Search results for ""Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press""
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Evolution of Charles Darwin: The Epic Voyage of the Beagle That Forever Changed Our View of Life on Earth
From the Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning historian, the colorful, dramatic story of Charles Darwin’s journey on HMS Beagle that inspired the evolutionary theories in his path-breaking books On the Origin of Species and The Descent of ManWhen twenty-two-year-old aspiring geologist Charles Darwin boarded HMS Beagle in 1831 with his microscopes and specimen bottles—invited by ship’s captain Robert FitzRoy who wanted a travel companion at least as much as a ship’s naturalist—he hardly thought he was embarking on what would become perhaps the most important and epoch-changing voyage in scientific history. Nonetheless, over the course of the five-year journey around the globe in often hard and hazardous conditions, Darwin would make observations and gather samples that would form the basis of his revolutionary theories about the origin of species and natural selection.Drawing on a rich range of revealing letters, diary entries, recollections of those who encountered him, and Darwin’s and FitzRoy’s own accounts of what transpired, Diana Preston chronicles the epic voyage as it unfolded, tracing Darwin’s growth from untested young man to accomplished adventurer and natural scientist in his own right. Darwin often left the ship to climb mountains, navigate rivers, or ride hundreds of miles, accompanied by local guides whose languages he barely understood, across pampas and through rainforests in search of further unique specimens. From the wilds of Patagonia to the Galápagos and other Atlantic and Pacific islands, as Preston vibrantly relates, Darwin collected and contrasted volcanic rocks and fossils large and small, witnessed an earthquake, and encountered the Argentinian rhea, Falklands fox, and Galápagos finch, through which he began to discern connections between deep past and present.Darwin never left Britain again after his return in 1836, though his mind journeyed far and wide to develop the theories that were first revealed, after great delay and with trepidation about their reception, in 1859 with the publication of his epochal book On the Origin of Species. Offering a unique portrait of one of history’s most consequential figures, The Evolution of Charles Darwin is a vital contribution to our understanding of life on Earth.
£14.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Woods / Lakeboat / Edmond
£10.79
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch
Set in a wild and immaculate landscape threatened by industry and environmental degradation, a compassionate and gripping exploration of one of the world’s most baffling mysteries—the existence of the Sasquatch On the central and north coast of British Columbia, the Great Bear Rainforest is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, containing more organic matter than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. The area plays host to a wide range of species, from thousand-year-old western cedars to humpback whales to iconic white Spirit bears. According to local residents, another giant is said to live in these woods. For centuries people have reported encounters with the Sasquatch—a species of hairy bipedal man-apes said to inhabit the deepest recesses of this pristine wilderness. Driven by his own childhood obsession with the creatures, John Zada decides to seek out the diverse inhabitants of this rugged and far-flung coast, where nearly everyone has a story to tell, from a scientist who dedicated his life to researching the Sasquatch, to members of the area’s First Nations, to a former grizzly bear hunter-turned-nature tour guide. With each tale, Zada discovers that his search for the Sasquatch is a quest for something infinitely more complex, cutting across questions of human perception, scientific inquiry, indigenous traditions, the environment, and the power and desire of the human imagination to believe in—or reject—something largely unseen. Teeming with gorgeous nature writing and a driving narrative that takes us through the forests and into the valleys of a remote and seldom visited region, In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond sheds light on what our decades-long pursuit of the Sasquatch can tell us about ourselves and invites us to welcome wonder for the unknown back into our lives.
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Happy Talk
Lorraine is a saint of the suburbs. On top of trying to save her dying mother, miserable husband and estranged daughter, she’s starring as Bloody Mary in the Jewish Community Center production of South Pacific. When her mother’s home aide, Serbian immigrant Ljuba, asks for help finding a husband, Lorraine takes on her most challenging role to date: matchmaker. In Jesse Eisenberg’s hysterical and devastating play, Happy Talk, he reveals the absurd lengths people go to save themselves in the name of saving others.
£11.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Chicago's Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City
From an acclaimed historian, the full and authoritative story of one of the most iconic disasters in American history, told through the vivid memories of those who experienced it Between October 8–10, 1871, much of the city of Chicago was destroyed by one of the most legendary urban fires in history. Incorporated as a city in 1837, Chicago had grown at a breathtaking pace in barely three decades, from just over 4,000 in 1840 to greater than 330,000 at the time of the fire. Built hastily, the city was largely made of wood. Once it began in the barn of Catherine and Patrick O'Leary, the Fire quickly grew out of control, twice jumping branches of the Chicago River on its relentless northeastward path through the city's three divisions. Close to one of every three Chicago residents was left homeless and more were instantly unemployed, though the death toll was miraculously low. Remarkably, no carefully researched popular history of the Great Chicago Fire has been written until now, despite it being one of the most cataclysmic disasters in US history. Building the story around memorable characters, both known to history and unknown, including the likes of General Philip Sheridan and Robert Todd Lincoln, eminent Chicago historian Carl Smith chronicles the city's rapid growth and place in America's post-Civil War expansion. The dramatic story of the fire—revealing human nature in all its guises—became one of equally remarkable renewal, as Chicago quickly rose back up from the ashes thanks to local determination and the world's generosity and faith in Chicago's future. As we approach the fire's 150th anniversary, Carl Smith's compelling narrative at last gives this epic event its full and proper place in our national chronicle.
