"Engagingly curious open-mindedness . . . an amiable deadpan worthy of Richard Ford." --Pico Iyer, Time
in this offbeat and original road book, cultural observer Mike Bryan takes issue with the traditional idea that the "real" America is to be found somewhere on our scenic backroads. He argues instead that it is right out in the open on the interstates, and he travels the big highways of the Southwest to prove the point.
Bryan engages motel operators, state troopers, and traveling salesmen. He discovers the world's only "No Smoking" ranch; hobnobs with elusive novelist Cormac McCarthy; spars with Bob Sundown, who prefers his covered wagon to any car. Between encounters he contemplates everything from America's pioneering spirit to its history of road building. In the end, he discovers that the interstates, far from producing the homogenous society he feared, nourish a rich community of eccentrics. And that ultimately, as this deeply romantic travelogue shows, there is no such thing as an "ordinary American."
"A wonderful writer, he manages to transmit his enjoyment of the places and people he encounters." --Austin American-Statesman

The Romans ruled Britannia for more than 350 years, leaving an indelible mark on our landscape. Town and countryside were transformed by innovations in comfort and culture - albeit shot through with a uniquely British twist - glimpses of which can still be seen at numerous splendid sites and museums in England, Wales and Scotland. Roman Britain and Where to Find It provides the history of the best Roman villas, forts, walls and bathhouses, as well as the hidden gems which the uninitiated might pass by. It also explains how these remnants of the past fit into the bigger story, pointing out details which have their own tale to tell, connecting us with the people who lived here 2,000 years ago.

The ultimate inside story of the Katrina tragedy?from the cofounder of the LSU Hurricane Center
After warning for years about the looming threat of catastrophic flooding in New Orleans, Ivor van Heerden was one of the highest-profile media experts during the Katrina disaster. Over the following eighteen months, he was even more prominent as he challenged the official version of those events and campaigned for an engineering plan that would protect all of southeastern Louisiana, once and for all. In "The Storm," van Heerden lays out in full detail the stunning incompetence among the bureaucrats, the politicians, and the Army Corps of Engineers that culminated in the catastrophe that crippled, perhaps forever, a great American city.