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books tagged “Americana”
books tagged “Americana”
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Accordion Crimesby E. Annie ProulxISBN 0684831546 (0-684-83154-6)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Accordion Crimes'Book summary:Proulx found fertile, if rocky, soil for her first two novels (Postcards and The Shipping News) in the far northeastern corner of North America. In Accordion Crimes she ranges much further afield. The novel follows an accordion from the hands of its maker in Sicily in 1890 until it is flattened by a truck in Florida in 1996. In the intervening century it passes through the hands of a host of unlucky owners and their kin: Abelardo Relampago, who dies from the bite of a poisonous spider; Dolor Gagnon, decapitated by his own chain saw; Silvano, cut down in the jungles of Venezuela by an Indian's arrow. [via]
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The American Motelby Michael Karl WitzelISBN 0760301018 (0-7603-0101-8)
Hardcover, Motorbooks Intl
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The American Motel'Book summary:Taking their name from an amalgamation of the words "motor" and "hotel", motels were conceived as roadside lodges for pioneering American motorists who increasingly set out on vacations by car. As such, the motel's development has largely paralleled that of the automobile. Renowned pop culture historian Michael Karl Witzel examines the evolution, architecture and decor of the American motel in all its forms, from the traditional "motor court" to gimmicks like individual miniature log cabins, cement tepees, and more. An intensely visual presentation also features photography of advertising and collectible memorabilia and souvenirs, and is accompanied by an authoritative history of the motels genesis and its development to the present day. [via]
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Baseball As America: Seeing Ourselves Through Our National Gameby National Geographic SocietyISBN 0792264649 (0-7922-6464-9)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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Common Sense: Library Editionby Thomas Paine, Gregory TietjenISBN 0760712026 (0-7607-1202-6)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Common Sense: Library Edition'Book summary:"These are the times that try men's souls," begins Thomas Paine's first Crisis paper, the impassioned pamphlet that helped ignite the American Revolution. Published in Philadelphia in January of 1776, Common Sense sold 150,000 copies almost immediately. A powerful piece of propaganda, it attacked the idea of a hereditary monarchy, dismissed the chance for reconciliation with England, and outlined the economic benefits of independence while espousing equality of rights among citizens. Paine fanned a flame that was already burning, but many historians argue that his work unified dissenting voices and persuaded patriots that the American Revolution was not only necessary, but an epochal step in world history. [via]
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Confidence Manby Herman MelvilleISBN 0810103257 (0-8101-0325-7)
Softcover, Northwestern Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Confidence Man'Book summary:Male, female, deft, fraudulent, constantly shifting: which of the `masquerade' of passengers on the Mississippi steamboat Fid `ele is `the confidence man'? The central motif of Melville's last and most `modern' novel can be seen as a symbol of American cultural history. No other edition of this fine novel is available in paperback. This book is intended for the general reader; students of nineteenth-century American literature. [via]
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Dandelion Wineby Ray BradburyISBN 0808520717 (0-8085-2071-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dandelion Wine'Book summary:World-renowned fantasist Ray Bradbury has on several occasions stepped outside the arenas of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. An unabashed romantic, his first novel in 1957 was basically a love letter to his childhood. (For those who want to undertake an even more evocative look at the dark side of youth, five years later the author would write the chilling classic Something Wicked This Way Comes.)
Dandelion Wine takes us into the summer of 1928, and to all the wondrous and magical events in the life of a 12-year-old Midwestern boy named Douglas Spaulding. This tender, openly affectionate story of a young man's voyage of discovery is certainly more mainstream than exotic. No walking dead or spaceships to Mars here. Yet those who wish to experience the unique magic of early Bradbury as a prose stylist should find Dandelion Wine most refreshing. --Stanley Wiater [via]
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The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark: From Fort Mandan to Three Forksby William Clark, Meriwether Lewis, American Philosophical Society, University of Nebraska--Lincoln Center for Great Plains Studies, Gary E. Moulton, Thomas W. DunlayISBN 0803280114 (0-8032-8011-4)
Softcover, Univ of Nebraska Pr
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The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark: Up the Missouri to Fort Mandanby William Clark, Meriwether Lewis, American Philosophical Society, University of Nebraska--Lincoln Center for Great Plains Studies, Gary E. Moulton, Thomas W. DunlayISBN 0803280106 (0-8032-8010-6)
Softcover, Univ of Nebraska Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark: Up the Missouri to Fort Mandan'Book summary:Since the time of Columbus, explorers dreamed of a water passage across the North American continent. President Thomas Jefferson shared this dream. He conceived the Corps of Discovery to travel up the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains and westward along possible river routes to the Pacific Ocean. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led this expedition of 18046. Along the way they filled hundreds of notebook pages with observations of the geography, Indian tribes, and natural history of the trans-Mississippi West.[via]This volume consists of journals, primarily by Clark, that cover the expedition's route up the Missouri River to Fort Mandan in present-day North Dakota and its frigid winter encampment there. It describes the party's encounters with and observations of area Indian tribes. Lewis and Clark collected critical information about traveling westward from Native Americans during this winter. This volume also includes miscellaneous material from the Corps of Discovery's first year.
