In this wide-ranging history, Richard Bernstein explores the connection between sex and power as it has played out between Eastern cultures and the Western explorers, merchants, and conquerors who have visited them. This illuminating book describes the historical and ongoing encounter between these travelers and the morally ambiguous opportunities they found in foreign lands. Bernstein’s narrative teems with real figures, from Marco Polo and his investigation into the harem of Kublai Khan;...

A probing biography of world-renowned Jewish singer and actor Al Jolson and the history of his performance in and the making of The Jazz SingerAl Jolson, born Asa Yoelson, immigrated from a shtetl in Lithuania to the United States in 1894 after his father secured a job as a rabbi in Washington, D.C. A poor, Yiddish-speaking newcomer navigating a racially segregated and antisemitic America, young Jolson dreamed of becoming a star, and he did. Thank...

Band of Sisters tells the dramatic story of Madeleine Pauliac, a French army doctor, and a group of Red Cross nurses-known as the Blue Squadron. At the request of Charles DeGualle, the group was sent to rescue French soldiers and civilians who had been captured, injured, or stranded during World War II. Written from letters, diary entries and interviews, the book recounts their rescue missions in Germany, Russia, and Poland in 1945, in the final days of the war and in the first months afte...

In 1977, when Zhongmei Lei was eleven years old, she learned that the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy was having open auditions. She'd already taken dance lessons, but everyone said a poor country girl would never get into the academy, especially without any connections in the Communist Party of the 1970s. But Zhongmei, whose name means Faithful Plum, persisted, even going on a hunger strike, until her parents agreed to allow her to go. She traveled for three days and two nights to get t...

New York Times Notable Book: An authoritative account of the September 11 attack, its historical roots, and its aftermath.Foreword by Howell RainesWith a New Afterword by the AuthorFew news stories have commanded as much attention as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but no news organization rivaled the New York Times for its comprehensive, resource...

A riveting account of the watershed moment in America’s dealings with China that forever altered the course of East-West relationsAs 1945 opened, America was on surprisingly congenial terms with China’s Communist rebels—their soldiers treated their American counterparts as heroes, rescuing airmen shot down over enemy territory. Chinese leaders talked of a future in which American money and technology would help lift China out of poverty. Mao Zedong himself held friendly meetings wi...

Over the last few decades, vibrant debates regarding post-secularism have found inspiration and provocation in the works of Sigmund Freud. A new interest in the interconnection of psychoanalysis, religion and political theory has emerged, allowing Freud’s illuminating examination of the religious and mystical practices in “Obsessive Neurosis and Religious Practices,” and the exegesis of the origins of ethics in religion in Totem and Taboo, to gain currency in recent debates on mod...

A probing biography of world-renowned Jewish singer and actor Al Jolson and the history of his performance in and the making of The Jazz SingerAl Jolson, born Asa Yoelson, immigrated from a shtetl in Lithuania to the United States in 1894 after his father secured a job as a rabbi in Washington, D.C. A poor, Yiddish-speaking newcomer navigating a racially segregated and antisemitic America, young Jolson dreamed of becoming a star, and he did. Thank...

"And in this quiet moment as I close my eyes, spent and sated, I think I'm in the eye of the storm. And in spite of all he's said, and what he hasn't said, I don't think I have ever been so happy."When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, find...

"The Beautiful Beast" documents in meticulous detail the extraordinary and frightening biography of Irma Grese. Born in a tiny farming community fifty miles north of Berlin, she became the ultimate feminine representative of the Hitlerian vision of the warrior-youth;indeed, with her blonde hair and strikingly blue eyes, Grese embodied all the physical characteristics of the idealized Nazi youth! Once Irma Grese was old enough to secure a training spot in the newly-created corps of female S...

You do not have to listen to a whole book to get steamy scenes or sexual encounters, just start listening and instantly you are experiencing sexual pleasure to your ears. Sex is a beautiful expression, and the pleasure can be unforgettable if the right spots are stimulated. Well, this book arouses the sexual literary spots of your ears and mind, and makes you want to have sex.Sex Right Now! is a book that brings heat to dormant feelings, and arouses one to find that partner that he...

Now available in a single volume, E L James's New York Times #1 bestselling trilogy has been hailed by Entertainment Weekly as being "in a class by itself." Beginning with the GoodReads Choice Award Romance Finalist Fifty Shades of Grey, the Fifty Shades Trilogy will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.This bundle includes the following novels:FIFTY SHADES OF GREY: When college student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrep...