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<title><![CDATA[The Indie History Bestseller List]]></title>

<description><![CDATA[For the eight-week period ending January 26, 2010, and based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide.]]></description>

<link><![CDATA[http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bestsellers]]></link>

<language><![CDATA[en-us]]></language>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Big Burn]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780618968411</link>
<description><![CDATA[In THE WORST HARD TIME, Timothy Egan put the environmental disaster of the Dust Bowl at the center of a rich history, told through characters he brought to indelible life. Now he performs the same alchemy with the Big Burn, the largest-ever forest fire in America and the tragedy that cemented Teddy Roosevelt's legacy in the land. On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in an eyeblink. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men -- college boys, day-workers, immigrants from mining camps -- to fight the fires. But no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them. Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force, through the eyes of the people who lived it. Equally dramatic, though, is the larger story he tells of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester Gifford Pinchot. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by every citizen. The robber barons fought him and the rangers charged with protecting the reserves, but even as TR's national forests were smoldering they were saved: The heroism shown by those same rangers turned public opinion permanently in favor of the forests, though it changed the mission of the forest service with consequences felt in the fires of today. THE BIG BURN tells an epic story, paints a moving portrait of the people who lived it, and offers a critical cautionary tale for our time. ]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Big Burn]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[1]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Timothy Egan]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780618968411]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[In THE WORST HARD TIME, Timothy Egan put the environmental disaster of the Dust Bowl at the center of a rich history, told through characters he brought to indelible life. Now he performs the same alchemy with the Big Burn, the largest-ever forest fire in America and the tragedy that cemented Teddy Roosevelt's legacy in the land. On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in an eyeblink. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men -- college boys, day-workers, immigrants from mining camps -- to fight the fires. But no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them. Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force, through the eyes of the people who lived it. Equally dramatic, though, is the larger story he tells of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester Gifford Pinchot. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by every citizen. The robber barons fought him and the rangers charged with protecting the reserves, but even as TR's national forests were smoldering they were saved: The heroism shown by those same rangers turned public opinion permanently in favor of the forests, though it changed the mission of the forest service with consequences felt in the fires of today. THE BIG BURN tells an epic story, paints a moving portrait of the people who lived it, and offers a critical cautionary tale for our time. ]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-10-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Imperial Cruise]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316008952</link>
<description><![CDATA[In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. Roosevelt's glamorous twenty-one year old daughter Alice served as mistress of the cruise, which included senators and congressmen. On this trip, Taft concluded secret agreements in Roosevelt's name.In 2005, a century later, James Bradley traveled in the wake of Roosevelt's mission and discovered what had transpired in Honolulu, Tokyo, Manila, Beijing and Seoul.In 1905, Roosevelt was bully-confident and made secret agreements that he though would secure America's westward push into the Pacific. Instead, he lit the long fuse on the Asian firecrackers that would singe America's hands for a century.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Imperial Cruise]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[2]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[James Bradley]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Little Brown]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780316008952]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. Roosevelt's glamorous twenty-one year old daughter Alice served as mistress of the cruise, which included senators and congressmen. On this trip, Taft concluded secret agreements in Roosevelt's name.In 2005, a century later, James Bradley traveled in the wake of Roosevelt's mission and discovered what had transpired in Honolulu, Tokyo, Manila, Beijing and Seoul.In 1905, Roosevelt was bully-confident and made secret agreements that he though would secure America's westward push into the Pacific. Instead, he lit the long fuse on the Asian firecrackers that would singe America's hands for a century.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-11-24T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The National Parks]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307268969</link>
<description><![CDATA[The companion volume to the twelve-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The WarAmerica’s national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nation’s most magnificent and sacred places should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. In this evocative and lavishly illustrated narrative, Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan delve into the history of the park idea, from the first sighting by white men in 1851 of the valley that would become Yosemite and the creation of the world’s first national park at Yellowstone in 1872, through the most recent additions to a system that now encompasses nearly four hundred sites and 84 million acres.The authors recount the adventures, mythmaking, and intense political battles behind the evolution of the park system, and the enduring ideals that fostered its growth. They capture the importance and splendors of the individual parks: from Haleakala in Hawaii to Acadia in Maine, from Denali in Alaska to the Everglades in Florida, from Glacier in Montana to Big Bend in Texas. And they introduce us to a diverse cast of compelling characters—both unsung heroes and famous figures such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ansel Adams—who have been transformed by these special places and committed themselves to saving them from destruction so that the rest of us could be transformed as well.The National Parks is a glorious celebration of an essential expression of American democracy.