Les Icariens

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Jennifer Woodlief

Journalist Jennifer Woodlief's gripping account of the deadliest ski-area avalanche in North American history and the woman who survived in the face of incalculable odds. The unprecedented avalanche of March 31, 1982, at Alpine Meadows ski resort near Lake Tahoe, California, was a once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe. An unforeseeable confluence of natural events created the conditions for an unimaginable disaster--and, in one woman's case, an astonishing ordeal of survival. Woodlief movingly tells the story of the massive slab avalanche that killed seven and left one victim buried alive for five days under the suffocating snow while a ski patrol team and a search-and-rescue dog struggled to save her.--From publisher description.

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Sam Thomas

From the inside flap: Best American Screenplays is the first in a planned series for films comparable to Crown's famous Best American Plays series, now in its eighth edition. There is a major introduction to the subject of screenplays by Sam Thomas. Then each of the twelve complete screenplays is introduced with a short background about the script and the screenwriter. These screenplays, almost all winners of prestigious Academy Awards, are some of the finest that have contributed to and enriched the literature of cinema for the better part of this century. Virtually all of the many genres of film are represented. All Quiet on the Western Front is the definitive work on the dehumanizing effects of modern war on the young who must do the fighting. Meet John Doe offers a vice of cheer and hope in America's worst depression years of the thirties, while Sounder represents another deeply felt experience of that era. Casablanca is the romantic tale for all times; Miracle on 34th Street reaches for deep feelings and human values amid the miracle of Christmas; Rebel Without a Cause, starring the late James Dean, anticipated the emergence of teenagers as an important subculture in our country, with all their burgeoning problems. The violence that runs through so much of American life is depicted in Bonnie and Clyde. Beyond its deft, light, and flip touch, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid is another film of violence ending in death. Questioning of our hypocritical moral values is both hilariously and satirically expressed in The Graduate. On the other hand, On Golden Pond is a warm celebration and approbation of love and family amid the trials of old age. Arthur is one of the zaniest comedies in the great Hollywood tradition. And The Candidate portrays the disturbing defects of our modern electioneering processes. Here in one magnificent collection are twelve screenplays of the highest quality, affording us a unique, special window on time, viewing American culture and history in more than half a century of swiftly moving events that severely tested our most cherished assumptions and beliefs from World War I to the present.

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James H. Hallas

Squandered Victory is the first book every devoted entirely to the St. Mihiel operation and its ramifications. It details American Expeditionary Force commander John J. Pershing's struggle to form an independent American army in France and the importance of the St. Mihiel operation from both political and military perspectives. Hallas links historical events and details in a way that has never been done on this subject, pulling from a variety of sources to depict motivations, events, and political and military thought. He supports the conclusion - debated by historians and military men for over 75 years - that Pershing might have been able to end the war in September 1918, if not held back by the machinations of the Allies.

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Tom Segev

A New York Times Editor's Choice Best Book and a recipient of he National Jewish Book Award. One Palestine, Complete explores the tumultuous era of the British Mandate (1917 to 1948). Drawing on untapped archival materials, the internationally acclaimed historian Tom Segev reconstructs the period before the creation of the state of Israel --- a time of limitless possibilities and tragic missteps, when Britain's promise to both Jew and Arabs that they would inherit the land set in motion the conflict that haunts the region to this day. Segev introduces an array of unforgettable characters, tracks the steady advance of Jew and Arabs toward confrontation, and puts forth a radical new argument: that the British, far from being pro-Arab, consistently favored the Zionist position, out of the mistaken 0 and anti-Semitic - belief that Jews turned the wheels of history. Rich in historical detail, sensitive to all perspectives, One Palestine, Complete brilliantly depicts the decline of an empire, the birth of one nation, and the tragedy of another.