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The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China
by Caleb CarrThe story of Frederick Townsend Ward, who helped win key battles for the Emperor during the Chinese Taiping Rebellion.
The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest
by Aminatta Forna“[An] elegantly written mix of complex history, riveting memoir and damning exposé,” from this award-winning Sierra Leonean author (Publishers Weekly). As a child, Aminatta Forna was witness to the political upheaval and social unrest of post-colonial Africa. Forced to flee her home for exile in Britain, she was subject to the consequences of her dissident father’s actions. After war had abated in Sierra Leone, Aminatta’s father, Mohamed, returned to his country to be part of the fledgling democracy. But as progress gave way to dictatorships and corruption, Mohamed soon found himself caught in a dangerous political battle, imprisoned for his beliefs and facing far worse. Years later, Aminatta returns to her home country as an adult and a journalist. Searching for the truth of her father’s fate and her country’s destiny, she uncovers a harrowing web of intrigue, conspiracy, and painful revelations. The Devil That Danced on the Water is an “extremely moving” memoir of family, heritage, and innocence lost (The Guardian).
The Devil, The Lovers and Me
by Kimberlee Auerbach"A frank, funny, and fiercely insightful memoir" (Susan Shapiro, author of Lighting Up) for anyone who ever wondered. . . what happens next?Kimmi Auerbach tried everything in her search for enlightenment: therapy, a Reiki Master, even hypnosis. Finally she made an appointment with a tarot card reader. Instead of predicting the future, each card sparked a memory. In a Wizard of Oz-like twist of fate, Kimberlee realized she had the answers all along. . . and that it's not about looking into the future, but about trusting yourself along the way.
A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument
by Jasper ReesIn the days before his fortieth birthday, London-based journalist Jasper Rees trades his pen for a French horn that has been gathering dust in the attic for more than twenty-two years, and, on a lark, plays it at the annual festival of the British Horn Society. Despite an embarrassingly poor performance, the experience inspires Rees to embark on a daunting, bizarre, and ultimately winning journey: to return to the festival in one year's time and play a Mozart concerto—solo—to a large paying audience.A Devil to Play is the true story of an unlikely midlife crisis spent conquering sixteen feet of wrapped brass tubing widely regarded as the most difficult instrument to master, as well as the most treacherous to play in public. It is the history of man's first musical instrument, a compelling journey that moves from the walls of Jericho to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, from the hunting fields of France to the heart of Hollywood. And it is the account of one man's mounting musical obsession, told with pitch-perfect wit and an undeniable charm—an endearing, inspiring tale of perseverance and achievement, relayed masterfully, one side-splittingly off-key note at a time.
Devil Water: A Novel
by Anya Seton&“A true story fictionalized by a writer who has a special feeling for the dramatic . . . Mixed by Miss Seton&’s skillful hands, the dust of the past becomes the clay of the artist and is molded into memorable, lifelike form.&” —Chicago Tribune This fiercely beautiful novel tells the true story of Charles Radcliffe, a Catholic nobleman who joined the short-lived Jacobite rebellion of 1715, and of Jenny, his daughter by a secret marriage. Set in the Northumbrian wilds, teeming London, and colonial Virginia—where Jenny eventually settled on the estate of the famous William Byrd of Westover—Jenny&’s story reveals one young woman&’s loyalty, passion, and courage as she struggles in a life divided between the Old World and the New.Miss Seton's narrative is richly buttressed with the results of scrupulous research on the personages and the period. Her sole purpose is to tell a rousing good tale plainly and simply and this she does admirably." —New York Herald Tribune
A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton
by Deb Miller LandauA riveting narrative that pieces together the life and murder of Black socialite Lita McClinton Sullivan—and the journey to bring her true killer to justice. The 1987 murder of Lita McClinton Sullivan sent shockwaves through the affluent Atlanta suburb of Buckhead, Georgia like few other crimes before it. The neighborhood, with its stately mansions and top-tier schools, was simply not the kind of place where women were gunned down in cold blood in broad daylight. How many socialites had enemies so dangerous they would be murdered by a hitman pretending to deliver roses on an early winter morning? Lita was an intelligent, accomplished, and stunning Black woman from a respected Atlanta family. Her interracial marriage to white millionaire Jim Sullivan, who hailed from working-class Boston, was a newsworthy occurrence in 1970s Georgia. For a while, the couple made the marriage work, but it wasn&’t long before Jim&’s roving eye and controlling nature put Lita on edge. When he bought a mansion in Palm Beach, Florida (without telling her), the façade of their life together began to crumble. Finally, after a decade of marriage, she loaded her belongings in a U-Haul and never looked back. But as the legal battle over the divorce raged and Jim&’s financial outlook grew precarious, he had a chance encounter with a long-haul trucker, a smooth-talking ex-con who said he could he&’d "take care" of Jim&’s wife problem. . . . In A Devil Went Down to Georgia, award-winning writer Deb Miller Landau details the shocking events that followed Lita&’s murder in 1987, including the surprising lack of evidence, racial bias in the justice system, and the international manhunt for Lita&’s killer. Full of twists and turns, legal battles, and the McClinton family&’s unrelenting dedication to justice, Landau's rigorous investigation is the first complete account of this tragic American crime.
