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The Modern Dog
A Joyful Exploration of How We Live with Dogs Today
By Stanley Coren
Free Press, December 2008
Hardcover, 288 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-9368-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-9368-3
Dogs are invented creatures -- invented by humans, who have been shaping the lives of these four-legged companions for more than 14,000 years. However, we often forget that, just as dogs live in our world, we live in theirs. The Modern Dog is a look at our coevolution, interpreting both canine and human points of view, by Dr. Stanley Coren, the most consistently popular author of dog books ever. A fascinating treasure trove of information gleaned from science, folklore, religious writing, tradition, and politics, The Modern Dog explores not only how dogs behave, but also how we share our lives with our dogs. Much more a romp than a formal exposition, The Modern Dog's profiles and tales are funny, sweet, quirky, and reveal a lot about both species and our centuries-long partnership.
This book will show you how the mutually beneficial relationship between humans and dogs might very well be the reason why early Homo sapiens evolved and survived while Neanderthals became extinct. You will see how dogs have played many prominent roles in human history, from ancient Egypt, where Pharaoh Ramses II was buried with the names and statues of four of his dogs, to modern American politics, where many U.S. presidents have derived comfort from canine companionship. Our modern dog is quite different from the dogs that existed even a century ago, its job having changed dramatically from the hunting, herding, retrieving, and guarding for which many were bred. In this book, you will see that it is often how people respond to and interpret the actions of dogs (and dog owners) that has a greater effect on the dog's life than the behavior patterns that have been programmed into the dog's genes. The Modern Dog will show you how some of your dog's strange and funny habits are his own and some come from you.
Illustrated throughout with Dr. Coren's own charming drawings, The Modern Dog chronicles the various aspects of how we interact with dogs, how society responds to dogs, how our relationships with dogs have changed over history, and where dogs fit into our personal and emotional lives. It does this by telling the stories of dogs that work, dogs that love, dogs that behave badly, and dogs that will make you laugh.
The journey begins when Charlie Curtis travels to New Orleans on a deathbed assignment from his father. The mission? To find his father's half brother, James Joseph Pelikan, a criminal ringleader of the French Quarter from midnight until dawn in places where tourists seldom venture. Barely off the train, Charlie witnesses the murder of one of Pelikan's cronies at the hand of a woman whose only adornment is a fishhook through her lower lip. And so begins acclaimed thriller writer David Lozell Martin's carnival ride to enlightenment, the ensuing caper revealing just how far a man will go to find redemption.
November 08
Selected Simon & Schuster New
Releases
By Steven Hunter
Pocket Star, November 2008
Mass Market Paperback, 496 pages
ISBN-10: 0-7434-5800-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-5800-9
In The 47th Samurai, Bob Lee Swagger, the gritty hero of Stephen Hunter's bestselling novels Point of Impact and Time to Hunt, returns in Hunter's most intense and exotic thriller to date.
Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers, two brave fighters on opposite sides, met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island. Only Earl Swagger survived.
More than sixty years later, Yano comes to America to honor the legacy of his heroic father by recovering the sword he used in the battle. His search has led him to Crazy Horse, Idaho, where Bob Lee, ex-marine and Vietnam veteran, has settled into a restless retirement and immediately pledges himself to Yano's quest.
Bob Lee finds the sword and delivers it to Yano in Tokyo. On inspection, they discover that it is not a standard WWII blade, but a legendary shin-shinto katana, an artifact of the nation. It is priceless but worth killing for. Suddenly Bob is at the center of a series of terrible crimes he barely understands but vows to avenge. And to do so, he throws himself into the world of the samurai, Tokyo's dark, criminal yakuza underworld, and the unwritten rules of Japanese culture.
Swagger's allies, hard-as-nails, American-born Susan Okada and the brave, cocaine-dealing tabloid journalist Nick Yamamoto, help him move through this strange, glittering, and ominous world from the shady bosses of the seamy Kabukicho district to officials in the highest echelons of the Japanese government, but in the end, he is on his own and will succeed only if he can learn that to survive samurai, you must become samurai.
As the plot races and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that a ruthless conspiracy is in place, and the only thing that can be taken for granted is that money, power, and sex can drive men of all nationalities to gruesome extremes. If Swagger hopes to stop them, he must be willing not only to die but also to kill.
The world has entered an era of the most profound and challenging change in human history. Most of our children are not prepared, and we know it.
