The definitive story of the Red Sox, a best-selling classic, nowexpanded and updated to include the incredible 2004 season andWorld Series win. In that magic fall of 2004, the Boston Red Soxtransformed themselves from an unruly band of self-proclaimedidiots into world champions for the first time in eighty-six years.Their unlikely triumph became known instantly as one of the mostthrilling, nerve-racking, and ultimately inspiring sports storiesever. And it also changed the course of history for a franchisethat had long been known more for its failures than for itssuccesses. In Red Sox Century, "the best of the Sox sages" (USAToday Baseball Weekly) chronicle the complete history of thisenduring team with authority, insight, and high style. From theteam's inception in 1901 and its early peak in 1918, when it wonits fifth World Series, to the glory years, which saw the rise ofsuch greats as Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Teddy Ballgame, and Yaz and the"impossible dream," to the near misses in 1975, 1986, and 2003, andfina

Among submariners in World War II, Dudley "Mush" Morton stoodout as a warrior without peer. At the helm of the USS Wahoo he completely changed the way the sea war was fought in thePacific. He would relentlessly attack the Japanese at everyopportunity, going through his supply of torpedoes in record timeon every patrol. In only nine months, he racked up an astoundinglist of achievements, including being the first American skipper towipe out an entire enemy convoy single-handedly.

George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fireseries has become, in many ways, the gold standard for modern epicfantasy. Martin--dubbed the "American Tolkien" by Timemagazine--has created a world that is as rich and vital as anypiece of historical fiction, set in an age of knights and chivalryand filled with a plethora of fascinating, multidimensionalcharacters that you love, hate to love, or love to hate as theystruggle for control of a divided kingdom. It is this very vitalitythat has led it to be adapted as the HBO miniseries "Game ofThrones." This boxed set includes the followingnovels: A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings A Storm of Swords A Feast for Crows

Myths Legends retells the stories central toevery culture that have been passed down from generation togeneration for thousands of years. Coverage extends from thewell-known tales of the Ancient Greeks, which hold the key to theorigin of such phrases as "Achille's heel," to the lesser-known,but richly colorful, myths of the Americas and the East. Topicspreads explore characters and stories in terms of their cultural,psychological, and religious meanings and show their power,purpose, and influence both in their own time and in today's world.Feature spreads visit the sacred sites that can still be seentoday, and underline the importance of themes that appear acrosscultures and through the centuries. In looking at such universalthemes as creation, heroic trials, tricksters' lessons, and deathand the afterlife, Myths Legends investigates howdifferent cultures have addressed questions such as How was theworld created? How did man learn to use fire? and Why do we growold?

Ed McBain made his debut in 1956. In 2004, more than a hundredbooks later, he personally collected twenty-five of his storieswritten before he was Ed McBain. All but five of them were firstpublished in the detective magazine Manhunt and none of themappeared under the Ed McBain byline. They were written by EvanHunter (McBain's legal name as of 1952), Richard Marsten (apseudonym derived from the names of his three sons), or HuntCollins (in honor of his alma mater, Hunter College). Here are kidsin trouble and women in jeopardy. Here are private eyes and gangs.Here are loose cannons and innocent bystanders. Here, too, are copsand robbers. These are the stories that prepared Evan Hunter tobecome Ed McBain, and that prepared Ed McBain to write the beloved87th Precinct novels. In individual introductions, McBain tells howand why he wrote these stories that were the start of his legendarycareer.

After having lost her family and the luxurious life she livedin beautiful Napa, California, Ava Winters finds herself on RebunIsland, Japan, the site of Satoshi Takeda's Revenge School. There,Ava meets Reena, Jon, Cruz, and Jane. At Revenge School, Ava alsomeets Emily Thorne who has recently returned to her training withTakeda. Emily shares her wisdom about Revenge and the importance oflooking for justice in a world where their enemies have thrived.Jon finds a file in Takeda's office detailing the connective tissuelinking the group currently at Revenge School. He presents Ava andthe others with the information, highlighting the looming May 1stdate of an annual gala in Napa where they will all have theopportunity to address their respective "revengendas." Althoughtheir training is not finished, the group feels the time is rightto set out on their mission. Assuming the delicious melodramatictone of the show, the book will reveal twists, turns, murder,collusion and deception. SCHOOLED IN REVENGE will also

