In the summer of 1940, fewer than three thousand young fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force stood between Hitler and the victory that seemed almost within his grasp.In this superb history of three epic months that saved the world, Michael Korda brilliantly re-creates the intensity of combat in "the long, delirious, burning blue" of the sky above southern England while tracing, perhaps for the first time, the entire complex web of political, diplomatic, scientific, industrial, and human decisions during the 1930s that inexorably led to the world's first, greatest, and most decisive air battle. With Wings Like Eagles brings to vivid life the extraordinary men and women on both sides of the conflict from Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain, and Reichsmarschall Hermann Gring to the ground crews, the German pilots, the American volunteers, and the courageous airmen and airwomen of the RAF.

Lincoln's Men is the first narrative portrait of the three young men who served as Lincoln's secretaries during the Civil War. John Nicolay and John Hay lived in the White House, across the hall from the president's office, and they and William Stoddard spent more time with Lincoln than anyone else outside his immediate family. Lincoln used these three intelligent, articulate young men as a sounding board; they were the first audience for much of his writing from the period. From their unique vantage point, they had a front-row seat on the drama of war, but they also had a good time. Washington under siege was a city of endless receptions and parties. Daniel Mark Epstein captures the drama in each life. We see Nicolay, balancing his obligations to Lincoln with a long-distance engagement to his childhood sweetheart; Hay, the poet/amanuensis, in love with a famous and married actress; and Stoddard, a little too obsessed with gambling in the gold market. The secretaries left significant diaries, letters, and memoirs about Lincoln. Nicolay and Hay went on to distinguished careers in the Foreign Service after the war and later wrote the classic authorized biography of Lincoln, published in 1890 in ten volumes. An intimate and moving portrait of the Civil War White House, Lincoln's Men gives a vivid sense of what it was like to work for America's most brilliant president at the pivotal moment in the country's history. It is essential reading for fans of American history.

It is perhaps the most memorable event of the twentieth century, a moment that left a family and a nation mourning, one that many Americans recall as their first historical memory the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.Within seven weeks of the President's death, Jacqueline Kennedy received more than 800,000 condolence letters. Two years later, the volume of correspondence would exceed 1.5 million letters. For the next forty-six years, the letters would remain essentially untouched.Now historian Ellen Fitzpatrick has selected approximately 250 of these letters for inclusion in Letters to Jackie, a remarkable human record that perfectly preserves the heart-wrenching grief and soul searching of the nation in a time of crisis. Capturing the extraordinary eloquence of so-called ordinary Americans across generations, regions, race, political leanings, and religion in messages written on elegant stationery, scraps of paper, in pencil, type, ink smudged by tears, and in barely legible handwriting the letters capture what John F. Kennedy meant to the country, and how his death for some divided American history into Before and After.In Letters to Jackie, Fitzpatrick allows Americans to write their own history of these tumultuous times. "The coffin was very small," as one sixteen-year-old girl observed, "to contain so much of so many Americans." In reflecting on their sense of loss, their fears, and their striving, the authors of these letters wrote an American elegy as poignant and as compelling as their shattered and cherished dreams.

From the moment Jeff Guidry saw the emaciated baby eagle with broken wings, his life was changed. For weeks he and the staff at Sarvey Wildlife Care Center tended to the grievously injured bird. Miraculously, she recovered, and Jeff, a center volunteer, became her devoted caretaker. Though Freedom would never fly, she had Jeff as her wings. And after Jeff was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2000, Freedom returned his gift. Between sessions of debilitating chemotherapy, Jeff went back to Sarvey and began taking Freedom for walks that soothed his spirit and gave him the strength to fight. When he learned he was cancer free, Jeff's first stop was Sarvey to walk with Freedom. Somehow this special bird seemed to understand the significance of the day. For the very first time she wrapped both her wings around Jeff, enveloping him in an avian hug. In March 2008, Jeff shared his extraordinary experience with his friend Gayle in an e-mail of eight hundred words:When Freedom came in she could not stand. Both wings were broken, her left wing in 4 places. . . . We here at the Sarvey Wildlife Care Center made the decision to give her a chance at life. . . . That e-mail would unexpectedly circle the globe and inspire countless fans eager to know more. In An Eagle Named Freedom, Jeff tells the full story of his bond with Freedom and introduces the other wildlife and volunteers who have been saved by Sarvey. A tender tale of hope, love, trust, and life, this moving true story is an affirmation of the spiritual connection that humans and animals share.

