An entertaining and erudite history that offers a fresh look at America's first founding father, the creation of his legend, and what it means for our nation and ourselves George Washington's death on December 14, 1799, dealt a dreadful blow to public morale. For three decades, Americans had depended on his leadership to guide them through every trial. At the cusp of a new century, the fledgling nation, caught in another war (this time with its former ally France), desperately needed to believe that Washington was and would continue to be there for them.Thus began the extraordinary immortalization of this towering historical figure. In Inventing George Washington, historian Edward G. Lengel shows how the late president and war hero continued to serve his nation on two distinct levels. The public Washington evolved into an eternal symbol as Father of His Country, while the private man remained at the periphery of the national vision always just out of reach for successive generations yearning to know him as never before. Both images, public and private, were vital to perceptions Americans had of their nation and themselves. Yet over time, as Lengel shows, the contrasting and simultaneous urges to deify Washington and to understand him as a man have produced tensions that have played out in every generation. As some exalted him, others sought to bring him down to earth, creating a series of competing mythologies that depicted Washington as every sort of human being imaginable. Inventing George Washington explores these representations, shedding new light on this national emblem, our nation itself, and who we are.

A bold new theory about the Sun Earth relationship, its role in history, and its potentially disastrous future.We are in the midst of one of the most massive, powerful, and relentless solar storms in history, reports science journalist and solar expert Lawrence Joseph, and a single, random blast from the Sun could well destroy our way of life at any time. Tracing the Sun's behavior and its influence on Earth from the most recent Ice Age to the present and connecting groundbreaking research in solar physics to biology, politics, and culture, Joseph alerts us to the tremendous vulnerability of our infrastructure and delivers the tools and strategies we need to outsmart the Sun and protect Earth's satellites and other vital systems from the coming solar apocalypse. Solar Cataclysm implores us to rethink our understanding of human history and redefine our relationship with the 4.57-billion-year-old thermonuclear behemoth in order to defend our future.The connection between human history and solar activity has gone largely untold until now. Carefully examining the 4.57-billion-year story of our relationship with the Sun, science reporter and bestselling author Lawrence Joseph demonstrates how nearly every aspect of earthly existence and human behavior has always been and continues to be susceptible to changes in the Sun the basis for his "Moody Sun Hypothesis." As we come to realize that the Sun is far more turbulent and explosive than imagined, we must also come to terms with the fact that our future is more vulnerable to the Sun than ever suspected.From the Sun's role in global climate change to its constant threat of catastrophic solar blasts, and from stories of solar activity causing rifts in religion in the Middle Ages to the way sunspots are messing with our moods and minds today, Solar Cataclysm examines the myriad ways the ever-changing Sun disrupts our personal lives, determines the course of history, and shapes our destiny.But this isn't a tale of doom. Our fates, collectively and individually, aren't tethered to the Sun's ups and downs. With captivating storytelling and witty prose, Joseph shows us how to draw on the tools and expertise including the very latest solar science research and technology advances, as well as human ingenuity and survival instincts to respond effectively to the Sun's threats and to shield ourselves and our atmosphere, satellite system, power grids, and nuclear power infrastructure from the Sun's impending assault.How did the Sun King, Louis XIV, ban sunspots for virtually all of his seventy-two-year reignWhat makes Stanford and Purdue University scientists so sure that the Sun is sending out secret, vitally important messages todaySmart and engaging, Solar Cataclysm guides us to a new, dynamic, life-affirming level of interconnectedness among self, planet, and sustaining star.

We all have moments we wish we could relive. We'd give anything to skid down the toboggan hills of our youth, to breathe in the smell of our children as babies, or to spend just one more minute with someone we've lost. Dear Photograph provides a way to link these memories from the past to the present, overlapping them to see how the daydreams of our memories collide with our current realities.The idea is simple: hold up a photograph from the past in front of the place where it was originally taken, take a second photograph, and add a sentence of dedication about what the photograph means to you. The results, however, are astounding, which is why millions have flocked to dearphotograph.com and thousands have submitted their own Dear Photographs.This stunning visual compilation includes more than 140 never-before-seen Dear Photographs, as well as a space for you to attach your own cherished photo. By turns nostalgic, charming, and poignant, Dear Photograph evokes childhood memories, laments difficult losses, and, above all, celebrates the universal nature of love.