£19.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Cleopatra Dismounts: A Novel
Carmen Boullosa’s Cleopatra Dismounts tells three versions of the life of Cleopatra. In the first sequence, Marc Antony had just disemboweled himself, knowing they had lost the war against Octavian and believing that Cleopatra was dead. Hugging his corpse, Cleopatra castigates Octavian and history for its betrayal of her, recalling variously how she had herself delivered to Caesar in a roll of carpet, and bore his child (Caesarion); the twins and third child she bore to Marc Antony; the bitterness of the recent military defeat. At this point Diomedes, variously described as an informer and her official chronicler, intercedes, admitting that this version of the story is not true to the brilliant, accomplished woman who was the true Cleopatra really was. Telling of how he betrayed Cleopatra, by altering the histories of her reign and allowing Caesar and others to destroy or change her scrolls, he begins again with the story of Cleopatra’s flight from Pompey (the Roman leader who was placed in charge of Cleopatra and her brothers and sisters after Ptolemy Auletes, her father and ruler of Egypt, died). The girl queen (Cleopatra inherited the throne as a teenager) sneaks with several faithful servants out of the palace into a wagon, accompanied by a group of brightly costumed gladiators, on her way to Ascalon. She and her supporters carve the words Queen of Kings” (Cleopatra’s motto in real history) into the boards of the wagon in which she is traveling, and leave it behind when they reach Rome. When they are beset by pirates, Cleopatra stages an elaborate show using some costumes the young gladiator Apollodorus, who has become part of her retinue, helped her buy. She convinces the pirates that she is Isis (a myth which was in reality part of her statecraft). She makes an alliance with them and is taken in peace to Cilicia. The third and longest version of the Cleopatra story is a delightful interlude in which Cleopatra goes live with the Amazons. Cleopatra is at war with the Ruling Council of her husband and brother Ptolemy (she was, historically, forced to marry her brother because she could not rule alone as a woman). The Ruling Council has sent an envoy to summon her to Alexandria to make peace, but when she realizes it is a trap, she flees with her retinue. She arrives in Pelusium, a trade center on the Mediterranean, where many merchants have been stranded by bad weather, and where, as if by magic, she sees a replica of the cart, carved with the words Queen of Kings,” she left behind in Rome. Chased by the reception committee” of the Ruling Council, she escapes on the back of a magical bull. He carries her across the Mediterranean to the land of the Amazons, who take her in. The Amazons welcome her into their society of women, eschewing marriage and traditional female roles to live as warriors and hunters. They sing her the stories of their joining the Amazons and of the many myths that surround them. She meets a group of aged poets, kidnapped by the Amazons to write verses for them, because they love poetry and music. She learns that one Amazon, Orthea, is in love with a god who has the power of extreme heat and cold, and who caused an earthquake that day. The Amazons go to bed, falling into each other’s arms and making love. Though initially disgusted, eventually Cleopatra falls asleep in the protective (and erotic) embrace of Hippolyta, the Amazons’ queen. The next day, the Amazons go to battle a group of rebellious male warriors who charge the Amazons and seek, ultimately, to follow the Sirens. Charging them on their horses, driving cattle at them, the Amazons battle the men. One of their prized poets, however, in an act of suicide, surrenders himself to the Sirens, who devour him before everyone. This breaks the spell and the men cease their clamoring to get to the Sirens. Cleopatra sees Orthea consummating her passion for the god, which kills her. The Cyrene male warriors, who withstood the Sirens’ onslaught in their fort by plugging the windows with rocks and mud, invite Cleopatra and the Amazons to their court to celebrate their successful protection of so many men. Hippolyta declines but sends Cleopatra with her blessing. Once there, she is joyfully reunited with the gladiator Apollodorus and her faithful maidservant and right hand Charmian. The Cyrenes offer to ally with her against her enemies in Ptolemy’s Ruling Council. The alliance between Cleopatra and Caesar (wherein she was smuggled to him rolled up in a carpet, and he assisted her in defeating her enemies in Egypt, part of history) is presaged. At the close of the piece, Cleopatra returns to bid goodbye to the Amazons. She finds them naked, covered in blood, having just sacrificed a horse. Hippolyta is holding the horse’s castrated penis. She repudiates her earlier alliance with the Amazons and returns to Cyrene alone, to her military campaign to become the queen history knows.
£11.72
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Big Seven
"Harrison's writing is always exhilarating. An added strength is his penchant for delightfully flawed but deeply human characters. Sunderson doesn't disappoint."--Seattle Times "The pleasures of The Big Seven are found most often in Sunderson's troubled, heavily marinated meditations ...Such is Harrison's gift for conveying human consciousness and all its vexing diversions and understatements and circular thoughts."--New York Times Book Review A national bestseller from one of our most renowned and popular authors, The Big Seven finds Detective Sunderson settling into a hunting cabin in a remote area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where he soon realizes that his neighbors may be as dangerous as any maniac he faced in his cop days. A family of outlaws, armed to the teeth, the Ameses have local law enforcement too intimidated to take them on. Then Sunderson's cleaning lady, a comely young Ames woman, is murdered, and black sheep brother Lemuel Ames seeks Sunderson's advice on a crime novel he's writing which may not be fiction. Sunderson must struggle with the evil within himself and the greater, more expansive evil of his neighbor. "Harrison is an old master, here on top of his game ...Harrison is maybe a little bit like ...Elmore Leonard (to whom Sunderson pays tribute), in that both write prose, easy on the eye, that seems so natural as to be effortless. That kind of writing is, of course, anything but effortless--it takes genius, but mostly experience, intuition and discipline. And a somewhat raffish charm, like Harrison's, doesn't hurt."--The Cleveland Plain Dealer "Whimsical and bawdy fun ...Harrison writes beautifully about fishing and the outdoors."--Washington Post
£11.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Fool on the Hill: A Novel
From the New York Times Bestselling author of Lovecraft Country, now an HBO series. It is a literary event when a genuinely new fictional voice comes along. When that voice achieves its newness not through a certain formal facility but through the freshness of its vision, there is truly something to celebrate. Matt Ruff was only twenty-two when Fool on the Hill was first published, but with his novel he gave us a story that won over readers of every persuasion. Not your usual first effort, Fool on the Hill is a full-blown epic of life and death, good and evil, magic and love. Think of the imaginative daring of Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale. The zany popism of Tom Robbins’s Another Roadside Attraction. The gnomish fantasies of J.R. Tolkien. Think of these and you begin to get some idea of one of the most remarkable first novels to come along in years. In the world of Fool on the Hill dogs and cats can talk, a subculture of sprites lives in the shadows and underfoot (if you’re the sensitive type, or drunk enough, you might see them cavorting across the lawn), and the Bohemians, a group of Harley- and horseback-riding students dedicated to all things unconventional, hold all-night revels for the glory of their cause. Then there is Stephen Titus George, the novel’s youthful hero, who somehow finds himself the main player in a story that began well over a century ago. George is a mild-mannered flier of kites, a sometimes writer of bestselling fiction, and would-be knight looking for a maiden. George will find his girl and the century-old story will provide the proverbial dragon whose slaying will sanctify their love. But it will not be a sword that fells the foe but the transforming power of the imagination.
