"Joe King Oliver is at a crossroads: with his grandmother on death's door, he tasked with tracking down his estranged father, a man he discovers has been out of prison for more than a decade. He also seeks to protect another family, a mysterious woman and her young daughter on the run from an abusive billionaire who'll stop at nothing to retrieve them. Heartfelt, pulse-pounding, and undeniably sexy, Been Wrong So Long It Feels Like Right shows Walter Mosley at his very best"-- Provided by publisher.

“Together, Rockliff and Bruno make the scientific method seem exciting, and kids interested in science and history will likely be, well, mesmerized.” — Booklist (starred review) When American inventor Benjamin Franklin arrives in Paris, he is upstaged by a compelling and enigmatic figure: Dr. Mesmer. In elaborately staged shows, Mesmer has Parisians believing he can control a magic force that changes the taste of water, cures illness, and controls thoughts! Can Ben Franklin’s approach of observing, hypothesizing, and testing get to the bottom of Mesmer’s tricks? A rip-roaring, lavishly illustrated peek into a fascinating moment in history shows the development of the scientific method — and reveals the amazing power of the human mind.

"In 1965, a mysterious beam of blue light descended from space, illuminating Northern California. This extraterrestrial beam possessed strange powers, causing those it touched to either die, go mad, or gain a unique, extraordinary ability. This newfound power represented the full actualization of human potential, bestowing strengths, understandings, and communication abilities far beyond normal human capacities. Those affected by the light were soon dubbed "Blues" and were segregated from society due to their superhuman abilities. United by their shared experiences, the Blues began searching for their purpose in the universe. However, an evil force known as the "Gray Man" soon emerged, setting the stage for a battle between good and evil. The Gray Man, originally Horace LaFontaine, was a character struck by the light at the moment of his death, revivified as a demon with a mission to annihilate the Blues. Once the Blues discovered their nemesis, they took refuge in the forests outside Northern California. Despite their efforts to hide, the Gray Man learned of their location through inside sources. Determined to confront their enemy, the Blues decided to declare war on the Gray Man. This epic battle, which takes place at the novel's climax, showcases the Blues utilizing their extraordinary powers to ultimately destroy the Gray Man. After their victory, the Blues settled into small cities in Northern California, integrating and living normal lives alongside the other residents of California"--

"The War and Peace of Rock and Roll." -Bob Dylan In 1975, as Bob Dylan emerged from eight years of seclusion, he dreamed of putting together a traveling music showthat would trek across the country like a psychedelic carnival. The dream became reality, and On the Road with Bob Dylan is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look at what happened when Dylan and the RollingThunder Revue took to the streets of America. With the intimate detail of a diary, Larry "Ratso" Sloman's mesmerizing description of the legendary tour both transports us toa celebrated period in rock history and provides us with a vivid snapshot of Dylan during this extraordinary time. This reissue of the 1978 classic resonates more than ever as it chronicles one of the most glittering rockcircuses ever assembled, with a cast that includes Joan Baez, Robbie Robertson, Joni Mitchell, Allen Ginsberg, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and a wild entourage of groupies, misfits, sinners, and saints who trailedalong for the ride. Sloman candidly captures the all-night revelry and musical prowess-from the backstage antics to impromptu jams--that made the tour a nearly mystical experience. Complete with vintage photos and a new introduction by renowned Texas musician, mystery writer, and Revue member Kinky Friedman, this is an unparalleled treat for Dylan fans old and new. Withoutquestion, On the Road with Bob Dylan is a remarkable, revealing piece of writing and a rare up-close and personal view of Dylan on tour. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

Planting trees is quite an art. He plants the apples with his heart. Johnny, Johnny Appleseed. Everyone knows the legend of Johnny Appleseed, the man from Massachusetts who planted apple trees all the way to California. But the true story of Johnny Appleseed, or John Chapman, is even greater than the legend. In deft and lyrical prose, Jane Yolen tells the whole story of an individual who forever changed the landscape of America. Breathtaking paintings by award-winning artist Jim Burke illuminate the historical detail of this man's life while capturing all the magic and mystery of his legend.

