city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which sparesno one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital,but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealingfood rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to thisnightmare who guides seven strangers-among them a boy with nomother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears-through the barrenstreets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundingsare harrowing. A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation anda vivid evocation of the horrors of the twentieth century,Blindness has swept the reading public with its powerful portrayalof man's worst appetites and weaknesses-and man's ultimatelyexhilarating spirit. The stunningly powerful novel of man's will tosurvive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize forLiterature.

Together in one extraordinary boxed set- "Naked in Death,""Glory in Death," and "Immortal in Death"-the first three In Deathnovels featuring New York Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas. Naked inDeath Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant using herinstincts to hunt for a ruthless killer. Breaking every rule, Evegets involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire-and a suspect inEve's murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rulesall their own. Glory in Death Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas has noproblem finding connections between two violent crimes. Bothvictims were beautiful and highly successful women whose intimaterelations with men of great power and wealth provide Eve with along list of suspects-including her own lover, Roarke. Immortal inDeath A top model is dead, the victim of a brutal murder. PoliceLieutenant Eve Dallas puts her professional life on the line totake the case when suspicion falls on her best friend, the otherwoman in a fatal love triangle. And beneath the facade of glamour,Ev

Two classic plays translated by a Pulitzer Prize-winning poetinto English verse. In The Misanthrope, society itself is indictedand the impurity of its critics motives is exposed. In Tartuffe,the bigoted and prudish Orgon falls completely under the power ofthe wily Tartuffe. Introductions by Richard Wilbur.

The autobiographical novel of a journey from the Britishcolony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England.

The last decades of the nineteenth century were a violent periodin China's history, marked by humiliating foreign incursions anddomestic rebellions and ending in the demise of the Ch'ing Dynasty.The only constant during this tumultuous time was the power wieldedby one woman, the resilient, ever-resourceful Tsu Hsi -- or EmpressOrchid, as readers came to know her in Anchee Min's criticallyacclaimed, best-selling novel covering her rise to power. The LastEmpress is the story of Orchid's dramatic transition from astrong-willed, instinctive young woman to a wise and politicallysavvy leader who ruled China for more than four decades. In thisconcluding volume Min gives us a compelling, very human leader whoassumed power reluctantly and sacrificed all to protect those sheloved and an empire that was doomed to die.

The unforgettable trilogy by the #1 "New York Times" bestsellingauthor is now available in this beautiful boxed set. Includes "Keyof Light, Key of Knowledge," and "Key of Valor." Original.

The enthralling international bestseller. We are in the centerof Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeoisfamilies. RenA(c)e, the concierge, is witness to the lavish butvacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms toevery stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted totelevision. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, RenA(c)e is acultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japaneseculture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives ofthe buildingas tenants, who for their part are barely aware of herexistence. Then thereas Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She isthe daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented andstartlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on thesixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she willcontinue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocrepre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not anoutstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter. Paloma andRenA(c

In "Swann's Way," the themes of Proust's masterpiece areintroduced, and the narrator's childhood in Paris and Combray isrecalled, most memorably in the evocation of the famous maternalgood-night kiss. The recollection of the narrator's love forSwann's daughter Gilberte leads to an account of Swann's passionfor Odette and the rise of the nouveaux riches Verdurins. For thisauthoritative English-language edition, D. J. Enright has revisedthe late Terence Kilmartin's acclaimed reworking of C. K. ScottMoncrieff's translation to take into account the new definitiveFrench editions of "A la recherche du temps perdu" (the finalvolume of these new editions was published by the Bibliotheque dela Pleiade in 1989).

Why do people dodge responsibility when things fall apart? Whythe parade of public figures unable to own up when they screw up?Why the endless marital quarrels over who is right? Why can we seehypocrisy in others but not in ourselves? Are we all liars? Or dowe really believe the stories we tell? Backed by years of research and delivered in lively, energeticprose, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) offers a fascinatingexplanation of self-deception—how it works, the harm it can cause,and how we can overcome it.

Narrated by a fifteen-year-old girl with a ruthless regard fortruth, The Last Life is a beautifully told novel of lies andghosts, love and honor. Set in colonial Algeria, and in the southof France and New England, it is the tale of the LaBasse family,whose quiet integrity is shattered by the shots from agrandfather's rifle. As their world suddenly begins to crumble,long-hidden shame emerges: a son abandoned by the family before hewas even born, a mother whose identity is not what she has claimed,a father whose act of defiance brings Hotel Bellevue-the familybusiness-to its knees. Messud skillfully and inexorably describeshow the stories we tell ourselves, and the lies to which we cling,can turn on us in a moment. It is a work of stunning power from awriter to watch.

The Restoration Court knows Lady Dona St Columb to be ripe forany folly, any outrage that will alter the tedium of her days. Butthere is another, secret Dona who longs for a life of honest love-- and sweetness, even if it is spiced with danger. It is this Donawho flees the stews of London for remote Navron, looking for peaceof mind in its solitary woods and hidden creeks. She finds therethe passion her spirit craves -- in the love of a daring piratehunted by all Cornwall, a Frenchman who, like Dona, would gamblehis life for a moment's joy.