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The National Parks]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[3]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Knopf]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780307268969]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The companion volume to the twelve-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The WarAmerica’s national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nation’s most magnificent and sacred places should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. In this evocative and lavishly illustrated narrative, Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan delve into the history of the park idea, from the first sighting by white men in 1851 of the valley that would become Yosemite and the creation of the world’s first national park at Yellowstone in 1872, through the most recent additions to a system that now encompasses nearly four hundred sites and 84 million acres.The authors recount the adventures, mythmaking, and intense political battles behind the evolution of the park system, and the enduring ideals that fostered its growth. They capture the importance and splendors of the individual parks: from Haleakala in Hawaii to Acadia in Maine, from Denali in Alaska to the Everglades in Florida, from Glacier in Montana to Big Bend in Texas. And they introduce us to a diverse cast of compelling characters—both unsung heroes and famous figures such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ansel Adams—who have been transformed by these special places and committed themselves to saving them from destruction so that the rest of us could be transformed as well.The National Parks is a glorious celebration of an essential expression of American democracy.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-09-08T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Wordy Shipmates]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781594484001</link>
<description><![CDATA["As always, Vowell is darkly hilarious and freshly informative. She pokes fun at the buckle-shoed Puritans who first settled here, but she also tells a story of how their quirks, foibles, and love of words formed our country's personality. Her distinct and sharply witty voice makes this book an edifying delight." -- Laura Delaney, The Rediscovered Bookshop, Boise, ID]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Wordy Shipmates]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[4]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Vowell]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Riverhead]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781594484001]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[As always, Vowell is darkly hilarious and freshly informative. She pokes fun at the buckle-shoed Puritans who first settled here, but she also tells a story of how their quirks, foibles, and love of words formed our country's personality. Her distinct and sharply witty voice makes this book an edifying delight.]]></dc:description>
<dc:contributor><![CDATA[Laura Delaney, The Rediscovered Bookshop, Boise, ID]]></dc:contributor>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9781436290609]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-10-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781599951492</link>
<description><![CDATA[At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of  American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[5]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert M. Edsel]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Center Street]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781599951492]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of  American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-09-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Invictus]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143117155</link>
<description><![CDATA[ Soon to be a major motion picture from Academy Award(r)--winning director Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman.  After being released from prison and winning South Africa's first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: Use the national rugby team, the Springboks-long an embodiment of white supremacist rule-to embody and engage a new South Africa as they prepared to host the 1995 World Cup. The string of wins that followed not only defied the odds, but capped Mandela's miraculous effort to bring South Africans together in a hard-won, enduring bond.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Invictus]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[6]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Carlin]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Penguin]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780143117155]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[ Soon to be a major motion picture from Academy Award(r)--winning director Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman.  After being released from prison and winning South Africa's first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: Use the national rugby team, the Springboks-long an embodiment of white supremacist rule-to embody and engage a new South Africa as they prepared to host the 1995 World Cup. The string of wins that followed not only defied the odds, but capped Mandela's miraculous effort to bring South Africans together in a hard-won, enduring bond.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9781101159903]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-11-18T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[A People's History of the United States]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780060838652</link>
<description><![CDATA[Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History of the United States is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[A People's History of the United States]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[7]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Howard Zinn]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Harper]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780060838652]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History of the United States is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2005-07-14T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Worst Hard Time]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780618773473</link>
