A New York Times Bestseller By the author of Showtime--the source for HBO's Winning Time--the definitive biography of mythic multi-sport star Bo Jackson. "A legendary tome on a legendary athlete." --Chris Herring, author of Blood in the Garden From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character--and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat. He became the first person to simultaneously star in two major professional sports, and overtook Michael Jordan as America's most recognizable pitchman. He was on our televisions, in our magazines, plastered across billboards. He was half man, half myth. Then, almost overnight, he was gone. He was Bo Jackson. Drawing on an astonishing 720 original interviews, New York Times bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman captures as never before the elusive truth about Jackson, Auburn University's transcendent Heisman Trophy winner, superstar of both the NFL and Major League Baseball and ubiquitous "Bo Knows" Nike pitchman. Did Bo really jump over a parked Volkswagen? (Yes.) Did he actually run a 4.13 40? (Yes.) During the 1991 flight that nearly killed every member of the Chicago White Sox, was he in the cockpit trying to help? (Oddly, yes. Or no. Or ... maybe.) Bo Jackson isn't Jim Thorpe. He's not Deion Sanders, either. No, Bo Jackson is Paul Bunyan. The Last Folk Hero is the true tale of Bo Jackson that only "master storyteller" (NPR.org) Jeff Pearlman could tell.

Stalin, like Hitler, remains the very personification of evil but also one of the creators of today’s world. Now in an enthralling biography that reads like a thriller, Simon Sebag Montefiore unveils the shadowy, adventurous journey of the Georgian cobbler’s son who became the Red Tsar.What makes a Stalin? Was he illegitimate? Was his mother whore or saint? Was Stalin a Tsarist agent or Lenin’s chief gangster? Was his most notorious heist planned during his stay in London? Was he to blame for his wife’s death? If he really missed the 1917 Revolution, how did he emerge so powerful?Born in poverty, scarred by his upbringing, exceptional in his studies, this charismatic but dangerous boy was hailed as a romantic poet and trained as a priest but found his mission as fanatical revolutionary. He became the mastermind of bank robberies, protection-rackets, arson, piracy, and murder yet he was, uniquely part-intellectual, part-brigand. Surprisingly, he is also revealed as a scandalously prolific lover, leaving a trail of mistresses (varying from schoolgirls to noblewomen) and illegitimate children. Her is the arch-conspirator and escape-artist whose brutal ingenuity so impressed Lenin that he made Stalin (with Trotsky) his top henchman. The paranoid underworld of Joseph Conrad-style terrorism was Stalin’s natural habitat. Montefiore shows how murderous Caucasian banditry and political gangsterism, combined with pitiless ideology, qualified Stalin to demonstrate the Kremlin – and create the USSR in his flawed image. Based on massive research and astonishing new evidence in archives from Moscow to Georgia, YOUNG STALIN, companion and prequel to bestselling, prizewinning STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR, is a chronicle of the Revolution, a pre-history of the USSR – and an intimate biography: this is how Stalin became Stalin.

