Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challengesby Byron Pitts
A pull-yourself-up-by-the bootstraps story of challenge and triumph from 60 Minutes correspondent Byron Pitts.
In this classic American story, journalist Byron Pitts relates how he transformed from an illiterate boy with a stutter in inner-city Baltimore into an award-winning chief national correspondent for CBS News. His parents split up when he was 12, and his mother helped the family survive by working two jobs. People like Pitts’ mother, who raised him well, and his college roommate, who taught him vocabulary, “stepped out on nothing” to help him succeed—and, of course, he worked hard. Pitts followed his dream of being a journalist and landed a job at a small-time television station, where he spent 15 years before moving on to CBS News and 6 0 Minutes, proving that you really can be whatever you want to be.
War Dancesby Sherman Alexie
The National Book Award winner is back with stories of ordinary men in life-changing moments.
In his first release since the 2007 National Book Award winner The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie is out with a new collection of 23 stories and poems—only one previously published—that combine universal themes of love, race, stereotypes, success, and betrayal with Alexie’s down-to-earth, beautiful style. The stories, all set in the Pacific Northwest, feature an all-male cast of characters—artists, laborers, fathers, husbands, and sons—in life-changing moments. The title story, “War Dances,” revolves around death and a father-son relationship, while “The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless” chronicles the dysfunctional marriage and extramarital affair of a vintage clothing store owner. Writes Seattle Times book editor Mary Ann Gwinn: “Sherman Alexie mixes up comedy and tragedy, shoots it through with tenderness, then delivers with a provocateur’s don’t-give-a-damn flourish. He’s unique, and his new book, War Dances, is another case in point.”
American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwoodby Marc Eliot
A sweeping cinematic biography of one of America’s greatest movie legends.
A biography of one of the greatest legends in American film, written by one of the most acclaimed biographers and film historians of this century, American Rebel is the most comprehensive account of Clint Eastwood’s life to date. Biographer Marc Eliot, whose subjects have included Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Walt Disney, Bruce Springsteen, and Ronald Reagan, focuses on the last 15 years of Eastwood’s life in a way that no other Eastwood biographies have. In addition to chronicling the star’s most significant film achievements as an actor, director, and producer, Eliot documents Eastwood’s early years in Hollywood, the intense intersection between his personal life and work, his transition from actor to filmmaker, new details on the Sondra Locke case, and his slew of romantic affairs, which have resulted in seven children by five women. Writes Publishers Weekly, “Eliot tackles the life, career and artistic challenges…while also probing the ‘never ending drama’ of Eastwood’s modus vivendi, his ‘financial empire’ and his personal relationships. Eliot documents a wealth of details in this well-researched, comprehensive biography that will not disappoint Eastwood’s fans.”
The Past Is Never Dead: The Trail of James Ford Seale and Mississippi’s Struggle for Redemption by Harry N. MacLean
The gripping true story of how Klansman James Seale was finally brought to justice, 40 years later.
Forty-five years ago, two young black men were picked up hitchhiking, violently beaten, and drowned in the Mississippi River. The murderer went free until 2007, when Klansman James Ford Seale was put on trial. In The Past Is Never Dead, lawyer and bestselling author Harry MacLean delivers the riveting story of the murder, shedding light on Mississippi’s painful history with race relations and the Klan, and the role local government played in Seale’s eluding conviction. MacLean is a master of true crime storytelling, and Publishers Weekly describes his latest work as being written with “momentum, clear legal explanations and stirring empathy for each character.”
The Predictioneer’s Game: Using the Logic of Brazen Self-Interest to See and Shape the Future by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
A game theory expert shows how to use it practically, from political and corporate planning to day-to-day life.
What if you were able to predict events in life with near-perfect accuracy? That’s the skill The Predictioneer’s Game aims to teach readers, and author Bruce Bueno de Mesquita has the credentials to back it up—de Mesquita is one of the world’s foremost game theorists, and his list of notable advisees includes, among others, the CIA. This innovative new book first breaks down the origins of and logic behind game theory, in what Publishers Weekly calls a “provocative tutorial” that explains the way it can be used in business, for the environment, in politics, and, most interestingly, in an individual’s everyday life.
