Random House Inc.

For anyone who aspires to a position of national leadership, no matter the circumstances of his or her birth, this book should be mandatory reading. And anyone who feels a need, as a confused former prisoner of war once felt the need, for insights into how a great and good nation can lose a war and see its worthy purposes and principles destroyed by self-delusion can do no better than to read and reread David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest.

When a baby is abandoned on the doorstep of a young socialite widow, the woman thinks she knows the identity of the father: her deceased writer husband, the cad! But who is the mother? Reluctantly, Nero Wolfe accepts the case, and Archie identifies the first clue: unusual buttons on the baby's overalls.

A repackaged Nero Wolfe mystery — the perfect companion for anyone who savors a good murder served up with true flair. Features an introduction by noted writer Randy Russell and never-before-published memorabilia from the life of Rex Stout.

Evelyn Waugh’s most celebrated novel is a memory drama about the intense entanglement of the narrator, Charles Ryder, with a great Anglo-Catholic family. Written during World War II, the novel mourns the passing of the aristocratic world Waugh knew in his youth and vividly recalls the sensuous pleasures denied him by wartime austerities; in so doing it also provides a profound study of the conflict between the demands of religion and the desires of the flesh. At once romantic, sensuous, comic, and somber, Brideshead Revisited transcends Waugh’s familiar satiric exploration of his cast of lords and ladies, Catholics and eccentrics, artists and misfits, revealing him to be an elegiac, lyrical novelist of the utmost feeling and lucidity.

Dostoevsky's drama of sin, guilt, and redemption transforms the sordid story of an old woman's murder into the nineteenth century's profoundest and most compelling philosophical novel. Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in the St. Petersburg of the tsars, is determined to overreach his humanity and assert his untrammeled individual will. When he commits an act of murder and theft, he sets into motion a story that, for its excruciating suspense, its atmospheric vividness, and its depth of characterization and vision is almost unequaled in the literatures of the world. The best known of Dostoevsky's masterpieces, «Crime and Punishment» can bear any amount of rereading without losing a drop of its power over our imaginations. Award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky render this elusive and wildly innovative novel with an energy, suppleness, and range of voice that do full justice to the genius of its creator.

Decline and Fall (1928) was Evelyn Waugh's immensely successful first novel, and it displays not only all of its author's customary satiric genius and flair for unearthing the ridiculous in human nature, but also a youthful willingness to train those weapons on any and every thing in his path. In this fractured picaresque comedy of the hapless Paul Pennyfeather stumbling from one disaster to another, Waugh manages the delicious task of skewering every aspect of the society in which he lived. With an Introduction by Frank Kermode Sir Frank Kermode, formerly Lord Northcliffe Professor at London University, is now Professor at Cambridge and Columbia Universities. His books include The Uses of and Continuities.

deadly trio of Nero Wolfe classics. It's a wily killer who dares to strike on Nero Wolfe's hallowed turf. It's a gun-toting wife who serves up a confession of homicidal intent — only to become the suspect when the corpse is found. And it's murder a la carte when a cop-hating landlady brings Wolfe counterfeit cash that leads to genuine murder.

Russian playwright and historian Radzinsky mines sources never before available to create a fascinating portrait of the monarch, and a minute-by-minute account of his terrifying last days.

The setting is Hong Kong, 1963. The action spans scarcely more than a week, but these are the days of high adventure: from kidnapping and murder to financial double-dealing and natural catastrophes — fire, flood, and landslide. Yet they are days filled as well with all the mystery and romance of Hong Kong — the heart of Asia — rich in every trade... money, flesh, opium, power.

A man. A woman. The heat of an Iowa summer. And the brief encounter whose passion will last a lifetime

Sexual hunger; demonic violence; sinister logic — the lethal components of a deadly formula driving a psychopath in the grip of an unimaginable delusion; a boastful killer who sends the police tormenting notes; a tortured, torturing monster who finds ultimate pleasure in viciously murdering happy families, and calls himself... The Red Dragon. Special agent Will Graham has been assigned to similar cases before, cases where he was able to see and feel WITH the madmen, anticipate their moves and, most terrifying of all, be vulnerable to their horrifying brutality. Now Graham is reluctantly lured out of retirement, to find an opening to the evil mind of the Red Dragon. Red Dragon is quite probably the most suspenseful, utterly compelling thriller ever

Haunting, harrowing, and downright horrifying, this classic collection from the modern master of the fantastic features: «The Small Assassin»: a fine, healthy baby boy was the new mother's dream come true — or her nightmare... «The Emissary»: the faithful dog was the sick boy's only connectioin with the world outside — and beyond... «The Wonderful Death Of Dudley Stone»: a most remarkable case of murder — the deceased was delighted! And more!

