Danny Ryle is a political fixer on Long Island. From a parking ticket to a damaged romance, Danny is there to make things right. But then he is asked to solve an old murder. Danny first seeks help from his father—a retired hit man. There are suspects galore. From the Hamptons west, Danny travels across Long Island seeking clues, searching for the comforting taste of doughnuts, avoiding attempts on his life, looking for love, and all the while trying to solve a mystery the police never could. Danny has to deal with an ambitious politician who wants to run for President, the world of art, and a boss that makes his life miserable. Armed with his brains and the help of two associates, Danny struggles to survive in the rough and tumble world of 1982 life.

Danny Ryle is a political fixer on Long Island. When the Congressman he works for is blackmailed, Danny investigates only to walk into the middle of a murder. Aided by his father, a retired hit man, a well-connected member of the D.A.'s office, and his team of a former terrorist fighter and a woman ex-cop, Danny struggles to do good while living in a world that makes that difficult. Facing a former love who returns to start again, suspects with troubling alibis, and a wily killer, Danny is back to fix his troubled world.

HENRY WEAVER IS MISSINGThree months ago, thirteen-year-old Henry disappeared from The Shallows during a violent storm, leaving behind his muddy mountain bike at the train station.MASON WEAVER IS TRAPPEDWhile Mason doesn't know who he is or what he's capable of, he knows the one thing binding him to this suffocating small town is his younger brother, Henry.CHLOE BAXTER WANTS ANSWERSWhy would Henry run away without telling her? One of Chloe's friends knows something and she's determined to find out the truth.As Chloe wades into dangerous waters and Mason's past emerges, a chilling question ripples to the surface: how far would you go to keep a secret?'A captivating mystery about small-town secrets and the lies that protect them.' Ellie Marney, author of the Every series and White Night'Absolutely thrilling. A truly complex and brilliantly written puzzle.' Fleur Ferris, author of Black, Risk, Wreck and Found'Clever,...

"Urgent and important. . . an essential read for bosses, parents, coaches, and anyone who cares about improving performance." —Daniel H. Pink "So much crucial and revelatory information about performance, success, and education." —Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet A powerful argument for how to succeed in any field: develop broad interests and skills while everyone around you is rushing to specialize. Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world's top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule. David Epstein examined the world's most...

The familiars Aldwyn the cat, Skyler the blue jay, and Gilbert the tree frog are off on an all-new adventure in the series that Michael Buckley, bestselling author of The Sisters Grimm and NERDS series, says "combines the magic of Harry Potter and the adventure of Warriors." With inventive magic, laugh-out-loud humor, and a mysterious conspiracy that will take all the familiars' wits to unravel, Palace of Dreams is the familiars' most extraordinary adventure yet.Peace has returned to the queendom of Vastia. Paksahara has been defeated, and the three familiars Aldwyn, Skyler, and Gilbert are the heroes to thank. But when a birthday celebration at the palace goes dreadfully wrong, and Queen Loranella falls victim to a curse, it seems the familiars are the prime suspects. After narrowly escaping the palace dungeons, they'll have to embark on a quest to clear their names--a quest that will lead them across Vastia and even into the magical land of dreams.

Wily Snare sets sail on the high seas in the third and final installment of the middle grade fantasy adventure series, Snared. Wily's enemies are after his throne.The man who kept him captive for much of his childhood, the evil mage Stalag, is still at large, and Wily knows the kingdom will never be safe as long as he's a threat. Meanwhile, Wily's father, the Infernal King, has escaped prison and he's looking to retake power.When Wily learns the villains are traveling to the fabled Eversteel Forge to build a mechanical army, it's up to him and his companions to journey across the sea and stop their enemies.On the way, they's face piracy, betrayal, sea monster attacks, and the dangers of a mysterious desert island. But the greatest challenge is to Wily's loyalties—and if he can forgive a father he no longer trusts.An Imprint Book Praise for Snared: Lair of the Beast: "This action-packed,...

A shot is fired on a starry night. A woman lies dead. Her husband is accused of murder. The man begs Danny Ryle, a political fixer, to find the real killer. Danny is unsure until someone close to him is arrested. Then, facing danger, Danny cannot be stopped.He is helped by his team, a tough ex-cop woman and a terrorist hunter, Danny faces suspense, an attack on his life, quirky characters, odd twists, and surprises at every turn. Set on Long Island in 1983, this mystery novel never stops to give Danny, or the readers, a moment to pause. Seasoned by humor, rapid-fire dialogue, and quirky characters, the novel will keep readers up late wondering who done it. 

The little girl had to run.She had just seen her parents murdered. And the murderer had seen her. Saved by the sound of police sens, six year old Jennifer ran to a neighbor because he had helped her before. She had been hurt, and Danny Ryle gave her what she believed was a magical band aid.Desperate, she begged Danny not to let her be sent to a strange home. Impressed by the girl's intelligence and kindness, Danny and his friends determined to protect her by finding the killer and hiding her from the world. Aided by Ari Eilat, who had hunted terrorists in Israel, and Betsy Revere, a former Long Island police officer, Danny calls on a variety of people, including his father, once a hired killer, to do whatever is necessary  to save Jennifer.The search for the killer leads them to discover a staggering plan for a major crime.Filled with rapid-fire dialogue, page-turning suspense, and colorful characters you'll care about, you won't be able to put down this compelling read.  

