The author of Psycho takes on the famous unsolved slayings of Jack the Ripper! Robert Bloch gave us fiction's most famous knife-wielding maniac in Psycho's Norman Bates, and in The Night of the Ripper (1984), this master of horror fiction offers his own unique take on history's most infamous unsolved murder case. Whitechapel, 1888. A madman stalks the foggy streets, murdering prostitutes in acts of unimaginable horror and brutality. Two men - Frederick Abberline of the Metropolitan Police and Mark Robinson, a young American doctor - are determined to find the killer, but the list of suspects is a long one. With the help of a supporting cast of characters that includes Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Elephant Man, the two sleuths must solve the puzzle before it's too late and the Ripper strikes again! "Might be Bloch's best book yet . . . the sort of book that just grabs you and makes you read it." - Peter Straub "May well nudge out Psycho as Bloch's most popular novel." - Washington Post "A must for mystery and horror fans." - Fantasy Review

America's Horrible Histories are a rollicking read through the fascinating, the horrible, the absolutely awesome, and the positively wacky world of American history. Thoroughly researched, historically accurate, and hilariously illustrated, each book in this new series mixes facts and fun to tell the story of our glorious (and sometimes gory) past. There's even a wisecracking historical guide: a cockroach!

From the celebrated, New York Times bestselling author comes the twisted thriller of an MIT grad student who unwittingly uncovers the hidden connection between the Gardner Museum heist and the most fascinating secret in American history. THE CARD SHARK : Hailey Gordon is looking to make some fast cash to help pay her tuition when she's caught counting cards at the Encore casino in Boston. She grabs her winnings and makes her escape. With guards closing in, she dives into an unlocked room to hide . . . only to find a dead body. THE EX-CON : Recently released from prison, Nick Patterson hasn't felt hope in a long time, but the job he "inherited" in prison promises to change that. He enters hotel room 633 to find that the person he was supposed to meet has been murdered. Next to the corpse stands a terrified young woman--Hailey Gordon. THE PROFESSOR : American history professor Adrian Jensen learns of the death of his professional nemesis, Charles Walker, the night after he received Walker's latest research. Skeptical at first, Adrian nearly deletes the file. But when one small, new detail catches his eye, he makes it his mission to uncover what could be one of the biggest secrets of the Revolutionary War. All three strangers find themselves on the cusp of an incredible discovery--one that someone is willing to kill to keep buried.

“It gives me a secret pleasure to observe the fair character our family has in the place by Jews & Christians,“Abigail Levy Franks wrote to her son from New York City in 1733. Abigail was part of a tiny community of Jews living in the new world. In the centuries that followed, as that community swelled to several millions, women came to occupy diverse and changing roles. American Jewish Women’s History , an anthology covering colonial times to the present, illuminates that historical diversity. It shows women shaping Judaism and their American Jewish communities as they engaged in volunteer activities and political crusades, battled stereotypes, and constructed relationships with their Christian neighbors. It ranges from Rebecca Gratz’s development of the Jewish Sunday School in Philadelphia in 1838 to protest the rising prices of kosher meat at the turn of the century, to the shaping of southern Jewish women's cultural identity through food. There is currently no other reader conveying the breadth of the historical experiences of American Jewish women available. The reader is divided into four sections complete with detailed introductions. The contributors include: Joyce Antler, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Alice Kessler-Harris, Paula E. Hyman, Riv-Ellen Prell, and Jonathan D. Sarna.

Celebrate America's 250th anniversary with this stirring picture book biography about a forgotten hero of the American Revolution who rose to the occasion and served his country, not with muskets or canons, but with gingerbread! Christopher Ludwick was a German-born American patriot with a big heart and a talent for baking. When cries of "Revolution!" began, Christopher was determined to help General George Washington and his hungry troops. Not with muskets or cannons, but with gingerbread! Cheerfully told by Mara Rockliff and brought to life by Vincent Kirsch's inventive cut-paper illustrations, Gingerbread for Liberty is the story of an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War who changed the course of history one loaf at a time.

Publisher's description: Robert Rubin was sworn in as the seventieth U.S. Secretary of the Treasury in January 1995 in a brisk ceremony attended only by his wife and a few colleagues. As soon as the ceremony was over, he began an emergency meeting with President Bill Clinton on the financial crisis in Mexico. This was not only a harbinger of things to come during what would prove to be a rocky period in the global economy; it also captured the essence of Rubin himself--short on formality, quick to get into the nitty-gritty. From his early years in the storied arbitrage department at Goldman Sachs to his current position as chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup, Robert Rubin has been a major figure at the center of the American financial system. He was a key player in the longest economic expansion in U.S. history.

