• Biographies & Memoirs | Leaders & Notable People | Politicians
• Biographies & Memoirs | Memoirs
• Women Politicians
• Governors

From her humble beginnings to her time in the spotlight as the first female Republican Vice President candidate, Sarah Palin has led an extraordinary life. In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Palin paints an intimate portrait of growing up in the wilds of Alaska; meeting her lifelong love; and speaks frankly about her decision to enter politics--recounting her political experiences, her time as Mayor of Wasilla and as the first female governor of Alaska, as well as her rapid rise on the national stage during the 2008 presidential race. Palin provides a rare, mom's eye view of high stakes national politics. Additionally, Palin shares insights into the personal challenges she's faced including balancing her time as a working mother, recognizing the war's impact with her eldest son serving his country in a year-long deployment in Iraq, having a child with a disability, and supporting her teenage daughter with an unplanned pregnancy.

In Going Rogue: An American Life  Palin shares with readers the importance of faith and family; tells of the unique joys and trials of life as a high-profile working mother. Palin is a Main Street American woman: a working mom, the wife of a blue collar union man, and mother of five children. Palin's hometown story touched a populist nerve, rallying hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans to the GOP ticket.   But as the campaign unfolded, Palin became a lightning rod for both praise and criticism. Supporters called her "refreshing," "honest," a kitchen-table public servant they felt would fight for their interests. Opponents derided her as a wide-eyed Pollyanna unprepared for national leadership. But few know the real Sarah Palin.

Sam Capra - brilliant CIA agent, loving husband, expectant father - loses everything that matters to him in a horrifying moment in London. An unknown enemy has set him up as a traitor. But that enemy has targeted the wrong man. Escaping from the CIA, Sam goes on a desperate hunt for the killer who stole his family and to save his kidnapped wife and child. But the destruction of Sam's life was only step one in an extraordinary plot ? and now Sam Capra must become a new kind of hero.

From one of our most acclaimed writers comes this dramatic tale of a well-born Southern woman whose life is forever changed by the betrayal of her mother and by the man she loves.

Growing up, the only place tomboy Thayer Wentworth felt at home was at her summer camp - Camp Sherwood Forest in the North Carolina Mountains. It was there that she came alive and where she met Nick Abrams, her first love...and first heartbreak.

Years later, Thayer marries Aengus, an Irish professor, and they move into her deceased grandmother's house in Atlanta, only miles from Camp Edgewood on Burnt Mountain where her father died years ago in a car accident. There, Aengus and Thayer lead quiet and happy lives until Aengus is invited up to the camp to tell old Irish tales to the campers. As Aengus spends less time at home and becomes more distant, Thayer must confront dark secrets--about her mother, her first love, and, most devastating of all, her husband.

"One of those who has been warning me of [a coming crisis] for a long time is Paul Gilding, the Australian environmental business expert. He has a name for this moment-when both Mother Nature and Father Greed have hit the wall at once-'The Great Disruption.' "-Thomas Friedman in the New York Times

It's time to stop just worrying about climate change, says Paul Gilding. We need instead to brace for impact because global crisis is no longer avoidable. This Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices and dramatic ecological changes, such as the melting ice caps. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version 1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our planet's ecosystems and resources.

The Great Disruption offers a stark and unflinching look at the challenge humanity faces-yet also a deeply optimistic message. The coming decades will see loss, suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid; however, they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion, innovation, resilience, and adaptability. Gilding tells us how to fight-and win-what he calls The One Degree War to prevent catastrophic warming of the earth, and how to start today.

The crisis represents a rare chance to replace our addiction to growth with an ethic of sustainability, and it's already happening. It's also an unmatched business opportunity: Old industries will collapse while new companies will literally reshape our economy. In the aftermath of the Great Disruption, we will measure "growth" in a new way. It will mean not quantity of stuff but quality and happiness of life. Yes, there is life after shopping.

• Cooking, Food & Wine | Special Diet
• Health, Mind & Body | Diets & Weight Loss
• Health, Mind & Body | Nutrition
• Health, Mind & Body | Self-Help

With more than 30 simple, delicious recipes (including her famous SkinnyGirl Margarita), a one-week program to jump-start readers on the Naturally Thin lifestyle, and warm, witty encouragement on every page, Bethenny Frankel serves up a book for a healthier and thinner life!

She stole the show in the runaway hit The Real Housewives of New York City, but Bethenny Frankel's passion has always been enjoying healthful, natural foods and sharing that love: whether she was cooking for Hollywood A-listers, launching her successful company BethennyBakes, providing delicious recipes to Health, or working with leading lifestyle and food companies.

