No writer plunged more wholeheartedly into the chaotic energies of the 1960s than Norman Mailer, as he fearlessly revolutionized literary norms and genres to capture the political, social, and sexual explosions of an unsettled era. Here, for the first time in one volume, are his unforgettable books of the 1960s: two disruptive and visionary novels, and two radically innovative journalistic masterpieces. War hero, television star, existential hipster, seducer, murderer: such is the protagonist of An American Dream, Mailer's hallucinatory voyage through the dark night of an America awash in money, sex, and violence. In Why Are We in Vietnam? a motor-mouthed 18-year-old Texan on the eve of military service recounts with manic and obscene exuberance a grizzly bear hunt in Alaska that exposes the macho roots of the war. The acclaimed "non-fiction novel" The Armies of the Night (winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award) and its follow-up Miami and the Siege of Chicago are on-the-scene, in-the-scene accounts of an antiwar march on the Pentagon and the party conventions of 1968, as Mailer casts himself as a player in the drama he reports, bringing a sharp and merciless eye on the decade's political upheavals.

As World War II winds to a close, Europe's roads are clogged with twenty million exhausted refugees walking home. Among them are Jacob and Sarah, lonely Holocaust survivors who meet in Heidelberg. But Jacob is consumed with hatred and cannot rest until he has killed his brother's murderer, a concentration camp guard nicknamed "The Rat." Now he must choose between revenge and love, between avenging the past and building a future. Martin Fletcher, who won the National Jewish Book Award for Walking Israel, proved his chops as a novelist with The List, which was selected as the One Book, One Jewish Community title for the city of Philadelphia. Now, in Jacob's Oath , Fletcher brings us another touching novel of love, loyalty, and loss, set in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

One of America’s premier writers, the bestselling author of Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, The Book of Daniel, and World’s Fair turns his astonishing narrative powers to the short story in five dazzling explorations of who we are as a people and how we live. Ranging over the American continent from Alaska to Washington, D.C., these superb short works are crafted with all the weight and resonance of the novels for which E. L. Doctorow is famous. You will find yourself set down in a mysterious redbrick townhouse in rural Illinois (“A House on the Plains”), working things out with a baby-kidnapping couple in California (“Baby Wilson”), living on a religious-cult commune in Kansas (“Walter John Harmon”), and sharing the heartrending cross-country journey of a young woman navigating her way through three bad marriages to a kind of bruised but resolute independence (“Jolene: A Life”). And in the stunning “Child, Dead, in the Rose Garden,” you will witness a special agent of the FBI finding himself at a personal crossroads while investigating a grave breach of White House security. Two of these stories have already won awards as the best fiction of the year published in American periodicals, and two have been chosen for annual best-story anthologies. Composed in a variety of moods and voices, these remarkable portrayals of the American spiritual landscape show a modern master at the height of his powers.

LONGLISTED FOR SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2024. THE ENCHANTING NEW NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF THE 2022 WATERSTONES SCOTTISH BOOK OF THE YEAR, THE FAIR BOTANISTS. 'Gripping' Good Housekeeping 'S ecrets discovered, ruinous rumours scotched, happiness regained and friendships founded' Daily Mail 'A novel of feeling and intellect which will surely and deservedly be a great success' Allan Massie, The Scotsman You wouldn't suspect it, but scandalous secrets are being kept on Blythswood Square... 1846. Glasgow is a city on the cusp of great social change, but behind the curtains, neighbours are watching, and rumours of improper behaviour spread like wildfire on the respectable Blythswood Square. When Charlotte Nicholl discovers that the fortune she has been bequeathed by her father is tied up in a secret collection of erotic art, she is faced with a terrible dilemma: sell it and risk shaming her family's good name or lose her home. An encounter with Ellory Mann, a talented working-class photographer newly arrived in Glasgow, leads Charlotte to hope she has found not only someone who might help her, but also a friend. Yet Ellory is hiding secrets of her own - secrets that become harder to conceal as she finds herself drawn into Charlotte's world. As the truth begins to catch up with both women, will it destroy everything they've fought to build - or set them both free? Readers love Sara Sheridan's storytelling! 'I absolutely love Sara Sheridan's books. They're so easy to get into and so hard to put down. The Secrets of Bythwood Square is no exception. It's a great story populated with excellent, believable characters and woven with rich historical detail' 5* reader review, NetGalley 'A fascinating, atmospheric story which I greatly enjoyed' 5* reader review, NetGalley 'I absolutely loved it, finished it within 2 days' 5* reader review, NetGalley 'Wonderful characters and a beautifully interwoven story.' 4* reader review, NetGalley PRAISE FOR THE FAIR BOTANISTS : 'Sheridan creates an evocative, enjoyable portrait of two women determined to lead independent lives' SUNDAY TIMES 'Completely enchanting and fascinating . . . a rollicking and immensely readable tale' SCOTSMAN 'Lush, seductive and scandalous, this is a gorgeous read' DAILY MAIL 'A cracking good read' VAL MCDERMID 'Dazzling, original, full of wonderful characters' KATIE FFORDE 'What a beautiful, immersive gem of historical fiction' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'An absolute treat for fans of historical fiction and rich storytelling' RED

