In this masterful portrait of life in Savannah before, during,and after the Civil War, prize-winning historian Jacqueline Jonestransports readers to the balmy, raucous streets of that fabledSouthern port city. Here is a subtle and rich social history thatweaves together stories of the everyday lives of blacks and whites,rich and poor, men and women from all walks of life confronting thetransformations that would alter their city forever. Deeplyresearched and vividly written, Saving Savannah is aninvaluable contribution to our understanding of the Civil Waryears.
In Storming Caesars Palace, historian Annelise Orleck tellsthe compelling story of how a group of welfare mothers built one ofthis country's most successful antipoverty programs. Declaring "Wecan do it and do it better," these women proved that poor mothersare the real experts on poverty. In 1972 they founded OperationLife, which was responsible for many firsts for the poor in LasVegas-the first library, medical center, daycare center, jobtraining, and senior citizen housing. By the late 1970s, OperationLife was bringing millions of dollars into the community. Thesewomen became influential in Washington, DC-respected and listenedto by political heavyweights such as Daniel Patrick Moynihan, TedKennedy, and Jimmy Carter. Though they lost their funding with thecountry's move toward conservatism in the 1980s, their strugglesand phenomenal triumphs still stand as a critical lesson about whatcan be achieved when those on welfare chart their own course.
My lucky star is a house?and an imaginary one at that. Rockwell Kent drew it, one day, sitting in my office, and it was adopted forthwith as a trade mark for our publishing firm. We called it Random House because we said we were going to publish anything under the sun that came along?if we liked it well enough. That was in 1928. We?re trying to make the star burn a little brighter each year.? Bennett Cerf -- Review
“The infantryman’s war is . . . without the slightest doubtthe dirtiest, roughest job of them all.” He went in as a military history buff, a virgin, and ateetotaler. He came out with a war bride, a taste for German beer,and intimate knowledge of one of the darkest parts of history. Hisname is Dean Joy, and this was his war. For two months in 1945, Joy endured and survived the everydaydeprivations and dangers of being a frontline infantryman. Hisamazingly detailed memoir, self-illustrated with numerous scenesJoy remembers from his time in Europe, brings back the sights,sounds, and smells of the experience as few books ever have. Hereis the story of a young man who dreamed of flying fighter aircraftand instead was chosen to be cannon fodder in France and Germany .. . who witnessed the brutality of Nazis killing Allied medics byusing the cross on their helmets as targets . . . and who narrowlyescaped being wounded or killed in several “near miss” episodes,the last of which occurred o
In this thrilling narrative history of the Civil War’s moststrategically important campaign, Winston Groom describes thebloody two-year grind that started when Ulysses S. Grant begantaking a series of Confederate strongholds in 1861, climaxing withthe siege of Vicksburg two years later. For Grant and the Union itwas a crucial success that captured the Mississippi River, dividedthe South in half, and set the stage for eventual victory. Vicksburg, 1863 brings the battles and the protagonists ofthis struggle to life: we see Grant in all his grim determination,Sherman with his feistiness and talent for war, and Confederateleaders from Jefferson Davis to Joe Johnston to John Pemberton. Itis an epic account by a masterful writer and historian.
Tang carried the war to the enemy with unparalleled ferocity.This is her story as told by her skipper.
In nineteenth-century Boston, amidst the popular lecturing ofRalph Waldo Emerson and the discussion groups led by MargaretFuller, sat a remarkable young woman, Caroline Healey Dall(1822-1912): transcendentalist, early feminist, writer, reformer,and, perhaps most importantly, active diarist. During theseventy-five years that Dall kept a diary, she captured all thefascinating details of her sometimes agonizing personal life, andshe also wrote about all the major figures who surrounded her. Herdiary, filling forty-five volumes, is perhaps the longest runningdiary ever written by any American and the most complete account ofa nineteenth-century woman's life. In Daughter of Boston, scholar Helen Deese has painstakinglycombed through these diaries and created a single fascinatingvolume of Dall's observations, judgments, de*ions, andreactions.
A raw, heartfelt story of how a man of valor lost his bearingsand eventually found the courage to share his story. Shadow of theSword leaves you hoping and cheering for the happy ending thatWorkman deserves.—Bing West, author of The Strongest Tribe "In writing this moving and incredibly honest book, Workman showsat least as much courage as he did in Fallujah. His story giveshope to anyone who struggles that they, too, can overcome if theyjust keep fighting—one day at a time, one battle at a time, onevictory at a time."—Donovan Campbell, author of Joker One
Winner of the 2007 National Jewish Book Award in the categoryof Biography, Autobiography Memoir A powerful memoir of war, politics, literature, and family lifeby one of Europe's leading intellectuals. When George Konrad was a child of eleven, he, his sister, and twocousins managed to flee to Budapest from the Hungarian countrysidethe day before deportations swept through his home town.Ultimately, they were the only Jewish children of the town tosurvive the Holocaust. A Guest in My Own Country recalls the life of one of EasternEurope's most accomplished modern writers, beginning with hissurvival during the final months of the war. Konrad captures thedangers, the hopes, the betrayals and courageous acts of the periodthrough a series of carefully chosen episodes that occasionallyborder on the surreal (as when a dead German soldier begins tospeak, attempting to justify his actions). The end of the war launches the young man on a remarkable careerin letters and politics. Offering l