-Titulo Original : Traitor To His Class The Privileged Life And Radical Presidency Of Franklin Delano Roosevelt-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Franklin Roosevelt’s Sunday morning began as most of his Sundays began: with a cigarette and the Sunday papers in bed. He wasn’t a regular churchgoer, con ning his attendance mainly to special occasions: weddings, funerals, his three inaugurations. In his youth and young adulthood he had often spent Sundays on the golf course, but his gol ng days were long over, to his lasting regret. This Sunday morning-the rst Sunday of December 1941-he read about himself in the papers. The New York Times gave him the top head, explaining how he had sent a personal appeal for peace to the Japanese emperor. Neither the Times nor the Washington Post, which provided similar coverage, included the substance of his appeal, as he had directed the State Department to release only the fact of his having approached the emperor. This way he got credit for his efforts on behalf of peace without having to acknowledge how hopeless those efforts were. The papers put the burden of warmongering on Japan; the government in Tokyo declared that its “patience” with the Western powers was at an end. Heavy movements of Japanese troops in occupied Indochina-movements about which Roosevelt had quietly released corroborating information-suggested an imminent thrust against Thailand or Malaya. Sharing the headlines with the prospect of war in the Pacific was the reality of war in the Atlantic and Europe. The German offensive against the Soviet Union, begun the previous June, seemed to have stalled just short of Moscow. Temperatures of twenty below zero were punishing the German attackers, searing their flesh and freezing their crankcases. The Germans were forced to find shelter from the cold; the front apparently had locked into place for the winter. On the Atlantic, the British had just sunk a German commerce raider, or so they claimed. The report from the war zone was sketchy and unconfirmed. The admiralty in London volunteered that its cruiser Dorsetshire had declined to look for survivors, as it feared German submarines in the area. Roosevelt supposed he’d get the details from Winston Churchill. The president and the prime minister shared a love of the sea, and Churchill, since assuming his current of ce eighteen months ago, had made a point of apprising Roosevelt of aspects of the naval war kept secret from others outside the British government. Churchill and Roosevelt wrote each other several times a week; they spoke by telephone less often but still regularly. An inside account of the war was the least the prime minister could provide, as Roosevelt was furnishing Churchill and the British the arms and equipment that kept their struggle against Germany alive. Until now Roosevelt had left the actual ghting to the British, but he made certain they got what they needed to remain in the battle. The situation might change at any moment, though, the Sunday papers implied. The Navy Department-which was to say, Roosevelt-had just ordered the seizure of Finnish vessels in American ports, on the ground that Finland had become a de facto member of the Axis alliance. Navy secretary Frank Knox, reporting to Congress on the war readiness of the American eet, assured the legislators that it was “second to none.” Yet it still wasn’t strong enough, Knox said. “The international situation is such that we must arm as rapidly as possible to meet our naval defense requirements simultaneously in both oceans against any possible combination of powers concerting against us.” Roosevelt read these remarks with satisfaction. The president had long prided himself on clever appointments, but no appointment had tickled him more than his tapping of Knox, a Republican from the stronghold of American isolationism, Chicago. By reaching out to the Republicans-not once but twice: at the same time that he chose Knox, Roosevelt named Republican Henry Stimson secretary of war-the president signaled a desire for a bipar­tisan foreign p...

-Titulo Original : King Peggy An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, And The Inspiring Story Of How She Changed An African Village-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Excerpted from KING PEGGY: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman Copyright © 2012 by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman. Excerpted by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. When the council meeting ended at six, the sun was just rising and the world outside was silver. The elders returned to their fields to do some work before the day became too hot. Peggy went to her room to rest a bit and saw a line of children with heavy metal buckets of water on their heads trudging down the path from the bore hole behind the house. Some of them were headed for her kitchen. Auntie Esi stood next to Peggy as she gazed out the window. “How far do they walk?” Peggy asked.“There are only two bore holes, so the kids that live furthest away have to walk about a half hour in each direction.”“An hour for a single bucket,” Peggy said quietly.“And some kids make two or three trips before and after school. Some walk for six hours a day.”“Is the water clean at least?”Auntie Esi shrugged. “It’s not clean if you haul it from the pond. That water is a yellowish-brown, and that’s what the entire town had to use when the pipes first broke in 1977. But the local government representatives built two bore holes shortly after that which provide very clean water, though it costs money. A few pennies a bucket.”Peggy scowled. “You mean they charge for clean water?”Auntie Esi nodded. “The pumps break down a lot, so they use the money to pay for repairs.”“And the people who can’t afford the bore hole water drink the yellowish-brown water?”Auntie Esi nodded again. “They don’t get sick from it, though. For hundreds of years before the British brought piped water, people in Otuam got all their water from the pond. Many believe the goddess of the pond purifies the water and keeps them healthy.” Peggy sighed, a deep sigh that came from the soul and rumbled through her entire body. Evidently the pond contained one of the seventy-seven gods and goddesses known to protect Otuam. But even so, no American king could allow her people to drink that disgusting water. And besides, it was well known that sometimes nature gods and goddesses left their ancient spots without a word of warning. If the goddess left, those drinking the water would sicken and even die. She would have to get those kids more bore holes, free bore holes, and eventually fix the pipes. How on earth was she going to afford it?Auntie Esi put her weathered hand on Peggy’s shoulder. “You will fix the water later,” she said. “Remember the sparrow, who builds her nest one twig at a time. We are going to eat breakfast now, and after that we are going to give you your first royal etiquette lesson. You don’t want to disgrace the stool by doing something inappropriate for a Ghanaian king.” After breakfast, the aunties taught Peggy how to walk majestically. A king, they said, was never to show any hurry. The whole world waited for a king. Flapping around here and there like a chicken was undignified.Auntie Esi strolled at a glacial pace down the hall, head up, shoulders back. “Like this, Nana. You bounce around too much and go too fast.”“In the US, if I walked that slowly I would be hit by a car,” Peggy pointed out. “No one there would wait for me to cross the street. They would run me down, and as I bounced on the asphalt they would keep on going so they wouldn’t be late for a meeting.”Auntie Esi smiled. “But there are very few cars in Otuam, and here they wouldn’t run over their king. Try it again, slowly.”Peggy sighed. Give just a hint of a smile, they said, showing regal serenity. Shoulders relaxed. Head held high. Chin up. Slow, straight, determined steps. Self-...

-Titulo Original : The Big Bam The Life And Times Of Babe Ruth-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: National BestsellerHe was the Sultan of Swat. The Caliph of Clout. The Wizard of Whack. The Bambino. And simply, to his teammates, the Big Bam. Babe Ruth was more than baseball’s original superstar. For eighty-five years, he has remained the sport’s reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century . . . more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? Why is so little known about his childhood, his private life, and his inner thoughts? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville, whose recent New York Times bestselling biography of Ted Williams garnered glowing reviews and offered an exceptionally intimate look at Williams’s life, brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe. From the award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Ted Williams comes the thoroughly original, definitively ambitious, and exhilaratingly colorful biography of the largest legend ever to loom in baseball-and in the history of organized sports. Based on newly discovered documents and interviews-including pages from Ruth’s personal scrapbooks -The Big Bam traces Ruth’s life from his bleak childhood in Baltimore to his brash entrance into professional baseball, from Boston to New York and into the record books as the world’s most explosive slugger and cultural luminary. Review “A comprehensive look at a gargantuan life.” -People “Montville is refreshingly nonjudgmental about his superstar subject. First-rate biography.” -Los Angeles Times Book Review “Crisp analogies and astute observations, combined with a fluid writing style, are Leigh Montville’s strengths in this definitive biography of the Splendid Splinter. Montville’s writing is rich and full, like a Ted Williams swing. He connects solidly. A raw, no-holds-barred view of [Williams’s] life.” -Tampa Tribune “An engaging, fascinating read.” -San Diego Tribune“Ted Williams is not only a first-rate sports biography, but also a first-rate biography, period.” -Baltimore Sun About the Author Three-time New York Times bestselling author Leigh Montville is a former columnist at the Boston Globe and former senior writer at Sports Illustrated. He is the author of The Mysterious Montague, The Big Bam, Ted Williams, At the Altar of Speed, Manute, and Why Not Us? He lives in Boston. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter OneThe little boy and the man get on the Wilkens Avenue trolley on the morning of June 13, 1902. It is a Friday. They are off on a trip of great dimensions. Details are important but do not seem to be available. There is so much we want to know. There is so much we never will. Is it really morning? Or maybe early afternoon? Probably not night. The man and the boy take seats in the second row. Or maybe they are all the way in the back. The boy is on the outside so he can see the streets of Baltimore pass. Or maybe he is on the inside. Maybe he is looking at his shoes. The jangle of nickels and pennies rolling through the conductor’s coin box is background noise. Wasn’t the coin box always background noise on a trolley? The ding-ding of the bell is heard when the trolley makes a stop. What is the weather? The Baltimore Sun predicted showers and cooler. Is it raining right now? Cool enough for a jacket? Don’t know. Can’t be sure. The man is sad or resolute or perhaps secretly happy. The boy is . . . does he even know where he is going? Is the packed little suitcase on the seat next to him a clue? Or is there no suitcase? He is dressed in the best clothes that he owns. Or are there no best clothes? The conversation is quiet, short sentences, the man’s mind lost somewhere in the business of the moment. Or perhaps there is no conversation, not a word. Or perhaps there are laughs, the man talking and talking, joking, to take the edge away. What? Imagination tries to build atop slim facts. The man is 31 years old. That is birth certi cate truth. His wife is 28 years...