Parents around the world see the change and know that the traditional three R's -- reading, writing, and arithmetic -- are necessary, but not enough. Their children need to become far more responsible, creative, and tolerant of differences. They need to increase their ability to think for themselves, take initiative, get along with others, and solve problems.
Business leaders are not finding people whose skills and character match the demands of today's global economy, including strong communication, teamwork, analytical, technology, and organizational skills. They need young people who are self-motivated, creative, and have a strong work ethic.
How will we bridge this ever-widening gap? The Leader in Me is the story of the extraordinary schools, parents, and business leaders around the world who are preparing the next generation to meet the great challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century.
In 1999, the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina was on the verge of being cut as a magnet school and needed to find new ways to educate its students. Teachers and administrators began teaching practical, principle-based leadership skills -- with remarkable results. In a short time, the number of students passing end-of-grade tests vaulted from 84 to 97 percent. Simultaneously, the school began reporting significant increases in students' self-confidence, dramatic drops in discipline problems, and striking increases in teacher and administrator job satisfaction. Parents, meanwhile, reported equivalent improvements in their children's attitudes and behavior at home. As news of the school's success spread, schools around the world began adopting the mantra to "develop leaders, one child at a time." Business and civic leaders started partnering with schools in their communities to sponsor teacher training and student resources. Each school and family approached the principles differently, but the results were the same -- attentive, energized young people engaging in the world around them.
The best way to prepare the next generation for the future is to emphasize the value of communication, cooperation, initiative, and unique, individual talent -- for nothing undermines confidence more than comparison. Whether in the classroom or at home, it is never too early to start applying leadership skills to everyday life. Drawing on the many techniques and examples that have already seen incredible success around the world, The Leader in Me shows how easy it is to incorporate these skills into daily life. It is a timely answer to many of the challenges facing today's young people, businesses, parents, and educators -- one that is perfectly matched to the global demands of the twenty-first century.
By Bob Hostetler
Howard Books, October 2008
Trade Paperback, 352 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-6647-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-6647-2
Combining the adrenaline-fueled adventure of Indiana Jones with the thrills of a Steve Berry Novel, The Bone Box is the latest in biblical archeological suspense.
Archeologist and agnostic Randall Bullock has come to Israel to try and resurrect his crumbling career and shattered life. Teaming up with Miri Sharon, a beautiful representative of Israeli Antiques Authority, the two unearth a stone casket marked "Joseph, son of Caiaphas," which contains several fragile scrolls that document the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This discovery launches Miri and Randall, along with his estranged nineteen-year-old daughter, Tracy, into a race to validate the monumental find, no matter what the Israeli authorities, media circus, and archaeological rivals want the world to believe. Forced to face the power of this historical resurrection, Randall must also struggle with his own beliefs -- or lack of them -- while trying to keep the consequences of their discovery from taking a disastrous turn.
The Bone Box, fraught with political intrigue, is a suspense-filled blend of historical fact, romance, and transforming faith. Through all the danger and struggle, Randall discovers how easy -- and deadly -- it is to ignore the evidence and reject the true story of Christ.
The Impulse Factor
Why Some of Us Play It Safe and Others Risk It All
By Nick Tasler
Fireside, October 2008
Hardcover, 272 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-6234-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-6234-4
In his work as research and development director at cutting-edge think tank TalentSmart, where he helps businesses work better and employees think smarter, Nick Tasler realized that the recent discovery by scientists of a potential-seeking gene could have a remarkable impact on how we understand decision making. Those who have this gene -- about one quarter of the population -- are endowed with impulsive tendencies that can lead to fast and decisive action or to foolish choices. The cautious majority that Tasler calls risk managers can make carefully considered decisions or become hopelessly lost in the fog of details. Now The Impulse Factor offers readers a unique online opportunity to analyze their own decision-making style and harness it to improve their everyday lives. Each book comes with access to a proprietary assessment developed specifically to evaluate impulsivity. With examples from business, psychology, and Tasler's own research at TalentSmart, the book also vividly illustrates how susceptible we are to the events around us and how our reactions often run contrary to our best interests.
By combining his research with real-world examples of extreme decision making, Tasler teaches readers how to thrive when faced with difficult choices. More than just a book, The Impulse Factor provides a clear understanding of why you make the choices you do -- and the tools to make those decisions change your business and your life.
