In Victorian England, an orphan girl is sent to a countryestate to work for-and ultimately woo-its young heiress, on behalfof a mysterious benefactor known as Gentleman.

You know the authors’ names. You recognize the title. You'veprobably used this book yourself. And now The Elements of Style–themost widely read and employed English style manual–is available ina specially bound 50th Anniversary Edition that offers the title'svast audience an opportunity to own a more durable and elegantlybound edition of this time-tested classic. Offering the same content as the Fourth Edition, revised in 1999,the new casebound 50th Anniversary Edition includes a briefoverview of the book's illustrious history. Used extensively byindividual writers as well as high school and college students ofwriting, it has conveyed the principles of English style tomillions of readers. This new deluxe edition makes the perfect giftfor writers of any age and ability level.

It is the most famous military installation in the world. Andit doesn't exist. Located a mere seventy-five miles outside of LasVegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged bythe U.S. government-but Area 51 has captivated imaginations fordecades. Myths and hypotheses about Area 51 have long abounded, thanks tothe intense secrecy enveloping it. Some claim it is home to aliens,underground tunnel systems, and nuclear facilities. Others believethat the lunar landing itself was filmed there. The prevalence ofthese rumors stems from the fact that no credible insider has everdivulged the truth about his time inside the base. Until now. Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to nineteen men who servedthe base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92,and unprecedented access to fifty-five additional military andintelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked tothe secret base, thirty-two of whom lived and worked there forextended periods. In Area 51, Jac

From the moment these two legendary players took the court onopposing sides, they engaged in a fierce physical and psychologicalbattle. In Celtic green was Larry Bird, the hick from French Lick,with laser-beam focus, relentless determination, and a deadly jumpshot, a player who demanded excellence from everyone around him andwhose caustic wit left opponents quaking in their high-tops. MagicJohnson was Mr. Showtime, a magnetic personality with all the rightmoves. Young, indomitable, he was a pied piper in purple and gold.And he burned with an inextinguishable desire to win. Their uncommonly competitive relationship came to symbolize themost thrilling rivalry in the NBA—East vs. West, physical vs.finesse, old school vs. Showtime, even white vs. black. Each pushedthe other to greatness, and together Bird and Johnson collectedeight NBA Championships and six MVP awards, helping to save afloundering NBA. At the start they were bitter rivals, but alongthe way they became lifelong friends.

Arriving in the New World, Europeans were awestruck by acontinent awash with birds. Today tens of millions of Americansbirders have made a once eccentric hobby into something somainstream it's (almost) cool. Scott Weidensaul traces the colorfulevolution of American birding: from the frontier ornithologists whocollected eggs between border skirmishes to the society matrons whoorganized the first effective conservation movement; from theluminaries with checkered pasts, such as convicted blackmailerAlexander Wilson and the endlessly self-mythologizing John JamesAudubon, to the awkward schoolteacher Roger Tory Peterson, whose "AField Guide to the Birds" prompted the explosive growth of modernbirding. Spirited and compulsively readable, "Of a Feather"celebrates the passions and achievements of birders throughoutAmericcan history.

Karen Wynn Fonstad's THE ATLAS OF MIDDLE-EARTH is an essentialvolume that will enchant all Tolkien fans. Here is the definitiveguide to the geography of Middle-earth, from its founding in theElder Days through the Third Age, including the journeys of Bilbo,Frodo, and the Fellowship of the Ring. Authentic and updated --nearly one third of the maps are new, and the text is fully revised-- the atlas illuminates the enchanted world created in THESILMARILLION, THE HOBBIT, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Hundreds oftwo-color maps and diagrams survey the journeys of the principalcharacters day by day -- including all the battles and keylocations of the First, Second, and Third Ages. Plans andde*ions of castles, buildings, and distinctive landforms aregiven, along with thematic maps describing the climate, vegetation,languages, and population distribution of Middle-earth throughoutits history. An extensive appendix and an index help readerscorrelate the maps with Tolkien's novels.

The last decades of the nineteenth century were a violent periodin China's history, marked by humiliating foreign incursions anddomestic rebellions and ending in the demise of the Ch'ing Dynasty.The only constant during this tumultuous time was the power wieldedby one woman, the resilient, ever-resourceful Tsu Hsi -- or EmpressOrchid, as readers came to know her in Anchee Min's criticallyacclaimed, best-selling novel covering her rise to power. The LastEmpress is the story of Orchid's dramatic transition from astrong-willed, instinctive young woman to a wise and politicallysavvy leader who ruled China for more than four decades. In thisconcluding volume Min gives us a compelling, very human leader whoassumed power reluctantly and sacrificed all to protect those sheloved and an empire that was doomed to die.

