“You keep fighting, okay?” I whispered. “We’re in thistogether. You and me. You’re not alone. You hear me? You are notalone. ” 5:38 p.m. It was the precise moment Sean Manning was born and thetime each year that his mother wished him happy birthday. But justbefore he turned twenty-seven, their tradition collapsed. A heartattack landed his mom in the hospital and uprooted Manning from hislife in New York. What followed was a testament to a family’sindestructible bond—a life-changing odyssey that broke a boy andmade a man—captured here in Manning’s indelible memoir.

Told by a former high-level member of the Peoples Temple andJonestown survivor, Seductive Poison is the "trulyunforgettable" ( Kirkus Review ) story of how one woman wasseduced by one of the most notorious cults in recent memory and howshe found her way back to sanity. From Waco to Heaven's Gate, the past decade has seen its share ofcult tragedies. But none has been quite so dramatic or compellingas the Jonestown massacre of 1978, in which the Reverend Jim Jonesand 913 of his disciples perished. Deborah Layton had been a memberof the Peoples Temple for seven years when she departed forJonestown, Guyana, the promised land nestled deep in the SouthAmerican jungle. When she arrived, however, Layton saw thatsomething was seriously wrong. Jones constantly spoke of arevolutionary mass suicide, and Layton knew only too well that hehad enough control over the minds of the Jonestown residents tocarry it out. But her pleas for help--and her sworn affidavit tothe U.S. government--fell on skeptical ears. I

“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

In 1987, John Rember returned home to Sawtooth Valley, wherehe had been brought up. He returned out of a homing instinct: thesame forty acres that had sustained his family’s horses hadsustained a vision of a place where he belonged in the world, alife where he could get up in the morning, step out the door, andcatch dinner from the Salmon River. But to his surprise, he foundthat what was once familiar was now unfamiliar. Everything mighthave looked the same to the horses that spring, but to Rember thiswas no longer home. In Traplines , Rember recounts his experiences of growing upin a time when the fish were wild in the rivers, horses werebrought into the valley each spring from their winter pasture, andelectric light still seemed magical. Today those same experiencesno longer seem to possess the authenticity they once did. In hisjourney home, Rember discovers how the West, both as a place inwhich to live and as a terrain of the imagination, has beentransformed. And he wonders whether his recollections o

Christopher (Kit) Lukas’s mother committed suicide when hewas a boy. He and his brother, Tony, were not told how she died. Noone spoke of the family’s history of depression and bipolardisorder. The brothers grew up to achieve remarkable success; Tonyas a gifted journalist (and author of the classic book, CommonGround ), Kit as an accomplished television producer anddirector. After suffering bouts of depression, Kit was able toconfront his family’s troubled past, but Tony never seemed to findthe contentment Kit had attained–he killed himself in 1997. Writtenwith heartrending honesty, Blue Genes captures thedevastation of this family legacy of depression and details thestrength and hope that can provide a way of escaping itsgrasp.

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

In 1955, Garcia Marquez was working for El Espectador, a newspaper in Bogota, when in February of that year eight crew members of the Caldas, a Colombian destroyer, were washed overboard and disappeared. Ten days later one of them turned up, barely alive, on a deserted beach in northern Colombia. This book, which originally appeared as a series of newspaper articles, is Garcia Marquez's account of that sailor's ordeal. Translated by Randolf Hogan.

Ever wonder what it would take to turn all of your dreams intoreality? In The Life You Imagine , All-Star New York Yankeesshortstop Derek Jeter shows how you can use the same game plan thathelped an eight-year-old boy who fantasized about playing baseballfor the Bronx Bombers grow up and become MVP of the 2000 WorldSeries. With the help and support of both of his parents, Derekdeveloped a practical program that would assist him in achievingall of his personal and professional aspirations-and now he shareshis secrets to success so that you can get closer to living yourdream, too. In this inspiring, information-packed book, Derek provides you withthe ten lessons that have guided him throughout his life on and offthe field, from his dream of being a gifted, hardworking athlete tohis goal of becoming an active community leader. Using personalstories from his own life as a student athlete in Kalamazoo,Michigan, and as a Yankee team player, Derek writes about thesimple steps that put him on course for success, i

When Anne Rice stopped crafting stories about vampires andbegan writing about Jesus, many of her fans were shocked. Thisautobiographical spiritual memoir provides an account of how theauthor rediscovered and fully embraced her Catholic faith afterdecades as a self-proclaimed atheist. Rice begins with herchildhood in New Orleans, when she seriously considered entering aconvent. As she grows into a young adult she delves into concernsabout faith, God and the Catholic Church that lead her away fromreligion. The author finally reclaims her Catholic faith in thelate 1990s, describing it as a movement toward total surrender toGod. She writes beautifully about how through clouds of doubt andpain she finds clarity, realizing how much she loved God anddesired to surrender her being, including her writing talent, toGod. Covering such a large sequence of time and life events is noteasy, and some of the author's transitions are a bit jarring. Fansof Rice's earlier works will enjoy discovering more about her lifean

