Interrelated essays by the Nobel Laureate on his adopted home of California, which Lewis Hyde, writing in "The Nation," called "remarkable, morally serious and thought-provoking essays, which strive to lay aside the barren categories by which we have understood and judged our state . . . Their subject is the frailty of modern civilization."

Tasteful erotic fiction written with moms in mind Whether you're a woman who has put passion on the back burner, or you're a hot mama who has been keeping things aflame, these stories are sure to light your fire They're short. They're hot. They're a little something just for YOU

From internationally renowned author and translator Richard Lourie comes this highly acclaimed fictionalized account of the man who may have betrayed Anne Frank. Set in present-day Amsterdam, "Joop "begins with the startling confession of an old man—a secret he has never told anyone. Transporting readers through the agonizing Nazi takeover of World War II, Joop recounts his role as a boy seeking his father’s praise and desiring to shelter his family. He figures out a way to provide for them, but in doing so, he sets in motion a chain of events that will horrify the entire world.

Janusz Korczak was a Polish physician and educator who wrote over twenty books--his fiction was in his time as well known as "Peter Pan," and his nonfiction works bore passionate messages of child advocacy. During World War II, the Jewish orphanage he directed was relocated to the Warsaw ghetto. Although Korczak's celebrity afforded him many chances to escape, he refused to abandon the children. He was killed at Treblinka along with the children.
"King Matt the First," one of Korczak's most beloved tales, is the story of a boy who becomes king and sets out to reform his kingdom. He decrees that all children are to be given a piece of chocolate at the end of each day. He visits faraway lands and befriends cannibal kings. Whenever his ministers tell him something's impossible, he puts them in jail. He disguises himself as a soldier and becomes a hero. But, as in real life, fantasy is tempered by reality: Matt's fellow kings become jealous of his success--and in the end, Matt falls, although it's clear that he was the greatest king there ever was.
Now this rediscovered classic is available again, and with a vibrant new cover by award-winning artist Brian Selznick. This timeless tale shows that only through the honesty and spontaneity of children can grown-ups begin to imagine and to create a better world.

In a spellbinding novel that combines the suspense of a thriller and the accuracy of a work of history, the psychology of a monster is fully revealed, every atom of his madness explored, every twist of his homicidal logic followed to its logical conclusion. "Leon Trotsky is trying to kill me," thinks Joseph Stalin. It's a paranoid lie, but all too real to Stalin. Trotsky, in exile in Mexico City, is writing a biography of Stalin that may offer proof of a secret crime that could force Stalin from power. What will Trotsky disclose before the long hand of Stalin reaches him and eliminates the threat? The prospect leads Stalin to reflect on his own life,the sly and domineering schoolboy battling a sadistic father . . . a youthful poet, thief, and seminarian who questions morality, evil, and the existence of God until he finds answers that free him to a life of power and slaughter. Stalin takes us deeper and deeper into his life and into the labyrinth of his psyche until we are finally alone with him. The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin is a mesmerizing journey to the very heart of evil.

The Polish Complex takes place on Christmas Eve, from early morning until late in the evening, as a line of people (including the narrator, whose name is Konwicki) stand and wait in front of a jewelry store in Warsaw. Through the narrator we are told of what happens among those standing in line outside this store, what happens as the narrator's mind thinks and rants about the current state of Poland, and what happens as he imagines the failed Polish rebellion of 1863. The novel's form allows Konwicki (both character and author) to roam around and through Poland's past and present, and to range freely through whatever comes to his attention. By turns comic, lyrical, despairing, and liberating, The Polish Complex stands as one of the most important novels to have come out of Poland since World War II.