From the Gilded Age through WWII, America was rife with ne’er-do-wells on a never-ending search for the next big score. Between 1850 and 1950 lawlessness melded with ingenuity, fueled by optimism and ruthlessness: America was dangerous, buzzing, and where opportunity came to take flight. The perfect conditions for swindlers.The gall and gumption of their hustles strain credulity. Fake diamond fields? War with Canada? Sir Francis Drake’s unclaimed fortune? Apparently, all was fair i...

Celebrate America’s outrageous competitive fire100 years of “see it to believe it” American contestsIncludes dozens of mind-blowing, little-known competitionsGorgeous design with 150 color and black-and-white photographs, plus sidebarsFrom marathon dancing, to food eating contests, beauty pageants, pole sitting, rotten sneaker contests, animal calling contests, phone-booth stuffing, outhouse races, and more, Americans love competing to see w...

Some people say sconn, while others say schown.He says bath, while she says bahth.You say potayto. I say potahtoAnd--wait a second, no one says potahto. No one's ever said potahto.Have they?From reconstructing Shakespeare's accent to the rise and fall of Received Pronunciation, actor Ben Crystal and his linguist father David travel the world in search of the stor...

From classic poetry to pop lyrics, from Charles Dickens to Dolly Parton, even from Jesus to James Bond, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase—such as “O Captain! My Captain!” or “To be or not to be”—memorable.In his inimitably entertaining and wonderfully witty style, he takes apart famous phrases and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or quip like Oscar Wilde. Whether you’re aiming to achieve literary immortality or just hoping to deliver the perfect one-l...

Do you know why……a mortgage is literally a death pledge? …why guns have girls’ names? …why salt is related to soldier?You’re about to find out…The Etymologicon (e-t?-‘mä-lä-ji-kän) is:*Witty (wi-te\): Full of clever humor*Erudite (er-?-dit): Showing knowledge*Ribald (ri-b?ld): Crude, offensiveThe Etymologicon is a completely unauthorized guide to the strange underpinnings of the English language. It explains: how you get from “gruntled” ...

**Buy The Raven Scholar now - a masterfully woven tale of imperial intrigue from Sunday Times bestselling Antonia Hodgson**WINNER OF THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN CREASEY CWA DAGGER FOR BEST DEBUT CRIME NOVEL'A splendid debut. . .this is a truly spellbinding tale' Guardian

Pepys Road: an ordinary street in the Capital. Each house has seen its fair share of first steps and last breaths, and plenty of laughter in between. Today, through each letterbox along this ordinary street drops a card with a simple message: We Want What You Have. Following the residents of Pepys Road, Capital features a cast of characters that you will be sad to leave behind.

A mesmerizing tale of psychological suspense about a woman who must fight to escape an expert manipulator determined to possess her, Claire Kendal’s debut novel is a sophisticated and disturbing portrait of compulsion, control, and terror that will appeal to fans of Before I Go to Sleep, The Silent Wife, and Into the Darkest Corner.His name is Rafe, and he is everywhere Clarissa turns. At the university where she works. Her favorite sewing shop. The train station....

2040-2045: In the years after the cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption there is massive economic dislocation as populations flee Datum Earth to myriad Long Earth worlds. Sally, Joshua, and Lobsang are all involved in this perilous work when, out of the blue, Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father and inventor of the original Stepper device, Willis Linsay. He tells her he is planning a fantastic voyage across the Long Mars and wants her to accompany him. But Sally soon learns that Willi...

A one-in-a-million story for anyone who loves to laugh, cry, and think about how extraordinary ordinary life can be. Not to be missed by readers who loved THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, ELIZABETH IS MISSING or THE SHOCK OF THE FALL.Miss Ona Vitkus has - aside from three months in the summer of 1914 - lived unobtrusively, her secrets fiercely protected.The boy, with his passion for world records, changes all that. He is eleven. She is one hundred and four ye...

The first installment of Bernard Cornwell’s New York Times bestselling series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England, “like Game of Thrones, but real” (The Observer, London)—the basis for The Last Kingdom, the hit Netflix series.In the middle years of the ninth century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. A...

A SPELLBINDING NOVEL FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PHILIPPA GREGORY'There is only one bond that I trust: between a woman and her sisters. We never take our eyes off each other. In love and in rivalry, we always think of each other.'When Katherine of Aragon is brought to the Tudor court as a young bride, the oldest princess, Margaret, takes her measure. With one look, each knows the other for a rival, an ally, a paw...