£14.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Curse of Oak Island: The Story of the World’s Longest Treasure Hunt
From longtime Rolling Stone contributing editor and journalist Randall Sullivan, The Curse of Oak Island explores the curious history of Oak Island and the generations of individuals who have tried and failed to unlock its secrets. An investigation into the “curse” of Oak Island, where rumors of buried riches have beguiled treasure hunters over the past two centuries. In 1795, a teenager discovered a mysterious circular depression in the ground on Oak Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada, and ignited rumors of buried treasure. Early excavators uncovered a clay-lined shaft containing layers of soil interspersed with wooden platforms, but when they reached a depth of ninety feet, water poured into the shaft and made further digging impossible. Since then the mystery of Oak Island’s “Money Pit” has enthralled generations of treasure hunters, including a Boston insurance salesman whose obsession ruined him; young Franklin Delano Roosevelt; and film star Errol Flynn. Perplexing discoveries have ignited explorers’ imaginations: a flat stone inscribed in code; a flood tunnel draining from a man-made beach; a torn scrap of parchment; stone markers forming a huge cross. Swaths of the island were bulldozed looking for answers; excavation attempts have claimed two lives. Theories abound as to what’s hidden on Oak Island—pirates’ treasure, Marie Antoinette’s lost jewels, the Holy Grail, proof that Sir Francis Bacon was the true author of Shakespeare’s plays—yet to this day, the Money Pit remains an enigma. The Curse of Oak Island is a fascinating account of the strange, rich history of the island and the intrepid treasure hunters who have driven themselves to financial ruin, psychotic breakdowns, and even death in pursuit of answers. And as Michigan brothers Marty and Rick Lagina become the latest to attempt to solve the mystery, as documented on the History Channel’s television show The Curse of Oak Island, Sullivan takes readers along to follow their quest firsthand.
£19.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Spoils: A Play
Eisenberg's third play The Spoils cements his reputation as a talented playwright whose tragicomic work explores questions of American privilege and the nature of family and relationships. Eisenberg will star in the New York production of The Spoils in the Spring of 2015, directed by Scott Elliott for the New Group's inaugural season at the Pershing Square Signature Center. Nobody likes Ben. Ben doesn't even like Ben. He's been kicked out of grad school, lives off his parents' money, and bullies everyone in his life, including his roommate, an earnest Nepalese immigrant. When Ben discovers that his grade school crush is marrying a straight-laced banker, he sets out to destroy their relationship and win her back. The Spoils is a deeply personal and probing comedy written by one of America's most interesting writer-thespians.
£11.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Blue Rondo
Written by 'a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack' (Daily Telegraph), the Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst.1959.An old flame has returned to Troy's life: Kitty Stilton, now wife of an American presidential hopeful, has come back to London, and with her, an unwelcome guest.Private eye Joey Rork has been hired to make sure Kitty's amorous liaisons don't ruin her husband's political career. But before Rork can dig any dirt, he meets a gruesome end...But he isn't the only one, and with the body-count mounting is it possible that the blood trail leads back to Troy's police force and into his own forgotten past?
£8.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Vino Business: The Cloudy World of French Wine
For centuries a bastion of tradition and the jewel in the crown of French viticulture, Bordeaux has in recent years become dogged by controversy, particularly regarding the 2012 classification of the wines of St.-Émilion, the most prestigious appellation of Bordeaux's right bank. St.-Émilion is an area increasingly dominated by big international investors, especially from China, who are keen to speculate on the area's wines and land, some of whose value has increased tenfold in the last decade alone. In the controversial 2012 classification, certain châteaux were promoted to a more prestigious class because of insider deals that altered the scoring system for the classification of wines into premier crus and grand crus. This system now takes into account the facilities of each château's tasting room, the size of its warehouse, and even the extent of its parking lot. The quality of the wine counts for just 30% of the total score for the wines of the top ranking, those deemed premier grand cru classé A. In Vino Business, Saporta shows how back-room deals with wine distributors, multinational investors like the luxury company LVMH, and even wine critics, have fundamentally changed this ancient business. Saporta also investigates issues of wine labelling and the use of pesticides, and draws comparisons to Champagne, Burgundy and the rest of the wine world. Based on two years of research and reporting, Vino Business draws back the curtain on the secret world of Bordeaux, a land ever more in thrall to the grapes of wealth.
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Small Fry
Vogue's Best Books of the YearSunday Times' Best Memoirs of the YearA New York Times Book of the YearNew Yorker Book of the YearA frank, smart and captivating memoir by the daughter of Apple founder Steve Jobs.__________________________________________________Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents - artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs - Lisa Brennan-Jobs's childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. When she was young, Lisa's father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, holidays and private schools. His attention was thrilling, but he could also be cold, critical and unpredictable. When her relationship with her mother grew strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping he'd become the parent she'd always wanted him to be.Small Fry is Lisa Brennan-Jobs's poignant story of a childhood spent between two imperfect but extraordinary homes. Scrappy, wise and funny, young Lisa is an unforgettable guide through her parents' fascinating and disparate worlds. Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties, Small Fry is an enthralling book by an insightful new literary voice.
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press For All Mankind
Updated with a new introduction by the author for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, For All Mankind is both an extraordinary adventure story and an important historical document.Between December 1968 and December 1972, twenty-four men captured the imagination of the world as they voyaged to the moon. In For All Mankind, Harry Hurt presents a dramatic, engrossing and expansive account of those journeys. Based on extensive research and exclusive interviews with the Apollo astronauts, For All Mankind remains one of the most comprehensive and revealing firsthand accounts of space travel ever assembled. In their own words, the astronauts share the sights, sounds, thoughts, fears, hopes and dreams they experienced during their incredible voyages. In a compelling narrative structured as one trip to the moon, Harry Hurt recounts all the drama and danger of the lunar voyages, from the anxiety of the astronauts' prelaunch procedures through the euphoria of touchdown on the lunar surface.