In an era when too many heroes have been toppled from too many pedestals, Sandy Koufax stands apart and alone, a legend who declined his own celebrity. As a pitcher, he was sublime, the ace of baseball lore. As a human being, he aspired to be the one thing his talent and his fame wouldn't allow: a regular guy. A Brooklyn kid, he was the product of the sedate and modest fifties who came to define and dominate baseball in the sixties. In Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, former award-winning Washington Post sportswriter Jane Leavy delivers an uncommon baseball book, vividly re-creating the Koufax era, when presidents were believed and pitchers aspired to go the distance. He was only a teenager when Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley proclaimed him "the Great Jewish Hope" of the franchise. But it wasn't until long after the team had abandoned Brooklyn that the man became the myth. Old-fashioned in his willingness to play when he was injured and in his acute sense of responsibility to his team, Koutax answered to an authority higher than manager Walter Alston. When he refused to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, he inadvertently made himself a religious icon and an irrevocably public figure. A year later, he was gone -- done with baseball at age thirty. No other sports hero had retired so young, so well, or so completely. Despite Sandy Koufax's best efforts to protect his privacy, his legend has grown larger ever since. Part biography, part cultural history, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy gets as close to that legend as he will allow. Through meticulous reporting and interviews with five hundred of his friends, teammates, and opponents, Leavy penetrates the mythology to discover a man more than worthy of myth.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Forgotten Man and Coolidge offers a stunning revision of our last great period of idealism, the 1960s, with burning relevance for our contemporary challenges. "Great Society is accurate history that reads like a novel, covering the high hopes and catastrophic missteps of our well-meaning leaders." --Alan Greenspan Today, a battle rages in our country. Many Americans are attracted to socialism and economic redistribution while opponents of those ideas argue for purer capitalism. In the 1960s, Americans sought the same goals many seek now: an end to poverty, higher standards of living for the middle class, a better environment and more access to health care and education. Then, too, we debated socialism and capitalism, public sector reform versus private sector advancement. Time and again, whether under John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, or Richard Nixon, the country chose the public sector. Yet the targets of our idealism proved elusive. What's more, Johnson's and Nixon's programs shackled millions of families in permanent government dependence. Ironically, Shlaes argues, the costs of entitlement commitments made a half century ago preclude the very reforms that Americans will need in coming decades. In Great Society, Shlaes offers a powerful companion to her legendary history of the 1930s, The Forgotten Man, and shows that in fact there was scant difference between two presidents we consider opposites: Johnson and Nixon. Just as technocratic military planning by "the Best and the Brightest" made failure in Vietnam inevitable, so planning by a team of the domestic best and brightest guaranteed fiasco at home. At once history and biography, Great Society sketches moving portraits of the characters in this transformative period, from U.S. Presidents to the visionary UAW leader Walter Reuther, the founders of Intel, and Federal Reserve chairmen William McChesney Martin and Arthur Burns. Great Society casts new light on other figures too, from Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, to the socialist Michael Harrington and the protest movement leader Tom Hayden. Drawing on her classic economic expertise and deep historical knowledge, Shlaes upends the traditional narrative of the era, providing a damning indictment of the consequences of thoughtless idealism with striking relevance for today. Great Society captures a dramatic contest with lessons both dark and bright for our own time.

This is the great classic biography of Napoleon, just as it was first published in 1926, with the cover here being the original cover on the 1926 work. This book has been reprinted many times, by many different publishers. Here we are using the original 1926 First edition. There have been many other biographies of Napoleon. What makes Emil Ludwig's work the most famous of all is his literary style and presentation. The book starts with "The Island," and then follows with "The Torrent," "The River," "The Sea" and finally concludes with "The Rock." This biography by Emil Ludwig (1881-1948) is at its best when dealing with the personality and the character of Napoleon. He brings Napoleon to life. No other writer has done that so well and it is for this reason that this biography is the most famous.

A major figure in Israeli politics chronicles his long career and his fervent belief in Zionism, recounting how he left Poland to join the Jewish underground of Palestine, spent years in the Mossad, and became Prime Minister. 12,500 first printing.

From a gifted young writer, the story of his quest to reclaim his family's apartment building in Poland--and of the astonishing entanglement with Nazi treasure hunters that follows Menachem Kaiser's brilliantly told story, woven from improbable events and profound revelations, is set in motion when the author takes up his Holocaust-survivor grandfather's former battle to reclaim the family's apartment building in Sosnowiec, Poland. Soon, he is on a circuitous path to encounters with the long-time residents of the building, and with a Polish lawyer known as "The Killer." A surprise discovery--that his grandfather's cousin not only survived the war, but wrote a secret memoir while a slave laborer in a vast, secret Nazi tunnel complex--leads to Kaiser being adopted as a virtual celebrity by a band of Silesian treasure seekers who revere the memoir as the indispensable guidebook to Nazi plunder. Propelled by rich original research, Kaiser immerses readers in profound questions that reach far beyond his personal quest. What does it mean to seize your own legacy? Can reclaimed property repair rifts among the living? Plunder is both a deeply immersive adventure story and an irreverent, daring interrogation of inheritance--material, spiritual, familial, and emotional.