If women ruled the world, politics would be more collegial, businesses would be more productive, and communities would be healthier. More women should lead not because they are the same as men, but precisely because they are different. Reflecting on her own tenure as White House press secretary and her work as a political analyst, media commentator, and former consultant to NBC's The West Wing, Dee Dee Myers blends memoir and social history with a call to action, as she assesses the crucial but long-ignored strengths that female leaders bring to the table. With intelligence, courage, candor, and wit, she looks at the obstacles women must overcome and the traps they must avoid on the path to success, and she challenges us to imagine a not-too-distant future with more women standing tall in the top ranks of politics, business, science, and academia.

In The Chasm Companion, The Chasm Group's Paul Wiefels presents readers with a new analysis of the ideas introduced in bestselling author Geoffrey Moore's classic books, Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado, and focuses on how to translate these ideas into actionable strategy and implementation programs. This step-by-step fieldbook is organized around three major concepts: how high-tech markets develop, creating market development strategy, and executing go-to-market programs based on the strategy.

A brilliantly original and gripping new look at the sinking of the Titanic through the prism of the life and lost honor of J. Bruce Ismay, the ship's owner Books have been written and films have been made, we have raised the Titanic and watched her go down again on numerous occasions, but out of the wreckage Frances Wilson spins a new epic: when the ship hit the iceberg on April 14, 1912, and one thousand men, lighting their last cigarettes, prepared to die, J. Bruce Ismay, the ship's owner and inheritor of the White Star fortune, jumped into a lifeboat filled with women and children and rowed away to safety. Accused of cowardice and of dictating the Titanic's excessive speed, Ismay became, according to one headline, The Most Talked-of Man in the World.The first victim of a press hate campaign, he never recovered from the damage to his reputation, and while the other survivors pieced together their accounts of the night, Ismay never spoke of his beloved ship again. In the Titanic's mail room was a manu* by that great narrator of the sea, Joseph Conrad, the story of a man who impulsively betrays a code of honor and lives on under the strain of intolerable guilt. But it was Conrad's great novel Lord Jim, in which a sailor abandons a sinking ship, leaving behind hundreds of passengers in his charge, that uncannily predicted Ismay's fate. Conrad, the only major novelist to write about the Titanic, knew more than anyone what ships do to men, and it is with the help of his wisdom that Wilson unravels the reasons behind Ismay's jump and the afterlives of his actions.Using never-before-seen letters written by Ismay to the beautiful Marion Thayer, a first-class passenger with whom he had fallen in love during the voyage, Frances Wilson explores Ismay's desperate need to tell his story, to make sense of the horror of it all, and to find a way of living with the consciousness of lost honor. For those who survived the Titanic, the world was never the same. But as Wilson superbly demonstrates, we all have our own Titanics, and we all need to find ways of surviving them.

When Bill O'Reilly interviewed then-Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential elections, the two had a lively debate about the nation's future. Since that time, America has changed rapidly some would even say seismically. And many believe these shifts are doing more than just rocking the political and social climate; they're rocking the American core.What are these changesWho, in addition to President Obama, have been the biggest forces behind themWhat exactly do they mean for you, the everyday American citizenHow are they affecting your money, health, safety, freedom, and standing in this nationWhich are Pinheaded moves and which are truly PatrioticIn his latest spirited book, O'Reilly prompts further debate with the President and the American people on the current state of the union. After five consecutive, no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is megabestsellers, you can count on Bill to offer blunt and constructive political commentary. And as he did in his popular memoir, he offers some introspection too, looking back at his own actions and those of past Pinheads and Patriots who have inspired a code of conduct for such taxing times.As always, O'Reilly is fair, balanced, and uncompromisingly tough when guarding the American way. Only Pinheads would fail to fight for what they love most about this country or to embrace some measure of change to make it better. The rest of us Patriots will read this book to discover the difference between the two.