In this spooky book from the nonfiction An Unsolved Mystery from History picture book series, tragedy strikes Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 as the community is torn apart by accusations of witchcraft. When a group of girls came down with a horrible, mysterious bout of illness, they pointed the finger at people in their community they claimed were witches. Soon, the whole town was convinced they were in danger from supernatural forces. Today, we have details about the accusations, trials, and those who lost their lives, but the question remains: What caused the mass hysteria? Become a detective, study the clues, and see if you can help solve this chilling mystery from history!

Greil Marcus has been one of the most distinctive voices in American music criticism for over forty years. His books, including Mystery Train and The Shape of Things to Come, traverse soundscapes of folk and blues, rock and punk, attuning readers to the surprising, often hidden affinities between the music and broader streams of American politics and culture. Drawn from Marcus’s 2013 Massey Lectures at Harvard, his new work delves into three episodes in the history of American commonplace song: Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s 1928 “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground,” Geeshie Wiley’s 1930 “Last Kind Words Blues,” and Bob Dylan’s 1964 “Ballad of Hollis Brown.” How each of these songs manages to convey the uncanny sense that it was written by no one illuminates different aspects of the commonplace song tradition. Some songs truly did come together over time without an identifiable author. Others draw melodies and motifs from obscure sources but, in the hands of a particular artist, take a final, indelible shape. And, as in the case of Dylan’s “Hollis Brown,” there are songs that were written by a single author but that communicate as anonymous productions, as if they were folk songs passed down over many generations.

For 30 years, the author, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist chronicled the activities of the U.S. Supreme Court and its justices as a correspondent for the New York Times. In this introduction, she draws on her knowledge of the court's history and of its written and unwritten rules to show how the Supreme Court really works. She offers an institutional biography of a place and its people, men and women who exercise great power but whose names and faces are unrecognized by many Americans and whose work often appears cloaked in mystery. How do cases get to the Supreme Court? How do the justices go about deciding them? What special role does the chief justice play? What do the law clerks do? How does the court relate to the other branches of government? The author answers these questions by depicting the justices as they confront deep constitutional issues or wrestle with the meaning of confusing federal statutes. Throughout, the author examines many individual Supreme Court cases to illustrate points under discussion, ranging from Marbury v. Madison, the seminal case which established judicial review, to the recent District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), which struck down the District of Columbia's gun-control statute and which was, surprisingly, the first time in its history that the Court issued an authoritative interpretation of the Second Amendment. To add perspective, she also compares the Court to foreign courts, revealing interesting differences. For instance, no other country in the world has chosen to bestow life tenure on its judges.

"[This book presents the author's] new thesis about how the law should work in America, arguing that the courts best enable people to live together, despite their diversity, by resolving particular cases without taking sides in broader, more abstract conflicts. [The author] analyzes the way the law can mediate disputes in a diverse society, examining how the law works in practical terms, and showing that, to arrive at workable, practical solutions, judges must avoid broad, abstract reasoning. He states that judges purposely limit the scope of their decisions to avoid reopening large-scale controversies, calling such actions incompletely theorized agreements. In identifying them as the core feature of legal reasoning, he takes issue with advocates of comprehensive theories and systemization, from Robert Bork to Jeremy Bentham, and Ronald Dworkin. Equally important, [the author] goes on to argue that it is the living practice of the nation's citizens that truly makes law. Legal reasoning can seem impenetrable, mysterious, baroque. [This book] helps dissolve the mystery. Whether discussing abortion, homosexuality, or free speech, the meaning of the Constitution, or the spell cast by the Warren Court ... [the author] moves the debate over fundamental values and principles out of the courts and back to its rightful place in a democratic state: to the legislatures elected by the people. In this second edition, the author updates the previous edition bringing the book into the current mainstream of twenty-first century legal reasoning and judicial decision-making focusing on the many relevant contemporary issues and developments that occurred since its initial 1996 publication."--

In this spooky book from the nonfiction An Unsolved Mystery from History picture book series, set off on the high seas to a ghost ship left completely abandoned and adrift on the waves. The Mary Celeste was discovered adrift on the open sea by another ship in 1872—with no sign of captain or crew. What happened? Did the crew mutiny? Were they attacked by pirates? Caught in a storm? No one ever found out. Inside this book are the clues that were left behind and the theories of what people think happened aboard that ship. Become a detective, study the clues, and see if you can help solve this chilling mystery from history!