September 08
Selected Simon & Schuster
New Releases
The second witty installment in an astonishingly authentic historical mystery series featuring detective Oscar Wilde and his partner in crime, Arthur Conan Doyle
It's 1892, and Wilde is the toast of London, riding high on the success of his play Lady Windemere's Fan. While celebrating with friends at a dinner party he conjures up a game called "murder" that poses the question: Who would you most like to kill? Wilde and friends -- including Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and poet Robert Sherard (the novel's narrator) -- write the names of their "victims" on pieces of paper and choose them one by one. After leaving the party, Wilde scoffs at the suggestion that he may have instigated a very dangerous game indeed....
The very next day, the game takes an all-too- sinister turn when the first "victim" turns up dead. Soon Wilde and his band of amateur detectives must travel through the realms of politics, theatre, and even boxing to unearth whose misguided passions have the potential to become deadly poisons...not only for the perpetrator of the seemingly perfect crimes but also for the trio of detectives investigating them.
Richly atmospheric and as entertaining as Wilde himself, this book is the second in a series destined to delight mystery readers and fans of historical fiction alike.
Hippocrates' Shadow Secrets from the House of Medicine
By David H. Newman, M. D.
Scribner, September 2008
Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5153-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5153-9
Everyone knows of the Hippocratic Oath, the famous invocation sworn by all neophyte physicians. But most don't realize that the father of modern medicine was an avid listener and a constant bedside presence. Hippocrates believed in the doctor-patient connection and gained worldwide renown for championing science over mysticism while respecting and advocating the potency of human healing. Today, argues Dr. David H. Newman, medicine focuses narrowly on the rewards of technology and science, exaggerating their benefits and ignoring or minimizing their perils. Dr. Newman sees a disconnect between doctor and patient, a disregard for the healing power of the bond, and, ultimately, a disconnect between doctors and their Oath.
The root of this divergence, writes Dr. Newman, lies in the patterns of secrecy and habit that characterize the "House of Medicine," modern medicine's entrenched and carefully protected subculture. In reflexive, often unconscious defense of this subculture, doctors and patients guard medical authority, cling to tradition, and yield to demands that they do something or prescribe something. The result is a biomedical culture that routinely engages in unnecessary and inefficient practices, and leaves both patient and doctor dissatisfied. While demonstrating an abiding respect for, and a deep understanding of, the import of modern science, Dr. Newman reviews research that refutes common and accepted medical wisdom. He cites studies that show how mammograms may cause more harm than good; why antibiotics for sore throats are virtually always unnecessary and therefore dangerous; how cough syrup is rarely more effective than a sugar pill; the power and paradox of the placebo effect; how statistics and studies themselves are frequently deceptive; and why CPR is violent, invasive -- and almost always futile.
Through an engaging, deeply researched, and eloquent narrative laced with rich and riveting case studies, Newman cuts to the heart of what really works -- and doesn't -- in medicine and rebuilds the bridge between physicians and their patients.
It is 1795, and Mary Finch sets off to meet her wealthy uncle, hoping to heal a bitter family estrangement and perhaps to avoid a dismal career teaching at Mrs. Bunbury's school for young ladies. Eager for an adventure, she is soon embroiled in one of frightening proportions, for war is raging across Europe, England faces the threat of invasion, and some secrets are more valuable than gold.
As she uncovers a complex and deadly plot involving ruthless smugglers, secret codes, and a dangerous network of spies and traitors, Mary must learn quickly whom she can trust. The apparently stalwart Captain Holland? The dangerous yet attractive Mr. Déprez? Perhaps the mysterious Hicks or even Mrs. Tipton, who knows what is best for everyone, especially Mary? The price of failure may be her life and the safety of all England
Pocket Star, August 2008
Mass Market Paperback, 704 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-9364-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-9364-5
Mississippi, 1951: The last place any sane man wants to visit is Thebes State Penal Farm. Of the few who make the journey there, even fewer return.
But when an old friend disappears inside Thebes, ex-Marine and Arkansas State Police Sgt. Earl Swagger takes a personal interest in the case. As he infiltrates the prison, what he experiences defies his wildest nightmares -- a savage world where death is the only salvation. As tough as he is, Swagger barely escapes with his life -- and his mind -- intact. But he's not going to stay away for long. Recruiting six of the hardest, deadliest gunmen ever known, bloody vengeance is soon at hand. Because Earl Swagger is going back to Thebes.
Pocket, July 2008
Hardcover, 432 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-7051-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-7051-6
We do not fear the flame, though it burns us,
We do not fear the fire, though it consumes us,
And we do not fear its light,
Though it reveals the darkness of our souls,
For therein lies our power.