From New York Times bestselling author and groundbreaking politician Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison comes a history of the extraordinary women who shaped the state of Texas.The only woman ever to represent Texas in the United States Senate, Kay Bailey Hutchison has been a trailblazer in the Lone Star State. Nevertheless, Hutchison is just one of many women who, for two hundred years, have embodied what we've come to recognize as the spirit of Texas rugged independence, fierce loyalty, and an unflappable entrepreneurial streak. In Unflinching Courage, Senator Hutchison tells the dynamic history of her home state through the lives of some of these pioneering women and their remarkable achievements.Among the brave souls Senator Hutchison profiles are Jane Wilkinson Long, the Mother of Texas, and others who claimed a stake in the land when it struggled under Spanish and Mexican rule; Dilue Rose Harris, whose memoir of the Runaway Scrape exhibits the strength so many women were forced to call upon as the Texas Revolution drew able-bodied husbands, sons, and brothers to the battlefield; Margaret Houston and Emily Austin Bryan Perry, who stood behind the great leaders of a burgeoning republic and helped usher in a new era of statehood; Henrietta King, Molly Goodnight, Sarah Cockrell, and Oveta Culp Hobby, ranchers and entrepreneurs who have helped Texas thrive; and numerous others who valiantly held their ground in the face of raids and unimaginable violence. In Unflinching Courage, Senator Hutchison pays tribute to these extraordinary Texan women whose lives inspire us today and will continue to do so for generations to come.

Honest and heartbreaking, a mother's story of tears, joy, and her greatest love of all—her daughter, Whitney On the eve of the 2012 Grammy Awards, the world learned of a stunning tragedy: Whitney Houston, unquestionably one of the most remarkable and powerful voices in all of music, had been silenced forever. Over the weeks and months that followed, family, friends, and fans alike tried to understand how such a magnificent talent and beautiful soul could have been taken so early and so unexpectedly. Glamorous and approachable, captivating and sweet, Whitney had long ago won the hearts of America, but in recent years her tumultuous personal life had grabbed as many headlines as her soaring vocal talents. Her sudden death left behind not only a legacy of brilliance, but also painful questions with no easy answers. Now, for the first time, the beloved superstar's mother, Cissy Houston—a gospel legend in her own right—relates the full, astonishing scope of the pop icon's life and career. From Whitney's earliest days singing in the church choir to her rapid ascent to the pinnacles of music stardom, from her string of number one hits to her topping the Hollywood box office, Cissy recounts her daughter's journey to becoming one of the most popular and successful artists of all time. Setting the record straight, Cissy also speaks candidly about Whitney's struggles in the limelight, revealing the truth about her turbulent marriage to singer Bobby Brown, her public attempts to regain her celebrated voice, and the battle with drugs that ultimately proved too much. In this poignant and tender tribute to her "Nippy," Cissy summons all her strength to reveal not only Whitney the superstar, but also Whitney as a sweet girl, a bright-eyed young woman, and a deeply caring mother. Complete with never-before-seen family photographs, Remembering Whitney is an intimate, heartfelt portrait of one of our most revered artists, from the woman who cherished her most.

Was Sandy a freak of nature, or the new normalOn October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy reached the shores of the northeastern United States to become one of the most destructive storms in history. But was Sandy a freak event, or should we have been better prepared for itWas it a harbinger of things to come as the climate warmsIn this fascinating and accessible work of popular science, atmospheric scientist and Columbia University professor Adam Sobel addresses these questions, combining his deep knowledge of the climate with his firsthand experience of the event itself. Sobel explains the remarkable atmospheric conditions that gave birth to Sandy and determined its path. He gives us insight into the science that led to the accurate forecasts of the storm from genesis to landfall, as well as an understanding of why our meteorological vocabulary failed our leaders in warning us about this unprecedented weather system--part hurricane, part winter-type nor'easter, fully deserving of the title "Superstorm." Storm Surge brings together the melting glaciers, the warming oceans, and a broad historical perspective to explain how our changing climate and developing coastlines are making New York and other cities more vulnerable. Engaging, informative, and timely, Sobel's book provokes us to think differently about how we can better prepare for the storms in our future.