More than a quarter century after Bob Woodward introduced his Scotch-drinking, cigarette-smoking, garage-skulking friend and source in All the President's Men , the public remains enduringly engrossed by the mystery of Deep Throat's identity. Leonard Garment became fascinated himself and began his own search for Deep Throat. This is the story of that hunt and its successful outcome, a hunt conducted in quintessential Washington fashion: at lunches, dinners, and parties, through the examination of secret, classified documents and testimony, and assisted by liberal doses of political gossip and insider tips from Woodward himself.

This is the full story of the shocking true crime which still haunts this nation, the sex killing of 13-year-old Mary Phagan by sweatshop operator and B'nai B'rith official Leo Frank in Atlanta, Georgia in 1913 -- and also the story of the tremendous political and economic forces attempting to exonerate the killer even today. This innocent young girl's death has been the stuff of mystery, song, legal corruption, public outrage, vengeance, ethnic conflict, and accusations of racism and anti-Semitism. This is the author's much-expanded edition of her original book, more than twice the size of the first edition, with much more extensive contemporary documentation -- and in-depth analysis of the highly politicized lobbying and literature that has grown up around this case. It is written by Mary Phagan-Kean -- the great-niece of Mary Phagan, the 1913 murder victim.

From New York Times bestselling author Walter Mosley, Detective Easy Rawlins’ latest client sends him down a warren of memory and nostalgia―blinding him to reason and risk. January 1970 finds Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, LA’s premier Black detective, at 50 years of age despite all expectations. He has a loving family, a beautiful home, and a thriving investigation agency. All is right with the world ... and then Amethystine Stoller, his own personal Helen of Troy, arrives. Her ex-husband is missing. A simple enough case. But even as Easy takes his first step in the investigation he trips. He falls into the memory of things past. Little things, like loss, love, a world war, and a hunger that has eaten at him since he was a Black boy on his own on the streets of Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas. The missing ex, a young white man named Curt Fields, is found dead. Easy’s only real friend in the LAPD, Melvin Suggs, has gone into hiding rather than allow his femme fatale wife to go to the gas chamber. And that’s only the beginning. Easy finds himself pressed into a reckoning. All of his success cannot succor his heart. The 1970’s have ushered in new expectations of men and women, Black and White, and Easy has to make a choice that will almost certainly hasten a permanent descent, one that might sunder his soul. Shamus Award Finalist for Best Hardcover PI Novel

Writer Garment uses his "contextual knowledge" of key Nixon insiders to arrive at the only likely candidate for the cigarette-smoking, Scotch-sipping informant. He also provides a fascinating look at the power dynamics within the Nixon administration and Washington. His search for Deep Throat's identity takes readers into the enigma of Richard Nixon, a leader whose tragic end still fascinates.

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.

Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of “Change We Can Believe In” was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama’s historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery. In The Promise: President Obama, Year One , Jonathan Alter, one of the country’s most respected journalists and historians, uses his unique access to the White House to produce the first inside look at Obama’s difficult debut. What happened in 2009 inside the Oval Office? What worked and what failed? What is the president really like on the job and off-hours, using what his best friend called “a Rubik’s Cube in his brain?" These questions are answered here for the first time. We see how a surprisingly cunning Obama took effective charge in Washington several weeks before his election, made trillion-dollar decisions on the stimulus and budget before he was inaugurated, engineered colossally unpopular bailouts of the banking and auto sectors, and escalated a treacherous war not long after settling into office. The Promise is a fast-paced and incisive narrative of a young risk-taking president carving his own path amid sky-high expectations and surging joblessness. Alter reveals that it was Obama alone—“feeling lucky”—who insisted on pushing major health care reform over the objections of his vice president and top advisors, including his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who admitted that “I begged him not to do this.” Alter takes the reader inside the room as Obama prevents a fistfight involving a congressman, coldly reprimands the military brass for insubordination, crashes the key meeting at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference, and bounces back after a disastrous Massachusetts election to redeem a promise that had eluded presidents since FDR. In Alter’s telling, the real Obama is an authentic, demanding, unsentimental, and sometimes overconfident leader. He adapted to the presidency with ease and put more “points on the board” than he is given credit for, but neglected to use his leverage over the banks and failed to connect well with an angry public. We see the famously calm president cursing leaks, playfully trash-talking his advisors, and joking about even the most taboo subjects, still intent on redeeming more of his promise as the problems mount. This brilliant blend of journalism and history offers the freshest reporting and most acute perspective on the biggest story of our time. It will shape impressions of the Obama presidency and of the man himself for years to come.

A new original X-Files novel which brings FBI agents Mulder and Scully into contact with a new menace - one to make your skin crawl... It's a fairly common, if ghoulish, procedure: the 'harvesting' of skin from corpses for temporary use on emergency burn victims until their own grafts are ready. But when a team of moonlighting medical students accidentally takes skin from the wrong donor, the results are catastrophic: a New York City hospital ward is destroyed in a psychotic bloodbath, and an elderly professor, admitted for a routine skin graft, is suddenly the city's most wanted fugitive. Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are the only ones to suspect something more ominous than a medical procedure gone awry. While the police hunt the fleeing professor, Mulder and Scully track the skin that was mistakenly grafted onto him. The trail leads from the morgue to the headquarters of a cutting-edge biotech company. Soon they are in Thailand, searching the jungles for an abandoned MASH Unit, where hundreds of napalm victims were treated with an amazing recovery rate - even though none of them ever returned to their families. Finally, they begin to uncover an unholy and totally deniable alliance between a battle-trained plastic surgeon, international politicians, and a legendary Thai monster known as the 'Skin-Eater'.

An Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and a mystery novelist, Roger L. Simon is the only American writer to pull off the amazing trick of being profiled positively in both Mother Jones and National Review in one lifetime. The stunning story of his political odyssey is told in this memoir, where Simon recounts his migration from financier of the Black Panther Breakfast Program to pioneer blogosphere mogul beloved by the right as a 9/11 Democrat. But Simon is beholden to neither right nor left in this tale of Hollywood chic run amuck, as he talks out of school about his adventures with, among many others, Richard Pryor, Warren Beatty, Timothy Leary, Richard Dreyfuss, Woody Allen, and Julian Semyonov, the Soviet Union's version of Robert Ludlum and also a KGB colonel who tempted Simon to join the KGB himself. Among the topics covered along the way: Is there a new blacklist in Hollywood, this one targeting conservatives? Simon's red-carpet tours of the People's Republic of China, Cuba, and the Soviet Union with Hollywood screenwriters and famous mystery novelists. Why Al Gore's documentary on global warming didn't deserve the Oscar on artistic grounds alone; and why the Academy's voting system is so corrupt. And, as they say, there is much, much more besides.

Herb and Jean Hervey fight all the time. It makes him crazy, but still Herb can't get Jean out of his system. Jean's in love with Paul, Wilda's husband. All Paul wants to do is leave for China and become a flyer. One evening Herb meets Dorothy, whose husband Tommy is fighting in Spain. Dorothy wants comfort and company, and Herb can't keep away from her. Then Jean lets herself get picked up by George Green, who can't keep away from her. It all adds up to a lot of trouble. Retreat from Oblivion is a story of passion, sacrifice and frustration set in New York City at the outset of World War II. It is a story you will not soon forget. David Goodis is considered one of the top writers of noir fiction, and this is his first novel, out of print in the U.S. for over 80 years and never before published in paperback.