The fault line -- that dangerous, unstable seam in the economy where powerful innovations and savage competition meet and create market-shattering tremors. Every company lives on it; no manager can control it. In the original edition of Living on the Fault Line, Geoffrey Moore presented a compelling argument for using shareholder value (or share price) as the key driver in management decisions. Moore now revisits his argument in the post-Internet bubble world, proving that the methods he espouses are more germane than ever and showing companies how to use them to survive and thrive in today's demanding economy. Extending the themes of Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado, his first two books on the dynamics of the high-tech markets, Moore shows why sensitivity to stock price is the single most important lever for managing in the future, both as a leading indicator of shifts in competitive advantage and as an employee motivator for making necessary changes in organizations heretofore impervious to change. This revised and updated edition includes: A deeper emphasis on core versus context, which has emerged as the key distinction in allocating resources to improve shareholder value A new Competitive Advantage Grid that will aid managers in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage, the most important component in managing for shareholder value An expanded Value Discipline Model as it relates to the Competitive Advantage Grid Analysis of the powerful new trend toward core/context analysis and outsourcing production duties Updated models of organizational change for each stage of market development As disruptive forces continue to buffet the marketplace and rattle the staid practices of the past, Moore offers a brilliant set of navigational tools to help meet today's most compelling management challenges.

Avery Johnson is a coach, a teacher, and sometimes even a preacher, but most of all, he is a motivator, driving his team with the same fiery passion that allowed him to earn his championship credentials as an NBA player. Growing up in New Orleans's Lafitte Housing Project, he was never the biggest, fastest, or strongest, but by the strength of his will and character, he persevered. Now he offers the lessons he learned on his journey from the bottom of the bayou to the heights of success in this inspiring book. Aspire Higher is the essential game plan for reaching your goals. Johnson begins by outlining what it takes to get to the top: determination and discipline provide the foundation that allows you to make the right decisions, on the basketball court or in the boardroom. The goal isn't just to be successful, however; it's also about caring for other people along the way. I care about you more than I care about winning, Johnson often tells his players.Avery Johnson's personal and professional experiences illuminate crucial lessons, inspiring readers just as he has inspired teammates and players. His spirited message is for anyone looking for the tools and secrets of success in business, school, sports, and more anyone looking to aspire higher.

Everyone knows the New Testament begins with the Gospel of Matthew, but how many know Matthew was actually one of the later books to be written(It wasn't even the first Gospel!) But Evolution of the Word is not your typical New Testament.Marcus J. Borg, esteemed Bible scholar and bestselling author, shakes up the order of the New Testament as we know it by putting the books in a completely new order the order in which they were written. By doing so, Evolution of the Word allows us to read these documents in their historical context. For the first time, see how the core ideas of Christianity took shape and developed over time.Borg surveys what we know of the Jewish community of Jesus followers who passed on their stories orally. Into this context emerges the apostle Paul, whose seven authentic letters become the first collected writings that would later become the New Testament. Borg offers helpful introductions for each book so that as we read through these biblical documents, spanning over a century in time, we see afresh what concerns and pressures shaped this movement as it evolved into a new religion.In this groundbreaking format, Borg reveals how a radical and primitive apocalyptic Jewish faith slowly became more comfortable with the world, less Jewish, and more pre- occupied with maintaining power and control. Evolution of the Word promises to change forever how we think about this historic work.

Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe and Secure No Matter WhatUndaunted by the prospect of TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know It), Lisa Bedford tackles every what-if and worst-case scenario head-on, offering practical advice on how to prepare your family for whatever might come your way. From a few days without electricity to an unexpected job loss or total chaos after the destruction of a tornado, Survival Mom provides everything you need to become self-reliant and establish plans for your family, including: preparing the home for a natural disaster alternative sources of energy in a power's-out situation everything you need to know about food storage personal protection (do I really need to learn how to shoot a gun?) Deep inside every mom is a Survival Mom whose passion for her family drives her to make the best of the present and prepare for the future. So tap into your Mama Grizzly instincts and channel your worries into action. Whether you're a full-fledged "prepper" or just getting started, with real-life stories and customizable forms and checklists along with Lisa's "you can do it" attitude, Survival Mom replaces paranoia and panic with the peace of knowing YOU have the power to keep your loved ones safe and secure.

