"A true story of the battle for paradise…men and women fighting for a slice of earth like no other." —New York Times Book Review Frederick and May Rindge, the unlikely couple whose love story propelled Malibu’s transformation from an untamed ranch in the middle of nowhere to a paradise seeded with movie stars, are at the heart of this story of American grit and determinism. He was a Harvard-trained confidant of presidents; she was a poor Midwestern farmer’s daughter raised to be suspicious of the seasons. Yet the bond between them would shape history. The newly married couple reached Los Angeles in 1887 when it was still a frontier, and within a few years Frederick, the only heir to an immense Boston fortune, became one of the wealthiest men in the state. After his sudden death in 1905, May spent the next thirty years fighting off some of the most powerful men in the country—as well as fissures within her own family—to preserve Malibu as her private kingdom. Her struggle, one of the longest over land in California history, would culminate in a landmark Supreme Court decision and lead to the creation of the Pacific Coast Highway. The King and Queen of Malibu traces the path of one family as the country around them swept off the last vestiges of the Civil War and moved into what we would recognize as the modern age. The story of Malibu ranges from the halls of Harvard to the Old West in New Mexico to the beginnings of San Francisco’s counter culture amid the Gilded Age, and culminates in the glamour of early Hollywood—all during the brief sliver of history in which the advent of railroads and the automobile traversed a beckoning American frontier and anything seemed possible.

Malibu offers the best in Southern California living. This small town is situated close to Los Angeles and Hollywood, but far enough away from the traffic and stress of big-city life. All the clichés of Southern California come true in Malibu: the swimming pools, movie stars, paparazzi, and fancy cars. It's the land of champagne wishes and caviar dreams. But Malibu is also a beautiful, quiet, and surprisingly rural beachfront community. In a desirable location going back to the time of the Chumash Indians, the peace and environment of Malibu have been protected by city fathers with a vision. This is the California Riviera, a thin slice of la dolce vita located between the Santa Monica Mountains and the deep blue sea.

In 1943, the 13th Air Force of the United States Army Air Corps was stationed in Guadalcanal. The men serving in this group were also known as the "Cactus Air Force". These crews were known to fly the longest unescorted formation missions with over 4 million square miles of open ocean. Orders directed these squadrons to fly up the slot of the Solomon Islands inflicting as much damage as possible to the enemy enabling the ground forces to secure the next airfield, taking island after island. Many of their accomplishments were ignored and overlooked because the command was under the jurisdiction of the Navy. This is the journalized account of some 45 combat missions by one of its B-24 crew of ten men from their plane, Scootin' Thunder.

“A mash-up of Erik Larson and Richard Preston.” —Tina Jordan, New York Times Book Review podcast On March 6, 1900, the bubonic plague took its first victim on American soil: Chinese immigrant Wong Chut King. Empowered by racist pseudoscience, officials rushed to quarantine Chinatown—but when corrupt politicians mounted a cover-up to obscure the threat, it fell to federal health officer Rupert Blue to save San Francisco, and the nation, from a gruesome fate. Black Death at the Golden Gate is a spine-chilling saga of virulent racism, human folly, and the ultimate triumph of scientific progress.

Have you ever wondered what its like to be an FBI Agent investigating a case and actually interviewing criminals or chasing terrorist in the Caribbean? "SECRET ASSIGNMENTS" takes you there. It is a humorous look at a dangerous job where not everything goes right and the criminals do not tell the truth! In spite of all that happens, agent man perseveres and accomplishes the mission!

Reality TV star Shirley shares the hard-learned life lessons he has accumulated over the years, filled with side-splitting humor and liberally sprinkled with the Ronisms that have become his trademark.

An engrossing examination of the science behind the little-known world of sleep. Like many of us, journalist David K. Randall never gave sleep much thought. That is, until he began sleepwalking. One midnight crash into a hallway wall sent him on an investigation into the strange science of sleep. In Dreamland, Randall explores the research that is investigating those dark hours that make up nearly a third of our lives. Taking readers from military battlefields to children’s bedrooms, Dreamland shows that sleep isn't as simple as it seems. Why did the results of one sleep study change the bookmakers’ odds for certain Monday Night Football games? Do women sleep differently than men? And if you happen to kill someone while you are sleepwalking, does that count as murder? This book is a tour of the often odd, sometimes disturbing, and always fascinating things that go on in the peculiar world of sleep. You’ll never look at your pillow the same way again.

"Deserves a spot next to Fast Food Nation and To Kill a Mockingbird in America’s high school curriculums. To say it may save lives is self-evident.” —New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle, Chrisitian Science Monitor, Kirkus, Winnipeg Free Press One of the decade's most original and masterfully reported books, A Deadly Wandering by Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist Matt Richtel interweaves the cutting-edge science of attention with the tensely plotted story of a mysterious car accident and its aftermath to answer some of the defining questions of our time: What is technology doing to us? Can our minds keep up with the pace of change? How can we find balance? On the last day of summer, an ordinary Utah college student named Reggie Shaw fatally struck two rocket scientists while texting and driving along a majestic stretch of highway bordering the Rocky Mountains. A Deadly Wandering follows Reggie from the moment of the tragedy, through the police investigation, the state's groundbreaking prosecution, and ultimately, Reggie's wrenching admission of responsibility. Richtel parallels Reggie's journey with leading-edge scientific findings on the impact technology has on our brains, showing how these devices play to our deepest social instincts. A propulsive read filled with surprising scientific detail, riveting narrative tension, and rare emotional depth, A Deadly Wandering is a book that can change—and save—lives.

The adventurer, financier and philanthropist offers an insider’s look at risk management in this personal guide to risk-taking in life and business. As the founder of Caribbean Capital & Consultancy and a former general partner of Bear Sterns, Michael E. Tennenbaum knows a thing or two about taking risks and winning big. In this unique and insightful volume, he shares his views on risk through stories of high-stakes deals and creative financial innovations, as well as anecdotes about riding in a nuclear submarine and literally swimming with sharks. Tennenbaum also shares strategies for using risk to seize opportunities, manage mistakes, and give back to one’s community. His personal tales take readers inside Bear Sterns, the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard Business School, and the Joffrey Ballet, among other firms and cultural institutions. Through it all, Tennenbaum demonstrates how to reach greater heights of performance, achievement, and contentment through embracing risk.

A human and global take on a beloved vacation spot. The crash of surf, smell of salted air, wet whorls of sand underfoot. These are the sensations of the beach, that environment that has drawn humans to its life-sustaining shores for millennia. And while the gull’s cry and the cove’s splendor have remained constant throughout time, our relationship with the beach has been as fluid as the runnels left behind by the tide’s turning. The Lure of the Beach is a chronicle of humanity's history with the coast, taking us from the seaside pleasure palaces of Roman elites and the aquatic rituals of medieval pilgrims, to the venues of modern resort towns and beyond. Robert C. Ritchie traces the contours of the material and social economies of the beach throughout time, covering changes in the social status of beach goers, the technology of transport, and the development of fashion (from nudity to Victorianism and back again), as well as the geographic spread of modern beach-going from England to France, across the Mediterranean, and from nineteenth-century America to the world. And as climate change and rising sea levels erode the familiar faces of our coasts, we are poised for a contemporary reckoning with our relationship—and responsibilities—to our beaches and their ecosystems. The Lure of the Beach demonstrates that whether as a commodified pastoral destination, a site of ecological resplendency, or a flashpoint between private ownership and public access, the history of the beach is a human one that deserves to be told now more than ever before.