Stephen Hoye
Author
Language
English
Description
Based on a true story, The Chess Machine is the breathtaking historical adventure of a legendary invention that astounded all who crossed its path.Vienna, 1770: Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen unveils a strange and amazing invention: the Mechanical Turk, a sensational and unbeatable chess-playing automaton. But what the Habsburg court hails as the greatest innovation of the century is really nothing more than a brilliant illusion. The chess machine is...
Author
Language
English
Description
An unvarnished, unauthorized, behind-the-scenes account of one of the most dominant pop cultural forces in contemporary America. Operating out of a tiny office on Madison Avenue in the early 1960s, a struggling company called Marvel Comics presented a cast of brightly costumed characters distinguished by smart banter and compellingly human flaws. Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, the...
Author
Language
English
Description
In the pantheon of great World War II conflicts, the battle for Saipan is often forgotten. Yet historian Donald Miller calls it "as important to victory over Japan as the Normandy invasion was to victory over Germany." For the Americans, defeating the Japanese came at a high price. In the words of a Time magazine correspondent, Saipan was "war at its grimmest." On the night of July 17, 1944, as Admirals Ernest King and Chester Nimitz were celebrating...
44) Volk's Shadow
Author
Language
English
Description
The headquarters of an American oil company hemorrhages chemical-pink smoke into the Moscow night, the aftermath of an apparent terrorist attack. A Russian army captain carrying a priceless Faberge egg and digital evidence of horrific wartime atrocities is murdered and relieved of both these prizes. And in the snowy mountains of southern Russia, a terrorist named Abreg-who once held Volk captive in a Chechen mud pit-hatches a plan to lure him back...
Author
Language
English
Description
After losing both parents to a flu pandemic that seriously threatens his own life as well, thirteen-year-old Cole Vining is sent to live with an evangelical pastor and his wife in Salvation City, a small town in southern Indiana. There, Cole feels sheltered and loved but never as if he truly belongs. Everything about his new home is vastly different from the secular world in which he was raised. As he tries to adjust, he struggles also with memories...
Author
Language
English
Description
Martin Fletcher doesn't claim to be a hero. Yet he didn't flinch, either. During three decades covering wars, revolutions, and natural disasters, Fletcher worked his way from news agency cameraman to top network correspondent, facing down his own fears while facing up to mass killers, warlords, and murderers. With humor and elegance, Fletcher describes his growth from clueless adventurer to grizzled veteran of the world's battlefields. His working...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
When the admiral of the Ottoman fleet defects to the Egyptians, Investigator Yashim attempts to uncover the man's motives. But Fevzi Pasha is no stranger to Yashim: it was Pasha, in fact, who taught the investigator his craft years ago. He is the only man whom Yashim has ever truly feared: ruthless, cruel, and unswervingly loyal to the sultan. What dark secret has led his former mentor to betray the Ottoman Empire?Unraveling Pasha's curious history,...
Author
Language
English
Description
Drawing on exclusive access to J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and a tightly bonded team of bankers known on Wall Street as the "Morgan Mafia"-as well as in-depth interviews with dozens of other key players, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner-Gillian Tett brings to life in gripping detail how the Morgan team's bold ideas for a whole new kind of financial alchemy helped to ignite a revolution in banking, and how that revolution escalated wildly...
49) Ready for a Brand New Beat: How "Dancing in the Street" Became the Anthem for a Changing America
Author
Language
English
Description
Can a song change a nation? In 1964, Marvin Gaye, record producer William "Mickey" Stevenson, and Motown songwriter Ivy Jo Hunter wrote "Dancing in the Street." The song was recorded at Motown's Hitsville USA Studio by Martha and the Vandellas, with lead singer Martha Reeves arranging her own vocals. Released on July 31, the song was supposed to be an upbeat dance recording-a precursor to disco, and a song about the joyousness of dance. But events...
