Adult

In ULYSSES S. GRANT we see a life that unfolds like a true Horatio Alger story. Korda reveals how Grant's unwavering determination helped him overcome numerous obstacles and setbacks-from humble beginnings as the son of a tanner in Ohio, a lack of early success in the army, and assorted failed business ventures-to rise through the ranks of military leadership and into the presidency. But while the general's tenacity and steadfastness contributed to his success on the battlefield, Korda argues that those characteristics both aided and crippled Grant's effectiveness in the White House.

Fifty years after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek delivers a new portrait of the president and his inner circle of advisors --- their rivalries, personality clashes and political battles. Here, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy’s administration --- including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam --- were indelible.

A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease. We owe our good health to a humble parasite --- a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation.It's been successful beyond scientist's wildest dreams and now nearly every human being has a SymboGen parasite living in them. But now the parasites are getting restless.

Robert Hilburn tells the unvarnished truth about a musical icon whose personal life was far more troubled and his artistry much more profound than even his most devoted fans have realized. Drawing upon his personal experience with Johnny Cash and a trove of never-before-seen material from the singer's inner circle, Hilburn gives us a compelling, human portrait of one of the most iconic figures in modern popular culture.

Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis explore the swirling forces that led many people to warn President Kennedy to avoid Dallas on his fateful trip to Texas. They lead us through intimate glimpses of the Kennedy family and the machinations of the Kennedy White House, to the obsessed men in Dallas who concocted the climate of hatred that led many to blame the city for the president's death.

Kevin Wylie's crooked boss wants to run him out of town, and Kevin's long-time girlfriend is ready to take a hike. He decides that now is the time to leave Miami, visit his father, who he hasn't seen in 28 years, and get some answers. Heading back to his hometown, he doesn't realize that he and his dad will become embroiled in a murder case involving one of the richest and most hated corporate criminals in America.

His students knew Jerry Kupchynsky as "Mr. K," their Ukrainian-born music teacher who made them better than they had any right to be. Away from the classroom, though, life seemed to conspire against him at every turn. STRINGS ATTACHED takes you on his remarkable journey, which is told in alternating chapters by two childhood friends who reconnected decades later: journalist Joanne Lipman, his former student; and Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Melanie Kupchynsky, his daughter.

A classic since its original landmark publication in 1980, Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States is the first scholarly work to tell America’s story from the bottom up — from the point of view of, and in the words of, America’s women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers.

Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

Case is a burnt-out hacker living in the Spawl, the bloated urban mass of what used to be the eastern seaboard of the United States. A past job gone wrong damaged his nervous system and removed his ability to "jack in" to cyberspace and he's circling the drain faster and faster every day. Then a strange woman named Molly tracks him down and says her boss can fix him --- if he helps them with one last job.