-- Blood Oath of the Iron Elves
First in a stunning debut series, A Darkness Forged in Fire introduces an unforgiving world of musket and cannon... bow and arrow... magic, diplomacy, and oaths -- each wielding terrible power in an Empire teetering on the brink of war.
In this world, Konowa Swift Dragon, former commander of the Empire's elite Iron Elves, is looked upon as anything but ordinary. He's murdered a Viceroy, been court-martialed, seen his beloved regiment disbanded, and finally been banished in disgrace to the one place he despises the most -- the forest.
Now, all he wants is to be left alone with his misery... but for Konowa, nothing is ever that simple. The mysterious and alluring Visyna Tekoy, the highborn daughter of an elfkynan governor, seeks him out in the dangerous wild with a royal decree that he resume his commission as an officer in Her Majesty's Imperial Army, effective immediately.
For in the east, a falling Red Star heralds the return of a magic long vanished from the earth. Rebellion grows within the Empire as a frantic race to reach the Star unfolds. It is a chance for Konowa to redeem himself -- even if the entire affair appears doomed to be a suicide mission...
and that the soldiers recruited for the task are not at all what he expects. And worse, his key adversary in the perilous race for the Star is the dreaded Shadow Monarch -- a legendary elf-witch whose machinations for absolute domination spread deeper than Konowa could ever imagine....
He looks honest.
She seems friendly.
He doesn't look like a serial killer.
Are you always right?
Looks can be deceiving, but handwriting never lies. Handwriting profiling is an amazingly accurate tool for assessing how people think, feel, and act. In fact, handwriting profiling is so accurate that the FBI, the CIA, and the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad use it to build detailed psychological profiles of some of the world's most dangerous individuals. And thousands of major corporations use handwriting profiling to help them make the right hiring decisions.
Handwriting expert Michelle Dresbold -- the only civilian to be invited to the United States Secret Service's Advanced Document Examination training program -- draws on her extensive experience helping law enforcement agencies around the country on cases involving kidnapping, arson, forgery, murder, embezzlement, and stalking to take us inside the mysterious world of crossed t's and dotted i's.
In Sex, Lies, and Handwriting, Dresbold explains how a single sentence can provide insight into a person's background, psychology, and behavior. Throughout the book, Dresbold explores the handwriting of sly politicians, convicted criminals, notorious killers, suspected cheats, and ordinary people who've written to Dresbold's "The Handwriting Doctor" column for help. She shows you how to identify the signs of a dirty rotten scoundrel and a lying, cheating, backstabbing lover. And she introduces you to some of the most dangerous traits in handwriting, including weapon-shaped letters, "shark's teeth," "club strokes," and "felon's claws." (When you see these traits in someone's script, she says, "it's time to stop reading and start running!")
Dresbold also explains how criminals are tracked through handwritten clues and what spouses, friends, or employees might be hiding in their script.
Finally, Dresbold re-examines the handwriting evidence in several notorious unsolved cases. She uncovers fascinating clues that reveal the secret side of Lizzie Borden, acquitted of the ax murder of her parents in 1893's "trial of the century." Dresbold also reveals astonishing details about the author of the JonBenÉt Ramsey ransom note, and she presents startling new evidence that exposes the real Jack the Ripper (contrary to popular theories, he wasn't a prince or a painter after all).
Sex, Lies, and Handwriting will have you paying a bit more attention to your -- and everyone else's -- penmanship.
Big Man on Campus: A University President Speaks Out on Higher Education
By Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
Touchstone, June 2008
Hardcover:
288
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5719-9 ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5719-7
An eye-opening and at times controversial insider's look at the current state of higher education in America, from one of the nation's most distinguished and down-to-earth university presidents. At a time when daily news headlines scream of competitive college enrollments, skyrocketing tuition, campus violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and other campus scandals, the former president of The George Washington University tells it like it really is. Educated at Columbia, Yale, and Harvard universities, with a membership in Phi Beta Kappa, more than fifteen honorary doctorates, four books, and numerous published articles, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is one of the leading voices in American higher education. Here he brings his thirty years of experience, wisdom, and wit to reveal what goes on behind the scenes in the difficult and rewarding challenge of running a university. Using wonderful anecdotes from his own life, Trachtenberg explains with compassion and his trademark humor the insight he has gained from the halls of learning. For parents who will write big checks to send their sons and daughters to college, for businesspeople of all kinds looking for leadership lessons, and for anyone invested in America's system of higher education, this book is a major work about the importance of sustaining our nation's natural brain trust.
