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  Anthem

  Ayn Rand

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  Anthem is set in a distant collectivist future, when every form and emblem of individualism has been erased and society has reverted to a preindustrial level. In this novella, as many of her writings, Ayn dramatizes her philosophy of Objectivism in the main character. Its hero is a scientist in a world where the pursuit of knowledge is a crime, and he struggles against the established society to discover the meaning of individual freedom.

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  The Making of the Godfather

  Mario Puzo

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  In this entertaining and insightful essay, Mario Puzo chronicles his rise from struggling writer to overnight success after the publication of The Godfather. With equal parts cynicism and humor, Puzo recounts the book deal and his experiences in Hollywood while writing the screenplay for the movie.  Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, Peter Bart, Marlon Brando, and Al Pacino all make appearances-as does Frank Sinatra, in his famous and disastrous encounter with Puzo. First published in 1972, the essay is now available as an ebook for the first time.  A must-have for every Godfather fan! Featuring a foreword by Ed Falco, author of The Family Corleone.

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  Paris to the Moon

  Adam Gopnik

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  Paris. The name alone conjures images of chestnut-lined boulevards, sidewalk cafes, breathtaking facades around every corner—in short, an exquisite romanticism that has captured the American imagination for as long as there have been Americans.In 1995, Adam Gopnik, his wife, and their infant son left the familiar comforts and hassles of New York City for the urbane glamour of the City of Light. For Gopnik this was above all a personal pilgrimage to the undisputed capital of everything cultural and beautiful.  So, in the grand tradition of the American abroad, Gopnik walked the paths of the Tuileries, enjoyed philosophical discussions at his local bistro, and wrote as violet twilight fell on the arrondissements.Yet, at the end of the day, there was still the matter of raising a child and carrying on with the day-to-day, not-so-fabled life.  As Gopnik describes, the dual processes of navigating a foreign city and becoming a parent are not completely dissimilar journeys—both hold new routines, new languages, a new set of rules by which everyday life is lived. Weaving the magical with the mundane, he offers a wholly delightful, often hilarious look at what it was to be an American family man in Paris at the end of the twentieth century.

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  Tomlinson Hill - The Remarkable...

  Chris Tomlinson

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  Journalist Chris Tomlinson grew up hearing stories about his family's abandoned cotton plantation in Falls County, Texas. Most of the tales lionized his white ancestors for pioneering along the Brazos River. His grandfather often said the family's slaves loved them so much that they also took Tomlinson as their last name.LaDainian Tomlinson, football great and former running back for the San Diego Chargers, spent part of his childhood playing on the same land that his black ancestors had worked as slaves. As a child, LaDainian believed that the Hill was named after his family. Not until he was old enough to read a historical plaque did he realize that the Hill was named for his ancestor's slaveholders.A masterpiece of authentic American history, Tomlinson Hill traces the true and very revealing story of these two families. From the beginning in 1854-when the first Tomlinson, a white woman, arrived-to 2007, when the last Tomlinson, LaDainian's father, left, the book unflinchingly explores the history of race and bigotry in Texas. Along the way, it also manages to disclose a great many untruths that are latent in the unsettling and complex story of America.

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  Adventures Of The Yorkshire...

  Amanda Owen

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  ‘Amanda’s life is one of old-fashioned values, hard graft and plenty of love. She, like her life, is extraordinary’ Ben Fogle 
  Millions of viewers of Our Yorkshire Farm watched Amanda Owen, husband Clive and their nine children share their daily lives at Ravenseat, one of the most remote hill farms in the country.  It's a beautiful place, high in the Dales, and a rewarding existence close to nature.  But Ravenseat is a tenant farm and may not stay in the family, so when Amanda saw a nearby farmhouse up for sale, she knew it was her chance to create roots for the next generation.  The old house needed a lot of renovation and money was tight, so with her usual resourcefulness Amanda set about the work herself, with some help from a travelling monk, a visiting plumber and Clive.  It's fair to say things did not go according to plan . . . 
  In Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda brilliantly evokes life on the farm, as the whole family search for a missing new-born calf, much loved Shetland pony Little Joe defends his honour and the brutal winter of 2018 almost brings her to her knees. As busy as she is with her family and flock she also manages to transform a damp and dark old house into a dream home.  Funny, charming and filled with unforgettable characters, this book will delight anyone who has hankered after a new life in the country.

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  Views of Nature

  Alexander von Humboldt

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  The German naturalist and explorer chronicles his 1799 expedition to Central and South America in this classic work of natural history. 
   
  While the influence of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) looms large over the natural sciences, his legacy reaches far beyond the field notebooks of naturalists. Humboldt’s 1799–1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aimé Bonpland not only set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century, but also served as the raw material for his many volumes—works of both scientific rigor and aesthetic beauty that inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, and Frederic Edwin Church. 
   
  Views of Nature, or Ansichten der Natur, was Humboldt’s best-known and most influential work—and his personal favorite. While the essays that comprise it are themselves remarkable as innovative, early pieces of nature writing—they were cited by Thoreau as a model for his own work—the book’s extensive endnotes incorporate some of Humboldt’s most beautiful prose and mature thinking on vegetation structure, its origins in climate patterns, and its implications for the arts. Written for both a literary and a scientific audience, Views of Nature was translated into English (twice), Spanish, and French in the nineteenth century, and it was read widely in Europe and the Americas. But in contrast to many of Humboldt’s more technical works, Views of Nature has been unavailable in English for more than one hundred years. Largely neglected in the United States during the twentieth century, Humboldt’s contributions to the humanities and the sciences are now undergoing a revival to which this new translation will be a critical contribution. 
   
  Praise for Views of Nature 
   
  “Alexander von Humboldt’s wide-ranging Views of Nature is a masterpiece of nineteenth-century natural history, at once science and art. Mark W. Person’s stunning new translation makes the wonders of this classic accessible to the English-language world of the present.” —Daniel Walker Howe, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning What Hath God Wrought 
   
  “From the plains of Venezuela to volcanoes and waterfalls, von Humboldt combines observations with travel narratives and philosophical musings. Annotations really help provide a context to the essays; this work also includes an index, conversions for von Humboldt’s various measurement units, an introduction, and preface. This excellent translation of one of von Humboldt’s most important works should introduce this great naturalist to an entirely new audience.” —Edward J. Valauskas, curator of Rare Books, Library, Chicago Botanic Garden, Current Books on Gardening and Botany

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