How is it that we can recognize photos from our high schoolyearbook decades later, but cannot remember what we ate forbreakfast yesterday? And why are we inclined to buy more cans ofsoup if the sign says "LIMIT 12 PER CUSTOMER" rather than "LIMIT 4PER CUSTOMER?" In "Kluge, "Gary Marcus argues convincingly that ourminds are not as elegantly designed as we may believe. Theimperfections result from a haphazard evolutionary process thatoften proceeds by piling new systems on top of old ones--and thosesystems don't always work well together. The end product is a"kluge," a clumsy, cobbled-together contraption. Taking us on atour of the essential areas of human experience--memory, belief,decision making, language, and happiness--Marcus unveils afundamentally new way of looking at the evolution of the human mindand simultaneously sheds light on some of the most mysteriousaspects of human nature.

A rapturous, witty, and passionate memoir ... Violin Dreams isnot only the story of a man becoming an artist, its a history oftwentieth-century music. John Guare, Tony Awardwinning playwrightArnold Steinhardt, for more than forty years an internationalsoloist and the first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet,brings warmth, wit, and fascinating insider details to the story ofhis lifelong obsession with the violin, that most seductive andstunningly beautiful instrument. His story is rich with vividscenes: the terror inflicted by his early violin teachers, thesensual pleasure involved in the pursuit of the perfect violin, thecharged atmosphere of high-level competitions. Steinhardt describesBachs Chaconne as the holy grail for the solo violin, and heilluminates, from the perspective of an ardent owner of a greatStorioni violin, the history and mysteries of the renowned Italianviolinmakers. Violin Dreams includes a remarkable CD recording ofSteinhardt performing Bachs Partita in D Minor as a young vio

A lifesaving handbook for parents of children who areoccasionally, or too often, "out of control" Includes a bound-intwenty-minute DVD featuring Dr. Kazdin and his staff illustratingkey concepts of the Kazdin Method Most child-behavior books arefilled with advice that sounds reasonable, fits with what parentsalready believe about child-rearing, and is--as Dr. Kazdin proves--guaranteed to fail. The Kazdin Method for Parenting the DefiantChild makes available to parents for the first time Dr. Kazdin'sproven program--one backed up by some of the most long-term andrespected research devoted to any therapy for children.Kazdinshatters decades' worth of accumulated myths about tantrums,time-outs, punishments fitting the crime, and much more.With thepracticality of Ferber and the warmth of Brazelton, Kazdin leadsparents through every step of the Kazdin Method in action--how touse tone of voice, when and how to touch, how to lead your child ina "practice" session, how to adjust your approach for different-agechildren

Originally subtitled "An Adventurous Education, 1935-1946",this book is a key volume in Kerouac's lifework, the series ofautobiographical novels he referred to as The Legend of Duluoz. Awonderfully unassuming look back at the origins of his career--aprehistory of the Beat era, written from the perspective of thepsychedelic '60s.

David Baldacci lives with his family in Virginia. He and hiswife have founded the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofitorganization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts acrossAmerica. He invites you to visit him at www.david-baldacci.com andhis foundation at www.wishyouwellfoundation.org, and to look intoits program to spread books across America atwww.FeedingBodyandMind.com.

Perhaps the most famous of Lawrence's novels, the 1928 LadyChatterley's Lover is no longer distinguished for theonce-shockingly explicit treatment of its subject matter--theadulterous affair between a sexually unfulfilled upper-classmarried woman and the game keeper who works for the estate owned byher wheelchaired husband. Now that we're used to reading about sex,and seeing it in the movies, it's apparent that the novel ismemorable for better reasons: namely, that Lawrence was a masterfuland lyrical writer, whose story takes us bodily into the world ofits characters. --This text refers to an alternate Paperbackedition.

Tertuliano Maximo Afonso is a divorced, depressed historyteacher. To lift his spirits, a colleague suggests he rent acertain video. Tertuliano watches the film, unimpressed. But duringthe night, when he is awakened by noises in his apartment, he goesinto the living room to find that the VCR is replaying the video.He watches in astonishment as a man who looks exactly like him-or,more specifically, exactly like he did five years before,mustachioed and fuller in the face-appears on the screen. He sleepsbadly. Against his better judgment, Tertuliano decides to pursuehis double. As he roots out the man's identity, what begins as awhimsical story becomes a "wonderfully twisted meditation onidentity and individuality" (The Boston Globe). Saramago displayshis remarkable talent in this haunting tale of appearance versusreality.

The set, boxed in a lavish silver metallic, features The Best American Travel Writing 2006, edited by Tim Cahill; The Best American Spiritual Writing 2006, introduced by Peter J. Gomes; and, like the first set, The Best American Short Stories 2006, edited by Ann Patchett.

A treasury of Lewis’s thought, gathered from all of his morethan forty books and his uncollected essays, on subjects as variedas sin, hell and heaven, the Trinity, and love and sex. Edited andwith a Preface by Clyde S. Kilby.