Lee Smith is a great American patriot who has understood, from the very beginning, that the radical left is the true THREAT TO DEMOCRACY.

--Donald Trump, former president of the United States

From Lee Smith, bestselling author of, The Permanent Coup and The Plot Against the President, comes another riveting exposé of the secret war against President Trump and American democracy.

Even before a would-be killer tried to murder President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, a clique of political assassins set about eliminating him from public life entirely.

In Disappearing the President, New York Times bestselling author Lee Smith exposes how a shadow network of powerful partisan activists has waged a years-long, scorched-earth war to eradicate President Trump and any vestige of his influence.

Resorting to an unprecedented campaign of domestic spying, election rigging, brute-force censorship, and political violence, anti-Trump zealots have undermined the federal government and sabotaged countless other vital institutions in their relentless quest to crush the former president.

In this alarming book, Lee Smith reveals:

How U.S. intelligence services, trained to sabotage foreign governments and leaders, have turned their expertise against Americans.

How the Shadow Network exploited Covid to censor dissidents and rig the 2020 election.

Why Big Tech firms hired hundreds of former intelligence officials after 2018.

How Barack Obama, widely viewed as a benign elder statesman, created and leads the anti-Trump operation.

Finally, Smith shows how censorship of Trump supporters has provoked a free-speech backlash.

The hour is late, and the stakes are high. Including exclusive interviews with President Trump, Devin Nunes, Dan Bongino, and many others, Disappearing the President is an unsettling expose of a rogue cabal that will pay any price to annihilate the one man who threatens their agenda.

On a patched-up family vacation to Key West, a young girl seeks out movie stars and redemption for her fractured family.

Reading Lee Smith ranks among the great pleasures of American fiction . . . Gives evidence again of the grace and insight that distinguish her work. -Robert Stone, author of Death of the Black-Haired Girl

It's 1936 when orphaned thirteen-year-old Evalina Toussaint is admitted to Highland Hospital, a mental institution in Asheville, North Carolina, known for its innovative treatments for nervous disorders and addictions. Taken under the wing of the hospital's most notable patient, Zelda Fitzgerald, Evalina witnesses cascading events that lead up to the tragic fire of 1948 that killed nine women in a locked ward, Zelda among them. Author Lee Smith has created, through a seamless blending of fiction and fact, a mesmerizing novel about a world apart--in which art and madness are luminously intertwined.

Herb's charmed life with his dear wife, Susan, in their Key West house is coming undone. Susan, in her seventies, now needs constant care, and Herb is in denial about his own ailing health. The one bright spot is the arrival of an endlessly optimistic manicurist calling herself Renee, who brings Susan a much-needed sense of contentment.

Then Herb and Susan's adult children arrive to stage an intervention with their stubborn, independent father, and as a consequence, Renee's gig with Susan--and her grand plans for her own life--start to unravel as well. Herb isn't ready to let go of all that he has ever had, and it turns out that Renee is not the happy, uncomplicated girl she pretends to be. She is not even Renee; she is really Dee Dee, and she, too, has reasons of her own to his the road. So when Herb suggests one last joy ride in his Porsche with Dee Dee riding shotgun, the light out for parts north, setting off a Silver Alert.

In this buoyant novel, the masterful Smith asks: What do we deserve? And how do we make it our own? Sometimes, you just have to seize the wheel.

In The Christmas Letters, three generations of women reveal their stories of love and marriage in the letters they write to family and friends during the holidays. It's a down-home Christmas story about tradition, family, and the shared experiences of women.

Here, in a letter of her own, Lee Smith explains how she was inspired to write this celebrated epistolary novel:

Dear Friends,

Like me, you probably get Christmas letters every year. I read every word and save every letter. Because every Christmas letter is the story of a life, and what story can be more interesting than the story of our lives? Often, it is the story of an entire family. But you also have to read between the lines with Christmas letters. Sometimes, what is not said is even more important than what is on the page.

In The Christmas Letters, I have used this familiar format to illumine the lives, hopes, dreams, and disappointments of three generations of American women. Much of the story of The Christmas Letters is also told through shared recipes. As Mary, my favorite character, says, I feel as if I have written out my life story in recipes! The Cool Whip and mushroom soup years, the hibachi and fondue period, then the quiche and crepes phase, and now it's these salsa years.

I wrote this little book for the same reason I write to my friends and relatives every holiday--Christmas letters give us a chance to remember and celebrate who we are.