Serial entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow delves into the reasons why some people and some organizations are able to achieve incredible things in implausibly short time frames, showing how each of us can use these "smartcuts" to rethink convention and accelerate success.Why do some companies attract millions of customers in mere months while others flopHow did Alexander the Great, YouTube phenom Michelle Phan, and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon dash to the top in less time than it takes most of us to get a midlevel promotionHow do high-growth businesses, world-class heart surgeons, and underdog marketers beat the norm?Like computer hackers, a handful of innovators in every era use lateral thinking to find better routes to stunning accomplishments. Throughout history, the world's biggest successes have been achieved by those who refuse to follow the expected course and buck the norm.Smartcuts is about bucking the norm. In it, Snow shatters common wisdom about success, revealing how conventions like "paying dues" prevent progress, why kids shouldn't learn multiplication tables, and how, paradoxically, it's easier to build a huge business than a small one.Smartcuts tells the stories of innovators who dared to work differently and lays out practical takeaways for the rest of us. It's about applying entrepreneurial and technological concepts to success, and how, by emulation, we too can leapfrog competitors, grow businesses, and fix society's problems faster than we think.

Kim Kardashian is a phenomenon.Despite her privileged upbringing in Beverly Hills, ten years ago Kim was just a modest stylist to stars like Paris Hilton and Brandy, making extra money selling her clothes on eBay. But a combination of hard work, an astute business brain, a hit TV series and a body to die for turned her life around.In this revealing unauthorized biography of Kim, bestselling author Sean Smith discovers a sweet, kind, and smart young woman whose life story reads like an X-rated version of Dynasty . . . an infamous murder case, elopement, a notorious sex tape, a seventy-two-day marriage, gender transition and impossibly glamorous designer dresses.Finding love with one of the biggest stars on the planet, Kanye West, she has begun her own dynasty with her daughter, North, and the approaching birth of her son. Now, as Kim Kardashian West, she is the most photographed and talked-about celebrity of the past decade. Her following on Instagram alone exceeds 42 million, over 4 million more than the population of her home state of California.Kim Kardashian follows her extraordinary journey from her childhood and amazing family to her turbulent love life and multi-million-dollar lifestyle. It is the ultimate insight into an icon of our times.

Haven't women gotten everything they wantEconomic powerSocial influenceBusiness cloutYes, but it turns out that these fantastic gains have come at a heavy price, as consumer goods experts Michael J. Silverstein and Kate Sayre discovered in an unprecedented study of 12,000 women in forty countries.That relentless upward climb has left women feeling stressed out, time starved, and overburdened. As a result, they look to products and services that will help them claw back time, juggle multiple roles, and capture a few moments of enjoyment.Women want more much more, in every category of goods and services. And no matter what their age or economic situation or where they live in the world, women will spend trillions of dollars over the next decade on the brands that truly deliver: Home-cleaning products that enable women to do in an hour what used to take a day Financial-services products that recognize that women control half the United States' wealth Food products that help keep the whole family happy and healthy Health care services designed for working-women's hectic schedules In the coming years, women's influence will be so enormous that it will not only help bring us out of the economic downturn but also create one of the most dramatic market opportunities of our lifetime bigger than the rise of China and India; more sustainable than any bailout package.Through quantitative data, profiles of individual women, and stories of winning companies, Women Want More provides business leaders with the understanding and practices they need to capture their share of the rising "female economy."

From New York Times bestselling financial guru Julie Stav comes The Money in You!, a spot-on primer that pinpoints your financial personality, thus helping you to overcome the self-imposed hurdles that keep you from living the rich life of your dreams. Socrates' guiding rule was "Know thyself." These words are of eternal significance, and, arguably, no better advice has ever been given to man or woman. Yet, what would Socrates have said if he had to dispense practical financial advice in today's hyper-spending, debt-saturated climateWith the myriad pressures involved in building wealth, instilling practical spending habits in ourselves and our kids, and ultimately establishing a life in which money is abundant and our fiscal future secure, undoubtedly he would tell us, "Know thy financial self." In The Money In You!, Julie Stav introduces us to five different financial personality types. According to Julie, it is our financial nature—the way we handle money matters—that forecasts our financial future. Julie shows readers that no amount of data or market expertise trumps the fundamental truth we all forget—that building wealth, attaining security, and establishing personal success can only be achieved when we recognize our strengths and weaknesses. If we are in touch with our motivations, our desires, and our innate tendencies, we can shed the guilt of making the same mistakes over and over; we can halt the vicious cycle of overspending, debt, and ruined relationships. It is then that we are able to restructure our lives to fit our individual goals, whether it's learning to play the stock market or just saving for shoes. Finally, Julie shows us how to establish healthy relationships with the people who are affected by our financial decisions, and who affect us with theirs. Endlessly entertaining, this book will initiate feisty discussions over just who we are and how we interact with others. Julie Stav will both delight and inform.