Why do some workplace cultures inspire energy and innovation, while others fuel anxiety, boredom, or cynicismUntil now, such legendary cultures have seemed like magic beyond our control. However, behind every culture is a surprisingly elegant science. Primed to Perform proves that the highest-performing cultures are built on a simple truth: why people work affects how well they work. Great organizations inspire the three most powerful motives for work play, purpose, and potential and eliminate the three most destructive emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia. They create total motivation (or ToMo, for short). Total motivation cultures create the highest-performing employees and the most adaptive organizations.Authors Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor show that extraordinary performance at companies like Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Apple, and Whole Foods comes from cultures that inspire total motivation. They describe how investment professionals, salespeople, teachers, and CEOs perform better when driven by total motivation. And, most important, they share how you can build a culture that inspires total motivation in every moment of every day.Primed to Perform builds on over a century of academic thinking as well as the authors' original research into how ToMo drives performance at iconic companies. It introduces the authors' highly predictive new measurement tool, the total motivation factor, which allows leaders to measure the strength of their culture and understand how it changes over time. It gives leaders the tools to transform their own workplaces.High-performing cultures can't be left to chance; organizations must create systems that shape and maintain them. Whether you're a five-person team or a start-up, an elementary school or a university, a nonprofit or a mega-institution, Primed to Perform shows you how.

150 Best New Kitchen Ideas offers interior designers and homeowners the latest in modern and traditional kitchen design. Showcasing 150 profiles of the most exciting kitchen designs from around the world, this stunning compendium provides innovative solutions and practical advice for creating attractive, functional, and affordable kitchens, no matter the size of the space. Explore the diversity of current trends from concept design to beautiful finished kitchens—there is no shortage of ideas or wares to make cooking a much more pleasant experience. The newest addition to the 150 Best series, this indispensable guide, illustrated with hundreds of photographs, is an inspirational source of original ideas to create a beautiful new kitchen.

An essential reference and the latest in the popular 150 Best series, 150 Best New Bathroom Ideas offers an in-depth look at modern bathroom designs created by internationally renowned architects and designers.Inside, readers will discover harmonious approaches and practical materials to use when designing bathrooms, from light fixtures and color schemes to floor, wall, and window treatments. Along with numerous ideas for the shower, toilet, sink, and bathtub, this book is an indispensable guide to designing an attractive, functional, and cost-effective bathroom. Featuring hundreds of photographs, 150 Best New Bathroom Ideas explores the diversity of current trends and is an excellent source of ideas for homeowners, designers, interior decorators, and architects. From the glamorous and roomy bath-spa to the small but smart powder room, bathrooms can make a big statement with creative ideas that are as stylish as they are useful.