By Jeffery Deaver
Atria, May 2008
Simon & Schuster, June 2008
Hardcover, 432 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-4997-8 ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-4997-0
Bestselling master of suspense Jeffery Deaver is back with a brand-new Lincoln Rhyme thriller. Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information.... When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect -- too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed. At the behest of Arthur's wife, Judy, Lincoln grudgingly agrees to investigate the case. Soon Lincoln and Amelia uncover a string of similar murders and rapes with perpetrators claiming innocence and ignorance -- despite ironclad evidence at the scenes of the crime. Rhyme's team realizes this "perfect" evidence may actually be the result of masterful identity theft and manipulation. An information service company -- the huge data miner Strategic Systems Datacorp -- seems to have all the answers but is reluctant to help the police. Still, Rhyme and Sachs and their assembled team begin uncovering a chilling pattern of vicious crimes and coverups, and their investigation points to one master criminal, whom they dub "522." When "522" learns the identities of the crime-fighting team, the hunters become the hunted. Full of Deaver's trademark plot twists, The Broken Window will put the partnership of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs to the ultimate test.
by Joanna Pitman
Touchstone, May 2008
Trade Paperback, 304 pages
ISBN-10: 0-7432-6514-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-6514-0
Raphael's St. George and the Dragon is the work of a genius -- an exquisitely rendered vision of heroism and innocence by one of the greatest painters of all time. Yet the painting's creation is only the beginning of its fascinating story, which spans centuries of power play and intrigue, and has made it a witness to the rise and fall of the great powers of the Western world as it seduced its owners to ever greater heights of corruption and greed.
Raphael's masterpiece was commissioned by Duke Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, the ruler of Urbino, in 1506. Raphael was only twenty-three years old, but he had already begun to acquire a reputation as a painter who was as ruthless in his pursuit of money as he was talented. The duke sent the painting to England's King Henry VII as a thank-you for naming him a knight in the Order of the Garter.
The painting then mysteriously disappeared for one hundred years until King Charles I saw it hanging in the collection of the Earl of Pembroke and acquired it for a book of Holbein drawings. After Charles was beheaded in 1649, his collection was broken up and the painting made its way to the private gallery of the third-richest man in France, where it was ensconced in its own special room. Thirty years later, the philosopher Diderot was instructed by Catherine the Great of Russia to buy it for her vast collection at the Hermitage.
The heroic curators of the Hermitage protected St. George and the Dragon from fire, water, and the anarchists of the Russian Revolution, until Joseph Stalin sold it in 1930 to raise cash. The secret buyer was Andrew Mellon, Treasury Secretary of the United States, who in doing so blatantly violated a U.S. sanction against doing any business with Soviet Russia. Mellon eventually founded The National Gallery in Washington, D.C., where St. George and the Dragon rests to this day.
Exceptionally written and breathlessly paced, The Dragon's Trail is a microhistory that touches on the rise of the Tudors, the downfall of a Stuart, the twilight of the French aristocracy, the terrors of the Bolshevik revolution, and the depths of the Cold War -- all witnessed by one painting that inspired the best and the worst instincts in its owners.
Lessons of a Lipstick Queen
Finding
and Developing the Great Idea that Can Change Your Life
By Poppy King
Atria, May 2008
Hardcover, 368 pages
ISBN-10: 0-7432-9957-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9957-2
From the perfect lip stick to mergers and acquisitions, Lessons of a Lipstick Queen follows Poppy King's extraordinary journey through the world of business and teaches you how to be more entrepreneurial in your own life.
If an eighteen-year-old girl's search for the ideal matte lipstick can turn into a multimillion-dollar company, anything is possible. When Poppy King finished high school, all she had to show for herself were some lackluster grades and a hundred and one ways to get out of phys ed. Within three years, however, she was president of her own hugely successful lipstick brand, Poppy Industries.
How did she do it?
In Lessons of a Lipstick Queen, Poppy reveals how she managed to launch her business, extracting valuable lessons from the experience as she goes along. Through Poppy's example, you can learn how to become a real entrepreneur -- from recognizing a good idea and finding financing, to marketing yourself and your brand, to approaching the media and avoiding common pitfalls. Whether you are looking to go into business for the first time, or simply want to build on your current career, Poppy King is the voice of experience that you should be listening to.
In a world where everyone is eager to get ahead, it's essential to think like an entrepreneur. Much more than just a guide to success, Lessons of a Lipstick Queen is a candid adventure story designed to take you on a journey of self-discovery.