In this rip-roaring dungeon adventure, genius inventor Wily Snare must journey into a dangerous underground maze to find a mythical beast. Thanks to a crew of misfit treasure-seekers, Wily Snare has assumed his rightful place as King of Panthasos. Wily knows how to be a great trapsmith—devising and building various contraptions to keep plunderers at bay—but he has no idea how to be a good king.And he hasn't escaped his past. Stalag, mage who once kept him locked away, is amassing an army of stone soldiers to seize the kingdom. Wily's only hope is to tame a lair beast, a giant creature that's the only chance against the evil wizard's army. But first, Wily and his friends will need to survive the journey to the strange and deadly "Below" where the lair beast dwells.Snared: Lair of the Beast is the second book in a fantasy adventure series from bestselling author Adam Jay Epstein.An Imprint Book...

An intimate portrait of a friendship severed by history, and a sweeping saga of wartime, motherhood, and legacy by an award-winning novelist East Village, 1989 Things had never been easy between Ava Fisher and her estranged mother Ilse. Too many questions hovered between them: Who was Ava's father? Where had Ilse been during the war? Why had she left her only child in a German orphanage during the war's final months? But now Ilse's ashes have arrived from Germany, and with them, a trove of unsent letters addressed to someone else unknown to Ava: Renate Bauer, a childhood friend. As her mother's letters unfurl a dark past, Ava spirals deep into the shocking history of a woman she never truly knew. Berlin, 1933 As the Nazi party tightens its grip on the city, Ilse and Renate find their friendship under siege—and Ilse's increasing involvement in the Hitler Youth movement leaves them on opposing sides of the gathering...

The film Casablanca opens with the words, "With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas." Leslie Epstein's Hill of Beans is the story of how one nation, one industry, and, in particular, one man responded to that desperate hope. That man is Jack Warner. His impossible goal is to make world events—most importantly, the invasion of North Africa by British and American forces in 1942—coincide with the release of his new film about a group of refugees marooned in Morocco. Arrayed against him are Stalin and Hitler, as well as Josef Goebbels, Franklin Roosevelt, a powerful gossip columnist, and above all a beautiful young woman with a terrible secret. His only weapons are his hutzpah and his heroism as he struggles to bring cinema and city, conflict and conference together in an epic command performance.Hill of Beans is the novel that Leslie Epstein—the son and...

A remote cabin. A family on edge. They are not alone.It was meant to be a family bonding exercise: two weeks in a mountain cabin on the outskirts of a former gold-mining town. These days, Wooralla's only claim to fame is a retro diner called The Flying Saucer and a dusty museum dedicated to the area's history of UFO sightings. Owen knows it's all bogus, but at least it gives him something to do.Half a day into their holiday, Owen's family is already bickering. By day two, his little sister is sick. On the third night, they witness peculiar lights in the sky.By day nine they are fleeing, too panicked to grab their phones, belongings, even the family dog. Owen doesn't know what they're running from, he only knows he needs to keep his little sister safe. But how can he tell anyone about his dad's erratic behaviour? Weird howling from deep in the bush? Strange entities hiding in the trees? How does he explain what was real and what wasn't when he...

Three gripping and emotional historical novels by Ann S. Epstein, about love, loss, and secrets across America, Italy, and Canada.On the Shore follows the upheaval in an immigrant Jewish family when, without telling his family, 16-year-old Shmuel Levinson (a.k.a. Sam Lord) strives to prove his manhood, and escape his father's pressure that he become a rabbi, by enlisting in the Navy.In Tazia and Gemma, a pregnant seventeen-year-old Italian immigrant and survivor of the Triangle Waist Company fire, flees New York, leaving her married lover to think she miscarried the baby he urged her to abort.In The Great Stork Derby an ambitious Emm Benbow convinces his wife, Izora, to enter the Great Stork Derby, a contest which offers a sizable cash award to the woman who has the most babies between 1926 and 1936. But soon his ambition turns into a ruthless obsession and addiction, and despite Izora's efforts, he is disappointed by his large family, and...

Our ego, and its accompanying sense of self-doubt, is one affliction we all share. And while our ego claims to have our best interests at heart, in its never-ending pursuit of attention and power, it sabotages the very goals it sets to achieve. In Advice Not Given, renowned psychiatrist and author Dr Mark Epstein reveals how Buddhism and Western psychotherapy both identify the ego as the limiting factor in our wellbeing and both come to the same conclusion: when we give the ego free rein, we suffer; but when it learns to let go, we are free.Our ego is at once our biggest obstacle and our greatest hope. We can be at its mercy or we can learn to mould it. Completely unique and practical, Epstein's advice can be used by all, and will provide wise counsel in a confusing world.