"You can't let people be treated in an inhuman way around you....Otherwise you start to become inhuman." So declares rescuer Hetty Voûte in this updated edition of THE HEART HAS REASONS, an acclaimed historical account that offers an in-depth look into the hearts and minds of the Holocaust rescuers and explores the meaning that their lives and deeds have for us today. Individually or in small "humanitarian cells," the ten Dutch people Klempner profiles saved the lives of thousands of Jewish children during the Nazi occupation of Holland. How did they do what they did--and why did they risk everything to do it? Although their tales of rescue vary greatly, the integrity of the rescuers does not. Thus these narratives provide a glimpse into their personalities and character while shedding light on their extraordinary acts of courage and kindness. Framed by Klempner's quest for meaning, the rescuers' words resonate across generations, providing timeless insight into how people of conscience can navigate morally and resist tyranny in a world where the old specters of prejudice and fascism are again ascendant.

In this moving memoir, a young Polish Jew chronicles his life under the Nazis. In the vain hope of protecting himself and his family, Calel Perechodnik made the wrenching decision to become a ghetto policeman in a small town near Warsaw. The true tragedy of his choice becomes clear when during the Aktion he must witness his own wife and child forced to board a train to the Treblinka extermination camp. Filled with loathing for the Germans, the Poles, his Jewish brethren, and himself, Perechodnik fled the ghetto to shelter with a Polish woman in Warsaw. In the course of 105 terror-filled days in hiding, he poured out his poignant story. Written while Nazi boots pounded the streets of the neighborhood and while his tortured memory was painfully fresh, this memoir has a rare immediacy and raw power. Shortly before his death in 1944, he entrusted the precious diary to a Polish friend. The document was eventually deposited in the Yad Vashem Archives in Jerusalem. Left nearly forgotten for half a century, it was finally published in Poland in 1993. We owe a great debt to historian Frank Fox for bringing us this sensitive translation, which reminds us anew of the power and truth of historical memory.

Israel's Mossad is one of the world's most powerful intelligence agencies. Having served as its director, Efraim Halevy has witnessed the Middle East crisis from the inside-out. As the secret envoy to prime ministers ranging from Yitzhak Rabin to Ariel Sharon, Halevy was privy to many of the top-level negotiations that changed the landscape of the region—and, in turn, the rest of the modern world. In Man in the Shadows , he provides a fascinating, deeply informed look at the secret workings and global repercussions of Mossad's fight against Islamic terror, and writes with passion and authority about such topics as: • S eptember 11, 2001 : What the Mossad knew before and after the attacks; his critique of the 9/11 report; and his assertion that we haven't seen the worst of radical Islam • His candid thoughts about the Bush Administration; George Tenet and his dismissal; the assassination attempt of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal; and other key players in the war on terror • Iraq : From Operation Desert Storm to the WMD crisis to the war of the present day, Halevy offers a modern history of the region, as well as an action-plan for the future ...and more. By turns a powerful history lesson and a roadmap to world peace, Man in the Shadows is a must-read for the twenty-first century.

"In Gringo , Chesa Boudin takes us on a delightfully engaging trip through Latin America, in an ingenious combination of memoir and commentary" (Howard Zinn). Gringo charts two journeys, both of which began a decade ago. The first is the sweeping transformation of Latin American politics that started with Hugo Chávez's inauguration as president of Venezuela in 1999. In that same year, an eighteen-year-old Chesa Boudin leaves his middle-class Chicago life -- which is punctuated by prison visits to his parents, who were incarcerated when he was fourteen months old for their role in a politically motivated bank truck robbery -- and arrives in Guatemala. He finds a world where disparities of wealth are even more pronounced and where social change is not confined to classroom or dinner-table conversations, but instead takes place in the streets. While a new generation of progress-ive Latin American leaders rises to power, Boudin crisscrosses twenty-seven countries throughout the Americas. He witnesses the economic crisis in Buenos Aires; works inside Chávez's Miraflores palace in Caracas; watches protestors battling police on September 11, 2001, in Santiago; descends into ancient silver mines in Potosí; and travels steerage on a riverboat along the length of the Amazon. He rarely takes a plane when a fifteen-hour bus ride in the company of unfettered chickens is available. Including incisive analysis, brilliant reportage, and deep humanity, Boudin's account of this historic period is revelatory. It weaves together the voices of Latin Americans, some rich, most poor, and the endeavors of a young traveler to understand the world around him while coming to terms with his own complicated past. The result is a marvelous mixture of coming-of-age memoir and travelogue.