The official, full-color, illustrated, behind-the-scenes companion to the lavish hit ITV and PBS television series Mr. Selfridge that vividly brings into focus the remarkable man and his time. Set at the crossroads between the old and the new—when the Victorian and Edwardian eras gave way to the modern age—Mr. Selfridge illuminates the passions, drama, tensions, and promise of the early twentieth century, embodied in one charming, dynamic, self-made man: department store tycoon Harry Gordon Selfridge. Mr. Selfridge follows a colorful cast of characters whose lives and fortunes are entangled with the founder of the magnificent department store that bears his name: Selfridge’s. American retail visionary Harry Selfridge moves to London in 1906 with his family to establish the most ambitious department store the world had ever seen. While his dreams inspire many, they also challenge the staid conventions of British society. A saga bursting with love affairs, class divisions, cultural clashes, ambition, betrayals, and secrets, Mr. Selfridge is set in an era when women reveled in a new sense of freedom and modernity. A charming, dynamic, brilliant, and forceful man who enjoys and respects women, Harry opens the doors of his opulent department story on London's famed Oxford Street to indulge, empower and celebrate them, changing the way the British—and the world—shopped forever. Including a foreword by series producer Andrew Davies, this official illustrated companion to the series—the biggest ITV-produced drama of all time—takes fans on a journey through the world of the series, Selfridge’s, and the larger-than-life entrepreneur, husband, lover, and family man behind it. Rich with historical detail, The World of Mr. Selfridge examines the real man and the fictional character based on him, his relationship with his family, his genius for retail, and his flagship store, including its departments and changing fashions in the early twentieth century. Complete with hundreds of gorgeous photographs, The World of Mr. Selfridge takes a closer look at the cast and their characters over the first two seasons, and looks ahead to series three, which begins in 1919—when Harry’s life really begins to unravel.

A Curious Discovery is one of the most complete and honest accounts of entrepreneurship and the building of a giant corporation ever written. Media visionary John Hendricks takes the reader on his unforgettable journey from founding Discovery Communications over a breakfast table to establishing the organization as the world's largest provider of television content. Hendricks tells this remarkable story from the triumphs to the failures with unflinching candor. In the process, he shares what he's learned over the past three decades, from the obstacles and successes of the early years to the very real and very different challenges that exist today. The result is not only a powerful autobiography and corporate history, but also a valuable primer for all budding entrepreneurs.A Curious Discovery goes behind the scenes, telling the fascinating stories of some of the network's most popular shows: Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, The Crocodile Hunter, Planet Earth, Dirty Jobs, and Trading Spaces. It also draws lessons from the network's setbacks, including the unsuccessful collaboration with the New York Times, and explains the company's high-profile decisions, such as Discovery's partnership with Oprah Winfrey and OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.Hendricks reveals that his achievements would not have been possible without one crucial factor that has informed his life since childhood: curiosity. Ever eager to learn, to uncover even to take enormous risks his questioning mind has guided his development and success, and continues to shape his outlook today as he works to improve education around the world.

This is not a journey that was undertaken for journalistic purposes. It is a painfully honest account of a life crisis that was forced on me by my own behavior and its consequences. As such, it requires sharing a lot of things I'm not proud of and a few things I feel like I should regret a whole lot more than I actually do. Because, unfortunately, I am not the hero in this tale. I am the villain. So begins Neil Strauss's long-awaited follow-up to The Game, the funny and slyly instructive work of immersive journalism that jump-started the international seduction community and made Strauss a household name revered or notorious among single men and women alike.In The Truth, Strauss takes on his greatest challenge yet: Relationships. And in this wild and highly entertaining ride, he explores the questions that men and women are asking themselves every day: Is it natural to be faithful to one person for lifeDo alternatives to monogamy lead to better relationships and greater happinessWhat draws us to the partners we chooseCan we keep passion and romance from fading over timeHis quest for answers takes him from Viagra-laden free-love orgies to sex addiction clinics, from cutting-edge science labs to modern-day harems, and, most terrifying of all, to his own mother.What he discovered changed everything he knew about love, sex, relationships, and, ultimately, himself.Searingly honest and compulsively readable, The Truth just may have the same effect on you.If The Game taught you how to meet members of the opposite sex, The Truth will teach you how to keep them.

Evidence of the Afterlife shares the firsthand accounts of people who have died and lived to tell about it. Through their work at the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, radiation oncologist Jeffrey Long and his wife, Jody, have gathered thousands of accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) from all over the world. In addition to sharing the personal narrative of their experiences, visitors to the website are asked to fill out a one hundred item questionnaire designed to isolate specific elements of the experience and to flag counterfeit accounts.The website has become the largest NDE research database in the world, containing over 1,600 NDE accounts. The people whose stories are captured in the database span all age groups, races, and religious affiliations and come from all over the world, yet the similarities in their stories are as awe-inspiring as they are revealing. Using this treasure trove of data, Dr. Long explains how medical evidence fails to explain these reports and why there is only one plausible explanation that people have survived death and traveled to another dimension.

