Deborah Solomon

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Virginia

The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell

"The long-awaited biography of the defining illustrator of the twentieth century by a celebrated art critic"--

American Mirror

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Margaret MacMillan

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Is peace an aberration? The New York Times bestselling author of Paris 1919 offers a provocative view of war as an essential component of humanity. NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW “Margaret MacMillan has produced another seminal work. . . . She is right that we must, more than ever, think about war. And she has shown us how in this brilliant, elegantly written book.”—H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World The instinct to fight may be innate in human nature, but war—organized violence—comes with organized society. War has shaped humanity’s history, its social and political institutions, its values and ideas. Our very language, our public spaces, our private memories, and some of our greatest cultural treasures reflect the glory and the misery of war. War is an uncomfortable and challenging subject not least because it brings out both the vilest and the noblest aspects of humanity. Margaret MacMillan looks at the ways in which war has influenced human society and how, in turn, changes in political organization, technology, or ideologies have affected how and why we fight. War: How Conflict Shaped Us explores such much-debated and controversial questions as: When did war first start? Does human nature doom us to fight one another? Why has war been described as the most organized of all human activities? Why are warriors almost always men? Is war ever within our control? Drawing on lessons from wars throughout the past, from classical history to the present day, MacMillan reveals the many faces of war—the way it has determined our past, our future, our views of the world, and our very conception of ourselves.

War: How Conflict Shaped Us

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Victoria Shorr

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Two Novellas

Fate is explored in the fall and rise of two twentieth-century American families.


Victoria Shorr's remarkable gift for depicting the inner lives of complex characters shines in two powerful explorations of family, ambition, class, and status.

In "Great Uncle Edward," a family gathers for dinner. At ninety-three, Great Uncle Edward commands the table in his three-piece suit; Cousin Russell attended both Harvard and Yale but is now reduced to selling off the family books; sisters Betty and Molly are caught between ghosts of a storied past and creeping destitution. These lives are signposts along the downward spiral of an old aristocracy. "Cleveland Auto Wrecking" introduces Sam White, an immigrant from eastern Europe. He cannot read but has a gift for math and an instinct for the value of junk. We follow his clan through the Depression to the postwar boom in the West, where their fortunes soar, creating new tests of loyalty.

Taken together, these two novellas might be the reverse images of the American dream in the twentieth century. They ask to what degree, in the face of such powerful forces as love, death, and social constraints, do any of us have control over our own lives.

Mid-Air

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Grace Polk

Grace Polk

@graciepolk17

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Deborah Solomon

American Mirror

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War: How Conflict Shaped Us

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Mid-Air

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Deborah Solomon

American Mirror

Margaret MacMillan

War: How Conflict Shaped Us

Victoria Shorr

Mid-Air

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