From one of America's most thoughtful and provocative social commentators comes a new collection of essays, reportage, and criticism. Featuring Rosenblatt's most memorable writing in years, this sampling includes his "Man of the Year" profile of Ronald Reagan for Time.

THE FALL WAS JUST THE BEGINNING... An attempted murder. A missing spouse. And an international conspiracy that could change the world. Jack Green has always been skeptical of so-called facts. Though he's forced to confront the reality about his wife's recent cancer diagnosis, he puts his own needs aside to make the best of what may be their last vacation. But he's shocked to be rudely awoken in his stateroom, abducted by masked men and thrown off the cruise. Plucked from the ocean's cold grip of death, he fears the worst when he learns his spouse has disappeared. But when he returns home to find his mother-in-law and son missing, his frantic search reveals a staggering secret he refuses to believe... until someone tries to kill him. Can Jack uncover the conspiracy surrounding his family before the next attempt on his life succeeds? Man In The Water is the chilling first book in A Jack and Stacey Green suspense series. If you like spine-tingling espionage, complex characters, and surprise twists and turns, then you'll love Jon Hill's action-packed tale.

Whenever Burt Dow, who lives in a snug little house on the Maine coast, sets out to sea, his pet giggling gull goes along. But this time, it will take all his might and some plain old ingenuity to save him and the gull from a raging storm.

On the first day of year 10, Shaun sees a dead body. When Shaun finds a body floating in the lake of a quiet mining town in outback Queensland, he immediately reports it to the police. But when he returns to the site with the constable, the body is gone.Determined to reveal the truth, Shaun and his best friend, Will, open their own investigation. But what they discover is far more sinister than they expected, and reveals a darkness below the surface of their small town.

In recent years, efforts to recognize and accommodate cultural diversity have gained some traction in the politics of US health care. But to date, anthropological perspectives have figured unevenly in efforts to define and address mental health problems. Particularly challenging are examinations of Native peoples’ experiences with alcohol. Erica Prussing provides the first in-depth assessment of the politics of Native sobriety by focusing on the Northern Cheyenne community in southeastern Montana, where for many decades the federally funded health care system has relied on the Twelve Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. White Man’s Water provides a thoughtful and careful analysis of Cheyenne views of sobriety and the politics that surround the selective appeal of Twelve Step approaches despite wide-ranging local critiques. Narratives from participants in these programs debunk long-standing stereotypes about ”Indian drinking” and offer insight into the diversity of experiences with alcohol that actually occur among Native North Americans. This critical ethnography employs vivid accounts of the Northern Cheyenne people to depict how problems with alcohol are culturally constructed, showing how differences in age, gender, and other social features can affect involvement with both drinking and sobriety. These testimonies reveal the key role that gender plays in how Twelve Step program participants engage in a selective and creative process of appropriation at Northern Cheyenne, adapting the program to accommodate local cultural priorities and spiritual resources. The testimonies also illuminate community reactions to these adaptations, inspiring deeper inquiry into how federally funded health services are provided on the reservation. This book will appeal to readers with an interest in Native studies, ethnography, women’s studies, and medical anthropology. With its critical consideration of how cultural context shapes drinking and sobriety, White Man’s Water offers a multivocal perspective on alcohol’s impact on health and the cultural complexities of sobriety.

Dirty Water is the riveting story of how Howard Bennett, a Los Angeles schoolteacher with a gift for outrageous rhetoric, fought pollution in Santa Monica Bay--and won. The story begins in 1985, when many scientists considered the bay to be one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world. The insecticide DDT covered portions of the sea floor. Los Angeles discharged partially treated sewage into its waters. Lifeguards came down with mysterious illnesses. And Howard Bennett happily swam in it every morning. By accident, Bennett learned that Los Angeles had applied for a waiver from the Clean Water Act to continue discharging sewage into the bay. Incensed that he had been swimming in dirty water, Bennett organized oddball coalition to orchestrate stunts such as wrapping brown ribbon around LA's city hall and issuing Dirty Toilet Awards to chastise the city's administration. This is the fast-paced story of how this unusual cast of characters created an environmental movement in Los Angeles that continues to this day with the nationally recognized Heal the Bay. Character-driven, compelling, and uplifting, Dirty Water tells how even the most polluted water can be cleaned up-by ordinary people.