New in Paperback This 1979 classic tells the darkly humorous story of I.C. Trumpelman, a man whose fancy determines the fate of others. Chosen as the head of a Judenrat, Trumpelman thrives on the power granted him and creates an authoritarian regime of his own within the ghetto. By turns a con man, charismatic leader and merciless dictator, Trumpelman reveals himself as an extraordinarily complex protagonist. Now available in a new paperback edition from Handsel Books, King of the Jews will continue to be an extraordinary vision of occupied Poland, and offer stunning insight through the trappings of history to questions of equal moral complexity today. "Mature, brilliantly sustained, thoroughly engrossing." -Newsweek "The best book yet to be written on the Holocaust. A superb novel." -San Francisco Chronicle "Remarkable. A lesson in what artistic restraint can do to help us imagine the dark places in our history."...

Christopher Marlowe, a brilliant aspiring playwright, is pulled into the duplicitous world of international espionage on behalf of queen and country. A many-layered Elizabethan thriller combining state secrets, intrigue, and romance worthy of Marlowe's own timeless works.England, 1585. In Kit Marlowe's last year at Cambridge, he receives an unexpected visitor: Queen Elizabeth's spymaster, who has come with an unorthodox career opportunity. Her Majesty's spies are in need of new recruits, and Kit's flexible moral compass has drawn their attention. Kit, a scholarship student without money or prospects, accepts the offer, and after his training the game is on. Kit is dispatched to the chilly manor where Mary, Queen of Scots is under house arrest, to act as a servant in her household and keep his ear to the ground for a Catholic plot to put Mary on the throne.While observing Mary, Kit learns more than he bargained for. The ripple effects of his service to the...

Prepare for the unfamiliarWhen every bit of human magic disappears suddenly from Vastia, it falls on the familiars—Aldwyn the telekinetic cat, Skylar the know-it-all blue jay, and Gilbert the gullible tree frog—to find the Crown of the Snow Leopard, an ancient relic that can reverse the curse. They learn that the only way to do this is by following in the paw prints of Aldwyn's missing father, who went searching for the Crown several years earlier. This magical spirit trail extends into the Beyond, where our heroes encounter new enemies and danger, while Aldwyn learns about his mysterious past.Full of high-flying adventure and heartwarming friendships, Secrets of the Crown will make readers want to get even more familiar with The Familiars!

The familiars Aldwyn the cat, Skyler the blue jay, and Gilbert the tree frog are off on an all-new adventure in the series that Michael Buckley, bestselling author of The Sisters Grimm and NERDS series, says "combines the magic of Harry Potter and the adventure of Warriors." With inventive magic, laugh-out-loud humor, and a mysterious conspiracy that will take all the familiars' wits to unravel, Palace of Dreams is the familiars' most extraordinary adventure yet.Peace has returned to the queendom of Vastia. Paksahara has been defeated, and the three familiars Aldwyn, Skyler, and Gilbert are the heroes to thank. But when a birthday celebration at the palace goes dreadfully wrong, and Queen Loranella falls victim to a curse, it seems the familiars are the prime suspects. After narrowly escaping the palace dungeons, they'll have to embark on a quest to clear their names--a quest that will lead them across Vastia and even into the magical land of dreams.

"One of the four best Hollywood novels ever written." —Elizabeth Frank, New York Times Book Review "Epstein is a master storyteller at the height of his powers." —Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times Book Review "Mr. Epstein effortlessly captures the magic of a Hollywood childhood . . . San Remo Drive is a haunting and deeply affecting book." —Michiko Kakutani, New York Times Leslie Epstein's bestselling new novel is composed of five interrelated episodes, in each of which a germ of childhood experience is elaborated by the mature imagination of one of this country's most distinguished writers of fiction. Richard Jacobi, the narrator of these reflections, invites us to revisit the crucial experiences of his youth: driving to Malibu to meet the man determined to marry his mother; on vacation in the Mohave, while his father, the famed Hollywood figure Norman Jacobi and Lotte, his mother, must deal with the terrible...

The dramatic story of a founding father, his illegitimate son, and the tragedy of their conflict during the American Revolution—from the acclaimed author of The Lincolns. Ben Franklin is the most lovable of America's founding fathers. His wit, his charm, his inventiveness—even his grandfatherly appearance—are legendary. But this image obscures the scandals that dogged him throughout his life. In The Loyal Son, award-winning historian Daniel Mark Epstein throws the spotlight on one of the darker episodes in Franklin's biography: his complex and confounding relationship with his illegitimate son William. When he was twenty-four, Franklin fathered a child with a woman who was not his wife. He adopted the boy, raised him, and educated him to be his aide. Ben and William became inseparable. After the famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment, it was William who proved that the electrical charge in a lightning bolt travels from the...

Sophie's sweet plan is about to get complicated. Bad things come in threes, right? Apparently not for Sophie. It seems like everything in her life is turning sour. Her family's crumbling, her creative spark has fizzled, and school's unbearable now that her ex-boyfriend and best friend are sweet on each other. So when Sophie lands a summer job at Seaside Candy Co, she doesn't mind swapping beach days for lollipops and jellybeans. She has a plan: earn enough for a plane ticket to her dad in New Zealand and reboot her sixteenth year somewhere new. But the Sweetest Store on the Coast soon becomes a mixed bag of complications. Like Simon, the buttoned-up work rival she can't seem to get out of her head. Like trying to figure out if her boss's extra attention is professional or inappropriate. And what exactly does a co-worker know about Sophie's family that might just upend everything? Welcome to the...

