This true account of two young Americans turning traitor during the Cold War is an "absolutely smashing real-life spy story" ( New York Times Book Review ).National BestsellerAt the height of the Cold War, some of the nation's most precious secrets passed through a CIA contractor in Southern California. Only a handful of employees were cleared to handle the intelligence that came through the Black ...

Dramatically compressing the reign of Edward II and enlivening the historical narrative with humour, romance, and horrific violence, Marlowe interrogates how the transgression of accepted codes of behaviour affects even those at the highest level of society. Kept off the stage for almost three hundred years because of its dramatization of explicit homosexual relationships, it has become increasingly popular with modern day readers and performed on stage and film to great acclaim.Th...

Sonny Kaniho: A Profile in Hawaiian Courage chronicles Sonnys labor of aloha (love) to bring about change and reform within the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), an institution created by the US Congress in 1920 to return Hawaiians to the aina (land), aina stolen from us when our beloved Queen Liliuokalani was overthrown by a coup instigated by US Minister Stevens and thirteen American businessmen with support from armed marines stationed aboard the USS Boston. DHHL (past) rather t...

Pinocchio - the wooden puppet who longs to be a real boy - is loved by children everywhere. As he bungles his way through life from one escapade to another will he finally realise his heart's desire?Seen as one of the greatest works of Italian literature, this Young Classic audiobook helps children come to a fuller understanding of this remarkable tale and to enjoy it both as an exciting adventure story and as a moral fable. Follow the mischievous adventures Pinocchio and his fathe...

Main Selection of the History Book ClubThe Battle of Gettysburg, the Civil War’s turning point, produced over 57,000 casualties, the largest number from the entire war that was itself America’s bloodiest conflict. On the third day of fierce fighting, Robert E. Lee’s attempt to invade the North came to a head in Pickett’s Charge. The infantry assault, consisting of nine brigades of soldiers in a line that stretched for over a mile, resulted in casualties of over 50 percent for the C...

"Readers will emerge with a great deal of respect for a fiercely independent woman who battled sexism to reach the pinnacle of her profession" (Publishers Weekly).Before taking her place as the second woman on the Supreme Court of the United States, Ruth Bader Ginsburg quietly led a revolution and forever changed life in America for both men and women. Reserved and quiet, she didn't set out to be a trailblazer, but there was something in her way: the law....

New York Times Bestseller: A "virtually faultless" account of the last weeks of WWII in the Pacific from both Japanese and American perspectives ( The New York Times Book Review).By midsummer 1945, Japan had long since lost the war in the Pacific. The people were not told the truth, and neither was the emperor. Japanese generals, admirals, and statesmen knew, but only a handful of leaders were willing to accept defeat. Most were b...

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year that Sir Ian McKellen called a shocking tale of heroes and villains-illuminating and upsetting in equal measure.”The first production of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé in 1918, with American exotic dancer Maud Allan dancing lead, ignited a firestorm in London spearheaded by Noel Pemberton Billing, a member of Parliament and self-appointed guardian of family values. Billing attacked Allan in the right-wing newspaper...

The New York Times bestseller that inspired the documentary Shanghai 1937: Where World War II Began on Public Television.At its height, the Battle of Shanghai involved nearly a million Chinese and Japanese soldiers while sucking in three million civilians as unwilling spectators—and often victims. It turned what had been a Japanese imperialist adventure in China into a general war between the two oldest and proudest civilizations of the Far East. U...

An illuminating look at the surprising upside of ambiguity—and how, properly harnessed, it can inspire learning, creativity, even empathyLife today feels more overwhelming and chaotic than ever. Whether it’s a confounding work problem or a faltering relationship or an unclear medical diagnosis, we face constant uncertainty. And we’re continually bombarded with information, much of it contradictory.Managing ambiguity—in our jobs, our relationships, and daily...

A chilling and thoroughly researched account of the racially motivated killing of two black couples by a white mob in 1946 rural Georgia.In 1946, the bodies of two black couples—Roger and Dorothy Malcom, and George W. and Mae Murray Dorsey—were found near a bridge in rural Monroe, Georgia. Their killers were never identified, though some information would come to light: Roger was on his way home from jail; George had just returned from WWII. The crime came to be kn...

Astonishing Events from the American Revolution That They Don’t Teach in School!We all know about Washington’s crossing of the Delaware and Betsy Ross’s stitching together the Stars and Stripes, but how about a little-known, valid reason for the war itself and why General George was able to survive a plague that wiped out many of his fellow countrymen?History buff Tim Rowland provides an entertaining look at happenings during and surrounding the Revolutiona...