As pungent and concise as his short histories of both world wars, Stokesbury's survey of the half war takes a broad view and seems to leave nothing out but the details. The first third covers the North Korean invasion of June 1950, the Pusan perimeter crisis, MacArthur's master stroke at Inchon and the intervention by Chinese forces that November. At this point, other popular histories of the war reach the three-quarter mark, ending often with a cursory summary of the comparatively undramatic three-and-a-half years required to bring the war to its ambiguous conclusion on July 27, 1953. Stokesbury renders the latter period as interesting as the operational fireworks of the first six months: the Truman-MacArthur controversy; the political limitations on U.S. air power; the need for the Americans to fight the war as cheaply as possible, due to NATO commitments; the prolonged negotiations at Panmunjom over the prisoner-exchange issue; and the effect of the war on the home front. Whether the United States could have/should have stayed out of the war in the first place comes under discussion: no on both counts, according to the author.

At age sixty-five, retired anthropologist Stella Brentwood buys a cottage in Somerset, England, and slowly acquires neighbors, a dog, and a professional curiosity about the country village where she intends to settle and put down roots for the first time. She has spent her life studying communities of people--their families, social structures, how they welcome outsiders into their midst-remaining an observer, privileged to share in their intimate life but not obliged, and finally unwilling to tie herself closely to any lover, friend, or social group. In Somerset, Stella once again finds an opportunity to become part of the web of relationships that make for human society, as well as a chance at true friendship and love. How will independent-minded Stella, Lays reluctant to make an emotional commitment, respond? Written in exquisitely nuanced prose, Spiderweb is a captivating and deeply moving novel, a brilliant vision of our modern experience.

A totally modern work. Martha Quest is, above all, ironically percieved by the author in whose hands irony is an instrument of compassion. -- New Republic

An unconventional woman trapped in a conventional marriage, Martha Quest struggles to maintain her dignity and her sanity through the misunderstandings, frustrations, infidelities, and degrading violence of a failing marriage. Finally, she must make the heartbreaking choice of whether to sacrifice her child as she turns her back on marriage and security.

A Proper Marriage is the second novel in Doris Lessing's classic Children of Violence series of novels, each a masterpiece on its own right, and, taken together, an incisive and all-encompassing vision of our world in the twentieth century.

Miriam Williams was an idealistic child of the sixties who, at seventeen, accepted an invitation from a Jesus person to visit a commune in upstate New York. She would soon be prostituting herself for a perverse cult that used sex to lure sinners to the Lord -- and this is her shocking, searingly honest account of a fifteen-year spiritual odyssey gone haywire.

The Children of God turned its female devotees into Heaven's Harlots, leading strangers to the love of God by enticing them with the pleasures of the flesh. At its height, the cult boasted 19,000 members around the world: In such places as France and Monte Carlo, young women, Miriam among them, mingled with the rich and famous to save their souls, and in this unsparing, unnerving autobiography, she'll identify some of her high-profile clients. She left this bizarre world in an attempt to protect her son, born through an arranged marriage and kidnapped by his father.

Now, in a clear, compelling, cautionary tale, she shares both her extraordinary existence as a holy whore and the daunting experience of rebuilding a normal life -- an ordeal that led her to found a group dedicated to helping other cult survivors reclaim their souls as well.

Roosevelt and Churchill continue to fascinate both the World War II generation and those who have grown up in the world formed by that struggle. Here is an inside look at their relationship and the politics, strategy, and diplomacy of the British-American alliance. Warren F. Kimball's lively analysis of these larger-than-life figures shows how they were at the same time realists and idealists, consistent and inconsistent, calculating and impulsive. The result is an unforgettable narrative.

One of the most authentic books ever written about the English....Funny, touching and so real that the smell and taste of London seem to rise from its pages. -- San Francisco Chronicle

In Pursuit of the English is a novelist's account of a lusty, quarrelsome, unscrupulous, funny, pathetic, full-blooded life in a working-class rooming house. It is a shrewd and unsentimental picture of Londoners you've probably never met or even read about--though they are the real English. The cast of characters -- if that term can be applied to real people -- includes: Bobby Brent, a con man; Mrs. Skeffington, a genteel woman who bullies her small child and flings herself down two flights of stairs to avoid having another; and Miss Priest, a prostitute, who replies to Lessing's question Don't you ever like sex? with If you're going to talk dirty, I'm not interested.

In swift, barbed style, in high, hard, farcical writing that is eruptively funny, Doris Lessing records the joys and terrors of everyday life. The truth of her perception shines through the pages of a work that is a brilliant piece of cultural interpretation, an intriguing memoir and a thoroughly engaging read.

Doris Lessing is the Cassandra of the documentary novel...crying for something harshly denied to our age: a longing for magic, for the irrational. Her concern for life, her independence of judgment and her gift for diagnosing our hydra-headed social ills is extraordinary. -- The Observer

In the aftermath of World War II, Martha Quest finds herself completely disillusioned. She is losing faith with the communist movement in Africa, and her marriage to one of the movement's leaders is disintegrating. Determined to resist the erosion of her personality, she engages in the first satisfactory love affair and breaks free, if only momentarily, from her suffocating unhappiness.

Landlocked is the fourth novel of Doris Lessing's classic Children of Violence sequence of novels, each a masterpiece in its own right, and collectively an incisive, all encompassing vision of our world in the twentieth century.