This is—for the first time—the full and unedited story behind the sick life and mysterious death of Jeffrey Epstein that is being called one of the most significant scandals in American history He was the billionaire financier and close confidant of presidents, prime ministers, movie stars and British royalty, the mysterious self-made man who rose from blue-collar Brooklyn to the heights of luxury. But while he was flying around the world on his private jet and hosting lavish parties at his private island in the Caribbean, he also was secretly masterminding an international child sex ring—one that may have involved the richest and most influential men in the world. The conspiracy of corruption was an open secret for decades. And then this summer, it all came crashing down. After his arrest on sex trafficking charges in July, it seemed Epstein's darkest secrets would finally see the light. But hopes for true justice were shattered on...

When human magic disappears suddenly from Vastia, it falls on the familiars, Aldwyn the telekinetic cat, Skylar the know-it-all blue, jay, and Gilbert the gullible tree frog--to find the Crown of the Snow Leopard, an ancient relic that can reverse the curse.  They learn that the only way to do this is by following in the purple paw prints of Aldwyn's father, who'd gone missing while searching for the Crown years earlier. This magical spirit trail extends into the Beyond, where our heroes encounter new enemies and danger, while Aldwyn learns about his mysterious past.Full of high-flying adventure and heartwarming friendships, SECRETS OF THE CROWN shows how great it is to be familiar with The Familiars!About the AuthorAdam Jay Epstein spent his childhood in Great Neck, New York, while Andrew Jacobson grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but the two met in Los Angeles. They have been writing together for film and television ever since. One day, Adam asked Andrew, "Are you familiar with what a familiar is?" And from that simple question, Vastia was born, a fantastical world filled with the authors' shared love of animals and magic. This is the second book in The Familiars series. The adventure continues in book three, Circle of Heroes. Adam Jay Epstein lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jane, and their daughters, Penny and Olive. Andrew Jacobson, his wife, Ashley, their son, Ryder, and their dog, Elvis, live close by. The Familiars will be produced for film by Sam Raimi and Sony Animation.

A fully revised edition of the popular guide to Hollywood finances, updated to reflect even newer films and trendsIn a Freakonomics-meets-Hollywood saga, veteran investigative reporter Edward Jay Epstein goes undercover to explore Hollywood's "invisible money machine," probing the dazzlingly complicated finances behind the hits and flops, while he answers a surprisingly difficult question: How do the studiosmake their money?In this, a revised and updated edition The Hollywood Economist, we learn:+ The future of Netflix: Why the "next big thing" now seems in such deep trouble...+ What it costs to insure Nicole Kidman's right knee...+ How Hollywood manipulates Wall Street, including the story of the acquisition of MGM... wherein a consortium of banks and hedge funds lost some $5 billion... while Hollywood made millions.+ Why Arnold Schwarzenegger is considered a contract genius...+ The fate of serious...

Fifteen-year-old Grace Manning is a candy striper in a nursing home, and Mr. Sands is the one patient who makes the job bearable. He keeps up with her sarcasm, teaches her to play poker . . . and one day cheerfully asks her to help him die. At first Grace says no way, but as Mr. Sands's disease progresses, she's not so sure. Grace tries to avoid the wrenching decision by praying for a miracle, stuffing herself with pancakes, and running away from all feelings, including the new ones she has for her best friend Eric. But Mr. Sands is getting worse, and she can't avoid him forever.Robin Epstein has delivered an incredibly engaging, thought-provoking debut YA novel, with all the snappy dialogue and attitude of the movie Juno.

An investigation by Edward Jay Epstein into the De Beers cartel and the fantastic machine that created the illusion that diamonds are forever. The story of the men and manipulations that maintained the value of diamonds for over a century. Based on interviews with Harry Oppenheimer and the key executives of De Beers. As Newsweek describes it, "Reads like high-finance James Bond. Fascinating detail."

