Why are so many of America's schools failing? Our children's classrooms-and the teaching and learning that take place within them-should and can be upheld as sacrosanct. One of the country's leading school principals cites the significant role that character plays, as well as the essential values that support total school success. Among the issues addressed: What are the characteristics of successful schools? What is effective school leadership? How might parents and school districts determine whether a school is well-run or in need of a change in direction? How might school districts attract, support, and retain quality, first-rate classroom teachers and administrators? The Achievement Gap-learn how this exceptional principal addressed the persistent performance disparity among groups of students, which led to all student groups meeting or exceeding state academic standards. Can schools be safe and secure places of teaching and learning? A sobering, penetrating but uplifting read, Dead Last provides poignant insight into American education, promoting a spirit of optimism that our schools can improve to world-class standing.

David Loogan’s dark past is revealed in this prequel to Bad Things Happen—the critically acclaimed mystery that Stephen King called a “great f***ing book.” On a rainy night in April, a chance encounter draws David into a romance with Jana Fletcher, a beautiful young law student. Jana is an enigma: living in a run-down apartment with only the barest of possessions, sporting a bruise on her cheek that she refuses to explain. David would like to know her secrets, but he lets them lie—until it’s too late. When Jana is brutally murdered, the police consider David a prime suspect. But as he sets out to uncover the truth, he soon learns that Jana’s death may be related to an earlier murder, one that she was obsessed with during the last weeks of her life. And as he retraces her steps, he begins to realize that he’s treading a very dangerous path—and that her killer is watching every move he makes.

From an acclaimed "master of suspense"(New York Times Book Review) comes a thriller in which Thorn must confront an assassin whose victims and methods are taken directly from the script of a popular TV show April Moss writes obituaries for the Miami Herald. Her son, Sawyer, also a writer, has been scripting a cable TV series called "Miami Ops" and has been using his mother's work as a central element of the show's storyline. In "Miami Ops," a serial killer is using obituaries published in the local paper as a blueprint for selecting his next victims. But midway through the season, a copycat appears off-screen, a real-life killer who is using the same strategy to select victims. When this serial killer crosses paths with the reclusive Thorn, he has no choice but to leave his sanctuary in Key Largo and join forces with a young policewoman from Oklahoma who is investigating the murders. In addition to the show's head writer, April's other son, Sawyer's twin brother, works on "Miami Ops" as the lead actor. Could one of them be involved in the killings? Or are they orchestrated by the director of the TV series, an aging mogul who badly needs a hit? And what about the female star of the show, a deliciously strange young woman who seems willing to do anything to promote her career. Thorn walks into this hotbed of entertainment business intrigue totally unprepared for the life-altering shocker he's about to face. This loner from Key Largo has brought down his share of killers, but he's never confronted one that was his own flesh and blood. With the pacing of a thriller, and the lyrical prose for which Hall is renowned, this story pits Thorn against a killer—or killers—whose motives are as elusive as their identities.

Dexter Morgan—blood-spatter analyst, husband, father, serial killer—knew that he couldn’t burn the candle at both ends forever, and now, his dark deeds have finally ensnared him. • The Killer Character That Inspired the Hit Showtime Series Dexter He is in prison on multiple homicide charges, although, ironically, he did not commit any of the murders of which he is accused. He’s lost everything: his wife, kids, career, and the loyalty of his sister. Now his sole, small shot at redemption may come from his brother, Brian, a homicidal maniac who makes Dexter look like the angel in the family. By helping Brian through some serious trouble of his own making, Dexter sees a potential path to proving himself innocent. But the stakes are truly deadly. And, with nothing left to hold him back, Dexter hurtles into an epic showdown ... which may be his last.