£10.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Forgers
The rare book world is stunned when a reclusive collector, Adam Diehl, is found on the floor of his Montauk home: hands severed, surrounded by valuable inscribed books and original manuscripts that have been vandalised beyond repair. Adam's sister, Meghan, and her lover, Will - a convicted if unrepentant literary forger - struggle to come to terms with the seemingly incomprehensible murder. But when Will begins receiving threatening handwritten letters, seemingly penned by long-dead authors, but really from someone who knows secrets about Adam's death and Will's past, he understands his own life is also on the line - and attempts to forge a new beginning for himself and Meg. In The Forgers, Bradford Morrow reveals the passion that drives collectors to the razor-sharp edge of morality, brilliantly confronting the hubris and mortal danger of rewriting history with a fraudulent pen.
£8.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Wrong End of the Telescope
£14.00
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Guest Lecture
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Piano Teacher
£13.49
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Sewer, Gas & Electric
£16.31
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Introduction to Zen Buddhism
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn
"Somebody comes into the Zen center with a lighted cigarette, walks up to the Buddha statue, blows smoke in its face, and drops ashes on its lap. You are standing there. What can you do?" This is a problem that Zen Master Seung Sahn is fond of posing to his American students who attend his Zen centers. Dropping Ashes on the Buddha is a delightful, irreverent, and often hilariously funny living record of the dialogue between Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn and his American students. Consisting of dialogues, stories, formal Zen interviews, Dharma speeches, and letters using the Zen Master's actual words in spontaneous, living interaction with his students, this book is a fresh presentation of the Zen teaching method of "instant dialogue" between Master and student which, through the use of astonishment and paradox, leads to an understanding of ultimate reality.
£11.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Mother Courage and Her Children: A Chronicle of the Thirty Years' War
Anna Fierling, an itinerant trader during the seventeenth century, becomes known as "Mother Courage" after the constant warfare gradually claims all of her children.
£9.09
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Afterparties
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'So's distinctive voice is ever-present: mellifluous, streetwise and slightly brash, at once cynical and bighearted...unique and quintessential' Sunday Times'So's stories reimagine and reanimate the Central Valley, in the way that the polyglot stories in Bryan Washington's collection Lot reimagined Houston and Ocean Vuong's novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous allowed us to see Hartford in a fresh light.' Dwight Garner, New York Times '[A] remarkable début collection' Hua Hsu, The New YorkerA Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club Pick!Named a Best Book of Summer by: Wall Street Journal * Thrillist * Vogue * Lit Hub * Refinery29 * New York Observer * The Daily Beast * Time * BuzzFeed * Entertainment Weekly Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tender-hearted, balancing acerbic humour with sharp emotional depth, Afterparties offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California, they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race, sexuality, friendship and family.A high school badminton coach and failing grocery store owner tries to relive his glory days by beating a rising star teenage player. Two drunken brothers attend a wedding afterparty and hatch a plan to expose their shady uncle's snubbing of the bride and groom. A queer love affair sparks between an older tech entrepreneur trying to launch a 'safe space' app and a disillusioned young teacher obsessed with Moby-Dick. And in the sweeping final story, a nine-year-old child learns that his mother survived a racist school shooter.With nuanced emotional precision, gritty humour and compassionate insight into the intimacy of queer and immigrant communities, the stories in Afterparties deliver an explosive introduction to the work of Anthony Veasna So.
£14.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Miss Burma
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018Longlisted for the National Book Award for FictionAfter attending school in Calcutta, Benny settles in Rangoon, then part of the British Empire, and falls in love with Khin, a woman who is part of a long-persecuted ethnic minority group, the Karen. World War II comes to Southeast Asia, and Benny and Khin must go into hiding in the eastern part of the country during the Japanese Occupation, beginning a journey that will lead them to change the country's history. After the war, the British authorities make a deal with the Burman nationalists, led by Aung San, whose party gains control of the country. When Aung San is assassinated, his successor ignores the pleas for self-government of the Karen people and other ethnic groups, and in doing so sets off what will become the longest-running civil war in recorded history. Benny and Khin's eldest child, Louisa, has a danger-filled, tempestuous childhood and reaches prominence as Burma's first beauty queen soon before the country falls to dictatorship. As Louisa navigates her newfound fame, she is forced to reckon with her family's past, the West's ongoing covert dealings in her country and her own loyalty to the cause of the Karen people. Based on the story of the author's mother and grandparents, Miss Burma is a captivating portrait of how modern Burma came to be and of the ordinary people swept up in the struggle for self-determination and freedom.
£14.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B. B. King
'Without a doubt the most important artist the blues has ever produced' Eric Clapton'No one did more to spread the gospel of the blues' President Barack Obama'One part of me says, "Yes, of course I can play." But the other part of me says, "Well, I wish I could just do it like B.B. King."' John LennonRiley 'Blues Boy' King (1925-2015) was born into deep poverty in Mississippi. Wrenched away from his sharecropper father, B.B. lost his mother at age ten, leaving him more or less alone. Music became his emancipation from exhausting toil in the fields. Inspired by a local minister's guitar and by the records of Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker, B.B. taught his guitar to sing in the unique solo style that, along with his relentless work ethic and humanity, became his trademark. In turn, generations of artists claimed him as inspiration, from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Carlos Santana and the Edge.King of the Blues presents the vibrant life and times of a trailblazing giant. Witness to dark prejudice and lynching in his youth, B.B. performed incessantly (more than fifteen thousand concerts in ninety countries over nearly sixty years) - in some real way his means of escaping his past. His career roller-coasted between adulation and relegation, but he always rose back up. At the same time, his story reveals the many ways record companies took advantage of artists, especially those of colour.Daniel de Visé has interviewed almost every surviving member of B.B. King's inner circle - family, band members, retainers, managers and more - and their voices and memories enrich and enliven the life of this Mississippi blues titan, whom his contemporary Bobby 'Blue' Bland simply called 'the man.'