-Titulo Original : Heirs Of The Founders Henry Clay, John Calhoun And Daniel Webster, The Second Generation Of American Giants-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: From New York Times bestselling historian H. W. Brands comes the riveting story of how, in nineteenth-century America, a new set of political giants battled to complete the unfinished work of the Founding Fathers and decide the future of our democracyIn the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolinas John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery. Together these heirs of Washington, Jefferson and Adams took the country to war, battled one another for the presidency and set themselves the task of finishing the work the Founders had left undone. Their rise was marked by dramatic duels, fierce debates, scandal and political betrayal. Yet each in his own way sought to remedy the two glaring flaws in the Constitution: its refusal to specify where authority ultimately rested, with the states or the nation, and its unwillingness to address the essential incompatibility of republicanism and slavery. Thrillingly and authoritatively, H. W. Brands narrates an epic American rivalry and the little-known drama of the dangerous early years of our democracy. Review “Lively and learned. . . . Brands has produced a narrative that pulsates vigorously. . . . The three senators wear themselves out and all but die on the job, their respective causes still unresolved, their long public service having earned them fame, but not the political prize for which they most lusted: the presidency (though not for want of trying).” -Harold Holzer, Wall Street Journal “A historical spellbinder. . . . A lively, vivid, and thoroughly researched account of a time when discord gripped the nation and wouldn’t let go.” -David Holahan, Christian Science Monitor “Brands’s easy prose and superior, simple organization makes this work an engrossing, entertaining, and educating read on issues important then that echo today in the modern debate on the limits of federal government power.” -Robert Davis, New York Journal of Books“They were called ‘The Great Triumvirate’-three senators whose rivalries, alliances, and work in the tumultuous battles of the 19th century profoundly influenced the course of American history. H. W. Brands tells the story of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster with verve and clarity, reminding us of a bygone age when giants truly walked the floor of the United States Senate.” -Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels “H. W. Brands has brought us a searching and excellent account of three legendary Americans whose leadership and rivalries did so much to shape the period of our history between that of the Founders and the Civil War. Heirs of the Founders should remind those of our own time how important Clay, Calhoun, and Webster are to the nation we live in today.” -Michael Beschloss, author of Presidents of War “H. W. Brands, with his characteristic combination of sweep and eye for detail, tells the story-always exciting, often inspiring, ultimately tragic-of the titans who tried to guide the handiwork of the Founding Fathers through the turbulent first half of the nineteenth century. He weaves a cautionary tale for our own time of troubles.” -Richard Brookhiser, author of John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court“Brands uses the life stories of three consequential early-19th-century American politicians-all with unfulfilled aspirations to become president-to show how tensions inherent in the founding fathers’ vision of the country led to the calamity of the Civil War. . . . This fascinating history illuminates rifts that still plague the country today.”-Publishers Weekl...

-Titulo Original : Borges And Me An Encounter-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: In this evocative work of what the author in his afterword calls “a kindof novelistic memoir,” Jay Parini takes us back fifty years, when he fled the United States for Scotland-in flight from the Vietnam War and desperately in search of his adult life. There, through unlikely circumstances, he meets the famed Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges.Borges-visiting his translator in Scotland-is in his seventies, blind and frail. When Borges hears that Parini owns a 1957 Morris Minor, he declares a long-held wish to visit the Highlands, where he hopes to meet a man in Inverness who is interested in Anglo-Saxon riddles. As they travel, stopping at various sites of historical interest, the charmingly garrulous Borges takes Parini on a grand tour of Western literature and ideas, while promising to teach him about love and poetry. As Borges’s idiosyncratic world of labyrinths, mirrors, and doubles shimmers into being, their escapades take a surreal turn.Borges and Me is a classic road novel, based on true events. It’s also a magical mystery tour of an era, like our own, in which uncertainties abound, and when-as ever-it’s the young and the old who hear voices and dream dreams. Review “This is a jewel of a book. . . . A high-style Borgesianmarriage of fiction and history.” -Ian McEwan“A classic comic-philosophical road story, playfully conscious of its own traditions.” -The Wall Street Journal“A delicious treat. . . . This reminiscence by Parini, who is now a prolific novelist, biographer and poet, brings Borges more sharply to life than any account I’ve read or heard.” -Michael Greenberg, The New York Times Book Review“One of the great books of our time.” -Michael Silverblatt, Bookworm, KCRW“A tender bond forms between the eccentric sage and his caretaker. . . . Fans of both Borges and Parini will delight in this touching coming-of-age memoir.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review)“A captivating chronicle and homage.” -Kirkus Reviews“Borges and Me is a road-trip book like no other, written by someone who certainly didn’t spend his youth the way I did. I loved every minute of reading it. It’s full of wonderful energy and humor, with underpinnings of sadness and seriousness I can’t shake.” -Ann Beattie“A loving portrait of [a] singular writer. . . . As Parini chronicles their misadventures with the hilarity of hindsight, he palpably re-creates his youthful anxiety and Borges’ own sometimes infuriating sanguinity.” -BookPage About the Author Jay Parini is a poet, novelist, and biographer who teaches at Middlebury College. He has written eight novels, including The Damascus Road, Benjamin’s Crossing, The Apprentice Lover, The Passages of H.M., and The Last Station, the last made into an Academy Award-nominated film. His biographical subjects include John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, William Faulkner, and, most recently, Gore Vidal. His nonfiction works include Jesus: The Human Face of God, Why Poetry Matters, and Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1One June morning in 1986, at my farmhouse in Vermont, I stepped from bed as the sun had only just lifted an eyebrow over the Green Mountains: always a coveted moment in my day, when I lean into beginnings, thinking about the work ahead of me-in this case, a novel about the last days of Tolstoy that had begun to glimmer at the edges of my conscious mind. My wife and children were still asleep, and I couldn’t help but look at them fondly. How could I resist these sweet little boys who drove me nuts at times, as children must do, as it’s their job? Or a bright, affectionate wife who didn’t seem to mind my occasional flights of idiocy, offering a rueful smile at times, sometimes a deep laugh? This bounty felt undeserved and probably was. With a sense of gratitude, even amazement, I made my way downstairs into the country kitchen, where I brewed a strong cup of Irish Bre...

-Titulo Original : Stalin The First In-depth Biography Based On Explosive New Documents From Russias Secret Archives-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: From the author of The Last Tsar, the first full-scale life of Stalin to have what no previous biography has fully obtained: the facts. Granted privileged access to Russias secret archives, Edvard Radzinsky paints a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless, and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined. Stalin was a man for whom power was all, terror a useful weapon, and deceit a constant companion. As Radzinsky narrates the high drama of Stalins epic quest for domination-first within the Communist Party, then over the Soviet Union and the world-he uncovers the startling truth about this most enigmatic of historical figures. Only now, in the post-Soviet era, can what was suppressed be told: Stalins long-denied involvement with terrorism as a young revolutionary; the crucial importance of his misunderstood, behind-the-scenes role during the October Revolution; his often hostile relationship with Lenin; the details of his organization of terror, culminating in the infamous show trials of the 1930s; his secret dealings with Hitler, and how they backfired; and the horrifying plans he was making before his death to send the Soviet Unions Jews to concentration camps-tantamount to a potential second Holocaust. Radzinsky also takes an intimate look at Stalins private life, marked by his turbulent relationship with his wife Nadezhda, and recreates the circumstances that led to her suicide. As he did in The Last Tsar, Radzinsky thrillingly brings the past to life. The Kremlin intrigues, the ceaseless round of double-dealing and back-stabbing, the private worlds of the Soviet Empires ruling class-all become, in Radzinskys hands, as gripping and powerful as the great Russian sagas. And the riddle of that most cold-blooded of leaders, a man for whom nothing was sacred in his pursuit of absolute might--and perhaps the greatest mass murderer in Western history--is solved. Review ...Mr. Radzinskys narrative is deeply personal. Driven by anger almost as bitter asAleksandr Solzhenitsyns in The Gulag Archipelago and peppered with pungent anecdotes, itsweeps the reader along with its force. -- The New York Times Book Review, From the Publisher From the author of The Last Tsar, the first full-scale life of Stalin to have what no previous biography has entirely gotten hold of: the facts. Granted privileged access to Russias secret archives, Edvard Radzinsky paints a picture of the Soviet strongman as more calculating, ruthless, and blood-crazed than has ever been described or imagined. Stalin was a man for whom power was all, terror a useful weapon, and deceit a constant companion. As Radzinsky narrates the high drama of Stalins epic quest for domination-first within the Communist Party, then over the Soviet Union and the world-he uncovers the startling truth about this most enigmatic of historical figures. Only now, in the post-Soviet era, can what was suppressed be told: Stalins long-denied involvement with terrorism as a young revolutionary; the crucial importance of his misunderstood, behind-the-scenes role during the October Revolution; his often hostile relationship with Lenin; the details of his organization of terror, culminating in the infamous show trials of the 1930s; his secret dealings with Hitler, and how they backfired; and the horrifying plans he was making before his death to send the Soviet Unions Jews to concentration camps-tantamount to a potential second Holocaust. Radzinsky also takes an intimate look at Stalins private life, marked by his turbulent relationship with his wife Nadezhda, and recreates the circumstances that led to her suicide. As he did in The Last Tsar, Radzinsky thrillingly brings the past to life. The Kremlin intrigues, the ceaseless round of double-dealing and back-stabbing, the private worlds of the Soviet Empires ruling class-all become, in Radzinskys hands, as gripping and powerful as the great Russian sagas. A...

