"Grace Is Where I Live" has inspired - even mentored - many writers, readers and teachers during the decade since it was first published. Here John Leax shares the experiences that shaped his life along with insights on choosing writing as a vocation, successful and failed teaching, identifying a personal 'poetic' writing in different genres, writing from 'placedness' and writing for a particular community.

One of the most extraordinary documents in the annals of Native American history, this is the authentic testament of a remarkable war shaman who for several years held off both Mexico and the United States in fierce defense of Apache lands.

From a bestselling novelist with an unrivalled insight into the workings of power comes a compelling new novel exploring Winston Churchill's remarkable journey from the wilderness to No 10 Downing Street at the beginning of World War II. "Winston's War" is a masterful blending of imagination and compelling fact that places the reader at the right hand of the most momentous events in our history. Saturday 1 October 1938. Winston Churchill has reached his lowest point. Reviled, mocked, accused of being nothing more than a drunken warmonger. Now his arch-rival, Neville Chamberlain, has done a deal with Hitler that destroys everything Churchill has fought for. But the world is about to change. Churchill is visited by a young and unkempt BBC journalist who rebukes him for being defeatist. It proves to be a turning point. Churchill grows to like his young visitor, who rekindles his determination to fight on. [+]

In January 2006, Lee and Bob Woodruff seemed to have it all–a happy marriage, four beautiful children, and marvelous careers. Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight, but then, while he was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him. In an Instant is the frank and compelling account of how Bob and Lee Woodruff’s lives came together, were blown apart, and then were miraculously put together again–and how they persevered, with grit but also with humor, through intense trauma and fear. More than a dual memoir of love and courage, In an Instant is an important, wise, and inspiring guide to coping with tragedy–and an extraordinary drama of marriage, family, war, and nation. #1 New York Times Bestseller“Gripping. The Woodruffs’ devotion to each other is palpable. [+]

When artist Tim Lefens walked into the care center for people with cerebral palsy, he had a life-changing experience. Because of his passion and determination, he and his student-artists emerged together from virtual silence to luminous expression.

Shortly before the massacre at Little Big Horn, a Lakota Sioux Indian named Black Elk had a powerful vision of the great changes awaiting his people in their native land. Years later, his words were transcribed at the Pine Ridge Reservation by his friend John G. Neihardt, a writer and critic with an intense, compassionate interest in American Indian culture and religion. The resulting book, Black Elk Speaks, has become universally recognized as both a timeless spiritual autobiography and a compelling first-hand account of Native American history during one of its most tumultuous periods. Black Elk’s words, which convey his people’s history from the inside, are a testament to the enduring spirit of America’s Native peoples. Reader Fred Contreras provides a sensitive, inspiring performance that breathes new life into this beloved classic.

With his colorful tattoos and booming hip-hop sound track, Mike Iaconelli has turned the world of big-money competitive bass fishing upside down. In Fishing on the Edge, Iaconelli tells his own story–and it’s a whopper: a Philly-born, Jersey-bred Yankee who’s been stealing the spotlight from bass fishing’s traditionally all-Southern anglers, attracting fans and dominating one of the fastest-growing sports in America. How did Mike Iaconelli, a college-educated kid from New Jersey, come blasting into a sport dominated by old-school stars like Gary Klein, Kevin VanDam, and Denny Brauer? How did Mike, aka “Ike,” take a secret childhood passion and turn it into a profession, earning million-dollar sponsorships and a storm of media attention, ranging from ESPN’s SportsCenter to profiles in The New York Times and Esquire? While Mike has attracted both fans and foes on the tour, his success speaks for itself, especially his victory at the 2003 CITGO Bassmaster Classic, the Super Bowl of competitive fishing. Forty-four million Americans fish, but no one does it quite like Mike Iaconelli. In Fishing on the Edge, he lets you in on the secrets to his extraordinary success–how he developed his “power” fishing style, how he attacks the water, positions the boat, and perseveres through those days when the bass just aren’t biting. With sidebar tips that can be used by any fisherman–from using spinner baits to picking out the right rod to his no-fail “secret weapons”–this is an intensive, informative, and often raucous journey through the life of a brash young man destined to do for fishing what Tony Hawk did for the X Games: take the sport to a whole new level. At the same time, it’s the compelling first-person story of a man who prepared carefully every step of the way, kept notes on every fish he ever caught, and executed the perfect plan to get to the top. A tale of passion, competition, and extreme personality, Fishing on the Edge is a book for anyone who loves the sport of fishing, wants to turn a hobby into a career, or is simply fascinated by a man’s unstoppable drive to succeed. From the Hardcover edition.

The fifth and final volume of James Herriot’s bestselling series of animal stories now available in unabridged CD format for the first time.  Herriot’s heartwarming story collections brings back familiar friends (including old favorites such as Tricki Woo) and introduces new ones, including Herriot’s children Rosie and Jimmy and the marvelously eccentric Calum Buchanan. These programs provide a perfect opportunity for existing fans of Herriot’s work to reacquaint themselves with his writing, and for those who’ve never read him to hear what generations of animal lovers have already discovered: James Herriot is that rarest of creatures, a genuine master storyteller.