With an imaginative audacity and lyrical brilliance that putshim in the company of David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon, Rana Dasgupta paints a portrait of a centurythough the story of a hundred-year-old blind Bulgarian man in afirst novel that announces the arrival of an exhilarating new voicein fiction. In the first movement of Solo we meet Ulrich, the son of arailroad engineer, who has two great passions: the violin andchemistry. Denied the first by his father, he leaves for the Berlinof Einstein and Fritz Haber to study the latter. His studies arecut short when his father’s fortune evaporates, and he must returnto Sofia to look after his parents. He never leaves Bulgaria again.Except in his daydreams—and it is those dreams we enter in thevolatile second half of the book. In a radical leap from past topresent, from life lived to life imagined, Dasgupta followsUlrich’s fantasy children, born of communism but making their wayinto a post-communist world of celebrity and violence.

Since the series' inception in 1915, the annual volumes of TheBest American Short Stories have launched literary careers,showcased the most compelling stories of each year, and confirmedfor all time the significance of the short story in our nationalliterature. Now THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURYbrings together the best -- fifty-six extraordinary stories thatrepresent a century's worth of unsurpassed achievements in thisquintessentially American literary genre. This expanded editionincludes a new story from The Best American Short Stories 1999 toround out the century, as well as an index including every storypublished in the series. Of all the writers whose work has appearedin the series, only John Updike has been represented in each of thelast five decades, from his first appearance, in 1959, to his mostrecent, in 1998. Updike worked with coeditor Katrina Kenison tochoose the finest stories from the years since 1915. The result is"extraordinary . . . A one-volume literary history of thi

A myth-busting novel about America's most infamous and belovedoutlaw, Billy the Kid, from a critically acclaimed historicalnovelist. According to legend, Billy the Kid killed twenty-one men,one for every year of his short life; stole from wealthy cattlebarons to give to the poor; and wooed just about every se?orita inthe American Southwest. In Lucky Billy, John Vernon digs deeplyinto the historical record to find a truth more remarkable than thelegend, and draws a fresh, nuanced portrait of this outlaw'sdramatic and violent life. Billy the Kid met his celebrated end atthe hands of Pat Garrett, his one-time carousing partner turnedsheriff, who tracked Billy down after the jail break that made himfamous. In Vernon's telling, the crucial event of Billy's life wasthe Lincoln County War, a conflict between a ring of Irishmen incontrol of Lincoln, New Mexico, and a newcomer from England, JohnTunstall, who wanted to break their grip on the town. Billy signedon with Tunstall. The conflict spun out of control w

"Louis Auchincloss has an enveloping story to tell and aperfect, understated knowledge of those who inhabit it," said theNew York Times of The Scarlet Letters. The same can be said ofAuchincloss's new novel, a tour de force that charts the rise ofone uncommon family in America's grand city. How did the familieswho live on Manhattan's Upper East Side get to where they aretoday? As much a penetrating social history as it is engagingfiction, East Side Story tells of the Carnochans, a family whoseScottish forebears establish themselves in New York's textilebusiness during the Civil War. From there they quickly move on toseize prominent positions in the country's top schools andManhattan's elite firms. As the novel unfolds, family membersacross the generations recount their stories, illuminating livessteeped in both good fortune and moral jeopardy. From women whooutsmart their foolish husbands, to ambitious lawyers who protectthe Carnochan name, to the family's artists and writers, all weighthe question tha

All 5 books inthe Twilight Saga series - Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, BreakingDawn and, for the first time ever, The Short Second Life of BreeTanner - in one gorgeous, giftable, white-covered boxed set.

This remarkable and beautiful book documents the period ofexploration and enlightenment when the Old World began to open itsmind to the wonders and mysteries of the New World. Five centuriesof eyewitness accounts, drawings, and notes, taken straight fromthe log books of such famous explorers as Christopher Columbus,Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco de Gama, James Cook, and many others whonames have been lost, appear in these glowing pages. For the sakeof gold and God, these explorers ventured into the Sea of Darknessfeared for centuries; the detailed documents they compiled are aremarkable testament to their journeys and discoveries. Fran?ois Bellec, a world famous expert in the field of maritimeexploration and history, has assembled a unique document filledwith extraordinary maps drawn by the explorers and theircartographers; fabulous depictions of newly encountered plants,animals, and native people; and detailed illustrations of theadventurers' own vessels and instruments, as well as the boats andinstr