From a bestselling, Edgar Award]-nominated author comes another suspenseful, rollicking island yarn sure to glue readers to the pages. Entertaining and evocative.--"Chicago Sun-Times." Martins Press.

The Royal Star, the most exclusive cruise ship in the world, has just set sail from Miami on its inaugural voyage. For the hundred or so notable and well-heeled passengers, including Zack Chasteen, and his wife, Barbara, the itinerary is a secret and the week ahead promises to be an ultra-indulgent tropical sojourn. But just an hour out of port, gunmen take over the Royal Star, killing most of the officers and sequestering passengers throughout the ship. Not only is Zack separated from Barbara, he has another worry —Barbara is eight months pregnant with their first child and could go into labor at any moment. As Zack and his fellow captives struggle to get an upper hand, the ship’s hijackers offer few clues to their motives. Maybe it’s a simple kidnap/extortion plot. Or maybe the hijackers are bent on more devious ends – using the Royal Star as a giant torpedo to blow up another cruise ship. Either way, Zack must figure out a way to stop them--while keeping himself and his wife alive.

You know absolutely nothing about The Internet, even if you think you do. Whether an expert or a ""newber,"" Post-Modem is guaranteed to tell you something you would have never known about The Internet without picking up this book. How did housewives in the 50s combine a turntable and a HAM radio to get Wi-Fi? What is the connection between ""Mad Men""'s Jon Hamm and AskJeeves? (hint: you might want to ask Jon Hamm!) Is Richard Dawkins real? How did Stalin create the first LOLCat via Sputnik? Post-Modem is the unabridged, unedited history of the Internet you've always needed. Rob Kutner (The Daily Show, Conan) says: "With an inspired mix of real historical texture, ballsy anachronism, countless whip-smart jokes, and spot-on 'archival photos, ' Jason Klamm spins a delightful John Hodgman-esque look at the Internet throughout history and today."

Just as European Jews were being emancipated and ghettos in their original form—compulsory, enclosed spaces designed to segregate—were being dismantled, use of the word ghetto surged in Europe and spread around the globe. Tracing the curious path of this loaded word from its first use in sixteenth-century Venice to the present turns out to be more than an adventure in linguistics. Few words are as ideologically charged as ghetto. Its early uses centered on two cities: Venice, where it referred to the segregation of the Jews in 1516, and Rome, where the ghetto survived until the fall of the Papal States in 1870, long after it had ceased to exist elsewhere. Ghetto: The History of a Word offers a fascinating account of the changing nuances of this slippery term, from its coinage to the present day. It details how the ghetto emerged as an ambivalent metaphor for “premodern” Judaism in the nineteenth century and how it was later revived to refer to everything from densely populated Jewish immigrant enclaves in modern cities to the hypersegregated holding pens of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. We see how this ever-evolving word traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, settled into New York’s Lower East Side and Chicago’s Near West Side, then came to be more closely associated with African Americans than with Jews. Chronicling this sinuous transatlantic odyssey, Daniel B. Schwartz reveals how the history of ghettos is tied up with the struggle and argument over the meaning of a word. Paradoxically, the term ghetto came to loom larger in discourse about Jews when Jews were no longer required to live in legal ghettos. At a time when the Jewish associations have been largely eclipsed, Ghetto retrieves the history of a disturbingly resilient word.

In a serious effort to divine the secret of the West's success in achieving wealth and power, Yen Fu, a Chinese thinker, undertook, at the turn of the century, years of laborious translation and commentary on the work of such thinkers as Spencer, Huxley, Adam Smith, Mill, and Montesquieu. In addition to the inevitable difficulties involved in translating modern English into classical Chinese, Yen Fu was faced with the formidable problem of interpreting and making palatable many Western ideas which were to a large extent antithetical to traditional Chinese thought. In an absorbing study of Yen Fu's translations, essays, and commentaries, Benjamin Schwartz examines the modifications and consequent revaluation of these familiar works as they were presented to their new audience, and analyzes the impact of this Western thought on the Chinese culture of the time. Drawing on a unique knowledge of both intellectual traditions, Schwartz describes the diverse and complex effects of this confrontation of Eastern and Western philosophies and provides a new vantage point to assess and appreciate these two disparate worlds.