As a kid, Noam Chomsky handed out the Daily Mirror at his uncle's newsstand on 72nd Street, inadvertently finding himself in a buzzing intellectual and political hub for European immigrants in New York. Iranian human rights Nobelist Shirin Ebadi and her husband signed their own legal contract, attempting to restore equality to their marriage after the Iranian Revolution effectively erased the legal rights of women. Elizabeth Warren set out to expose those frauds declaring bankruptcy and taking advantage of the system-only to discover, in her research, a very different story of hard-working middle-class families facing economic collapse in the absence of a social safety net. While studying at Oxford, a young Tariq Ali made a bet with a friend that he could work the Vietnam War into every single answer on his final exams. In this rousing, thoughtful, often funny, and always inspiring volume, a diverse and impressive group of thinkers reflect on those formative experiences that shaped their own political commitments. A fascinating new window into the revealing links between the personal and the political, Political Awakenings will engage readers across generations.

Twenty sensational erotic stories that are sinfully good from Xcite Books, winners of the ETO Best Erotic Book Brand 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Featuring stories by some of the best writers in the erotic field including Kay Jaybee, Angela Meadows, Elizabeth Cage and Penelope Friday. Indulge yourself in this sensational collection and discover the pleasure of Ultimate Sins. French Connection by Cathy King Escaping to France in the wake of a failed marriage, Mandy attempts to put the past behind her and indulge in a change of scenery. Bad memories fade as the delights of her holiday destination reveal themselves. With British men off of the menu, she is determined to sample the local fare. A chance encounter following an early evening trip to the beach allows Mandy to experience some of the local delicacies. But, with her appetite whetted all she can crave for is more. Eat Me by Elizabeth Cage Tired after a hard day at work all Joanne wants is to go home, relax and indulge her sweet tooth. A chance encounter at the bus station results in a journey home by quite a different route. Her unforeseen diversion is not without its delights. As the evening unfolds she discovers an appetite that needs to be satiated, and is soon treated to a gourmet feast from a menu of the very risqué kind. Vichysoisse by Astrid L. Gathering ingredients to make a soup at the local supermarket, Sophia encounters the highly charged and seductive Samantha, and is immediately enchanted. Intoxicated by her presence she invites Samantha for a culinary lesson in the preparation of Vichysoisse. As the cooking begins, intimacy, passion and anticipation quickly swirl into a heady infusion that consumes the both of them. Unlike the cold soup that brings them together, their relationship soon progresses from a light simmer to boiling desire. Bamboobzled by Landon Dixon When gorgeous celluloid dame, Brinn Stones saunters'' into his office, hard-nosed PI Jim Brubaker is offered a case he simply cannot refuse. Charged with the task of unearthing a seedy blackmailing scam, Brubaker is forced to trawl the seedy underbelly of the City of Angels. As the case reveals itself, he soon discovers that Tinsel Town is not quite as it seems. It''s a dog-eat-dog world, where just about anything goes. Pretty Young Things by Cathryn Cooper It''s the Roaring Twenties, a decade of decadence, prosperity and wild-abandon. In need of fresh excitement, Carew accepts the challenge of a car race to the nearby abbey ruins. With the brazen Suzanne at his side, he leads the rowdy crowd out into the dark night. Once at the ruins, Suzanne embarks upon a ribald display that soon drives those in attendance into a wanton frenzy. Unmoved, Carew leaves the gathering to wander the ruins, chancing upon a mysterious woman and an erotic encounter of his own. Purposeful Liaison by Shermaine Williams When work calls her husband back from their romantic island holiday, Charlotte is left to enjoy what''s left on her own, rather that reigniting the lost passion of her marriage. Her sudden abandonment soon registers on the radar of Matthew, a well-toned holiday-maker looking for company during his stay. His persistent attention soon wears down Charlotte''s resolve, and a late-night invitation for a drink releases more passion than she can possibly control. Alice and the Red Queen by Jean Roberta When a young student takes on the job of gardener for an erstwhile tennis star, gardening is not the only activity to leave her hot and breathless. The Red Queen soon sets her sights on the nubile employee and enters into a game where domination is the ultimate prize. As the game begins, the temperature starts to rise as the former tennis queen samples the many new delights that await her in the intimacy of her well-maintained grounds. Serial Satisfaction by Cathryn Cooper Michael can''t wait to indulge in his affair with his best friend''s wife. In the seclusion of a lay-by Crystal waits for her lover, but has demands of her own in mind. As Michael revels in her sensuous affection, Crystal takes him to the brink only to stop. A girl needs commitment and that''s exactly what she wants. Crystal wants Michael for herself, not to be shared with his