The product of more than 40 years of investigative work: an insightful guide to some of the most controversial and mysterious crimes of the last 200 yearsEdward Jay Epstein’s book on the Kennedy assassination Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth was one of the first books on the case and an instant bestseller. After interviewing every member of the Warren Commission, Epstein concluded that enough remained uninvestigated that conspiracy theories would persist for years. Ever since, Epstein has remained a skeptic—and a dogged investigator. Writing for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, he has reported on dozens of famous crimes. His books include a dissection of Lee Harvey Oswald’s ties to Soviet intelligence (Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald), an account of Nixon-era crimes (Agency of Fear), a widely-respected study of the CIA (Deception: The Invisible War Between the KGB & the CIA), and a study of surveillance tapes of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Three Days in May).His method is simple: outline what is known and unknown, and show the plausible theories of the case. Where more than one theory exists, he shows the evidence for and against each. And when something remains to be proved, he says as much. In The Annals of Unsolved Crime, Epstein re-visits his most famous investigations and adds dozens of new cases. From the Lindbergh kidnapping to the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, from the Lincoln assassination to anthrax attacks on America, Epstein looks at history’s most famous crimes and their tangled histories—and again proves himself one of the most penetrating journalists in America.Review"A grand figure of modern journalism…Show Epstein a juicy crime and he will show you how it has been subverted by unseen powers for their own agenda, by the inevitable incompetence of investigative authorities and by the media because it likes a simple story line.” —Michael Wolff, USA Today *“Epstein often is able to provide exactly the kind of comprehensive and levelheaded analysis that is usually drowned out in the sensationalism…As a longtime investigative journalist, Epstein knows how to break down a crime scene.”—Newsday ”Armchair detectives will eat this book with a spoon. Journalism students need to read the Strauss-Kahn piece yesterday. The JFK piece is required reading for assassination buffs, And for the rest of us? The Annals of Unsolved Crime is a guilty pleasure.”—*The Huffington Post*”Whether you’re a true crime devotee or simply someone who loves a good story, you’ll find things you didn’t know—maybe things you would never imagine—all served up in… The Annals of Unsolved Crime.”—*Criminal Element*Praise for Edward Jay Epstein“Epstein believes that conspiracies are more common than most journalists credit; for much of his career, he has reveled in the kind of tantalizing clues that could lead somewhere, or nowhere.” —Joe Nocera, *The New York Times*“Epstein is a bulldog researcher.” —Jonathan Yardley, *The Washington Post*“A brilliant investigator.” — Lou DobbsPraise for Agency of Fear“Part detective story, part farce, part exposé, and part textbook on investigative reporting. It is ingenious, perverse, hilarious, and shocking.”—Victor Navasky“Exciting research, impressive thesis.”—Norman Mailer“Epstein tells all.”—John Leonard, *New York Times*Praise for The Big Picture“A rich adventure that will change the way you look at movies.” —Businessweek “Edward Jay Epstein is here to tell us that when it comes to Hollywood these days, we’ve got it all wrong.” —The Washington Post Book World“One of the virtues of The Big Picture is Mr. Epstein’s astonishing access to numbers that movie studios go to great lengths to keep secret . . . A groundbreaking work that explains the inner workings of the game.” —The Wall Street Journal“Hollywood has needed one of these for a long time—a user’s manual. This one could not be more complete. . . .[Grade] A.” —Entertainment Weekly“In his adroit charting of the confidence flow between the various entities and eras Mr. Epstein kicks up a lot of little surprises. . . Edward Jay Epstein is quite good.” —Larry  McMurtry, *The New York Review of Books*About the AuthorEdward Jay Epstein studied government and received a Ph.D from Harvard in 1973. He turned his master’s thesis on the search for political truth (Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth) into a bestselling book, and has written numerous highly-praised books since then—including, most recently for Melville House, The Hollywood Economist, which investigates how Hollywood films are financed.

In Fabulous Small Jews, the best-selling author Joseph Epstein has produced eighteen charming, magical, and finely detailed stories. They are populated by lawyers, professors, scrap-iron dealers, dry cleaners, all men of a certain age who feel themselves adrift in the radically changed values of the day. Epstein's richly drawn characters are at various crossroads and turning points in their lives: bitter Seymour Hefferman, who anonymously sends scathing postcards to writers until he gets caught; Moe Bernstein, who, inspired by his grandson, decides to attend to his own health after long delay; divorcé Artie Glick, who wants to marry his pregnant girlfriend. Fabulous Small Jews is a marvelous collection from a master of the short form.

Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson, authors of The Familiars books, bring their mix of laugh-out-loud humor and thrilling adventure to the sci-fi world of Starbounders. Zachary Night can't wait to start his top-secret Starbounders training at Indigo 8. But he's barely started learning the skills he'll need to protect the galaxy when a space mission goes wrong. Zachary and his friends are accidentally sent to the front lines of an intergalactic skirmish, and they quickly discover a plot to destroy Indigo 8. Piloting a space ship under attack, they must get back to earth before the training center--and the planet--is annihilated. Middle-grade readers who love the funny science fiction of Star Wars and the Intergalactic Bed and Breakfast series will love Starbounders.

Joseph Epstein's highly entertaining new book takes up the subject of snobbery in America after the fall of the prominence of the old Wasp culture of prep schools, Ivy League colleges, cotillions, debutante balls, the Social Register, and the rest of it. With ample humor and insight, Epstein uncovers the new outlets upon which the old snobbery has fastened: food and wine, fashion, high-achieving children, schools, politics, health, being with-it, name-dropping, and much else, including the roles of Jews and homosexuals in the development of snobbery. He also raises the question of whether snobbery might, alas, be a part of human nature. Snobbery: The American Versionis the first book in English devoted exclusively to the subject since Thackeray's THE BOOK OF SNOBS.

The familiars Aldwyn the cat, Skyler the blue jay, and Gilbert the tree frog are off on an all-new adventure in the series that Michael Buckley, bestselling author of The Sisters Grimm and NERDS series, says "combines the magic of Harry Potter and the adventure of Warriors." With inventive magic, laugh-out-loud humor, and a mysterious conspiracy that will take all the familiars' wits to unravel, Palace of Dreams is the familiars' most extraordinary adventure yet.Peace has returned to the queendom of Vastia. Paksahara has been defeated, and the three familiars Aldwyn, Skyler, and Gilbert are the heroes to thank. But when a birthday celebration at the palace goes dreadfully wrong, and Queen Loranella falls victim to a curse, it seems the familiars are the prime suspects. After narrowly escaping the palace dungeons, they'll have to embark on a quest to clear their names—a quest that will lead them across Vastia and even into the magical land of dreams.