The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto
by Charles M. BlowINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA New York Times Editor’s Choice | A Kirkus Best Nonfiction Book of the YearThe Inspiration for the HBO Original Documentary South to Black PowerFrom journalist and New York Times bestselling author Charles Blow comes a powerful manifesto and call to action, "a must-read in the effort to dismantle deep-seated poisons of systemic racism and white supremacy" (San Francisco Chronicle).Race, as we have come to understand it, is a fiction; but, racism, as we have come to live it, is a fact. The point here is not to impose a new racial hierarchy, but to remove an existing one. After centuries of waiting for white majorities to overturn white supremacy, it seems to me that it has fallen to Black people to do it themselves.Acclaimed columnist and author Charles Blow never wanted to write a “race book.” But as violence against Black people—both physical and psychological—seemed only to increase in recent years, culminating in the historic pandemic and protests of the summer of 2020, he felt compelled to write a new story for Black Americans. He envisioned a succinct, counterintuitive, and impassioned corrective to the myths that have for too long governed our thinking about race and geography in America. Drawing on both political observations and personal experience as a Black son of the South, Charles set out to offer a call to action by which Black people can finally achieve equality, on their own terms.So what will it take to make lasting change when small steps have so frequently failed? It’s going to take an unprecedented shift in power. The Devil You Know is a groundbreaking manifesto, proposing nothing short of the most audacious power play by Black people in the history of this country. This book is a grand exhortation to generations of a people, offering a road map to true and lasting freedom.
The Devil's Adjutant: Jochen Peiper, Panzer Leader
by Michael ReynoldsThe dramatic story of Nazi field commander Jochen Peiper&’s military career, war crimes trial, and 1976 murder. Jochen Peiper would likely never have been heard of outside Germany if not for the infamous massacre of US Army POWs near Malmedy, Belgium, during World War II, with which his name has been forever associated. Shunned and despised in the years following Germany&’s surrender, Peiper is nevertheless praised by many for his military acumen. This meticulously researched book explores Peiper&’s youth, his career with the SS, the now famous trial of the officers and soldiers of the Leibstandarte, who were accused of war crimes, and Peiper&’s murder in France over thirty years later. &“One of WWII&’s most interesting combat leaders . . . a fascinating story.&” —Armor Includes maps and illustrations
Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Nationalist Uprising
by Joshua Green<P>From the reporter who was there at the very beginning comes the revealing inside story of the partnership between Steve Bannon and Donald Trump—the key to understanding the rise of the alt-right, the fall of Hillary Clinton, and the hidden forces that drove the greatest upset in American political history. <P>Based on dozens of interviews conducted over six years, Green spins the master narrative of the 2016 campaign from its origins in the far fringes of right-wing politics and reality television to its culmination inside Trump’s penthouse on election night. The shocking elevation of Bannon to head Trump’s flagging presidential campaign on August 17, 2016, hit political Washington like a thunderclap and seemed to signal the meltdown of the Republican Party. Bannon was a bomb-throwing pugilist who’d never run a campaign and was despised by Democrats and Republicans alike. <P>Yet Bannon’s hard-edged ethno-nationalism and his