I love YouTelevision writer Tracy McMillan managed to work her way into a killer Hollywood career a privileged world of pool houses, premieres, and big-time producer deals despite being the daughter of a fur-coat-wearing, El Dorado driving, smooth-talking pimp named Freddie. But success couldn't save her from the pattern of self-destructive choices stemming from her history with her father that would shape all of her romantic relationships. I Love You and I'm Leaving You Anyway is her comic, tragic, and ultimately victorious story, the riveting true tale of how having a father obsessed with women made her a woman obsessed with men.And I'm Leaving YouBlessed with beauty and brains, Tracy had no problem attracting men. Marrying her first husband (a kind, stable MBA) before she was out of her teens, she quickly discovered the romantic contradiction that so many women face: the "right" kind of men feel wrong. And the wrong ones feel so, so right. Alternating between the nice guys she knew she should want, and the unavailable men who were compelling, Tracy found herself repeating the hurt that began when the man who loved her the most, her father, left her for prison when she was just three years old. Freddie's absence meant a childhood filled with foster homes, a temperamental stepmother, and near constant upheaval. It took three marriages, the birth of a son, and, most important, resolving her relationship with her dad for Tracy to discover the truth about herself a truth that finally set her free.AnywayThis provocative, insightful, and humorous memoir isn't a "woe is me" story of what went wrong. I Love You and I'm Leaving You Anyway is a story of what's gone right one woman's journey to creating a fulfilling life and raising a son who taught her everything she needed to know about men, love, and, of course, herself. Heartwarming, funny, and unflinchingly real, it is an inspiring testament to the power of change that proves we can all grow from even our most flawed relationships.

Selected from the range of Cooper's essays and reportage in Artforum, Bookforum, Detour, Interview, LA Weekly, Spin, and the Village Voice, among other publications, Smothered in Hugs presents the best nonfiction of one of America's greatest writers. Cooper has written on grave social issues, producing touchstone pieces for a generation of readers. His obituaries for Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix, and William S. Burroughs offer portraits that are both crystallizing and appropriately indefinite. His reckonings of contemporary writers are astute and unsparing. And, of course, he serves as witness to the work and play of an illustrious roster of cultural personalities and does so with an acuity and fairness missing from most pop culture criticism.

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 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.

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."

"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.

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

For over a decade, Motherpeace has been an inspiration and oracle for women all over the world. Motherpeace recovers the positive, nurturing peace-oriented values of prepatriarchal times, and brilliantly combines art, history, mythology, folklore, philosophy, and comparative religion with an informed spiritual and feminist perspective.Vicki Noble challenges us to celebrate our ancient peaceful heritage and to reclaim our right as a people to a life without war. The book is a vision of hope and transformation, made even more powerful by the vibrant pictorial images of the seventy-eight Motherpeace tarot cards.Motherpeace shows how traditional myths and symbols can provide ideas and images for understanding the meaning and power of the Goddess for women and men today.

Did you know about: The ballet that sparked a riot The rock star who became an astrophysicist The song that saved Wheaties The man killed by his own conducting The controversy behind "Mary Had a Little Lamb"Prepare to be astonished, bewildered, and stupefied by the tantalizing tidbits of music history collected here: amazing stories about jazz, classical, country, rock 'n' roll, hip-hop, show tunes, composers, band names, song lyrics, instruments, technology, controversies, and more. Learn how the FBI spent years trying to decode the lyrics of one rock song. Discover how Watergate provided the inspiration for A Chorus Line. Find out how one megahit was born in a history class, while another was dashed off in a fit of anger at actor Robert De Niro. Meet the monk behind solfège, the aviation pioneer who created Muzak, and the prisoner who literally sang himself out of jail. Then there's the most important person in rock 'n' roll history—chances are you've never heard of him! Continuing the successful Greatest Stories Never Told series, Rick Beyer has delivered another classic volume for history and music buffs alike.