Baseball is the only game where the defense has the ball.So begins an inside look at baseball's most scrutinized group of players relief pitchers and life in the most intriguing bullpen of all, that of the New York Yankees.Second-guessed and overstressed, the manager finds his use of the bullpen the most debated topic after any game, but the reliever is the guy in the spotlight, game on the line, alone on a raised mound of clay.Bestselling sportswriter Charley Rosen takes the reader on the wild journey that is the evolution of relief pitching over the years and examines the eccentric characters who have taken on the pressure of closing out games or not. Bullpen Diaries is full of interviews with key players, coaches, and scouts from around the league; replete with the drama of blown plays and walk-off grand slams; and laced with funny anecdotes about Yankee greats throughout the years.To underscore the drama and difficulty of being a reliever, Rosen uses key games in the 2010 season acknowledged now as the Year of the Pitcher to highlight strategies and mistakes, examine relievers on the rise or on the way out, and analyze the teams and the pitchers the Yanks faced. Bullpen Diaries also takes a look at Yankee strategies for success past, present, and, most important, future. Lastly, Rosen reveals his predictions for 2011 and beyond for baseball's most storied franchise.With insight on current players from around the league and tales of Yankee legends, Stadium history, and the author's Bronx childhood, Bullpen Diaries is a love letter to baseball and a pure joy for all fans of America's favorite pastime.

The critically acclaimed author of Good-bye and Amen, Leeway Cottage, and More Than You Know returns with a sharply perceptive and emotionally resonant novel about all the ways we talk about one another, the sometimes fine line between showing concern and doing damage, and the difficulty of knowing the true obligations of friendshipGossipBeth Gutcheon "Did you know that the origin of the word gossip in English is 'god-sibling'It's the talk between people who are godparents to the same child, people who have a legitimate loving interest in the person they talk about. It's talk that weaves a net of support and connection beneath the people you want to protect."Loviah "Lovie" French owns a small, high-end dress shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Renowned for her taste and discretion, Lovie is the one to whom certain women turn when they need "just the thing" for major life events baptisms and balls, weddings and funerals or when they just want to dish in the dressing room. Among the people who depend on Lovie's confidence are her two best friends since boarding school: Dinah Wainwright and Avis Metcalf. Outspoken and brimming with confidence, Dinah made a name for herself as a columnist covering the doings of New York's wealthiest and most fabulous. Shy, proper Avis, in many ways Dinah's opposite, rose to prominence in the art world with her quiet manners, hard work, and precise judgment. Despite the deep affection they both feel for Lovie, they have been more or less allergic to each other since a minor incident decades earlier that has been remembered and resented with what will prove to be unimaginable consequences. These uneasy acquaintances become unwillingly bound to each other when Dinah's favorite son and Avis's only daughter fall in love and marry. On the surface, Nick and Grace are the perfect match a playful, romantic, buoyant, and beautiful pair. But their commitment will be strained by time and change: career setbacks, reckless choices, the birth of a child, jealousies, and rumor. At the center of their orbit is Lovie, who knows everyone's secrets and manages them as wisely as she can. Which is not wisely enough, as things turn out a fact that will have a shattering effect on all their lives.An astute chronicler of everything that makes us human, Beth Gutcheon delivers her most powerful and emotionally devastating novel to date. Gossip is a tale of intimacy and betrayal, trust and fidelity, friendship, competition, and motherhood that explores the myriad ways we use and abuse "information" about others be it true, false, or imagined to sustain, and occasionally destroy, one another.