-Titulo Original : Hissing Cousins The Lifelong Rivalry Of Eleanor Roosevelt And Alice Roosevelt Longworth-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: A Richmond Times-Dispatch Best Book of the YearWhen Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, his beautiful and flamboyant daughter was transformed into “Princess Alice,” arguably the century’s first global celebrity. Thirty-two years later, Alice’s first cousin Eleanor moved into the White House as First Lady. The two women had been born eight months and twenty blocks apart in New York City, spent much of their childhoods together, and were far more alike than most historians acknowledge. But their politics and personalities couldn’t have been more distinct. Democratic icon Eleanor was committed to social justice and hated the limelight; Republican Alice was an opponent of big government who gained notoriety for her cutting remarks. The cousins liked to play up their rivalry-in the 1930s they even wrote opposing syndicated newspaper columns and embarked on competing nationwide speaking tours. When the family business is politics, winning trumps everything. Lively, intimate, and stylishly written, Hissing Cousins is a double biography of two extraordinary women whose entwined lives give us a sweeping look at the twentieth century in America. Review “Clever, absorbing. . . . Entertaining and often shrewd.” -The Washington Post“Juicy. . . . Truly pleasurable. . . . Hard to put down.” -The Daily Beast“A compelling drama. . . . The research is thorough and the prose is stylishly authoritative.” -The Christian Science Monitor “Encapsulate[s] the sweeping saga of the Roosevelt family.” -Chicago Tribune “Moving. . . . Chronicl[es] the childhood losses each endured, and the rich web of family in which they were raised.” -The Boston Globe “Ripping but poignant.” -Time “Peyser and Dwyer tell the cousins’ story with insight, humor, empathy and wisdom. . . . A welcome and absorbing addition to the ever-growing canon of Rooseveltiana.” -Richmond Times-Dispatch “An insightful look at two remarkable Roosevelt women. . . . Hissing Cousins unravels the Machiavellian question that would haunt both women in their path to power: is it better to be clever, or is it better to be good?” -The Guardian (London) “A brilliant idea for a book, brilliantly executed. . . . A powerful and entertaining portrait of an important and overlooked American relationship.” -Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power “Just delicious-sharp, touching, funny, and wise. Marc Peyser and Timothy Dwyer have brought to life a pair of the great women of the twentieth century, in all their human flaws and glory.” -Evan Thomas, author of Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World “This is the beautifully-rendered and absorbing story of the seventy-year family rivalry between two of the most compelling women of the twentieth century-one Democrat, one Republican, both fascinating.” -Jonathan Alter, author of The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope “For much of the twentieth century Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Longworth defined what it meant to be an influential woman in politics. . . . This part of the grand Roosevelt family saga has rarely been told, and never better.” -H. W. Brands, author of Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt “One of the most entertaining accounts of serious history I’ve read, eliciting laughter, groans and ultimately a certain panoramic comprehension.” -Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution “Marc Peyser and Timothy Dwyer have a can’t-miss subject on their hands, and they bring the reader along for an exhilarating ride.” -BookPage “Peyser and Dwyer’s detailed and witty double biography is hard to put down, a fascinating look at an era and two exceptionally strong, intelligent women.” -Booklist (starred) About the Author Marc Peyser is a writer and former deput...

-Titulo Original : In Spite Of The Gods The Rise Of Modern India-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: As the worlds largest democracy and a rising international economic power, India has long been heralded for its great strides in technology and trade. Yet it is also plagued by poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and a vast array of other social and economic issues. Here, noted journalist and former Financial Times South Asia bureau chief Edward Luce travels throughout Indias many regions, cultures, and religious circles, investigating its fragile balance between tradition and modernity. From meetings with key political figures to fascinating encounters with religious pundits, economic gurus, and village laborers, In Spite of the Gods is a fascinating blend of analysis and reportage that comprehensively depicts the nuances of Indias complex situation and its place in the world. Review “Superb. . . . The blend of anecdote, history, and economic analysis makes In Spite of the Gods an endlessly fascinating, highly pleasurable way to catch up on a very big story.” -William Grimes, The New York Times“Sophisticated and sympathetic. . . . Richly evocative. . . . Engaging. . . . [Luces] sharp-witted prose brings todays India to life with insight and irreverence.” -The Washington Post“[Luces] research is formidable. . . . [In Spite of the Gods] is stunning in its breadth.” -The New Yorker“Indispensable. . . . [Luce] is a keen observer.” -The Wall Street Journal About the Author Edward Luce is the Washington commentator for the Financial Times and was previously the papers South Asia bureau chief, based in New Delhi. He worked for two years as a speechwriter for former Treasury Secretary Laurence Summers. He studied Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at Oxford. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1. GLOBAL AND MEDIEVALIndia’s Schizophrenic EconomyIts stupendous population consists of farm laborers. India is one vast farm-one almost interminable stretch of fields with mud fences between. Think of the above facts: and consider what an incredible aggregate of poverty they place before you.- Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897 (1)It took a long time. But finally in the late 1990s India started to build roads that could get you from A to B at something better than a canter. Until then, India’s most significant highway was the Grand Trunk Road that bisects the country from north to south. Laid at various stages by the late medieval Mughal dynasty, then upgraded and extended by the British in the nineteenth century and popularized by Rudyard Kipling in his novel Kim, most of the “GT Road,” as it is known, got acquainted with asphalt only after independence. But it is a single lane and one can rarely exceed an average of thirty miles an hour. So the relative novelty of India’s double-lane expressways still generates a buzz. By 2006, India had all but completed the 3,000-mile “Golden Quadrilateral” expressway linking the country’s four largest cities: Delhi to Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) to Chennai (formerly known as Madras) to Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) (*) to Delhi. Average speeds on the better stretches are closer to sixty miles an hour.For some, the expressways have heralded a modern era of speed, punctuality, and hygienic roadside bathrooms. For others, they represent a brash intrusion on the more lackadaisical world they cut through. To me, the new expressways provide an intriguing juxtaposition of India’s multispeed economics. Curiosity-and an instinct of self-preservation-means I occasionally move into the slow lane. One of the best ways of observing India’s galloping new economy is to count the number of car brands that whir past you in the fast lane. You tend to lose count at thirty or forty. In the early 1990s, as India was starting to relax import and investment restrictions on foreign manufacturers, you would at best have counted six or seven makes of car. More than 90 percent of them would have been Ambassadors, the stately but d...

-Titulo Original : The Velvet Rope Economy How Inequality Became Big Business-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: From New York Times business reporter Nelson D. Schwartz comes a bold and urgent investigation of division between the wealthy and the middle class n every arena of American life.In nearly every realm of daily life--from health care to education, highways to home security--there is an invisible velvet rope that divides how Americans live. On one side of the rope, for a price, red tape is cut, lines are jumped, appointments are secured, and doors are opened. On the other side, middle- and working-class Americans fight to find an empty seat on the plane, a place in line with their kids at the amusement park, a college acceptance, or a hospital bed. We are all aware of the gap between the rich and everyone else, but when we werent looking, business innovators stepped in to exploit it, shifting services away from the masses and finding new ways to profit by serving the privileged. And as decision-makers and corporate leaders increasingly live on the friction-free side of the velvet rope, they are less inclined to change--or even notice--the obstacles everyone else must contend with. Schwartzs must read book takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of this new reality and shows the toll the velvet rope divide takes on society. Review “If you’ve wondered how today’s rich live-why they speed past us at ball games and amusement parks, how a select few never have to wait to see top doctors-you need to read The Velvet Rope Economy. You’ll never look at boarding a plane-or privilege and polarization-the same way.” -Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of The Power of Habit“Schwartz’s tour of the modern economy is a study of not just how the market carves consumers into separate tribal groups, but of how it can create countries within countries whose borders-however velvet-are incontrovertibly real.”-Kanishk Tharoor, The New Republic“Everyone has heard that America is suffering through a second Gilded Age of economic extremes and new levels of privilege and inequality. But very few people are aware of the detailed architecture that builds inequality into daily life. That is what makes Nelson Schwartz’s account of the hidden history of privilege so revealing and fascinating-and so important. -James Fallows, winner of the National Book Award and author of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America “Timely and essential . . . Through careful reporting and entertaining storytelling, Schwartz unpacks the degree to which wealth insulates the privileged, as well as the dangers of our free-falling transformation into a caste-based society.” -Esquire“A masterpiece of beautifully written, carefully reported social commentary. Schwartz is able to take everyday things we already know-like the fact that the rich get to live a life entirely distinct from the rest of us-and shows, through colorful tales and great storytelling, that this is no curiosity. It is an indictment, a warning, a prediction, and a nuanced vision of our society. This book will become essential reading to understand this moment. But don’t let the grandness of his work scare you: it’s a fun, surprising read filled with unexpected peeks into the perquisites of superwealth.”-Adam Davidson, co-founder of Planet Money and author of The Passion Economy: The New Rules for Thriving in the Twenty-First Century Explains how everything Americans purchase-travel, leisure, education, and health care-suddenly got really good for the wealthy and a lot worse for the rest of us . . . This is a book that will likely make you very, very mad. It will also, however, provide some context on why you feel so mad, and perhaps give a sense of clarity about what it all means and how to fix it.-Vox “Sometimes it takes real insight to understand what is staring you in the face. How often have you gritted your teeth as someone strolled past you to the front of the line? Or watched the curtain close to block your view of the passengers in first clas...

