spence is the head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford. He has consulted for multinational companies including Toyota and ICI, advising on ...

-Titulo Original : Maigret And The Killer (inspector Maigret)-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: When a dinner between Inspector Maigret and friends ends abruptly at the discovery of a body, the detective must plumb the darker side of human nature to discover what motivates a killerMaigret and wife have always enjoyed their occasional dinners with Mr. and Mrs. Pardon on the Boulevard Voltaire. But one of the congenial meals is interrupted by a neighbor who has stumbled across the body of a young man in the nearby Rue Popincourt. Maigret answers the call with his friend Dr. Pardon, and their pleasant evening is quickly brought to an end by the commencement of a complicated murder case. And when a tape recorder is discovered on the victims body, it only complicates matters.Maigrets investigation leads to the discovery of another crime altogether and the fascinating story of the murdered mans life. Maigret and the Killer is a taut, engrossing mystery that shows off Georges Simenons flair for creating complex characters with deeply human problems and his ability to make a senseless crime understandable. Review Praise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” -The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” -The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” -People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” -William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” -Andre Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” -The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” -The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” -John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable-lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” -Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle -Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” -John Banville About the Author Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was born in Liege, Belgium. He is best known in the English-speaking world as the author of the Inspector Maigret books. His prolific output of more than four hundred novels and short stories has made him a household name in continental Europe...

-Titulo Original : The Party Is Over How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, And The Middle Class Got Shafted-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: The New York Times bestselling expose of what passes for business as usual in Washington todayThere was a time, not so very long ago, when perfectly rational people ran the Republican Party. So how did the party of Lincoln become the party of lunatics? That is what this book aims to answer. Fear not, the Dems come in for their share of tough talk- they are zombies, a party of the living dead.Mike Lofgren came to Washington in the early eighties-those halcyon, post-Nixonian glory days-for what he imagined would be a short stint on Capitol Hill. He has witnessed quite a few low points in his twenty-eight years on the Hill-but none quite so pitiful as the antics of the current crop of legislators whom we appear to have elected. Based on the explosive article Lofgren wrote when he resigned in disgust after the debt ceiling crisis, The Party Is Over is a funny and impassioned expose of everything that is wrong with Washington. Obama and his tired cohorts are no angels but they have nothing on the Republicans, whose wily strategists are bankrupting the country one craven vote at a time. Be prepared for some fireworks. Review “Lofgren’s ideas are trenchant and far-reaching. . . . With the feel of a long-repressed confession and the authority of an insider’s testimony, like the anti-war views of a decorated infantry officer . . . he writes about how the Republican party took advantage of a profoundly ignorant electorate, an easily conned and distracted media, and a cowed Democratic Party to press the ideological struggle in spite of the deep unpopularity of many of its positions.”-George Packer, The New Yorker“A fast-moving, hard-hitting, dryly witty book-length account of the radicalization of the Republican party, the failures of Democratic rivals and the appalling consequences for the country at large. Like the essay that inspired it, The Party Is Over is forceful, convincing and seductive.”-The Washington Post“Expect demand for this inside view of Washington, D.C., by a staffer who spent a quarter-century on Capitol Hill before publishing a screed on “America’s broken political system” at truthout.org. Lofgren criticizes Democrats . . . but his long service to GOP office-holders inevitably makes his critique of that party more detailed and fascinating. . . . A pungent, penetrating insider polemic.”-Mary Carroll, Booklist (starred review)“A scrupulously bipartisan diagnosis of the sick state of American politics and governance . . . Lofgren devotes close attention to budget issues rarely accorded so much detail in garden-variety op-ed warfare. Sustaining his original thesis well beyond Internet-browsing attention span, Lofgren has crafted an angry but clear-sighted argument that may not sit well at family reunions or dinner parties, but deserves attention.”-Publishers Weekly“A well-argued call for more sanity in American politics.”-Kirkus Reviews About the Author Mike Lofgren spent twenty-eight years in Congress, the last sixteen as a senior analyst on the House and Senate Budget committees. He holds two degrees in history and received a Fulbright scholarship. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia...

-Titulo Original : The Great Degeneration How Institutions Decay And Economies Die-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower, a searching and provocative examination of the widespread institutional rot that threatens our collective futureWhat causes rich countries to lose their way? Symptoms of decline are all around us today: slowing growth, crushing debts, increasing inequality, aging populations, antisocial behavior. But what exactly has gone wrong? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues in The Great Degeneration, is that our institutions-the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail-are degenerating. With characteristic verve and historical insight, Ferguson analyzes the causes of this stagnation and its profound consequences for the future of the West. The Great Degeneration is an incisive indictment of an era of negligence and complacency-and to arrest the breakdown of our civilization, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform. Review “[Ferguson’s] intellectual virtuosity is refreshing. ’The Great Degeneration’ wont be popular in the Obama White House or other centers of power. Jeremiah wasnt popular with the elders of Judea either. They tossed him in jail for his sedition. They had reason later to be sorry.”-The Wall Street JournalBrilliantly written, full of wit and virtuosity, stuffed with memorable lines and gorgeous bits of information. A great read.-The Times (London) (on Civilization)A dazzling history of Western ideas ... epic..-The EconomistThis is sharp. It feels urgent. Ferguson... twists his knife with great literary brio.-Andrew Marr (on Civilization)A masterpiece ... fascinating facts burst like fireworks on every page.-Sunday TimesBrings history alive for the reader with a dazzling knowledge ... peerless.-Independent on Sunday About the Author Niall Ferguson is one of the worlds most renowned historians. He is the author of Paper and Iron, The House of Rothschild, The Pity of War, The Cash Nexus, Empire, Colossus, The War of the World, The Ascent of Money, High Financier, Civilization, The Great Degeneration, Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, and The Square and the Tower. He is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His many awards include the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Public Service (2010), the Hayek Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2012) and the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism (2013). Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Almost a quarter of a century ago, in the summer of 1989, Francis Fukuyama could boldly predict ‘an unabashed victory of economic and political liberalism . . . the Triumph of the West’ and proclaim that ‘the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution’ was ‘the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government’.1 How different the world looks now. ‘Economic liberalism’ is a tarnished brand, while the proponents of ‘state capitalism’ in China and elsewhere openly deride Western democracy. The West is stagnating, and not only in economic terms. In 2013 the World Bank expected the European economy to contract and the US to grow by just 1.6 per cent. China would grow four times faster than that, India two and a half times faster. By 2018, according to the International Monetary Fund, the gross domestic product of China would approach that of the United States.* Those who invested in the West in 1989 have been punished (they have made nothing since 2000), while those who invested in the Rest have been richly rewarded. This ‘great reconvergence’ is a far more astonishing historical event than the collapse of communism that Fukuyama so astutely anticipated. At the time he wrote, the world’s centre of economic gravity was still firmly in the North Atlantic. Today it is beyond the Urals, and by 2025 it will be just north of Kazakhstan - on roughly the same line of latitude as it was ...