Author
Language
English
Description
It is commonly believed that the Great Depression that began in 1929 resulted from a confluence of events beyond any one person's or government's control. In fact, as Liaquat Ahamed reveals, it was the decisions made by a small number of central bankers that were the primary cause of the economic meltdown, the effects of which set the stage for World War II and reverberated for decades.In Lords of Finance, we meet the neurotic and enigmatic Montagu...
Author
Language
English
Description
It's not fiction: Gary Lynch is the real thing, the epitome of the rebel scientist-malnourished, contentious, inspiring, explosive, remarkably ambitious, consistently brilliant. He is one of the foremost figures of contemporary neuroscience, and his decades-long quest to understand the inner workings of the brain's memory machine has begun to pay off.Award-winning journalist Terry McDermott spent nearly two years observing Lynch at work and now gives...
Author
Language
English
Description
Mark Kurlansky's new book takes us back to the food of a younger America. Before the national highway system brought the country closer together, before chain restaurants brought uniformity, and before the Frigidaire meant that frozen food could be stored for longer, the nation's food was seasonal, regional, and traditional. It helped to form the distinct character, attitudes, and customs of those who ate it.While Kurlansky was researching The Big...
Author
Language
English
Description
Peter Mark Roget-polymath, eccentric, and synonym aficionado-was a complicated man. He was an eminent scholar who absorbed himself in his work, yet he also possessed an allure that endeared him to his mentors and colleagues-not to mention a host of female admirers. But, most notably, Roget made lists.From the age of eight, Roget kept these lists with the intention of ordering the chaotic world around him. After his father's death, his mother became...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
It's been two years since disgraced Illinois governor Ray Perry disappeared from a federal courthouse in Chicago moments after being sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison on corruption charges. P.I. Michael Kelly is sitting in his office when he gets an anonymous email offering to pay him nearly a quarter million dollars if he will find Perry. Kelly's investigation begins with the woman Ray Perry left behind - his wife, Marie. Marie tells Kelly...
56) The Calling
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
After two hundred years of exile, King Maric has allowed the legendary Grey Wardens to finally return to Ferelden. When they come, however, they bring dire news: one of their own has escaped into the Deep Roads and aligned himself with their ancient enemy, the monstrous darkspawn.The Grey Wardens need Maric's help, and he reluctantly agrees to lead them into the passages he traveled through many years before, chasing after a deadly secret that will...
Author
Series
Dragon Age novels volume 1
Language
English
Description
After his mother, the beloved Rebel Queen, is betrayed and murdered by her own faithless lords, young Maric becomes the leader of a rebel army attempting to free his nation from the control of a foreign tyrant.His countrymen live in fear; his commanders consider him untested; and his only allies are Loghain, a brash young outlaw who saved his life, and Rowan, the beautiful warrior maiden promised to him since birth. Surrounded by spies and traitors,...
Author
Language
English
Description
It's Gerald Dunwoody's first official government assignment. He's hunting down a deadly saboteur, and time is quickly running out. Old and new enemies combine forces to thwart him. Once again, innocent lives are on the line. He needs his friends. He can't do this alone.But Princess Melissande and Reg have troubles of their own. With the help of Monk Markham's brilliant, beautiful sister, they've opened a one-stop-shop witching locum agency, where...
Author
Language
English
Description
This is a book for anyone who feels they've fallen short of their career potential, or wondered if the things they do-or don't do-at work are sabotaging their careers. The truth is, most people learn their greatest lessons not from grasping the brass ring but from letting go of negative influences and behaviors. Now Dr. Daniel T. Drubin helps readers identify what he terms the "rotten bananas"-unhealthy habits, relationships, jobs, and beliefs-that...
60) Wizard Squared
Author
Language
English
Description
When the members of Witches Incorporated receive a visitor from an alternate reality, they are shocked to discover that Gerald Dunwoody is responsible for the chaos in this parallel world. This evil Gerald has turned into a raving tyrant whose use of black magic has made him unstoppable.Unfortunately for them, this problem is about to cross over to their world very quickly because evil Gerald is searching for new worlds to conquer. And the only person...