In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands. In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his lime green Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed $8,000 his first year. Today, Nike s annual sales top $30 billion. In an age of startups, Nike is the ne plus ultra of all startups, and the swoosh has become a revolutionary, globe-spanning icon, one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable symbols in the world today. But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, in a memoir that is candid, humble, gutsy, and wry, he tells his story, beginning with his crossroads moment. At 24, after bac

At any given time, any number of the Royal Navy's 15 nuclearsubmarines lurk undetected in the world's oceans. Totallyself-sufficient for months at a time, they lie in readiness to bedeployed to listen, intercept, or attack wherever they may beneeded. And should the UK be devastated by a nuclear strike, theymight just be the last military force standing. Award-winningjournalist Danny Danziger has been allowed unprecedented access toone of the attack class submarines of the 'silent service', joiningthe crew on operations for weeks on end, living among them andhearing their stories. Unrestricted and uncompromising, it paints avivid picture of this enigmatic branch of our armed forces. In anincreasingly unstable world, these are the people who are in thebest position to keep us safe. It is time for the silent service tobe heard.

Internationally acclaimed neurosurgeon Dr Eben Alexander always considered himself a man of science. His unwavering belief in evidence-based medicine fuelled a career in the top medical institutions of the world. But all this was set to change. One morning in 2008 he fell into a coma after suffering a rare form of bacterial meningitis. Scans of his brain revealed massive damage. Death was deemed the most likely outcome. As his family prepared themselves for the worst, something miraculous happened. Dr Alexander's brain went from near total inactivity to awakening. He made a full recovery but he was never the same. He woke certain of the infinite reach of the soul, he was certain of a life beyond death. In this astonishing book, Dr Alexander shares his experience, pieced together from the notes he made as soon as he was able to write again. Unlike other accounts of near-death experiences, he is able to explain in depth why his brain was incapable of fabricating the journey he experienced.

Mende Nazer's happy childhood was cruelly cut short at theage of twelve when the Mujahidin rode into her village in theremote Nuba mountains of Sudan. They hacked down terrifiedvillagers, raped the women and abducted the children. Mende wasthem. She was taken and sold to an Arab woman in Khartoum. She wasstripped of her name and her freedom. For seven long years she waskept as a domestic slave, an 'abid', without any pay or a singleday off. Her food was the leftover scraps and her bed was the floorof the locked-up garden shed. She endured this harsh and lonelyexistence without knowing whether her family was alive or dead, forseven long years. Passed on by her master, like a parcel, to arelative in London, Mende eventually managed to escape to freedom.Slave is a shocking first-person insight into the modern day slavetrade. It is also a fascinating memoir of an African childhood anda moving testimony to a young girl's indomitable spirit in the faceof adversity.

This is the definitive biography of music legend Johnny Cashby the leading authority on the star. This major new biography is afull and frank account of the late country legend Johnny Cash(1932-2003), an artist who ranks with Elvis Presley and FrankSinatra as one of the 20th century's major singers. Written byMichael Streissguth, a leading authority on the singer, and theauthor of "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison" and "Ring of Fire", it isthe first full-length biography of Johnny Cash since ChristopherWren's was published more than 30 years ago. This biography isunauthorized - though written with the full backing of Cathy Cash(Cash's daughter from his first marriage) - and provides a far morerounded view of the singer than previous books such "A Man CalledCash", which stops short at the final stage of his life, and Cash'sautobiography which has many gaps. Although a fan of Cash,Streissguth is not afraid to approach the less romantic side of hissubject. The book is propelled by Streissguth's unrivalledknow

In David Sedaris's world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred.A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz and the NationalEnquirer, Sedaris's collection of stories and essays is arollicking tour through the American Zeitgeist: a man who is lovedtoo much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a teenagesuicide tried to incite a lynch mob at her funeral; and in hisessays, David Sedaris considers the hazards of rewards of smoking,writing for Giantess magazine, and living with his scrappy brotherPaul, aka 'The Rooster'. With a perfect eye and a voice infusedwith as much empathy as wit, Sedaris writes and reads stories andessays that target the soulful ridiculousness of our behaviour.Barrel Fever is like a blind date with modern life - and anythingcan happen.

Celebrates Hassam's imposing career as one of America'sforemost impressionists. Adelson (president of Adelson Galleries),Cantor (teacher, writer and lecturer on American art) and Gerdts(author and professor emeritus, Graduate Center of the City U. ofNew York) approach the artist from several angles (an internationalcontext, his little-understood late work, and predominant themes)to reveal his many facets and uncover previously unknown aspects ofhis life and work. Illustrated with color reproductions thatrepresent all of Hassam's styles, the volume concludes with anillustrated chronology and an annotated bibliography.

A PRESIDENTIAL DYNASTY. AN ARAB TERRORIST ATTACK. DEMOCRACYUNDER SIEGE. Mario Puzo envisioned it all in his eerily prescient1991 novel, The Fourth K. President Francis Xavier Kennedy is elected to office, in largepart, thanks to the legacy of his forebears–good looks, privilege,wealth–and is the very embodiment of youthful optimism. Too soon,however, he is beaten down by the political process and, disabusedof his ideals, he becomes a leader totally unlike what he has beenbefore. When his daughter becomes a pawn in a brutal terrorist plot,Kennedy, who has obsessively kept alive the memory of his uncles’assassinations, activates all his power to retaliate in a series ofviolent measures. As the explosive events unfold, the world andthose closest to him look on with both awe and horror.

There never was a Churchill from John of Marlborough down whohad either morals or principles', so said Gladstone. From the FirstDuke of Marlborough - soldier of genius, restless empire-builderand cuckolder of Charles II - onwards, the Churchills have beenpoliticians, gamblers and profligates, heroes and womanisers. TheChurchills is a richly layered portrait of an extraordinary set ofmen and women - grandly ambitious, regularly impecunious,impulsive, arrogant and brave. And towering above the Churchillclan is the figure of Winston - his failures and his triumphs shownin a new and revealing context - ultimately our 'greatestBriton'.

So much has how been said and written about the life andcareer of Michael Jackson that it has become almost impossible todisentangle the man from the myth. This book is the fruit of over30 years of research and hundreds of exclusive interviews with aremarkable level of access to the very closest circles of theJackson family - including Michael himself. Cutting through tabloidrumours, J. Randy Taraborrelli traces the real story behind MichaelJackson, from his drilling as a child star through the blooming ofhis talent to his ever-changing personal appearance and bizarrepublicity stunts. This major biography includes thebehind-the-scenes story to many of the landmarks in Jackson's life:his legal and commercial battles, his marriages to Lisa MariePresley and Debbie Rowe, his passions and addictions, his children.Objective and revealing, it carries the hallmarks of all ofTaraborrelli's best-sellers: impeccable research, brilliantstorytelling and definitive documentation.