<description><![CDATA[The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since.Timothy Egan’s critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, “the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect” (New York Times).In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is “arguably the best nonfiction book yet” (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Worst Hard Time]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[8]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Timothy Egan]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Mariner]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780618773473]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since.Timothy Egan’s critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, “the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect” (New York Times).In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is “arguably the best nonfiction book yet” (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2006-09-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Devil in the White City]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780375725609</link>
<description><![CDATA[Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Devil in the White City]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[9]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Erik Larson]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Vintage]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780375725609]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2004-02-10T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Good Soldiers]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374165734</link>
<description><![CDATA[It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. “Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences,” he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way. What was the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. Combining the action of Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale—not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.          David Finkel is a staff writer for The Washington Post, and is also the leader of the Post’s national reporting team. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2006 for a series of stories about U.S.-funded democracy efforts in Yemen. Finkel lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife and two daughters.                                                                         It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. “Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences,” he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way. In his remarkable report from the front lines, David Finkel looks for the true story behind the surge and tries to measure its success against the plan that was proposed in 2007.  Combining the action of Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. In telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale—not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time. ]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Good Soldiers]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[10]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Finkel]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Sarah Crichton Books]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780374165734]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. “Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences,” he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way. What was the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. Combining the action of Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale—not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.          David Finkel is a staff writer for The Washington Post, and is also the leader of the Post’s national reporting team. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2006 for a series of stories about U.S.-funded democracy efforts in Yemen. Finkel lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife and two daughters.                                                                         It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. “Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences,” he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way. In his remarkable report from the front lines, David Finkel looks for the true story behind the surge and tries to measure its success against the plan that was proposed in 2007.  Combining the action of Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. In telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale—not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time. ]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9781429952712]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-09-15T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The River of Doubt]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780767913737</link>
<description><![CDATA[At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron.After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, here is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The River of Doubt]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[11]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Candice Millard]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Broadway]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780767913737]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron.After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, here is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2006-10-10T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Zookeeper's Wife]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780393333060</link>
<description><![CDATA[When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw-and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants-otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes. With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Zookeeper's Wife]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[12]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Diane Ackerman]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Norton]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780393333060]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw-and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants-otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes. With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2008-09-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781570616136</link>
<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[13]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jack Nisbet]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Sasquatch]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781570616136]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-09-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[D-Day: The Battle for Normandy]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780670021192</link>