wife. As Michael ponders his next move, he soon learns an important lesson, that Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned. Shared Experience by Lynn Lake The saying goes two''s company and three''s a crowd, but is that always the case? David is desperate for Amy to join him in realising his yearning for a threesome. Reluctant at first, Amy eventually succumbs to his wish and arranges for the arrival of the additional party: the voluptuous Cassandra. With her appetite whetted, Amy soon becomes a willing participant in David''s lustful scenario. However, her involvement is always going to be on her own terms, whatever they may be. Sweet Dreams by Jade Taylor Horny, frustrated and eager to get her toy boy home to the bedroom, Ellie must first lure Greg away from the nightclub. However, the easy distractions of youth interfere with her intentions, despite her most determined and seductive efforts. However, fate works in mysterious ways, and an after hours invitation to Greg''s friend Adam''s home provides her with a golden opportunity. Employing the power of her sensual allure, she teases them both only to enjoy a return that doubles her delight. The Florist by Eva Hore Melissa is determined to have her way with John the hunky Florist. With a plan in mind, she arrives late one evening to pursue her intention. As Melissa embarks on her seductive task, events take a very sudden and unexpected twist. Melissa soon finds herself at the centre of a wanton scenario that takes her on a wild, new experience of pleasure and pain. Behind closed doors at the florists will never be the same again. A Lesson For Victoria by Angela Meadows Dispatched by her Father, Victoria arrives at a school for young ladies nestled high the Tyrol. It soon becomes clear, that she has been sent to be educated as a lady. Under the expert guidance of Madams Thackeray and Hulot Victoria is to be prepared for presentation as a desirable Wife for high society gentleman. As the first evening session in the curriculum unfolds, it''s soon apparent to Victoria that her two-year attendance will be extremely hands on. Story Telling by Jim Baker Reality and imagination become entwined in a series of carnal encounters. A lecturer stumbles upon some raunchy extra-curricular activity in the University lecture hall, whilst a Librarian offers a personal and energetic critique of an author''s work. Yet it''s the mind behind these tales that feeds eagerly from its muse. As the plots are energetically worked out, the Authors fantasies are the only limitation. Beautiful Sin by Penelope Friday Two friends met again after a period of prolonged absence and cordially acknowledge each other. The reality is that both Catherine and Elizabeth share a passion that the world must never know. Against a backdrop of strict moral codes, their true feelings would see them incarcerated and separated forever; their lust for each other deemed a sin. Yet when the lights go out and others settle for the night, both women can meet secretly once more to share in their beautiful sin. The Spying Game by Roz MacLeod It''s the height of the Cold War and the nation is on its guard against the spectre of foreign espionage. When Sandi, a top agent in the Secret Service is called before Control, she is presented with a mission to uncover a possible double agent. Determined to safeguard the Nation''s secrets and using the cover of an erotic dancer, Sandi embarks on her wild and raunchy assignment, using every vice at her disposal to catch her target. The Librarian by Eva Hore A young woman returns early to her shared apartment, to find her scantily clad room mate preparing for a mysterious night-out. Where does a Librarian go after a day in the stacks? Imagination runs riot as an increasingly lecherous scenario unfolds in the young woman''s mind. Her room mate''s daytime mousy demeanour, tight bun and glasses are soon discarded, to reveal a wanton dominatrix hell bent on tasting the delights of her desires. Wreck-Her by Lynn Lake A business woman is unexpectedly delayed as her company car breaks-down, deep in the sun-parched Manitoba prairie. With no cell phone signal and the soaring heat of the surroundings rising, desperation rapidly begins to set in. Help soon arrives in the form of a tow truck that stops to offer assistance. After thoroughly appraising the situation, the truck driver is soon ready to dispense a unique form of roadside assistance that ultimately proves much to the woman''s delight. Mixed Blessings by Phoebe Grafton Two friends are in need of temporary relief from their respective husbands. With one husband too demanding and the other too languid, both wives decide that a weekend exchange is the best tonic. A plan is hatched, and after a night out together is put into effect, as door keys are exchanged for each others home and husband. The weekend that follows indulges each in the marital secrets of the other and in doing so sheds light over the question: is the grass always greener on the other side? Blindspot by Elspeth Potter Becca is both excited and intrigued when Dante brings a new toy to their swingers'' event. But what fascinates her more is how he wants to use it. Very soon, she is joined by Marcus who assists both Dante and herself in experiencing a new, exciting and heightened pleasure. As they plunge into their shared lascivious adventure, all inhibitions fall away leading t