Offers a remarkable perspective on how a brutal mobster couldlead a sweet home life as a suburban dad.” —New York Times “One of the most searing volumes ever written about the mob .. . An] unforgettable memoir.” —Publishers Weekly “Admirers of Mafia fiction . . . should enjoy DeMeo’s attemptto strip off the gaudy veneer of what is, what was, and [what]always will be very dirty business.” —Detroit Free Press

During the hard and bitter years of his youth in England,Harry Bernstein’s selfless mother never stops dreaming of a betterlife in America, no matter how unlikely. Then, one miraculous daywhen Harry is twelve years old, steamship tickets arrive in themail, sent by an anonymous benefactor. Suddenly, a new life full ofthe promise of prosperity seems possible–and the family sets sailfor America, meeting relatives in Chicago. For a time, they get ataste of the good life: electric lights, a bathtub, a telephone.But soon the harsh realities of the Great Depression envelop them.Skeletons in the family closet come to light, mafiosi darken theirdoorstep, family members are lost, and dreams are shattered. In theface of so much loss, Harry and his mother must make a fatefuldecision–one that will change their lives forever. And though hehas struggled for so long, there is an incredible bounty waitingfor Harry in New York: his future wife, Ruby. It is their romancethat will finally bring the peace and happiness tha

Welcome to the daring, thrilling, and downright strangeadventures of William Willis, one of the world’s original extremesportsmen. Driven by an unfettered appetite for personal challengeand a yen for the path of most resistance, Willis mounted asingle-handed and wholly unlikely rescue in the jungles of FrenchGuiana and then twice crossed the broad Pacific on rafts of his owndesign, with only housecats and a parrot for companionship. Hisfirst voyage, atop a ten-ton balsa monstrosity, was undertaken in1954 when Willis was sixty. His second raft, having crossed eleventhousand miles from Peru, found the north shore of Australiashortly after Willis’s seventieth birthday. A marvel of vigor andfitness, William Willis was a connoisseur of ordeal, all butorchestrating short rations, ship-wreck conditions, and crushingsolitude on his trans-Pacific voyages. He’d been inspired by Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl’s bid to provethat a primitive raft could negotiate the open ocean. Willis’strips confirmed tha

In this beautifully written and profoundly stirringautobiography, Geoffrey Wolff unravels the enigma of hisGatsby-esque father, an inveterate liar who falsified everythingbut love. 8 pages of black-and-white photos.

In 1944, Bertie Bowman–a poor, impressionablethirteen-year-old–heard South Carolina senator Burnet Maybankdeclare: “If you all ever get up to Washington, D.C., drop by andsee me!” Bertie took those words to heart, and when he arrived inWashington, Senator Maybank, surprisingly true to his word, saw toit that the young runaway had a place to stay and a steadyincome–earned by sweeping the Capitol steps for two dollars a week.Bowman would rise to become hearing coordinator for the SenateForeign Relations Committee in the U.S. Capitol–and this is hisremarkable story. For sixty years, Bertie Bowman stood at the epicenter of change andwitnessed history in the making, observing firsthand theclandestine backroom deals made in the name of democracy. Throughit all, he lived by these guiding principles: Work hard. Be true toyourself. Take responsibility. Have a positive outlook. Expect thebest from people. As Bowman recounts his extraordinary life, healso shares the lessons and values that have served him

McCain, with help from his administrative assistant Salter,picks up where the bestselling Faith of My Fathers left off, afterhis release from a North Vietnamese POW prison. After two decadesin Congress, he has plenty of stories to tell, beginning with hisfirst experiences on Capitol Hill as a navy liaison to the Senate,where he became friends with men like Henry "Scoop" Jackson andJohn Tower. (The latter friendship plays a crucial role in McCain'saccount of the battle over Tower's 1989 nomination for defensesecretary.) He revisits the "Keating Five" affair that nearlywrecked his career in the early '90s, pointedly observing how theinvestigating Senate committee left him dangling for politicalreasons long after he'd been cleared of wrongdoing. There's muchless on his 2000 presidential campaign than one might expect; asingle chapter lingers on a self-lacerating analysis of how he lostthe South Carolina primary. (He admits, "I doubt I shall havereason or opportunity to try again" for the White House, and