<description><![CDATA[The definitive account of the Normandy invasion by the bestselling author of Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945 From critically acclaimed world historian, Antony Beevor, this is the first major account in more than twenty years to cover the whole invasion from June 6, 1944, right up to the liberation of Paris on August 25. It is the first book to describe not only the experiences of the American, British, Canadian, and German soldiers, but also the terrible suffering of the French caught up in the fighting. More French civilians were killed by Allied bombing and shelling than British civilians were by the Luftwaffe. The Allied fleet attempted by far the largest amphibious assault ever, and what followed was a battle as savage as anything seen on the Eastern Front. Casualties mounted on both sides, as did the tensions between the principal commanders. Even the joys of liberation had their darker side. The war in northern France marked not just a generation, but the whole of the postwar world, profoundly influencing relations between America and Europe. Beevor draws upon his research in more than thirty archives in six countries, going back to original accounts, interviews conducted by combat historians just after the action, and many diaries and letters donated to museums and archives in recent years. D-Day will surely be hailed as the consummate account of the Normandy invasion and the ferocious offensive that led to the liberation of Paris.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[D-Day: The Battle for Normandy]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[14]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Antony Beevor]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Viking]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780670021192]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The definitive account of the Normandy invasion by the bestselling author of Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945 From critically acclaimed world historian, Antony Beevor, this is the first major account in more than twenty years to cover the whole invasion from June 6, 1944, right up to the liberation of Paris on August 25. It is the first book to describe not only the experiences of the American, British, Canadian, and German soldiers, but also the terrible suffering of the French caught up in the fighting. More French civilians were killed by Allied bombing and shelling than British civilians were by the Luftwaffe. The Allied fleet attempted by far the largest amphibious assault ever, and what followed was a battle as savage as anything seen on the Eastern Front. Casualties mounted on both sides, as did the tensions between the principal commanders. Even the joys of liberation had their darker side. The war in northern France marked not just a generation, but the whole of the postwar world, profoundly influencing relations between America and Europe. Beevor draws upon his research in more than thirty archives in six countries, going back to original accounts, interviews conducted by combat historians just after the action, and many diaries and letters donated to museums and archives in recent years. D-Day will surely be hailed as the consummate account of the Normandy invasion and the ferocious offensive that led to the liberation of Paris.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9781101147894]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-10-13T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Fourth Part of the World]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416535317</link>
<description><![CDATA["The Fourth Part of the World is not a history book you can pigeonhole: map making, printing, transportation, exploration, and imperialism all influence this great story. Perhaps most enjoyable is learning about the evolving mythology associated with the edges of the map, and how it persists through discoveries great and small." -- Justin Fetterman, The Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham, AL]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Fourth Part of the World]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[15]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Toby Lester]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Free Press]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781416535317]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The Fourth Part of the World is not a history book you can pigeonhole: map making, printing, transportation, exploration, and imperialism all influence this great story. Perhaps most enjoyable is learning about the evolving mythology associated with the edges of the map, and how it persists through discoveries great and small.]]></dc:description>
<dc:contributor><![CDATA[Justin Fetterman, The Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham, AL]]></dc:contributor>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9781439160428]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-11-03T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780812973464</link>
<description><![CDATA[Andrew Jackson, his intimate circle of friends, and his tumultuous times are at the heart of this remarkable book about the man who rose from nothing to create the modern presidency. Beloved and hated, venerated and reviled, Andrew Jackson was an orphan who fought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to his will in the cause of democracy. Jackson’s election in 1828 ushered in a new and lasting era in which the people, not distant elites, were the guiding force in American politics. Democracy made its stand in the Jackson years, and he gave voice to the hopes and the fears of a restless, changing nation facing challenging times at home and threats abroad. To tell the saga of Jackson’s presidency, acclaimed author Jon Meacham goes inside the Jackson White House. Drawing on newly discovered family letters and papers, he details the human drama–the family, the women, and the inner circle of advisers–that shaped Jackson’s private world through years of storm and victory.One of our most significant yet dimly recalled presidents, Jackson was a battle-hardened warrior, the founder of the Democratic Party, and the architect of the presidency as we know it. His story is one of violence, sex, courage, and tragedy. With his powerful persona, his evident bravery, and his mystical connection to the people, Jackson moved the White House from the periphery of government to the center of national action, articulating a vision of change that challenged entrenched interests to heed the popular will–or face his formidable wrath. The greatest of the presidents who have followed Jackson in the White House–from Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt to FDR to Truman–have found inspiration in his example, and virtue in his vision.Jackson was the most contradictory of men. The architect of the removal of Indians from their native lands, he was warmly sentimental and risked everything to give more power to ordinary citizens. He was, in short, a lot like his country: alternately kind and vicious, brilliant and blind; and a man who fought a lifelong war to keep the republic safe–no matter what it took. Jon Meacham in American Lion has delivered the definitive human portrait of a pivotal president who forever changed the American presidency–and America itself.