Gina Berriault had written critically acclaimed stories and novels for decades, but in 1996 she was in the literary spotlight as never before, winning both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Women in Their Beds. This new collection, compiled by Berriault's daughter and her longtime companion, Leonard Gardner, opens with five stories, including ?The Figure Skater,” the final story she saw to publication before her death in 1999. Berriault's stories have been praised for their elegance, compassion, and psychological intelligence. We are first drawn in by her deep understanding of human emotions and predicaments, and then astounded by her remarkable eye for detail. Essays on topics as diverse as topless dancers and firing squads are also included, together with three rare self-revelatory pieces on why the world needs writers, comprising a sort of ars poetica for Berriault. As a whole, this collection becomes her credo on American culture, politics, and the written word.

James Salter's exalted place in American letters is based largely on the intense admiration of other writers, but his work resonates far beyond the realm of fellow craftsmen, addressing themes--youth, war, erotic love, marriage, life abroad, friendship--that speak to us all. Following the publication of his first novel, Salter left behind a military career of great promise to write full-time and--through decades of searching, exacting work--became one of American literature's master stylists. Only months before he died, at the age of eighty-nine, he agreed to serve as the first Kapnick Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia, where he composed and delivered the three lectures presented in this book and introduced by his friend and fellow novelist, National Book Award-winning author John Casey. Salter speaks to us here with an easy intimacy, sharing his unceasing enchantment with the books that made up his reading life, including works by Balzac, Flaubert, Babel (whose prose is "like a handful of radium"), Dreiser, Celine, Faulkner. These talks provide an invaluable opportunity to see the way in which a great writer reads. They also offer a candid look at the writing life--the rejection letters, not one but two negative reviews in the New York Times for the same book, writing in the morning or at night and worrying about money during the long afternoons. Salter raises the question, Why does one write? For wealth? For admiration, or a sense of "importance"? Confronting a blank sheet that always offers too many choices, practicing a vocation that often demands one write instead of live, the answer for Salter was creating a style that captured experience, in a world where anything not written down fades away. -- Amazon.com.

"The Imperial Wife is a smart, engaging novel that parallels two fascinating worlds and two singular women. Irina Reyn writes beautifully of immigrants, art and the vagaries of love."--Jess Walter, National Book Award finalist and author of the New York Times bestseller, Beautiful Ruins Two women's lives collide when a priceless Russian artifact comes to light. Tanya Kagan, a rising specialist in Russian art at a top New York auction house, is trying to entice Russia's wealthy oligarchs to bid on the biggest sale of her career, The Order of Saint Catherine, while making sense of the sudden and unexplained departure of her husband. As questions arise over the provenance of the Order and auction fever kicks in, Reyn takes us into the dazzling world of Catherine the Great, the infamous 18th-century empress, who may have owned the priceless artifact, and who, it turns out, faced many of the same issues Tanya wrestles with in her own life. Suspenseful and beautifully written, The Imperial Wife asks whether we view female ambition any differently today than we did in the past. Can a contemporary marriage withstand an "Imperial Wife"?

An astonishing collection of short stories--set deep in the twisted heart of middle class America--from one of America's most promising and highly acclaimed young writers. Leavitt lays bare the terrible lies of love and pain that bind us all in this "astounding collection of short stories".--New York Times. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.