"Raskin's biography of Abbie Hoffman pleases precisely because it does not evade the ambiguities of that wild time. For a cynical age, Raskin evokes some of its innocent pleasures: great rock-and-roll, movements against injustices, exuberant sex."--Jonathan Rieder, New York Times Book Review "As much a corrective to a New Left history of the time as a biography of Abbie Hoffman, the wildest of the wildmen...Raskin's book is arranged like a series of filmed calender pages; behind the pages stand descriptions as vivid as movies of the formative influences moving with lightning speed across those few amazing years while Abbie, and the rhetoric inside him, grew apace."--Vivian Gornick, The Nation "Hoffman remains one of the most vivid figures in an era that specialized in them...It would be very hard to read his life's story and not be affected by it."--Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post "The book takes [Hoffman], his w ritings, and his politics seriously...Well-researched, well-reported, well-illustrated, and scrupulously documented."--Bruce McCabe, Boston Globe "Not only a biography of an individual...but a fully rounded portrait of that era...Hoffman remains an utterly fascinating American icon, one of the most important performance-art patriots of our time."--Bernard Weiner, San Francisco Chronicle

Dick Cheney is the most powerful yet most unpopular vice president in American history. He has thrived alongside a president who, from day one, had little interest in policy and limited experience in the ways of Washington. Yet Cheney's relentless rise to prominence over three decades has happened almost by stealth. Now veteran reporters Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein reveal the disturbing truth about the man who has successfully co-opted executive control over the U.S. government, serving as the de facto 'shadow president' of the most dominant White House in a generation. Cheney has always been an astute politician. He survived the collapse of the Nixon presidency, finding a position of power in the administration of Gerald Ford. He was then elected to the House of Representatives and later served in the cabinet of the first Bush presidency. But when he became George W. Bush's running mate, Cheney reached a new level of influence. From the engineering of his own selection as vice president to his support of policies allowing torture as a permissible weapon in the 'war on terror', Cheney has consistently steered America to the right. With unique access to numerous first-hand sources, Vice provides an unprecedented expose of Cheney's career. Its startling revelations concern the war in Iraq, his relationship with the CIA and with big business, his involvement with Enron, his attitude towards Iran and his ruthless manoeuvering which today effectively puts him in charge of American policy at home and abroad. In the tradition of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's All the President's Men , this powerful work of investigative journalism takes us behind the scenes in Washington, into hitherto secret meetings and deep into the heart of political decision-making. Utterly gripping, Vice chronicles and exposes the hijacking of the American presidency and illustrates the arrogance of power as never before.

Who was the real John Henry? The story of this legendary African - American figure has come down to us in so many songs, stories, and plays, that the facts are often lost. Historian Scott Nelson brings John Henry alive for young readers in his personal quest for the ''''true story'''' of the man behind the myth. Nelson presents the famous folk song as a mystery to be unraveled, identifying the embedded clues within the lyrics, which he examines to uncover many surprising truths. He investigates the legend and reveals the real John Henry in this beautifully illustrated book. Nelson's narrative is multilayered, interweaving the story of the building of the railroads, the period of Reconstruction, folk tales, American mythology, and an exploration of the tradition of work songs and their evolution into blues and rock and roll. This is also the story of the author's search for the flesh - and - blood man who became an American folk hero; Nelson gives a first - person account of how the historian works, showing history as a process of discovery. Readers rediscover an African - American folk hero. We meet John Henry, the man who worked for the railroad, driving steel spikes. When the railroad threatens to replace workers with a steam - powered hammer, John Henry bets that he can drive the beams into the ground faster than the machine. He wins the contest, but dies in the effort. Nelson's vibrant text, combined with archival images, brings a new perspective and focus to the life and times of this American legend.

