Captain James Cook

Richard Hough

James Cook was the last and greatest of the romantic navigators. In his relatively short and short and adventurous life (1728-79)he voyaged to the eastern and western seaboards of North America, the North and South Pacific and the Arctic and Antarctic bringing about a new comprehension of the world's geography and its peoples. He was the linking figure between the grey speculation of the early eighteenth century and the industrial age of the first half of the nineteenth century.

Richard Hough has written an exciting and marvellously readable biography, full of new insights and interpretations of one of the world's greatest mariners. - book cover
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America in Vietnam

edited by William Appleman Williams and others.

This collection of essays and documents, written and compiled by four distinguished historians, is an essential source book for anyone seeking to understand the causes, character, and consequences of American involvement in Vietnam.

Through a wide variety of documents - including newly opened presidential papers, congressional debates, military reports, treaties, and newspaper articles - the authors trace the origins of the war back to pre-World War II attitudes and then proceed through the development of the "domino theory' and the policies of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Jonson, and Nixon to the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. -- book cover
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The Prize

Daniel Yergin

Oil has shaped the politics of the twentieth century and has changed profoundly the way we lead our daily lives. The canvas for this story of oil is enormous - from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania, through two great world wars to the "accident' that led to the discovery of North Sea oil, to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm. Now, in The Prize, oil has become the subject of a book which does justice to the great struggle for wealth and power that has always surround the black gold.

In the great traditions of epic storytelliing, the international bestseller The Prize tells how and why oil has become the largest industry in the world, a game of huge risks and monumental rewards. --- book cover
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Commitment

Julie Ellis

Born into the family of a wealthy Jewish businessman, Carol Simon's priveleged world falls apart when her father shoots himself as the stock market plummets. Little more than a child, she is forced to take a menial job, but already she nurtures a secret ambition: to become an architect.

But these are the days of the Depression, when a young girl's aspirations are quashed by the struggle to survive. An offer of marriage seems to be a dream come true - but it is the beginning of a nightmare. How Carol endures her tragedy, comes through the Second World War and the McCarthy witch-hunts to realize her ambition without betraying her heritage,is a moving and tender story of one woman's courage and commitment. --- book cover
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Chasers

Lorenzo Carcaterra

It's 1985 - and the city that never sleeps is about to wish it had stayed in bed. The heinous machine-gun murder of innocent bystanders in a Manhattan restaurant shocks all five boroughs. The surviving members of the Apaches - controversial, take-no-crap, outside-the-law ex-cops - swear to hunt down those responsible.

Along for the harrowing ride with Boomer, Dead-Eye and Reverend Jim are three new Apaches: Ash, a wounded female Hispanic cop who specializes in arson investigations: Quincy, an HIV-positive recruit an forensics expert: and a retired police dog named Buttercup. Now this dedicated team will become Chasers, working cultiple cases that will converge into one explosive, all-out New York City street war. --- book cover
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Justice Deferred

Len Williams

Criminal: Billy Ray Billings grew up with few rules - and managed to break the ones he had. A small-time thief with three felony convictions, he finds himself behind bars for life when overzealous cops ufairly book him for a fourth. In Alabama, three strikes and you're out.

Convict: at first Billy Ray is paralyzed by his fate. But then he slowly becomes a model prisoner, taking classes and finding God. All the while, he's planning an improbable escape....

Con Man: What follows next is sweet freedom. a new identity. And a daring strategy to seek vengeance on the corrupt system that almost stole his life...

Based on the bizarre events surrounding the disappearance of the author's own son,this unforgettale page-turner will take you on a wild ride you won't soon forget... book cover
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Wings of the Storm

J.H. Fletcher

Cal Jessop returns to his home on the South Australian coast still blaming himself for what happened one fateful evening in Paris. Once he was regarded as one of Australia's most promising young artists. Now, the future is bleak; his work, like his life, devastated by guilt.

Kathryn Fanning's future seems secure. Everyone, Kathryn included, expects her to marry Charles Chivers, the local doctor.

Unexpectedly, Wagner intervenes. When Cal and Kathryn meet at a performance of Rheingold, their futures are changed irrevocably.

Kathryn brings renewed hope and purpose into Cal's life. He journeys into the summer heat of the outback seeking emptiness and light for a new series of paintings.

Uncertain of their feelings for each other, the desert will test them both in very different ways.
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