Bobby Comfort wanted to be a good something. He turned out to be a great criminal.January 2nd, 1972: Men in tuxedos rob the Pierre, a New York hotel. They get away with $11 million worth of cash and jewelry. The police are baffled by how large-scale a heist could go off so smoothly.The answer was in the leader of the thieves, a man by the name of Bobby Comfort.Comfort took to crime from a young age, card sharping, petty theft, and eventually robbery. Taking money from the rich, though, was where he excelled. Like Robin Hood (only keeping the loot himself), Comfort masterminded what was, at the time, the most lucrative heist in history.Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ira Berkow chronicles the crime, using first-hand accounts to weave together a ripping cops-and-robbers yarn, and a portrait of a truly American rogue.

A keepsake edition gathering the lyrics of more than 80 of Gershwin’s most popular songs Ira Gershwin once remarked that he always tried to “capture the way people spoke to each other—their slang, their clichés, the catch phrases.” Few people in ordinary life, of course, can muster the humor, vivacity, and emotional directness that Gershwin brought to his lyrics. His collaboration with his brother George—one of the summits of American popular music—produced masterpieces that reflect, perhaps, the way people would like to talk. “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “’S Wonderful”: these have entered the culture and become part of our common language. The insouciant, improvisational air of his lyrics belies the meticulous craftsmanship that Ira brought to every syllable. Robert Kimball has gathered more than 80 examples of Ira Gershwin at his best: the comic invention of songs such as “They All Laughed” and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” the poignancy of “The Man I Love,” the wry edge of “The Saga of Jenny,” the sheer exuberance of “Fascinating Rhythm,” and dozens more. About the American Poets Project Elegantly designed in compact editions, printed on acid-free paper, and textually authoritative, the American Poets Project makes available the full range of the American poetic accomplishment, selected and introduced by today’s most discerning poets and critics.

Tom Stoppard has written some of the most challenging and fanciful plays of the 20th century. His work, from the early Jumpers to the film Shakespeare in Love to the current play The Invention of Love, has in effect changed the landscape of drama. Witty, erudite, passionate, abstract, clever (some would say too clever by half), his works are like no one else's. Who is Tom Stoppard -- the Czech-born son of Jews who became the singularly English man of letters? In this vibrant, critical portrait, Ira Nadel weaves life and works into a fascinating chronicle of Stoppard's world on English and American stages. Peopled with such characters as Diana Rigg, John Wood, and Billy Crudup, the book untangles Stoppard's genius against the backdrop of Broadway and London's West End.

The daughter of Louis B. Mayer and wife of David O. Selznick recounts her untypical Hollywood childhood, her marriage to Selznick, and her own career as a Broadway producer, profiling--along the way--her famous friends and colleagues

In both his nonfiction and his fiction, Yalom uses the lens of psychotherapy to explore human nature and shows us that the line between the true and the imagined is not always easy to distinguish. What has driven Dr. Yalom from the beginning of his career is a powerful interest in narrative and it is this passion that ties these selections together. It is possible to come to The Yalom Reader from many different perspectives and be richly rewarded. Readers of Dr. Yalom's clinical texts will be intrigued by the fictional entries; general readers will gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for the practice of psychotherapy. All will find the mark of a master. Dr. Yalom has written an introductory essay for the Reader, section introductions and three new essays on narrative.

With 2 performers at 2 pianos, the musical effect is orchestral and exuberant as this famous Irving Berlin gem marches through its key changes, contrasts, and playful jumps in melodic duties between the artists. Some filled-in octave work is called for and a wide use of each keyboard, but this arrangement is nevertheless accessible for late intermediate pianists. This would make a perfect performance encore piece.

Both an instruction book and an engaging meditation on the joys of chess, this final work by one of the most successful chess writers of all time is appropriate for players at every level. Irving Chernev blends anecdotes with his observations on inspiring moves and combinations by well- and lesser-known players, including Troitzky, Réti, Kasparyan, Botvinnik, Kubbel, Rinck, Grigoriev, and many others. Each example is introduced with a cue ('White to play and win') and includes the composer's name, the date of its original publication (if available), a clear diagram with an algebraic grid, and the winning variation presented in algebraic notion

Back in print for the first time since its original publication in 1980, Flowers is a beautiful photographic book, capturing seven of the most beautiful and popular flowers--the poppy, the rose, the lily, the orchid, the begonia, the peony and the tulip--in 73 full-color radiant portraits.

The magnificent saga of Charles Darwin...

Wallace, Irving

In the stillness of the courtroom a bookseller stands accused of selling a book. Is it a work of sensitive genius or an execrable volume of pornography? Could it have driven a respectable college boy to commit brutal rape? And who is the author of the novel at the vortex of a storm of sensation and controversy?"Michael Barret has been asked by a friend to join him in a small law partnership, but has also been offered a huge salary to go into big business. He's certain of his choice, till he is given a chance to be involved with a major case involved with protecting free speech.The case is about the explicit book "The Seven Minutes", which some people consider pornography, while others, Barret included, feel is impressive literature. The main focus of the prosecution's case is a teenager who bought the book, and was soon after arrested for rape. According to the prosecution, the book insinuated the boy to do what he did, so it must be banned.The novel follows the course of the trial, as both Barret and the prosecutor search for reputable witnesses to prove their side.

The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora is the definitive anthology of the maestro’s visual compositions, reflecting jazz, classical, and Latin music. Regarding his jam-packed canvases Flora once said he “couldn’t stand a static space.” There’s nothing static about the images in The High Fidelity Art: they wail, dance, bounce, and swing from the chandeliers. Flora had a knack for grooving with a paintbrush, making art to which you can tap your toes and snap your fingers.

True account of a young American writer in Paris and his romance with that city.

Pierre Hardelot breaks off his engagement to a wealthy heiress to marry Agnes Florent, the daughter of the local brewer, setting off a family feud which lasts for thirty years, as their village is first destroyed by World War I and then threatened again with the coming of World War II.

From the author of the bestselling Suite Française . In a French courtroom, the trial of a woman is taking place. Gladys Eysenach is no longer young, but she is still beautiful, elegant, cold. She is accused of shooting dead her much-younger lover. As the witnesses take the stand and the case unfolds, Gladys relives fragments of her past: her childhood, her absent father, her marriage, her turbulent relationship with her daughter, her decline, and then the final irrevocable act. With the depth of insight and pitiless compassion we have come to expect from the author of Suite Française , Irène Némirovsky shows us the soul of a desperate woman obsessed with her lost youth.

From the author of the bestselling Suite Fran aise . Le Bal is a sharp, brittle story of a girl who sets out to ruin the mother she hates. The Kampfs have risen swiftly up the ranks of 1930s Parisian society. Painfully aware of her working-class roots, and desperate to win acceptance, Madame Kampf decides to throw a huge ball to announce her arrival to society. Her daughter Antoinette, who has just turned fourteen, dreams of attending, but Madame Kampf is resolved not to present her daughter to potential admirers. In a fury of adolescent rage and despair, Antoinette exacts a swift and horrible revenge... Snow in Autumn pays homage to Nemirovsky's beloved Chekhov and chronicles the life of a devoted servant following her masters as they flee Revolutionary Moscow and emigrate to a life of hardship in Paris. As the crisis pushes the family to the brink of dissolution, Tatiana struggles to adapt to life in Paris and waits in vain for her cherished first snow of autumn.

Science fiction-roman.