War City

The magnificent collections contain a million pieces of art—objects that carry China’s deepest and most ancient memories. Among them are irreplaceable artefacts: exquisite paintings on silk, rare Ming porcelain, and the extraordinary Stone Drums of Qin, which are adorned with 2,500-year-old inscriptions of cultural significance.

Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement. Speaking to his lawyers days after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Gulf War veteran expressed no regrets: killing 168 people was his patriotic duty. New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin traces the dramatic history and profound legacy of Timothy McVeigh, who once declared, “I believe there is an army out there, ready to rise up, even though I never found it.” But that doesn’t mean his army wasn’t there. With news-breaking reportage, Toobin details how McVeigh’s principles and tactics have flourished in the decades since his death in 2001.

Orphaned and left to fend for herself in the slums of Averalaan, Jewel Markess - Jay to her friends - meets an unlikely savior in Rath, a man who prowls the ruins of the undercity in search of artifacts and treasure. Nursing Jay back to health is an unusual act for a man who renounced his own family long ago, and the situation becomes stranger still when Jay begins to form a den of other rescued children in Rath’s home. But worse perils lurk beneath the slums....

From the winter of 2006 through the spring of 2007, 250 marines from Echo Company, Second Battalion, Fourth Marine Regiment, fought daily in the dangerous, dense city streets of Ramadi, Iraq, during the Multi-National Forces Surge ordered by President George W. Bush. The marines' mission: to kill or capture anti-Iraqi forces. Their experience: like being in hell. Now Major Scott A. Huesing, the commander who led Echo Company through Ramadi, takes listeners back to the streets of Ramadi in a visceral, gripping portrayal of modern urban combat.

To contain secrets, American and Soviet leaders created plutopias - communities of nuclear families living in highly subsidized, limited-access atomic cities. Fully employed and medically monitored, the residents of Richland and Ozersk enjoyed all the pleasures of consumer society while nearby, migrants, prisoners, and soldiers were banned from plutopia - they lived in temporary "staging grounds" and often performed the most dangerous work at the plant.

A fun, exciting read somewhere between Joe Abercrombie and Terry Pratchett. Winner of the Literary Titan Book Award for Epic Fantasy. Winner of the International Firebird Book Award. Winner of the Global Book Award. The island kingdom of Ironbay is under siege from Estovia’s warships. Can a street urchin and a tiny band of royal marines break the siege and free Ironbay, or will Estovia’s oppressive, power hungry tyrant, Emperor Solokov, crush their Ironborn home? Ironborn is fast paced, epic fantasy with heart. You’ll laugh out loud, you’ll cry, and you’ll be on the edge of your ...

In Victory City, John Strausbaugh returns to tell the story of New York City's war years with the same richness, depth, and nuance he brought to his previous books, City of Sedition and The Village, providing listeners with a groundbreaking new look into the greatest city on earth during the most transformative - and costliest - war in human history.

The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once thriving and vibrant metropolis. And without it, all the realms are dying. Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs to divine power—Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Risha, a necromancer fighting to keep the peace; Nikolas, a soldier who struggles to see the light; and Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with a reckless heart—will become reluctant allies in the quest to save their city.

Empresses of Seventh Avenue will tell the story of how these extraordinary women put American fashion on the world stage and created the template for modern style—and how the nearly $500 billion American fashion industry, the largest in the world, could not have accrued its power and wealth without their farsightedness and determination.

In the fall of 1871, Chicagoans knew they were due for the “big one”—a massive, uncontrollable fire that would decimate the city. It had been bone-dry for months, and a recent string of blazes had nearly outstripped the fire department’s already scant resources. Then, on October 8, a minor fire broke out in the barn of Irishwoman Kate Leary. A series of unfortunate mishaps and misunderstandings along with insufficient preparation and a high south-westerly wind combined to set the stage for an unmitigated catastrophe.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the most dramatic and dangerous period of the Cold War. What's less well known is that the city of Miami, mere miles away, was a pivotal, though less well known, part of Cold War history. With its population of Communist exiles from Cuba, its strategic value for military operations, and its lax business laws, Miami was an ideal environment for espionage. Covert City tells the history of how the entire city of Miami was constructed in the image of the US-Cuba rivalry.

