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  Catastrophe - The Story of...

  Deborah Strober

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  In this comprehensive account of Bernie Madoff's epic Ponzi scheme, Catastrophe exposes the real story behind the financial mastermind's upstanding façade—his confession, his family's involvement, and his unlikely rise and incredible crash. The book defines and explains the whole diabolical debacle, including how Madoff evaded SEC watchdogs and how his far-reaching crime pervaded the world. With first-hand accounts from his victims, the book peels back Madoff's persona layer by layer, revealing how he developed his elaborate deceit and how and why he targeted and scammed the world of Jewish philanthropy. Complete with the famous whistle-blower letter to the SEC, the Madoff company mission statement, SEC filings, and a list of victims—from housewives to household names—Catastrophe offers a complete look at the white-collar crime of the century, one that will leave readers astounded in disbelief.

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  Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Life...

  Charles River Editors

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  The proud Virginian entered the war in uncertain times, and there were understandable doubts about how well he could lead soldiers, but through a combination of skill and luck, he became one of his country’s earliest and foremost military heroes. After the war, he would go on to a distinguished political career, and he would find himself caught up in civil unrest toward the end of his life. 
  Some of those details might bring to mind the life story of George Washington, and if those details included the name Lee, most of them would immediately sound like a description of Robert E. Lee’s life. In fact, they only begin to scratch the surface of the life and career of Robert E. Lee’s father, Henry Lee III, who is best known by the nickname “Light-Horse Harry” for the way he excelled as a cavalry officer during the Revolutionary War. 
  Aside from George Washington, many Americans are likely able to name just as many foreign generals on the rebel side as American generals. While names like Lafayette, Pulaski, Kościuszko, and Baron von Steuben are quickly associated with the Revolution, American officers like Nathanael Greene, Anthony Wayne, Horatio Gates, Henry Knox, and Light-Horse Harry Lee are often overlooked. Over 200 years later, Lee is best remembered not for his military or political service, but for being Robert E. Lee’s father, and all the attendant controversy that comes with his son’s legacy. This is unfortunate, given that he was one of the most distinguished individuals of the age.

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  Running Wolf - Set in the...

  Algernon Blackwood

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  Algernon Blackwood was born on 14th March 1869 in Shooter’s Hill, South East London, to a religious middle-class family. His mother was a widowed Duchess and his father was a Post Office administrator.  
   
  Blackwood was interested in the paranormal and the supernatural at an early age, and had a thirst for anything on Buddhism, other Oriental philosophies, mysticism and occultism.  In his writings the weaving of the supernatural into his various works, from ghost stories and children’s stories to plays and long novels is clearly seen, his writings beautifully enriched by his long and diversified life experience.  
   
  After leaving university and visiting parts of Europe, mainly Switzerland, the young writer went to Canada and the United States where he took on jobs including work as a farmer, a bartender, a secretary, a journalist, a reporter, running a hotel and teaching the violin.  He was voracious in meeting new people and absorbing new ideas.  
   
  In his late thirties, he returned to England where he published two of his supernatural stories in Pall Mall Magazine. As more of his highly entertaining stories were published so did his reputation and his bank balance.  All those years of curiosity and experiences were starting to emerge from his writing. 
   
  In 1906, ‘The Empty House & Other Ghost Stories’ was published with tremendous success.  Further volumes of short stories followed and with it a larger audience and bigger paydays. He also published children’s stories. 
   
  Blackwood also had ideas for novels and to explore on a larger canvas the paranormal world and the relationship between man and metaphysical powers including, in 1911, ‘The Centaur’.  
   
  With the outbreak of the First World War, Blackwood was assigned to British intelligence to write propaganda to support the war effort. 
   
  He was a prolific author with a quite staggering output which was also to include many plays. The exact number of his works is unknown as he would frequently write a story for a newspaper or periodical at very short notice.  
   
  In 1949, Blackwood was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his literary talents and his services during the First World War.  
   
  Algernon Blackwood died on 10th December 1951 after a series of strokes.  
   
  The mysteries of the natural world are enhanced by those of the Native American spirit world in this wonderfully descriptive short story of a man’s fishing expedition to Medicine Lake.

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  No Way but to Fight - George...