A groundbreaking exposé that convincingly challenges the popular image of Edward Snowden as hacker turned avenging angel, while revealing how vulnerable our national security systems have become—as exciting as any political thriller, and far more important. After details of American government surveillance were published in 2013, Edward Snowden, formerly a subcontracted IT analyst for the NSA, became the center of an international controversy: Was he a hero, traitor, whistle-blower, spy? Was his theft legitimized by the nature of the information he exposed? When is it necessary for governmental transparency to give way to subterfuge? Edward Jay Epstein brings a lifetime of journalistic and investigative acumen to bear on these and other questions, delving into both how our secrets were taken and the man who took them. He makes clear that by outsourcing parts of our security apparatus, the government has made classified information far more vulnerable; how...

The first book about mindfulness and medical practice, a groundbreaking, intimate exploration of how doctors think and what matters most—safe, effective, patient-centered, compassionate care—from the foremost expert in the field.As a third-year Harvard Medical student doing a clinical rotation in surgery, Ronald Epstein watched an experienced surgeon fail to notice his patient's kidney turning an ominous shade of blue. In that same rotation, Epstein was awestruck by another surgeon's ability to slow down and shift between autopilot and intentionality. The difference between these two doctors left a lasting impression on Epstein and set the stage for his life's work—to identify the qualities and habits that distinguish masterful doctors from those who are merely competent. The secret, he learned, was often mindfulness. In Attending, his first book, Dr. Epstein builds on his world-renowned, innovative programs in mindful practice and uses...

Is the kingdom's fate in the hands of an orphan cat?Running fast to save his life, Aldwyn ducks into an unusual pet store. Moments later Jack, a young wizard in training, comes in to choose a magical animal to be his familiar. Aldwyn's always been clever. But magical? Jack thinks so—and Aldwyn is happy to play along.He just has to convince the other familiars—the know-it-all blue jay Skylar and the friendly tree frog Gilbert—that he's the powerful cat he claims to be.Then the unthinkable happens. Jack and two other young wizards are captured by the evil queen of Vastia.On a thrilling quest to save their loyals, the familiars face dangerous foes, unearth a shocking centuries-old secret, and discover a destiny that will change Vastia forever. Their magical adventure—an irresistible blend of real heart, edge-of-your-seat action, and laugh-out-loud humor—is an unforgettable celebration of fantasy and friendship.

Moving to Miami was supposed to be enough distance from her family and her past, but Paige Kerimov can’t seem to get them out of her head. A year of self-induced solitude, nothing but school, Paige reluctantly starts to let people back into her life, including one person in particular; the insistent and attractive Brady Quinlan with whom she is paired for a project that will impact her major. She has no choice but to work with him, no matter how tough that makes it to deny her attraction to him. As Paige lets her guard down, remnants of a violent past and a tragic history start to resurface and Brady knows she is hiding something. He tries to figure her out, but she can’t let him see when the truth is that she isn’t sure if she’s in danger from anything other than herself.**

Small Spaces is a gripping YA thriller from debut Australian author Sarah Epstein, perfect for fans of Fleur Ferris. 14+."We don't pick and choose what to be afraid of. Our fears pick us."Tash Carmody has been traumatised since childhood, when she witnessed her gruesome imaginary friend Sparrow lure young Mallory Fisher away from a carnival. At the time nobody believed Tash, and she has since come to accept that Sparrow wasn't real. Now fifteen and mute, Mallory's never spoken about the week she went missing. As disturbing memories resurface, Tash starts to see Sparrow again. And she realises Mallory is the key to unlocking the truth about a dark secret connecting them. Does Sparrow exist after all? Or is Tash more dangerous to others than she thinks?"A beautifully crafted psychological thriller. I couldn't put it down." Fleur Ferris

Who is the greatest living essayist writing in English? Joseph Epstein would surely be at the top of anybody's list. Epstein is penetrating. He is witty. He has a magic touch with words, that hard to define but immediately recognizable quality called style. Above all, he is impossible to put down. Joseph Epstein's The Ideal of Culture: Essays is the fourth such volume from Axios Press and contains 63 essays. Subjects range from domestic life to current social trends to an appraisal of "contemporary nuttiness." It follows the much acclaimed Essays in Biography, 2012, A Literary Education and Other Essays, 2014, and Wind Sprints: Shorter Essays, 2016. After reading Epstein, we see life with a fresh eye. We also see ourselves a little more clearly. This is what Plutarch intended: life teaching by example, but with a wry smile and such a sure hand that we hardly notice the instruction. It is just pure pleasure.