Conceived in a storytelling workshop given by Spalding Gray, Old Man In a Baseball Cap is not your typical story of World War II. Rochlin recounts in gritty detail how he--an ordinary young man--was thrust into outrageous circumstances during an extraordinary time. Whether he's bumping up against the army's bigotry because he's Jewish, aiding in the delivery of a baby by cesarean section, being ordered to obliterate a Hungarian village, or parachuting from his plane in the middle of Yugoslavia and then walking 400 kilometers to safety with an amorous guide, Rochlin captures the Intensely powerful experience of a teenager away from home for the first time. Old Man In a Baseball Cap is an astonishingly fresh, candid look at the last good war. At once naive, candid, and wise, Fred Rochlin's voice is unforgettable.

This eloquent new book focuses on Dr. Augustus Napier's own marriage and on a group of vividly drawn cases to illustrate the obstacles we face within ourselves as we try to create intimate, equal, enduring modern marriages-- and to teach us ways to overcome those barriers.

Romantic suspense is her true forte.
--Minneapolis Star-Tribune

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell creates suspense and emotional intensity with her classic Midnight in Ruby Bayou, a riveting romantic thriller in her popular four-book series featuring the remarkable Donovan family. A recipient of the Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award, Lowell delivers a treasure of a story that seamlessly blends passion and peril as a beautiful artist and a dashing adventurer join forces on a hunt for a legendary fortune in gems. Midnight in Ruby Bayou is a treat for Linda Howard, Nora Roberts, and Jayne Ann Krentz fans.

The sonnets and plays in Loves' Fire are the seeds and fruit of an extraordinary project: seven sonnets by Shakespeare, newly envisioned for the stage, in one-act plays by seven brilliantly gifted contemporary playwrights.

Shakespeare's sonnets of romantic and sexual love are timeless, for they are not bound to any particular setting or to either sex. These seven plays, each paired with the sonnet that inspired it, are startling not only in the variety of their mood, content, and setting, but also in their unusual interpretation. For example, Wendy Wasserstein's version of Sonnet 94 is a one-act play set in the Hamptons, where a well-to-do couple is getting ready for a society benefit; Eric Bogosian creates a story of sexual jealousy and obsessiveness from Sonnet 118; and composer William Finn has transformed Sonnet 102 into a song about an artist attempting to paint his lover -- and failing.These seven new works, commissioned and produced by the Acting Company, will be performed in June. Brought together in this slender volume with the sonnets, they form a unique tribute to Shakespeare -- a rich and marvelously entertaining celebration of the modern playwrights' adoration of the Bard.

Thomas Moore, bestselling author of Care of the Soul and Soul Mates, draws on the twelve years he lived as a monk in this insightful book of a hundred one-page meditations. Interspersed with glimpses of the beauty and humor of the monk's life, each page suggests a way of finding spirituality and nurturing the soul that can be applied in any walk of life.

Spur of the Moment Cook offers 175 spirited yet simple recipes that take into consideration today's full schedules while also indulging the desire for satisfying, homemade dinners. Author Perla Meyers teaches busy cooks the secrets of a well-stocked kitchen and shows how to use the seasonal marketplace to prepare the freshest foods. Perla's practical tips and tempting recipes combine to make cooking on the spur of the moment a delicious experience.

The Secrets Of A Well-Stocked Kitchen Revealed

Dried pastas, beans, and mushrooms in the pantry
Fresh eggs and Yogurt in the refrigerator
Crisp produce in the vegetable bin
Vanilla beans and cocoa in the baking cabinet

Savory Dishes With 6 Ingredients Or Less

Zucchini Frittata with Parmesan
Soft Polenta with Braised Leeks and Mascarpone
Grilled Chicken Breasts with Chinese Mustard and Honey Glaze
Pan-Seared Salmon with Creme Fraiche, Shallot, and Chive Sauce

On The Table In Under 30 Minutes

Fettuccine in Smoked Salmon and Chive Essence Shallot and Herb-Infused Lamb Chops Seared Swordfish with a Puree of Sweet-and-Spicy Peppers

Simple Sweet Endings

Catalan Bittersweet Chocolate, Orange, and Pine Nut TartPeach Gratin with Creamy Pecan CrumbleOven-Baked Rice Pudding with Lemon and Raisins

In this timely, illuminating, and often shocking book, Richard Shenkman reveals that it is not just recent presidents but all presidents who have been ambitious--and at times frighteningly so, willing to sacrifice their health, family, loyalty, and values. Presidential Ambition is a book that will permanently alter the way we think about past, present, and future American presidents.

One of those deceptively guileless novels, like A Member of the Wedding and To Kill a Mockingbird, that sees more than it lets on. --New York Times Book Review

A book of acute insight and delicious humor. . . . Absorbing and poignant and full of difficult truth. --Rosellen Brown, New York Magazine

Though radio broadcasts grow more harrowing every day, and soon, swastika-marked envelopes begin to arrive from cousins overseas, but the fighting in Europe still seems far away from the idyllic California home of ten-year-old tomboy Suse Hansen. But after Pearl Harbor, everything changes. In Ella Leffland's beautifully wrought story of a young girl's coming of age during WWII, the fighting in Europe looms behind the tranquility of family, friends, and neighbors--until the darkness of the war becomes suddenly, irrevocably real.