When she is asked to spy on her best friend's two-timing husband who turns up dead at San Francisco's hottest nightclub, would-be sleuth Sophie unwittingly becomes submerged in a world of political mudslinging, campaign cover-ups, sex, and strange fetishes.

Sophie Katz has just offered a man $12,000 for his services… Is she desperate or just meshugeneh? Considering the kind of disasters that usually befall the half-black, half-Jewish mystery writer, probably both. Because the last time Sophie saw sexy P.I. Anatoly Darinsky, he practically danced a jig when she waved goodbye—a normal reaction for a man who'd nearly bought the farm trying to protect her from her own foolishness. What are the chances he'd agree to take incriminating pictures of her sister's philandering husband? Or that he'd let her tag along—you know…for research? But when her brother-in-law turns up dead and her sister becomes the prime suspect, Sophie's priority is finding the real killer. With or without Anatoly's help. Her brother-in-law's secret life yields plenty of suspects, but the San Francisco police aren't taking any of them seriously. So Sophie does what comes naturally to her: she stirs up trouble (to lure the killer out, of course). But if her crazy plan works, will Anatoly be there to protect her this time?

To her father, she was a princess. To her first husband, she was the perfect wife and mother. But to the other men in her life she was so much more. Daughter of a Welsh Surveyor who had brought his Palestinian wife to Mexico at the end of World War II to seek his fortune, Bianca was raised always to expect the best of everything. She quickly discovered, however, that the best was never going to be enough. Charming, attractive, vivacious and extremely aware of her power over rich and powerful men, she sought nothing less than to be the absolute ruler of international society. Reluctantly but ruthlessly contriving to bring about the end of her marriage to Bernardo, she quickly allowed herself to become wedded to the fortunes of Ferdie, the psychologically unstable scion of the powerful and rich Piedraplata family, whose international concerns include commerce, banking and jewelry. However, when deep cracks start to form in their glamourous jet-set lifestyle together, Bianca turns to the calculating and amoral Philippe Mahfud, an Iraqi business associate of Ferdies, to help her attain the wealth and status she secretly covets. Lady Colin Campbells compulsive dÃbut novel is a tale of charm, intrigue and cold-blooded murder set among the high flyers of twentieth-century international society. F ollow Empress Bianca from her earliest days as a middle-class housewife in post-war Mexico as she lies, cheats, schemes and seduces her way to the top. A veritable monster of vanity and pretension, captured with deadly accuracy in Lady Colin s lucid prose, Bianca leaves her mark on every couturier s salon, chic restaurant or exclusive gathering she walks into, cutting an unmistakable swathe through social circles and gossip columns from the late 1950s right up to today. See international society the way insiders see it. See it through Empress Biancas eyes.

"Discusses how climate solutions must empower global development by improving livelihoods, health, and economic prospects and how poverty alleviation must become a central strategy for reducing global vulnerability to adverse climate impacts. Draws on expertise to ask how public, private sectors can help the poor manage the global climate crisis"--Provided by publisher.

The Most Revealing Elvis Book You'll Ever Read Literally hundreds of books and millions of words have been written about the phenomenon that was Elvis Presley. None even approaches what is revealed in this one-because this is the only story Elvis made Larry Geller promise to tell. Here at last is the full, true and mesmerizing story of Elvis Presley, who died in 1977, but whose legend is bigger than ever. Not until now have we had the chance to know him as he would have wanted us to. Many books tell what Elvis did. This one tells what Elvis believed. When you plumb the depths of Elvis' soul as it is revealed here, you will understand the real Elvis. You will know him, and very likely, love him even more.

Never before told stories of the Beatles seven-year rise from teenage dreamers to icons, both the heartbreaks and lucky breaks. From their humble beginnings in Liverpool to the cellars of Hamburg, this includes an eyewitness account of that first meeting between Lennon and McCartney, the inside story of how Ringo replaced Pete Best, a chapter devoted to the brilliant but troubled soul of manager Brian Epstein, the real scoop on their unlucky first visit to Hamburg and the death of Stu Sutcliffe.