A highly decorated Israeli military officer, leader, and former director of the internal security service, Shin Bet, sees the light on what his country must do to achieve a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In this deeply personal journey of discovery, Ami Ayalon seeks input and perspective from Palestinians and Israelis whose experiences differ from his own. As head of the Shin Bet security agency, he gained empathy for 'the enemy' and learned that when Israel carries out anti-terrorist operations in a political context of hopelessness, the Palestinian public will support violence, because they have nothing to lose. Researching and writing Friendly Fire , he came to understand that his patriotic life had blinded him to the self-defeating nature of policies that have undermined Israel's civil society while heaping humiliation upon its Palestinian neighbours. 'If Israel becomes an Orwellian dystopia,' Ayalon writes, 'it won't be thanks to a handful of theologians dragging us into the dark past. The secular majority will lead us there motivated by fear and propelled by silence.' Ayalon is a realist, not an idealist, and many who consider themselves Zionists will regard as radical his conclusions about what Israel must do to achieve relative peace and security and to sustain itself as a Jewish homeland and a liberal democracy. 'How can a staunch Zionist who was raised on one of Israel's earliest settlements and trained as a kill-or-be-killed elite commando spearhead a campaign for peace with his enemies? The answer, in Ami Ayalon's captivating narrative, is an eye-opener for Palestinians and Israelis alike.' -Sari Nusseibeh, author of Once Upon a Country- a Palestinian life , former president of the Al-Quds University, and former Palestinian National Authority representative in Jerusalem ' Ayalon's aims and accomplishments are ... undeniably impressive ... Hope finds a prominent presence in what so many think is a hopeless, endless conflict.' - Kirkus Reviews 'Ami Ayalon discusses how he came to see a two-state solution with the Palestinians as the best way to ensure Israel's security, not just through analysing numbers and statistics, but through a humanistic approach. He discusses ... how his humanist paradigm not only allowed him to see how the Palestinians' grievances and aspirations are intertwined with Israel's security, but also how he still acknowledges and sympathises with the narratives of those in Israel whom he may disagree with.' -Jonah Naghi, The Times of Israel

"In this innovative biography, Ruth Franklin explores the transformation of Anne Frank (1929-1945) from ordinary teenager to icon, shedding new light on the young woman whose diary of her years in hiding, now translated into more than seventy languages, is the most widely read work of literature to arise from the Holocaust. Comprehensively researched but experimental in spirit, this book chronicles and interprets Anne's life as a Jew in Amsterdam during World War II while also telling the story of the diary--its multiple drafts, its discovery, its reception, and its message for today's world. Writing alongside Anne rather than over her, Franklin explores the day-to-day perils of the Holocaust in the Netherlands as well as Anne's ultimate fate, restoring her humanity and agency in all their messiness, heroism, and complexity. With antisemitism once again in the news, The Many Lives of Anne Frank takes a fresh and timely look at the debates around Anne's life and work, including the controversial adaptations of the diary, Anne's evolution as a fictional character, and the ways her story and image have been politically exploited. Franklin reveals how Anne has been understood and misunderstood, both as a person and as an idea, and opens up new avenues for interpreting her life and writing in today's hyperpolarized world."--