-Titulo Original : Mine! How The Hidden Rules Of Ownership Control Our Lives-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: “Mine” is one of the first words babies learn, and by the time we grow up, the idea of ownership seems natural, whether we are buying a cup of coffee or a house. But who controls the space behind your airplane seat: you, reclining, or the squished laptop user behind you? Why is plagiarism wrong, but it’s okay to knock off a recipe or a dress design? And after a snowstorm, why does a chair in the street hold your parking space in Chicago, while in New York you lose both the space and the chair? In Mine!, Michael Heller and James Salzman, two of the world’s leading authorities on ownership, explain these puzzles and many more. Remarkably, they reveal, there are just six simple rules that everyone uses to claim everything. Owners choose the rule that steers us to do what they want. But we can pick differently. This is true not just for airplane seats, but also for battles over digital privacy, climate change, and wealth inequality. Mine! draws on mind-bending, often infuriating, and always fascinating accounts from business, history, courtrooms, and everyday life to reveal how the rules of ownership control our lives and shape our world. Review “Thought-provoking. . . . Mine! sets out to change the way we think about what we own, which is often decidedly at odds with reality.” -The New York Times“Mine! does for ownership what . . . Freakonomics did for money: it shows you the world through a different lens.” -The Sunday Times (London)“Challenges our assumptions about who owns what-and explores how those assumptions can be manipulated, for good or for ill.” -The Boston Globe“Heller and Salzman examine a wide array of ways that people lay claim to things, both actual (as in treasure) and more abstract (as in ideas). Since ownership is constructed, it’s always up for grabs.” -The New Yorker“Mine! is enjoyable, well-written and with a deftness of touch that belies the radical re-examination of property rights at its heart.” -Financial Times “This delicious book will guide you through the confusing maze of ownership disputes that bedevil our daily lives. Who owns your ‘private’ information, your Netflix password, your yard’s airspace, and the chair of your deceased parents that you and your sister now both want? It’s often unclear: read and prepare yourself.” -Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize “This book about ownership rights is incredibly detailed and includes amazing insights. The authors are writing about things like who owns the water beneath your house, but they include brilliant examples and anecdotes.” -Forbes “Mine! is one of those rare books that make you feel smarter and change the way you see the world. So much of the news I read makes more sense now. I haven’t had an experience like this as a reader since Freakonomics. The authors deliver a rollicking good read, filled with amazing stories about the secret rules of ownership and why they work in unexpected ways. This is way too much fun for such an important book by leading minds in their field.” -Barton Gellman, three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Angler and Dark Mirror “I call this an academic barfight book. Completely joyful to read but it’s a thing to start and settle fights because everyone thinks they’re right.” -Roman Mars, host of 99% Invisible “Illuminating. . . . Readers will gain fresh insights into the law and society from this entertaining and instructive guide.” -Publishers Weekly “Who knew there are hidden rules of ownership controlling our lives? I didn’t until I read this fascinating, illuminating book. I’m very glad I did.” -Robert Cialdini, author of Influence and Pre-Suasion “A thoughtful and illuminating study.” -Kirkus Reviews “A fascinating discussion of what ownership is, what it isn’t, and what it might be. It’s immensely clarifying, beautifully written, and perfectly timed-and it might improve the world to boot.” -Cass R. Sunstein, c...

-Titulo Original : World On Fire How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred And Global Instability-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: Review A riveting and original book that challenges key tenets of American political faith. -The Baltimore Sun“World on Firedeserves to be widely read. It is a welcome antidote to the recycled mantras of the market-cheering right and the tired rhetoric of the anti-globalization left.” -The American Prospect “Fascinating and disturbing . . . with an authority born of rigorous research.” -BusinessWeek Provocative, evocative, nuanced, and highly readable. . . . Amy Chua deserves our gratitude. -The Washington Post Superb. . . . Encourages us to confront the world as it is, and our actual place in it, with a humane and intellectually formidable imagination. -The New York Observer “This hard-hitting book should be read by everyone who still imagines that free markets can solve all the world’s ills. Chua’s work is provocative, creative, and important; it turns conventional wisdom on its head, and no one interested in globalization can afford to ignore it.”-Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America “Provocative. . . . Shocking. . . . It should make Americans think twice about exporting their political culture wholesale without a thought of who dislikes whom.”-Seattle Times “[World on Fire] makes for compelling reading and sounds a sobering warning that should be heeded by all supporters and critics of globalization.” -Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel “A profound book, written in plain English, and challenging the very foundations of some glib-and dangerous-assumptions behind American foreign policy. This book should be read in the highest circles of decision-making, as well as by all those who like to consider themselves ‘thinking people.’ It should provoke some re-thinking-and, for some, really thinking for the first time.”-Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution, and author of Ethnic America, Race and Culture “A brilliant, groundbreaking assault on the prevailing wisdom that the American political and economic model is a one-stop solution to the world’s woes.” -Elle “Grim and thoughtful. . . . A clear-headed incisive diagnosis of the many ethnic ills of the globalizing era.” -Mother Jones “Clear and persuasive. . . . Chua is a careful, precise writer.” -Salon “Chua’s book is a lucid, powerfully argued, and important contribution to the debate over the forces and factors shaping the twenty-first century world.” -Strobe Talbott, President, The Brookings Institution, and author of The Age of Terror: America and the World After September 11 “A cogent analysis...convincingly reason[ed].”-The Boston Herald “Chua offers a fundamentally new perspective on how to help sustain globalization by spreading its benefits while curbing its most destructive aspects. . . . Compelling.” -The Tampa Tribune “Remarkably illuminating. . . . I cannot think of another work over the past couple of decades that reveals more about the disturbing persistence internationally of racial and ethnic conflicts.” -Randall Kennedy, author of Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word “Drawing on examples from Burma to Bolivia, Chua paints a nuanced picture of ethnic and national fault lines. . . . [She] fleshes out the idea that globalization is not a magical elixir for developing nations.” -Newsweek “A barrage of examples supports Chua’s thesis, each described with careful consideration of the different circumstances of different nations. . . . [T]old with a dramatic flair. . .” - The Weekly Standard “The greatest tribute to any book is the conviction upon closing it that the senseless finally makes sense. That’s the feeling left by Amy Chua’s World on Fire.” -The Washington Post The reigning consensus holds that the combination of free markets and democracy would transform the third world and sweep away the ethnic hatred and religious zealotry associated with underdevelopment. In this revelatory investigation of the true impact of globalization, Yale Law School professor Amy Chua explains...

-Titulo Original : India Unbound The Social And Economic Revolution From Independence To The Global Information Age-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: India today is a vibrant free-market democracy, a nation well on its way to overcoming decades of widespread poverty. The nation’s rise is one of the great international stories of the late twentieth century, and in India Unbound the acclaimed columnist Gurcharan Das offers a sweeping economic history of India from independence to the new millennium. Das shows how India’s policies after 1947 condemned the nation to a hobbled economy until 1991, when the government instituted sweeping reforms that paved the way for extraordinary growth. Das traces these developments and tells the stories of the major players from Nehru through today. As the former CEO of Proctor & Gamble India, Das offers a unique insider’s perspective and he deftly interweaves memoir with history, creating a book that is at once vigorously analytical and vividly written. Impassioned, erudite, and eminently readable, India Unbound is a must for anyone interested in the global economy and its future. Review “Something tremendous is happening in India, and Das, with his keen eye and often elegant prose, has his finger firmly on the pulse of the transformation.”-The New York Times Book Review“One of the most readable and insightful book s to appear on India’s tortuous economic path in its 54 years since shaking off British rule.”-Business Week “Head and shoulders above the customary bunch. This elegant essay has something for everyone.”-St. Louis Post-Dispatch“For American readers accustomed to view India as a land of tigers rather than high-tech and maharajahs rather than microchips, this book will come as a welcome surprise.” --The Washington Post Book World“Informative, entertaining, and basically correct about India’s need to embrace capitalism more wholeheartedly, for all the costs and risks.” -The Economist From the Inside Flap India today is a vibrant free-market democracy, a nation well on its way to overcoming decades of widespread poverty. The nation?s rise is one of the great international stories of the late twentieth century, and in India Unbound the acclaimed columnist Gurcharan Das offers a sweeping economic history of India from independence to the new millennium. Das shows how India?s policies after 1947 condemned the nation to a hobbled economy until 1991, when the government instituted sweeping reforms that paved the way for extraordinary growth. Das traces these developments and tells the stories of the major players from Nehru through today. As the former CEO of Proctor & Gamble India, Das offers a unique insider?s perspective and he deftly interweaves memoir with history, creating a book that is at once vigorously analytical and vividly written. Impassioned, erudite, and eminently readable, India Unbound is a must for anyone interested in the global economy and its future. From the Back Cover India today is a vibrant free-market democracy, a nation well on its way to overcoming decades of widespread poverty. The nations rise is one of the great international stories of the late twentieth century, and in India Unbound the acclaimed columnist Gurcharan Das offers a sweeping economic history of India from independence to the new millennium. Das shows how Indias policies after 1947 condemned the nation to a hobbled economy until 1991, when the government instituted sweeping reforms that paved the way for extraordinary growth. Das traces these developments and tells the stories of the major players from Nehru through today. As the former CEO of Proctor & Gamble India, Das offers a unique insiders perspective and he deftly interweaves memoir with history, creating a book that is at once vigorously analytical and vividly written. Impassioned, erudite, and eminently readable, India Unbound is a must for anyone interested in the global economy and its future. About the Author Gucharan Das, formerly CEO of Procter & Gamble India, is a venture capitalist and consultant, as well as a co...