The unforgettable trilogy by the #1 "New York Times" bestsellingauthor is now available in this beautiful boxed set. Includes "Keyof Light, Key of Knowledge," and "Key of Valor." Original.

Comparing Google to an ordinary business islike comparing a rocket to an Edsel. No academic analysis orbystander’s account can capture it. Now Doug Edwards, EmployeeNumber 59, offers the first inside view of Google, giving readers achance to fully experience the bizarre mix of camaraderie andcompetition at this phenomenal company. Edwards, Google’s firstdirector of marketing and brand management, describes it as ithappened. We see the first, pioneering steps of Larry Page andSergey Brin, the company’s young, idiosyncratic partners; theevolution of the company’s famously nonhierarchical structure(where every employee finds a problem to tackle or a feature tocreate and works independently); the development of brand identity;the races to develop and implement each new feature; and the manyideas that never came to pass. Above all, Edwards—a formerjournalist who knows how to write—captures the “Google Experience,”the rollercoaster ride of being part of a company creating itselfin a whole new u

In "Swann's Way," the themes of Proust's masterpiece areintroduced, and the narrator's childhood in Paris and Combray isrecalled, most memorably in the evocation of the famous maternalgood-night kiss. The recollection of the narrator's love forSwann's daughter Gilberte leads to an account of Swann's passionfor Odette and the rise of the nouveaux riches Verdurins. For thisauthoritative English-language edition, D. J. Enright has revisedthe late Terence Kilmartin's acclaimed reworking of C. K. ScottMoncrieff's translation to take into account the new definitiveFrench editions of "A la recherche du temps perdu" (the finalvolume of these new editions was published by the Bibliotheque dela Pleiade in 1989).

Together in one extraordinary boxed set- "Naked in Death,""Glory in Death," and "Immortal in Death"-the first three In Deathnovels featuring New York Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas. Naked inDeath Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant using herinstincts to hunt for a ruthless killer. Breaking every rule, Evegets involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire-and a suspect inEve's murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rulesall their own. Glory in Death Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas has noproblem finding connections between two violent crimes. Bothvictims were beautiful and highly successful women whose intimaterelations with men of great power and wealth provide Eve with along list of suspects-including her own lover, Roarke. Immortal inDeath A top model is dead, the victim of a brutal murder. PoliceLieutenant Eve Dallas puts her professional life on the line totake the case when suspicion falls on her best friend, the otherwoman in a fatal love triangle. And beneath the facade of glamour,Ev

"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

Doc Ebersole lives with the ghost of Hank Williams—not just inthe figurative sense, not just because he was one of the lastpeople to see him alive, and not just because he is rumored to havegiven Hank the final morphine dose that killed him. In 1963, ten years after Hank's death, Doc himself is wracked byaddiction. Having lost his license to practice medicine, hismorphine habit isn't as easy to support as it used to be. So helives in a rented room in the red-light district on the south sideof San Antonio, performing abortions and patching up the odd knifeor gunshot wound. But when Graciela, a young Mexican immigrant,appears in the neighborhood in search of Doc's services, miraculousthings begin to happen. Graciela sustains a wound on her wrist thatnever heals, yet she heals others with the touch of her hand.Everyone she meets is transformed for the better, except, maybe,for Hank's angry ghost—who isn't at all pleased to see Doc doingwell. A brilliant excavation of an obscure piece of m

WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT is an incredibly exciting debut from anextraordinary new voice in fiction. Spanning four decades, from1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family andthe slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape theireveryday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, lossof innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love andlife. Stripped down to its bare bones, it's about the unbreakablebond between a brother and sister.

This is a unique tribute to Florence, combining history,artistic de*ion, and social observation. A memorable portraitof the Florentine spirit and of those figures who exemplify thisspirit, such as Dante, Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Donatello, andMachiavelli.

In the form of warm, relaxed letters to a close friend, Lewismeditates on many puzzling questions concerning the intimatedialogue between man and God. Lewis also considers practical andmetaphysical aspects of private prayer, petitionary prayer, theLords Prayer, and other forms of prayer. A beautifully executed anddeeply moving book (Saturday Review).

In this compelling first novel, Kerouac draws on his New Englandmill-town boyhood to create the world of George and MargueriteMartin and their eight children, each endowed with an energy and avision of life.