atlantic monthly press chicago (38 results)

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Readers may be shocked to discover that America's most provocative (and conservative) satirist, P. J. O'Rourke, was at one time a raving pinko, with scars on his formerly bleeding heart to prove it. In Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut, O'Rourke chronicles the remarkable trajectory that took him from the lighthearted fun of the revolutionary barricades to the serious business of the nineteenth hole. How did the O'Rourke of 1970, who summarized the world of "grown-ups" as "materialism, sexual hang-ups, the Republican party, uncomfortable clothes, engagement rings, car accidents, Pat Boone, competition, patriotism, cheating, lying, ranch houses, and TV" come to be in favor of all of those things? What causes a beatnik-hippie type, comfortable sleeping on dirty mattresses in pot-addled communes - as P. J. did when he was a writer for assorted "underground" papers-to metamorphosize into a right-wing middle-aged grouch? Here, P. J. shows how his Socialist idealism and avant-garde aesthetic tendencies were cured and how he acquired a healthy and commendable interest in national defense, the balanced budget, Porsches, and Cohiba cigars. P. J. O'Rourke's message is that there's hope for all those suffering from acute Bohemianism, or as he puts it, "Pull your pants up, turn your hat around, and get a job." "From the fictionalized accounts of his career as a hard-drinking hippie to the Benchley-in-the-age-of-macho lampoon of fly fishing, Mr. O'Rourke shows an incorrigible comic gift and an eye for detail that keeps the wild stuff grounded." - The New York Times Book Review Writing from the sanctum of his reign as America's premier political humorist, P.J. O'Rourke shares his strange, twisted days as editor-in-chief of National Lampoon, his numerous essays on the pleasures and perils of driving, as well as his in-depth looks at appropriate sports for middle-aged Republicans—namely those who can still be engaged in with a smuggled Havana between the teeth. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Featuring over 250 proven recipes, as well as clear, concise directions on everything from setting up the perfect bread-baking kitchen to creating your own unique recipes, this indispensable tool is for anyone who longs to create the satisfying delights of home-baked breads. Featuring over 250 proven recipes, as well as clear, concise directions on everything from setting up the perfect bread-baking kitchen to creating your own unique recipes, this indispensable tool is for anyone who longs to create the satisfying delights of home-baked breads. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Fornelli, Joseph (illustrator). Paperback. Seasons of the Angler brings together thirty stories, essays, and poems by some of today's most exciting authors. From P. J. O'Rourke's hilarious chronicle of his bumbling attempts to learn fly-fishing to Richard Ford's haunting story of two young men's coming of age along the banks of a remote Montana river to Thomas McGuane's meditative essay on his discovery of a new river, these pieces celebrate fishing as a sport and a communion with nature. Anyone interested in fishing, the outdoors, or contemporary literature will enjoy Seasons of the Angler. This anthology brings together 30 stories, essays, and poems—by such authorsas P.J. O'Rourke, Richard Ford, and Thomas McGuane—that celebrate fishing asa sport and a communion with nature. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. When Merrill Markoe — successful comedian, two-time author, and four-time Emmy award-winner — looked back at her life's loves she found a long track record with few successes. In the name of curious women everywhere, she decided to venture into the world of self-help seminars and telepsychics to uncover what promised to be a veritable treasure trove of helpful secrets. In this hilarious collection, Markoe walks ground that the average woman, lost in the sea of the Unsuccessful Relationship, would never step on. In addition to disclosing coveted "Secretz of Seduction" and sharing her hard-earned tips on "How to Date a Crazy Person", she meets a love channeler who claims to get advice from a being living a quarter-million years in the future and attends a hands-on class on how to administer oral sex. Then, after picking through a mountain of Hallmark cards, wearing fake breasts for a month, and meeting with people "transformed" by love, Markoe emerges with this refreshingly smart collection of observations that will come in comic aid to women in distress everywhere. This is a bold, brazen, and brilliantly funny take on love and sex in the self-help world of the nineties. When Merrill Markoe, successful comedian, two-time author, and four-time Emmy award-winner, looked back at her life's loves, she found a long track record with few successes. In this hilarious collection, Markoe walks ground that the average woman, lost in a sea of unsuccessful relationships, would never step on to present a bold, brazen, and brilliantly funny take on love and sex in the self-help world of the nineties. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. From P. J. O'Rourke comes a hilarious look at domestic life. Or, as P.J. puts it, "This is a book about cooking, cleaning, and housekeeping for people who don't know how to do any of those things and aren't about to learn" P.J. offers useful sections on cleaning (or how to best avoid doing it: "You can keep the dining room clean by eating in the kitchen"), not to mention tricking your guests into cooking and cleaning for you. And in sections designed to make Martha Stewart retreat in horror, he offers hints on home decorating ("Start with an empty room and take a big drink. Drink a bunch more".), yard care ("You can rake the leaves into a pile and burn them or you can just bum them. Which is easier?"), and other miscellany. This is an essential guide to the practical business of living in the modern world and proves, as O'Rourke says, that "Camus had it all wrong about the myth of Sisyphus — it's not symbolic of life, just housekeeping" From the author of "Republican Party Reptile" and "Give War a Chance" comes a hilarious look at domestic life—an essential guide to the practical business of living in the modern world—or, as O'Rourke puts it", . . . a book about cooking, cleaning, and housekeeping for people who don't how to do any of those things and aren't about to learn" Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. To escape the terrible realities of an alcoholic son, a departed husband, a bedridden uncle, and a dreary parttime job, Edith records the activities of a happy family in her journal. As Edith Howland's life becomes harsh, her diary entries only become brighter and brighter. She invents a happy life. As she knits for imaginary grandchildren, the real world recedes. Her descent into madness is subtle, appalling, and entirely believable. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Mexican-born Lupe and her Polish emigre husband Stas lead a quiet artists' life, but when success and career changes disrupt them, Stas turns to a woman from his past who embarks on a passionate friendship with Lupe. Lupe, the Mexican wife of Stas, a Polish immigrant, is preparing for a gallery showing of her art, and in the process becomes involved with the gallery's owner. The dreamy calm of Lupe and Stas's marriage is upset. "A provocative, elegant little book about love's turbulence and joy".—The Washington Post. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Vincent Booth, a drifter in Manhattan's cafe society, searches for sex, money, power, and a way to maintain his marriage to a wealthy wife, his relationship with a mistress, and a cushy job at the Metropolitan Museum. Widely praised in hardcover and now available in paperback, this comedy of contemporary Manhattan manners has all the panache of a Preston Sturges film and many of the trappings: a blue-blooded heiress, a handsome young artist, ladies who lunch and men who drink, not to mention trust funds, social climbers, and Christie's auctions galore. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Alastair Scott, the Scottish adventurer, is possessed only of chronic wanderlust and the perfectly beguiling pipe dream to dogsled his way across Alaska, following, for the most part, the Iditarod Trail. He arrives in Manley Hot Springs without dogs, sled, or experience. In amazingly short order, he outfits himself, begins to learn the rudiments of mushing, and one day lights out across the Land of the Midnight Sun. Tracks Across Alaska is the entertaining, humorous, and humble account of Scott's journey through the Alaskan bush. Scott evokes the awesome magic of the landscape and encounters an extraordinary range of Alaskans, from the Iditarod champion Susan Butcher and other dog sled racers to trappers, Eskimos, a bush priest, the faceless fire and brimstone of KJNP (King Jesus North Pole) radio, and icefisherman on Little Diomede Island three miles from the Soviet Union, and F-15 pilots ever-watchful for encroaching MiGs. Scott's narrative recreates these characters in all their many lively and distinctive qualities, recording events and dialogue with crisp journalistic skill and an eye for the timeless, the transcendental, and the telling image. His affection for the dogs adds an extra dimension to his tale. Each dog has its own remarkably unique personality, and the eight together make an unforgettable team. As Scott writes, "When dog sledding is perfect it is one of life's supreme sensations. It is the spirit and pleasure of travel in highest refinement. Man, animal, earth: a primitive trinity, beautiful in harmony." Tracks Across Alaska is a travel book like no other-this is as close as vicarious experience comes to the real thing. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Expats is Christopher Dickey's fascinating account of the new Arabia, and of the expatriates who have helped create it. The fabled Arab world - whose vast deserts, overwhelming solitude, and stark, noble civilizations once beguiled explorers like T. E. Lawrence and Wilfred Thesiger - is nowhere to be found today. The deserts remain, of course, but souks give way to shopping malls, fortresses crumble in the shadows of glittering hotels, and oases are replaced by ice-skating rinks. In Dubai an earthly paradise has been wrested from the sands: the Emirates Golf Club. Foreigners have moved in on Arabia's oil wealth like pilgrims to a shrine, bringing their own hopes and dreams, mingling them with those of the Arabs. The stories of the expatriates' lives, of the peculiar niches they inhabit, and of the meteoric ascendancy of a hybrid society are the stuff of Expats "a book that penetrates what Lawrence called "the glamour of strangeness," and that updates all our notions of the Middle East. The symbiosis of the West and Arabia is eccentric, to say the least. Texans extract oil from the Libyan desert for Muammar Qaddafi and brew "flash" to numb their brains back at the company compound. The Sultan of Oman has retained a firm run by an ex-CIA agent to manage the affairs of several government agencies. Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt's Nobel Laureate, lives under threat of death from Islamic fundamentalists for writing like a Westerner - that is, books with conscience, truth, and sex. Dubai boasts Tex-Mex food at Pancho Villa's, a bar where it is rumored that one evening a shaken boat crew, having just been strafed by Iranian speedboats, found themselves seated next to their attackers. Video clubs vie with the imams for the attention of the populace, and life, such as it is, goes on. And so does the war in the Gulf. While Iraq launches Exocets and Iran lays mines, a Yorkshireman who once fished the North Atlantic now operates supply boats out of Sharjah. Missile explosions rattle windows in Kuwait but rarely interrupt the flow of commerce. All around the Gulf the war is spectrally present, at times swift and fatal, but overall not bad for business'drydock work, weapons trafficking, and always the lucrative trade of shuttling oil through the Strait of Hormuz to the industrial world. One retired British military man makes his living defusing rockets lodged in the sides of tankers. And the U.S. Navy, protecting "the free world's oil supply," blows a commercial airliner from the skies. In the aftermath, the Iranians Dickey meets in the streets of Teheran, numbed by fighting, reminisce fondly about the expatriates they knew in the days of the Shah. The new Arabia bears only a passing similarity to its desert ancestry. As Thesiger says, "It's the curse of this bloody oil, you see." But in this land awash with Madonna videos and air-conditioned BMWs, the Arabs have started searching again for their past. Camel races followed from four-wheel cars, and impromptu falcon hunts arranged by cellular phone keep them in touch with their traditions. Theirs is a world where the wildest dreams - of Arab and expat - have come together and come true. Award-winning Newsweek reporter Christopher Dickey offers an interesting look at the Arab world as seen through the eyes of some the western expatriates—lost colonels and aging explorers, oilmen, sea captains, even retired spies—lingering in the Middle East. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. David Seybold, the celebrated author of the anthologies Seasons of the Angler and Boats, once again brings together some of the best writers of our time in this collection of essays, poems, and stories that examine the mysteries of the relationships between fathers and sons. The celebrated editor of Seasons of the Angler and Boats once again brings together some of the best writers of our time in this collection of essays, poems, and stories that examine the mysteries of the relationships between fathers and sons—24 pieces that sound a poignant and deeply honest tribute to men in all their mortality. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. A sharp and funny portrait of divorce. Splitting captures brilliantly the chaotic rhythms of a woman in crisis as it chronicles Angelica's disintegration into a handful of a perforated personalities. No one writes with shrewder insight about women and that ambiguous and overriding presence in their lives-men -- than Fay Weldon. This is a journey rich with her wit, wisdom, and very original narrative power. It's always a pleasure to read a seasoned novelist in peak form; Weldon is in complete control of her material here, effortlessly shifting between laughter and tears. -- Booklist; Splitting is a vintage Weldon brew: sharp, effervescent, easily consumed and just the sort that leaves you ready for another round. -- The Hartford Courant; A darkly comic portrait of one woman's shattering response to divorce: the latest from an author rightly celebrated for writing witty cautionary tales about the contemporary sexual jungle. -- Kirkus Reviews. Now in paperback, this wickedly incisive portrait of divorce swoops with dizzying ease among the conflicting perspectives of a woman whose personality, in the face of her impanding divorce, has slivered into a chorus of bickering interior voices. "Weldon in top form".—Kirkus Reviews. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. In Wicked Women, a 1997 New York Times Notable Book of Year and her most celebrated collection of stories ever, critically acclaimed Fay Weldon brings her bracing wit to bear on men, love, therapy, marriage, parenting, and the myriad self-deceptions and half-truths that oil the wheels of "civilized behavior" In these twenty madcap tales we enter Fay Weldon's world, peopled with therapists who blithely destroy marriages and Family ties, husbands and lovers whose greatest cruelty is their indifference, and clever women navigating the perils and pitfalls of domesticity. In lucid and finely honed prose, Fay Weldon serves up our greatest denials and most imprudent compromises. Her wicked humor and seasoned wisdom are as evident here as always — and tempered by great compassion for the foibles of the human heart. Via 20 madcap tales, Fay Weldon takes readers into a world peopled with therapists who blithely destroy marriages and family ties, husbands and lovers whose greatest cruelty is their indifference, and clever women navigating the perils of domesticity. Her wicked humor and seasoned wisdom are as evident here as always—and tempered by great compassion for the foibles of the human heart. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Grey Area demonstrates Will Self's razor-sharp wit in nine new stories that delve into the modern psyche with unsettling and darkly satiric results. "Inclusion Drawing on the banality and comic potential of modern life, this collection of short stories "brilliantly explores the fine line between sanity and insanity, hitting uncomfortably close to home" ("USA Today"). Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Malaria Dreams is a tale of high adventure across Africa, recounted with the wit and humor that delighted readers of Night Train to Turkistan, Stuart Stevens's highly praised first book. The story begins when a "geologist" friend mentions to Stevens that he has a Land Rover in the Central African Republic which he'd like to get back to Europe. It's only later, when Stevens discovers that half of Africa thinks his friend is a spy and the other half is convinced he's a diamond smuggler, that the intrepid author begins to realize he should have asked a few more questions before leaving home. And then there's the small problem of the Land Rover's seizure by the minister of mines, who has appropriated it as his personal car. It is a new Land Rover. The minister likes it very much. Three months later, Stevens and his twenty-three-year-old companion (the only woman to ever transfer from Bryn Mawr to the University of Oklahoma) have somehow managed to drive "though not in the ill-fated Land Rover" across the wildest part of Africa, emerging scathed but still alive on the shores of the Mediterranean. Malaria Dreams takes readers along on close encounters with killer ants in Cameroon, revolutionary soldiers in the middle of Lake Chad (a huge mudhole lacking any water), and strangely frenzied Peace Corps parties in Niger. There's a long search for a functional set of springs in Timbuktu and near-disastrous bouts with sickness and automotive malfunctions in the middle of the Sahara. Through it all, Stevens and his ex-fashion model companion battle the odds, and often each other, to return home to tell this unlikely, highly amusing tale. Malaria Dreams is a tale of high adventure across Africa, recounted with the wit and humor that delighted readers of Night Train to Turkistan, Stuart Stevens' highly praised first book. "A rollicking, off-beat African odyssey".—Publishers Weekly. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. This latest offering from critically acclaimed author Fay Weldon is a darkly comic romp through the minefields of friendship and feminism. On a balmy evening in 1971, five women meet in a cramped living room in the suburbs of London. Tired of their husbands and their own unsatisfying lives, they form the aptly named Medusa, a book publishing house founded on the principle of "getting even." With wry and savvy humor, Weldon weaves us through twenty years of these women's lives, as good intentions fall by the wayside and the hazards of their new politics, sex, and infidelity take their toll. On a balmy evening in 1971, five women meet in a cramped living room in the suburbs of London. Tired of their husbands and their unsatisfying lives, they form the aptly named Medusa, a book publishing house founded on the principle of "getting even." Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Robert Coles, one of the most eminent child psychiatrists in the world, spent over a decade researching this book and its companion volume, The Moral Life of Children. Coles visits children all over the world, listening with willing ears, and he captures their thoughts and feelings with remarkable sympathy. As Coles demonstrates in this fascinating work, children learn much more than we think they do about political issues. While we have always taken it for granted that parents teach their children about language, religion, and morality, Coles shows how mothers and fathers also instill a strong understanding of political life in their offspring. Robert Coles, one of the most eminent child psychiatrists in the world, spent over a decade researching this book and its companion volume, The Moral Life of Children. Coles visits children all over the world, listening with willing ears, and he captures their thoughts and feelings with remarkable sympathy. As Coles demonstrates in this fascinating work, children learn much more than we think they do about political issues. While we have always taken it for granted that parents teach their children about language, religion, and morality, Coles shows how mothers and fathers also instill a strong understanding of political life in their offspring. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. A lifelong hunter and wild-game gourmet who has traveled the globe on expeditions with world-class sportsmen, Guy de la Valdene purchases an 800-acre farm outside Tallahassee and sets out to raise and hunt his favorite game bird, bobwhite quail. But de la Valdene is at heart also a naturalist, and as he plants trees and divides fields, he finds that running the farm compels him to operate at once as both hunter and preservationist, both predator and protector. With sensitivity and patience, de la Valdene has written a book about his, and perhaps society's, place in the natural world. A sportsman and naturalist takes a look at conservation, structuring his reflections around a year in the life cycle of the bobwhite quail—from one generation's birth through mating and raising of their own young—and reconciling his passion for hunting with a deep sentiment for the wild. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. As captivating as the most thrilling novel, Burmese Looking Glass tells the story of tribal peoples who, though ravaged by malaria and weakened by poverty, are unforgettably brave. Author Edith Mirante first crossed illegally from Thailand into Burma in 1983. There she discovered the hidden conflict that has despoiled the country since the close of World War II. She met commandos and refugees and learned firsthand the machinations of Golden Triangle narcotics trafficking. Mirante was the first Westerner to march with the rebels from the fabled Three Pagodas Pass to the Andaman Sea; she taught karate to women soldiers, was ritually tattooed by a Shan "spirit doctor," has lobbied successfully against U.S. government donation of Agent Orange chemicals to the dictatorship, and was deported from Thailand in 1988. As captivating as the most thrilling novel, Burmese Looking Glass tells the story of tribal peoples who, though ravaged by malaria and weakened by poverty, are unforgettably brave. Author Edith Mirante first crossed illegally from Thailand into Burma in 1983. There she discovered the hidden conflict that has despoiled the country since the close of World War II. She met commandos and refugees and learned firsthand the machinations of Golden Triangle narcotics trafficking. Mirante was the first Westerner to march with the rebels from the fabled Three Pagodas Pass to the Andaman Sea; she taught karate to women soldiers, was ritually tattooed by a Shan "spirit doctor," has lobbied successfully against U.S. government donation of Agent Orange chemicals to the dictatorship, and was deported from Thailand in 1988. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Small Craft Advisory is an enchanting book about Louis Rubin's obsession with boats and his years of often hilarious boating adventures. When Louis Rubin was thirteen, he built a leaky little boat and paddled it out to the edge of the ship channel in Charleston, South Carolina, where he felt the inexorable pull of the water. Fifty years and dozens of boats later--sailboats, powerboats, inboards and outboards--the pull is as strong as ever. In the tradition established by Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, and Herman Melville, distinguished author and scholar Louis Rubin explores man's longtime passion for boats. He examines the compulsion that has prompted him and hundreds of thousands of other non-nautical persons to spend so much time, and no small portion of their incomes, on watercraft that they can use only infrequently. As his new boat (a cabin cruiser made of wood on a workboat hull) is being built, Rubin tells of his past boats and numerous boating disasters and draws a poignant comparison between his two passions: watercraft and the craft of writing. Anyone who has ever bought and owned a boat--or wondered why people are obsessed by them--will love this amusing, evocative, beautifully crafted memoir by an inveterate boat-owner. Anyone who has ever bought and owned a boat — or wondered why people are obsessed by them — will love this amusing, evocative, beautifully crafted memoir by an inveterate boat-owner. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Attacking fashionable worries--all those terrible problems that are constantly on our minds and in the news, but about which most of us have no real clue--the bestselling author of Parliament of Whores crisscrosses the globe in search of answers to today's most vexing dilemmas, and, in the process, ensures that political correctness will never be the same again. Attacking fashionable worries—all those terrible problems that are constantly on our minds and in the news, but about which most of us have no real clue—the bestselling author of Parliament of Whores crisscrosses the globe in search of answers to today's most vexing dilemmas, and, in the process, ensures that political correctness will never be the same again. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. World-class athlete, playboy, war correspondent, and heir to a Greek shipping fortune, Taki has over the last three decades moved among the rich, the powerful, the titled and the celebrated in London, New York, Gstaad, the Rivierawherever fun or stimulation was to be had. But in 1984, while passing through Heathrow Airport, Taki was arrested for possession of cocaine and summarily sent to jail. Nothing to Declare is the hilarious and surprisingly wise account of the three months Taki spent in prison, a story filled with perilous day-to-day events as well as reflections on the glamorous life he has led." World-class athlete, playboy, war correspondent, and heir to a Greek shipping fortune, Taki has over the last three decades moved among the rich, the powerful, the titled and the celebrated in London, New York, Gstaad, the Riviera—wherever fun or stimulation was to be had. But in 1984, while passing through Heathrow Airport, Taki was arrested for possession of cocaine and summarily sent to jail. Nothing to Declare is the hilarious and surprisingly wise account of the three months Taki spent in prison, a story filled with perilous day-to-day events as well as reflections on the glamorous life he has led. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. I think our agenda is clear. We are opposed to: government spending, Kennedy kids, seat-belt laws, busing our children anywhere other than Yale, trailer courts near our vacation homes, all tiny Third World countries that don't have banking secrecy laws, aerobics, the UN, taxation without tax loopholes, and jewelry on men. We are in favor of: guns, drugs, fast cars, free love (if our wives don't find out), a sound dollar, and a strong military with spiffy uniforms. There are thousands of people in America who feel this way, especially after three or four drinks. If all of us would unite and work together, we could give this country. . . well, a real bad hangover. To say that P. J. O'Rourke is funny is like saying the Rocky Mountains are scenic-accurate but insufficient. At his best he's downright exhilarating . . . Republican Party Reptile is as rambunctiously entertaining as a greased pig catching contest. If you can find a funnier writer than P. J. O'Rourke, buy him a brandy, but don't lend him the keys to your pickup. -- Chicago Tribune; Republican Party Reptile is hilarious. I laughed so hard reading this book that my armchair needs reupholstering. P. J. O'Rourke has got to be the funniest writer going, and boy does he go. This is high-octane wit, S. J. Perelman on acid. -- Christopher Buckley. Confessions, Adventures, Essays, And (other) Outrages of P. J. O'rourke, this is the first collection of wildly humorous essays from the former editor-in-chief of National Lampoon. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. A South African woman struggles to convince the police that she has murdered her black cook. Offering all the qualities of his general bestselling fiction, this is Tom Sharpe's blazing satire of South African apartheid, companion to Indecent Exposure. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Kommandant van Heerden, the chief of police of Piemburg, terrorizes true Englishmen and even truer Zulus in his search for a perfect South Africa, while Luitenant Verkramp and Dr. von Blimenstein try to use aversion therapy to enforce chastity. Offering all the qualities of his general bestselling fiction, this is Tom Sharpe's blazing satire of South African apartheid, companion to Riotous Assembly. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. First published in 1959, but now offered in a revised and expanded edition, The View from the Ground presents over six decades of Gellhorn's ruminations on political, civil, and social issues and crises, from a lynching in the American South in the 1930s through a recent visit to Cuba to see what is new and what remains the same in a country that is still off limits to most Americans. Gellhorn's ability to get to the truth of a situation heard makes her writing transcend the short shelflife of most reportage. Presented for the first time aregs from the tinderboxes across the political horizons of Castro's Cuba, the chambers of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and a small Mississippi town during the height of the civil rights movement. Atlantic Monthly Press. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Bringing the Heat is the story of one team's season-long campaign for the NFL championship, told through the personal stories of the men on the field and the coaches, managers, and owner on the sidelines. The team is the 1992 Philadelphia Eagles, a group of players assembled in the iconoclastic image of their former head coach Buddy Ryan. They are known throughout the league for their ferocious defense and for the otherworldly talents of their quarterback Randall Cunningham. Award-winning journalist Mark Bowden gets deep inside the world of professional football in a way no writer has ever done before, with an insightful and hilarious portrait of one of the most exciting teams ever to play the game. He spares none of the game's ugliness — the greed, the racism, and the often sadistic violence — while capturing the beauty of athleticism at its highest level, the courage of men who face each play knowing that one bad hit can end a career, and above all the exultant glory of victory that inspires their struggle to be the best. From the author of the bestselling "Black Hawk Down" comes the story of the Philadelphia Eagles' season-long campaign for the NFL championship, told through the personal stories of the men on the field and the coaches, managers, and owner on the sidelines. of photos. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. In this groundbreaking book, James William Gibson shatters the misled assumptions behind both liberal and conservative explanations for America's failure in Vietnam. Gibson shows how American government and military officials developed a disturbingly limited concept of war — what he calls "technowar" — in which all efforts were focused on maximizing the enemy's body count, regardless of the means. Consumed by a blind faith in the technology of destruction, American leaders failed to take into account their enemy's highly effective guerrilla tactics. Indeed, technowar proved woefully inapplicable to the actual political and military strategies used by the Vietnamese, and Gibson reveals how U.S. officials consistently falsified military records to preserve the illusion that their approach would prevail. Gibson was one of the first historians to question the fundamental assumptions behind American policy, and The Perfect War is a brilliant reassessment of the war — now republished with a new introduction by the author. In this groundbreaking book, Gibson shatters the misled assumptions for America's failure in Vietnam, showing how American officials developed a disturbingly limited concept of war—what he calls "technowar"—in which all efforts were focused on maximizing the enemy's body count, regardless of the means. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Novelist, short-story writer, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Katherine Anne Porter is one of America's most respected and enduring literary figures. Upon her death in 1980 at the age of ninety, she left behind thousands of letters, from which Isabel Bayley, Porter's close friend for over twenty-five years and her literary archivist, selected the best. "The book was conceived as a whole," Bayley explains. "The letters will carry you, if you wish to read in sequence, from point to point during her major working years, 1930 to 1963. Little bridges form from idea to idea, from theme to theme." One of Porter's themes was an outrage born of unfair politics, and her words are as fresh today as when they were written: "What has discouraged me," she writes in 1957, "is simply the fact that from Mussolini on--Franco, Hitler, Tito, Peron, Batista, Trujillo, in a rapidly descending scale to Nasser, our government has without fail backed and supported, in completely criminal collusion, every foul and stinking political dictator in turn as they rise, with the hypocritical excuse that these are all 'anti-Communist.'" And in 1947 she asks the kind of question that underlies the finest of her writing: "Man cannot--oh why can he not? This to me is the riddle of the universe--face the truth of his own motives." The list of Porter's correspondents reads like a Who's Who of twentieth-century letters: Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, Eleanor Clark, James Stern, Cleanth Brooks, Malcolm Cowley, Allen Tate, Caroline Gordon, Josephine Herbst, Hart Crane, Monroe Wheeler, Glenway Wescott, Eudora Welty, John Malcolm Brinnin. She tells Edith Sitwel she treasures her anthology of poetry as "something to take to Heaven with me if I ever get there; or maybe to bootleg into Hell to soften the penalty of having to read the Beat Generation." In a 1935 letter to Robert Penn Warren, one of her closest friends, she writes, "I have on hand, trying to finish it, a fairly long story which I call 'Pale Horse and Pale Rider' though I may find another title. What are your limits as to space for a short story?" For Porter her letters--to friends, family, publishers, editors, lovers--were vital links between the past and the present, a validation of time spent and an inspiration for the future: her twelve-page ship's journal, written in the form of a letter on a voyage from Mexico to Germany in 1931, became the basis for Ship of Fools, completed thirty years later. Katherine Anne Porter saw letters as continuity, a story that no longer belonged to the teller: ". . . mss. and notes and journals and letters arrived from Saratoga Springs the other day, and reading some of it over I find the past much more continuous, which I had begun to doubt. . . . Things just accumulated, and behold, it had become history . . . to be sorted and used as part of a story. I don't know that story any more than you do, especially not the end, and we will never see it, and I think it not very important whether we do or don't. . . . It doesn't belong to us anyway." Novelist, short-story writer, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Katherine Anne Porter is one of America's most respected and enduring literary figures. Upon her death in 1980 at the age of ninety, she left behind thousands of letters, from which Isabel Bayley, Porter's close friend for over twenty-five years and her literary archivist, selected the best. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Definitive and comprehensive, Trusting Ourselves is the only book to cover every aspect of psychology as it applies to women. This groundbreaking work will empower its readers to understand and make decisions about their psychological well-being and treatment in much the same way Our Bodies, Ourselves redefined women's health care. In a radical reversal of the usual approach to psychological care, which assumes that only the professional understands the problem. Johnson strongly believes that women and their values, perspectives, and biases have merit, and that most patients understand why they're not happy with their lives. Trusting this self-knowledge and taking action on one's own behalf provide a foundation for all the information in this book. It is time to revise psychotherapy to incorporate a woman's perspective. In a radical reversal of the usual approach to psychological care, Johnson and Ferguson strongly believe that women and their values, perspectives, and biases have merit—and that most patients understand why they are not happy with their lives. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.