Michael Brown takes a look at the spate of apparitions of the Virgin Mary reported in the past decade in many quarters of the globe. Where they have occurred and what they say about mankind's fate constitute the subject of this book.

A scientist known for unraveling the complexities of the universe over millions of years, Sir Martin Rees now warns that humankind is potentially the maker of its own demise -- and that of the cosmos. Though the twenty-first century could be the critical era in which life on Earth spreads beyond our solar system, it is just as likely that we have endangered the future of the entire universe. With clarity and precision, Rees maps out the ways technology could destroy our species and thereby foreclose the potential of a living universe whose evolution has just begun. Rees boldly forecasts the startling risks that stem from our accelerating rate of technological advances. We could be wiped out by lethal "engineered" airborne viruses, or by rogue nano-machines that replicate catastrophically. Experiments that crash together atomic nuclei could start a chain reaction that erodes all atoms of Earth, or could even tear the fabric of space itself. Through malign intent or by mistake, a single event could trigger global disaster. Though we can never completely safeguard our future, increased regulation and inspection can help us to prevent catastrophe. Rees's vision of the infinite future that we have put at risk -- a cosmos more vast and diverse than any of us has ever imagined -- is both a work of stunning scientific originality and a humanistic clarion call on behalf of the future of life.

Reported from inside Cuba by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Andres Oppenheimer, Castro's Final Hour chronicles the dramatic events that have crippled the more-than-three-decades-old Marxist regime of Fidel Castro. From the execution of the country's most celebrated Army general in 1989 to the devastating effects of the loss of all Soviet aid, the picture Oppenheimer paints is extraordinarily detailed and engrossing, revealing a country on the brink of disaster. He uncovers Castro's never-before reported efforts to radicalize Noriega's regime in Panama, the failure of his "Zero Option" plan to restore economic stability without outside aid, and tells how, in a last ditch attempt to save the country from its dire slide, Castro's top aides pushed a plan to strip him of some of his powers. Including exclusive interviews with Soviet officials, Latin American leaders - including Daniel Ortega and Manuel Noriega - as well as the top echelon of current Cuban leadership and Fidel's dissident daughter, Alina, Castro's Final Hour is a compelling and intimate portrait of the Cuban leader, and an authoritative evaluation of what the future may hold for his country.

A rare contemporary account of Germany's defeat, free from the whitewashing of decades of reflection

“Will startle and enthrall even the most hard-core of Lincoln aficionados.” ―Erik Larson, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile When John Wilkes Booth fired his derringer point-blank into President Abraham Lincoln's head, he set in motion a series of dramatic consequences that would upend the lives of ordinary Washingtonians and Americans alike. In a split second, the story of a nation was changed. During the hours that followed, America's future would hinge on what happened in a cramped back bedroom at Petersen’s Boardinghouse, directly across the street from Ford’s Theatre. There, a twenty-three-year-old surgeon—fresh out of medical school—struggled to keep the president alive while Mary Todd Lincoln moaned at her husband’s bedside. Lincoln’s Final Hours takes a magnifying glass to the last moments of the president’s life and the impact his murder had on a country still reeling from a bloody civil war. This fast-paced, thoroughly researched account not only furnishes a glimpse into John Wilkes Booth’s personal and political motivations but illuminates the stories of ordinary people whose lives were changed forever by the assassination. Lincoln's Final Hours moves beyond the well-known traditional accounts of the assassination, offering readers a front-row seat to the drama and horror of Lincoln’s death by putting them in the shoes of the audience in Ford’s Theatre that dreadful evening. Through careful narration of the twists of fate that placed the president in harm’s way, of the plotting conversations Booth had with his accomplices, and of the immediate aftermath of the assassination, Kathryn Canavan illustrates how a single night changed the course of history.

(Applause Books). In Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die , readers take an evocative journey with author Keith Elliot Greenberg as he pieces together the puzzle of James Dean's final day and its everlasting impact. Greenberg travels to Dean's hometown to talk with folks who knew the star, and all the way to the California roads that underlay the tires of the actor's infamous Porsche Spyder. Taking the story back and forth in time, Greenberg gives insight into what drove Dean to live on the edge the early loss of his mother, his relentless drive to explore for the sake of his craft. Dean once said, "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." He lived to experience, and the one love that compared to his love of acting was his love of racing cars. Greenberg puts the event in historical context, reflecting on the world Dean lived in at the time, an era after World War II, the end of the Korean War, the advent of rock and roll, with the sixties coming down the pike. The star's too-soon departure froze him as a symbol of American Cool, and as proven by the 20,000 people who return to Dean's grave each year to pay homage, a major influence on youth culture for myriad generations. With fresh interviews with insiders, riveting storytelling, and acute attention to details from vehicle specs to Dean's stops along the way (including for an ominous speeding ticket) to how the news reached the world Greenberg delivers a thoughtful look at this historical moment.

'To have such an uncomplicated, unaffected witness present at some of the key defining moments of the 20th century was fortunate for historians...her testimony rings absolutely true, when other politically motivated accounts of the last days of Hitler do not' Andrew Roberts Traudl Junge was 22 years old and dreamt of a career as a ballerina, until the 'opportunity of her life' beckoned and she was appointed as Adolf Hitler's secretary. From 1942 until his death she was at his side in the bunker, typing his correspondence, his speeches and even his last private and political will and testament. It was only after the war that the horrible reality of Hitler's regime began to dawn on her, and she became racked with guilt for 'liking the greatest criminal ever to have lived.' Her journal, written in 1947, is a startling eyewitness account of Hitler's court during its final years, and of the building sense of doom as the war progressed.

From December 7, 1941, until the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the war with Japan was a losing one. It was to be the darkest period of the almost four-year war. During those days, no times were more trying than the final hours for the men trapped on Wake Island, Bataan, Corregidor, Hong Kong and Singapore. This book, outlining the bitter end to their ordeals, covers the crucial days and final hours that led to their surrender, a capitulation that would shock the free world.

Offering an insider's perspective on the final days of the Third Reich, the recollections of a woman who became Hitler's secretary in 1942 sheds new light on his day-to-day life, character, and habits.