“What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that’s that - the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my laptop?”In an attempt to find out, Mary Roach brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die. She begins the journey in rural India with a reincarnation researcher and ends up in a University of Virginia operating room where cardiologists have installed equipment near the ceiling to study out-of-body near-death experiences. Along the way, she enrolls in an English medium school, gets electromagnetically haunted at a university in Ontario, and visits a Duke University professor with a plan to weigh the consciousness of a leech. Her historical wanderings unearth soul-seeking philosophers who rummaged through cadavers and calves’ heads, a North Carolina lawsuit that established legal precedence for ghosts, and the last surviving sample of “ectoplasm” in a Cambridge University archive. If author Mary Roach was a college professor, she'd have a zero drop-out rate. That's because when Roach tackles a subject-like the posthumous human body in her previous bestseller, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, or the soul in the winning Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife-she charges forth with such zeal, humor, and ingenuity that her students (er, readers) feel like they're witnessing the most interesting thing on Earth. Who the heck would skip that? As Roach informs us in her introduction, "This is a book for people who would like very much to believe in a soul and in an afterlife for it to hang around in, but who have trouble accepting these things on faith. It's a giggly, random, utterly earthbound assault on our most ponderous unanswered question. " Talk about truth in advertising. With that, Roach grabs us by the wrist and hauls butt to India, England, and various points in between in search of human spiritual ephemera, consulting an earnest bunch of scientists, mystics, psychics, and kooks along the way. [+]

The rollicking true story of British spies who shaped American policy during WWII, told by the bestselling author of 109 East Palace. When dashing young RAF pilot Roald Dahl (that Roald Dahl) took up his post at the British Embassy in 1942, his assignment was to use his good looks, wit, and charm to gain access to the most powerful figures in American political life. He and his co-conspirators David Ogilvy, Ivar Bryce, and Ian Fleming (that Ian Fleming) called themselves the Baker Street Irregulars after the band of street urchins in some Sherlock Holmes stories. Their goals: to weaken the American isolationist forces, bring the country into the war against Germany, and influence U. S. policy in favor of England. Their mastermind: Churchill's legendary spy chief, William Stephenson, code name "Intrepid," who would later serve as the model for Fleming's James Bond. Based on never-before-seen wartime letters, diaries, and interviews, this lively account of deceit, doubledealing, and moral ambiguity is richly detailed, carefully researched, and better than any spy fiction. Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Long before Willy Wonka sent out those five Golden Tickets, Roald Dahl lived a life that was more James Bond than James and the Giant Peach. After blinding headaches cut short his distinguished career as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot, Dahl became part of an elite group of British spies working against the United States' neutrality at the onset of World War II. [+]

In a direct, frank, and intimate exploration of Iranian literature and society, scholar, teacher, and poet Fatemeh Keshavarz challenges popular perceptions of Iran as a society bereft of vitality and joy. Her fresh perspective on present day Iran provides a rare insight into this rich culture alive with artistic expression but virtually unknown to most Americans. She warns against the rise of what she calls the ’New Orientalist narrative,“ which thrives on stereotype and prejudice and is often tied to current geopolitical conflict rather than an understanding of Iran. She offers a lively critique of the recent best-seller Reading Lolita in Tehran, which she says epitomizes this New Orientalist attitude. Blending in firsthand glimpses of her own life Keshavarz paints a portrait of Iran depicting both cultural depth and intellectual complexity.

In the great oral tradition of the Lakota people, author Joseph M. Marshall III shares the compelling history of a man, a tribe, and a legacy of courage and endurance. Tasunke Witko, or Crazy Horse, as he is often remembered, brought the U. S. Army to its knees in 1876. His valor and leadership elevated him to legendary status among Native American people; in this riveting biography, Joseph Marshall (himself a Lakota Indian) combines firsthand research and a rich oral history to offer a fully-faceted portrait of the spirited warrior and revered hero, and a profound celebration of an enduring culture. When Marshall was a child, his grandfather and great uncles would tell vivid tales of the Battle of Little Bighorn as if the decisive battle had happened only the day before; his research for this book included in-depth, lengthy conversations with elderly storytellers who describe details and perspectives that could only come from firsthand accounts. The Journey of Crazy Horse is a unique opportunity to hear legends of a great man as they have told for generations—and rarely shared outside the Native American community.