-Titulo Original : Losing Our Way An Intimate Portrait Of A Troubled America-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: From longtime New York Times columnist Bob Herbert comes a wrenching portrayal of ordinary Americans struggling for survival in a nation that has lost its wayIn his eighteen years as an opinion columnist for The New York Times, Herbert championed the working poor and the middle class. After filing his last column in 2011, he set off on a journey across the country to report on Americans who were being left behind in an economy that has never fully recovered from the Great Recession. The portraits of those he encountered fuel his new book, Losing Our Way. Herbert’s combination of heartrending reporting and keen political analysis is the purest expression since the Occupy movement of the plight of the 99 percent. The individuals and families who are paying the price of America’s bad choices in recent decades form the book’s emotional center: an exhausted high school student in Brooklyn who works the overnight shift in a factory at minimum wage to help pay her family’s rent; a twenty-four-year-old soldier from Peachtree City, Georgia, who loses both legs in a misguided, mismanaged, seemingly endless war; a young woman, only recently engaged, who suffers devastating injuries in a tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis; and a group of parents in Pittsburgh who courageously fight back against the politicians who decimated funding for their children’s schools. Herbert reminds us of a time in America when unemployment was low, wages and profits were high, and the nation’s wealth, by current standards, was distributed much more equitably. Today, the gap between the wealthy and everyone else has widened dramatically, the nation’s physical plant is crumbling, and the inability to find decent work is a plague on a generation. Herbert traces where we went wrong and spotlights the drastic and dangerous shift of political power from ordinary Americans to the corporate and financial elite. Hope for America, he argues, lies in a concerted push to redress that political imbalance. Searing and unforgettable, Losing Our Way ultimately inspires with its faith in ordinary citizens to take back their true political power and reclaim the American dream. Review Losing Our Way is a brave call to action-not simply to put people back to work, but also to link that work to the necessary interests of an egalitarian society. This means investing in what we’ve catastrophically undervalued: our bridges and highways and tunnels, our public schools, our fellow citizens. Herbert approaches this monumental task the same way he approached such unpopular issues for almost 20 years in his Op-Ed column at this paper: case by case, week after week, with steady resolve. The shortsighted policies and unchecked greed that have resulted in the abandonment of the poor are now destroying the middle class, and Herbert remains willing to state, very clearly, what he sees. -Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, The New York Times Book Review“Bob Herberts new book Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America is one of the most important, most compelling books that I have read in many years. For those of us who have felt that something has gone seriously wrong in our country, Herbert connects the dots. He provides a carefully documented, well-written account of what went wrong and why. As he pulls together a sweeping narrative, he weaves it through the personal accounts of individuals whose stories are emblematic and heartbreaking. . . . If you read only one book this year, make it Losing Our Way. It will change you. It will make you want to get involved, take action, make a difference. As [Herbert] says at the end of the book, it doesnt have to be this way. Changing it depends on us.” -Diane Ravitch, Huffington PostHerbert illuminates in this masterwork of reporting. -O Magazine“Bob Herbert has written an unignorable book. A former columnist for The New York Times, he has brought the same lucidity, passion and first-hand accuracy ...

-Titulo Original : Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: NATIONAL BESTSELLER * “Taubes stands the received wisdom about diet and exercise on its head.” -The New York TimesWhat’s making us fat? And how can we change? Building upon his critical work in Good Calories, Bad Calories and presenting fresh evidence for his claim, bestselling author Gary Taubes revisits these urgent questions. Featuring a new afterword with answers to frequently asked questions.Taubes reveals the bad nutritional science of the last century-none more damaging or misguided than the “calories-in, calories-out” model of why we get fat-and the good science that has been ignored. He also answers the most persistent questions: Why are some people thin and others fat? What roles do exercise and genetics play in our weight? What foods should we eat, and what foods should we avoid? Persuasive, straightforward, and practical, Why We Get Fat is an essential guide to nutrition and weight management. Complete with an easy-to-follow diet. Featuring a new afterword with answers to frequently asked questions. Review “Taubes stands the received wisdom about diet and exercise on its head.”-The New York Times“Well-researched and thoughtful. . . . Taubes has done us a great service by bringing these issues to the table.”-The Boston Globe“Compelling and convincing. . . . Taubes breaks it down for us from historical and, more importantly, scientific perspectives.”-Philadelphia Daily News“Taubes’s critique is so pointed and vociferous that reading him will change the way you look at calories, the food pyramid, and your daily diet.”-Men’s Journal “Taubes is a science journalist’s science journalist, who researches topics to the point of obsession-actually, well beyond that point-and never dumbs things down for readers.”-Scientific American “Important. . . . This excellent book, built on sound research and common sense, contains essential information.”-Tucson Citizen “This brave, paradigm-shifting man uses logic and the primary literature to unhinge the nutritional mantra of the last eighty years.”-Choice “Less dense and easier to read [than Good Calories, Bad Calories] but no less revelatory.”-The Oregonian “An exhaustive investigation.”-The Daily Beast “Backed by a persuasive amount of detail. . . . As an award-winning scientific journalist who spent the past decade rigorously tracking down and assimilating obesity research, he’s uniquely qualified to understand and present the big picture of scientific opinions and results. Despite legions of researchers and billions of government dollars expended, Taubes is the one to painstakingly compile this information, assimilate it, and make it available to the public. . . . Taubes does the important and extraordinary work of pulling it all together for us.”-Seattle Post-Intelligencer “Clear and accessible . . . Taubes’s conviction alone makes Why We Get Fat well worth considering.”-Bookpage “[Taubes] is helping to reshape the conversation about what makes the American diet so fattening.”-Details “Taubes is a relentless researcher.”-The Washington Post Book World “[Taubes’s] major conclusions are somewhat startling yet surprisingly convincing. . . . His writing reflects his passion for scientific truth.”-Chicago Sun-Times About the Author GARY TAUBES is cofounder and senior scientific advisor of the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI). Hes an award-winning science and health journalist, the author of Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories, and a former staff writer for Discover and correspondent for the journal Science. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and Esquire, and has been included in numerous Best of anthologies, including The Best of the Best American Science Writing (2010). He has received three Science in Society Journalism Awards from the National Association of Science Writers. He is also the recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Res...

-Titulo Original : Ripples Of Battle How Wars Of The Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, And How We Think-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: The effects of war refuse to remain local: they persist through the centuries, sometimes in unlikely ways far removed from the military arena. In Ripples of Battle, the acclaimed historian Victor Davis Hanson weaves wide-ranging military and cultural history with his unparalleled gift for battle narrative as he illuminates the centrality of war in the human experience. The Athenian defeat at Delium in 424 BC brought tactical innovations to infantry fighting; it also assured the influence of the philosophy of Socrates, who fought well in the battle. Nearly twenty-three hundred years later, the carnage at Shiloh and the death of the brilliant Southern strategist Albert Sidney Johnson inspired a sense of fateful tragedy that would endure and stymie Southern culture for decades. The Northern victory would also bolster the reputation of William Tecumseh Sherman, and inspire Lew Wallace to pen the classic Ben Hur . And, perhaps most resonant for our time, the agony of Okinawa spurred the Japanese toward state-sanctioned suicide missions, a tactic so uncompromising and subversive, it haunts our view of non-Western combatants to this day. Review “What [Hanson] brings to the public discussion-along with an unusually vigorous prose style and a remarkable erudition-is a philosophy of war not meant for the weak-kneed or faint-hearted. Hanson does not celebrate war, but he accepts it as a fact of life, a part of the human condition that no amount of idealistic preaching or good intentions can will away.” - The New York Times Book Review “Victor Davis Hanson is refreshingly unabashed about being an old-fashioned military historian . . . [and] he displays an exceptional chronological sweep.” --The Washington Post Book World “What’s most impressive about Hanson’s work is his constant reminder that history is not just a faceless story of economic and social progress, but also one about the strength of individuals, brought to life here in masterly prose.” -- The Christian Science Monitor “His premise is fascinating and well executed. . . . A great little book. . . . Hanson is a superb storyteller and a clear and concise writer.” -- The Washington Times From the Inside Flap The effects of war refuse to remain local: they persist through the centuries, sometimes in unlikely ways far removed from the military arena. In Ripples of Battle, the acclaimed historian Victor Davis Hanson weaves wide-ranging military and cultural history with his unparalleled gift for battle narrative as he illuminates the centrality of war in the human experience. The Athenian defeat at Delium in 424 BC brought tactical innovations to infantry fighting; it also assured the influence of the philosophy of Socrates, who fought well in the battle. Nearly twenty-three hundred years later, the carnage at Shiloh and the death of the brilliant Southern strategist Albert Sidney Johnson inspired a sense of fateful tragedy that would endure and stymie Southern culture for decades. The Northern victory would also bolster the reputation of William Tecumseh Sherman, and inspire Lew Wallace to pen the classic Ben Hur . And, perhaps most resonant for our time, the agony of Okinawa spurred the Japanese toward state-sanctioned suicide missions, a tactic so uncompromising and subversive, it haunts our view of non-Western combatants to this day. From the Back Cover The effects of war refuse to remain local: they persist through the centuries, sometimes in unlikely ways far removed from the military arena. In Ripples of Battle, the acclaimed historian Victor Davis Hanson weaves wide-ranging military and cultural history with his unparalleled gift for battle narrative as he illuminates the centrality of war in the human experience. The Athenian defeat at Delium in 424 BC brought tactical innovations to infantry fighting; it also assured the influence of the philosophy of Socrates, who fought well in the battle. Nearly ...