Filled with exercises, concrete tips, and Poppy's personal and professional anecdotes, this motivational book will help readers get in touch with their inner entrepreneur.
Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World
by Jill Rigby
Howard Books, April 2008
Trade Paperback, 288 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5842-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5842-2
A generation of child-focused parenting has produced narcissistic, selfish, dysfunctional adults who are ill-prepared to survive in the real world. But in this revolutionary book, parenting expert Jill Rigby assures moms and dads that it's never too late to reshape your child's heart and develop a parenting plan that starts right where you are. Shining the light of reality on the failed self-esteem philosophy, Rigby will show you how to gently "bump" children off self-center and instill in them an others-centered heart and a healthy self-respect.
By Kate Morton
Atria, April 2008
Hardcover, 480 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5051-8
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5051-8
The House at Riverton is a gorgeous debut novel set in England between the wars. It is the story of an aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death and a way of life that vanished forever, told in flashback by a woman who witnessed it all and kept a secret for decades.
Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline.
In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they -- and Grace -- know the truth.
In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young director who is making a film about the events of that summer. She takes Grace back to Riverton House and reawakens her memories. Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace's youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever.
The novel is full of secrets -- some revealed, others hidden forever, reminiscent of the romantic suspense of Daphne du Maurier. It is also a meditation on memory, the devastation of war and a beautifully rendered window into a fascinating time in history.
Originally published to critical acclaim in Australia, already sold in ten countries and a #1 bestseller in England, The House at Riverton is a vivid, page-turning novel of suspense and passion, with characters -- and an ending -- the reader won't soon forget.
The Daughters of Juarez
A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border
By Teresa Rodriguez and Diana Montané
With Lisa Pulitzer
Atria, March 2008
Trade Paperback, 336 pages
ISBN-10: 0-7432-9204-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9204-7
For more than twelve years, the city of Juárez, Mexico -- just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas -- has been the center of a horrific crime wave against women and girls. Consisting of kidnappings, rape, mutilation, and murder, most of the atrocities have involved young, slender, and poor victims -- fueling the premise that the murders are not random. As for who is behind the crimes themselves, the answer remains unknown -- though many have speculated that the killers are American citizens, and others have argued that the killings have become a sort of blood sport due to the lawlessness of the city itself. And despite numerous arrests over the last ten years, the murders continue to occur, with the killers growing bolder, dumping bodies in the city itself rather than on the outskirts of town, as was initially the case, indicating a possible growing and most alarming alliance of silence and cover-up by Mexican politicians.
Now, in The Daughters of Juárez, the authors provide the first eye-opening and authoritative nonfiction work of its kind, examining the brutal killings and drawing attention to these startling atrocities on the border. The end result will shock readers and become required reading on the subject for years to come.
Nonfiction: True Crime
By Stef Penney
Simon & Schuster, March 2008
Trade Paperback, 400 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-7130-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-7130-8
A brilliant and breathtaking debut that captivated readers and garnered critical acclaim in the United Kingdom, The Tenderness of Wolves was long-listed for the Orange Prize in fiction and won the Costa Award (formerly the Whitbread) Book of the Year.
The year is 1867. Winter has just tightened its grip on Dove River, a tiny isolated settlement in the Northern Territory, when a man is brutally murdered. Laurent Jammett had been a voyageur for the Hudson Bay Company before an accident lamed him four years earlier. The same accident afforded him the little parcel of land in Dove River, land that the locals called unlucky due to the untimely death of the previous owner.
A local woman, Mrs. Ross, stumbles upon the crime scene and sees the tracks leading from the dead man's cabin north toward the forest and the tundra beyond. It is Mrs. Ross's knock on the door of the largest house in Caulfield that launches the investigation. Within hours she will regret that knock with a mother's love -- for soon she makes another discovery: her seventeen-year-old son Francis has disappeared and is now considered a prime suspect.
In the wake of such violence, people are drawn to the crime and to the township -- Andrew Knox, Dove River's elder statesman; Thomas Sturrock, a wily American itinerant trader; Donald Moody, the clumsy young Company representative; William Parker, a half-breed Native American and trapper who was briefly detained for Jammett's murder before becoming Mrs. Ross's guide. But the question remains: do these men want to solve the crime or exploit it?