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Endpapers: A Family Story of Books, War, Escape and Home
'Remarkable lives in extraordinary times - a gripping and exceptional literary journey.' Philippe Sands'Alexander Wolff is keen, after a generation of silence, to follow the untold stories wherever they might lead.' Claire Messud, Harpers Magazine'As riveting as the fiction the Wolffs themselves have published, and deeply affecting.' NewsweekIn 2017, acclaimed journalist Alexander Wolff moved to Berlin to take up a long-deferred task: learning his family's history. His grandfather Kurt Wolff set up his own publishing firm in 1910 at the age of twenty-three, publishing Franz Kafka, Émile Zola, Anton Chekhov and others whose books would be burned by the Nazis. In 1933, Kurt and his wife Helen fled to France and Italy, and later to New York, where they would bring books including Doctor Zhivago, The Leopard and The Tin Drum to English-speaking readers.Meanwhile, Kurt's son Niko, born from an earlier marriage, was left behind in Germany. Despite his Jewish heritage, he served in the German army and ended up in an prisoner of war camp before emigrating to the US in 1948. As Alexander gains a better understanding of his taciturn father's life, he finds secrets that never made it to America and is forced to confront his family's complex relationship with the Nazis.This stunning account of a family navigating wartime and its aftershocks brilliantly evokes the perils, triumphs and secrets of history and exile.
£10.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Stella
In 1942, Friedrich, an even-keeled but unworldly young man, arrives in Berlin from bucolic Switzerland with dreams of becoming an artist. At a life drawing class, he is hypnotized by the beautiful model, Kristin, who soon becomes his energetic yet enigmatic guide to the bustling and cosmopolitan city, escorting him to underground jazz clubs where they drink cognac, dance and kiss. The war feels far away to Friedrich, who falls in love with Kristin as they spend time together in his rooms at the Grand Hotel, but as the months pass, the mood in the city darkens as the Nazis tighten their hold on Berlin, terrorizing any who are deemed foes of the Reich.One day, Kristin comes back to Friedrich's rooms in tears, battered and bruised. She tells him that her real name is Stella, and that she is Jewish, passing for Aryan. More disturbing still, she has troubling connections with the Gestapo that Friedrich does not fully understand. As Friedrich confronts Stella's unimaginable choices, he finds himself woefully unprepared for the history he is living through. Based in part on a real historical character, Stella sets a tortured love story against the backdrop of wartime Berlin, and powerfully explores questions of naiveté, young love, betrayal, and the horrors of history.
£8.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Forger's Daughter
When a scream shatters the summer night outside their country house, reformed literary forger Will and his wife Meghan find their daughter Maisie shaken and bloodied, holding a parcel her attacker demanded she present to her father. Inside is a literary rarity the likes of which few have ever handled, and a letter laying out impossible demands regarding its future.After twenty years of living life on the straight and narrow, Will finds himself drawn back to forgery, ensnared in a plot to counterfeit the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe's first publication, Tamerlane. Facing threats to his life and family, coerced by his former nemesis and fellow forger Henry Slader, Will must rely on the artistic skills of his other daughter Nicole to help create a flawless forgery of this 1827 publication regarded as the Holy Grail of American letters.Part mystery, part case study of the shadowy side of the book trade, and part homage to the writer who invented the detective tale, The Forger's Daughter portrays the world of literary forgery as diabolically clever, genuinely dangerous and inescapable, it would seem, to those who have ever embraced it.
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars
Full Service is the ultimate guilty pleasure, revealing for the first time the shadow lives of the people who created popular culture, told by the man who was so central to fulfilling their desires.Scotty Bowers, a dashing young ex-Marine exuding sex appeal, arrived in Hollywood in 1946 and quickly caught the attention of many of the town's stars. Working out of a gas station on Hollywood Boulevard, Bowers soon became the go-to guy for anyone looking for a bespoke sexual partner; no matter how outlandish the tastes, Scotty could find someone for everyone...In his thirty years 'tricking' and arranging tricks for LA's rich and famous, Bowers went to bed with thousands of people and engineered sexual liaisons of all flavours for countless more.
£10.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Commander of the Exodus
Hailed by The New York Times as "one of the most inventive, brilliant novelists in the Western world," internationally renowned Israeli writer Yoram Kaniuk turns his hand to nonfiction to bring us his most important work yet. Commander of the Exodus animates the story of Yossi Harel, a modern-day Moses who defied the blockade of the British Mandate to deliver more than 24,000 displaced Holocaust survivors to Palestine while the rest of the world closed its doors. Of the four expeditions commanded by Harel between 1946 and 1948, the voyage of the Exodus left the deepest impression on public consciousness, quickly becoming a beacon for Zionism and a symbol to all that neither guns, cannons, nor warships could stand in the way of the human need for a home. With grace and sensitivity, Kaniuk shows the human face of history. He pays homage to the young Israeli who was motivated not by politics or personal glory, but by the pleading eyes of the orphaned children languishing on the shores of Europe. Commander of the Exodus is both an unforgettable tribute to the heroism of the dispossessed and a rich evocation of the vision and daring of a man who took it upon himself to reverse the course of history. "[Yossi Harel's] remarkable achievements have been engraved in history by the talent of Yoram Kaniuk." -- Ehud Barak, prime minister of Israel
£9.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Alexander the Great