  Andrew R. M. Smith

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  “[A] fascinating, colorful new biography . . . [Smith] writes of a boxer who ultimately triumphed in the most unvirtuous of sports.” —Texas Observer   Olympic gold medalist. Two-time world heavyweight champion. Hall of Famer. Infomercial and reality TV star. George Foreman’s fighting ability is matched only by his acumen for selling. Yet the complete story of Foreman’s rise from urban poverty to global celebrity has never been told until now.   Raised in Houston’s “Bloody Fifth” Ward, battling against scarcity in housing and food, young Foreman fought sometimes for survival and other times just for fun. But when a government program rescued him from poverty and introduced him to the sport of boxing, his life changed forever.   In No Way but to Fight, Andrew R. M. Smith traces Foreman’s life and career from the Great Migration to the Great Society, through the Cold War and culture wars, out of urban Houston and onto the world stage where he discovered that fame brought new challenges. Drawing on new interviews with George Foreman and declassified government documents, as well as more than fifty domestic and international newspapers and magazines, Smith brings to life the exhilarating story of a true American icon. No Way but to Fight is an epic worthy of a champion.  “An insightful life study . . . Smith’s captivating narrative suggests that Mr. Foreman is much more than the outsize roles he has played.” —The Wall Street Journal  “While Foreman’s life has been dissected before, Smith’s account, which includes fresh interviews with the man himself as well as extracts from recently declassified government documents, rates as perhaps the best.” —Bristol Post

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  An Open Door - New Travel...

  Steven Lovatt

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  'If the mountains secluded Wales from England, the long coastline was like an open door to the world at large.' – Jan Morris
  The history of Wales as a destination and confection of English Romantic writers is well-known, but this book reverses the process, turning a Welsh gaze on the rest of the world.
  This shift is timely: the severing of Britain from the European Union asks questions of Wales about its relationship to its own past, to the British state, to Europe and beyond, while the present political, public health and environmental crises mean that travel writing can and should never again be the comfortably escapist genre that it was. Our modern anxieties over identity are registered here in writing that questions in a personal, visceral way the meaning of belonging and homecoming, and reflects a search for stability and solace as much as a desire for adventure. Here are lyrical stories refracted through kaleidoscopes of family and world history, alongside accounts of forced displacement and the tenacious love that exists between people and places. Yet these pieces also show the enduring value and joy of travel itself. As Eluned Gramich expresses it 'It's one of the pleasures of travel to submit yourself to other people, let yourself be guided and taught'.
  Taken together, the stories of An Open Door extend Jan Morris' legacy into a turbulent present and even more uncertain future. Whether seen from Llŷn or the Somali desert, we still take turns to look out at the same stars, and it might be this recognition, above all, that encourages us to hold the door open for as long as we can.
  Featuring contributions from Eluned Gramich, Grace Quantock, Faisal Ali, Sophie Buchaillard, Giancarlo Gemin, Siân Melangell Dafydd, Mary-Ann Constantine, Kandace Siobhan Walker, Neil Gower, Julie Brominicks and Electra Rhodes.

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  Around the World with LBJ - My...

  James U. Cross, Denise Gamino,...

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  A “delightful, honest, and entertaining” memoir by an Air Force One pilot and member of Lyndon Johnson’s inner circle (Bill Moyers).   When Lyndon Baines Johnson wanted to go somewhere, there was no stopping him. This dynamic president called for Air Force One as others summon a taxi—at a moment’s notice—whatever the hour or the weather. And the man who made sure that LBJ got his ride was General James U. Cross, the president’s hand-picked pilot, top military assistant, and personal confidant.   In this book, he goes on the record for the first time, creating a fascinating, behind-the-scenes portrait of America’s complex, often contradictory, always larger-than-life thirty-sixth president. In addition to piloting Air Force One around the globe, he served the president in multiple capacities, including directing the Military Office in the White House; managing a secret two-million-dollar presidential emergency fund; supervising the presidential retreat at Camp David, the president’s entire transportation fleet, and the presidential bomb shelters; running the White House Mess; hiring White House social aides, including the president’s future son-in-law, Charles Robb; and writing condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in Vietnam. This wide-ranging, around-the-clock access to President Johnson allowed Cross to witness events and share moments that add color and depth to our understanding of one of America’s most demanding and unpredictable presidents.

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