From the author of Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick The Rules of Magic comes a transfixing glimpse into a small American town where a mysterious, magical garden holds the truth behind three hundred years of passion, dark secrets, loyalty, and redemption. “[A] dreamy, fabulist series of connected stories . . . [These] tales, with their tight, soft focus on America, cast their own spell.”— The Washington Post The Red Garden introduces us to the luminous and haunting world of Blackwell, Massachusetts, capturing the unexpected turns in its history and in our own lives. From the town's founder, a brave young woman from England who has no fear of blizzards or bears, to the young man who runs away to New York City with only his dog for company, the characters in The Red Garden are extraordinary and vivid: a young wounded Civil War soldier who is saved by a passionate neighbor, a woman who meets a fiercely human historical character, a poet who falls in love with a blind man, a mysterious traveler who comes to town in the year when summer never arrives. At the center of everyone’s life is a mysterious garden where only red plants can grow, and where the truth can be found by those who dare to look. Beautifully crafted and shimmering with magic, The Red Garden is as unforgettable as it is moving.

"Sixty Years in Southern California 1853-1913: Containing the Reminiscences of Harris Newmark" offers a captivating glimpse into the formative years of Los Angeles and Southern California. This meticulously prepared reprint presents the memoirs of Harris Newmark, a prominent figure whose life intertwined with the region's dynamic growth during the 19th century. Dive into vivid accounts of pioneer life, social customs, and significant historical events that shaped Southern California. Newmark's recollections provide invaluable insights into the area's transformation from a sparsely populated territory to a bustling hub of activity. Explore the social fabric of the era through firsthand observations and personal anecdotes. This book stands as a significant historical document, chronicling the experiences of a man who witnessed and participated in the evolution of California. Discover the allure of a bygone era in this timeless narrative of community, change, and the enduring spirit of the American West. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

"Captures the resilience of human dignity and optimism. . . . A powerful must-read." -- Booklist (starred review) During World War II, Tama is sent to live in an incarceration camp in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast--elderly people, children, babies--now live in camps like Minidoka. To be who she is has become a crime, and Tama doesn't know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the incarceration camp's tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness. And she isn't the only one. George waits each morning by the door, his arms piled with books checked out the day before. As their friendship grows, Tama wonders: Can anyone possibly read so much? Is she the reason George comes to the library every day? Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Yas Imamura's beautifully illustrated, elegant love story features a photo of the real Tama and George--the author's grandparents--and an unflinching and necessary afterword that helps readers to learn more about a time in our history that continues to resonate.

"An astounding collection of adventures and observations, woven into a dramatic account that helps to clarify some of the mysteries of our nation's recent history....Hamilton's story offers a rare combination of insight, wry humor, and real inspiration." -- Jimmy Carter, in the Foreword Hamilton Jordan has had a life full of personal struggles, from firsthand encounters with racial hatred in the Civil Rights-era South to exposure to Agent Orange as a civilian volunteer in Vietnam and his tumultuous years as the youngest chief of staff in presidential history, under Jimmy Carter. But a more powerful opponent has defined Jordan's life -- cancer. Three times in the last twenty years he has been diagnosed with the disease: non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, melanoma, and prostate cancer. Each time, Jordan credits early detection, being well-informed, and keeping positive as the keys to his survival. In this beautifully written book, Jordan weaves together his remarkable life to date with the uplifting story of his victories over cancer. Moving, inspiring, and powerful, No Such Thing As A Bad Day is a read that no one will soon forget.

Alice O'Neil writes about Black Women of the Old West for the Los Angeles Features Syndicate: This book traces how African American women challenged white bigotry, labored to create new lives and ultimately helped to transform sparse frontier settlements into thriving [western] states. It reveals how these pioneers brought culture and stability to the early communities from Ohio, Kansas and Texas to Oklahoma, Nevada and California. This is that perfect find: a book that entertains and enlightens. Mr. Katz's books on black history are well-known to readers young and old. Add this one to the growing list of literary treasure....Browsing through the many pictures is a true delight, like meeting distant relatives. A must-read.