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[16]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Meacham]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Random House]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780812973464]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[Andrew Jackson, his intimate circle of friends, and his tumultuous times are at the heart of this remarkable book about the man who rose from nothing to create the modern presidency. Beloved and hated, venerated and reviled, Andrew Jackson was an orphan who fought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to his will in the cause of democracy. Jackson’s election in 1828 ushered in a new and lasting era in which the people, not distant elites, were the guiding force in American politics. Democracy made its stand in the Jackson years, and he gave voice to the hopes and the fears of a restless, changing nation facing challenging times at home and threats abroad. To tell the saga of Jackson’s presidency, acclaimed author Jon Meacham goes inside the Jackson White House. Drawing on newly discovered family letters and papers, he details the human drama–the family, the women, and the inner circle of advisers–that shaped Jackson’s private world through years of storm and victory.One of our most significant yet dimly recalled presidents, Jackson was a battle-hardened warrior, the founder of the Democratic Party, and the architect of the presidency as we know it. His story is one of violence, sex, courage, and tragedy. With his powerful persona, his evident bravery, and his mystical connection to the people, Jackson moved the White House from the periphery of government to the center of national action, articulating a vision of change that challenged entrenched interests to heed the popular will–or face his formidable wrath. The greatest of the presidents who have followed Jackson in the White House–from Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt to FDR to Truman–have found inspiration in his example, and virtue in his vision.Jackson was the most contradictory of men. The architect of the removal of Indians from their native lands, he was warmly sentimental and risked everything to give more power to ordinary citizens. He was, in short, a lot like his country: alternately kind and vicious, brilliant and blind; and a man who fought a lifelong war to keep the republic safe–no matter what it took. Jon Meacham in American Lion has delivered the definitive human portrait of a pivotal president who forever changed the American presidency–and America itself.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-04-30T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Guns, Germs, and Steel]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780393317558</link>
<description><![CDATA[In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Guns, Germs, and Steel]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[17]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jared Diamond]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Norton]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780393317558]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>1999-04-01T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Diary of a Young Girl]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780553577129</link>
<description><![CDATA[Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl is among the most enduring documents of the twentieth century. Since its publication in 1947, it has been read by tens of millions of people all over the world. It remains a beloved and deeply admired testament to the indestructible nature of the human spirit. Restored in this Definitive Edition are diary entries that were omitted from the original edition. These passages, which constitute 30 percent more material, reinforce the fact that Anne was first and foremost a teenage girl, not a remote and flawless symbol. She fretted about and tried to cope with her own sexuality. Like many young girls, she often found herself in disagreements with her mother. And like any teenager, she veered between the carefree nature of a child and the full-fledged sorrow of an adult. Anne emerges more human, more vulnerable and more vital than ever.Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the horrors of Nazi occupation, hid in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse for two years. She was thirteen when she went into the Secret Annex with her family.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Diary of a Young Girl]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[18]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Frank]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Bantam]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780553577129]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl is among the most enduring documents of the twentieth century. Since its publication in 1947, it has been read by tens of millions of people all over the world. It remains a beloved and deeply admired testament to the indestructible nature of the human spirit. Restored in this Definitive Edition are diary entries that were omitted from the original edition. These passages, which constitute 30 percent more material, reinforce the fact that Anne was first and foremost a teenage girl, not a remote and flawless symbol. She fretted about and tried to cope with her own sexuality. Like many young girls, she often found herself in disagreements with her mother. And like any teenager, she veered between the carefree nature of a child and the full-fledged sorrow of an adult. Anne emerges more human, more vulnerable and more vital than ever.Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the horrors of Nazi occupation, hid in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse for two years. She was thirteen when she went into the Secret Annex with her family.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Mass Market Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>1997-02-03T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Age of Wonder]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780375422225</link>