With warmest greetings, Lee Smith

Ivy Rowe, Virginia mountain girl, then wife, mother, and finally Mawmaw, never strays far from her home-but the letters she writes take her across the country and over the ocean. Writing to hold onto what's passing, she tells stories that are rich with the life of Appalachia in words that are colloquial, often misspelled, but always beautiful.

From childhood, when teachers encouraged her gift for language, to her rebellious teenage years when she swore against motherhood-only to then become a mother-and on through life, Ivy writes with insight, honesty, and a passion for living that is sure to be infectious.

Apologize My Ass is a captivating and nostalgic coming-of-age novel that transports readers to the sweltering summer of 1972 in Opp, Alabama, also known as the City of Opportunity. Young Oliver Ellison cherishes his summers in this tight-knit town, where life lessons, both good and bad, are woven into the fabric of his upbringing. Armed with his trusty bicycle, Oliver effortlessly traverses the town of 6,493, shuttling between his grandmothers' houses and immersing himself in the vibrant tapestry of daily gossip and local affairs.

This particular summer proves to be more challenging than the rest as Opp grapples with record-breaking heatwaves. People strive to keep their cool, but tempers run short, exacerbated by the unfortunate incident of two young boys crashing their truck into the Dothan television station antenna, rendering everyone unable to enjoy their favorite shows. Boredom and irritability tinge the atmosphere, setting the stage for an unexpected turn of events.

Amidst the sweltering heat and simmering tensions, Oliver regularly visits his two eccentric and miserly great-uncles, who own a gas station conveniently located between his grandmothers' homes. Perched on a stool, Oliver silently absorbs the conversations that flow freely between the old men, feeling invisible to the adults around him. It is during one of these eavesdropping sessions that he overhears a seemingly innocuous conversation that quickly spirals into a misunderstanding.

This misunderstanding ignites a fiery feud between the two brothers, spreading like wildfire throughout the town. Lines are drawn, and the once-harmonious community finds itself divided as people choose sides. Fueled by a genuine desire to set things right, Oliver, now fourteen years old, takes it upon himself to share the truth of what he heard, aiming to restore peace and the simple magic that characterized Opp as the City of Opportunity.

Narrated by Oliver, with occasional assistance from an omniscient co-narrator, Apologize My Ass weaves together absurdity and sentimentality in a captivating narrative. It is a tale of good versus evil that showcases Opp's diverse and eclectic cast of characters, stimulating the reader's imagination from the very first page. Bellicose, audacious, comical, vindictive, narcissistic, wise, and brave--this coming-of-age story breathes life into all the facets of humanity.

In this New York Times bestseller, investigative journalist Lee Smith uses his unprecedented access to expose the deep state operation against President Donald J. Trump -- and the American people.

The Plot Against the President tells the story of how Congressman Devin Nunes, while leading the House Intelligence Committee, uncovered the operation to bring down the commander-in-chief. While popular opinion holds that Russia subverted democratic processes during the 2016 elections, the real damage was done not by Moscow or any other foreign actor. Rather, this was a slow-moving coup engineered by a coterie of the American elite, the deep state, targeting not only the president, but also the rest of the country.

The plot officially began July 31, 2016 with the counterintelligence investigation that the FBI opened to probe Russian infiltration of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. But the bureau never followed any Russians. In fact, it was an operation to sabotage Trump, the candidate, then president-elect, and finally the presidency. The conspirators included political operatives, law enforcement and intelligence officials, and the press.

The plot was uncovered by Nunes and his investigative team on the House Intelligence Committee. They understood that the target of the operation wasn't just Trump, but rather the institutions that sustain our republic. A country where operatives use the intelligence and security services to protect their privileges by spying on Americans, coordinating with the press, and using extra-constitutional means to undermine an election then undo a presidency is more like the third world than the republic envisioned by the founding fathers.

Without Nunes and his team, the plot against the president -- and against the country -- never would have been revealed. Told from the perspective of Nunes and his crack investigators -- men and women who banded together to do the right thing at a crucial moment for our democracy -- the story of the biggest political scandal in a generation reads like a great detective novel, feels like a classic cowboy movie. The congressman from the cattle capital of California really did fight corruption in Washington. Devin Nunes took on the deep state.

From the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of The Last Girls.