The facts of Alexander's life are extraordinary, and it's no surprise that two major Hollywood films on his life are in production. Born Alexander III, king of Macedonia, and the first king to be called "the Great," he was born in 356 BC and brought up as crown prince. Taught for a time by Aristotle, he acquired a love for Homer and an infatuation with the heroic age. When his father Philip divorced Olympias to marry a younger princess, Alexander fled. Although allowed to return, he remained isolated and insecure untilP hilip's mysterious assassination about June 336. Alexander was at once presented to the army as king. Winning its support, he eliminated all potential rivals. No sooner had Alexander ascended the throne, than the Illyeians and other Northern tribes, which had been subdued by his father Philip, erupted into Macedonia, but they were quickly dispatched by the armies of Alexander. Some Grecian states, with Athens and Thebes at their head, thinking this a favorable oppurtunity, attempted to shake off the macedonia yoke; but the sudden appearance of the youthful Alexander in their midst soon put an end to all resistance. Thebes was taken by strom and razed to the ground, only the house of the poet Pindar and several other dwellings being spared; and the inhabitants were sold into slavery. Athens and the other Greek states immeaditly submitted, and were generously pardoned by Alexander. Then he took up Philip's war of aggression against Persia, adopting his slogan of a Hellenic Crusadeagainst the barbarian. He defeated the small force defending Anatolia, proclaimed freedom for the Greek cities there while keeping them under tight control, and, after a campaign through the Anatolian highlands (to impress the tribesmen), met and defeated the Persian army under Darius III at Issus (near modern Iskenderun, Turkey). He occupied Syria and--after a long siege ofTyreE--Phoenicia, then entered Egypt, where he was accepted as Pharaoh. From there he visited the famous Libyan oracle of Amon (or Ammon,identified by the Greeks with Zeus). The oracle hailed him as Amon's son (two Greek oracles confirmed him as son of Zeus) and promised him that he would become a god. His faith in Amon kept increasing, and after his death he was portrayed with the god's horns. After organizing Egypt and founding Alexandria, Alexander crossed the Eastern Desert and the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and in the autumn of331 defeated Darius's grand army at Gaugamela (near modern Irbil, Iraq). Darius fled to the mountain residence of Ecbatana, while Alexander occupied Babylon, the imperial capital Susa, and Persepolis. Alexander acted as legitimate king of Persia, and to win the support ofthe Iranian aristocracy he appointed mainly Iranians as provincial governors. Yet a major uprising in Greece delayed him at Persepolis until May 330 and then, before leaving, he destroyed the great palace complex as a gesture to the Greeks. At Ecbatana, after hearing that the rebellion had failed, he proclaimed the end of the Hellenic Crusade and discharged the Greek forces. He then pursued Darius, who had turned eastward. Darius was assassinated by Bessus, the satrap of Bactria, who distrusted his will to keep fighting and proclaimed himself king. As a result, Alexander faced years of guerrilla war in northeastern Iran and central Asia, which ended only when he married (327) Rozana, the daughter of a localchieftain. The whole area was fortified by a network of military settlements, some of which later developed into major cities. During these years, Alexander's increasing preoccupation outside of Greece led to trouble with Macedonian nobles and some Greeks. Parmenion, Philip II's senior general, and his family originally had a stranglehold on the army, but Alexander gradually weakened its grip. Late in 330, Parmenion's oldestson, Philotas, commander of the cavalry and chief opponent of the king's new policies, was eliminated in a carefully staged coup d'etat, and Parmenion was assassinated. Another noble, Cleitus, was killed by Alexander himself in a drunken brawl. (Heavy drinking was acherished tradition at the Macedonian court.) Alexander next demanded that Europeans follow the Oriental etiquette of prostrating themselves before the king--which he knew was regarded as an act of worship by Greeks. But resistance by Macedonian officers and by the Greek Callisthenes (a nephew of Aristotle who had joined the expedition as the official historian of the crusade) defeated the attempt. Callisthenes was then executed on a charge of conspiracy. With discipline restored, Alexander invaded (327) the Punjab. After conquering most of it, he was stopped from pressing on to the distant Ganges by a mutiny of the soldiers. Turning south, he marched down to the mouth of the Indus, engaging in some of the heaviest fighting and bloodiest massacres of the war. He was nearly killed while assaulting a town. On reaching the Indian Ocean, he sent the Greek oooooofficer Nearchus with a fleet to explore the coastal route to Mesopotamia. Part of the army returned by a tolerable land route, while Alexander, with the rest,marched back through the desert of southern Iran, chiefly to emulate various mythical figures said to have done this. He emerged safely in the winter of 325-24, after the worst sufferings and losses of the entire campaign, to find his personal control over the heart of the empire weakened by years of absence and rumors of his death. On his return, he executed several of his governors and senior officers and replaced others. In the spring of 324, Alexander held a great victory celebration at Susa. He, and 80 close associates, married Iranian noblewomen. In addition, he legitimized previous so-called marriages between soldiers and native women and gave them rich wedding gifts, no doubt to encourage such unions. When he discharged the disabled Macedonian veterans, after defeating a mutiny by the estranged and exasperated Macedonian army, they had to leave their wives and children with him. Because national prejudices had prevented the unification of his empire, his aim was apparently to prepare a long-term solution (he was only 32)by breeding a new body of high nobles of mixed blood and also creating the core of a royal army attached only to himself. In the autumn of 324, at Ecbatana, Alexander lost his boyhoodfriend Hephaestion, by then his grand vizier--probably the only person he had ever genuinely loved. The loss was irreparable. After a period of deep mourning, he embarked on a winter campaign in the mountains, then returned to Babylon, where he prepared an expedition for the conquest of Arabia. Weakened from numerous battles, he died in June 323 without designating a successor. His death opened the anarchic age of the Diadochi. Alexander at once became a legend. Greek accounts blended almost incredible fact with pure fiction (for example, his meeting withthe Queen of the Amazons). What remains as fact are Alexander's indisputable military genius and his successful opportunism and timing in both war and politics. The success of his ambition, at immense cost in terms of human life, spread Greek culture far into central Asia, and some of it--supported and extended by the Hellenistic dynasties--lasted for centuries. It also led to an expansion of Greek horizons and to the acceptance of the idea of a universal kingdom, which paved the way for the Roman Empire. Moreover, it opened up the Greek world to new Oriental influences, which would lay the groundwork for Christianity.
£11.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Warlock
Johnny Lundgren, a.k.a. Warlock, is an unemployed foundation executive who, after surviving a midlife crisis, finally decides to get a job. Warlock soon gets hired by a crazy, but genius doctor as a trouble-shooter, where he's tasked with everything battling poachers in the haunted wilderness of northern Michigan to investigating his employer’s wife and son in the seamy underside of Key West. A comedy with one foot in the abyss, Warlock is what the New York Times called “farcical, reflective, luscious, gritty” entertainment from one of this country’s most beloved authors.