Naturally Thin shows how anyone can banish their Heavy Habits, embrace Thin Thoughts, and enjoy satisfying meals, snacks, and drinks without the guilt.

Armed with Bethenny's rules, readers will say:

• I know when I am really hungry
• When I'm really hungry, I look for high-volume, fiber-rich foods
• I can have any food I want
• I love the taste of real food

Not your typical boring diet book, this is a tart-tongued, no-holds-barred wakeup call to all women who want to be thin. With such blunt advice as, "Soda is liquid Satan" and "You are a total moron if you think the Atkins Diet will make you thin," it's a rallying cry for all savvy women to start eating healthy and looking radiant. Unlike standard diet books, it actually makes the reader laugh out loud with its truthful, smart-mouthed revelations. Behind all the attitude, however, there's solid guidance. Skinny Bitch espouses a healthful lifestyle that promotes whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and encourages women to get excited about feeling "clean and pure and energized."

The greatest managers in the world seem to have little in common. They differ in sex, age, and race. They employ vastly different styles and focus on different goals. Yet despite their differences, great managers share one common trait: They do not hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom. They do not believe that, with enough training, a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. They do not try to help people overcome their weaknesses. They consistently disregard the golden rule. And, yes, they even play favorites. This amazing book explains why.

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive in-depth study of great managers across a wide variety of situations. Some were in leadership positions. Others were front-line supervisors. Some were in Fortune 500 companies; others were key players in small, entrepreneurial companies. Whatever their situations, the managers who ultimately became the focus of Gallup's research were invariably those who excelled at turning each employee's talent into performance.

In today's tight labor markets, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training. But these well-intentioned efforts often miss the mark. The front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees. No matter how generous its pay or how renowned its training, the company that lacks great front-line managers will suffer. Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations for him or her -- they define the right outcomes rather than the right steps; how they motivate people -- they build on each person's unique strengths rather than trying to fix his weaknesses; and, finally, how great managers develop people -- they find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder. And perhaps most important, this research -- whic...

 

Religion & Spirituality | Christianity

The Purpose Driven® Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?, Rick Warren’s #1 New York Times bestseller, guides you  on a personal forty-day spiritual journey of discovery in search of answers to life’s most important question: What on earth am I here for?  Five biblical answers will transform your outlook on life. With over 20 million copies sold worldwide,The Purpose Driven® Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?  will help you understand why you are alive and reveal God's amazing plan for you---both here and now, and for eternity.  Rick Warren will guide you through a personal forty-day spiritual journey that will transform your answer to life's most important question: “What on earth am I here for?” Knowing God's purpose for creating you will reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give meaning to your life, and most important, prepare you for eternity. "Movie stars and political leaders aren't the only ones turning to Rick Warren for spiritual guidance. Millions of people---from NBA and LPGA players to corporate executives to high school students to prison inmates---meet regularly to discuss The Purpose Driven® Life“  -Time

Love blooms in the second novel in Nora Roberts's celebrated Bride Quartet series.

As little girls MacKensie, Emma, Laurel, and Parker spent hours acting out their perfect make believe "I do" moments. Years later their fantasies become reality when they start their own wedding planning company to make every woman's dream day come true. With perfect flowers, delicious desserts, and joyful moments captured on film, Nora Roberts's Bride Quartet shares each woman's emotionally magical journey to romance.

In Bed of Roses, florist Emma Grant is finding career success with her friends at Vows wedding planning company, and her love life appears to be thriving. Though men swarm around her, she still hasn't found Mr. Right. And the last place she's looking is right under her nose.

But that's just where Jack Cooke is. He's so close to the women of Vows that he's practically family, but the architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. When Emma returns his passion—kiss for blistering kiss—they must trust in their history…and in their hearts.

CATEGORIES & SUBJECTS:

• Literature & Fiction | Genre Fiction | Suspense Fiction
• Mystery & Thrillers | Thriller
• Mystery & Thrillers | Psychological Thriller
• Autistic Youth
• Asperger's syndrome
• Being different in our society

Jodi Picoult (My Sister's Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, Vanishing Acts: A Novel, and many more fine novels) brings us House Rules, the story of Jacob Hunt and his family. Jacob is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject--in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But when his town is rocked by a terrible murder, police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger's--not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect--can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob.

So the question looms over this family: "Did Jacob commit murder?"

Emotionally powerful from beginning to end, House Rules  takes a look at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way, and fails those who don't.

When Bobby Flay looks at a map of the United States, he doesn’t see states—he sees ingredients: wild Alaskan king salmon, tiny Maine blueberries, fiery southwestern chiles. The Food Network celebrity and renowned chef-restaurateur created his Bar Americain restaurants as our country’s answer to French bistros—to celebrate America’s regional flavors and dishes, interpreted as only Bobby Flay can.