-- Brimming with Elkin's comic brilliance and singular wordplay, The Magic Kingdom tells the story of Eddy Bale, who, determined to learn from the ghastly experience of his son's long, drawn-out death, decides to raise enough money to take seven terminally ill children to Disney World in order to give them a dream vacation before they die. -- Stanley Elkin, a two-timer winner of the National Book Critics Award and three-time nominee for the National Book Award, is widely considered to be one of the most important writers of the contemporary period. Author of over a dozen novels and short story collections, his works include The Franchiser, George Mills, and Mrs. Ted Bliss. -- First published by Dutton (1985), most recent paperback by Thunder's Mouth (1991).

Hotel Malta is a fascinating tale of love and hope, the story of Ernest and Eva Bloom whose lives were upended by World War II, and of Amotz, their grandson, whose marriage is disintegrating, while expecting the birth of his first child. Compelled by an overpowering urge, Ernest makes an intriguing request of his grandson that returns him to a fraught period in his life, rekindling the memory of three distant, stormy, passionate days in Naples in the 1950s. This request alters not only Ernest Bloom's life but also the lives of others, both close and distant. The book raises many questions: How can three days of bliss be weighed against an entire life, and what is love, after all? How does an author find her place in the lives of her characters? And perhaps the most heartbreaking question of all - is it possible to die of happiness?The author's two previous books, Amstel (shortlisted for the prestigious Sapir Prize, 2008) and The Sand Dunes of Paris, were received with critical acclaim, have been translated into English and were awarded national and international prizes: "Arabesque," from Amstel, won first prize in UNESCO's international Mediterranean Short Story Competition; The Sand Dunes of Paris was awarded the Hebrew Literature Translation Prize by the Israel Ministry of Culture. Hotel Malta was awarded the Hebrew Literature Translation Prize in 2016. Go, Pave the Sea, her most political novel, will be published soon (Autumn 2017).

Daniela Gioseffi is an American Book Award winning author of fourteen books. She's been a worldwide speaker on campuses, at book fairs, on NPR, BBC, and on The Poet and the Poem, Library of Congress' Radio Show of The National Endowment for the Arts. This book, based on her non-fiction Afterword, includes newly discovered, startling research and theory published in The Emily Dickinson Journal, Vol. X1.2. She is listed with the Dickinson Scholar's Registry, has received the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in poetry, two New York State Council for the Arts grants in poetry, and a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. "Gioseffi's writing is appealing... Engaging, filled with energy.... irresistible. Larry McMurty, The Washington Post. Pulitzer Prize: Terms of Endearment "Gioseffi's work overflows with poetic vision." Nona Balakian, former staff reviewer, The New York Times "... a gifted writer.... A stunning essay [afterword]. It should be a book." Galway Kinnell, Pulitzer Prize & National Book Award winning poet "Whatever Daniela does, she does well. Among other things, I'd put my life in her hands.... Dickinson is lucky Daniela took hers in her hands." Grace Paley, Former Poet Laureate of VT. NY State Fiction Award "Startlingly fresh. Animated. Voluptuous. Gioseffi's writing is mythopoeic." Mary Pradt, Library Journal "Gioseffi's writing is imaginatively rich, startling, intelligent, with a wide range of reading behind it, and relevant to the most profound issues of our times." John Logan, Former poetry editor: The Nation "I like the way your essay richly evokes the life and times of Dickinson." Robert Hass, Former Poet Laureate USA "The essay [afterword] on Dickinson is fascinating and convincing...." Alice Quinn, Director: Poetry Society of America "Daniela's is an adamant poet's world where the poem is the source of all good." Bob Holman, PBS: The United States of Poetry, and Bowery Poetry Club, NY

