The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine.The tragedy is that my story could have been his. Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year ofeach other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimoreneighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on streetcorners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police.How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decoratedveteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the otherended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore,the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer thisprofound question. In alternating narratives that take readers fromheart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, TheOther Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys tryingto find their way in a hostile world.

The most riveting political biography of our time, Robert A.Caro’s life of Lyndon B. Johnson, continues. Master of theSenate takes Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkableperiods: his twelve years, from 1949 through 1960, in the UnitedStates Senate. Once the most august and revered body in politics,by the time Johnson arrived the Senate had become a parody ofitself and an obstacle that for decades had blocked desperatelyneeded liberal legislation. Caro shows how Johnson’s brilliance,charm, and ruthlessness enabled him to become the youngest and mostpowerful Majority Leader in history and how he used hisincomparable legislative genius--seducing both Northern liberalsand Southern conservatives--to pass the first Civil Rightslegislation since Reconstruction. Brilliantly weaving rich detailinto a gripping narrative, Caro gives us both a galvanizingportrait of Johnson himself and a definitive and revelatory studyof the workings of legislative power.

An intimate look at writing, running, and the incredible waythey intersect, from the incomparable, bestselling author HarukiMurakami.While simply training for New York City Marathon would beenough for most people, Haruki Murakami's decided to write about itas well. The result is a beautiful memoir about his intertwinedobsessions with running and writing, full of vivid memories andinsights, including the eureka moment when he decided to become awriter. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich andrevelatory, both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly privatewriter and for the exploding population of athletes who findsimilar satisfaction in athletic pursuit.

In this astonishing true story, award-winning journalist SoniaNazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran boy whobraves unimaginable hardship and peril to reach his mother in theUnited States. When Enrique is five years old, his mother, Lourdes, too poor tofeed her children, leaves Honduras to work in the United States.The move allows her to send money back home to Enrique so he caneat better and go to school past the third grade. Lourdes promises Enrique she will return quickly. But shestruggles in America. Years pass. He begs for his mother to comeback. Without her, he becomes lonely and troubled. When she calls,Lourdes tells him to be patient. Enrique despairs of ever seeingher again. After eleven years apart, he decides he will go findher. Enrique sets off alone from Tegucigalpa, with little more than aslip of paper bearing his mother’s North Carolina telephone number.Without money, he will make the dangerous and illegal trek up thelength of Mexico the only way he c

Mind-opening writing on what kids need from school, from oneof education’s most outspoken voices Arguing that our schools are currently in the grip of a “cult ofrigor”—a confusion of harder with better that threatens to banishboth joy and meaningful intellectual inquiry from ourclassrooms—Alfie Kohn issues a stirring call to rethink ourpriorities and reconsider our practices. Kohn’s latest wide-ranging collection of writings will add to hisreputation as one of the most incisive thinkers in the field, whoquestions the assumptions too often taken for granted indiscussions about education and human behavior. In nineteen recently published essays—and in a substantiveintroduction, new for this volume—Kohn repeatedly invites us tothink more deeply about the conventional wisdom. Is self-disciplinealways desirable? he asks, citing surprising evidence to thecontrary. Does academic cheating necessarily indicate a moralfailing? Might inspirational posters commonly found on school

The Man in Black is dead, and Roland is about to be hurled into 20th-century America, occupying the mind of a man running cocaine on the New York/Bermuda shuttle. A brilliant work of dark fantasy inspired by Browning's romantic poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came". --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

This original contribution to Indian history, focusing oncontemporary and largely indigenous documents, introduces a set ofconcepts for the analysis of late Mughal rule. More specifically itexamines the origins and development of the Maratha svardjya or'self-rule' within the context of declining Muslim power. It tracesthe expansion of Maratha dominion to a process of fitna, a policyof 'shifting alliances' which was recurrent in the wake of Muslimexpansion throughout its history. The book gives an interestingperspective on Hindu-Muslim relationships in the pre-British periodas well as on the nature of the Indo-Muslim state and its mostimportant successor polity, on its capacity for change anddevelopment in the intermediate sections of society, theland-tenurial system, the monetization of the economy, and on thefiscal system.

After a series of unfortunate choices and events leave herliterally living in the street for three months, Marjane decides toreturn to her native Iran. Here, she is reunited with her family,whose liberalism and emphasis on Marjane's personal worth exert asstrong an influence as the eye-popping wonders of Europe. Havinggrown accustomed to recreational drugs, partying, and dating,Marjane now dons a veil and adjusts to a society officially dividedby gender and guided by fundamentalism. Emboldened by the exampleof her feisty grandmother, she tests the bounds of the moralityenforced on the streets and in the classrooms. With a newappreciation for the political and spiritual struggles of herfellow Iranians, she comes to understand that "one person leavingher house while asking herself, 'is my veil in place?' no longerasks herself 'where is my freedom of speech?'"

In this riveting and relentless nonfiction thriller,award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel tells theharrowing story of former Cali cartel insider Jorge Salcedo, anordinary man facing an extraordinary dilemma—a man forced to riskeverything to escape the powerful and treacherous Cali crimesyndicate. Colombia in the 1990s is a country in chaos, as a weak governmentbattles guerrilla movements and narco-traffickers, including thenotorious Pablo Escobar and his rivals in the Cali cartel. EnterJorge Salcedo, a part-time soldier, a gifted engineer, a respectedbusinessman and family man—and a man who despises Pablo Escobar forpatriotic and deeply personal reasons. He is introduced to thegodfathers of the Cali cartel, who are at war with Escobar anddesperately want their foe dead. With mixed feelings, Jorge agreesto help them. Once inside, Jorge rises to become head of security for MiguelRodríguez Orejuela, principal godfather of the $7-billion-a-yearCali drug cartel. Jorge tries