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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed Americaby Erik LarsonISBN 0786252189 (0-7862-5218-9)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America'Book summary:Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. --John Moe [via]
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Do You Remember T. V. ? : The Book That Takes You Backby Michael Gitter, Sylvie AnapolISBN 0811823059 (0-8118-2305-9)
Softcover, Chronicle Books LLC
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Do You Remember T. V. ? : The Book That Takes You Back'More editions of Do You Remember T. V. ? : The Book That Takes You Back:
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Domestic Manners of the Americansby Frances Milton TrollopeISBN 0712609342 (0-7126-0934-2)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Domestic Manners of the Americans'Book summary:As the introduction states, "There is nothing ordinary about this volume. It was written out of necessity in dramatic circumstances by a most uncommon woman, the style through not remarkable in itself carries matter that ranges from the lively to the startling." [via]
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Harper Lee's to Kill a Mockingbirdby Harper LeeISBN 0808510258 (0-8085-1025-8)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Harper Lee's to Kill a Mockingbird'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A guide to reading ""To Kill A Mockingbird"" with a critical and appreciative mind. Includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list. [via]
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Harper Lee's to Kill a Mockingbirdby Joyce Milton, Harper LeeISBN 0812034465 (0-8120-3446-5)
Softcover, Barrons Educational Series Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Harper Lee's to Kill a Mockingbird'Book summary:Plot synopsis of this classic is made meaningful with analysis and quotes by noted literary critics, summaries of the work's main themes and characters, a sketch of the author's life and times, a bibliography, suggested test questions, and ideas for essays and term papers. [via]
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Herman Melville's Moby Dickby Herman Melville, Peter FishISBN 0812034287 (0-8120-3428-7)
Softcover, Barrons Educational Series Inc
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Herman Melville's Moby-Dickby Harold BloomISBN 0791040674 (0-7910-4067-4)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Herman Melville's Moby-Dick'Book summary:In his introduction Harold Bloom suggests that the tragic protagonist of Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab, has only a few peers among American literary characters--though none wholly of his eminence. This text includes a brief biography of Melville, thematic and structural analysis of the work, and numerous essays by the best critics of the novel.
This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School. These texts are the ideal aid for all students of literature, presenting concise, easy-to-understand biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on a specific literary work. Also provided are multiple sources for book reports and term papers with a wealth of information on literary works, authors, and major characters. [via]
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In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequencesby Truman CapoteISBN 0785777636 (0-7857-7763-6)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences'Book summary:"Until one morning in mid-November of 1959, few Americans--in fact, few Kansans--had ever heard of Holcomb. Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there." If all Truman Capote did was invent a new genre--journalism written with the language and structure of literature--this "nonfiction novel" about the brutal slaying of the Clutter family by two would-be robbers would be remembered as a trail-blazing experiment that has influenced countless writers. But Capote achieved more than that. He wrote a true masterpiece of creative nonfiction. The images of this tale continue to resonate in our minds: 16-year-old Nancy Clutter teaching a friend how to bake a cherry pie, Dick Hickock's black '49 Chevrolet sedan, Perry Smith's Gibson guitar and his dreams of gold in a tropical paradise--the blood on the walls and the final "thud-snap" of the rope-broken necks. [via]
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The Last of the Mohicansby James Fenimore Cooper, N. C. WyethISBN 0684187116 (0-684-18711-6)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Last of the Mohicans'Book summary:Chingachgook and Uncas are the last living members of the great Mohican tribe. Hawkeye, a colonial scout, is their companion and loyal friend. In the midst of the French and Indian War, the three take great risks to lead the two daughters of a British colonel to safety through the battle-torn northern wilderness. When the girls are captured by the vicious Huron tribe, Chingachgook, Uncas, and Hawkeye risk their very lives to rescue them.
Carefully adapted for young readers, and featuring magnificent illustrations by N. C. Wyeth, Scribner Storybook Classics brings a dynamic introduction to James Fenimore Cooper's epic tale from his Leatherstocking series in which love, bravery, and loyalty are valued above all else.
