Mark Bramhall

Out of the depths of the Great Depression comes the astonishing tale of nine working-class boys from the American West who at the 1936 Olympics showed the world what true grit really meant. With rowers who were the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington's eight-oar crew was never expected to defeat the elite East Coast teams, yet they did, going on to shock the world by challenging the German boat rowing for Adolf...

Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades later, as the second World War approaches, the lives of three children -- Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California -- become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting...

=520 \\ Riders of the Purple Sage is a classic of the Western genre. Lassiter, a gunglinging avenger in black, shows up in a remote Utah town just in time to save the young and beautiful rancher Jane Withersteen from having to marry a Mormon elder against her will.

"James Bulloch, a sea captain turned Confederate agent, arrived in Liverpool at a crucial moment during the U.S. Civil War: a Union blockade was preventing Southern cotton exports from reaching Britain, threatening to destroy what was left of the Confederate economy - unless Bulloch could secretly arrange for the construction of a fleet of warships to break the northern grip on the South. Shortly thereafter, Union operative Thomas Dudley, a pious...

"In this unique biography, Fred Kaplan emphasizes Thomas Jefferson's genius with language and his ability to use the power of words to inspire and shape a nation. A man renowned for many talents, writing was one of the major activities of the stateman's life, though much of his best, most influential writing--with the exception of the letters he wrote up to his death, numbering approximately 100,000--was done by 1789, when Jefferson was just forty-six....

"In the mid 1970s, one of Austin's biggest criminals was getting rich on bail bonds and auto salvage (he owned a junkyard). With the help of corrupt local officials, including the sheriff, Frank Smith had a small empire, but he had one rival in the salvage business and one day he sent some tough guys to take care of the problem. The "Fellini-esque" shootout eventually led to Smith's arrest and indictment, setting up a courtroom battle with the new...

"Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edward J. Larson recovers a crucially important--yet almost always overlooked--chapter of George Washington's life, revealing how Washington saved the United States by coming out of retirement to lead the Constitutional Convention and serve as our first president. After leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War, George Washington shocked the world: he retired. In December 1783, General Washington,...