A trip to Appalachia to investigate a religious "miracle" becomes a transformational spiritual journey for one unsuspecting Londoner in this modern tale that touches on the mysterious questions in our lives—a poignant, wry novel infused with the humor and warm skepticism of Nick Hornby’s How to Be Good. Dumped, depressed, and bored with his dead-end job, Londoner John Mallory decides to shake up his life. He accepts his journalist brother’s offer to help him on a documentary film investigating a pastor in rural Tennessee who claims he can walk on water. Locals are convinced it’s the Lord’s work. John and his brother, Steve, have their doubts, and hope the film will answer the question: Is it a true miracle—or a giant hoax? When John arrives in Appalachia, he discovers a few unexpected surprises, including a charming hotel receptionist who catches his eye and the charismatic, deeply religious pastor who coyly dodges the fact-focused investigation. The deeper John becomes immersed in this charming bucolic community that is so different from the harried, cold London he knows, the further conflicted he becomes. At a spiritual crossroads, John must decide what he wants: to force a decent man to prove his faith and return to an empty urban life—or to explore the possibilities this new world of mystery, warmth, and faith-focused life holds? Jacob Beaver’s beautiful and witty novel challenges the assumptions and certainties of a logic-driven, mainstream urban culture, offering an inviting alternative perspective that is open to mystery and new beginnings. “Beaver writes well with very vivid descriptions of people, places, and states of mind. Unexpected, strangely satisfying, and great fun!” — Lisa Alther, author of About Women: Conversations Between a Writer and a Painter and Kinflicks “The Man Who Walked on Water is a gentle, curious, attentive, and intelligent book. Jacob Beaver sees Southern Appalachia through fresh eyes, and he’s got a wonderfully straightforward approach to the old problem of being a hurt person in a beautiful world. I loved it.” — James Whorton, author of Frankland

From the New York Times bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction: The modern classic that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation and that launched James McBride's literary career. More than two years on The New York Times bestseller list. As a boy in Brooklyn's Red Hook projects, James McBride knew his mother was different. But when he asked her about it, she'd simply say 'I'm light-skinned.' Later he wondered if he was different too, and asked his mother if he was black or white. 'You're a human being! Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!' she snapped back. And when James asked about God, she told him 'God is the color of water.' This is the remarkable story of an eccentric and determined woman: a rabbi's daughter, born in Poland and raised in the Deep South who fled to Harlem, married a black preacher, founded a Baptist church and put twelve children through college. A celebration of resilience, faith and forgiveness, The Color of Water is an eloquent exploration of what family really means.

From the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird: The modern classic that spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list and that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation. Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared "light-skinned" woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James McBride, journalist, musician, and son, explores his mother's past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. The son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white, James McBride grew up in "orchestrated chaos" with his eleven siblings in the poor, all-black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. "Mommy," a fiercely protective woman with "dark eyes full of pep and fire," herded her brood to Manhattan's free cultural events, sent them off on buses to the best (and mainly Jewish) schools, demanded good grades, and commanded respect. As a young man, McBride saw his mother as a source of embarrassment, worry, and confusion—and reached thirty before he began to discover the truth about her early life and long-buried pain. In The Color of Water, McBride retraces his mother's footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi, she was born Rachel Shilsky (actually Ruchel Dwara Zylska) in Poland on April 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to America and ultimately settled in Suffolk, Virginia, a small town where anti-Semitism and racial tensions ran high. With candor and immediacy, Ruth describes her parents' loveless marriage; her fragile, handicapped mother; her cruel, sexually-abusive father; and the rest of the family and life she abandoned. At seventeen, after fleeing Virginia and settling in New York City, Ruth married a black minister and founded the all- black New Brown Memorial Baptist Church in her Red Hook living room. "God is the color of water," Ruth McBride taught her children, firmly convinced that life's blessings and life's values transcend race. Twice widowed, and continually confronting overwhelming adversity and racism, Ruth's determination, drive and discipline saw her dozen children through college—and most through graduate school. At age 65, she herself received a degree in social work from Temple University. Interspersed throughout his mother's compelling narrative, McBride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed-race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self- realization and professional success. The Color of Water touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son.

Fred 'Bogus' Trumper is a wayward knight-errant in the battle of the sexes and the pursuit of happiness. He also happens to have a complaint more serious than Portnoy's. Yet he stubbornly clings to the notion that he'll make something of his life, and is about to commit himself to a second marriage that bears remarkable resemblance to his first. The Water-Method Man is a work of cosummate artistry and comic invention, bizarre imagery and sharp social and psychological observation.