Is the consciousness of Americans in the midst of dramatic transformation? Or do people think and feel much the same as they have always thought and felt? Do most people enjoy their work, or hate it? Is the American family being replaced by new institutional forms, or is it much the same as it was in the 1950's? Have material values been replaced by a "postmaterial consciousness" in a postindustrial society? Are Americans becoming more conservative, less conservative, or staying about the ...

High-stakes politics and a stolen thermonuclear warhead are only the beginning for one CIA agent. Robert Gray, sent in on a deadly mission to disarm a terrorist group plotting Armageddon, falls prey to a nuclear deathtrap. But death is not an option.Instead, Robert finds himself explicably traveling through time, and he soon discovers that he is being pursued by a much more powerful traveler. He must now discover the secret behind his own traveling, and he must learn the hidden mot...

Jim Wright is an unabashed optimist. Reading his speeches, it doesn’t take long to see that he believes in the fundamental values that shaped the American republic: opportunity and accessibility, individuality and a shared sense of community. He carried this idealism into his presidency of Dartmouth College and, indeed, throughout his career as teacher and historian. At heart, Jim Wright was always a teacher. His election to the presidency of Dartmouth College gave him the opportunity not ...

This "powerful and heartbreaking" history of the Vietnam War looks not only at the conflict but the generation caught up in its horrors and consequences ( Booklist ).The Vietnam War is largely recalled as a mistake, either in the decision to engage there or in the nature of the engagement. Or both. Veterans of the war remain largely anonymous figures, accomplices in the mistake. Critically recounting the steps that led to ...

Why do we know so little about the buildings which surround our everyday lives?How can a nation so obsessed with history have missed so many ancient buildings?Britain should be proud of its approximately 500,000 listed buildings – yet as many as 60 per cent may have been identified incorrectly. Behind a Victorian façade hides a Tudor house; underneath a Georgian frontage lies a mediaeval cottage; what is n...

Up to the age of 37, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, knew next to nothing about birds and had no interest in them unless viewed down the barrel of a shotgun on a sporting estate.But his perspective dramatically changed while on a voyage aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia when he became increasingly fascinated by the huge variety of pelagic species - from albatrosses to penguins - that came into view either on deck or ashore on bleak and remote islands.His...

State parks across Texas offer a world of opportunities for recreation and education. Yet few park visitors or park managers know the remarkable story of how this magnificent state park system came into being during the depths of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Drawing on archival records and examining especially the political context of the New Deal, James Wright Steely here provides the first comprehensive history of the founding and building of the Texas state park system. Steely's h...

Eldon Davis Rathburn (1916-2008), one of the most multi-dimensional, prolific, and endlessly fascinating composers of the twentieth century, wrote more music than any other Canadian composer of his generation. During a long and productive career that spanned seventy-five years, Rathburn served for thirty years as a staff composer with the National Film Board of Canada (1947-76), scored the first generation of IMAX films, and created a diverse catalogue of orchestral and chamber works. With...

When James Wright was diagnosed with ALS, his world shifted in an instant. But rather than surrender to fear, he chose to reshape the narrative. ‘Anchored to Hope’ is a candid and powerful account of what it means to live with purpose in the face of uncertainty. With heartfelt honesty, James explores the emotional, spiritual, and practical aspects of navigating a life-changing diagnosis. He shares how faith became a steady anchor, how language redefined his identity, and how daily affirmat...

Night falls. In a lonely valley called the Sink, four people prepare for a quiet evening. Then in his orchard, Murray Jaccob sees a moving shadow. Across the swamp, his neighbour Ronnie watches her lover leave and feels her baby roll inside her. And on the veranda of the Stubbs place, a small dog is torn screaming from its leash by something unseen. And nothing will be quite the same again. Tim Winton's gothic and grisly glimpse into the fear and anxiety beneath the surface of the sunny, c...

Leverson, the narrator at the centre of these stories, calls himself a 'people freak'. Seduced by north Queensland's sultry beauty and unique strangeness, he is as fascinated by the invading hordes of misfits from the south as by the old established Queenslanders. Leverson's ironical yet compassionate view makes every story, every incident, a pointed example of human weakness - or strength.

Alec Ramsey is the survivor of a disastrous Antarctic expedition which abandoned his revered friend and leader of the party, Stephen Leeming. For forty years, in the security of academia, Ramsey has nurtured with guilt his doubts about this incident. Now Leeming's body is, against all odds, to be exhumed from the Antarctic icecap, and Ramsey must confront his obsession and decide whether he really did - or can continue to - survive at all.