Our story is about the genesis and evolution of these phantoms and men-who-never-were, these artists and magicians at the front line who operated in stealth and secrecy.Throughout the course of World War II, Allied forces engaged in elaborate deceptions to fool Hitler's armies. A ragtag group of Bohemian artists and creatives were assembled to devise these strategies, including rubber dummy tanks, faux railway lines and falsified wireless intelligence. They made armies app...

Born in 1887, Georgia O’Keeffe was one of the key figures who participated in the emancipation of modern art from its conventional forms and subjects. At a time when women were above all wives and mothers, Georgia O’Keeffe defied tradition when she became first the companion and finally the wife of the famous photographer and father of American modern art: Alfred Stieglitz. Georgia O’Keeffe is known above all for her complex descriptions of nature: the delicacy of an autumn leaf, the subtl...

The village of Arlington Heights--beginning with the diligence and fortitude of William Dunton--is replete with stories of bitter hardship and exalting triumph. Originally named Dunton after its founder, the village's success was sealed by canny deal-making that brought a railroad through the middle of town. As the state of Illinois boomed, the village on the tracks flourished with agriculture, industry, transportation and an expanding population. From the influx of immigrants and industry...

"Chronicles the misdeeds of many of America's worst miscreants, with special emphasis on the tools of the outlaw trade." — American RiflemanFrom colonial-era rifles carried on the "Owlhoot Trail" to John Dillinger's Colt pistols, the history of the American outlaw is told in guns—weapons that became each man's personal signature. Authors Gerry and Janet Souter peer into these criminals' choices of derringers, revolvers, shotguns, rifles, machine guns, and c...

In 1905 Georgia travelled to Chicago to study painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1907 she enrolled at the Art Students’ League in New York City, where she studied with William Merritt Chase. During her time in New York she became familiar with the 291 Gallery owned by her future husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. In 1912, she and her sisters studied at university with Alon Bement, who employed a somewhat revolutionary method in art instruction originally conceived by Arthur ...

The largest such spectacle in the world, the Chicago Air and Water Show draws over three million people to the lakeshore for a weekend of low-key beach leisure and high-powered entertainment. Gerry and Janet Souter climb into the cockpit (and occasionally lean precariously out of it) to log the extravaganza's fascinating history. Even before the event became a beloved annual tradition half a century ago, visitors to the lakeshore had been treated to sights like the International Aviation M...

In 1905 Georgia travelled to Chicago to study painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1907 she enrolled at the Art Students’ League in New York City, where she studied with William Merritt Chase. During her time in New York she became familiar with the 291 Gallery owned by her future husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. In 1912, she and her sisters studied at university with Alon Bement, who employed a somewhat revolutionary method in art instruction originally conceived by Arthur ...

Vietnam: The Unwinnable War is a dramatic guide to the suffering, sacrifice and heroism of one of the most significant and debated periods in twentieth-century history.Expertly retold with searing imagery and accounts of the events that unfolded, this definitive visual history memorializes this controversial and bloody conflict. Also included are 20 pieces of memorabilia reproduced on the page, taken from US archives and personal collections to give an aut...

When attack can come from anywhere, camouflage can be the ultimate stealth weapon.During World War II, a ragtag group of Bohemian artists were assembled to confound, misinform and redirect Nazi troops. Using rubber dummy tanks, sound effects, and their talents for set design, these heroic individuals made armies appear out of thin air and baffled the German forces. Featuring veteran interviews and breakdowns of battle scenes, The Ghost Army brings to life the fasci...

A look into the history of obsession, greed, and violence in California's wine industry—"From its explosive prologue to the very last sentence, Frances Dinkelspiel has written an utterly riveting true-crime book" ( The Los Angeles Review of Books ).A New York Times BestsellerA San Francisco Chronicle B...

"The definitive life of O'Keeffe." —Hilton Kramer, Los Angeles TimesGeorgia O'Keefe (1887?-1986) was one of the most successful American artists of the twentieth century: her arresting paintings of enormous, intimately rendered flowers, desert landscapes, and stark white cow skulls are seminal works of modern art. But behind O'Keeffe's bold work and celebrity was a woman misunderstood by even her most ardent admirers. This large, finely balanced biography offers an astonis...

The time is 1887. From any window in Georgia O’Keeffe’s Sun Prairie, Wisconsin birthplace home she only saw the Wisconsin prairie with its traces of roads veering around the flat marshlands and a vast sky that lifted her soul. At twelve years of age Georgia had a defining moment when she declared, “I want to be an artist.” Years later from her east-facing window in Canyon, Texas she observed the Texas Panhandle sky with its focus points on the plains and a great canyon of earth history col...