In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River, across the forbidding Rockies, and - by way of the Snake and mighty Columbia - down to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, endured incredible hardships and witnessed astounding sights. With great perseverance, they worked their way into an unexplored West and when they returned two years later, they had long since been given up for dead. Lewis is supported by a variety of colorful characters: Jefferson and his vision of the West; Clark, the artist and map-maker; and Lewis - the enigma, who let brilliantly but considered the mission a failure After suffering several periods of depression - and despite his status as a national hero - Lewis died mysteriously, apparently by his own hand. A biography of Meriwether Lewis that relies heavily on the journals of both Lewis and Clark, this book is also backed up by the author's personal travels along Lewis and Clark's route to the Pacific. Ambrose is not content to simply chronicle the events of the "Corps of Discovery" as the explorers called their ventures. He often pauses to assess the military leadership of Lewis and Clark, how they negotiated with various native peoples and what they reported to Jefferson. Though the expedition failed to find Jefferson's hoped for water route to the Pacific, it fired interest among fur traders and other Americans, changing the face of the West forever.

From 1959 to 1961, over-the-road trucker Jim Harper clashed with Jimmy Hoffa, the most powerful labor leader of his time. Throughout the ordeal, Harper endured death threats and survived murder attempts. When he died forty years later, his son discovered the true story behind his father's doomed crusade - a story that even his father had never known.

In Founding Mothers, Cokie Roberts paid homage to the heroic women whose patriotism and sacrifice helped create a new nation. Now the number one New York Times bestselling author and renowned political commentator—praised in USA Today as a "custodian of time-honored values"—continues the story of early America's influential women with Ladies of Liberty. In her "delightfully intimate and confiding" style (Publishers Weekly), Roberts presents a colorful blend of biographical portraits and behind-the-scenes vignettes chronicling women's public roles and private responsibilities. Recounted with the insight and humor of an expert storyteller and drawing on personal correspondence, private journals, and other primary sources—many of them previously unpublished—Roberts brings to life the extraordinary accomplishments of women who laid the groundwork for a better society. Almost every quotation here is written by a woman, to a woman, or about a woman. From first ladies to freethinkers, educators to explorers, this exceptional group includes Abigail Adams, Margaret Bayard Smith, Martha Jefferson, Dolley Madison, Elizabeth Monroe, Louisa Catherine Adams, Eliza Hamilton, Theodosia Burr, Rebecca Gratz, Louisa Livingston, Rosalie Calvert, Sacajawea, and others. In a much-needed addition to the shelves of Founding Father literature, Roberts sheds new light on the generation of heroines, reformers, and visionaries who helped shape our nation, giving these ladies of liberty the recognition they so greatly deserve.

This memoir of the youngest McCourt begins between the borders of Canada and the United States. Because of a technical hitch in immigration law, Alphie, in town to play a rugby match with his mates, finds himself shanghaied in no man's land. This was not the first, or the last, time Alphie will be on unsteady ground. Alphie McCourt was born in Limerick, Ireland, where his father's departure left misery behind for the family. His loneliness only grew deeper and wider as each of his older brothers (Frank, Malachy and Michael) left for America; so in the year 1959, Alphie followed them. Alphie's adolescence in New York was marked by aimlessness, and too much drink. Briefly returning to Ireland and study law, he returned to America only three years later, where this time he settled in California, discovering marijuana and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Returning to his immigrant roots in New York City, Alphie reencounters the beautiful Upper East Side Lynn,and marries her in 1975, in a raucous ceremony attended by both priest and rabbi. Success followed by hardship in business ventures color several of the following years. Then, one night, on Route 80 in New Jersey, drunk, full of despair and driving through the snow, Alphie has an epiphany. [+]

Michael Barrymore is one of Britain's favourite entertainers. His appearances on Saturday night TV in the 1980s and 90s were unforgettable and the relationship he built with the audience unique. However, following the tragic death of Stuart Lubbock in Michael's swimming pool in 2001, his career ground to a halt. AWIGHT NOW is Michael's story. He takes us through his rollercoaster life, from his poor London childhood, his work as a Butlin's Redcoat, through to TV and tabloid fame. At the height of his popularity, he suffered increasing alcohol problems and split from his wife of twenty years, Cheryl. In the fall-out, he admitted that he was homosexual and endured horrendous press intrusion into his private life. Then in 2001, came the terrible death of Stuart Lubbock. Michael tells of his despair following the tragedy and how his world fell apart. Despite tabloid rumours, Michael had no involvement with the death and has never been arrested or charged. [+]

Bobby Charlton is Manchester United through and through. He was a member of the original 'Busby Babes' and has devoted his career to the club, playing in 754 games over 17 years. During that period, he won everything the game had to offer, played alongside some of the greats such as Best and Law, suffered devastating defeats and was involved in one of the greatest football tragedies of all time. Here, for the very first time, he tells the story of those United years. With his beloved Reds he tasted FA Cup victory in the emotional final of 1963, won three first division championships and in 1968 he reached the pinnacle of club success, winning the European Cup. Inevitably, such highs are balanced with no less dramatic lows, such as the 1957 European Cup semi-final, the highly charged 1958 FA Cup loss which followed only weeks after the horrors of the Munich Air disaster, and the 1969 European Cup defeat by Milan. He is one of the true gentlemen of football and the legacy that Bobby Charlton gives to United is beyond compare.