<description><![CDATA[A riveting history of the men and women whose discoveries and inventions at the end of the eighteenth century gave birth to the Romantic Age of Science. When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment sweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cook on his first Endeavour voyage in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes’s original evocation of what truly emerges as an Age of Wonder. Brilliantly conceived as a relay of scientific stories, The Age of Wonder investigates the earliest ideas of deep time and space, and the explorers of “dynamic science,” of an infinite, mysterious Nature waiting to be discovered. Three lives dominate the book: William Herschel and his sister Caroline, whose dedication to the study of the stars forever changed the public conception of the solar system, the Milky Way, and the meaning of the universe; and Humphry Davy, who, with only a grammar school education stunned the scientific community with his near-suicidal gas experiments that led to the invention of the miners’ lamp and established British chemistry as the leading professional science in Europe.  This age of exploration extended to great writers and poets as well as scientists, all creators relishing in moments of high exhilaration, boundary-pushing and discovery. Holmes’s extraordinary evocation of this age of wonder shows how great ideas and experiments—both successes and failures—were born of singular and often lonely dedication, and how religious faith and scientific truth collide.  He has written a book breathtaking in its originality, its storytelling energy, and  its intellectual significance.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Age of Wonder]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[19]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Richard Holmes]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Pantheon]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780375422225]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[A riveting history of the men and women whose discoveries and inventions at the end of the eighteenth century gave birth to the Romantic Age of Science. When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment sweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cook on his first Endeavour voyage in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes’s original evocation of what truly emerges as an Age of Wonder. Brilliantly conceived as a relay of scientific stories, The Age of Wonder investigates the earliest ideas of deep time and space, and the explorers of “dynamic science,” of an infinite, mysterious Nature waiting to be discovered. Three lives dominate the book: William Herschel and his sister Caroline, whose dedication to the study of the stars forever changed the public conception of the solar system, the Milky Way, and the meaning of the universe; and Humphry Davy, who, with only a grammar school education stunned the scientific community with his near-suicidal gas experiments that led to the invention of the miners’ lamp and established British chemistry as the leading professional science in Europe.  This age of exploration extended to great writers and poets as well as scientists, all creators relishing in moments of high exhilaration, boundary-pushing and discovery. Holmes’s extraordinary evocation of this age of wonder shows how great ideas and experiments—both successes and failures—were born of singular and often lonely dedication, and how religious faith and scientific truth collide.  He has written a book breathtaking in its originality, its storytelling energy, and  its intellectual significance.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-07-14T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780195039146</link>
<description><![CDATA[The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, two New York Times bestsellers, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in the newest volume in the series, one of America's most esteemed historians, Gordon S. Wood, offers a brilliant account of the early American Republic, ranging from 1789 and the beginning of the national government to the end of the War of 1812. As Wood reveals, the period was marked by tumultuous change in all aspects of American life--in politics, society, economy, and culture. The men who founded the new government had high hopes for the future, but few of their hopes and dreams worked out quite as they expected. They hated political parties but parties nonetheless emerged. Some wanted the United States to become a great fiscal-military state like those of Britain and France; others wanted the country to remain a rural agricultural state very different from the European states. Instead, by 1815 the United States became something neither group anticipated. Many leaders expected American culture to flourish and surpass that of Europe; instead it became popularized and vulgarized. The leaders also hope to see the end of slavery; instead, despite the release of many slaves and the end of slavery in the North, slavery was stronger in 1815 than it had been in 1789. Many wanted to avoid entanglements with Europe, but instead the country became involved in Europe's wars and ended up waging another war with the former mother country. Still, with a new generation emerging by 1815, most Americans were confident and optimistic about the future of their country.  Named a New York Times Notable Book, Empire of Liberty offers a marvelous account of this pivotal era when America took its first unsteady steps as a new and rapidly expanding nation.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[20]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Gordon S. Wood]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Oxford Univ. Press]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780195039146]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, two New York Times bestsellers, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in the newest volume in the series, one of America's most esteemed historians, Gordon S. Wood, offers a brilliant account of the early American Republic, ranging from 1789 and the beginning of the national government to the end of the War of 1812. As Wood reveals, the period was marked by tumultuous change in all aspects of American life--in politics, society, economy, and culture. The men who founded the new government had high hopes for the future, but few of their hopes and dreams worked out quite as they expected. They hated political parties but parties nonetheless emerged. Some wanted the United States to become a great fiscal-military state like those of Britain and France; others wanted the country to remain a rural agricultural state very different from the European states. Instead, by 1815 the United States became something neither group anticipated. Many leaders expected American culture to flourish and surpass that of Europe; instead it became popularized and vulgarized. The leaders also hope to see the end of slavery; instead, despite the release of many slaves and the end of slavery in the North, slavery was stronger in 1815 than it had been in 1789. Many wanted to avoid entanglements with Europe, but instead the country became involved in Europe's wars and ended up waging another war with the former mother country. Still, with a new generation emerging by 1815, most Americans were confident and optimistic about the future of their country.  Named a New York Times Notable Book, Empire of Liberty offers a marvelous account of this pivotal era when America took its first unsteady steps as a new and rapidly expanding nation.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-10-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Night]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374500016</link>