elaborate, years-long plot to destroy Hillary Clinton paved the way for Trump’s unlikely victory. Trump became the avatar of a dark but powerful worldview that dominated the airwaves and spoke to voters whom others couldn’t see. Trump’s campaign was the final phase of a populist insurgency that had been building up in America for years, and Bannon, its inscrutable mastermind, believed it was the culmination of a hard-right global uprising that would change the world. Any study of Trump’s rise to the presidency is unavoidably a study of Bannon. <P>Devil’s Bargain is a tour-de-force telling of the remarkable confluence of circumstances that decided the election, many of them orchestrated by Bannon and his allies, who really did plot a vast, right-wing conspiracy to stop Clinton. To understand Trump's extraordinary rise and Clinton’s fall, you have to weave Trump’s story together with Bannon’s, or else it doesn't make sense. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
by David TalbotFrom the founder of Salon and the author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers, an explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful--and secretive--colossus in WashingtonAmerica's greatest untold story: the United States' rise to world dominance under the guile of Allen Welsh Dulles, the longest-serving director of the CIA. Drawing on revelatory new materials--including recently discovered U.S. government documents, U.S. and European intelligence sources, the personal correspondence and journals of Allen Dulles's wife and mistress, and exclusive interviews with the children of prominent CIA officials--David Talbot reveals the underside of one of America's most towering and influential figures. Dulles's decade as the director of the CIA was a dark period in American politics. The spymaster saw himself as above the nation's laws and elected leaders, manipulating and subverting American presidents in the pursuit of his personal interests and those of the wealthy elite he counted as his friends and clients--colluding with Nazi war criminals and Mafiosi in the process. Talbot charges that Dulles utilized the same ruthless tactics he employed abroad--targeting foreign leaders for assassination and overthrowing nationalist governments not in line with his political aims--to further his goals at home, and offers shocking new evidence regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. An exposé of American power that is as disturbing as it is timely, The Devil's Chessboard is a provocative and gripping story of the rise of the national security state--and the battle for America's soul.
Devil's Child
by Jerry CoyneDeserted by his mother and abandoned by his father at just three months old, Jerry Coyne was sent to live in a Catholic children's home run by nuns of the order of the Sisters of Nazareth. Life soon settled into a rhythm and then, one day, the beatings started. Harsh, vicious punishments became part of everyday life for the bemused little boy as the nuns attempted to beat the Devil out of him. Jerry began to hide behind bad behaviour and at the age of 12, his defiance resulted in him being sent to a boarding for boys with behavioural problems. Life then got worse when his housemaster, the man whose job it was to take care of him, began a regime of mental, physical and sexual abuse. Years of self-hatred and guilt led to Jerry suffering from a severe stammer and, eventually, he tried to hang himself. This was the turning point and, after finally finding the courage to go to the authorities, Jerry and numerous other victims came forward and were instrumental in the conviction and imprisonment of their abuser. Devil's Child is the devastating true story of a childhood destroyed by abuse and of a young man's struggle to try to come to terms with the past and believe in the future.
