Here for the first time, the original, complete Star Warstrilogy in a special 25th anniversary collector's editionhardcover.Twenty-five years after the phenomenon was born, StarWars remains one of the greatest fantasy epics ever told. Here inone collector's edition are the original stories from the firstthree classic films -- Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The EmpireStrikes Back, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi -- each a New YorkTimes bestseller with over one million copies in print. Read thesethrilling novels to see where it all began with Luke Skywalker, afarm boy looking for adventure in a galaxy far, far away....

Spanning a period of almost 50 years, the stories of Henry Jamesrepresent one of the most remarkable feats of sustained literarycreation in modern times -- a body of work that, for sheerrichness, variety, and intensity, is unsurpassed in its genre. Thiscollection includes all the major stories as well as many that areunfamiliar but equally fascinating and memorable.Volume II includesthe magnificent works of James's maturity -- "The Figure in theCarpet", "The Turn of the Screw", "The Beast in the Jungle", amongmany others -- in which the deepening darkness of the author's ownlife casts a tragic but heroic shadow on the themes of hisyouth.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Franz Kafka's imagination so faroutstripped the forms and conventions of the literary tradition heinherited that he was forced to turn that tradition inside out inorder to tell his splendid, mysterious tales. Scrupulouslynaturalistic on the surface, uncanny in their depths, these storiesrepresent the achieved art of a modern master who had the gift ofmaking our problematic spiritual life palpable and real. Thisedition of his stories includes all his available shorter fictionin a collection edited, arranged, and introduced by GabrielJosipovici in ways that bring out the writer's extraordinary rangeand intensity of vision. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir

From the acclaimed author of Conquistador comes this thrillingaccount of one of history’s greatest adventures of discovery. Withcinematic immediacy and meticulous attention to historical detail,here is the true story of a legendary sixteenth-century explorerand his death-defying navigation of the Amazon—river of darkness,pathway to gold. In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and hiswell-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito insearch of La Canela, South America’s rumored Land of Cinnamon, andthe fabled El Dorado, “the golden man.” Driving an enormous retinueof mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, hunting dogs, and otheranimals across the Andes, they watched their proud expedition beginto disintegrate even before they descended into the nightmarishjungle, following the course of a powerful river. Soon hopelesslylost in the swampy labyrinth, their numbers diminishing dailythrough disease, starvation, and Indian attacks, Pizarro andOrellana made a fateful decisi

Harry Bernstein started chronicling his life at the age ofninety-four, after the death of his beloved wife, Ruby. In hisfirst book, The Invisible Wall , he told a haunting story offorbidden love in World War I-era England. Then Bernstein wrote The Dream , the touching tale of his family’s immigrantexperience in Depression-era Chicago and New York. Now Bernsteincompletes the saga with The Golden Willow , a heart-liftingmemoir of his life with Ruby, a romance that lasted nearly seventyyears. They met at a dance at New York’s legendary Webster Hall, fellinstantly and madly in love, and embarked on a rich and rewardinglife together. From their first tiny rented room on the Upper WestSide to their years in Greenwich Village, immersed in the artscene, surrounded by dancers, musicians, and writers, to their lifein the newly burgeoning suburbs, Harry and Ruby pursued theAmerican dream with gusto, much as Harry’s late mother would havewanted. Together, through a depression, a world war, and the McCarthy era

First published in 1938, The Hobbit is a story that "grew inthe telling," and many characters and events in the published bookare completely different from what Tolkien first wrote to readaloud to his young sons as part of their "fireside reads." For thefirst time, The History of the Hobbit reproduces the originalversion of one of literature's most famous stories, and includesmany little-known illustrations and previously unpublished maps forThe Hobbit created by Tolkien himself. Also featured are extensiveannotations and commentaries on the date of composition, howTolkien's professional and early mythological writings influencedthe story, the imaginary geography he created, and how he came torevise the book in the years after publication to accommodateevents in The Lord of the Rings.

"There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before TheLord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in thegreat country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: landswhere Treebeard once walked, but that were drowned in the greatcataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. "In that remotetime Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress ofAngband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Turinand his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear ofAngband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secretcities of the Elves. "Their brief and passionate lives weredominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as thechildren of Hurin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn himto his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant,Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragonof fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of foresthiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, theD

Alan Lee, the Oscar-winning conceptual designer for the Lordof the Rings movie trilogy, discusses his approach to depictingTolkien's imaginary world. The book presents more than 150 of Lee'scelebrated illustrations to show how his imagery for both theillustrated Lord of the Rings and the films progressed from conceptto finished art. In addition, the book contains 20 full-colorplates and numerous examples of the conceptual art produced forPeter Jackson's film adaptation. The Lord of the Rings Sketchbookprovides a wealth of background information and will be of interestto those who know and love Tolkien's work, from books to films toDVDs, as well as to budding artists and illustrators interested inhow to approach book illustration.

