A savage satire of a United States in the throes of insanity, this hilarious novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Circle tells the story of a noble ship, the Glory, and the loud, clownish, and foul Captain who steers it to the brink of disaster. "A short parable for our times that is 30 percent Veep, 30 percent Voltaire, and the rest flavored by Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Swift, Percival Everett, and Salman Rushdie." —Los Angeles Review of Books When the decorated Captain of a great ship descends the gangplank for the final time, a new leader, a man with a yellow feather in his hair, vows to step forward. Though he has no experience, no knowledge of nautical navigation or maritime law, and though he has often remarked he doesn't much like boats, he solemnly swears to shake things up. Together with his band of petty thieves and confidence men known as the Upskirt Boys, the Captain thrills his passengers, writing his dreams and notions on the cafeteria wipe-away board, boasting of his exemplary anatomy, devouring cheeseburgers, and tossing overboard anyone who displeases him. Until one day a famous pirate, long feared by passengers of the Glory but revered by the Captain for how phenomenally masculine he looked without a shirt while riding a horse, appears on the horizon. Absurd, hilarious, and all too recognizable, The Captain and the Glory is a wicked farce of contemporary America only Dave Eggers could dream up.
The man who portrayed Captain James T. Kirk brings together both generations of characters from the Star Trek television shows, in a new novel that finds Kirk and Captain Jean-Luc Picard facing an unstoppable enemy in a battle for all life existence in this galaxy, and beyond.
From the bestselling author of The Circle—a taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel that takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy’s gale-force winds. “An outstanding achievement in Eggers’s already impressive career, and an essential read.” —San Francisco Chronicle In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and finally do something great. A novel that’s a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment—and a moving story of how we got here.
"A treasure of a book."—David McCullough The harrowing story of a pathbreaking naval expedition that set out to map the entire Pacific Ocean, dwarfing Lewis and Clark with its discoveries, from the New York Times bestselling author of Valiant Ambition and In the Hurricane's Eye. A New York Times Notable Book America's first frontier was not the West; it was the sea, and no one writes more eloquently about that watery wilderness than Nathaniel Philbrick. In his bestselling In the Heart of the Sea Philbrick probed the nightmarish dangers of the vast Pacific. Now, in an epic sea adventure, he writes about one of the most ambitious voyages of discovery the Western world has ever seen—the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842. On a scale that dwarfed the journey of Lewis and Clark, six magnificent sailing vessels and a crew of hundreds set out to map the entire Pacific Ocean and ended up naming the newly discovered continent of Antarctica, collecting what would become the basis of the Smithsonian Institution. Combining spellbinding human drama and meticulous research, Philbrick reconstructs the dark saga of the voyage to show why, instead of being celebrated and revered as that of Lewis and Clark, it has—until now—been relegated to a footnote in the national memory. Winner of the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize
This story is about Captain William Driver as told by his Great-Great-grandson, Jack Benz, in collaboration with other writers and advisers. The text is strikingly enhanced by over 200 professionally crafted images and by an appendix of founding father documents. The resources substantially came from Benz's collection of items up to 200 year's old. Some episodes are in print for the first time. Captain Driver was born in Salem, MA in 1803 to puritan parents within a culture and heritage of seafarers. His homes were ports and vessels that sailed the vast oceans in the early 19th century. It is a true story of adventure, daring, high drama, heroism, patriotism, and incomparable public service on behalf of the helpless. Young William was gifted beyond his year's as evidenced by his scholarliness in the Salem's famed Hacker school, and at 14, his hiring on a trading vessel. This background immersed him in ventures around the world, seeking fame and fortune trading rare spices and other prized commodities. By 21, he captained ships that circled the world on odysseys that exposed him to numerous dangerous encounters at sea, including horrific storms and turbulence with waves over 50 feet high. Ashore, he confronted life-changing events in the lands of cannibals, giants, pirates, savages, and scantily clad island women. In a famous episode, he rescued families of survivors of the original mutineers on HMS ship Bounty and delivered them to their adopted home on Pitcairn Island. This venture was part and parcel in numerous movies, including one receiving an academy award for the best picture of the year and touted best nautical film of all times. Captain Driver retired young and wealthy and moved to Nashville, TN. with his third wife. Two others predeceased him, and the third is shocking. In this city on the rocks, he was an activist Union sympathizer generally shunned by the largely Confederate citizenry at a time Civil War was imminent. As a staunch abolitionist living where the city even owned slaves, he was a misfit. He and his home place often were vilified because of his views, crusty manner, and irritating practice of displaying Old Glory, his ship's legendary flag. The residents viewed him as a cantankerous rabble-rouser, always rocking the boat and supporting unpopular causes on behalf of the downtrodden, exploited, and uneducated-mainly Native Americans, Negroes, women, the sick and infirmed. He was their defender, friend, spokesman, and hero. Driver was active in civic affairs, once running for mayor and later holding several governmental offices. Among his significant civic achievements were helping facilitate the establishment of public education in Nashville, and as provost, regulating prostitution and disease control. The Captain routinely picked fights over issues with the churches, government, and establishments in general; even with some in his family members, their discord led to estrangement. His uniqueness is best described in his patriotism evidenced by his fierce defense, respect, and reverence for Old Glory. He had observed and experienced its influence around the world--feared, honored, and respected like no other country's flag. He proclaimed its majesty to be so profound it even waves to defend the rights of those whose actions and speech are cowardly despicable. As a bonus, the book offers ancillary educational information about world cultures, history, geography, navigation, philosophy, religion, and science. Preliminary reviews termed it as attractively presented, cleverly written, edifying, and intensely entertaining-a must-read!
In this "tour de force" (New York Times Book Review), the Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of The Circle demonstrates his mastery of the short story. “These tales reinvigorate … the short story with a jittery sense of adventure.” —San Francisco Chronicle Including the stories:"Another" "What It Means When a Crowd in a Faraway Nation Takes a Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him from His Vehicle and Then Mutilates Him in the Dust" "The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water" "On Wanting to Have Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home" "Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance" "She Waits, Seething, Blooming" "Quiet" "Your Mother and I" "Naveed" "Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone" "About the Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her" "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly" "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned"
In the tradition of The Boys of Summer and The Bronx Is Burning, New York Times sports columnist Harvey Araton delivers a fascinating look at the 1970s New York Knicks—part autobiography, part sports history, part epic, set against the tumultuous era when Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, and Bill Bradley reigned supreme in the world of basketball. Perfect for readers of Jeff Pearlman’s The Bad Guys Won!, Peter Richmond’s Badasses, and Pat Williams’s Coach Wooden, Araton’s revealing story of the Knicks’ heyday is far more than a review of one of basketball’s greatest teams’ inspiring story—it is, at heart, a stirring recreation of a time and place when the NBA championships defined the national dream.
Captain Blackwell, devilishly handsome, a rake and rogue; Glory Summerfield, spoiled and pampered, breathtakingly beautiful. Marriage was the last thing on either of their minds...but still, the captain vowed he'd teach this insolent girl a lesson...a lesson in lovemaking she'd never forget. "Highly entertaining...a lively love story unfolding against a vivid backdrop of high seas adventure and passionate romance." RT Book Reviews
- The true story of Babe Slater and Rudy Scholz, opposites in nature, who led their country to Olympic glory in the sport of Rugby - A story of friendship, the scars of war and the joy of winning on the sports field - Two men with one goal in mind - to win