-Titulo Original : The King Of Torts A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week. As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe. He suddenly finds himself in the middle of a complex case against one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, looking at the kind of enormous settlement that would totally change his life-that would make him, almost overnight, the legal profession’s newest king of torts... Review “Rousing . . . Another pedal-to-the-metal crowd-pleaser.”- People “Offers everything one expects from Grisham . . . delivers with a vengeance.” -The Seattle Times “Satisfying . . . a lot of fun . . . When you finish it, you’re ready to dash on to the next Grisham.” -Entertainment Weekly “A thrill ride of twists and turns.” -The Philadelphia Inquirer From the Back Cover The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week. As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe. He suddenly finds himself in the middle of a complex case against one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, looking at the kind of enormous settlement that would totally change his life--that would make him, almost overnight, the legal professions newest king of torts... From the Hardcover edition. About the Author John Grisham is the author of Skipping Christmas, The Summons, A Painted House, The Brethren, The Testament, The Street Lawyer, The Partner, The Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm , and A Time to Kill. He lives with his family in Mississippi and Virginia. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. THE SHOTS THAT FIRED the bullets that entered Pumpkins head were heard by no less than eight people. Three instinctively closed their windows, checked their door locks, and withdrew to the safety, or at least the seclusion, of their small apartments. Two others, each with experience in such matters, ran from the vicinity as fast if not faster than the gunman himself. Another, the neighborhood recycling fanatic, was digging through some garbage in search of aluminum cans when he heard the sharp sounds of the daily skirmish, very nearby. He jumped behind a pile of cardboard boxes until the shelling stopped, then eased into the alley where he saw what was left of Pumpkin. And two saw almost everything. They were sitting on plastic milk crates, at the corner of Georgia and Lamont in front of a liquor store, partially hidden by a parked car so that the gunman, who glanced around briefly before following Pumpkin into the alley, didnt see them. Both would tell the police that they saw the boy with the gun reach into his pocket and pull it out; they saw the gun for sure, a small black pistol. A second later they heard the shots, though they did not actually see Pumpkin take them in the head. Another second, and the boy with the gun darted from the alley and, for some reason, ran straight in their direction. He ran bent at the waist, like a scared dog, guilty as hell. He wore red-and-yellow basketball shoes that seemed five sizes too big and slapped the pavement as he made his getaway. When he ran by them he was still holding the gun, probab...

-Titulo Original : The Last Juror A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * In 1970, Willie Traynor comes to Clanton, Mississippi, in a Triumph Spitfire and a fog of vague ambitions. Within a year, the twenty-three-year-old finds himself the owner of Ford County’s only newspaper, famous for its well-crafted obituaries. While the rest of America is in the grips of turmoil, Clanton lives on the edge of another age-until the brutal murder of a young mother rocks the town and thrusts Willie into the center of a storm.Daring to report the true horrors of the crime, Willie makes as many friends as enemies in Clanton, and over the next decade he sometimes wonders how he got there in the first place. But he can never escape the crime that shattered his innocence or the criminal whose evil left an indelible stain. Because as the ghosts of the South’s past gather around Willie, as tension swirls around Clanton, men and women who served on a jury nine years ago are starting to die one by one-as a killer exacts the ultimate revenge. Review “Never let it be said this man doesn’t know how to spin a good yarn.” - Entertainment Weekly “John Grisham is about as good a storyteller as we’ve got in the United States these days.” - New York Times Book Review “John Grisham may well be the best American storyteller writing today.” - Philadelphia Inquirer About the Author John Grisham is the author of Skipping Christmas, The Summons, A Painted House, The Brethren, The Testament, The Street Lawyer, The Partner, The Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm , and A Time to Kill. He lives with his family in Mississippi and Virginia. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter Two Rhoda Kassellaw lived in the Beech Hill community, twelve miles north of Clanton, in a modest gray brick house on a narrow, paved country road. The flower beds along the front of the house were weedless and received daily care, and between them and the road the long wide lawn was thick and well cut. The driveway was crushed white rock. Scattered down both sides of it was a collection of scooters and balls and bikes. Her two small children were always outdoors, playing hard, sometimes stopping to watch a passing car. It was a pleasant little country house, a stones throw from Mr. And Mrs. Deece next door. The young man who bought it was killed in a trucking accident somewhere in Texas, and, at the age of twenty-eight, Rhoda became a widow. The insurance on his life paid off the house and the car. The balance was invested to provide a modest monthly income that allowed her to remain home and dote on the children. She spent hours outside, tending her vegetable garden, potting flowers, pulling weeds, mulching the beds along the front of the house. She kept to herself. The old ladies in Beech Hill considered her a model widow, staying home, looking sad, limiting her social appearances to an occasional visit to church. She should attend more regularly, they whispered. Shortly after the death of her husband, Rhoda planned to return to her family in Missouri. She was not from Ford County, nor was her husband. A job took them there. But the house was paid for, the kids were happy, the neighbors were nice, and her family was much too concerned about how much life insurance shed collected. So she stayed, always thinking of leaving but never doing so. Rhoda Kassellaw was a beautiful woman when she wanted to be, which was not very often. Her shapely, thin figure was usually camouflaged under a loose cotton drip-dry dress, or a bulky chambray workshirt, which she preferred when gardening. She wore little makeup and kept her long flaxen-colored hair pulled back and stuck together on top of her head. Most of what she ate came from her organic garden, and her skin had a soft healthy glow to it. Such an attractive young widow would normally have been a hot property in the county, but she kept to herself. A...

-Titulo Original : A Painted House A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Until that September of 1952, Luke Chandler had never kept a secret or told a single lie. But in the long, hot summer of his seventh year, two groups of migrant workers - and two very dangerous men - came through the Arkansas Delta to work the Chandler cotton farm. And suddenly mysteries are flooding Luke’s world. A brutal murder leaves the town seething in gossip and suspicion. A beautiful young woman ignites forbidden passions. A fatherless baby is born ... and someone has begun furtively painting the bare clapboards of the Chandler farmhouse, slowly, painstakingly, bathing the run-down structure in gleaming white. And as young Luke watches the world around him, he unravels secrets that could shatter lives - and change his family and his town forever.... Review “Captivating . . . This is John Grisham’s best work.”-CNN“John Grisham is about as good a storyteller as we’ve got. . . . The pages turn. The characters take on their own lives. And at times, as the cotton bolls glisten in the sun, you can’t help thinking of other coming-of-age novels from the South: Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird.”-The New York Times Book Review “The kind of book you read slowly because you don’t want it to end . . . Never let it be said this man doesn’t know how to spin a good yarn.”-Entertainment Weekly “Characters that no reader will forget . . . prose as clean and strong as any Grisham has yet laid down . . . and a drop-dead evocation of a time and place that mark this novel as a classic slice of Americana.”-Publishers Weekly About the Author John Grisham is the author of twenty-three novels, including, most recently, The Litigators; one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and a novel for young readers. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Innocence Project at the University of Mississippi School of Law. He lives in Virginia and Mississippi. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter I The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. The cotton, however, was waist-high to my father, over my head, and he and my grandfather could be heard before supper whispering words that were seldom heard. It could be a “good crop.” They were farmers, hardworking men who embraced pessimism only when discussing the weather and the crops. There was too much sun, or too much rain, or the threat of floods in the lowlands, or the rising prices of seed and fertilizer, or the uncertainties of the markets. On the most perfect of days, my mother would quietly say to me, “Don’t worry. The men will find something to worry about.” Pappy, my grandfather, was worried about the price for labor when we went searching for the hill people. They were paid for every hundred pounds of cotton they picked. The previous year, according to him, it was $1.50 per hundred. He’d already heard rumors that a farmer over in Lake City was offering $1.60. This played heavily on his mind as we rode to town. He never talked when he drove, and this was because, according to my mother, not much of a driver herself, he was afraid of motorized vehicles. His truck was a 1939 Ford, and with the exception of our old John Deere tractor, it was our sole means of transportation. This was no particular problem except when we drove to church and my mother and grandmother were forced to sit snugly together up front in their Sunday best while my father and I rode in the back, engulfed in dust. Modern sedans were scarce in rural Arkansas. Pappy drove thirty-seven miles per hour. His theory was that every automobile had a speed at which it ran most efficiently, and through some vaguely defined method he had determined that his old truck should go thirty-seven. My mother said (to me) that it w...