A memoir that shines with a bright spirit, a generous heart and an entertaining knack for celebrating absurdity.-The New York Times Book ReviewThis is Smith at her finest.-Library Journal, starred review Set deep in the mountains of Virginia, the Grundy of Lee Smith's youth was a place of coal miners, tent revivals, mountain music, drive-in theaters, and her daddy's dimestore. When she was sent off to college to gain some culture, she understood that perhaps the richest culture she would ever know was the one she was leaving. Lee Smith's fiction has always lived and breathed with the rhythms and people of the Appalachian South. But never before has she written her own story. Dimestore's fifteen essays are crushingly honest, wise and perceptive, and superbly entertaining. Together, they create an inspiring story of the birth of a writer and a poignant look at a way of life that has all but vanished.

Smith's latest is as delicious as a slice of key lime pie - and gone just as fast. ―People

It's very different and it's very special and it's very good! I loved it. --​Dolly Parton

A driving force in literature, Lee Smith returns with a road trip novel, a story full of hope and humor about not going away quietly--at any age.

Herb's charmed life with his dear wife Susan in their Key West house is coming undone. Susan, in her 70s, now needs constant care, and Herb is in denial about his own ailing health. The one bright spot is the arrival of an endlessly optimistic manicurist calling herself Renee. She sings to Susan during manicures, gets her to paint, and brings her a much-needed sense of contentment.

Then Herb and Susan's adult children arrive to stage an intervention with their stubborn, independent father, and as a consequence, Renee's gig with Susan--and her grand plans for her own life--start to unravel as well. Herb isn't ready to let go of all that he has ever had, and it turns out that Renee is not the happy, uncomplicated girl she pretends to be. She is not even Renee; she is really Dee Dee, and she, too, has reasons of her own to hit the road. So Herb suggests one last joy ride in his Porsche with her riding shotgun; and they light out for parts north, setting off a Silver Alert.

As the unlikely friendship between Herb and Dee Dee deepens, we see how as one life is closing down, another opens up. This time that Dee Dee has spent with Susan, this time in Key West, and this time in the Porsche with the elderly Herb reveals to Dee Dee how much more truly lies ahead.

In this buoyant novel, the masterful Smith asks: What life do we deserve? And how do we make it our own? Sometimes, you just have to seize the wheel.

On a beautiful June day in 1965, a dozen girls-classmates at a picturesque Blue Ridge women's college-launched their homemade raft (inspired by Huck Finn's) on a trip down the Mississippi. It's Girls A-Go-Go Down the Mississippi read the headline in the Paducah, Kentucky, paper.Thirty-five years later, four of those girls reunite to cruise the river again. This time it's on the luxury steamboat, The Belle of Natchez, and there's no publicity. This time, when they reach New Orleans, they'll give the river the ashes of a fifth rafter-beautiful Margaret (Baby) Ballou.
Revered for her powerful female characters, here Lee Smith tells a brilliantly authoritative story of how college pals who grew up in an era when they were still called girls have negotiated life as women. Harriet Holding is a hesitant teacher who has never married (she can't explain why, even to herself). Courtney Gray struggles to step away from her Southern Living-style life. Catherine Wilson, a sculptor, is suffocating in her happy third marriage. Anna Todd is a world-famous romance novelist escaping her own tragedies through her fiction. And finally there is Baby, the girl they come to bury-along with their memories of her rebellions and betrayals.
THE LAST GIRLS is wonderful reading. It's also wonderfully revealing of women's lives-of the idea of romance, of the relevance of past to present, of memory and desire.

Prepare for a career in the commercial or residential plumbing fields with this popular book, which has been updated to reflect the very latest advancements in the plumbing industry. Plumbing Technology: Design and Installation, 4E has also been restructured to begin with instruction on the major, introductory concepts, and then progressing to more specific, advanced lessons, allowing readers a complete and thorough understanding of the material. This edition includes coverage of the very latest products, tools, codes, and drain cleaning equipment that have had a remarkable impact on the plumbing industry and how plumbers work successfully. The latest water heater technology, such as Flammable Vapor Ignition Resistant heaters, DWV system segments and sizing, new safety regulations, and all relevant code changes are also addressed.

A dusty box discovered in the wreckage of a once prosperous plantation on Agate Hill in North Carolina contains the remnants of an extraordinary life: diaries, letters, poems, songs, newspaper clippings, court records, marbles, rocks, dolls, and bones. It's through these treasured mementos that we meet Molly Petree.