The all-American chronicle of radio legend Carol Miller, from her rise to success in a male dominated world, to the rockstars she's know along the way, to, for the first time, the private story of her quietly waged battle with a deadly disease.As one of the nation's top radio DJs, Carol Miller introduced the music of Bruce Springsteen to the New York airwaves, was on a first-name basis with Sir Paul McCartney, dated Steven Tyler, and has been recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her on-air approach and singular voice have infl uenced the sound of rock radio for more than four decades, and her satellite and syndicated Get the Led Out programs are heard nationwide. In Up All Night, Carol spins the entertaining, moving, and revealing story of her life and times in rock radio and beyond. A nice Jewish girl from Queens, Carol was supposed to be a doctor or, at the very least, a lawyer. But hearing a doo-wop trio in the alley under her window changed the direction of her life forever: she fell in love with popular music. As the tumult and excitement of the sixties rocked colleges across America, Carol a biology major at the University of Pennsylvania became an underground rock DJ at the campus radio station. Radio jobs in Philadelphia and New York City quickly followed, and Carol rose to the top of the profession. But even as she enjoyed a professional and personal life imbued with rock and roll glamour, Carol harbored guilt, disappointment, and alienation, believing she'd failed her traditional, intellectual Jewish parents and often feeling like an outsider in the very culture she had helped to create. The specter of an unnamed illness that had claimed many of her relatives' lives hung over hers as well, and she too would face a monumental challenge when diagnosed with breast and uterine cancer. Told in the distinctive voice that has charmed millions of listeners for decades, Up All Night is a frank, funny, and inspiring memoir. Offering snapshots of the rarefied world of pop music and the shifting social history of our times, it is as much a cultural chronicle as it is one woman's candid and moving story.

"When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me . . . [my mother] sent me back out and demanded that I bloody their nose so I could walk down the street the next day." Joe Biden In this, the first definitive biography of Vice President Joe Biden, renowned journalist Jules Witcover examines the fascinating life of a man who, with his tenacity, outspokenness, and charming smile, has shaped Washington politics for the past forty years and who now serves as the forty-seventh vice president of the United States.Raised in the working-class towns of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, and with lackluster grades in school and no particular goals other than to play sports or, fleetingly, to become a priest, Biden shocked the nation in 1972 when he became one of the youngest elected senators in U.S. history. From that point forward, he carved a legacy for himself as one of the most respected legislators in the country. Biden's record in Congress was impressive. He chaired three Senate committees, confronted Slobodan Miloevic head-on as a war criminal, and conducted the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court justices. After voting for the 2002 Senate resolution to use force in Iraq, he later called for its repeal and became an outspoken critic of the conduct of the war.Yet for all of Biden's achievements in the Senate, his life has been filled with tragedy and countless challenges. Within two months of being elected in 1972, Biden lost his wife, Neilia, and his young daughter in a tragic accident a loss that brought him to the nadir of despair and shook his resolve to stay in politics. And even after Biden vowed to continue his career, his tenure was marked by two brain aneurysms and career-threatening verbal gaffes. Then, after being considered among the front-runners in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries, Biden was accused of plagiarism for a speech he made at the Iowa State Fair. He dropped out of the race to the sounds of Washington pundits chattering that the presidency would never be his. Through it all, Biden survived and ran and eventually dropped out again in the 2008 primaries. But even with this defeat, Barack Obama recognized Biden's vast experience in domestic and foreign affairs, and selected him to be his running mate.Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption is based on exhaustive research by one of Washington's most prolific journalists. In drawing on numerous exclusive interviews with Biden's confidants and family members, as well as President Obama and Vice President Biden, Witcover has gone beyond conventional biography to track the forces that have shaped a man who, with his plainspoken style and inspiring life story, has resonated with millions of Americans and whose work is now influencing the Obama-Biden administration and shaping America.

End Pain.Foster Personal and Professional Growth.Live Better. While endings are a natural part of business and life, we often experience them with a sense of hesitation, sadness, resignation, or regret. But consultant, psychologist, and bestselling author Dr. Henry Cloud sees endings differently. He argues that our personal and professional lives can only improve to the degree that we can see endings as a necessary and strategic step to something better. If we cannot see endings in a positive light and execute them well, he asserts, the "better" will never come either in business growth or our personal lives.In this insightful and deeply empathetic book, Dr. Cloud demonstrates that, when executed well, "necessary endings" allow us to proactively correct the bad and the broken in our lives in order to make room for the professional and personal growth we seek. However, when endings are avoided or handled poorly as is too often the case good opportunities may be lost, and misery repeated. Drawing on years of experience as an executive coach and a psychologist, Dr. Cloud offers a mixture of advice and case studies to help readers know when to have realistic hope and when to execute a necessary ending in a business, or with an individual; identify which employees, projects, activities, and relationships are worth nurturing and which are not; overcome people's resistance to change and create change that works; create urgency and an action plan for what's important; stop wasting resources needed for the things that really matter. Knowing when and how to let go when something, or someone, isn't working a personal relationship, a job, or a business venture is essential for happiness and success. Necessary Endings gives readers the tools they need to say good-bye and move on.