More editions of The Last of the Mohicans:
- The Last of the Mohicans: ISBN 0804900051 (0-8049-0005-1)
Softcover, Alex m Yudkin Assoc - The Last of the Mohicans: ISBN 0684187167 (0-684-18716-7)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster - The Last of the Mohicans: ISBN 0689840683 (0-689-84068-3)
Hardcover, Atheneum - The Last of the Mohicans: ISBN 0684187116 (0-684-18711-6)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
- The Last of the Mohicans: ISBN 0804900051 (0-8049-0005-1)
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The Last of the Mohicansby Les Martin, James Fenimore Cooper, Shanno StirnweisISBN 0679847065 (0-679-84706-5)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Last of the Mohicans'Book summary:Illus. in black-and-white. This action-packed edition of James Fenimore Cooper's famous adventure brings the wilds of the American frontier and the drama of the French and Indian War to vivid life. [via]
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The Last of the Mohicans/ Book With Kitby James Fenimore CooperISBN 0764170481 (0-7641-7048-1)
Hardcover, Barrons Juveniles
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Last of the Mohicans/ Book With Kit'Book summary:The Last of the Mohicans/ Book With Kit (Living Classics Series) [via]
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Lies Across America : What Our Historic Sites Get Wrongby James W. LoewenISBN 0684870673 (0-684-87067-3)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lies Across America : What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong'Book summary:Little seems to delight historian James W. Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, more than picking apart the cherished myths of American history. Few Americans study history after high school--instead, Loewen writes, they turn to novels and Oliver Stone movies to learn about the past. And they turn to the landscape, to roadside historical markers, guidebooks, museums, and tours of battlefields, childhood homes, and massacre sites. If you were to trust those sources, Loewen suggests, you would learn, erroneously, that the first airplane flight took place not at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, but at Pittsburg, Texas. "It must be true--an impressive-looking Texas state historical marker says so!" Loewen chortles.
In these entertaining pages, Loewen takes a region-by-region tour of the United States, pointing out historical oddments as he travels. For example, a massacre of white pioneers by Indians commemorated in Almo, Idaho, never took place, Loewen continues; neither did many other such events. Indeed, he insists, "throughout the entire West between 1842 and 1859, of more than 400,000 pioneers crossing the plains, fewer than 400, or less than .1 percent, were killed by American Indians." And if you were to visit Helen Keller's Georgia birthplace, over which a Confederate flag flies, you would get the impression that Keller had been an unreconstructed daughter of the Old South, whereas she was in fact an early supporter of the NAACP. And so on.
After finishing Loewen's alternately angry and bemused exposé, readers will likely never trust a roadside historical marker or tour guide again--which may prompt them to turn to history books to check things out for themselves. As well they should. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoirby Bill BrysonISBN 0767919378 (0-7679-1937-8)
Softcover, Broadway Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir'Book summary:From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s
[via]
Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century1951in the middle of the United StatesDes Moines, Iowain the middle of the largest generation in American historythe baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)in his headas "The Thunderbolt Kid."
Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normalitya life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Brysons earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.
Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.More editions of The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir:
A Life on the Roadby Charles KuraltISBN 0804108692 (0-8041-0869-2)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Little Menby Louisa May Alcott, Ann M. Magagna, Louis JambourISBN 0804901945 (0-8049-0194-5)
Softcover, Airmont Pub Co
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Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott, Monica KullingISBN 0679861750 (0-679-86175-0)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Little Women'Book summary:The quintessential American family story, Little Women captured readers' hearts right from the start. A bestseller from the time it was originally published in 1868, it is the story of the four March sisters: Meg, Beth, Jo, and Amy. Louisa May Alcott recreates her own family's dramatic and sometimes comic experiences in this American novel, inspiration for numerous dramatic and film versions. [via]
More editions of Little Women:
- Little Women: ISBN 0689835310 (0-689-83531-0)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Little Women: ISBN 0766607119 (0-7666-0711-9)
Hardcover, Modern Pub - Little Women: ISBN 0785788727 (0-7857-8872-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound - Little Women: ISBN 069401527X (0-694-01527-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books - Little Women: ISBN 0804901066 (0-8049-0106-6)
Softcover, Airmont Pub Co - Little Women: ISBN 0681007672 (0-681-00767-2)
Hardcover, Longmeadow Pr - Little Women: ISBN 0681400552 (0-681-40055-2)
Hardcover, Longmeadow Pr - Little Women: ISBN 070641313X (0-7064-1313-X)
Hardcover, Octopus Books Limited - Little Women: ISBN 0716632020 (0-7166-3202-0)
Hardcover, World Book - Little Women: ISBN 0723512116 (0-7235-1211-6)
Hardcover, Egmont Books, Limited - Little Women: ISBN 0762405651 (0-7624-0565-1)
Hardcover, Courage Books - Little Women: ISBN 0764170473 (0-7641-7047-3)
Hardcover, Barrons Juveniles - Little Women: ISBN 0679861750 (0-679-86175-0)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
- Little Women: ISBN 0689835310 (0-689-83531-0)
Little Women, Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amyby Louisa May Alcott, Trina Schart HymanISBN 0688140904 (0-688-14090-4)
Hardcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United Statesby Bill BrysonISBN 068810312X (0-688-10312-X)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States'Book summary:Readers from Toad Suck, Arkansas, to Idiotsville, Oregon--and everywhere in between--will love Made in America, Bill Bryson's Informal History of the English Language in the United States. It is, in a word, fascinating. After reading this tour de force, it's clear that a nation's language speaks volumes about its true character: you are what you speak. Bryson traces America's history through the language of the time, then goes on to discuss words culled from everyday activities: immigration, eating, shopping, advertising, going to the movies, and others.