It is the late summer of 1938, Europe is about to explode, the Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is on his way to Paris to make a movie for Paramount France. The Nazis know he's coming--a secret bureau within the Reich Foreign Ministry has for years been waging political warfare against France, using bribery, intimidation, and corrupt newspapers to weaken French morale and degrade France's will to defend herself. For their purposes, Fredric Stahl is a perfect agent of influence, and they attack him. What they don't know is that Stahl, horrified by the Nazi war on Jews and intellectuals, has become part of an informal spy service being run out of the American embassy in Paris. From Alan Furst, the bestselling author, often praised as the best spy novelist ever, comes a novel that's truly hard to put down. "Mission to Paris" includes beautifully drawn scenes of romance and intimacy, and the novel is alive with extraordinary characters: the German Baroness von Reschke, a famous hostess deeply involved in Nazi clandestine operations; the assassins Herbert and Lothar; the Russian film actress and spy Olga Orlova; the Hungarian diplomat and spy, Count Janos Polanyi; along with the French cast of Stahl's movie, German film producers, and the magnetic women in Stahl's life, the socialite Kiki de Saint-Ange and the emigre Renate Steiner. But always at the center of the novel is the city of Paris, the heart and soul of Europe--its alleys and bistros, hotels grand and anonymous, and the Parisians, living every night as though it was their last. As always, Alan Furst brings to life both a dark time in history and the passion of the human hearts that fought to survive it. Praise for Alan Furst "Unfolds like a vivid dream . . . One couldn't ask for a more engrossing novel.""--The Wall Street Journal, "about" Spies of the Balkans" " " "Though set in a specific place and time, Furst's books are like Chopin's nocturnes: timeless, transcendent, universal. One does not so much read them as fall under their spell."--"Los Angeles Times, " about" The Spies of Warsaw" "Alan Furst's novels swing a beam into the shadows at the edges of the great events leading to World War II. Readers come knowing he'll deliver effortless narrative."--"USA Today, " about "The Foreign Correspondent" "Positively bristles with plot, characters and atmosphere . . . "Dark Voyage" has the ingredients of several genres--the mystery, the historical novel, the espionage thriller, the romance--but it rises above all of them."--"The Washington Post, " about" Dark Voyage" "No other espionage writer touches [Furst's] stylish forays into Budapest and Berlin, Moscow and Paris. No other writer today captures so well the terror and absurdity of the spy, the shabby tension and ennui of emigre communities at the time. His characters are hopeless, lethal, charming. His voice is, above all, knowing."--"Boston Sunday Globe, " about "Blood of Victory"

Samuel Noah Kramer (1897-1990) was an American Assyriologist and one of the foremost scholars in the field of Sumerian studies. He made significant contributions to the decipherment and understanding of ancient Mesopotamian texts and culture. In "Sumerian Mythology," Kramer provides a detailed exploration of the mythology and religious beliefs of the Sumerians. He examines the pantheon of Sumerian gods and goddesses, their attributes, roles, and relationships. The book also covers the creation myths, epic tales, and other mythological narratives from Sumerian literature. Kramer's work draws from a wide range of ancient Sumerian texts, including hymns, prayers, incantations, and mythological narratives. He provides translations and analysis of these texts, shedding light on the religious cosmology, rituals, and beliefs of the Sumerians. "Sumerian Mythology" has become a classic in the field of ancient Mesopotamian studies, offering valuable insights into the mythological worldview of one of the earliest civilizations in human history. It remains an essential reference for scholars and enthusiasts interested in Sumerian religion and mythology.

From the internationally bestselling author of The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon comes a novel of incomparable scope and beauty that takes the reader on an epic journey from war-ravaged nineteenth-century Europe to antebellum America. A bereft child, a freed African slave, and the rich history of Portugal's secret Jews collide memorably in Richard Zimler's mesmerizing novel--a dazzling work of historical fiction played out against a backdrop of war and chaos that unforgettably mines the mysteries of devotion, betrayal, guilt, and forgiveness. Hunting Midnight At the dawn of the nineteenth century in Portugal, John Zarco Stewart is an impish child of hotheaded emotions and playful inquisitiveness, the unwitting inheritor of a faith shrouded in three hundred years of secrecy--for the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula have been in hiding since the Inquisition. But a season of loss and bitter discovery brings his innocence to an abrupt end. It is only the ministrations of a magical stranger, brought to Porto by his seafaring father, that restore his safety: Midnight, an African healer and freed slave, the man who will become John's greatest friend and determine the course of his destiny. When Napoleon's armies invade Portugal, violence again intrudes on John's fragile peace, and seals his passage into adulthood with another devastating loss. But from the wreckage comes revelation as he uncovers truths and lies hidden by the people he loved and trusted most, and discovers the act of unspeakable betrayal that destroyed his family--and his faith. And so his shattering quest begins as he travels to America, to hunt for hope in a land shackled by unforgivable sin. With stunning insight and an eye for rich historical detail--from the colorful marketplaces of Porto to the drowsy plantations of the American South, from the Judaism John discovers as a young man to the mystical Africa that Midnight conjures from his memories--in Hunting Midnight Richard Zimler has crafted a masterpiece. "From the Hardcover edition."