What can chess masters teach us about how humans become expertsWhy can't race car drivers explain decisions they've made behind the wheel?What does predicting the winner of a soccer match say about our ability to make the right choiceWhen we talk about experts, we typically have bought into the idea that they have all the answers. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Gordon Rugg exposes the surprising ways in which all people tend to make the same sorts of mistakes, regardless of what field they are in, how smart they are, or even their level of expertise. Focusing on why and how we make decisions, Rugg offers insight into what motivates us, how we fail to find the answers we are looking for, how we can learn to ask the essential questions, and more. Rugg has devoted his life to learning how experts solve problems. He gained international attention after arguing persuasively that the famous Voynich Manu* is a hoax. Now, he demonstrates his techniques in the Verifier Method, which can be applied to any seemingly unsolvable problem.Drawing on his personal odyssey in the field of human expertise, Rugg makes astute and entertaining conclusions about how and why we inevitably fail, and explains how to make better mistakes, work backward, and reengineer the ways we pursue success.

A comprehensive look at 300 of the most financially and/or critically successful motion pictures of all time many made despite seemingly insurmountable economic, cultural, and political challenges set against the prevailing production, distribution, exhibition, marketing, and technology trends of each decade in movie business history.

Love wounds the heart and soul . . . From the editors of the New York Times bestseller Not Quite What I Was Planning comes another collection of terse true tales this time simple sagas exploring the complexities of the human heart. Six-Word Memoirs on Love Heartbreak contains hundreds of personal stories about the pinnacles and pitfalls of romance. Brilliant in their brevity, these insightful slivers of passion, pain, and connection capture every shade of love and loss six words at a time.

A book as effervescent and alive as the city itself.My First New York features candid accounts of coming to New York by more than fifty of the most remarkable people who have called the city home. Here are true stories of long nights out and wild nights in, of first dates and lost loves, of memorable meals and miserable jobs, of slow walks up Broadway and fast subway rides downtown.The contributors a mix of actors, artists, comedians, entrepreneurs, musicians, politicians, sports stars, writers, and others reflect an enormous variety of experiences: few have arrived with less than filmmaker Jonas Mekas, a concentration-camp survivor on a UN refugee ship; few have swanned in with more than designer Diane von Furstenberg, a princess. And an extraordinary number managed to land in New York just as something historic was happening the artist Cindy Sherman arrived in the middle of the Summer of Sam; restaurateur Danny Meyer came on the day John Lennon was shot.Arranged chronologically, these moving and memorable stories combine to form an impressionistic history of New York since the Great Depression. They also provide an accidental encyclopedia of New York hotspots through the ages: from the Cedar Tavern and the Gaslight to Lutce and Elaine's, from Max's Kansas City and the Mudd Club to the Odeon and Bungalow 8, they're all here, dots on the unbroken line of the Next Next things.Taken together, My First New York is a collection of fifty-six testaments to a larger revelation, one that new arrivals of all stripes and all eras have experienced again and again in New York, regardless of how the city proceeds to treat them: what the songwriter Rufus Wain-wright calls "having cracked the code of living life to the fullest."