One by one, the searchers set out from Dove River following the tracks across a desolate landscape -- home to only wild animals, madmen, and fugitives -- variously seeking a murderer, a son, two sisters missing for seventeen years, and a forgotten Native American culture before the snows settle and cover the tracks of the past for good.
In an astonishingly assured debut, Stef Penney deftly weaves adventure, suspense, revelation, and humor into an exhilarating thriller; a panoramic historical romance; a gripping murder mystery; and, ultimately, with the sheer scope and quality of her storytelling, an epic for the ages.
Suspense/Thriller
February 08
Selected Simon & Schuster New
Releases
Not The Girl Next Door
Joan Crawford, a Personal Biography
by Charlotte Chandler
Simon & Schuster, February 2008
Hardcover, 336 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-4751-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-4751-8
In this fascinating new biography of screen legend Joan Crawford, Charlotte
Chandler draws on exclusive and remarkably candid interviews with Crawford
herself and with others who knew her, including first husband Douglas
Fairbanks, Jr., and Crawford's daughter Cathy. As a result, this biography
is fresh and revealing, a brand-new look at one of Hollywood's most acclaimed
stars.
Joan Crawford was born Lucille LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas, in 1908
(as she always insisted, though other sources disagreed). Her father abandoned
the family, and her mother soon remarried; Lucille was now known as Billie
Cassin. Young Billie loved to dance and achieved her early success in
silent films playing a dancer. Her breakthrough role came in Our Dancing
Daughters. Soon married to Hollywood royalty, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (who
called her "Billie"), she was a star in her own right, playing
opposite John Barrymore and a stellar cast in M-G-M's Grand Hotel.
Crawford was cast opposite another young star, Clark Gable, in several
films. They would sometimes play lovers on screen -- and off as well.
After her marriage to Fairbanks broke up, Crawford married actor Franchot
Tone. That marriage soon began to show strains, and Crawford was sometimes
seen riding with Spencer Tracy, who gave her a horse she named Secret.
Crawford left M-G-M for Warners, and around the time she married her third
husband, Phillip Terry, she won her Oscar for best actress (one of three
times she was nominated) in Mildred Pierce. But by the 1950s the film
roles dried up. Crawford and Terry had divorced, and Crawford married
her fourth husband, Pepsi-Cola executive Alfred Steele. In 1962, she and
longtime cinematic rival Bette Davis staged a brief comeback in the macabre
but commercial What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Following Steele's death,
Crawford became a director of Pepsi- Cola while she continued raising
her four adopted children. Although her daughter Christina would publish
the scathing memoir Mommie Dearest after Crawford's death, Chandler offers
a contrasting portrait of Crawford, drawing in part on reminiscences of
younger daughter Cathy among others.
Not the Girl Next Door is perhaps Charlotte Chandler's finest Hollywood
biography yet, an intimate portrait of a great star who was beautiful,
talented, glamorous, and surprisingly vulnerable.
Planet India
The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy and the Future of Our World
By Mira Kamdar
Scribner, February 2008
Trade Paperback, 352 pages
ISBN-10: 0-7432-9686-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9686-1
India is everywhere: on magazine covers and cinema marquees, at the
gym and in the kitchen, in corporate boardrooms and on Capitol Hill.
Through incisive reportage and illuminating analysis, Mira Kamdar explores
India's astonishing transformation from a developing country into a
global powerhouse. She takes us inside India, reporting on the people,
companies, and policies defining the new India and revealing how it
will profoundly affect our future -- financially, culturally, politically.
The world's fastest-growing democracy, India has the youngest population
on the planet, and a middle class as big as the population of the entire
United States. Its market has the potential to become the world's largest.
As one film producer told Kamdar when they met in New York, "Who
needs the American audience? There are only 300 million people here."
Not only is India the ideal market for the next new thing, but with
a highly skilled English-speaking workforce, elite educational institutions,
and growing foreign investment, India is emerging as an innovator of
the technology that is driving the next phase of the global economy.
While India is celebrating its meteoric rise, it is also racing against
time to bring the benefits of the twenty-first century to the 800 million
Indians who live on less than two dollars per day, to find the sustainable
energy to fuel its explosive economic growth, and to navigate international
and domestic politics to ensure India's security and its status as a
global power. India is the world in microcosm: the challenges it faces
are universal -- from combating terrorism, poverty, and disease to protecting
the environment and creating jobs. The urgency of these challenges for
India is spurring innovative solutions, which will catapult it to the
top of the new world order. If India succeeds, it will not only save
itself, it will save us all. If it fails, we will all suffer. As goes
India, so goes the world.