Made in America will supply you with interesting facts and cocktail chatter for a year or more. Did you know, for example, that Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly and carry a big stick" credo has its roots in a West African proverb? Or that actor Walter Matthau's given name is Walter Mattaschanskayasky? Or that the supposedly frigid Puritans--who called themselves "Saints," by the way--had something called a pre-contract, which was a license for premarital sex? Made in America is an excellent discussion of American English, but what makes the book such a treasure is that it offers much, much more. [via]
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Moby Dickby Herman Melville, Hershel Parker, G. Thomas Tanselle, Harrison HayfordISBN 0810102692 (0-8101-0269-2)
Softcover, Northwestern Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Moby Dick'Book summary:Avec Moby Dick, Melville a donné naissance à un livre-culte et inscrit dans la mémoire des hommes un nouveau mythe : celui de la baleine blanche. Fort de son expérience de marin, qui a nourri ses romans précédents et lui a assuré le succès, l'écrivain américain, alors en pleine maturité, raconte la folle quête du capitaine Achab et sa dernière rencontre avec le grand cachalot. Véritable encyclopédie de la mer, nouvelle Bible aux accents prophétiques, parabole chargée de thèmes universels, Moby Dick n'en reste pas moins construit avec une savante maîtrise, maintenant un suspense lent, qui s'accélère peu à peu jusqu'à l'apocalypse finale. L'écriture de Melville, infiniment libre et audacieuse, tour à tour balancée, puis hachée au rythme des houles, des vents et des passions humaines, est d'une richesse exceptionnelle. Il faut remonter à Shakespeare pour trouver l'exemple d'une langue aussi inventive, d'une poésie aussi grandiose. --Scarbo [via]
More editions of Moby Dick:
- Moby Dick: ISBN 0810119110 (0-8101-1911-0)
Softcover, Northwestern Univ Pr - Moby Dick: ISBN 0763630187 (0-7636-3018-7)
Hardcover, Candlewick Pr - Moby Dick: ISBN 0766607194 (0-7666-0719-4)
Hardcover, Modern Pub - Moby Dick: ISBN 0791091066 (0-7910-9106-6)
Hardcover, Facts on File - Moby Dick: ISBN 0791093638 (0-7910-9363-8)
Hardcover, Facts on File - Moby Dick: ISBN 0809567288 (0-8095-6728-8)
Hardcover, Wildside Pr - Moby Dick: ISBN 0804900337 (0-8049-0033-7)
Softcover, Airmont Pub Co - Moby Dick: ISBN 0785819134 (0-7858-1913-4)
Hardcover, Castle Books Inc - Moby Dick: ISBN 0810102692 (0-8101-0269-2)
Softcover, Northwestern Univ Pr
- Moby Dick: ISBN 0810119110 (0-8101-1911-0)
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Moby Dick Or, the Whaleby Herman Melville, Rockwell KentISBN 067978327X (0-679-78327-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Moby Dick Or, the Whale'Book summary:Avec Moby Dick, Melville a donné naissance à un livre-culte et inscrit dans la mémoire des hommes un nouveau mythe : celui de la baleine blanche. Fort de son expérience de marin, qui a nourri ses romans précédents et lui a assuré le succès, l'écrivain américain, alors en pleine maturité, raconte la folle quête du capitaine Achab et sa dernière rencontre avec le grand cachalot. Véritable encyclopédie de la mer, nouvelle Bible aux accents prophétiques, parabole chargée de thèmes universels, Moby Dick n'en reste pas moins construit avec une savante maîtrise, maintenant un suspense lent, qui s'accélère peu à peu jusqu'à l'apocalypse finale. L'écriture de Melville, infiniment libre et audacieuse, tour à tour balancée, puis hachée au rythme des houles, des vents et des passions humaines, est d'une richesse exceptionnelle. Il faut remonter à Shakespeare pour trouver l'exemple d'une langue aussi inventive, d'une poésie aussi grandiose. --Scarbo [via]
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My Antoniaby Willa Cather, Alyssa HaradISBN 0743487699 (0-7434-8769-9)
Softcover, Pocket Classics
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› Find signed collectible books: 'My Antonia'Book summary:It seems almost sacrilege to infringe upon a book as soulful and rich as Willa Cather's My Ántonia by offering comment. First published in 1918, and set in Nebraska in the late 19th century, this tale of the spirited daughter of a Bohemian immigrant family planning to farm on the untamed land ("not a country at all but the material out of which countries are made") comes to us through the romantic eyes of Jim Burden. He is, at the time of their meeting, newly orphaned and arriving at his grandparents' neighboring farm on the same night her family strikes out to make good in their new country. Jim chooses the opening words of his recollections deliberately: "I first heard of Ántonia on what seemed to be an interminable journey across the great midland plain of North America," and it seems almost certain that readers of Cather's masterpiece will just as easily pinpoint the first time they heard of Ántonia and her world. It seems equally certain that they, too, will remember that moment as one of great light in an otherwise unremarkable trip through the world.