Israel is destroyed by an atom bomb. Neighboring armies overrun the country. Two ships jammed with thousands of homeless Israeli Jews limp into Boston Harbor. America slams its doors. Before the ships can be sent back to the new nation of Palestine, the refugees are violently freed, killing ten coastguardsmen. Arrests of thousands of these new "enemy combatants" are met with marches and bombings as American Jews struggle to balance their loyalty to America with the realization that the atrocities that inspired the phrase "never again" have become possible in the here and now. American Jews must decide where their loyalties lie: with a government they view as heartless, or with fellow Jews whose lives are at stake. They fail in court, fail at applying political pressure, and finally resort to increasingly violent acts of terrorism. When they acquire one of Israel's missing atomic bombs, they must decide how far they will go to convince their country to change its course. How far will the government go to stop what it brands as American traitors? NEVER AGAIN presents a shockingly believable nightmare and compels readers to consider what they would do to stop it.

This Expanded Edition features even more insights on “Weird Al” Yankovic, including his activities during a tumultuous 2020 and 2021, diving deeper into the world of the iconic man who has made a career out of making us laugh. Funny music is often dismissed as light and irrelevant, but Yankovic’s fourteen successful studio albums prove there is more going on than comedic music's reputation suggests. Lily Hirsch weaves together original interviews with the prince of parody himself, creating a fresh take on comedy and music’s complicated romance. She reveals that Yankovic’s jests have always had a deeper meaning, addressing such topics as bullying, celebrity, and racial and gender stereotypes. The Expanded Edition celebrates Yankovic’s vast influence on musicians, comedians, and performing artists as well as what the man has meant to fans—in a time of uncertainty, Yankovic has served as a much-needed bright spot for many. From his love of accordions and Hawaiian print shirts to his popular puns and trademark dance moves, Weird Al is undeterred by those who say funny music is nothing but a low-brow pastime. And thank goodness. With his good-guy grace still intact, Yankovic remains unapologetically and unmistakably himself. Reveling in the mischief and wisdom of Yankovic’s over forty-year career, this book is an Al-expense-paid tour of a true comedic and musical genius.

He faced the dilemmas of maintaining the cohesion of the alliance, especially with the French withdrawal from NATO, while trying to reduce tensions between eastern and western Europe, managing bitter conflicts over international monetary and trade policies, and prosecuting an escalating war in Southeast Asia."--BOOK JACKET.

Few aspects of American military history have been as vigorously debated as Harry Truman's decision to use atomic bombs against Japan. In this carefully crafted volume, Michael Kort describes the wartime circumstances and thinking that form the context for the decision to use these weapons, surveys the major debates related to that decision, and provides a comprehensive collection of key primary source documents that illuminate the behavior of the United States and Japan during the closing days of World War II. Kort opens with a summary of the debate over Hiroshima as it has evolved since 1945. He then provides a historical overview of thye events in question, beginning with the decision and program to build the atomic bomb. Detailing the sequence of events leading to Japan's surrender, he revisits the decisive battles of the Pacific War and the motivations of American and Japanese leaders. Finally, Kort examines ten key issues in the discussion of Hiroshima and guides readers to relevant primary source documents, scholarly books, and articles.

It's opening game of the football season at Florida Field, and Monk DeVane, a former teammate of Zack Chasteen's, invites Zack and his girlfriend to a halftime party in one of the exclusive skyboxes. But they find chaos---there's a bomb under the chair of Darcy Whitehall, Monk Devane's boss and the rakish Jamaican owner of Libido, a chain of anything-goes Caribbean resorts. The bomb turns out to be a dud, but someone is putting the squeeze on Darcy Whitehall, and Monk DeVane enlists Zack to help protect his employer. When Zack arrives in Jamaica things quickly go to hell---more bombs (this time, for real), gnarly Jamaican politics, and the kinky diversions at Libido, where the prime spectator sport is watching guests frolic on the naked flume ride. As if that weren't enough, Zack's snooping around puts him in jeopardy with Freddie Arzghanian, king of the Caribbean money launderers. Suspenseful, laugh-out-loud funny, and with larger-than-life characters, Jamaica Me Dead is Bob Morris at his wicked best.