The award-winning author of Minor Characters writes with delicious transparency about a love that cannot be harnessed and a woman who refuses to be deceived In the great wave of husband-leaving ushered in by the Sexual Revolution, Molly Held frees herself from her cold, flagrantly unfaithful husband after their final quarrel turns violent. With her five-year-old son, she lights out for an Upper West Side apartment and the new life she hopes to find with Conrad Schwartzberg-the charismatic radical lawyer who has recently become her lover. Having escaped from a desert, she lands in a swamp. While Conrad radiates positive energy, he is unable to tell Molly-or anyone who loves him-the truth. No longer the wronged wife, Molly now finds herself the Other Woman. She is sharing Conrad with Roberta, another refugee from marriage-with Conrad's movements between the two of them disguised by his suspiciously frequent out-of-town engagements. Roberta either knows nothing or prefers to look the other way, but Molly's maddening capacity for double vision takes over her mind. What saves her from herself is her well-developed sense of irony, which never fails her-or the reader. "Ironic, witty and always graceful." -Marilyn French, author of The Women's Room "Johnson . . . reveals a knack for lyric bitterness." -Kirkus Reviews "Another superb novel of feminine risk-taking." -Ann Douglas " Bad Connections] is controlled, smooth, deftly written: it evokes scene and character with admirable sure swiftness. . . . Joyce Johnson's touches are all true." -Harper's Magazine "Joyce Johnson is a writer of wit and perception . . . and she has a keen eye for the irony of modern life." -The New York Times Book Review "Often funny, sometimes cathartically angry, always skillful in rendering the small, excruciating moments that add up to the misery of love gone bad." -The Village Voice "The new literature of the aggrieved woman has produced something here quite memorable, a sad, beautiful casebook of unrequited love, unrequited humanity." -E. L. Doctorow "Painfully perceptive, psychologically accurate." -Judith Rossner "A subtle, witty, rueful tour de force of that strange new territory which all of us now inhabit: modern women's modern lives." -Barbara Probst Solomon Joyce Johnson was born in 1935 in New York City, the setting for all her fiction: Come and Join the Dance, recognized as the first Beat novel by a woman writer, Bad Connections, and In the Night Caf . She is best known for her memoir Minor Characters, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983 and dealt with coming of age in the 1950s and with her involvement with Jack Kerouac. She has published two other Beat-related books: Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, and The Voice Is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac. She has also written a second memoir, Missing Men, and the nonfiction title What Lisa Knew: The Truths and Lies of the Steinberg Case.

Paperback edition of a novel first published in 1991, giving an account of one man's weekend encounter with insanity. The author has also written the award-winning autobiography TWhole Life', and several novels and short stories. His novel TFlying Home' was selected by the National Book Council as one of the 10 best Australian books of the decade.

Cool, elegant, pure, and yet surprisingly eccentric, the thirteen stories in Between the Flags explore contradictions of American experience since World War II. This retrospective of B.H. Friedman's work begins with "As I Am I Will Be," as its central character, Little Boy, faces civilian life after the war. It ends with the title story, in which a nameless man fights for his life against the sea and afterward realizes how little of his identity he carries away. Between these two periods - the forties and the eighties, youth and old age - life stories filled with regret, humor, and subtle complications. They complement the stories collected in Coming Close (1982), also published by Fiction Collective. Friedman's characters struggle with the ways in which their lives are bounded. The desire to recover the sexual energy of youth propels one character into a confrontation with priapism. An art critic and the painter she made famous nourish and then finally consume each other's talents. In "Whisper," a man cherishes the anonymity that allows him to move freely in his pursuit of "zeros" (money). "Whisper," a prescient parable for the eighties, was expanded into a novel and recommended for a National Book Award by William Gass. Except for "Reunion in Spain," which is published here for the first time, all of these stories appeared previously in distinguished literary magazines.

Product Description When Jack Rodenko shipped out as a sailor during World War II, he never imagined that real adventure would be waiting for him at home in New Orleans. The Crescent City after the war is at the heart of a rapidly changing America, and ex-sailor Jack Rodenko is caught up in a strange and shifting milieu as he tends bar at a seedy club called L’Êtoile. While struggling to build a new life, Rodenko becomes involved with a corrupt, greedy power broker, and falls in love with a striking photographer - relationships that will force him to choose between two decidedly different futures. First published decades after the author's death in 1972, The Unknown Constellations is the first novel by unsung postwar literary hero Henry Swados. Through these pages, we can trace the origins of a unique voice and an unerring conscience. From Library Journal Written in the 1940s, this is Swados's recently rediscovered first novel. (The late Swados was the author of ten books, including The Will, which received a National Book Award nomination in 1963.) The novel concerns Jack Rodenko, a disaffected seaman who puts ashore in New Orleans, hoping to rebuild a life shattered by an accident that occurred while in college. Soon, he is a protege of corrupt, power-hungry Shepard Ball and becomes enmeshed in Ball's schemes involving drugs, weapons, and politics. In the end, Jack must decide between wealth and easy success with Ball or self-respect and the love of Linda Lester, a beautiful photographer. While generally melodramatic, the novel is significant for sounding themes Swados would develop in later works: father-son conflicts, concern for the working class, and the tensions between public and private commitments. For academic and large public libraries.?Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.