Originally published in 2005, That Distant Land brings together twenty–three stories from the Port William Membership. Arranged in their fictional chronology, the book is not an anthology so much as it is a coherent temporal mapping of this landscape over time, revealing Berry’s mastery of decades of the life lived alongside this clutch of interrelated characters bound by affection and followed over generations. This volume combines the stories found in The Wild Birds (1985), Fidelity (1992), and Watch with Me (1994), together with a map and a charting of the complex and interlocking genealogies.

An ambitious man and his adoring daughter are separated and estranged by an ocean and by the tides of history in this “marvelous” novel (Los Angeles Times). For Anna Schoene, growing up in the magical world of Shanghai in the 1930s creates a special bond between her and her father. He is the son of missionaries, a smuggler, and a millionaire who leads a charmed but secretive life. When the family flees to Los Angeles in the face of the Japanese occupation, he chooses to stay, believing his connections and luck will keep him safe. He’s wrong—but he survives, only to again choose Shanghai over his family during the Second World War. Anna and her father reconnect late in his life, when she finally has a family of her own, but it is only when she discovers his extensive journals that she is able to fully understand him and the reasons for his absences. The Distant Land of My Father is a “beautiful” novel “for everyone who has ever felt himself in exile from any beloved place, or a time that can never return” (The Washington Post Book World). “Seamlessly weaves together Anna’s own memories with those of her father, gleaned from the journals . . . An elegant, refined story of families, wartime, and the mystique of memory.” —Kirkus Reviews “Vivid with details of prewar Shanghai and Los Angeles.” —Publishers Weekly “Lush and epic.” —San Jose Mercury News “Remarkable . . . A moving tale of love and the possibility of forgiveness.” —Library Journal

The enchanting Jingera trilogy concludes with a heart-rending story of love and the callous twists of fate. Back in 1957, nine-year-old Zidra Vincent met Jim Cadwallader for the first time. Fourteen years later, their bond of friendship - forged during a childhood in the beautiful coastal town of Jingera - is still strong. But is friendship all they dream of? Jim is now a respected war correspondent in Cambodia, though he has plans to come home for good. because there is something very important he wants to say to Zidra. Zidra, meanwhile, is an ambitious reporter at the Sydney Morning Chronicle, and the seeds of a major story have just landed in her lap. Life is looking good, if only she could share it with the man who knows her best. Then, while at work in the newsroom one morning, Zidra catches sight of a wire service bulletin. A story out of Cambodia. The body of a Western journalist has been discovered near Phnom Penh. And her world collapses around her ...

"MATT BRAUN IS A MASTER STORYTELLER OF FRONTIER HISTORY." —Elmer Kelton THREE MEN CONQUERED THE FRONTIER Three Brannock brothers once came West. Now, one of them survives, and Clint Brannock feels the weight of responsibility as he does his job as a U.S. deputy marshal. Hunting down an outlaw in the Indian territories, Clint meets up with two of his nephews—one destined to live or die by the gun, the other to live or die in his shadow. And in southern New Mexico, a beautiful sister-in-law, Elizabeth, presides over 100,000 rich acres—and dabbles in a dangerous game... ONE MAN IS LEFT TO DEFEND IT... A vigilante named Miguel Ortega is using terror to drive out Anglo settlers. A woman of her own proud heritage, Elizabeth has a grown son and daughter, each of whom stands to inherit an empire. But she has forged a forbidden bond with Ortega. With violence spiraling out of control, the government sends Clint to lay down the law. Soon, all the Brannocks must take a stand and risk their lives—for justice, each other, and the land that is now in their blood... "BRAUN IS ONE OF THE BEST!" —Don Coldsmith, author of the Spanish Bit series

Drawn Swords in a Distant Land showcases the fascinating, untold story of the rise and fall of the Republic of Vietnam. Putting aside outdated ideological debates, it offers the first in-depth review of the South Vietnamese successes and failures in building and defending their state. Drawn Swords highlights the career of President Nguyen Van Thieu, who in many ways embodied the hopes, dreams, and innumerable tragedies of the South Vietnamese people. It details the extent to which the Vietnamese Nationalists under his leadership built a viable state after the 1968 Tet Offensive; weaves together the policy decisions made in Washington, Hanoi, and Saigon that significantly determined the course of the war; and explains why South Vietnam was defeated in April 1975. Equally important, it provides stunning new details about how the coup against Ngo Dinh Diem was almost halted, describes the backroom maneuvering that chose Thieu for the presidency over Nguyen Cao Ky, and demonstrates that Richard Nixon was not the instigator of a conspiracy with Thieu known as the “Chennault Affair” to win the 1968 election. Even more explosive, Drawn Swords reveals the last, great secret of the Vietnam War: a plot by France during the last days, in conjunction with one of Hanoi’s allies, to prevent North Vietnam from conquering Saigon. This previously unknown scheme, along with many other intriguing new insights, sheds fresh light on the tumultuous struggle called the Vietnam War. Drawn Swords is the definitive and much overdue account of Thieu and the Second Republic.

The second volume of Julian Green's autobiography. "A compelling drama of the 1850s South. . . A delicious immersion into time and place." -Booklist. "There lurks in the shade of each magnolia and is heard rustling in every crinoline the South's impendin

At the outset, Los Arabes (Arabic-speaking individuals) were peddlers, carrying a variety of wares that often included exotic items from the Holy Land. These skilled cross-cultural traders expected to strike it rich in the United States and then return to

Haunting postcard images of the non-Western world from a century ago. The antique postcards depicted here were acquired in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Western tourists, business people, traders, and colonialists. The circumstances in which the cards were sent, and the details of those who sent them, are largely lost. Yet the audience for collecting them has enjoyed a spectacular growth in recent years and includes not only those with the collecting instinct or the desire to travel but also artists, photographic historians, fashion and jewelry specialists, and designers everywhere. Once it was believed that by taking someone's portrait you stole that person's soul. Here, the human subjects have a powerful presence because they express a deep-seated connection with the land and customs that gave them their identities. Their stories are implicit in their eyes, their costumes, and their postures. Reproduced with complete fidelity, these postcards take us on a magical journey across the world in five travelogues, depicting Asia, the Arab Lands, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. The book is introduced by one of the greatest and most successful travel writers of our time.

In the late fall of 1095 Pope Urban II gave a speech in Clermont, France and set all of Europe into motion. As many as a hundred and fifty thousand people eventually responded to the call, leaving everything they knew behind to undertake what appeared to be a fool’s mission: marching several thousand miles into enemy territory to reconquer Jerusalem for Christendom. Against all odds they succeeded, creating a Christian outpost in the heart of the Islamic world that lasted for the better part of two centuries. Perhaps no other period in history is as misunderstood as the Crusades, and in this fast-paced account, bestselling author Lars Brownworth presents the entire story, from the first clash of Christendom and Islam in the dusty sands of Yarmouk, to the fall of the last crusader state. Along the way he introduces the reader to an exotic world peopled by mighty emperors, doomed Templars, grasping generals, and ambitious peasants. Some of the most famous names of the Middle Ages - Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the legendary Prester John - illuminate this era of splendor, adventure, and faith.