Ántonia, who, even as a grown woman somewhat downtrodden by circumstance and hard work, "had not lost the fire of life," lies at the center of almost every human condition that Cather's novel effortlessly untangles. She represents immigrant struggles with a foreign land and tongue, the restraints on women of the time (with which Cather was very much concerned), the more general desires for love, family, and companionship, and the great capacity for forbearance that marked the earliest settlers on the frontier.
As if all this humanity weren't enough, Cather paints her descriptions of the vastness of nature--the high, red grass, the road that "ran about like a wild thing," the endless wind on the plains--with strokes so vivid as to make us feel in our bones that we've just come in from a walk on that very terrain ourselves. As the story progresses, Jim goes off to the University in Lincoln to study Latin (later moving on to Harvard and eventually staying put on the East Coast in another neat encompassing of a stage in America's development) and learns Virgil's phrase "Optima dies ... prima fugit" that Cather uses as the novel's epigraph. "The best days are the first to flee"--this could be said equally of childhood and the earliest hours of this country in which the open land, much like My Ántonia, was nothing short of a rhapsody in prairie sky blue. --Melanie Rehak [via]
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Naked Pictures of Famous Peopleby Jon StewartISBN 0688171621 (0-688-17162-1)
Softcover, Rob Weisbach Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Naked Pictures of Famous People'Book summary:Sometimes it seems like every standup comedian worth his or her salt just has to do the book thing, and you might feel that yet another warmed-over stage routine is the last thing you need taking up valuable bookshelf space. Jon Stewart's book will come as an extremely pleasant surprise. He eschews the standard standup patter and instead gives us 18 short comic essays in a variety of styles that recall the prose work of Woody Allen, only with a few more references to genitals. Stewart proves himself a remarkably nimble humorist with a sharp eye for parody, whether he's writing "A Very Hanson Christmas" or "Adolf Hitler: The Larry King Interview."
HITLER: ...Larry, look, I was a bad guy. No question. I hate that Hitler. The yelling, the finger pointing, I don't know ... I was a very angry guy.
KING: And this ... new Hitler?
HITLER: I get up at seven, have half a melon, do the jumble in the morning paper and then let the day take me where it will.... Me!! The inventor of the Blitzkrieg... When you stop having to control everything it's very freeing.