May 1940: The world is stunned as Hitler's forces invade France with a devastating blitzkrieg aimed at Paris. Within weeks, the French government has collapsed, and the City of Lights, revered for its carefree lifestyle, intellectual freedom, and love of liberty, has fallen under Nazi control — perhaps forever.

Natchez, 1841. As a slave girl, Jenny has always yearned for freedom, but when her master Cornelius Carson abruptly sets her free and hands her a steamboat ticket to free soil in Ohio, she is completely alone. She knows she faces a future filled with dangers. Then an old acquaintance, Walker Jackson, persuades her to return with him to Carefree, the abandoned Natchez estate of her childhood. Only one person still lives there: Esther, a slave woman. When Cornelius unexpectedly inherits the estate, Jenny finds that her life, like the estate, is taking some unexpected turns. The lives of ...

Caught in the crosshairs of Mexico's warring cartels, Juárez is the border city that most brutally exposes the lies that we tell ourselves about globalization, NAFTA, immigration, corruption, and the war on drugs. Once known only as the place where women disappear, its murder rate exceeds that of Baghdad and Mogadishu. In this heartbreaking, disturbing, and unforgettable examination, award winning-writer Charles Bowden takes an axe to the myths about the war on drugs—myths perpetuated by Mexico, the U.S. government, and the media.

August 1572: Minou Joubert and her husband, Piet, travel to Paris to attend a royal wedding that, after a decade of religious wars, is intended to finally bring peace between the Catholics and the Huguenots. Also in Paris is their oldest enemy, Vidal, in pursuit of an ancient relic that will change the course of history. Within days of the marriage, thousands will lie dead in the street, and Minou’s family will be scattered to the four winds....

Here is Old Man's War author John Scalzi's sendup of the heroic fantasy genre, now a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

Ocean City is truly a wonderful place, full of summertime adventure. The beaches, the boardwalk, swimming, surfing, fishing, music, amusements... the possibilities are endless. However in 1941, these pleasures are tempered by the likelihood that the US would soon join World War II. With their parents employed in the country’s defense, Stacy and Walter are sent to stay in Ocean City with their great-aunt at the majestic Flanders Hotel. It seems like the best place possible for the children to have some semblance of summer fun despite the gathering clouds of conflict. However, the brother ...

Sandy Eden, a Vietnam survivor turned charismatic barrister, has a taste for bourbon, blues, and the relentless pursuit of justice. Yet he often wonders—for what? The answer is his elixir: live music in Austin, where he and his love, Bev, follow the soulful bass lines of his longtime friend Dude from one club to another. But whiskey and blues can’t satisfy his deeper urge to give bullies their due—an itch born in the chaos of war and sharpened by his legal battles.

Diehard in the Rocky Mountains. Just prior to Christmas 1978, Former Green Beret Will Kane drives away from New York City with no particular destination in mind. All he knows is he had to get away from the death and destruction he’s been faced with in his hometown. But then he gets a call from his former mentor, CIA spook, Plaikos who informs him that his ex-wife, whom he hasn’t seen since their son died a decade ago, is holed up in a small, isolated Colorado town. As he drives into town he runs into what appears to be the sheriff, but Kane’s combat instincts rule and he guns the man ...

Times are truly desperate within Averalaan's hundred holdings, and Jewel MArkess and her den are finding it hard to survive. Then suddenly their mentor, Rath, orders them to avoid the ancient Undercity beneath Averlaan's streets, cutting them off from their main source of income. Yet Rath himself refuses to heed the warnings of Jewel's seer dreams. Instead, he allies with the mages of the Order of Knowledge in a secret war against demonic foes, knowing he'll be targeted for death - or worse.