"Where did they all go?" Sixteen-year-old orphan William Wythers, is eager to try life in the New World. He and the other settlers face an arduous voyage and difficult months ahead on Roanoke Island, off the coast of Virginia. Yet there is a wonderful freedom in defining the rules for this new world in America. And when William falls in love with a young Native American woman, it seems that life is going to be happy after all. But when John White arrives from England with fresh supplies for the settlement, not a single person remains. Who knows what happened? An unsolved mystery in American history comes brilliantly alive in Sonia Levitin's historical novel about the lost colony in Roanoke.

Hamilton's Republic is the first anthology of Hamiltonian democratic nationalism. Here are excerpts from the major writings of Alexander Hamilton and his successors. In addition to a generous selection from familiar works of Hamilton like the Federalist Papers, and the addresses of Abraham Lincoln, this collection includes Henry Clay on "the American system", Daniel Webster on the Union - "one and indivisible" - and Theodore Roosevelt on "the new nationalism" and "the big stick". Here the reader will find Frederick Douglass on racial integration and Israel Zangwill on the melting pot, Dean Acheson and Walter Lippmann on realism in foreign affairs, the Progressive philosopher Herbert Croly on "democratic Hamiltonianism", and the great New Deal presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson on the need for the national government to promote economic justice and racial equality. Many of the addresses and books excerpted in this anthology, like Senator Henry Cabot Lodge's World War I-era critique of idealism in foreign policy, the forgotten Founding Father James Wilson's discussion of popular sovereignty and the U.S. constitution, and the writings of nineteenth-century American economic nationalists like Friedrich List and Henry Carey, are reprinted here for the first time in generations. Hamilton's Republic is the most important anthology of American political thought in decades. Destined to be an indispensable textbook in colleges and universities, this collection is also required reading for Americans and others who want to learn about the heritage and destiny of the United States.

National book Award laureate; recipient of Special Pulitzer Prize citation; winner of the Life in America Prize the Archives of American Art Award; among many others, James Thomas Flexner has written with distinction about American history and art. He has penetrated many of the charactrers who have shaped history exposing the intricacies of not only the historical figure, but the man beneath the marble image. The range of Flexner's subjects is wide: painters, inventors, doctors, loyalists, traitors, and spies, such luminaries as George Washington, Benedict Arnold, Alexander Hamilton, and John Singleton Copley, are among those Flexner has taken as subjects. After over fifty years of writnig, Flexner, one of America's greatest chroniclers has turned his probing eye back on to the pages of his own life with the same honesty, frankness, wit which have come to signify his form. James Thomas Flexner was born in 1908 on Lexington Avenue, New York City to parents Helen Thomas and Simon Flexner (scientist and first director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical research.) Published in the literary magazine at the Lincoln High School, Flexner's passion for writing was spawned at a young age. This passion would become a source of life long struggle as well as success for Flexner. Journalist for the Herald Tribune, and foremost biographer (as well as making numerous appearances on radio and television,) Flexner's career allowed him access into the quick of the political, social, and artistic movements and developments that shaped the twentieth century. An un-traditional student, Flexner, although graduating magna com laude from Harvard University, often pursued what was to be considered by academics, unorthodox methods of research for his work. Following the passion of his own interests and plotting his own course of research and study, Flexner created of himself a sort of maverick, chartign a course for biography that countered that written in the guide books of academe. While he probed and uncovered the lives of the great men who shaped the past, noteworthy publishers, writers, artists, and politicians of the twentieth century fill the pages of Maverick's Progress. Flexner writes of how influences, acquantances, and friends such as Bernard Berenson, Conrad Aiken, Ivy Lee, Harry Hopkins, Allan Nevins, Logan Pearsall Smith, and Edward Hopper figured in his life, and in his development as a writer. James Flexner has authored more than twenty books, several of them have been recently re-published by Fordham University Press. He was awarded the Gold Medal for Eminence in Biography, by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1988. He is perhaps most well known for his four-volume biography of George Washington which was eventually condensed into one: An Indispensable Man from which two television mini-series have been produced and for which he was awared the Peabody Award and Emmy Nomination. Maverick's Progress offers us a candid an sparkling look into the life of a writer who has indeed been a maverick in the canon of American historians - an individual who himself has been an Indispensable Man.