-Titulo Original : The Brethren-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison. One was sent up for tax evasion. Another, for skimming bingo profits. The third for a career-ending drunken joyride.Meeting daily in the prison law library, taking exercise walks in their boxer shorts, these judges-turned-felons can reminisce about old court cases, dispense a little jailhouse justice, and contemplate where their lives went wrong. Or they can use their time in prison to get very rich-very fast.And so they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam-while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt. A bizarre presidential election is holding the nation in its grips, and a powerful government figure is pulling some very hidden strings. For the Brethren, the timing couldn’t be better. Because they’ve just found the perfect victim. Review Gripping ... engaging and fast-paced ... will hook you from the first page and wont let you go.- New York Post A crackerjack tale.- Entertainment Weekly Fast-paced and action-packed...youll be thoroughly entertained.- New Orleans Times-Picayune The plot is as up-to-date as tomorrows newspaper, with allusions to presidential polls and debates, campaign financing, money laundering and offshore financial finagling.... Add to these tantalizing ingredients the steady action, with some clever surprises. - The New York Times A Main Selection of the Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild, and the Mystery Guild From the Back Cover They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison. One was sent up for tax evasion. Another, for skimming bingo profits. And the third, for a career-ending drunken joyride. Meeting daily in the prison law library, taking exercise walks in their boxer shorts, these judges-turned-felons can reminisce about old court cases, dispense a little jailhouse justice, and contemplate where their lives went wrong. Or they can use their time in prison to get very rich -- very fast. And so they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam ... while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt. A bizarre presidential election is holding the nation in its grips -- and a powerful government figure is pulling some very hidden strings. For the Brethren, the timing couldnt be better. Because theyve just found the perfect victim... From the Paperback edition. About the Author John Grisham is the author of Skipping Christmas, The Summons, A Painted House, The Brethren, The Testament, The Street Lawyer, The Partner, The Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm , and A Time to Kill. He lives with his family in Mississippi and Virginia. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. FOR THE WEEKLY DOCKET the court jester wore his standard garb of well-used and deeply faded maroon pajamas and lavender terry-cloth shower shoes with no socks. He wasnt the only inmate who went about his daily business in his pajamas, but no one else dared wear lavender shoes. His name was T. Karl, and hed once owned banks in Boston. The pajamas and shoes werent nearly as troubling as the wig. It parted at the middle and rolled in layers downward, over his ears, with tight curls coiling off into three directions, and fell heavily onto his shoulders. It was a bright gray, almost white, and fashioned after the Old English magistrates wigs from centuries earlier. A friend on the outside had found it at a secondhand costume store in Manhattan, in the Village. T. Karl wore it to court with great pride, and, odd as it was, it had, with time, become part of the show. The other inmates kept their distance from T. Karl anyway, wig or not. H...

-Titulo Original : The Summons-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A pillar of the community who towered over local law and politics for forty years, Judge Atlee is now a shadow of his former self-a sick, lonely old man who has withdrawn to his sprawling ancestral home in Clanton, Mississippi. Knowing that the end is near, Judge Atlee has issued a summons for his two sons to return to Clanton to discuss his estate. Ray Atlee is the elder, a Virginia law professor, newly single, still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divorce. Forrest is Ray’s younger brother, the family’s black sheep.The summons is typed by the Judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for Ray and Forrest to appear in his study. Ray reluctantly heads south to his hometown, to the place he now prefers to avoid. But the family meeting does not take place. The Judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret known only to Ray . . . and perhaps to someone else. Review “ The Summons ranks as my absolute favorite in many years...[with] an ending too delicious and morally instructive to give away.”- USA Today“A pleasure to read...a good yarn.”- The Washington Post From the Back Cover Once Judge Atlee was a powerful figure in Clanton, Mississippi--a pillar of the community who towered over local law and politics for forty years. Now the judge is a shadow of his former self, a sick, lonely old man who has withdrawn to his sprawling ancestral home. Knowing the end is near, Judge Atlee has issued a summons for his two sons to return to Clanton to discuss his estate. Ray Atlee is the eldest, a Virginia law professor, newly single and still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divorce. Forrest is Rays younger brother, who redefines the notion of a familys black sheep. The summons is typed by the judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for Ray and Forrest to appear in his study. Ray reluctantly heads south to his hometown, to the place where he grew up and now prefers to avoid. But the family meeting does not take place. The judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret known only to Ray. And perhaps someone else. From the Paperback edition. About the Author John Grisham is the author of Skipping Christmas, The Summons, A Painted House, The Brethren, The Testament, The Street Lawyer, The Partner, The Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm , and A Time to Kill. He lives with his family in Mississippi and Virginia. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 It came by mail, regular postage, the old-fashioned way since the Judge was almost eighty and distrusted modern devices. Forget e-mail and even faxes. He didnt use an answering machine and had never been fond of the telephone. He pecked out his letters with both index fingers, one feeble key at a time, hunched over his old Underwood manual on a rolltop desk under the portrait of Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Judges grandfather had fought with Forrest at Shiloh and throughout the Deep South, and to him no figure in history was more revered. For thirty-two years, the Judge had quietly refused to hold court on July 13, Forrests birthday. It came with another letter, a magazine, and two invoices, and was routinely placed in the law school mailbox of Professor Ray Atlee. He recognized it immediately since such envelopes had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember. It was from his father, a man he too called the Judge. Professor Atlee studied the envelope, uncertain whether he should open it right there or wait a moment. Good news or bad, he never knew with the Judge, though the old man was dying and good news had been rare. It was thin and appeared to contain only one sheet of paper; nothing unusual about that. The Judge was frugal with the written word, though hed once been known f...

-Titulo Original : The Testament A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In a plush Virginia office, a rich, angry old man is furiously rewriting his will. With his death just hours away, Troy Phelan wants to send a message to his children, his ex-wives, and his minions-a message that will touch off a vicious legal battle and transform dozens of lives.Because Troy Phelan’s new will names a sole surprise heir to his eleven-billion-dollar fortune: a mysterious woman named Rachel Lane, a missionary living deep in the jungles of Brazil.Enter the lawyers. Nate O’Riley is fresh out of rehab, a disgraced corporate attorney handpicked for his last job: to find Rachel Lane at any cost. As Phelan’s family circles like vultures in D.C., Nate goes crashing through the Brazilian jungle, entering a world where money means nothing, where death is just one misstep away, and where a woman-pursued by enemies and friends alike-holds a stunning surprise of her own. Review An entertaining page-turner...his best novel in years.- USA Today A compulsory page-turner.- Newsweek Entertaining.- The New York Times Book Review Absorbing...the pages fly by.- Chicago Tribune From the Back Cover Troy Phelan is a self-made billionaire, one of the richest men in the United States. He is also eccentric, reclusive, confined to a wheelchair, and looking for a way to die. His heirs, to no ones surprise--especially Troys--are circling like vultures. Nate ORiley is a high-octane Washington litigator whos lived too hard, too fast, for too long. His second marriage in a shambles, and he is emerging from his fourth stay in rehab armed with little more than his fragile sobriety, good intentions, and resilient sense of humor. Returning to the real world is always difficult, but this time its going to be murder. Rachel Lane is a young woman who chose to give her life to God, who walked away from the modern world with all its strivings and trappings and encumbrances, and went to live and work with a primitive tribe of Indians in the deepest jungles of Brazil. In a story that mixes legal suspense with a remarkable adventure, their lives are forever altered by the startling secret of The Testament. About the Author John Grisham is the author of Skipping Christmas, The Summons, A Painted House, The Brethren, The Testament, The Street Lawyer, The Partner, The Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm , and A Time to Kill. He lives with his family in Mississippi and Virginia. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. I sit and stare through the tinted glass walls. On a clear day, I can see the top of the Washington Monument six miles away, but not today. Today is raw and cold, windy and overcast, not a bad day to die. The wind blows the last of the leaves from their branches and scatters them through the parking lot below. Why I am worried about the pain? Whats wrong with a little suffering? Ive caused more misery than any ten people. I push a button and Snead appears. He bows and pushes my wheelchair through the door of my apartment, into the marble foyer, down the marble hall, through another door. Were getting closer, but I feel no anxiety. Ive kept the shrinks waiting for over two hours. We pass my office and I nod at Nicolette, my latest secretary, a darling young thing Im quite fond of. Given some time, she might become number four. But there is no time. Only minutes. A mob is waiting--packs of lawyers and some psychiatrists wholl determine if Im in my right mind. They are crowded around a long table in my conference room, and when I enter, their conversation stops immediately and everybody stares. Snead situates me on one side of the table, next to my lawyer, Stafford. There are cameras pointing in all directions, and the technicians scramble to get them focused. Every whisper, every move, every breath will be recorded because a fortune is at stake. The ...

