Song for My Fathers is the story of a young white boy driven bya consuming passion to learn the music and ways of a group of agingblack jazzmen in the twilight years of the segregation era.Contemporaries of Louis Armstrong, most of them had played in localobscurity until Preservation Hall launched a nationwide revival ofinterest in traditional jazz. They called themselves “the mens.”And they welcomed the young apprentice into their ranks. The boy was introduced into this remarkable fellowship by hisfather, an eccentric Southern liberal and failed novelist whosepowerful articles on race had made him one of the most effectivepolemicists of the early Civil Rights movement. Nurtured on hisfather’s belief in racial equality, the aspiring clarinetistembraced the old musicians with a boundless love and admiration.The narrative unfolds against the vivid backdrop of New Orleans inthe 1950s and ‘60s. But that magical place is more than decor; itis perhaps the central player, for this story could not have taken

“Moonshiners put more time, energy, thought, and loveinto their cars than any racer ever will. Lose on the track and yougo home. Lose with a load of whiskey and you go to jail.” —JuniorJohnson, NASCAR legend and one-time whiskey runner Today’s NASCAR is a family sport with 75 million loyal fans,which is growing bigger and more mainstream by the day. PartDisney, part Vegas, part Barnum Bailey, NASCAR is also amultibillion-dollar business and a cultural phenomenon thattranscends geography, class, and gender. But dark secrets lurk inNASCAR’s past. Driving with the Devil uncovers for the first time the truestory behind NASCAR’s distant, moonshine-fueled origins and paintsa rich portrait of the colorful men who created it. Long before thesport of stock-car racing even existed, young men in the rural,Depression-wracked South had figured out that cars and speed weretickets to a better life. With few options beyond the farm orfactory, the best chance of escape was running moonshine.

The bestselling author of Saving Graces shares herinspirational message on the challenges and blessings of copingwith adversity. She’s one of the most beloved political figures in the country,and on the surface, seems to have led a charmed life. In many ways,she has. Beautiful family. Thriving career. Supportive friendship.Loving marriage. But she’s no stranger to adversity. Many know ofthe strength she had shown after her son, Wade, was killed in afreak car accident when he was only sixteen years old. She wouldexhibit this remarkable grace and courage again when the veryprivate matter of her husband's infidelity became public fodder.And her own life has been on the line. Days before the 2004presidential election—when her husband John was running for vicepresident—she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After rounds ofsurgery, chemotherapy, and radiation the cancer went away—only toreoccur in 2007. While on the campaign trail, Elizabeth met many others who havehad to contend with se

As a twelve-year-old girl, Maria Housden’s vision of a happyfuture included everything that society expects girls to yearn for:a home, a husband, and, of course, children. Life had otherplans. Unraveled is Housden’s riveting and thoughtful story of how,after the death of her young daughter, she found the courage tobreak away from her role as a wife and stay-at-home mom and strikeout on her own in search of a more fulfilling life. Leaving herthree surviving children in the primary custody of her husband,Housden faced down the disbelief of friends and family and began ajourney that would ultimately lead her not only to the truth aboutherself, but also to a deeper and more loving connection with herchildren. Housden writes about the emotional reckoning that led to herdecision and the ways in which she has become the best mother shecan be while no longer living with her children full-time. Withfierce honesty and the same gift for poignantly beautiful writingthat she demonstrated in the best

“On our first date, Rich ordered a chocolate soufflé at thebeginning of the meal, noting an asterisk on the menu warningdiners of the wait involved. At the time, I imagined he did itpartly to impress me, which it did, though today I know well thathe’s simply the type of man who knows better than to turn down ahot-from-the-oven soufflé when one is offered to him.” When Michelle Maisto meets Rich–like her, a closet writer with afierce love of books and good food–their single-mindedness at thetable draws them together, and meals become a stage for their longcourtship. Finally engaged, they move in together, but sitting downto shared meals each night–while working at careers, trying towrite, and falling into the routines that come to define ahome–soon feels like something far different from their firstdinner together. Who cooks, who shops, who does the dishes? Rich craves the lightfare his mother learned to prepare as a girl in China, but Michelleleans toward the hearty dishes h

The National Book Award-winning author of So Long, See YouTomorrow offers an astonishing evocation of a vanished world, as heretraces, branch by branch, the history of his family, takingreaders into the lives of settlers, itinerant preachers, and smallbusinessmen, examining the way they saw their world and how theyimagined the world to come.