£11.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Should the Tent Be Burning Like That?: A Professional Amateur’s Guide to the Outdoors
For more than twenty years, Bill Heavey—a three-time National Magazine Award finalist—has staked a claim as one of America’s best writers. In feature stories and his Field & Stream column “A Sportsman’s Life,” as well as other publications, he has taken readers across the country and beyond to experience his triumphs and failures as a suburban dad who happens to love hunting and fishing. Should the Tent Be Burning Like That? gathers together a wide range of Heavey’s best work. He nearly drowns attempting to fish the pond inside the cloverleaf off an Interstate Highway four miles from the White House. He rents and crashes a forty-four-foot houseboat on a river in Florida. On a manic weeklong deer archery hunt in Ohio, he finds it necessary to practice by shooting arrows into his motel room’s phonebook (the blunt penetrates all the way to page 358, "KITCHEN CABINET—REFACING & REFINISHING"). Accompanying a shaggy steelhead fanatic—Mikey, who has no job or fixed address but owns four boats—on a thousand-mile odyssey up and down the California coast in search of fishable water, he comes to see Mikey as a purer soul than almost anyone he has ever met.Whatever the subject, Heavey’s tales are odes to the notion that enthusiasm is more important than skill, and a testament to the enduring power of the natural world. Whether he’s hunting mule deer in Montana, draining cash on an overpriced pistol, or ruminating on the joys and agonies of outdoor gear, Heavey always entertains and enlightens with honesty and wit.
£17.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Book of the Little Axe
A BOOKLIST EDITOR’S CHOICE BOOK OF THE YEARAmbitious and masterfully-wrought, Lauren Francis-Sharma’s Book of the Little Axe is an incredible journey, spanning decades and oceans from Trinidad to the American West during the tumultuous days of warring colonial powers and westward expansion. In 1796 Trinidad, young Rosa Rendón quietly but purposefully rebels against the life others expect her to lead. Bright, competitive, and opinionated, Rosa sees no reason she should learn to cook and keep house, for it is obvious her talents lie in running the farm she, alone, views as her birthright. But when her homeland changes from Spanish to British rule, it becomes increasingly unclear whether its free black property owners—Rosa’s family among them—will be allowed to keep their assets, their land, and ultimately, their freedom. By 1830, Rosa is living among the Crow Nation in Bighorn, Montana with her children and her husband, Edward Rose, a Crow chief. Her son Victor is of the age where he must seek his vision and become a man. But his path forward is blocked by secrets Rosa has kept from him. So Rosa must take him to where his story began and, in turn, retrace her own roots, acknowledging along the way, the painful events that forced her from the middle of an ocean to the rugged terrain of a far-away land.
£11.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Big Seven
Jim Harrison is one of our most renowned and popular authors, and his last novel, The Great Leader, was one of the most successful in a decorated career: it appeared on the New York Times extended bestseller list, and was a national bestseller with rapturous reviews. His darkly comic follow-up, The Big Seven, sends Detective Sunderson to confront his new neighbors, a gun-nut family who live outside the law in rural Michigan. Detective Sunderson has fled troubles on the home front and bought himself a hunting cabin in a remote area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. No sooner has he settled in than he realizes his new neighbors are creating even more havoc than the Great Leader did. A family of outlaws, armed to the teeth, the Ameses have local law enforcement too intimidated to take them on. Then Sunderson's cleaning lady, a comely young Ames woman, is murdered, and black sheep brother Lemuel Ames seeks Sunderson's advice on a crime novel he's writing which may not be fiction. Sunderson must struggle with the evil within himself and the far greater, more expansive evil of his neighbor. In a story shot through with wit, bedlam, and Sunderson's attempts to enumerate and master the seven deadly sins, The Big Seven is a superb reminder of why Jim Harrison is one of America's most irrepressible writers.
£18.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Lea: A Novel
Pascal Mercier’s Night Train to Lisbon mesmerized readers around the world, and went on to become an international bestseller, establishing Mercier as a breakthrough European literary talent. Now, in Lea, he returns with a tender, impassioned, and unforgettable story of a father’s love and a daughter’s ambition in the wake of devastating tragedy.It all starts with the death of Martijn van Vliet’s wife. His grief-stricken young daughter, Lea, cuts herself off from the world, lost in the darkness of grief. Then she hears the unfamiliar sound of a violin playing in the hall of a train station, and she is brought back to life. Transfixed by a busker playing Bach, Lea emerges from her mourning, vowing to learn the instrument. And her father, witnessing this delicate spark, promises to do everything and anything in his power to keep her happy.Lea grows into an extraordinary musical talent—her all-consuming passion leads her to become one of the finest players in the country—but as her fame blossoms, her relationship with her father withers. Unable to keep her close, he inadvertently pushes Lea deeper and deeper into this newfound independence and, desperate to hold on to his daughter, Martin is driven to commit an act that threatens to destroy them both.A revelatory portrait of genius and madness, Lea delves into the demands of artistic excellence as well as the damaging power of jealousy and sacrifice. Mercier has crafted a novel of intense clarity, illuminating the poignant ways we strive to understand ourselves and our families.
£17.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Lion Sleeps Tonight
For Rian Malan, the blessing of living in South Africa is that every day presents him with material whose richness astounds those who live in saner places. Twenty years after the publication of his bestseller My Traitor's Heart, he is still strongly committed to the struggle against suffocating political rectitude. Malan eviscerates politicians, provokes rabid fury in Aids activists, pursues justice in the music industry, and exults in the company of an extraordinary cast of characters from truckers to tycoons.
£9.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Second Violin
Written by 'a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack' (Daily Telegraph), the Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst.1938.The Germans take Vienna without a shot being fired. Covering Austria for the English press is a young journalist named Rod Troy. Back home his younger brother joins the CID as a detective constable. Two years later tensions are rising and 'enemy aliens' are rounded up in London for internment. In the midst of the chaos London's most prominent rabbis are being picked off one by one and Troy must race to stop the killer.