-Titulo Original : The Appeal A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “Fascinating . . . filled with deadly accurate characterizations by an author who knows both the law and politics from the inside.”-Los Angeles TimesIn a crowded courtroom in Mississippi, a jury returns a shocking verdict against a chemical company accused of dumping toxic waste into a small town’s water supply, causing the worst “cancer cluster” in history. The company appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court, whose nine justices will one day either approve the verdict-or reverse it. The chemical company is owned by a Wall Street predator named Carl Trudeau, and Mr. Trudeau is convinced the Court is not friendly enough to his interests. With judicial elections looming, he decides to try to purchase himself a seat on the Court. The cost is a few million dollars, a drop in the bucket for a billionaire like Mr. Trudeau. Through an intricate web of conspiracy and deceit, his political operatives recruit a young, unsuspecting candidate. They finance him, manipulate him, market him, and mold him into a potential Supreme Court justice. Their Supreme Court justice. Review “Chilling and timeless.”-The Washington Post“Fascinating . . . filled with deadly accurate characterizations by an author who knows both the law and politics from the inside.”-Los Angeles Times“Grisham holds up that same mirror to our age as Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities.”-The Boston Globe “Packs a wallop.”-USA Today About the Author John Grisham is the author of more than thirty novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of stories, and seven novels for young readers. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One The jury was ready. After forty-two hours of deliberations that followed seventy-one days of trial that included 530 hours of testimony from four dozen witnesses, and after a lifetime of sitting silently as the lawyers haggled and the judge lectured and the spectators watched like hawks for telltale signs, the jury was ready. Locked away in the jury room, secluded and secure, ten of them proudly signed their names to the verdict while the other two pouted in their corners, detached and miserable in their dissension. There were hugs and smiles and no small measure of self-congratulation because they had survived this little war and could now march proudly back into the arena with a decision they had rescued through sheer determination and the dogged pursuit of compromise. Their ordeal was over; their civic duty complete. They had served above and beyond. They were ready. The foreman knocked on the door and rustled Uncle Joe from his slumbers. Uncle Joe, the ancient bailiff, had guarded them while he also arranged their meals, heard their complaints, and quietly slipped their messages to the judge. In his younger years, back when his hearing was better, Uncle Joe was rumored to also eavesdrop on his juries through a flimsy pine door he and he alone had selected and installed. But his listening days were over, and, as he had confided to no one but his wife, after the ordeal of this particular trial he might just hang up his old pistol once and for all. The strain of controlling justice was wearing him down. He smiled and said, “That’s great. I’ll get the judge,” as if the judge were somewhere in the bowels of the courthouse just waiting for a call from Uncle Joe. Instead, by custom, he found a clerk and passed along the wonderful news. It was truly exciting. The old courthouse had never seen a trial so large and so long. To end it with no decision at all would have been a shame. The clerk tapped lightly on the judge’s door, then took a step inside and proudly announced, “We have a verdict,” as if she had personally labored through the negotiations and now was presenting the result as a gift. The judge closed his eyes and let loose a deep, satisfying sigh. He smiled a happy, nervous smile of enormous relief, almost disbelief, an...

-Titulo Original : The Associate A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * If you thought Mitch McDeere was in trouble in The Firm, wait until you meet Kyle McAvoy, The AssociateKyle McAvoy possesses an outstanding legal mind. Good-looking and affable, he has a glittering future. He also has a dark secret that could destroy his dreams, his career, even his life. One night that secret catches up with him. The men who accost Kyle have a compromising video they’ll use to ruin him-unless he does exactly what they say. What they offer Kyle is something any ambitious young lawyer would kill for: a job in Manhattan as an associate at the world’s largest law firm. If Kyle accepts, he’ll be on the fast track to partnership and a fortune. But there’s a catch. Kyle won’t be working for the firm but against it in a dispute between two powerful defense contractors worth billions. Now Kyle is caught between the criminal forces manipulating him, the FBI, and his own law firm-in a malignant conspiracy not even Kyle, with all his intellect, cunning, and bravery, may be able to escape alive. Review “Compulsively readable.”-Time“Masterful . . . an absorbing thriller.”-The Boston Globe“Impossible to put down.”-The New York Times “A page-turner.”-Los Angeles Times About the Author JOHN GRISHAM has written twenty previous novels and one work of nonfiction, The Innocent Man, published in 2006. He lives in Virginia and Mississippi. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One The rules of the New Haven Youth League required that each kid play at least ten minutes in each game. Exceptions were allowed for players who had upset their coaches by skipping practice or violating other rules. In such cases, a coach could file a report before the game and inform the scorekeeper that so-and-so wouldn’t play much, if at all, because of some infraction. This was frowned on by the league; it was, after all, much more recreational than competitive. With four minutes left in the game, Coach Kyle looked down the bench, nodded at a somber and pouting little boy named Marquis, and said, “Do you want to play?” Without responding, Marquis walked to the scorers’ table and waited for a whistle. His violations were numerous-skipping practice, skipping school, bad grades, losing his uniform, foul language. In fact, after ten weeks and fifteen games, Marquis had broken every one of the few rules his coach tried to enforce. Coach Kyle had long since realized that any new rule would be immediately violated by his star, and for that reason he trimmed his list and fought the temptation to add new regulations. It wasn’t working. Trying to control ten inner- city kids with a soft touch had put the Red Knights in last place in the 12 and Under division of the winter league. Marquis was only eleven, but clearly the best player on the court. He preferred shooting and scoring over passing and defending, and within two minutes he’d slashed through the lane, around and through and over much larger players, and scored six points. His average was fourteen, and if allowed to play more than half a game, he could probably score thirty. In his own young opinion, he really didn’t need to practice. In spite of the one-man show, the game was out of reach. Kyle McAvoy sat quietly on the bench, watching the game and waiting for the clock to wind down. One game to go and the season would be over, his last as a basketball coach. In two years he’d won a dozen, lost two dozen, and asked himself how any person in his right mind would willingly coach at any level. He was doing it for the kids, he’d said to himself a thousand times, kids with no fathers, kids from bad homes, kids in need of a positive male influence. And he still believed it, but after two years of babysitting, and arguing with parents when they bothered to show up, and hassling with other coaches who were not above cheating, and trying to ignore teenage referees who didn’t know a block f...

-Titulo Original : The Chamber A Novel-Fabricante : Anchor-Descripcion Original: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * A dark and thoughtful tale... Grisham is at his best. -People In the corridors of Chicagos top law firm: Twenty -six-year-old Adam Hall stands on the brink of a brilliant legal career. Now he is risking it all for a death-row killer and an impossible case. Maximum Security Unit, Mississippi State Prison: Sam Cayhall is a former Klansman and unrepentant racist now facing the death penalty for a fatal bombing in 1967. He has run out of chances -- except for one: the young, liberal Chicago lawyer who just happens to be his grandson. While the executioners prepare the gas chamber, while the protesters gather and the TV cameras wait, Adam has only days, hours, minutes to save his client. For between the two men is a chasm of shame, family lies, and secrets -- including the one secret that could save Sam Cayhalls life... or cost Adam his. Review Mesmerizing... with an authority and originality... and with a grasp of literary complexity that makes Scott Turows novels pale by comparison -- Grisham returns. -- San Francisco Chronicle. A dark and thoughtful tale pulsing with moral uncertainties... Grisham is at his best. -- People. Compelling... Powerful... The Chamber will make readers think long and hard about the death penalty. -- USA Today. His best yet. -- The Houston Post. From the Back Cover In the corridors of Chicagos top law firm: Twenty -six-year-old Adam Hall stands on the brink of a brilliant legal career. Now he is risking it all for a death-row killer and an impossible case. Maximum Security Unit, Mississippi State Prison: Sam Cayhall is a former Klansman and unrepentant racist now facing the death penalty for a fatal bombing in 1967. He has run out of chances -- except for one: the young, liberal Chicago lawyer who just happens to be his grandson. While the executioners prepare the gas chamber, while the protesters gather and the TV cameras wait, Adam has only days, hours, minutes to save his client. For between the two men is a chasm of shame, family lies, and secrets -- including the one secret that could save Sam Cayhalls life... or cost Adam his. From the Hardcover edition. About the Author JOHN GRISHAM is the author of Skipping Christmas, The Summons, A Painted House, The Brethren, The Testament, The Street Lawyer, The Partner, The Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, and A Time to Kill. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. ONE THE DECISION to bomb the office of the radical Jew lawyer was reached with relative ease. Only three people were involved in the process. The first was the man with the money. The second was a local operative who knew the territory. And the third was a young patriot and zealot with a talent for explosives and an astonishing knack for disappearing without a trail. After the bombing, he fled the country and hid in Northern Ireland for six years. The lawyers name was Marvin Kramer, a fourth-generation Mississippi Jew whose family had prospered as merchants in the Delta. He lived in an antebellum home in Greenville, a river town with a small but strong Jewish community, a pleasant place with a history of little racial discord. He practiced law because commerce bored him. Like most Jews of German descent, his family had assimilated nicely into the culture of the Deep South, and viewed themselves as nothing but typical Southerners who happened to have a different religion. Anti-Semitism rarely surfaced. For the most part, they blended with the rest of established society and went about their business. Marvin was different. His father sent him up North to Brandeis in the late fifties. He spent four years there, then three years in law school at Columbia, and when he returned to Greenville in 1964 the civil rights movement had center stage in Mississippi. Marvin got in the thick of it. Less than a month...