A gripping and timely novel that follows Sigrid—the dry-witted detective from Derek B. Miller’s best-selling debut Norwegian by Night—from Oslo to the United States on a quest to find her missing brother. She knew it was a weird place. She’d heard the stories, seen the movies, read the books. But now police Chief Inspector Sigrid Ødegård has to leave her native Norway and actually go there; to that land across the Atlantic where her missing brother is implicated in the mysterious death of a prominent African American academic—America. Sigrid is plunged into a United States where race and identity, politics and promise, reverberate in every aspect of daily life. Working with—or, if necessary, against—the police, she must negotiate the local political minefields and navigate the backwoods of the Adirondacks to uncover the truth before events escalate further. Refreshingly funny, slyly perceptive, American by Day is “a superb novel on all levels” (Times, UK). “Ingenious. Humorous. Wonderful.”—Lee Child
Astutely observed and deftly witty, One Perfect Day masterfully mixes investigative journalism and social commentary to explore the workings of the wedding industry-an industry that claims to be worth $160 billion to the U.S. economy and which has every interest in ensuring that the American wedding becomes ever more lavish and complex. Taking us inside the workings of the wedding industry-including the swelling ranks of professional event planners, department stores with their online registries, the retailers and manufacturers of bridal gowns, and the Walt Disney Company and its Fairy Tale Weddings program-New Yorker writer Rebecca Mead skillfully holds the mirror up to the bride's deepest hopes and fears about her wedding day, revealing that for better or worse, the way we marry is who we are.
Become a US trivia whiz with this crash course through four centuries of change, rebellion, conflict, and triumph in the United States. Where was America’s lost colony? What tipped the balance in the Civil War? Were there second thoughts about dropping the atomic bomb? Acclaimed historian Dan Roberts—host of radio’s A Moment in Time—takes readers on a bite-sized romp through five-hundred years of American history. With just one minute a day, you can master all the essential facts of America's founding, Civil War, world conflicts, domestic transformations, and more. Packed with full-color photographs, paintings, and lively mini essays, Master American History in 1 Minute a Day is the perfect armchair companion for history lovers and history learners alike.
Fifty photographers chronicle moments in the lives of a wide diversity of American women--their daily lives, challenges, and roles in society--in a compilation accompanied by essay-length personal profiles, narrative captions, and quotations.
Glance around. Imagine that all the scenery beyond these words isn't real, nor are they. Instead, imagine that you're actually locked up in a jail cell, and the "reality" around you is nothing but a digitally created illusion generated by a microchip implanted in your brain. Would you rather continue dwelling in the comfortable world you've always known, even if it's not real, or would you prefer to pursue the mysterious truth about the terrible thing that has happened to you? This provocative premise lies at the heart of American Day Dream, a gripping techno-dystopian thriller by San Francisco author Margot Pepper. Set in the late decades of the 21st century, the book follows Ian, a successful graphic designer working for a big San Francisco biotech firm, on a neo-Orwellian quest to uncover the shocking truth behind his incarceration. After waking up one morning in a prison cell, delirious, confused, and being held without cause or explanation, Ian soon learns that he has somehow become a slave to his company, spending his nights in a jail cell on the 84th floor of his corporate office building, while being forced to go to work each day and act as if nothing has happened. Set against the backdrop of San Francisco's iconic landmarks, it is an entertaining futuristic love story that provides a critical and deeply reflective look at life in the information age. Guiding Ian on his quest is his alluring bohemian co-worker Robin, who slowly helps him to discover the shocking truth that his posh, gated-community life is nothing but a digitally generated illusion. He and thousands of other citizens like him have been locked up for decades, made to think they are living happy normal lives by virtual reality chips implanted in their brains firing hyper-REM sleep states, triggered by their mobile devices and interactive screens. Marginalized as a nut case by those who haven't "woken up" to their condition, Ian uncovers a world of sinister mind control, omnipresent surveillance, and the bartering of civil liberties for "the pursuit of happiness." It's a surreal world in which workers pay mortgages for virtual houses, furnish them with virtual products, and enjoy virtual vacations to offset global warming. At the heart of American Day Dream is the relationship between Ian and Robin. Robin attempts to seduce Ian into joining her in an underground rebellion of revolutionaries attempting to "jail-break" the technologically entranced public from their digital stupor and wake them up to the startling reality of their world. Yet before Ian can join her, he must grapple with a pressing question: is it more cruel to condemn his fellow inmates to an artificial life of blissful ignorance or to disrupt the seeming safety and comfort of their lives by rousing them from their day dream? As with any visionary fiction, American Day Dream paints a world that is only a slightly exaggerated version of our own--a world of people addicted to gadgets, mesmerized by the media, hooked on pharmaceuticals, and made to think that they have more control over their lives than they actually do. Pepper explores the suppressed psychological and economic truths of our times through an engaging revolutionary love story that highlights the Bay Area's cultural and scenic jewels. The tale delves into the darkness of our day, restoring light to an otherwise bleak landscape, and inspiring us to contemplate the direction we're heading in while there's still time to change it.
This up-to-date fourth edition of the most important and interesting data--on a day by day basis--throughout American history includes more than 1,400 new entries with information on a wide variety of subjects--both the "important" matters (Supreme Court decisions, war events, scientific breakthroughs, etc.) and the lesser known but thought provoking incidents and phenomena (societal changes, unexpected events) that add richness and depth to American history.
Have you ever wondered what’s happening in your brain as you go through a typical day and night? This fascinating book presents an hour-by-hour round-the-clock journal of your brain’s activities. Drawing on the treasure trove of information from Scientific American and Scientific American Mind magazines as well as original material written specifically for this book, Judith Horstman weaves together a compelling description of your brain at work and at play. The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain reveals what’s going on in there while you sleep and dream, how your brain makes memories and forms addictions and why we sometimes make bad decisions. The book also offers intriguing information about your emotional brain, and what’s happening when you’re feeling love, lust, fear and anxiety—and how sex, drugs and rock and roll tickle the same spots. Based on the latest scientific information, the book explores your brain’s remarkable ability to change, how your brain can make new neurons even into old age and why multitasking may be bad for you. Your brain is uniquely yours – but research is showing many of its day-to-day cycles are universal. This book gives you a look inside your brain and some insights into why you may feel and act as you do. The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain is written in the entertaining, informative and easy-to-understand style that fans of Scientific American and Scientific American Mind magazine have come to expect.