The Tin Drum, one of the great novels of the twentiethcentury, was published in Ralph Manheim's outstanding translationin 1959. It became a runaway bestseller and catapulted its youngauthor to the forefront of world literature. To mark the fiftiethanniversary of the original publication, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,along with Grass's publishers all over the world, is bringing out anew translation of this classic novel. Breon Mitchell, acclaimedtranslator and scholar, has drawn from many sources: from a wealthof detailed scholarship; from a wide range of newly-availablereference works; and from the author himself. The result is atranslation that is more faithful to Grass's style and rhythm,restores omissions, and reflects more fully the complexity of theoriginal work. After fifty years, THE TIN DRUM has, if anything,gained in power and relevance. All of Grass's amazing evocationsare still there, and still amazing: Oskar Matzerath, theindomitable drummer; his grandmother, Anna Koljaiczek; his mother,Agnes;

The Spartans is a compelling narrative that explores theculture and civilization of the most famous "warrior people": theSpartans of ancient Greece, by the world's leading expert in thefield. Sparta has often been described as the original Utopia--aremarkably evolved society whose warrior heroes were forbidden anyother trade, profession, or business. As a people, the Spartanswere the living exemplars of such core values as duty, discipline,the nobility of arms in a cause worth dying for, sacrificing theindividual for the greater good of the community (illustrated bytheir role in the battle of Thermopylae), and the triumph of willover seemingly insuperable obstacles--qualities that today arefrequently believed to signify the ultimate heroism. Paul Cartledgeis the distinguished scholar and historian who has long been seenas the leading international authority on ancient Sparta. He tracesthe evolution of Spartan society--the culture and the people, aswell as the tremendous influence they had on their worl

It began, in 1979, as a mad idea of starting a cable channelto televise local sporting events throughout the state ofConnecticut. Today, ESPN is arguably the most successful network inmodern television history, spanning eight channels in the UnitesStates and around the world. But the inside story of its rise hasnever been fully told-until now. Drawing upon over 500 interviews with the greatest names inESPN's history and an All-Star collection of some of the world'sfinest athletes, bestselling authors James Miller and Tom Shalestake us behind the cameras. Now, in their own words, the men andwomen who made ESPN great reveal the secrets behind its success-aswell as the many scandals, rivalries, off-screen battles andtriumphs that have accompanied that ascent. From the unknownproducers and business visionaries to the most famous faces ontelevision, it's all here.

This selection covers the full range of Kipling's shortstories throughout his career, with the subject matter ranging fromthe Indian to the occult and from animals to domestic comedy.

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaurDNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam JurassicPark, soon-to-be opened as a theme park. Until something goeswrong...and science proves a dangeroustoy...."Wonderful...Powerful."THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD "Fromthe Paperback edition."

The first three books in von Ziegesar's Gossip Girls series are packaged together in this paperback boxed set. Includes "Gossip Girl, You Know You Love Me," and "All I Want Is Everything."

As a young man Frank Oppenheimer followed in his famousbrothers footstepsgrowing up in a privileged Manhattan household,becoming a physicist, working on the atomic bomb. Tragically, Frankand Robert both had their careers destroyed by the Red Scare. Buttheir paths diverged. While Robert died an almost ruined man, Frankcame into his own, emerging from ten years of exile on a Coloradoranch to create not just a multimillion dollar institution but alsoa revolution that was felt all over the world. His Exploratoriumwas a "museum of human awareness" that combined art and sciencewhile it encouraged play, experimentation, and a sense of joy andwonder; its success inspired a transformation in museums around theglobe. In many ways it was Franks answer to the atom bomb. K. C.Colea friend and colleague of Franks for many yearshas drawn fromletters, documents, and extensive interviews to write a verypersonal story of the man whose irrepressible spirit would inspireso many.

In the "stifling heat of equatorial Newark," a terrifyingepidemic is raging, threatening the children of the New Jersey citywith maiming, paralysis, life-long disability, and even death. Thisis the startling and surprising theme of Roth's wrenching new book:a wartime polio epidemic in the summer of 1944 and the effect ithas on a closely knit, family-oriented Newark community and itschildren. At the center of NEMISIS is a vigorous, dutiful, twenty-threeyear old playground director, Bucky Cantor, a javelin thrower andweightlifter, who is devoted to his charges and disappointed withhimself because his weak eyes have excluded him from serving in thewar alongside his contemporaries. Focusing on Cantor's dilemmas aspolio begins to ravage his playground--and on the everday realitieshe faces--Roth leads us through every inch of emotion such apestilence can breed: the fear, the panic, the anger, thebewilderment, the suffering, and the pain. Moving between the smoldering, malodorous streets of besieg

Dan Brown’s record-breaking novel The Lost Symbol weavesa breathtaking trail through the hidden artwork, chambers, tunnels,and temples of our nation’s capital. Now the fascinating visualsappear right before your eyes, making for a sumptuous readingexperience that brings alive Robert Langdon’s heart-stopping racethrough a little-known Washington, D.C. Revealing a world ofancient mysteries, stunning history, and secret societies, thisSpecial Illustrated Edition unveils a whole new level of intrigueand fascination within The Lost Symbol . Over one hundredfull-color images are featured throughout this lavishly illustratedgift edition—an essential companion to the original.