Stewart is not afraid to flirt with bad taste, in fact, some of the pieces in this collection do for "flirting with bad taste" what Bill Clinton did for "not having sexual relations." But it's wonderful to see an edgy comedian taking on the traditionally cozy genre of the humorous essay, creating work that combines the wit of Robert Benchley with the energy and attitude of the best modern standup. Naked Pictures of Famous People proves that Jon Stewart is as comfortable, and accomplished, in front of a word processor as he is in front of an audience. --Simon Leake [via]
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Of Mice and Menby John SteinbeckISBN 0783813589 (0-7838-1358-9)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Of Mice and Men'Book summary:Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck, one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century, offers a powerful but tragic tale in "Of Mice and Men". 'Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place'. George and his large, simple-minded friend Lennie are drifters, following wherever work leads them. Arriving in California's Salinas Valley, they get work on a ranch. If they can just stay out of trouble, George promises Lennie, then one day they might be able to get some land of their own and settle down some place. But kind-hearted, childlike Lennie is a victim of his own strength. Seen by others as a threat, he finds it impossible to control his emotions. And one day not even George will be able to save him from trouble. "Of Mice and Men" is a tragic and moving story of friendship, loneliness and the dispossessed. "A thriller, a gripping tale that you will not set down until it is finished. Steinbeck has touched the quick". ("New York Times"). Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is remembered as one of the greatest and best-loved American writers of the twentieth century. His complete works are published by Penguin and include "Cannery Row", "The Pearl", "The Winter of Our Discontent" and "The Grapes of Wrath". [via]
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The Oregon Trailby Francis Parkman, Anthony BrandtISBN 0792266404 (0-7922-6640-4)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Oregon Trail'Book summary:Presents accounts of a young man's travels on the Oregon Trail and his sojourn with the Oglala Indians. [via]
More editions of The Oregon Trail:
- The Oregon Trail: ISBN 0803287399 (0-8032-8739-9)
Softcover, Univ of Nebraska Pr - The Oregon Trail: ISBN 080490037X (0-8049-0037-X)
Softcover, Airmont Pub Co - The Oregon Trail: ISBN 0785745904 (0-7857-4590-4)
Hardcover, Bt Bound - The Oregon Trail: ISBN 0805512039 (0-8055-1203-9)
Hardcover, Hart Pub Co - The Oregon Trail: ISBN 0792266404 (0-7922-6640-4)
Softcover, Random House Inc
- The Oregon Trail: ISBN 0803287399 (0-8032-8739-9)
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Readings on My Antoniaby Willa Cather, Christopher SmithISBN 0737701803 (0-7377-0180-3)
Softcover, Greenhaven Pr
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Roadsby Larry McMurtryISBN 0684868857 (0-684-86885-7)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Roads'Book summary:You couldn't find a blunter or more accurate title for Larry McMurtry's third work of nonfiction. Roads is indeed an automotive odyssey, in which the author traverses America on one highway after another. As such, the book has a long and honorable pedigree, stretching back to Tocqueville by way of Kerouac, and many readers will compare it to William Least Heat-Moon's bucolic ramble, Blue Highways. That, however, would be a mistake. The last thing McMurtry has in mind is a leisurely tour of small-town America--he's interested in the interstates themselves, "the great roads, the major migration routes that carry Americans long distances quickly." No wonder the speedometer seldom dips below 65 mph throughout the entire narrative. McMurtry is a man on the move, and even his meditative moments fly by in the linguistic equivalent of fourth gear.
Actually, there may be another reason the author is reluctant to apply the brakes: his distaste for various towns, villages, counties, and entire states. Planning a trip to the Texas hill country? McMurtry notes that "the soil is too stoney to farm or ranch, the hills are just sort of forested speed bumps, and the people, mostly of stern Teutonic stock, are suspicious, tightfisted, unfriendly, and mean." Missouri is "a place to get through as rapidly as possible," Ohio and Georgia "really aren't pleasant," and woe to the traveler who lingers in the one-horse towns of the West, "where it's not even wise to roll down one's windows--if you avoid getting murdered you might still breathe in some deadly desert germ."
This crankiness does have an undeniable comic appeal. Yet Roads turns out to be a sentimental journey after all, in the course of which McMurtry hopes to resurrect some of the élan vital he lost in the wake of his 1991 heart surgery. Driving, like reading itself, just may prompt some remembrance of things past:
As I prepared to drive those same overfamiliar roads again it occurred to me that my effort was obliquely Proustian, a retracing of my past that is analogous to the many rereadings I've done in the last few years, always of books I read before the surgery. In these rereadings and redrivings I'm searching, not for lost time, but for lost feelings, for the elements of my old personality that are still unaccounted for. I'm not anguished about these absentees, just curious and somewhat wistful.
Indeed, anguish is largely absent from McMurtry's account, and he doesn't dwell often on this scenario of loss and recovery. Still, it comes through particularly strongly at the end, when he compares his own, transient experience of place to his father's. These final chapters cast a sadder and more substantial light on the preceding ones--and make this circuitous, sometimes tetchy book a trip worth taking. --James Marcus [via]-
Roughing Itby Mark Twain, Henry B. WonhamISBN 0743436504 (0-7434-3650-4)
Softcover, Pocket Classics
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Roughing It'Book summary:There is no nicer surprise for a reader than to discover that an acknowledged classic really does deliver the goods. Mark Twain's Roughing It is just such a book. The adventure tale is a delight from start to finish and is just as engrossing today as it was 125 years ago when it first appeared.
Roughing It tells the true-ish escapades of Twain in the American West. Although he clearly "speaks with forked tongue," Roughing It is informative as well as humorous. From stagecoach travel to the etiquette of prospecting, the modern reader gains considerable insight into that much-fictionalized time and place. Do you know about sagebrush, for example?