In The American People: Volume 2: The Brutality of Fact , Larry Kramer completes his radical reimagining of his country’s history. Ranging from the brothels of 1950s Washington, D.C., to the activism of the 1980s and beyond, Kramer offers an elaborate phantasmagoria of bigoted conspiracists in the halls of power and ordinary individuals suffering their consequences. With wit and bite, Kramer explores (among other things) the sex lives of every recent president; the complicated behavior of America’s two greatest spies, J. Edgar Hoover and James Jesus Angleton; the rise of Sexopolis , the country’s favorite magazine; and the genocidal activities of every branch of our health-care and drug-delivery systems. The American People: Volume 2 is narrated by (among others) the writer Fred Lemish and his two friends—Dr. Daniel Jerusalem, who works for America’s preeminent health-care institution, and his twin brother, David Jerusalem, a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp who was abused by many powerful men. Together they track a terrible plague that intensifies as the government ignores it and depict the bold and imaginative activists who set out to shock the nation’s conscience. In Kramer’s telling, the United States is dedicated to the proposition that very few men are created equal, and those who love other men may be destined for death. Here is a historical novel like no other—satiric and impassioned and driven by an uncompromising moral and literary vision.

"It is unlike most any other kind of humor, for it spares no feeling or allegiance in its penetrating and cutting design. The Sick Joke is the most outrageous, insensitive, offensive and revolting brand of humor ever devised by man."

Brooke and Julian live a happy life in New York -- she's the breadwinner working two jobs and he's the struggling musician husband. Then Julian is discovered by a Sony exec and becomes an overnight success -- and their life changes for ever. Julian's new-found fame means that Brooke must face the savage attentions of the ruthless paparazzi. And when a scandalous picture hits the front pages, Brooke's world is turned upside down.

“Sexy, surprising, funny, insightful, and wildly entertaining” ( Huffington Post )—the definitive biography of Giacomo Casanova, the impoverished boy who became the famous writer, notorious libertine, and self-invented genius in decadent eighteenth-century Europe. Today, “Casanova” is a synonym for “great lover,” yet the real story of this remarkable figure is little known. A figure straight out of a Henry Fielding novel, Giacomo Casanova was erotic, brilliant, impulsive, and desperate for recognition; a self-destructive genius. Over the course of his lifetime, he claimed to have seduced more than one hundred women, among them married women, young women in convents, girls just barely in their teens, women of high and low birth alike. Abandoned by his mother, an actress and courtesan, Casanova was raised by his illiterate grandmother, coming of age in a Venice filled with spies and political intrigue. He was intellectually curious and read forbidden books, for which he was jailed. He staged a dramatic escape from Venice’s notorious prison, I Piombi, the only person known to have done so. He then fled to France, ingratiated himself at the royal court, and invented the national lottery that still exists to this day. He crisscrossed Europe, landing for a while in St. Petersburg, where he was admitted to the court of Catherine the Great. He corresponded with Voltaire and met Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte—assisting them as they composed the timeless opera Don Giovanni . And he wrote what many consider the greatest memoir of the era, the twelve-volume Story of My Life . Laurence Bergreen’s Casanova recounts this astonishing life in rich, intimate detail, and at the same time, paints a dazzling portrait of eighteenth-century Europe, filled with a cast characters from serving girls to kings and courtiers, “great fun for any history lover” ( Kirkus Reviews ).

Discover how the global financial plague is poised to return, and what can be done to stop it This is not your father's financial system. Jimmy Stewart, the trustworthy, honest banker in the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, is dead. And so is his small-town bank, Bailey Savings & Loan.

