When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole -- a handsome, funny, sports star who adores her -- she can't believe she's finally found her soul mate . . . someone who truly loves and understands her. At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her relationship with her close friend Zack, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all her time with another boy? As the months pass, though, Alex can no longer ignore Cole's small put-downs, pinches, or increasingly violent threats. As Alex struggles to come to terms with the sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose "love" she no longer recognizes, she is forced to choose -- between her "true love" and herself.
What an intensely divisive election portends for American politics The year 2020 was a tumultuous time in American politics. It brought a global pandemic, protests for racial justice, and a razor-thin presidential election outcome. It culminated in an attack on the U.S. Capitol that attempted to deny Joe Biden’s victory. The Bitter End explores the long-term trends and short-term shocks that shaped this dramatic year and what these changes could mean for the future. John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck demonstrate that Trump’s presidency intensified the partisan politics of the previous decades and the identity politics of the 2016 election. Presidential elections have become calcified, with less chance of big swings in either party’s favor. Republicans remained loyal to Trump and kept the election close, despite Trump’s many scandals, a recession, and the pandemic. But in a narrowly divided electorate even small changes can have big consequences. The pandemic was a case in point: when Trump pushed to reopen the country even as infections mounted, support for Biden increased. The authors explain that, paradoxically, even as Biden’s win came at a time of heightened party loyalty, there remained room for shifts that shaped the election’s outcome. Ultimately, the events of 2020 showed that instead of the country coming together to face national challenges—the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, and the Capitol riot—these challenges only reinforced divisions. Expertly chronicling the tensions of an election that came to an explosive finish, The Bitter End presents a detailed account of a year of crises and the dangerous direction in which the country is headed.
The tale of the famous Greenwich Village coffeehouse turned nightclub, The Bitter End is also the story of the club's manager and owner, Paul Colby. From the early 60s to the 90s, the Bitter End hosted a wide range of influential music and comedy acts that reflected the changing creative atmosphere of the Village, and the country beyond. Pete Seeger made frequent appearances and Peter, Paul, and Mary debuted at the club during the height of the folk music boom, around the same time that Woody Allen and Bill Cosby were headlining with their very different—but equally popular—stand-up acts. After the British Invasion made rock the pre-eminent music in the land, Colby booked electrified folk and rock performers such as Neil Young, Carly Simon, Kris Kristofferson, and many others. Throughout the years, Colby kept up such strong friendships with the artists that they often returned as patrons when they weren't performing—the most famous local regular being Bob Dylan. The stories Colby shares of his amazing years running the Bitter End provide an insider's personal perspective on several decades of American entertainment. Told with fondness and flair, The Bitter End acquaints the world with a man beloved by performers for years.
The truth will be revealed, whether they’re ready or not. The firefight for the M-Bar’s valuable resources rages on in the post-apocalyptic madness, but the Standings are finally standing together… until secrets that Maxine has tried to keep buried come to light. And when they do, they threaten to severe the last tenuous strands holding the family together. Reeling from betrayals that cut deeper than flying bullets, Josh Standing follows after his revenge-seeking father-in-law. He doesn’t seem to have much choice, as it seems the Standings are collapsing from within and there isn’t anything that can keep them together. And then they hear of a new horror: People are being rounded up and systematically slaughtered or enslaved by a single man leading a train of carnage. He’s ruthless, he’s cunning—and now he has Storm Standing, too. To save her family, Maxine will have to come face-to-face with her past and stand down her worst fears if she has any hope of stopping the man threatening her family. Before her final secrets become the death of them all.
Murder in a small town is always personal. When a young mother is murdered in the isolated ranching town of Lost Trail, Montana, the father of her child is the first suspect. In this case, there are two: the biological father who hasn’t seen his daughter in over a year and the adoptive father whose life hangs in the balance as he struggles with cancer. Zak Waller is Lost Trail’s newest deputy. He’s also locked in a power struggle with the town’s old-school Sheriff. If Zak solves this case maybe he’ll finally get the respect he deserves. But is he willing to tear a family apart in the process?
Bitter End, the first novella length adventure featuring Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, appeared in the November 1940 issue of The American Magazine. The story, which is dark and complex, explores the family, business and personal relationships of the owners and employees of a specialty food manufacturer. Wolfe has a personal encounter with one of their products that has been poisoned and feels compelled to investigate Before there was Nero Wolfe there were others, detectives such a Canby Rankin, Dol Bonner, and Tecumseh who paved the road for the most famous of Stout's detectives. The Last Drive features Canby Rankin, the "Southerner who had turned detective," in a story serialized in Golfers Magazine. The story can be viewed as a precursor of Fer-de-Lance, the first Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin novel-length mystery, in the sense that the device used here is almost identical to the murder weapon at the center of Fer-de-Lance.
Jack Engelhard’s The Days of the Bitter End may well be the definitive word on the 1960s. This is a landmark book, masterfully evocative. Engelhard once again proves himself to be a truly great novelist in this beautifully crafted historical novel that recaptures an era that has left an indelible mark on our culture to this day. Read it and laugh, read it and weep, because it’s all here, the way it was back then, the age of innocence soon to be shattered, but then reborn. This is what it was like to be young, every moment an adventure. Brilliant. Praise Received for The Days of the Bitter End “It’s all here…masterfully written by one of the greatest novelists of our Age. Engelhard brings to bear his journalistic talents as well as matchless storytelling ability to put the reader right in the center of the action…of the story…of the times.” - John W. Cassell, author of Crossroads: 1969 “What a great story. If you missed the 60s – if you missed the excitement, the passion, the radicalism, the thrills, the hopes and dreams – this book brings it all alive. I could not put it down.” - Kmgroup review “Another significant accomplishment from this versatile writer, and it resonates with the sort of dialogue and imagery that not only rings with credibility, but instantly evokes a ‘you are there’ feeling for the reader.” - Nancy Sundstrom, Northern Express “Engelhard’s writing is superb, and he offers up a slice of 1960s life that is vibrant and moving. The story is skillfully crafted, quite witty and intriguing.” - Carie Morrison, Rambles.net About the Author Contemporaries have hailed novelist Jack Engelhard as “the last Hemingway” and of being “a writer without peer and the conscience of us all.” The New York Times commended the economy of his prose… “precise, almost clinical language.” His bestselling novel Indecent Proposal made him internationally famous as the foremost chronicler of moral dilemmas and of topics dealing with temptation. Works that followed won him an even greater following, such as Escape From Mount Moriah, his book of memoirs that won awards for writing and for film. His latest novel Compulsive draws us into the mind of a compulsive gambler in a work stunningly brilliant and original, and seductively readable. Engelhard writes a weekly column for The Washington Times.
“When on July 20, 1944, a bomb—boldly placed inside the Wolf’s Lair (Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia) by the German Anti-Nazi Resistance—exploded without killing the Führer, the subsequent coup d’état against the Third Reich collapsed. Most of the conspirators were summarily shot or condemned in show trials and sadistically hanged. The conspiracy involved a wide circle of former politicians, diplomats, and government officials as well as senior military men. The Resistance had started as early as 1933 and involved several planned putsches and assassination attempts. Hans B. Gisevius knew or met the major figures—including Beck, Canaris, Oster, Goerdeler, and von Stauffenberg—and barely escaped after the coup’s failure. One of the few survivors of the German Anti-Nazi Resistance, Gisevius traces its history, from the 1933 Reichstag fire to Germany’s defeat in 1945, in a book as riveting as it is exceptional.”-Print ed.