Poor Bertie is in the soup again, and throughout this latest omnibus it is only Jeeves who keeps him from being the fish and the main course as well. In these delightful pages you will encounter all the stalwarts who have made the Jeeves novels and stories the pinnacle of English humour, from Aunts Agatha and Dahlia to Roderick Spode, Tuppy Glossop, Madeline Bassett, Oofy Prosser and Anatole the Chef. At the end even Augustus the cat has come to be much obliged to Jeeves. This volume contains «Much Obliged, Jeeves», «Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen» and the short stories ‘Extricating Young Gussie’, ‘Jeeves Makes An Omelette’ and ‘Jeeves and the Greasy Bird’.

This dazzling collection of stories follows the individual adventures of a varied cast of characters and masterfully illustrates Calvino's unique perspective and narrative gifts. As well as the eleven tales from his «Difficult Loves» collection this volume also includes «Smog» and «A Plunge into Real Estate».

Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic — a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the «Secret Annex» of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.

From the author of «Outlander»... a magnificent epic that once again sweeps us back in time to the drama and passion of 18th-century Scotland... For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland's majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones ...about a love that transcends the boundaries of time ...and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his .... Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire's spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart ...in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising ...and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves....

A collection of short stories including subjects as diverse as memories, marriage, insects and ghosts. A.S. Byatt's other books include Possession, winner of the 1990 Booker Prize.

Told with all of Susan Howatch's drama, intelligence, and emotional depth, Mystical Paths is a breathtaking novel about the powerful, often painful, but finally indestructible ties between parent and child. And like its four highly praised predecessors in the Church of England series, this novel celebrates the redeeming power of self-knowledge and faith.

Internationally bestselling author of A Year in Provence, Mayle comes out with a new bestseller about the true pleasure of fine living.

Lestat, the vampire-hero, enchanter and seducer of mortals, speaks in the new book in the bestselling Vampire Chronicles that began with Interview with the Vampire and continued with The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned. For centuries Lestat has been a courted prince in the dark universe of the living dead. But now he is alone, and everything he has come to believe in is called into question. Soon he will embark on the most dangerous enterprise he has ever undertaken...

Designed for rapid access, this innovative reference helps the reader find the perfect choice of words to get his/her ideas across with impact and accuracy. Specially created for contemporary writers and speakers, it includes essential definitions and avoids outmoded, useless entries.

The Journey... Every Friday night a lilac-colored minibus leaves Dublin for the Irish country town of Rathdoon with seven weekend commuters on board. All of them, from the joking bank porter to the rich doctor's daughter, have their reasons for making the journey. The Destination... Rathdoon is the kind of Irish village where family histories are shared and scandals don't stay secret for long. And this weekend, when the bus pulls in, the riders find the unexpected waiting for them... as each of their private lives unfolds to reveal a sharp betrayal of the heart, a young man's crime, and a chance for new dreams among the eight intriguing men and women on... Plus a special bonus in this volume... Maeve Binchy's DUBLIN 4 tales — a truly unforgettable collection of stories about today's Ireland that captures the profound intimacy and drama of ordinary lives.

Colorado congressman Evan Kendrick is trying to live out his term of officequietly — when a political mole reveals to the world Kendrick's deepestsecret... that Kendrick was the anonymous man in Masqar, the man whocourageously freed the hostage held in the American embassy by Arab terrorists; the unknown hero who performed an act of outrageous daring then silentlydisappeared. Now, suddenly, Kendrick is a living target pursued by theterrorists he outwitted. Together with the beautiful woman who once saved hislife, Kendrick enters a deadly arena where the only currency is blood, wherefrightened whispers speak of violence yet to come and where Kendrick'slife — and the fate of the free world — may ultimately rest in the powerful handsof a mysterious and deadly figure known only as the Mahdi.

Welcome to Whistle Stop, Alabama. It's the thirties — summers are hot, days are long and Idgie and Ruth run the Whistle Stop Cafe, providing homemade barbecue, good coffee and a friendly face to all who pass by. But below the surface, things are not quite as they seem — Ruth has a past that only Idgie and a few others in Whistle Stop know about. And one day, when a submerged truck is pulled out of the river, that past they'd kept a secret for so long returns to haunt them...