Sage-brush is very fair fuel, but as a vegetable it is a distinguished failure. Nothing can abide the taste of it but the jackass and his illegitimate child, the mule. But their testimony to its nutritiousness is worth nothing, for they will eat pine knots, or anthracite coal, or brass filings, or lead pipe, or old bottles, or anything that comes handy, and then go off looking as grateful as if they had had oysters for dinner.
Roughing It is informally structured around the narrator's attempts to strike it rich. He meets a motley, colorful crew in the process; many mishaps occur, and it shouldn't surprise you that Twain does not emerge a man of means. But he withstands it all in such a relentless good humor that his misfortune inspires laughter. Roughing It is wonderful entertainment and reminds you how funny the world can be--even its grimmer districts--when you're traveling with the right writer. [via] -
Sarah, Plain and Tallby Patricia MacLachlanISBN 0786280646 (0-7862-8064-6)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sarah, Plain And Tall'Book summary:MacLachlan, author of Unclaimed Treasures, has written an affecting tale for children. In the late 19th century a widowed midwestern farmer with two children--Anna and Caleb--advertises for a wife. When Sarah arrives she is homesick for Maine, especially for the ocean which she misses greatly. The children fear that she will not stay, and when she goes off to town alone, young Caleb--whose mother died during childbirth--is stricken with the fear that she has gone for good. But she returns with colored pencils to illustrate for them the beauty of Maine, and to explain that, though she misses her home, "the truth of it is I would miss you more." The tale gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love. [via]
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The Shepherd of the Hillsby Harold Bell WrightISBN 0766195473 (0-7661-9547-3)
Softcover, Kessinger Pub Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Shepherd of the Hills'Book summary:1907. Prior to his artistic and writing career, Harold Bell Wright served as a minister. In The Shepherd of the Hills he writes about a man who comes from the world of cities to the beautiful Ozark hill country. Among the people of the district, with their simple, direct ideals and way of life, he finds the peaceful atmosphere he craves, while his more intellectual philosophy and character come to be valuable elements in the lives of his new friends. From his relationship with Sammy Lane and the Matthews family arise in dramatic fashion the gripping situations and thrilling incidents that bring him into a peculiarly intimate connection with these people, their country, and their simple life. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. [via]
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Sister Carrieby Theodore DreiserISBN 0804901473 (0-8049-0147-3)
Softcover, Airmont Pub Co
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Star-Spangled Bannerby National Geographic Society Staff, Margaret SedeenISBN 0792282515 (0-7922-8251-5)
Softcover, National Geographic Society
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Star-Spangled Banner'Book summary:This fascinating book explores the role of the flag through America's triumphs and tragedies: from the burning of the White House in 1812 to the planting of the flag on the moon to the days following the the September 11 attack on the United States. Learn about the evolution of the stars and stripes; the flag in war and diplomacy, the flag in exploration and the flag in daily life. A useful section on the proper display of the flag is included. Engaging, informative text and more than 250 photographs examine the story of a nation, woven into a piece of cloth. [via]
Summerland: Library Editionby Michael ChabonISBN 0786816155 (0-7868-1615-5)
Softcover, Disney Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Summerland: Library Edition'Book summary:In Summerland, his first novel for young readers, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon attempts an American Narnia. Inspired by Lewis and Tolkien, he's created his own magical landscape on which to paint a sweeping fantasy quest, but mixes the same ingredients--folklore and new inventions--in a distinctively American way.
The plot is simple and pure, but takes a long time to tell. The setting is Clam Island, Washington, specifically the area on the western tip of the island known as the Summerlands, which enjoys zero rainfall and yearlong fine weather. Ethan Feld, a self-described really bad ball player, is recruited by a 100-year-old scout called Mr. Chiron "Ringfinger" Brown. Ethan is needed to help the ferishers, essentially fairies, to save their world from eradication. On the great infinite tree of worlds, Summerland is on the boundary between two such worlds, and a particularly destructive fairy called Coyote and his band of warriors are nearby and threatening to destroy everything.
Heroes are desperately needed to counter this threat, and their journey involves a lot of baseball, but also encounters with giants, bat-winged goblins, sea monsters, and assorted cunning magic. The novel features an ensemble cast of equal parts that shine and fade in turn, and yet the undoubtedly fine writing fails to mask the enormity and complexities of the world in which they travel, and the bad guys getting their comeuppance always seems so far away. Readers need to savor every word in Summerland to extract the best flavors from it. (Ages 10 and older.) --John McLay, Amazon.co.uk [via]
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Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New Worldby Sarah VowellISBN 0743205405 (0-7432-0540-5)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World'Book summary:"Take the Cannoli" is a moving and wickedly funny collection of personal stories stretching across the immense landscape of the American scene. Hailed by "Newsweek" as a "cranky stylist with talent to burn," Vowell has an irresistible voice -- caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged -- that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on This American Life.