Americans spend more than $11 billion a year on self-help products everything from books to diet pills to career coaches to seminars. So why with all this time, money, and energy being spent are so few people living the life they really wantWhy are millions of smart, talented, motivated people still going through life with one foot on the brakeHere's the real Secret: You don't need any more how-to-succeed information to reach your full potential.The problem isn't lack of motivation or lack of information. The real problem is that most people focus on the "how-to" aspects of success taught by traditional self-help programs, without coming to terms with what productivity expert Noah St. John calls your "head trash" the subconscious, emotional roadblocks that prevent people from acting on their real hopes, dreams, and ambitions. In this groundbreaking book, based on work with thousands of clients around the world, Noah St. John has created a remarkable, step-by-step approach that helps you achieve long-term happiness, success, and wealth. In The Secret Code of Success, you will learn how to: Eliminate the causes of self-sabotage and fear of success Allow yourself to make more money Remove stress while dramatically increasing personal productivity Improve relationships with coworkers, family, and friends Experience enhanced feelings of happiness, connection, and love The Secret Code of Success shows that, when it comes to success, the conscious mind is exactly the wrong place to start. It's only when we first conquer the self-sabotage of our subconscious (which accounts for 90 percent of our behavior) that we can truly begin to enjoy a life filled with success. This insight is at the core of The Secret Code of Success and leads to Noah's revolutionary 7-step method for eliminating these psychological obstacles. True financial freedom and personal success is possible at last!The Secret Code of Success shows you how to get your foot off the brake and start living the life you deserve.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in caves near the Dead Sea fifteen miles east of Jerusalem from 1947 to 1956, include the oldest existing biblical manu*s and the remarkable texts of the purist Jewish community at Qumran. The discovery of the scrolls has added dramatically to our understanding of the varieties of Judaism at the time of Jesus and the rise of Christianity, but has also prompted heated debate about the nature of these religions. As the monumental task of transcribing and translating the Dead Sea Scrolls is finally completed, people around the world are taking stock of the significance of these ancient documents. In this book, two of the world's leading experts on the scrolls reveal the complete and fascinating story in all its detail: the amazing discovery, the intense controversies, and the significant revelations. Drawing together all the evidence, this timely book explores: The discovery and dating of the scrolls Their relationship to the Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha, and New Testament Their messianic and apocalyptic messages The identity, nature, and theology of the Qumran community The nonbiblical scrolls Controversies surrounding the scrolls This comprehensive, up-to-date guide is the definitive introduction to all aspects of the scrolls, including their teachings, the community that created them, the world of Judaism, the origins of Christianity, our understanding of Jesus and the New Testament. Featuring photos of the original texts, the sites, and the scholars who deciphered them, and including illustrative passages from the scrolls, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls presents the most complete and accurate scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls available today.

Whether we love our jobs or not, the amount of work on our plate has reached unsustainable levels. We start each workday anxious about how we will get it all done, and which important tasks will have to be sacrificed again so we can keep our heads above water. We often respond to our out-of-control to-do lists by focusing on being more efficient trying to get more done in less time.According to Josh Davis, Ph.D., we're going about it the wrong way. The answer is not to get more done faster, but rather to create the conditions for at least two awesome hours of peak productivity each day.Neuroscience and psychology research is revealing what those conditions are. Drawing on this research, Davis explains that our minds operate according to complex factors that, when leveraged the right way, can make us truly effective. Davis shows us five deceptively simple strategies to create the conditions for incredible productivity and to restore sanity and balance to our lives: Maximize the moments in our day when we are between tasks, intentionally choosing what to tackle next Schedule tasks based on their cognitive and emotional demands Learn how to direct attention Feed and move our bodies for short-term benefit Identify how our environment affects our focus and alertness We are capable of impressive feats of comprehension, motivation, and performance when our psychological and biological systems are functioning optimally. Two Awesome Hours will show us how to be our most productive every day.

All too often our best efforts to accomplish the things we want most to do our jobs well, to make meaningful contributions at home and at work, to have satisfying relationships with loved ones, friends, neighbors, and coworkers are built on bad habits that sabotage us. We feel overwhelmed by our increasingly large to-do list, so we automatically multitask to get more done and end up more stressed and more overloaded. We say something with the hopes of impressing the other person, but instead of end them then spend days trying to repair the damage. We give what we think is a pep talk to our team but they walk away demotivated.How can we be most effective and productive in a world that moves too fast and demands so much of us?In Four Seconds, Peter Bregman shows that the answer is to pause for as few as four seconds the length of a deep breath to replace bad habits and reactions with more productive behaviors. In his trademark style of blending personal anecdotes with practical advice, Bregman reveals some of our most common counter-productive tendencies and describes counter-intuitive strategies for acting more intentionally, including: Why setting goals can actually harm your performance How to use strategic disengagement to recover focus and willpower Why listening not arguing is the best strategy for changing someone's mind How taking responsibility for someone else's failure can actually help you succeed Drawn from Bregman's hugely popular Harvard Business Review blog, this engaging and wise book provides simple solutions to create the results you want without the stress.