£9.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Eccentric Orbits: The Iridium Story - How a Single Man Saved the World's Largest Satellite Constellation From Fiery Destruction
In the early 1990s, Motorola, the legendary American company, made a huge gamble on a revolutionary satellite telephone system called Iridium. Light-years ahead of anything previously put into space, and built on technology developed for Ronald Reagan's 'Star Wars,' Iridium's constellation of sixty-six satellites in six evenly spaced orbital planes meant that at least one satellite was always overhead. Iridium was a mind-boggling technical accomplishment, surely the future of communication. The only problem was that Iridium was also a commercial disaster. Only months after launching service, it was $11 billion in debt, burning through $100 million a month and bringing in almost no revenue. Bankruptcy was inevitable - the largest to that point in American history. It looked like Iridium would go down as just a 'science experiment.'That is, until Dan Colussy got a wild idea. Colussy, a former CEO of Pan Am, heard about Motorola's plans to 'de-orbit' the system and decided he would buy Iridium and somehow turn around one of the biggest blunders in the history of business.Eccentric Orbits masterfully traces the birth of Iridium and Colussy's tireless efforts to stop it from being destroyed, from meetings with his motley investor group, to the Clinton White House, to the Pentagon, to the hunt for customers in special ops, shipping, aviation, mining, search and rescue. Impeccably researched and wonderfully told, Eccentric Orbits is a rollicking, unforgettable tale of technological achievement, business failure, the military-industrial complex and one of the greatest deals of all time.
£16.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam
By January 1968 the fighting in Vietnam seemed to be at a stalemate. Yet General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces, announced a new phase of the war in which 'the end begins to come into view.' The North Vietnamese had different ideas. In mid-1967, the leadership in Hanoi had started planning an offensive intended to win the war in a single stroke. Part military action and part popular uprising, the Tet Offensive included attacks across South Vietnam, but the most dramatic and successful would be the capture of Hue, the country's cultural capital. At 2:30 a.m. on January 31, 10,000 National Liberation Front troops descended from hidden camps and surged across the city of 140,000. By morning, all of Hue was in Front hands save for two small military outposts. The commanders in country and politicians in Washington refused to believe the size and scope of the Front's presence. After several futile and deadly days, Lieutenant Colonel Ernie Cheatham would finally come up with a strategy to retake the city, block by block and building by building, in some of the most intense urban combat since World War II. With unprecedented access to war archives in the U.S. and Vietnam and interviews with participants from both sides, Bowden narrates each stage of this crucial battle through multiple points of view. Played out over twenty-four days of terrible fighting and ultimately costing 10,000 combatant and civilian lives, the Battle of Hue was by far the bloodiest of the entire war. When it ended, the American debate was never again about winning, only about how to leave. In Hue 1968, Bowden masterfully reconstructs this pivotal moment in the American war in Vietnam.
£14.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Man Who Spoke Snakish
Unfortunately people and tribes degenerate. They lose their teeth, forget their language, until finally they're bending meekly on the fields and cutting straw with a scythe.Leemut, a young boy growing up in the forest, is content living with his hunter-gatherer family. But when incomprehensible outsiders arrive aboard ships and settle nearby, with an intriguing new religion, the forest begins to empty - people are moving to the village and breaking their backs tilling fields to make bread. Meanwhile, Leemut and the last forest-dwelling humans refuse to adapt: with bare-bottomed primates and their love of ancient traditions, promiscuous bears, and a single giant louse, they live in shacks, keep wolves, and speak to snakes.Told with moving and satirical prose, The Man Who Spoke Snakish is a fiercely imaginative allegory about a boy, and a nation, standing on the brink of dramatic change.
£10.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Legends of the Fall
New York Times bestselling author Jim Harrison was one of America's most beloved and critically acclaimed writers. The classic Legends of the Fall is Harrison at his most memorable: a striking collection of novellas written with exceptional brilliance and a ferocious love of life.The title novella, 'Legends of the Fall' - which was made into the film of the same name - is an epic, moving tale of three brothers fighting for justice in a world gone mad. Moving from the raw landscape of early twentieth-century Montana to the blood-drenched European battlefields of World War I and back again to Montana, Harrison's powerful story explores the theme of revenge and the actions to which people resort when their lives or goals are threatened, painting an unforgettable portrait of the twentieth-century man.Also including the novellas 'Revenge' and 'The Man Who Gave Up His Name,' Legends of the Fall confirms Jim Harrison's reputation as one of the finest American voices of his generation.
£9.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Red Star Over China: The Classic Account of the Birth of Chinese Communism
The first Westerner to meet Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist leaders in 1936, Edgar Snow came away with the first authorised account of Mao's life, as well as a history of the famous Long March and the men and women who were responsible for the Chinese revolution. Out of that experience came Red Star Over China, a classic work that remains one of the most important books ever written about the birth of the Communist movement in China.This edition includes extensive notes on the military and political developments in China, further interviews with Mao Tse-tung, a chronology covering 125 years of Chinese revolution and nearly a hundred detailed biographies of the men and women who were instrumental in making China what it is today.
£12.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Immortal King Rao
Finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in FictionOne of Vulture's Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2022One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of 2022One of The Observer's Fiction to Look Out for in 2022One of MS Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2022One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2022An Indian Express Book to Look Out for in 2022'A brilliant and beautifully written book about capitalism and the patriarchy, about Dalit India and digital America, about power and family and love' Alex Preston, Observer, 'Fiction to look out for in 2022'Vauhini Vara's lyrical and thought-provoking debut novel begins in India in the 1950s, following a young man born into a Dalit family of coconut farmers in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh. King Rao, as he comes to be known, later moves to the US, where he studies in Seattle, meeting the love of his life and his business partner, the smart and self-assured Margie. King Rao ultimately rises up through Silicon Valley to become the most famous tech CEO in the world and the leader of a powerful, corporate-owned global government. Yet he ultimately ends up living on a remote island off the coast of Washington state, an exile from the world which he has helped build.There, in a beautiful home on an otherwise deserted island, he brings up his brilliant daughter, Athena. Shielded from the world's glances, in many ways she has an idyllic childhood, but she will be forced to reexamine her father's past and take steps to try to decide her own future. She is unlike other girls, and she will find the outside world much more hostile than her father did when he left the coconut grove he called home.A profound and moving novel about technology, consciousness and revolution, The Immortal King Rao asks how we build the worlds in which we live, and whether we ever have the power to leave them?
£9.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Booker, the
£14.04
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press Baumgartner
£19.99
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Zen Teaching of Huang Po
£12.53