Now you can rediscover American cuisine at home with the recipes in Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain Cookbook. Start with a Kentucky 95—a riff on a classic French cocktail but made with bourbon—and Barbecued Oysters with Black Pepper–Tarragon Butter. Choose from sumptuous soups and salads, including a creamy clam chowder built on a sweet potato base, and Kentucky ham and ripe figs over a bed of arugula dressed with molasses-mustard dressing. Entrees will fill your family family-style, from red snapper with a crisp skin of plantains accompanied by avocado, mango, and black beans to a host of beef steaks, spice-rubbed and accompanied by side dishes such as Brooklyn hash browns and cauliflower and goat cheese gratin. Bar Americain’s famed brunch dishes and irresistible desserts round out this collection of America’s favorite flavors.

Bobby also shares his tips for stocking your pantry with key ingredients for everyday cooking, as well as expert advice on essential kitchen equipment and indispensable techniques. With more than 110 recipes and 110 full-color photographs, Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain Cookbook shares Bobby’s passion for fantastic American food and will change the way any cook looks at our country’s bounty.

In 2008, Howard Schultz, the president and chairman of Starbucks, made the unprecedented decision to return as the CEO eight years after he stepped down from daily oversight of the company and became chairman. Concerned that Starbucks had lost its way, Schultz was determined to help it return to its core values and restore not only its financial health, but also its soul. In Onward, he shares the remarkable story of his return and the company's ongoing transformation under his leadership, revealing how, during one of the most tumultuous economic times in history, Starbucks again achieved profitability and sustainability without sacrificing humanity. Offering readers a snapshot of a moment in history that left no company unscathed, the book zooms in to show, in riveting detail, how one company struggled and recreated itself in the midst of it all. The fastpaced narrative is driven by day-to-day tension as conflicts arise and lets readers into Schultz's psyche as he comes to terms with his limitations and evolving leadership style. Onward is a compelling, candid narrative documenting the maturing of a brand as well as a businessman. Onward represents Schultz's central leadership philosophy: It's not just about winning, but the right way to win. Ultimately, he gives readers what he strives to deliver every day—a sense of hope that, no matter how tough times get, the future can be just as or more successful than the past, whatever one defines success to be.

• Romance | Contemporary
• Literature & Fiction
• Love stories; Single mothers; man-woman relationships

Previously published under the pen name of Steffie Hall, this classic novel by #1 "New York Times" bestselling author Janet Evanovich is back in a revised edition.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

"Dear Reader:

In a previous life, before the time of Plum, I wrote twelve short romance novels. Red-hot screwball comedies, each and every one of them. The romances were originally published between the years 1988 and 1992. All immediately went out of print and could be found only at used bookstores and yard sales. I'm happy to tell you that those stories have now been re-released by HarperCollins, presented in almost original form. I've done only minor editing to correct some embarrassing bloopers missed the first time around. Hero at Large  was the very first book published. It's about a sexy guy who cooks a potholder in spaghetti sauce and charms a single mom and former world-class ice skater with the promise of a ride on his Zamboni. It's got broken bones, giant turkeys, cantankerous cars, and Aunt Edna. This was the book that changed my life forever and made me a published author. When Hero at Large  finally reached the bookstores, I was almost arrested for loitering in Walden's. I stationed myself in the romance section and wouldn't leave until I saw someone buy my book. It took three days! Enjoy!"

Democracy Denied by Americans for Prosperity vice president Phil Kerpen is a guide to understanding and defeating the radical agenda that President Barack Obama is implementing by unilateral regulatory action through his agencies and czars.

Democracy Denied exposes the Obama administration's agenda that disregards the American people, Congress, and the U.S. Constitution--and offers a plan of action to stop it.

Table of Contents
Preface: The Obama Chart
Introduction: Crisis and Transformation
1. The REINS Act: How Three Kentuckians Could Save America
2. The Heat Is On: Global Warming and the EPA (Extreme Power Abuse)
3. Hacking Our Online Rights: The FCC's Internet Takeover
4. On the Waterfront: The Secret Plan to Force You into a Union
5. Ill-Advised: ObamaCare Keeps Getting Worse
6. The New Golden Rules: Regulations for Every Aspect of Your Financial Life
7. Drilling Down: Assault on Offshore Energy
8. Property in Peril: Obama's Shocking Land Grabs
9. A Back Door to the Back Door: Phony Regulatory Reform
Conclusion: Restoring the Republic
Acknowledgments