Punished for Purpose is a compelling true-life story of abuse, hardship and inspiration-the vivid tale of a beaten child turned prostitute and heroin addict who could only reconcile her tragic existence as punishment for sins committed in a past life. Close to the ultimate self destruction, she is guided by thirteen people, virtual angels, each of whom crosses her path at exactly the right moment to lead her back to the light. Far beyond coincidence, she can only view it as a sign that her life was meant to be, that she was returned from the darkness for a purpose: To rescue those left behind, to save as many of America's throwaway children as her time on earth will allow.

Upset when her stand-up comedian boyfriend dumps her on Christmas, Jewish Manhattan publicist Aimee Albert sets out to seek companionship with a nice Jewish man, only to find herself falling for Josh Hirsch, a gorgeous--and Jewish--man who mistakes her for a shiksa and who has a different attitude toward Judaism than she does.

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of a space station. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. The city is literally a weed, its growth left unchecked. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper. When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris' ex-lover is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the datastream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin is infatuated with a robotnik--a damaged cyborg soldier who might as well be begging for parts. His father is terminally-ill with a multigenerational mind-plague. And a hunted data-vampire has followed Boris to where she is forbidden to return. Rising above them is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation--a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness--are just the beginning of irrevocable change. At Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive ... and even evolve.

A definitive history of consumer activism, Buying Power traces the lineage of this political tradition back to our nation’s founding, revealing that Americans used purchasing power to support causes and punish enemies long before the word boycott even entered our lexicon. Taking the Boston Tea Party as his starting point, Lawrence Glickman argues that the rejection of British imports by revolutionary patriots inaugurated a continuous series of consumer boycotts, campaigns for safe and ethical consumption, and efforts to make goods more broadly accessible. He explores abolitionist-led efforts to eschew slave-made goods, African American consumer campaigns against Jim Crow, a 1930s refusal of silk from fascist Japan, and emerging contemporary movements like slow food. Uncovering previously unknown episodes and analyzing famous events from a fresh perspective, Glickman illuminates moments when consumer activism intersected with political and civil rights movements. He also sheds new light on activists’ relationship with the consumer movement, which gave rise to lobbies like the National Consumers League and Consumers Union as well as ill-fated legislation to create a federal Consumer Protection Agency.

"In 1969, Allen Ginsberg wrote to his friend, fellow poet, and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "Alas, telephone destroys letters!" Fortunately, however, by then the two had already exchanged a treasure trove of personal correspondence, and more than any other documents, their letters-intimate, opinionated, and action-packed-reveal the true nature of their lifelong friendship and creative relationship. Collected here for the first time, they offer an intimate view into the range of artistic vision and complementary sensibilities that fueled the genius of their literary collaborations.Ferlinghetti and Ginsberg were two of the twentieth century's most influential literary rebels, and their correspondence documents a time when both were rising to the peak of their notoriety and international fame, traveling, writing, publishing, and performing their poetry during times of unprecedented social and cultural experimentation and upheaval. Ferlinghetti was Ginsberg's publisher and editor, and the correspondence begins with a telegram from Lawrence after hearing Allen's legendary reading of "Howl" at the Six Gallery: "I greet you at the beginning of a great career. When do I get the manuscript?"The majority of the letters collected here have never before been published, and they span the period from 1955 until Ginsberg's death in 1997. Facsimiles and photographs enhance the collection, an evocative portrait of an inspiring and enduring relationship.Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an internationally renowned poet, painter, publisher, and founder of City Lights Books.Allen Ginsberg was a leading member of the Beat Generation and an award-winning poet best known as the author of Howl & Other Poems, among many other works"--

This official history of the Falklands Campaign covers the origins of the 1982 war, describing the history of the dispute between Argentina and Britain over sovereignty. In 1982 an apparently trivial incident over an illegal landing by scrap-metal merchants turned into a major crisis.

The story of matter and the history of the cosmos from the perspective of a single oxygen atom, told with the insight and wit of one of the most dynamic physicists and writers working today. Through this astonishing work, he manages to stoke wonder at the powers and unlikely events that conspired to create our solar system, our ecosystem, and us.