Mira Kamdar tells the dramatic story of a nation in the midst of redefining
itself and our world. Provocative, timely, and essential, Planet India
is the groundbreaking book that will convince Americans just how high
the stakes are -- what there is to lose, and what there is to gain from
India's meteoric rise.
DID YOU KNOW?
•
India is the world's fourth-largest economy.
•
By 2034, India will be the most populous country on Earth, with 1.6
billion people.
•
India's middle class is already larger than the entire population of
the United States.
•
One out of three of the world's malnourished children live in India.
•
India is home to the biggest youth population on earth:
600 million people are under the age of 25.
•
72,000,000 cell phones will be sold in India in 2007.
•
India just edged past the United States to become the second-most-preferred
destination for foreign direct investment after China.
•
In 1991, Indians purchased 150,000 automobiles; in 2007, they are expected
to purchase 10 million.
•
By 2008, India's total pool of qualified graduates will be more than
twice as large as China's.
•
By 2015, an estimated 3.5 million white-collar U.S. jobs will be offshored.
•
India is the largest arms importer in the developing world.
•
American corporations expect to earn $20 to $40 billion from the civilian
nuclear agreement with India.
•
In 2007, there are 2.2 million Indian Americans, a number expected to
double every decade.
•
Twenty-nine percent of India's population speaks English -- that's 350
million people.
The Great Experiment
The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern States, and the Quest for a Global Nation
by Strobe Talbott
Simon & Schuster, January 2008
Hardcover, 496 pages
ISBN-10: 0-7432-9408-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9408-9
This dramatic narrative of breathtaking scope and riveting focus puts
the "story" back into history. It is the saga of how the most
ambitious of big ideas -- that a world made up of many nations can govern
itself peacefully -- has played out over the millennia. Humankind's "Great
Experiment" goes back to the most ancient of days -- literally to
the Garden of Eden -- and into the present, with an eye to the future.
Strobe Talbott looks back to the consolidation of tribes into nations
-- starting with Israel -- and the absorption of those nations into the
empires of Hammurabi, the Pharaohs, Alexander, the Caesars, Charlemagne,
Genghis Khan, the Ottomans, and the Hapsburgs, through incessant wars
of territory and religion, to modern alliances and the global conflagrations
of the twentieth century.
He traces the breakthroughs and breakdowns of peace along the way: the
Pax Romana, the Treaty of Westphalia, the Concert of Europe, the false
start of the League of Nations, the creation of the flawed but indispensable
United Nations, the effort to build a "new world order" after
the cold war, and America's unique role in modern history as "the
master builder" of the international system.
Offering an insider's view of how the world is governed today, Talbott
interweaves through this epic tale personal insights and experiences and
takes us with him behind the scenes and into the presence of world leaders
as they square off or cut deals with each other. As an acclaimed journalist,
he covered the standoff between the superpowers for more than two decades;
as a high-level diplomat, he was in the thick of tumultuous events in
the 1990s, when the bipolar equilibrium gave way to chaos in the Balkans,
the emergence of a new breed of international terrorist, and America's
assertiveness during its "unipolar moment" -- which he sees
as the latest, but not the last, stage in the Great Experiment.
Talbott concludes with a trenchant critique of the worldview and policies
of George W. Bush, whose presidency he calls a "consequential aberration"
in the history of American foreign policy. Then, looking beyond the morass
in Iraq and the battle for the White House, he argues that the United
States can regain the trust of the world by leading the effort to avert
the perils of climate change and nuclear catastrophe.
Nonfiction: Economics/Politics
by Chuck Hogan
Scribner, January 2008
Trade Paperback, 384 pages
ISBN-10: 0-7432-8965-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-8965-8
Donald Maddox has returned to his sleepy Massachusetts hometown after
fifteen years away. Although he has no law enforcement background, he
finds a job as an auxiliary patrolman -- on a local police force known
to inspire more fear than trust. When the brutal murder of a local resident
shatters the isolation of this forgotten place, triggering the arrival
of state police homicide detectives and a townwide manhunt, both the local
cops and Maddox appear to have something to hide. As the tightly wound
mystery that is Maddox's past begins to unravel, he becomes ensnared in
a deadly conspiracy that ultimately threatens his life, as well as the
lives of those around him.
A brilliantly plotted page-turner told with soul-deep characterization,
crisp pacing, and unflinching realism, The Killing Moon proves Chuck Hogan
as the unrivaled master of gritty suspense.