Raised in those ruins and orphaned by the Civil War, Molly is a refugee who has no interest in self-pity. When a mysterious benefactor appears out her father's past to rescue her, she never looks back.

Spanning half a century, On Agate Hill follows Molly's passionate, picaresque journey through love, betrayal, motherhood, a murder trial--and back home to Agate Hill under circumstances she never could have imagined.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Last Girls presents one of her most compelling novels, acclaimed by Anne Tyler, Annie Dillard, and more...

Everywhere about her, from the traffic on Highway 460 to the river that's gone black with coal dust, Crystal Spangler sees a current flowing from the mountain town of Black Rock into the wider world. As a teenager, she is elected beauty queen, gets good grades, and-despite her many enviable qualities-manages also to be well-loved. Everyone knows that she is destined to leave town and do great things.

And she does.

But no one expects her return; drawn back home by some sort of memory, as if the current that had taken her away had changed its mind...

In this provocative and timely book, Middle East expert Lee Smith overturns long-held Western myths and assumptions about the Arab world, offering advice for America's future success in the region.

Seeking the motivation behind the September 11 attacks, Smith moved to Cairo, where he discovered that the standard explanation--a clash of East and West--was simply not the case. Middle East conflicts have little to do with Israel, the United States, or the West in general, but are endemic to the region. According to Smith's Strong Horse Doctrine, the Arab world naturally aligns itself with strength, power, and violence. He argues that America must be the strong horse in order to reclaim its role there, and that only by understanding the nature of the region's ancient conflicts can we succeed.

Smith details the three-decades-long relationship between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the United States, and gives a history of the Muslim Brotherhood, which would likely play an important role in the formation of a new government in Egypt. He also discusses Lebanon, where tipping the balance against Hezbollah in favor of pro-democracy, pro-US forces has become imperative, as a special tribunal investigates the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Eye-opening and in-depth, The Strong Horse is much needed background and perspective on today's headlines.

When Sybill Hess drives over to the hypnotist's office, she hopes he can cure her of the headaches interrupting her sleep the way her friend Betty once saw a woman on TV cure a woman's stammer. But what Dr. Diamond uncovers from Sybill's subconscious goes much deeper than her nervousness over a new tenant who seems to want a date. A shocking memory from Sybill's past threatens to upend everything she thinks she knows about herself and her family. But is it even real?

Now back in print from the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Girls.

It was in 1833 or '34 that Moses Bailey brought young Kate Malone down to Cold Spring Holler to be his wife. But Moses, wanting to become a preacher like his daddy was, left Kate time and again to look after the kids while he went out in search of a sign from God. Though he warned them about the evils of playing the fiddle, a kind of music he likened to the devil's own laughter, it passed the time for his bride and children, and soon became not just a way of life for the Baileys, but a curse that would last for generations.

This funny and endearing novel of family, secrets, and aging follows an elderly man who heads off on a joyride with a new young friend--who may have some secrets of her own.

A driving force in literature, the one and only Lee Smith returns with a road trip novel, a story full of hope and humor about not going away quietly--at any age.

Aging Herb's charmed life with his dear wife, Susan, in their Key West house is coming undone. Susan now needs constant care, and Herb is in denial about his own ailing health. The one bright spot is the arrival of an endlessly optimistic manicurist calling herself Renee. She sings to Susan during manicures, gets her to paint, and brings her a sense of contentment.

But then Herb and Susan's adult children arrive to stage an intervention on their stubborn, independent father, and as a consequence, Renee's gig with Susan--and her grand plans for her own life--start to unravel as well. So much had seemed as if it could change for Renee, who is not the happy, uncomplicated young girl she pretends to be. She is actually named Dee Dee, and she's fleeing a dark past.

And Herb can't just let go of all that he has ever had. So, he suggests one last joy ride in his Porsche. And the two take off north out of Key West, soon setting off a Silver Alert. As the unlikely friendship between Herb and Dee Dee deepens, we see how as one life is closing down, another opens up.

In this buoyant novel, the masterful Smith asks: What do we deserve? And how do we make it our own? Sometimes, you just have to seize the wheel.

Fans of Smith's many books in her storied, bestselling career won't want to miss her newest novel. And readers of novels like Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes will adore Silver Alert.

The participant workbook for the Legacy Leadership Institute (workshop), normally a 3-day training. Contains the Learning Journal, the Field Guide, and the Legacy Leadership Competency Inventory.