This first fully documented biography of Simon Wiesenthal, the legendary Nazi hunter, is also a brilliant character study of a man whose life was part invention but wholly dedicated to ensuring both that the Nazis be held responsible for their crimes and that the destruction of European Jewry never be forgotten. Like most Jews in Eastern Europe on the eve of Hitler's invasion of Poland, twenty-four-year-old Simon Wiesenthal did not grasp the nature of the Nazi threat. But six years later, when a skeletal Wiesenthal was liberated from the concentration camp at Mauthausen, he fully fathomed the crimes of the Nazis. Within days he had assembled a list of nearly 150 Nazi war criminals, the first of dozens of such lists he would make over a lifetime as a Nazi hunter. A hero in the eyes of many, Wiesenthal was also attacked for his unrelenting pursuit of the past, when others preferred to forget. For this new biography, rich in newsworthy revelations, historian and journalist Tom Segev has obtained access to Wiesenthal's private papers and to sixteen archives, including records of the U.S., Israeli, Polish, and East German secret services. Segev is able to reveal the intriguing secrets of Wiesenthal's life, including his stunning role in the capture of Adolf Eichmann, his relationship with Israel's Mossad, his controversial investigative techniques, his unlikely friendships with Kurt Waldheim and Albert Speer, and the nature of his rivalry with Elie Wiesel. Segev's challenge in writing this biography was Wiesenthal's own complicated relationship to truth. Wiesenthal told many versions of his life, his suffering in the camps, and his involvement with the arrest of individual Nazis. Segev shows that in order to gain the information he sought and twist the arms of reluctant government figures, Wiesenthal needed to seem more influential than he really was. For two generations of Americans, Simon Wiesenthal was a Jewish superhero--depicted on film by Ben Kingsley and Laurence Olivier--and the muse for a Frederick Forsyth thriller. Now Segev demonstrates that the truth of Wiesenthal's existence is as compelling as the fiction. "Simon Wiesenthal" is an unforgettable life of one of the great men of the twentieth century.

A finalist for the 2017 George Freedley Memorial Award "A compelling, absolutely unputdownable story . . . And, in case you're wondering, yes, the book is funny. In places, very funny. A remarkable story, magnificently told." -- Booklist In this richly reported, scene-driven narrative, Sam Wasson charts the meteoric rise of improv from its unlikely beginnings in McCarthy-era Chicago. We witness the chance meeting between Mike Nichols and Elaine May, hang out at the after-hours bar where Dan Aykroyd hosted friends like John Belushi, Bill Murray, and Gilda Radner, and go behind the scenes of cultural landmarks from The Graduate to The Colbert Report . Along the way, we befriend pioneers such as Harold Ramis, Chevy Chase, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler, Alan Arkin, Tina Fey, Judd Apatow, and many others. Wasson shows why improv deserves to be considered the great American art form of the last half century. " One of the most important stories in American popular culture . . . Wasson may be the first author to explain [improv's] entire history . . . For that reason alone, it's a valuable book . " -- New York Times Book Review "A compelling history . . . It holds the element of surprise--true to the spirit of its subject." -- Entertainment Weekly

Updated for the Paperback Edition During his first term as secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan was one of the most widely admired men in the world. In 2001, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Then the UN failed to stop war in Iraq and genocide in Darfur, and the institution was engulfed by the Oil-for-Food scandal. By the time Annan left office in December 2006, both he and the UN had suffered a terrible loss of standing. Did the UN's failures arise from its own structure and culture or from a clash with an American administration determined to go its own way in defiance of world opinion? In The Best Intentions, New York Times Magazine writer James Traub traces the entwined histories of Kofi Annan and the UN from 1992 to the present, and offers a definitive portrait of the institution's role in the age of American dominance.

When American-born Haim Watzman immigrated to Israel, he was drafted into the army and, after eighteen months of compulsory service, was assigned to Company C, the reserve infantry unit that would define the next twenty years of his life. From 1984 until 2002, for at least a month a year, Watzman, who had never aspired to military adventure, was a soldier. Watzman was a soldier as he adjusted to his new country, raised his children, and pursued a career as a writer and translator. At times he defended his adopted country’s borders; at other times he patrolled beyond them, or that gray area, the occupied territories. A religiously observant Jew who opposed Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he served in uniform in conflicts that he demonstrated against in civilian clothes. Throughout, he developed a deep and abiding bond with the diverse men of Company C--a fellowship that cemented his commitment to reserve service even as he questioned the occupation he was enforcing. In this engrossing account of the first Intifada, the period of the Oslo Accords, and Israel’s reoccupation of the West Bank as lived by citizen-soldiers in the field, Watzman examines our obligations to country, friends, family, and God--and our duty to protect our institutions even as we fight to reform them.