Adult

BERLIN is a history book that reflects the nature of the city itself. In its architecture, through its literature, in its movies and songs, Berliners have conjured their hard capital into a place of fantastic human fantasy. No other city has so often surrendered itself to its own seductive myths. No other city has been so shaped and defined by individual imaginations. BERLIN captures, portrays and propagates the story of those myths and their makers.

In the years after World War II, Georgetown’s leafy streets were home to an unlikely group of Cold Warriors: a coterie of affluent, well-educated and connected civilians who helped steer American strategy from the Marshall Plan through McCarthyism, Watergate and the endgame of Vietnam. Gregg Herken captures their successes and failures and gives us intimate portraits of these dedicated and talented, if deeply flawed, individuals.

The people who made America were not always what they seemed. There were entrepreneurs and visionaries whose selflessness propelled us forward, but there were also charlatans and fraudsters whose selfishness nearly derailed us. DREAMERS AND DECEIVERS brings both of these groups to life with stories written to put you right in the middle of the action.

Harold Holzer shows us an activist Lincoln through journalists who covered him from his start through to the night of his assassination --- when one reporter ran to the box where Lincoln was shot and emerged to write the story covered with blood. Holzer depicts politicized newspaper editors battling for power, and a masterly president using the press to speak directly to the people and shape the nation.

John Maxtone-Graham documents SS United States, her design, construction and 17 years of impeccable service. He introduces us to dozens of U.S. passengers, famous and infamous, as well as captains and crew. The last great American ocean liner, SS United States could be converted to a 14,000-man troop carrier and was capable of attaining a speed of over 40 knots. Sadly, jet travel put an end to ocean crossings, and the all-aluminum ship rests in Philadelphia while groups of fans continue to try to repurpose it.

When Mercy abandons Captain Elijah Hale to search for her true identity, he goes after her. With the threat that bounty hunters might be hot on her trail, Mercy does all she can to stay ahead of the danger, frustrating both the bad men who are after her --- and Captain Hale who wants to find her and escort her safely home. But when she stumbles upon clues that help her learn who she is and where she’s from, the danger escalates. She has to learn to keep her friends close and her enemies even closer --- if she can determine which is which.

Fiery redhead Leah Carlson will do whatever it takes to save her family ranch. Somehow, she must cover her father’s debts, brought on by his drinking --- even if it means asking handsome banker Steven Harding for a loan. When he must decline, Steven vows to assist this captivating woman. After a mining accident destroys his home, serving as her part-time ranch hand seems to be the ideal solution. Until Leah’s family secrets, and the pain of her past, come to a head.

Eighteen-year-old Mazy Pelfrey prepares to leave her home in the Kentucky mountains for the genteel city of Lexington, where she’ll attend secretarial school. There she meets a charming young man from a wealthy family, Loyal Chambers. When Loyal sets his sights on her, Mazy begins to see that everything she’d ever wished to have is right before her eyes. The only hindrance to her budding romance is a former beau, Chanis Clay, the young sheriff she thought she’d left firmly behind.

In this beautifully written and powerful memoir, author Craig K. Collins ushers readers down a remarkable path --- one that wends from the American frontier to present-day suburbia. Along the way, he explores the meaning of a history --- of his family’s and his country’s --- that is infused with the culture of the gun. Stops include an Indian massacre at Bad Axe, the siege of Vicksburg, the slaughter of buffalo in Montana, and the discovery of gold in a remote Nevada canyon.