In high school, I wondered whether the Jamaican Americans who made our track team so successful might carry some special speed gene from their tiny island. In college, I ran against Kenyans, and wondered whether endurance genes might have traveled with them from East Africa. At the same time, I began to notice that a training group on my team could consist of five men who run next to one another, stride for stride, day after day, and nonetheless turn out five entirely different runners. How could this be? We all knew a star athlete in high school. The one who made it look so easy. He was the starting quarterback and shortstop; she was the all-state point guard and high-jumper. Naturals. Or were they?  The debate is as old as physical competition. Are stars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams genetic freaks put on Earth to dominate their respective sports? Or are they simply normal people who overcame their biological limits through sheer force of will and obsessive training? The truth is far messier than a simple dichotomy between nature and nurture. In the decade since the sequencing of the human genome, researchers have slowly begun to uncover how the relationship between biological endowments and a competitor’s training environment affects athleticism. Sports scientists have gradually entered the era of modern genetic research.In this controversial and engaging exploration of athletic success, Sports Illustrated senior writer David Epstein tackles the great nature vs. nurture debate and traces how far science has come in solving this great riddle. He investigates the so-called 10,000-hour rule to uncover whether rigorous and consistent practice from a young age is the only route to athletic excellence. Along the way, Epstein dispels many of our perceptions about why top athletes excel. He shows why some skills that we assume are innate, like the bullet-fast reactions of a baseball or cricket batter, are not, and why other characteristics that we assume are entirely voluntary, like an athlete’s will to train, might in fact have important genetic components.  This subject necessarily involves digging deep into sensitive topics like race and gender. Epstein explores controversial questions such as: Are black athletes genetically predetermined to dominate both sprinting and distance running, and are their abilities influenced by Africa’s geography? Are there genetic reasons to separate male and female athletes in competition? Should we test the genes of young children to determine if they are destined for stardom? Can genetic testing determine who is at risk of injury, brain damage, or even death on the field? Through on-the-ground reporting from below the equator and above the Arctic Circle, revealing conversations with leading scientists and Olympic champions, and interviews with athletes who have rare genetic mutations or physical traits, Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism.

Could everything we know about fossil fuels be wrong?For decades, environmentalists have told us that using fossil fuels is a self-destructive addiction that will destroy our planet. Yet at the same time, by every measure of human well-being, from life expectancy to clean water to climate safety, life has been getting better and better.How can this be?The explanation, energy expert Alex Epstein argues in The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, is that we usually hear only one side of the story. We're taught to think only of the negatives of fossil fuels, their risks and side effects, but not their positives—their unique ability to provide cheap, reliable energy for a world of seven billion people. And the moral significance of cheap, reliable energy, Epstein argues, is woefully underrated. Energy is our ability to improve every single aspect of life, whether economic or environmental.If we look at the big picture of fossil fuels compared with...

The estimable Joseph Epstein—essayist, past editor of The American Scholar, and recipient of the 2003 National Humanities Medal along with Hal Holbrook and John Updike—brings together twenty short stories in his first such collection since 2010. Most, though not all, of the stories are set in Epstein's hometown of Chicago, but otherwise they have a variety of subjects: among the titles are "Dad's Gay," "The Casanova of LaSalle Street," "JDate," "Adultery," "Widow's Pique," "Race Relations," "The Man on Whom Everything Was Lost," "My Five Husbands," and "Second Family." Most are stories about family and friendships.

In his first collection of stories since Fabulous Small Jews, Joseph Epstein delivers all the pleasures his readers have come to expect: stories of ordinary men confronting the moments that define a life, told with the bittersweet humor and loving irony encompassed in the title of the book. These fourteen tales map a very particular world—Jews whose lives are anchored in Chicago—in rich, revealing detail even as they brim with universal longings: complex love affairs and unspoken rivalries, family triumphs and private disappointments. Epstein, who "happens to possess a standup comic's gift for punch lines" (New York Times Book Review), brings his emphatically grown-up characters to witty, rueful, and charming life. The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff is a marvelous collection from a master of the short form and one of the most distinctive writers working in America today.

Kassandra Black used to get away with things. She was her high school's anonymous vigilante, exposing bullies and predators. But when she's expelled for breaking into another student's car just weeks before graduation, her acceptance to Columbia is revoked.Now her future depends on behaving herself for the summer at Henley University under the watchful eye of her great-uncle Brian. If she successfully assists him in his HEAR program (Henley Engineering Anomalies Research), and if he puts in a good word for her, she can at least go to college somewhere.As Kass gets to know the four other HEAR students, she realizes that she overlooked the "Anomalies" part of their acronym. They've all been recruited to help Brian run experiments that gauge Extrasensory Perception--including, to her astonishment, Kass herself. But Kass would know if she were psychic; right?From the Hardcover edition.

Joseph Epstein takes on that most enchanting (and, alas, increasingly rare) of human gifts, charm. "Almost everyone will recognize when he or she is in the presence of charm," he writes. "Charm is magic of a kind; it casts a spell. In the presence of charm the world seems lighter and lovelier. A charming person can cause you to forget your problems, at least temporarily, to hold the world's dreariness at bay. Charm is a reminder that the world is filled with jolly prospects and delightful possibilities. Watching Fred Astaire dance, or listening to Blossom Dearie sing, or reading the poems of C.P. Cavafy, or merely looking at Rita Hayworth or Ava Gardner, one recalls that the world can be a pretty damn fine place."