Devil's Coin: My Battle to Take Down the Notorious OneCoin Cryptoqueen
by Jennifer McAdam*A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB MUST-READ BOOK FOR AUGUST 2023*"[An] exhilarating mix of memoir and true crime. . ." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)The astonishing true story of the coal miner’s daughter who took on the creators of the world’s biggest financial fraud and helped the FBI to convict themThe OneCoin global cryptocurrency fraud stole tens of billions of dollars from ordinary people around the world. Unlike Madoff or Enron, who relieved the world’s wealthiest investors of their cash, the exploiting genius of the OneCoin scam was targeting the poorest people in the world, the “unbanked”—those who struggled to live or get mainstream banking support. The arrogant assumption was that the downtrodden wouldn't have the means or will to fight back. They didn’t reckon on Jen McAdam—a teenage mother, young grandmother, and modern-day Erin Brockovich.Jen’s father left her £15,000 when he died: his savings from living a careful life in a small Scottish mining town. Jen wanted a safe investment for this money to fund a better life for her family. She was digitally savvy, and she had heard of people making fortunes with Bitcoin. When she saw the promotional material for OneCoin—the founder Dr. Ruja Ignatova featured in major reputable media outlets; videos of celebrity events; gushing video testimonials of people, just like Jen, who had changed their lives—she was entranced.Only months later, she realized she would never see her money again.Jen was one of the only victims worldwide to fight back. Despite terrifying attempts to shut down both her and her growing support groups, she fought tirelessly for justice for herself, her family and friends, and the millions around the world who lost everything, in some cases even their lives. This is a true David-and-Goliath story to give us all a message of hope about the power we as individuals can have, even when things seem hopeless.
The Devil's Defender: My Odyssey Through American Criminal Justice from Ted Bundy to the Kandahar Massacre
by John BrowneIn the tradition of bestselling legal memoirs from Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, Gerry Spence, and Alan Dershowitz, John Henry Browne's memoir, The Devil's Defender, recounts his tortuous education in what it means to be an advocate--and a human being. For the last four decades, Browne has defended the indefensible. From Facebook folk hero "the Barefoot Bandit" Colton Moore, to Benjamin Ng of the Wah Mee massacre, to Kandahar massacre culprit Sgt. Robert Bales, Browne's unceasing advocacy and the daring to take on some of the most unwinnable cases--and nearly win them all--has led 48 Hours' Peter Van Sant to call him "the most famous lawyer in America." But although the Browne that America has come to know cuts a dashing and confident figure, he has forever been haunted by his job as counsel to Ted Bundy, the most famous serial killer in American history. A drug- and alcohol-addicted (yet wildly successful) defense attorney who could never let go of the case that started it all, Browne here asks of himself the question others have asked him all along: does defending evil make you evil, too?
The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science
by Philip Ball“A vibrant, original portrait of a man of contradictions,” the Renaissance-era Swiss father of modern medicine (Publishers Weekly, starred review).Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim, who called himself Paracelsus, stands at the cusp of medieval and modern times. A contemporary of Luther, an enemy of the medical establishment, a scourge of the universities, an alchemist, an army surgeon, and a radical theologian, he attracted myths even before he died. His fantastic journeys across Europe and beyond were said to be made on a magical white horse, and he was rumored to carry the elixir of life in the pommel of his great broadsword. His name was linked with Faust, who bargained with the devil.Who was the man behind these stories? Some have accused him of being a charlatan, a windbag who filled his books with wild speculations and invented words. Others claim him to be the father of modern medicine. Philip Ball exposes a more complex truth in The Devil’s Doctor—one that emerges only by entering Paracelsus’s time. He explores the intellectual, political, and religious undercurrents of the sixteenth century and looks at how doctors really practiced, at how people traveled, and at how wars were fought. For Paracelsus was a product of an age of change and strife, of renaissance and reformation. And yet by uniting the diverse disciplines of medicine, biology, and alchemy, he assisted, almost despite himself, in the birth of science and the emergence of the age of rationalism.Praise for The Devil’s Doctor“An enlivening portrait that will spark interest in [Paracelsus’s] role in the rise of science.” —Booklist“A true iconoclast, [Paraclesus] inhabited an ideological landscape somewhere between the medieval and the modern. Ball effectively places Paracelsus in the larger context of Renaissance magic and philosophy, and of a turbulent period. . . . Worth the effort.” —Kirkus Reviews
Devil's Game: The Civil War Intrigues of Charles A. Dunham
by Carman CummingDevil's Game traces the amazing career of Charles A. Dunham, Civil War spy, forger, journalist, and master of dirty tricks. Writing for a variety of New York papers under alternate names, Dunham routinely faked stories, created new identities, and later boldly cast himself to play those roles. He achieved his greatest infamy when he was called to testify in Washington concerning Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Many parts of Dunham's career remain shadowy, but Cumming offers the first detailed tour of Dunham's convoluted, high-stakes, international deceits, including his effort to sell Lincoln on plans for a raid to capture Jefferson Davis. Exhaustively researched and unprecedented in depth, this carefully crafted assessment of Dunham's motives, personality, and the complex effects of his schemes changes assumptions about covert operations during the Civil War.
Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy
by David RobertsThe Mormon handcart tragedy of 1856 is the worst disaster in the history of the Western migrations, and yet it remains virtually unknown today outside Mormon circles. Following the death of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, its second Prophet and new leader, Brigham Young, determined to move the faithful out of the Midwest, where they had been constantly persecuted by their neighbors, to found a new Zion in the wilderness. In 1846-47, the Mormons made their way west, generally following the Oregon Trail, arriving in July 1847 in what is today Utah, where they established Salt Lake City. Nine years later, fearing a federal invasion, Young and other Mormon leaders wrestled with the question of how to bring thousands of impoverished European converts, mostly British and Scandinavian, from the Old World to Zion. Young conceived of a plan in which the European Mormons would travel by ship to New York City and by train to Iowa City. From there, instead of crossing the plains by covered wagon, they would push and pull wooden handcarts all the way to Salt Lake. But the handcart plan was badly flawed. The carts, made of green wood, constantly broke down; the baggage allowance of seventeen pounds per adult was far too small; and the food provisions were woefully inadequate, especially considering the demanding physical labor of pushing and pulling the handcarts 1,300 miles across plains and mountains. Five companies of handcart pioneers left Iowa for Zion that spring and summer, but the last two of them left late. As a consequence, some 900 Mormons in these two companies were caught in early snowstorms in Wyoming. When the church leadership in Salt Lake became aware of the dire circumstances of these pioneers, Younglaunched a heroic rescue effort. But for more than 200 of the immigrants, the rescue came too late. The story of the Mormon handcart tragedy has never before been told in full despite its stunning human drama: At least five times as many people died in the Mormon tragedy as died in the more famous Donner Party disaster. David Roberts has researched this story in Mormon archives and elsewhere, and has traveled along the route where the handcart pioneers came to grief. Based on his research, he concludes that the tragedy was entirely preventable. Brigham Young and others in the Mormon leadership failed to heed the abundant signs of impending catastrophe, including warnings from other Mormon elders in the East and Midwest, where the journey began. Devil's Gate is a powerful indictment of the Mormon leadership and a gripping story of survival and suffering that is superbly told by one of our finest writers of Western history.
The Devil's Grip: A true story of shame, sheep and shotguns
by Neal DrinnanSeven shots ring out in the silence of Victoria’s rolling Barrabool Hills. As the final recoil echoes through the paddocks, a revered sheep-breeding dynasty comes to a bloody and inglorious end. No one could have anticipated the orgy of violence that wiped out three generations of the Wettenhall family, much less the lurid scandals about Darcy Wettenhall, the man behind the world famous Stanbury sheep stud, that would emerge from the aftermath. Almost three decades later, the web of secrets and lies that led to this bizarre and seemingly motiveless murder spree are unravelled with the help of Bob Perry, Darcy Wettenhall’s secret lover for a decade prior to his murder. From the bucolic majesty, privilege and snobbery of the Western District’s prized pastoral lands and dynasties to the bleak, loveless underworld of orphanages, rodeo stables and homeless shelters, The Devil’s Grip is a courageous and thought-provoking meditation on the fragility of reputation, the folly of deception and the power of shame.Praise for The Devil’s Grip ‘A remarkable piece of work. It is a strange, unusual and beautiful book with an incredibly unique setting. I don't think I've read anything quite like it. It is compulsive reading. True crime. Memoir. History. How do you live a life honestly and with dignity? It's difficult to categorise because it traverses so many genres. But it WORKS.’ Matthew Condon, author of the Three Crooked Kings trilogy ‘On its face this is the story of a family steeped in the pursuit of the perfect ram, but beneath the surface lies a riveting and ribald tale of lust, loss, manipulation, unbridled ambition and ultimately murder.’ Mark Tedeschi AM QC and author of Eugenia, Kidnapped and Murder at Myall Creek ‘An unforgettable, courageous and deeply tragic local story which manages to become a universal tale’ Gregory Day, author of Archipelago of Souls and A Sand Archive ‘It’s got it all: sex, domestic violence, ‘the land’ – such an important concept resonating in the Australian mind – land-holders and property, privilege, prejudice, skulduggery and murder!’ David Bradford, author of The Gunners’ Doctor and Tell Me I’m Okay
