Norman Dietz
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Fashioned from the same experiences that would inspire the masterpiece Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi is Mark Twain’s most brilliant and most personal nonfiction work. It is at once an affectionate evocation of the vital river life in the steamboat era and a melancholy reminiscence of its passing after the Civil War, a priceless collection of humorous anecdotes and folktales, and a unique glimpse into Twain’s life before...
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In the Bales-McCord family there are several old people contemplating their final resting places. Two of them—Glenn and Laura Bales—are in bad shape, and everybody is wondering which one will go first. Join them in Summerlin as they attend to the business of passing on—and passing down. A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB SELECTION.
24) Short Cuts
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From “one of the great short story writers of our time” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)—nine stories and a poem that offer a searing portrait of American innocence and loss—and formed the basis for the film “Short Cuts” directed by Robert Altman.
With deadpan humor and enormous tenderness, this is the work of “one of the true contemporary masters” (The New York Review of Books)....
With deadpan humor and enormous tenderness, this is the work of “one of the true contemporary masters” (The New York Review of Books)....
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A Man Without a Country is Kurt Vonnegut's hilariously funny and razor-sharp look at life ("If I die--God forbid--I would like to go to heaven to ask somebody in charge up there, 'Hey, what was the good news and what was the bad news?"), art ("To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it."), politics ("I asked former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton what he thought of our great victory over Iraq and he said,
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The political dilemma of Ireland; the state of faith in England; the charms of the Beggar's Opera; the importance of puns . . . This selection gathers together some of Swift's most brilliant prose, from high politics to social gossip, from savage tirades to lighthearted social satire. In addition to his classic essays, the collection includes several of Swift's letters to Alexander Pope and other great thinkers of the age.
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Bernd Heinrich involves us in his quest to get inside the mind of the raven. But as animals can only be spied on by getting quite close, Heinrich adopts ravens, thereby becoming a "raven father," as well as observing them in their natural habitat. He studies their daily routines, and in the process, paints a vivid picture of the ravens' world. At the heart of this book are Heinrich's love and respect for these complex and engaging creatures, and through...
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A riveting new account of Theodore Roosevelt's impassioned crusade for military preparedness as America fitfully stumbles into World War I, spectacularly punctuated by his unique tongue-lashings of the vacillating Woodrow Wilson, his rousing advocacy of a masculine, pro-Allied "Americanism," a death-defying compulsion for personal front-line combat, a gingerly rapprochement with GOP power brokers-and, yes, perhaps, even another presidential campaign....
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Between 1775 and 1783, some 200,000 Americans took up arms against the British Crown, and just over 6,800 died in battle. About 25,000 became prisoners of war, most of them confined in New York City under conditions so atrocious that they perished by the thousands. Evidence suggests that at least 17,500 Americans may have died in these prisons--more than twice the number to die on the battlefield. New York City was the principal base of the Crown's...
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This classic captures the endearing relationship between a man and his grandson as they fish and hunt the lakes and woods of North Carolina. All the while the Old Man acts as teacher and guide, passing on his wisdom and life experiences to the boy, who listens in rapt fascination.
32) The Idiot
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Just two years after completing Crime and Punishment, which explored the mind of a murderer, Fyodor Dostoevsky produced another masterpiece: The Idiot. This time the author portrays a truly beautiful soul and one of Dostoevsky's greatest characters-Prince Muishkin, a saintly, Christ-like, yet deeply human figure. The story begins when Muishkin arrives on Russian soil after a stay in a Swiss sanatorium. Scorned by St. Petersburg society as an idiot...
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Professor Pierre Aronnax is a fortunate though unwilling passenger on the amazing submersible, Nautilus. Its captain, Nemo, hounded by the "civilized" world above water, wages a solitary war against what he views as injustice and hatred. While Aronnax gazes out through the observation windows of the massive craft on the deepest trenches of the sea, the greater wonder may be the enigmatic commander at his side and the deadly quest he pursues.
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It took more than a revolution to win true independence: The story of the War of 1812, the United State's second war on England, by a New York Times bestselling historian. At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the great powers of Western Europe treated the United States like a disobedient child. Great Britain blocked American trade, seized its vessels, and impressed its sailors to serve in the Royal Navy. America's complaints were ignored, and the...
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In 1804, President Jefferson asked two Virginians-Meriwether Lewis and William Clark-to lead an expedition into the unexplored wilderness of North America. The journals of these explorers are both a priceless piece of national history and a great adventure story. With descriptions of Native American tribes and life-and-death struggles against the elements, this book will transport you to the early days of American exploration.
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In 1871, an entire fleet of whaling ships was caught in an arctic ice storm and destroyed. Though few lives were lost, the damage would forever shape one of America's most distinctive commodities: oil. New Bedford, Massachusetts, was fertile ground for this country's first multimillion-dollar industry. Founded by assiduous Quaker merchants seeking refuge for their austere religion, the town also lent unparalleled access to the high seas. The combination...
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Even compared to his fellow founders, George Washington stands tall. Our first president has long been considered a stoic hero, holding himself above the rough-and-tumble politics of his day. Now John Ferling peers behind that image, carefully burnished by Washington himself, to show us a leader who was not only not above politics but a canny infighter-a master of persuasion, manipulation, and deniability. In the War of Independence, Washington used...
38) Roughing it
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Two American originals, Mark Twain and the West, come together in this documentary of the author's seven-year "pleasure trip" to the silver mines of Nevada. Twain had originally planned the trip to be a three-month "vacation;" not surprisingly for someone of Twain's temperament, the trip lasted seven years. His journey, like his book, has a way of taking ever-unexpected turns.
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In this early work from Fyodor Dostoevsky, the role and domain of the anti-hero is explored and exposed. In his self-appointed removal from society, the narrator attempts to dissect the complicated rules, both spoken and unspoken, of human interactions as well as the driving force and reason behind individual morality and universal truths. He descends into a chaos of contradictions as he attempts to prove his own superiority and understanding of morality...
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The epic story of the fall of the Inca Empire to Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in the aftermath of a bloody civil war, and the recent discovery of the lost guerrilla capital of the Incas, Vilcabamba, by three American explorers.
In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had...
In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had...