Dive into an epic fantasy full of crunching revolutionary action, twisted magic, and hard choices in dark times. The war is over. The enemy won. Jia's people learned the hard way that there are no second chances. The Egril, their ancient enemy, struck with magic so devastating that Jia's armies were wiped out. Now terror reigns in the streets, and friend turns on friend just to live another day. Somehow Tinnstra - a deserter, a failure, nothing but a coward - survived. She wants no more than to hide from the chaos. But dragged into a desperate plot to retake Jia, surrounded by people willing to do anything to win the fight, this time Tinnstra will need to do more than hide. If Jia is to get a second chance after all, this time she will need to be a hero. With all the grit of Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence and Ed McDonald, this is a debut epic fantasy with the sharpest of edges. * * * * * * * * * * Readers can't put down We Are the Dead: 'The next Game of Thrones' Glen Cook, author of The Black Company 'Tarantino crossed with David Gemmell' Peter McLean, author of Priest of Bones 'A powerful debut' Gavin Smith, author of The Bastard Legion 'So much bloodshed and actions, Shackle's debut is fast-paced, grim, and unputdownable' Novel Notions 'This is a fantastic story that I think everyone would enjoy. Every aspect, from prose to characters to plot is just superbly crafted' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Utterly gripping, original fantasy that really must be counted amongst the best in the genre' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'If you are looking for a fantasy read with phenomenal magic, battle scenes that are so vividly described that you experience them through all of your senses, villains who are entirely despicable, and a compelling story filled with crushing heartbreak and glorious redemption, then you need to pick up WE ARE THE DEAD right now' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'A fantastic tale of rebellion against an occupying force . . . I really loved how this one all pulled together, and seeing the rebellion from different viewpoints was a real treat' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'This is a fast paced and intense story that never lets up in its brutality and dark environment' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'From start to finish this will keep you on the edge of your seat . . . This is an outstanding debut, you don't want to miss it' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ THE LAST WAR Book One: We Are the Dead Book Two: A Fool's Hope Book Three: Until the Last

2009 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title If George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are the saints in America’s civil religion, then the twenty-ninth president, Warren G. Harding, is our sinner. Prior to the Nixon administration, the Harding scandals were the most infamous of the twentieth century. Harding is consistently judged a failure, ranking dead last among his peers. By examining the public memory of Harding, Phillip G. Payne offers the first significant reinterpretation of his presidency in a generation. Rather than repeating the old stories, Payne examines the contexts and continued meaning of the Harding scandals for various constituencies. Payne explores such topics as Harding’s importance as a midwestern small-town booster, his rumored black ancestry, the role of various biographers in shaping his early image, the tension between public memory and academic history, and, finally, his status as an icon of presidential failure in contemporary political debates. Harding was a popular president and was widely mourned when he died in office in 1923; but with his death began the construction of his public memory and his fall from political grace. In Dead Last, Payne explores how Harding’s name became synonymous with corruption, cronyism, and incompetence and how it is used to this day as an example of what a president should not be.

Let Game 053153 Begin With the hopes of getting one thing, they want most if they win, twenty players’ get plugged into a secret virtual reality game. Among them are a middle-aged man with a burning secret, a doctor with a complicated past, a hacker who searches for answers, a runaway full of guilt, and a drug addict who faces the game like no other has before. It’s all fun and games until the truth is revealed, leaving the players to fight for more than their prizes.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania “Both terrifying and enthralling.”—Entertainment Weekly “Thrilling, dramatic and powerful.”—NPR “Thoroughly engrossing.”—George R.R. Martin On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history. It is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history. Finalist for the Washington State Book Award • One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Miami Herald, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, LibraryReads, Indigo

THE FINAL NOVEL IN THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SOOKIE STACKHOUSE SERIES—the inspiration for the HBO® original series True Blood. When a shocking murder rocks the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, psychic cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse learns that she has more than one enemy waiting to get vengeance for the past. Beacuse nothing is ever clear-cut in Bon Temps. What passes for truth is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Once Upon a Grind comes a new, all-American mystery... When the White House asks coffeehouse manager and master roaster Clare Cosi to consult on a Rose Garden Wedding, she uncovers long-simmering secrets that threaten to boil over... Clare’s Washington visit is off to a graceful start, when she lands a housesitting job in a Georgetown mansion and is invited to work on the Smithsonian’s salute to coffee in America. Unfortunately, her new Village Blend DC is struggling—until its second floor Jazz Space attracts a high-profile fan in the daughter of the President. But as Clare’s stock rises, she learns a stark lesson: Washington can be murder. First a State Department employee suspiciously collapses in her coffeehouse. Then the President’s daughter goes missing. After another deadly twist, Clare is on the run with her NYPD detective boyfriend. Branded an enemy of the state, she must uncover the truth before her life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness come to a bitter end.