The Devil's Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South's Most Notorious Slave Jail
by Kristen GreenThe inspiring true story of an enslaved woman who liberated an infamous slave jail and transformed it into one of the nation&’s first HBCUs In The Devil&’s Half Acre, New York Times bestselling author Kristen Green draws on years of research to tell the extraordinary and little-known story of young Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who blazed a path of liberation for thousands. She was forced to have the children of a brutal slave trader and live on the premises of his slave jail, known as the &“Devil&’s Half Acre.&” When she inherited the jail after the death of her slaveholder, she transformed it into &“God&’s Half Acre,&” a school where Black men could fulfill their dreams. It still exists today as Virginia Union University, one of America&’s first Historically Black Colleges and Universities. A sweeping narrative of a life in the margins of the American slave trade, The Devil&’s Half Acre brings Mary Lumpkin into the light. This is the story of the resilience of a woman on the path to freedom, her historic contributions, and her enduring legacy.
Devil's Heart: Native American Lore and Modern Police Work
by Ron WaldenJodi Eagle knew at an early age that he was going to leave the reservation. Being raised by his grandfather, Jodi had learned the ways of his Sioux heritage, but reservation life was not for him. He had seen too many friends come to a bad end. With help from friends he had made along the way Jodi became a Deputy Sheriff at North Bend, Washington where a killer was kidnapping and killing children.Local parents were terrified for their children. One of the victims was the son of Jodi's friend Earl Campbell. Jodi's own son was a school mate and friend of the murdered child. Jodi tried to help control his own son's grief with stories and customs of his Native American heritage. After eight years fingerprint evidence gathered at one of the crime scenes is matched with a body found near Anchorage, Alaska. This would solve the child murders, but opened a new question; Who killed the killer. The effect of this turmoil on residents of the small western Washington town was great and the wounds deep. His department would find closure to this eight year search with the implication of a one-time deputy. With enough twists to keep the reader engrossed and turning the pages and enough surprises to bend the mind.
The Devils of Loudun
by Aldous HuxleyIn this classic nonfiction work by the legendary Aldous Huxley, a remarkable true story of religious and sexual obsession, considered a compelling historical event, is clarified and brought to vivid life.
Devil's Own Luck: Pegasus Bridge to the Baltic, 1944–45
by Denis EdwardsAlthough strictly forbidden to keep diaries, Denis Edwards managed to record his experiences throughout nearly all his time in Europe in 1944-45. He brilliantly conveys what it was like to be facing death, day after day, night after night, with never a bed to sleep in nor a hot meal to go home to. This is warfare in the raw ' brutal, yet humorous, immensely tragic, but sadly, all true.
The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici
by Jeanne KalogridisFrom Jeanne Kalogridis, the bestselling author of I, Mona Lisa and The Borgia Bride, comes a new novel that tells the passionate story of a queen who loved not wisely ... but all too well. Confidante of Nostradamus, scheming mother-in-law to Mary, Queen of Scots, and architect of the bloody St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Catherine de Medici is one of the most maligned monarchs in history. In her latest historical fiction, Jeanne Kalogridis tells Catherine's story, "that of a tender young girl, destined to be a pawn in Machiavellian games. Born into one of Florence's most powerful families, Catherine was soon left a fabulously rich heiress by the early deaths of her parents. Violent conflict rent the city state and she found herself imprisoned and threatened by her family's enemies before finally being released and married off to the handsome Prince Henry of France. Overshadowed by her husband's mistress, the gorgeous, conniving Diane de Poitiers, and unable to bear children, Catherine resorted to the dark arts of sorcery to win Henry's love and enhance her fertility for which she would pay a price. Against the lavish and decadent backdrop of the French court, and Catherine's blood-soaked visions of the future, Kalogridis reveals the great love and desire Catherine bore for her husband, Henry, and her stark determination to keep her sons on the throne.
Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks
by Susan CaseyFrom the book jacket... Travel thirty miles north, south, or east of San Francisco city hall and you'll be engulfed in a landscape of thick traffic, fast enterprise, and six-dollar cappuccinos. Venture thirty miles due west, however, and you will find yourself on what is virtually another planet: a spooky cluster of rocky islands called the Farallones, battered by foul weather, thronged with two hundred thousand seabirds, and surrounded by the largest great white sharks in the world. Journalist Susan Casey was in her living room when she first glimpsed this strange place and its resident sharks, their dark fins swirling around a tiny boat in a documentary. These great whites were the alphas among alphas, the narrator said, some of them topping eighteen feet in length, and each fall they congregated here off the northern California coast. That so many of these magnificent and elusive animals lived in the 415 area code, crisscrossing each other under the surface like jets stacked in a holding pattern, seemed stunningly improbable-and irresistible. Casey knew she had to see them for herself.
The Devil's Treasure
by Mary GaitskillA rare work of criticism, memoir, and mythography from an author &“aware of all the hidden chambers of the heart.&” (Greil Marcus, New York Times Magazine)Mary Gaitskill is unique among American novelists in &“her ability to evoke the hidden life, the life unseen, the life we don&’t even know we are living.&”* In this searching biography of the writer&’s imagination, Gaitskill excavates her own novels, revealing their origins and obsessions, the personal and societal pressures that formed them, and the life story hidden between their pages. Using the techniques of collage, The Devil's Treasure splices fiction together with commentary and personal history, and with the fairy tale that gives the book its title, about a little girl who ventures into Hell through a suburban cellar door. The result is an answer to Gaitskill&’s critics and, simultaneously, the best book we have about contemporary fiction, the forces ranged against it, and the forces that bring it into being. &“Even among other artists attracted to weakness as a theme, [Gaitskill] is rare in being able to look at it on its own terms. She doesn&’t treat it like a curiosity, like Diane Arbus, or a chink in the armor that might let in faith, like Flannery O&’Connor. She isn&’t afraid of it, like Muriel Spark; nor does she insist its depictions rouse us to action, like Sontag. She looks—just looks—and sees everything.&” —Parul Seghal, New York Times Magazine*
The Devil's Wall
by Mark CornwallLegend has it that twenty miles of volcanic rock rising through the landscape of northern Bohemia was the work of the devil, who separated the warring Czechs and Germans by building a wall. The nineteenth-century invention of the Devil’s Wall was evidence of rising ethnic tensions. In interwar Czechoslovakia, Sudeten German nationalists conceived a radical mission to try to restore German influence across the region. Mark Cornwall tells the story of Heinz Rutha, an internationally recognized figure in his day, who was the pioneer of a youth movement that emphasized male bonding in its quest to reassert German dominance over Czech space. Through a narrative that unravels the threads of Rutha’s own repressed sexuality, Cornwall shows how Czech authorities misinterpreted Rutha’s mission as sexual deviance and in 1937 charged him with corrupting adolescents. The resulting scandal led to Rutha’s imprisonment, suicide, and excommunication from the nationalist cause he had devoted his life to furthering. Cornwall is the first historian to tackle the long-taboo subject of how youth, homosexuality, and nationalism intersected in a fascist environment. The Devil’s Wall also challenges the notion that all Sudeten German nationalists were Nazis, and supplies a fresh explanation for Britain’s appeasement of Hitler, showing why the British might justifiably have supported the 1930s Sudeten German cause. In this readable biography of an ardent German Bohemian who participated as perpetrator, witness, and victim, Cornwall radically reassesses the Czech-German struggle of early twentieth-century Europe.