<description><![CDATA[A New Translation From The French By Marion WieselNight is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Night]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[21]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Elie Wiesel]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[FSG]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780374500016]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[A New Translation From The French By Marion WieselNight is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2006-01-16T00:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Horse Soldiers]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416580515</link>
<description><![CDATA[From the New York Times-bestselling author of In Harm's Way comes a true-life story of American soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military victory.Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following 9/11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty to one, they pursued the enemy across mountainous terrain and, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential if they were to defeat the Taliban.The bone-weary American soldiers were welcomed as liberators, and overjoyed Afghans thronged the streets. Then the action took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers were ambushed. Dangerously outnumbered, they fought for their lives in the city's immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers perished or were captured, the effort to defeat the Taliban might be doomed.As the Americans struggled to hold the fortress, they faced some of the most intense urban warfare of our time. But until now the full story of the Horse Soldiers has never been told. Doug Stanton received unprecedented cooperation from the U.S. Army's Special Forces soldiers and Special Operations helicopter pilots, as well as access to voluminous after-battle reports. In addition, he interviewed more than one hundred participants and walked every inch of the climactic battleground.This exciting story is filled with unforgettable characters: brave Special Forces soldiers, tough CIA operatives, cunning Afghan warlords, anxious stateside soldiers' wives who do not know where their husbands have gone, and humble Afghan boys spying on the Taliban.Deeply researched and beautifully written, Stanton's account of America's quest to liberate an oppressed people touches the mythic. The Horse Soldiers combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare with twenty-first-century aerial bombardment technology to perform a seemingly impossible feat. Moreover, their careful effort to win the hearts of local townspeople and avoid civilian casualties proved a valuable lesson for America's ongoing efforts in Afghanistan.Horse Soldiers is a big-hearted and thrilling read, with an epic story that reaches not just across the cold mountains of Afghanistan but into the homes of small-town America, and confirms Doug Stanton as one of our country's preeminent storytellers.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Horse Soldiers]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[22]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Doug Stanton]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Scribner]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9781416580515]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[From the New York Times-bestselling author of In Harm's Way comes a true-life story of American soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military victory.Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following 9/11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty to one, they pursued the enemy across mountainous terrain and, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential if they were to defeat the Taliban.The bone-weary American soldiers were welcomed as liberators, and overjoyed Afghans thronged the streets. Then the action took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers were ambushed. Dangerously outnumbered, they fought for their lives in the city's immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers perished or were captured, the effort to defeat the Taliban might be doomed.As the Americans struggled to hold the fortress, they faced some of the most intense urban warfare of our time. But until now the full story of the Horse Soldiers has never been told. Doug Stanton received unprecedented cooperation from the U.S. Army's Special Forces soldiers and Special Operations helicopter pilots, as well as access to voluminous after-battle reports. In addition, he interviewed more than one hundred participants and walked every inch of the climactic battleground.This exciting story is filled with unforgettable characters: brave Special Forces soldiers, tough CIA operatives, cunning Afghan warlords, anxious stateside soldiers' wives who do not know where their husbands have gone, and humble Afghan boys spying on the Taliban.Deeply researched and beautifully written, Stanton's account of America's quest to liberate an oppressed people touches the mythic. The Horse Soldiers combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare with twenty-first-century aerial bombardment technology to perform a seemingly impossible feat. Moreover, their careful effort to win the hearts of local townspeople and avoid civilian casualties proved a valuable lesson for America's ongoing efforts in Afghanistan.Horse Soldiers is a big-hearted and thrilling read, with an epic story that reaches not just across the cold mountains of Afghanistan but into the homes of small-town America, and confirms Doug Stanton as one of our country's preeminent storytellers.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Hardcover]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9781416588238]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-05-05T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[A Little History of the World]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780300143324</link>