An irreverent, pavement-pounding, eye-opening exploration of a neglected part of the American economy: tipping Tipping is huge in America. Almost everyoneleaves at least one tip every day. More thanfive million American workers depend onthem, and we spend $66 billion on tips each year.And everyone recognizes that queasy feeling inbars and restaurants, barbershops and beautyparlors, hotels and strip clubs, and everywhereelse when the check arrives or the tip jar looms.Omnipresent yet poorly understood, tipping hasworked its way into almost every part of daily life.In Keep the Change, bestselling author SteveDublanica dives into this unexplored world, in acomical yet serious attempt to turn himself intothe Guru of the Gratuity. As intrepid and irreverentas Michael Moore or A. J. Jacobs, Dublanicatravels the country to meet shoeshine men, strippers,bartenders, bellhops, bathroom attendants,and many others, all in an effort to overcome hisown sweaty palms when faced with those perennialquestions: Should I tipHow muchThroughouthe explores why tipping has spread; he explainshow differences in gender, age, ethnicity, and nationalityaffect our attitudes; and he reveals just whatthe cabdriver or deliveryman thinks of us after we've left a tip.Written in the lively style that made WaiterRant such a hit, Keep the Change is a fun and enlighteningquest that will change the way wethink and tip.

LifeWhat is LifeWhere did it come fromWhy does it end?In this beautiful companion book to the Science series Wonders of Life, professor Brian Cox takes us on an incredible journey to discover how a few fundamental laws gave birth to the most complex, diverse, and unique force in the universe life itself.Earth is home to an estimated one hundred million species yet each one is governed by the same laws. Light, gravity, time, matter, and energy are the building blocks of everything, from the smallest microbe to the biggest galaxy. What is true for a bacterium is true for a blue whale. This is the story of the amazing diversity and adaptability of life, told through the fundamental laws that govern it. Through his voyage of discovery, Brian explains how the astonishing inventiveness of nature came about and explores the milestones in the epic journey from the origin of life to modern civilization.From the vast networks of subterranean fresh-water caverns of the Yucatan peninsula to the unique and precious island of Madagascar, Brian brings readers on a thrilling adventure to the earth's most remote locations, where the wonders of life are on spectacular display. Along the way, the biggest scientific questions are answered: What is lifeWhere did it come fromWhy does it end?Relying on the latest advances in science as well as the cutting-edge graphics used in the visually stunning bestsellers Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, Brian uncovers the secrets of life in revolutionary detail.

The Simple Science of a Happy FamilyFrom raising children to getting along with in-laws, what do people with close and loving families do differently than those with strained or unfulfilling relationshipsSociologists, therapists, and psychiatrists have spent entire careers investigating the ins and outs of family dynamics, yet their findings are inaccessible to ordinary people, hidden in obscure journals to be shared with other experts. Now, David Niven, the international bestselling author of The 100 Simple Secret series has collected the most current and significant data from more than a thousand of the best scientific studies on families and then spelled out the findings in plain English.The advice is based not on one person's unique experiences or opinions, but offers for the first time the research of noted scientists studying average American families. These findings have been boiled down to one hundred essential ways to find and maintain love, joy, and satisfaction in all family relationships. Each statistic is accompanied by a true story about a real family showing the results in action.Don't Forget the Past: Parents who share stories of family history with their children create higher levels of concern for family members and increase the likelihood of their children's happiness.No Price Tag: Once basic necessities are met, the increasing economic status of one's family has zero effect on the likelihood of feeling satisfied with life.Let Every Opinion Be Heard: Senior citizens having trouble living in their own homes are 84 percent more likely to be satisfied with their housing situation if they feel as if their concerns are an important part of selecting a new home or facility.The Greatest Gift: Life satisfaction is 72 percent more likely among those who feel content with their family life.

"Perfection is not the basis of what I'm talking about," says a member of the Cassandra family, which forms the center of Denis Johnson's plays, Hellhound on My Trail and Shoppers Carried by Escalators Into the Flames.The character could be speaking for his creator, because human imperfection is one of Denis Johnson's specialties -- in his critically acclaimed novels, short stories, and nonfiction, and, now, in two brilliant new plays. These two works present a dramatized field guide to some of the more dysfunctional and dysphoric inhabitants of the American West: a sexual-misconduct investigator who misconducts herself sexually; a renegade Jehovah's Witness who supports his splinter Jehovean group by dealing drugs; the Cassandra Brothers and their father and their grandmother, thrown together at a family reunion/wedding/melee at their shabby homestead in Ukiah, California.When Shoppers Carried by Escalators Into the Flames was performed in San Francisco in 2001, the Chronicle said, There's an enormous appeal in Johnson's bleak-comic vision of a semi-mythic American West. That appeal derives from the author's perfect vision of imperfection, embodied with such energy and courage in these marvelous pieces of theatre.