Exit With Honor

A biography of a man who has led a full life, drawing on archival sources at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Explores the shaping of the former president's childhood values, his leadership of the American conservative movement, and his political career, as well as his personal life. Includes bandw photos. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Lawrence-Lightfoot is enthralled by exits: long farewells, quick goodbyes, sudden endings, the ordinary and the extraordinary. She explores the ways we leave one thing and move on to the next in an enthusiastic, uplifting lesson about ourselves and the role of transition in our lives.

From a renowned sociologist, the wisdom of saying goodbye Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is enthralled by exits: long farewells, quick goodbyes, sudden endings, the ordinary and the extraordinary. There's a relationship, she attests, between small goodbyes and our ability "to master and mark the larger farewells." In Exit, her tenth book, she explores the ways we leave one thing and move on to the next; how we anticipate, define, and reflect on our departures; our epiphanies that something is over and done with. Lawrence-Lightfoot, a sociologist and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has interviewed more than a dozen women and men in states of major change, and she paints their portraits with sympathy and insight: a gay man who finds home and wholeness after coming out; a sixteen-year-old boy forced to leave Iran in the midst of the violent civil war; a Catholic priest who leaves the church he has always been devoted to, he life he has loved, and the work that has been deeply fulfilling; an anthropologist who carefully stages her departure from he "field" after four years of research; and many more. Too often, Lawrence-Lightfoot believes, we exalt new beginnings at the expense of learning from our goodbyes. Exit finds wisdom and perspective in the possibility of moving on and marks the start of a new conversation, to help us discover how we might make our exits with purpose and dignity.

When scientific research into curing both hunger and obesity goes terribly wrong, a fast moving plague is unleashed and sweeps across New Jersey. The state is abandoned by the country and sealed off from the world. The victims have become horrific mutations of their former selves. The inhabitants are left to kill or to die. A soldier, a scientist, a detective, a mobster, a politician and a prepper, along with a beautiful yet dangerous woman from the Philippines, must come together during the first 48 hours of the outbreak and journey through chaos towards their only chance of escape on the Garden State Parkway–Exit Zero.

Ronald Reagan's story reads like a Hollywood script complete with a small-town boyhood, movie stardom, financial success, and unmatched political popularity. This book tells Reagan's true-life tale in an engaging and easily accessible manner. The trajectory of his life was remarkable: from Midwestern schoolboy, sports announcer, and Hollywood actor to governor of California and two-term President of the United States. There is no doubt that Ronald Reagan was one of the most complex and fascinating personalities of our time. Ronald Reagan: A Biography captures all the varied aspects of Reagan's life and career, portraying him as a politician, a husband, a father—and as a human being with a unique brand of charisma. Anchored by Reagan's memorable personality and appeal, this lively, concise biography explores the full range of the former president's humor, character, and faith in a book that is also a study of history and political science. Students and general readers alike will come away understanding why Ronald Reagan's hold on America was so potent, and why it becomes more so with time.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author E.K. Johnston comes a brave and unforgettable story that will inspire readers to rethink how we treat survivors. Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn’t mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don't cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team—the pride and joy of a small town. The team's summer training camp is Hermione's last and marks the beginning of the end of…she’s not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black. In every class, there's a star cheerleader and a pariah pregnant girl. They're never supposed to be the same person. Hermione struggles to regain the control she's always had and faces a wrenching decision about how to move on. The rape wasn't the beginning of Hermione Winter's story and she's not going to let it be the end. She won’t be anyone’s cautionary tale. "This story of a cheerleader rising up after a traumatic event will give you Veronica Mars-level feels that will stay with you long after you finish."—Seventeen Magazine

“Terrifically intelligent, moving, and entertaining.” –The New York Sun “With snappy dialogue [and] intelligent prose . . . Begley paints a memorable portrait of lasting friendship and of the strength required to step outside of the expectations that surround each of us.” –Rocky Mountain News At the beginning of the 1950s, three disparate young men are thrown together as roommates at Harvard College: Henry White, a Polish-Jewish refugee who survived World War II by hiding in Poland; Archibald P. Palmer III, an Army brat; and Sam Standish, ostensibly the scion of a fine New England family who has just learned that he was adopted at birth by parents he cannot respect. Each seeks to come to terms with his identity or to remake it altogether. Henry’s task is especially daunting: He is determined to live as an American, free of the shackles of his hideous past. But reinvention is a bargain with the devil, and over the years each will find that it comes at a high cost, challenging one’s honor and loyalty to parents, friends, and ultimately oneself. “Absorbing . . . In full Henry James mode, Begley uses a lucid prose style to dispassionately eviscerate the upper classes even as he illuminates the true meaning of friendship.” –Booklist “The final moral crisis of Henry’s life [is] gorgeously evoked. . . . Begley’s analysis of class and anti-Semitism in America is often brilliant.” –The Washington Post Book World “A moving tale . . . [Begley’s] technique demands attention–and richly rewards it.” –The New York Observer “An elegant novel of enduring friendship.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the former national security advisor and secretary of state comes a “sharp and penetrating . . . reminder that foreign-policy choices facing the United States are complex and difficult, with no easy solutions” (The Washington Post). A native of Birmingham, Alabama, who overcame the racism of the civil rights era to become a brilliant academic and expert on foreign affairs, Condoleezza Rice first distinguished herself as an advisor to George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign, and eventually became one of his closest confidantes. Once he was elected, she served first as his chief advisor on national security issues and later as America’s chief diplomat. From the aftermath of September 11, 2001, when she stood at the center of the administration’s efforts to protect the nation, to her efforts as secretary of state to manage the world’s volatile relationships with North Korea, Iran, and Libya, her service to America led her to confront some of the worst crises the country has ever faced. This is her unflinchingly honest story of that remarkable time, from what really went on behind closed doors when the fates of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon often hung in the balance and how frighteningly close all-out war loomed in clashes involving Pakistan-India and Russia-Georgia, to her candid appraisal of her colleagues and contemporaries. In No Higher Honor, Condoleezza Rice delivers a master class in statecraft—but always in a way that reveals her essential warmth and humility and her deep reverence for the ideals on which America was founded.

Reveals how Cold War U.S. presidents intervened in Latin America not, as the official argument stated, to protect economic interests or war off perceived national security threats, but rather as a way of responding to questions about strength and credibility both globally and at home.