<description><![CDATA[In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the 26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited by a publishing acquaintance to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. Amazingly, he completed the task in an intense six weeks, and Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser was published in Vienna to immediate success, and is now available in seventeen languages across the world.Toward the end of his long life, Gombrich embarked upon a revision and, at last, an English translation. A Little History of the World presents his lively and involving history to English-language readers for the first time. Superbly designed and freshly illustrated, this is a book to be savored and collected.In forty concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man from the stone age to the atomic bomb. In between emerges a colorful picture of wars and conquests, grand works of art, and the spread and limitations of science. This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the sweep of mankind’s experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity’s achievements and an acute witness to its frailties.The product of a generous and humane sensibility, this timeless account makes intelligible the full span of human history.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[A Little History of the World]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[23]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[E.H. Gombrich]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Yale Univ. Press]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780300143324]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the 26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited by a publishing acquaintance to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. Amazingly, he completed the task in an intense six weeks, and Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser was published in Vienna to immediate success, and is now available in seventeen languages across the world.Toward the end of his long life, Gombrich embarked upon a revision and, at last, an English translation. A Little History of the World presents his lively and involving history to English-language readers for the first time. Superbly designed and freshly illustrated, this is a book to be savored and collected.In forty concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man from the stone age to the atomic bomb. In between emerges a colorful picture of wars and conquests, grand works of art, and the spread and limitations of science. This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the sweep of mankind’s experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity’s achievements and an acute witness to its frailties.The product of a generous and humane sensibility, this timeless account makes intelligible the full span of human history.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2008-09-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Forever War]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307279446</link>
<description><![CDATA["The Forever War is a gut-wrenching and jaw-dropping look at our protracted war on terror. Touching on the most significant moments of the war, from the Afghan campaign up to the current rebuilding efforts in Iraq, Filkins provides a clear-eyed analysis of how both our optimism and our delusions may end up costing us far more than our nation can afford." -- Matthew Norcross, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, MI]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[The Forever War]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[24]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dexter Filkins]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Vintage]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780307279446]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The Forever War is a gut-wrenching and jaw-dropping look at our protracted war on terror. Touching on the most significant moments of the war, from the Afghan campaign up to the current rebuilding efforts in Iraq, Filkins provides a clear-eyed analysis of how both our optimism and our delusions may end up costing us far more than our nation can afford.]]></dc:description>
<dc:contributor><![CDATA[Matthew Norcross, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, MI]]></dc:contributor>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:relation><![CDATA[9780307270344]]></dc:relation>
<dc:date>2009-06-02T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief]]></title>
<link>http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143116141</link>
<description><![CDATA[The Pulitzer Prize-winning author reveals how Lincoln won the Civil War and invented the role of commander in chief as we know it As we celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, this study by preeminent, bestselling Civil War historian James M. McPherson provides a rare, fresh take on one of the most enigmatic figures in American history. Tried by War offers a revelatory (and timely) portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. Suspenseful and inspiring, this is the story of how Lincoln, with almost no previous military experience before entering the White House, assumed the powers associated with the role of commander in chief, and through his strategic insight and will to fight changed the course of the war and saved the Union.]]></description>
<ttl>360</ttl>
<dc:title><![CDATA[Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief]]></dc:title>
<bsbl:rank><![CDATA[25]]></bsbl:rank>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[James M. McPherson]]></dc:creator>
<dc:publisher><![CDATA[Penguin]]></dc:publisher>
<dc:identifier><![CDATA[9780143116141]]></dc:identifier>
<dc:description><![CDATA[The Pulitzer Prize-winning author reveals how Lincoln won the Civil War and invented the role of commander in chief as we know it As we celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, this study by preeminent, bestselling Civil War historian James M. McPherson provides a rare, fresh take on one of the most enigmatic figures in American history. Tried by War offers a revelatory (and timely) portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. Suspenseful and inspiring, this is the story of how Lincoln, with almost no previous military experience before entering the White House, assumed the powers associated with the role of commander in chief, and through his strategic insight and will to fight changed the course of the war and saved the Union.]]></dc:description>
<dc:format><![CDATA[Paperback]]></dc:format>
<dc:date>2009-09-01T00:00:00-04:00</dc:date>
</item>

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