17 men, 6 cars, and a 21,000-mile race across 3continents On the morning of February 12, 1908, six cars from four differentcountries lined up in Times Square, surrounded by a frenzied crowd.The men who competed in the New York to Paris auto race were aninternational roster of personalities: a charismatic Norwegianoutdoorsman, a witty French nobleman, a pair of Italiansophisticates, an aristocratic German army officer, and a crankymechanic from Buffalo, New York. At a time when most people hadnever seen an automobile, these adventurous men set their courseover mountain ranges, through Arctic freeze, and desert heat. Therewere no gas stations, no garages, and no replacement parts in caseof emergency. Two men rose to the top. Ober-lieutenant Hans Koeppen, a risingofficer in the Prussian army, led the German team in theircanvas-topped 40-horsepower Protos. His amiable personality belieda core of sheer determination, and by the race’s end, he had wonthe respect of even his toughest critics. Hi

Now comprising 25 nations and 450 million citizens, the EU hasmore people, more wealth, and more votes on every internationalbody than the United States. It eschews military force but offersguaranteed health care and free university educations. And the new"United States of Europe" is determined to be a superpower. Tracingthe EU’s emergence from the ruins of World War II and its influenceeverywhere from international courts to supermarket shelves, T. R.Reid explores the challenge it poses to American political andeconomic supremacy. The United States of Europe is essentialreading.

A superb accomplishment, maybe the finest book Pat Conroy haswritten. --The Washington Post Book World -- Review

The Tin Ticket takes readers to the dawn of thenineteenth century and into the lives of three women arrested andsent into suffering and slavery in Australia and Tasmania-wherethey overcame their fates unlike any women in the world. It alsotells the tale of Elizabeth Gurney Fry, a Quaker reformer whotouched all their lives. Ultimately, this is a story of women who,by sheer force of will, became the heart and soul of a newnation.

Part diary and part reportage, The Soccer War is aremarkable chronicle of war in the late twentieth century. Between1958 and 1980, working primarily for the Polish Press Agency,Kapuscinski covered twenty-seven revolutions and coups in Africa,Latin America, and the Middle East. Here, with characteristiccogency and emotional immediacy, he recounts the stories behind hisofficial press dispatches—searing firsthand accounts of thefrightening, grotesque, and comically absurd aspects of life duringwar. The Soccer War is a singular work of journalism.

Book De*ion From Haruki Murakami, internationally acclaimed author of TheWind-Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood, a work of literaryjournalism that is as fascinating as it is necessary, asprovocative as it is profound. In March of 1995, agents of a Japanese religious cult attacked theTokyo subway system with sarin, a gas twenty-six times as deadly ascyanide. Attempting to discover why, Murakami conducted hundreds ofinterviews with the people involved, from the survivors to theperpetrators to the relatives of those who died, and Underground istheir story in their own voices. Concerned with the fundamentalissues that led to the attack as well as these personal accounts,Underground is a document of what happened in Tokyo as well as awarning of what could happen anywhere. This is an enthralling andunique work of nonfiction that is timely and vital and aswonderfully executed as Murakami’s brilliant novels. From Publishers Weekly On March 20, 1995, followers of the religious cult Aum Shinrikyounleashed

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller For the first time, rock music’s most famous muse tells herincredible story Pattie Boyd, former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton,finally breaks a forty-year silence and tells the story of how shefound herself bound to two of the most addictive, promiscuousmusical geniuses of the twentieth century and became the mostlegendary muse in the history of rock and roll. The woman whoinspired Harrison’s song “Something” and Clapton’s anthem “Layla,”Pattie Boyd has written a book that is rich and raw, funny andheartbreaking–and totally honest.

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

Year after year, Rafe Esquith’s fifth-grade students excel.They read passionately, far above their grade level; tacklealgebra; and stage Shakespeare so professionally that they oftenwow the great Shakespearen actor himself, Sir Ian McKellen. YetEsquith teaches at an L.A. innercity school known as the Jungle,where few of his students speak English at home, and many are frompoor or troubled families. What’s his winning recipe? A diet ofintensive learning mixed with a lot of kindness and fun. His kidsattend class from 6:30 A.M. until well after 4:00 P.M., rightthrough most of their vacations. They take field trips to Europeand Yosemite. They play rock and roll. Mediocrity has no place intheir classroom. And the results follow them for life, as they goon to colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Possessed by a fierce idealism, Esquith works even harder than hisstudents. As an outspoken maverick of public education (his heroesinclude Huck Finn and Atticus Finch), he admits to significantmistakes a

Eugene Pogany's father and uncle, identical twins, were bornin Hungary of Jewish parents but raised by them as devout Catholicconverts until World War II unraveled their family. Miklos, theauthor's father, was sent to Bergen-Belsen, a hell that led him todenounce Christian passivity in the face of the Holocaust andreturn to the Judaism of his birth. Gyorgy, a Catholic priest, wassheltered from the war in an Italian monastery by the renowned andsaintly friar Padre Pio. Their mother, also interned as a Jew,walked into the Auschwitz gas chamber holding a crucifix to herbreast. In My Brother's Image eloquently portrays how the Holocaustdestroyed these brothers' close childhood bond. Each believing theother a traitor to their family's faith, they remained estrangedeven after emigrating to America, where they lived and worked onlymiles from each other. Filled with extraordinary scenes such asMiklos's Passover celebration with fellow prisoners in the camp,this tragic memoir encapsulates the drama of a f