A dishy, incisive exploration of gossip — from celebrity rumors to literary romans à clef, personal sniping to political slander — by one our "great essayists" (David Brooks)To his successful examinations of some of the most powerful forces in modern life — envy, ambition, snobbery, friendship — the keen observer and critic Joseph Epstein now adds Gossip. No trivial matter, despite its reputation, gossip, he argues, is an eternal and necessary human enterprise. Proving that he himself is a master of the art, Epstein serves up delightful mini-biographies of the Great Gossips of the Western World along with many choice bits from his own experience. He also makes a powerful case that gossip has morphed from its old-fashioned best — clever, mocking, a great private pleasure — to a corrosive new-school version, thanks to the reach of the mass media and the Internet. Gossip has invaded and changed for the worse politics and...

Zachary Night and the Starbounders are back, in the sci-fi adventure series Pseudonymous Bosch calls "a great ride and a great read," from Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson, authors of the Familiars series.Zachary Night may have saved Earth, but back at Indigo 8, he's still just a Starbounder-in-training. And unlike his fellow trainees, who are having a blast gearing up for the annual Indigo Games, Zachary has more important things on his mind. He has yet to decipher the cryptic warning Professor Olari left him, and it looks like someone is trying to beat him to it.When all the clues start pointing to a larger conspiracy, Zachary and his friends must once again leave Indigo 8 behind and take matters into their own hands. Their investigation will lead them through the far reaches of space, and it will test their friendship, too. And, oh yeah, did they mention the fate of the outerverse hangs in the balance?With the "winning combination of action and...

From Publishers WeeklyFormer Random House editor Epstein (_Book Business: Publishing Past, Present and Future_) combines his literary lunches with a personal, tried-and-true collection of meals and recipes. The breezy memoir touches on mayonnaise-rich dishes he's eaten with famous friends and neighbors—Olaf Olafsen, Norman Mailer and Jane Jacobs—in between recollection of childhood visits to Maine and recent trips to Sag Harbor, Long Island. Accompanying the stories are recipes meant to resemble conversations, mixed in with peculiar advice on sourcing ingredients and detailed tips on technique. Epstein—who readily admits he still doesn't think of Manhattan as home because of its lack of Ipswich clams—is most comfortable on the New England shore, if his recipes for salmon roe, lobster rolls and fried clams are any indication. While Epstein blends the down-home simplicity of chicken pot pie with the kind of dowdy French classics once served in lower Manhattan, his trips with chef Alice Waters to Craig Claiborne's lunch parties and suggestions for hard-to-find ingredients and out-of-print books cultivate a stuffy air of exclusivity, a tone tempered by the softer, improvisational voice from his kitchen. Be warned, the book's mouthwatering narrative recipes—from steak tartare enclosed in burnt hamburger crust to a simple braised duck with olives—might spur more than a couple of trips to the kitchen. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review“_Eating_ is an unpretentious chronicle of an extraordinary life well lived, an antidote of sorts in this age of . . . meals made in an ever-decreasing number of minutes. To read it is to vow to live better.” —_Newsweek _“Full of anecdotes and his gusto for food and life . . .  Epstein has produced a book that will warm readers’ hearts.” —_The Washington Times _“[Epstein] treats us to a cornucopia of memories—some personal, some literary, all tied to food—and as many interesting recipes as ruminations. . . . A delight.” —_The Wall Street Journal _ “Delicious. . . . [Epstein] has been present for (or hosted) some of the greatest, most unhinged literary dinner parties of our time.” —_The New York Times_“This convivial memoir by a distinguished publisher charts a lifetime of cooking and consumption. . . . Enlivening.” —_The New Yorker _ “What a storyteller! He brings food into the cultural experience in a beautiful way.” —Alice Waters   “The conversational recipes and fond descriptions carry a clear intimation of how one should really live, the very thing that is so compelling in M. F. K. Fisher and Julia Child.” —James Salter, coauthor of Life Is Meals “As Proust demonstrated with his madeleine, taste is a powerful unleasher of memories. Epstein’s book, like M.F.K. Fisher’s The Art of Eating, Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking and, more recently, Amanda Hesser’s Cooking for Mr. Latte,_ _tucks recipes into an entertaining, alternately informative and autobiographical narrative. . . . Eating . . . works for armchair cooks as well as active chefs, and has the advantage of being calorie-free.” —_San Francisco Chronicle<.i> _

The first full-length, authoritative, and detailed story of the iconic actor's life to go beyond the Hollywood scandal-sheet reporting of earlier books, this account offers an appreciation for the man and his acting career and the classic films he starred in, painting a portrait of an individual who took great risks in his acting and career. Although Lee Marvin is best known for his icy tough guy roles—such as his chilling titular villain in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or the paternal yet brutally realistic platoon leader in The Big Red One—very little is known of his personal life; his family background; his experiences in WWII; his relationship with his father, family, friends, wives; and his ongoing battles with alcoholism, rage, and depression, occasioned by his postwar PTSD. Now, after years of researching and compiling interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues; rare photographs; and illustrative material, Hollywood writer Dwayne Epstein provides a full understanding and appreciation of this acting titan’s place in the Hollywood pantheon in spite of his very real and human struggles.