Intended as a comprehensive resource for designers, creative professionals, marketers, and retailers, The Big Book of Packaging contains 384 pages of the most innovative packaging designs from around the world. With over 500 featured designs and profiles of twelve of the world's leading designers, the book is a must-have resource for anyone interested in the future of packaging and design. In light of the recent lift in environmental consciousness, this volume of the Big Book Series will devote one third of its content to the increasingly important subject of green packaging-showing designers and retailers how to package their products creatively, responsibly, and at low cost, factors that will be reflected in the books own packaging/binding as well.The Big Book of Packaging will appeal to designers, students, marketers, retailers, and aesthetes alike, providing a thorough look at what goes into building an effective package and how to think "outside the box."

Dorothy and Otis Shepard are the groundbreaking heroes of North American visual culture. They were the first American graphic designers to work in multiple mediums and scales, but despite the brilliance of their work, their names are little known today. With 330 stunning, colorful images, Dorothy and Otis chronicles their story for the first time. It explores the Shepards' penchant for abstraction and modernism, and shows how the advent of billboard advertising inspired their creativity their large campaigns matched the grandeur of their lifestyle. Throughout, this book demonstrates how their work influenced all aspects of consumer culture, from the styling of Wrigley's Gum and the Chicago Cubs to the design of Catalina Island, which Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, and other celebrities frequented.As Dorothy and Otis brings these artists to life, it elevates them to their rightful place in popular culture and makes clear how their work shaped the American dream.With more than 330 full-color photographs throughout

On the morning of April 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee. There is no more time the Yankees are coming, it warned. Shortly before midnight, Davis boarded a train from Richmond and fled the capital, setting off an intense and thrilling chase in which Union cavalry hunted the Confederate president. Two weeks later, President Lincoln was assassinated, and the nation was convinced that Davis was involved in the conspiracy that led to the crime. Lincoln's murder, autopsy, and White House funeral transfixed the nation. His final journey began when soldiers placed his corpse aboard a special train that would carry him home on the 1,600-mile trip to Springfield. Along the way, more than a million Americans looked upon their martyr's face, and several million watched the funeral train roll by. It was the largest and most magnificent funeral pageant in American history.To the Union, Davis was no longer merely a traitor. He became a murderer, a wanted man with a $100,000 bounty on his head. Davis was hunted down and placed in captivity, the beginning of an intense and dramatic odyssey that would transform him into a martyr of the South's Lost Cause. The saga that began with Manhunt continues with the suspenseful and electrifying Bloody Crimes. James Swanson masterfully weaves together the stories of two fallen leaders as they made their last expeditions through the bloody landscape of a wounded nation.

From Roger Rosenblatt, author of the acclaimed memoirs Making Toast, Kayak Morning, and The Boy Detective, comes another lyrical meditation on and celebration of a universal and elusive subjectIn The Book of Love, Roger Rosenblatt looks at love in all its themes and variations romantic love, courtship, marriage, battle, heartbreak, fury, confusion, melancholy, beauty, delirium, ecstasy; love of lovers, family, friends, of country, of work, writing, solitude, of art; love of nature; love of life itself. Using lines from love songs to create a kind of verbal jazz riff, as infectious as it is engaging, Rosenblatt intersperses thoughts about love with fictional vignettes that capture a variety of lovers in different situations with notes addressed to "you," his wife of fifty years. "The story I have to tell is of you. Of others, too. Other people, other things. But mainly of you. It begins and ends with you. It always comes back to you." Pieces follow upon one another in a continuous progression, as if composing one long song that flows through the entire mystery and magic of what it means to love and be in love. What is this thing called loveLively yet profound, poignant yet joyous, The Book of Love is a triumph of intellect and imagination.