While tackling subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history, these autobiographical tales are written with a biting humor, placing Vowell solidly in the tradition of Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker. Vowell searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears.
"Take the Cannoli" is an eclectic tour of the New World, a collection of alternately hilarious and heartbreaking essays and autobiographical yarns. [via]
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To Kill a Mockingbirdby Harper LeeISBN 0771052340 (0-7710-5234-0)
Hardcover, McClelland & Stewart Ltd
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› Find signed collectible books: 'To Kill a Mockingbird'Book summary:Harold Bloom's introduction questions whether Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that will endure or has had popularity merely as a time. Along with a collection of some of the best criticism available on his work, this text includes a brief biography of the author, structural and thematic analysis, an index of themes and ideas, and more. This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School. These texts are the ideal aid for all students of literature, presenting concise, easy-to-understand biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on a specific literary work. Also provided are multiple sources for book reports and term papers with a wealth of information on literary works, authors, and major characters. [via]
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Waldenby Henry David Thoreau, J. Lyndon Shanley, John UpdikeISBN 0691096120 (0-691-09612-0)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Walden'Book summary:It takes an irreverent, original writer and thinker like Bill McKibben to reveal to a new generation of readers how intensely practical Thoreau's vision in Walden is for those of us living our lives at the cusp of the new millennium.
Recent Thoreau scholarship has concentrated on Thoreau as
prescient forest ecologist; McKibben--author of The End of Nature and one of our best-read social and environmental critics--places him firmly back in his role as cultural and spiritual seer. McKibben identifies two questions asked by Thoreau as central to a late-twentieth-century reading of Walden: "How much is enough?" and "How do I know what I want?" Questions, McKibben reminds us, that must come to dominate the end of the twentieth century if we are to live well into the twenty-first.
McKibben's relevant and lively introduction and annotations to the 1854 edition make us see Walden as, among other things, a way to think about how we use our time, how we spend our money --and how to live essential lives. [via]More editions of Walden:
- Walden: ISBN 0807014230 (0-8070-1423-0)
Softcover, Beacon Press - Walden: ISBN 0807014257 (0-8070-1425-7)
Softcover, Beacon Pr - Walden: ISBN 0691061947 (0-691-06194-7)
Hardcover, Princeton Univ Pr - Walden: ISBN 0691014647 (0-691-01464-7)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr - Walden: ISBN 0681202297 (0-681-20229-7)
Hardcover, Longmeadow Pr - Walden: ISBN 0762405562 (0-7624-0556-2)
Hardcover, Courage Books - Walden: ISBN 0691096120 (0-691-09612-0)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
- Walden: ISBN 0807014230 (0-8070-1423-0)
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Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide To America's Local Legends And Best Kept Secretsby Mark SceurmanISBN 0760750432 (0-7607-5043-2)
Hardcover, Barnes & Noble
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide To America's Local Legends And Best Kept Secrets'Book summary:[via]Whats weird around here? Thats a question Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman have enjoyed asking for yearsand their offbeat sense of curiosity led them to create the best-selling phenomenon, Weird N.J. But why should they stop at New Jersey when theres so much thats strange, odd, and utterly nutty all across the U.S.? So theyve expanded their universe, taken their act on the road, and found stories of weirdness in every state in the nation. The result is a travel guide of sorts, but to the kind of places voyagers will never find on their everyday maps. Instead, its chock full of the local legends, crazy characters, cursed roads, abandoned sites, and bizarre roadside attractions. So come along and visit such unique spots as Midgetville, explore long-empty insane asylums, and go through forgotten tunnelsbut keep in mind that the maniacal Bunnyman just might be hiding out in one of them. Some of whats out there is disturbing, some of it's hilarious, but all of it is unforgettably weird.More editions of Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide To America's Local Legends And Best Kept Secrets:
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Wickedby Gregory MaguireISBN 0786206438 (0-7862-0643-8)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wicked'Book summary:An astonishingly rich re-creation of the land of Oz, this book retells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn't so wicked after all. Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world rich with imagination and allegory, Gregory Maguire just might change the reputation of one of the most sinister characters in literature. [via]
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Winter's Taleby Mark HelprinISBN 0756785391 (0-7567-8539-1)
Softcover, Diane Pub Co
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The World's Great ClassicsISBN 0717200019 (0-7172-0001-9)
Hardcover, Xs Books
Find This BookBook summary:Odyssey, The: The World's Great Classics, by Homer; tr. by S.H. Butcher and Andrew Lang [via]
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