Powerhouse follows Fred through various memories of growing up in a coal camp and surviving near-death experiences while working miles below the earth’s surface. From flooded mines, collapsing tops, to getting lost in the labyrinth of tunnels, Powerhouse takes readers on an eye-opening journey of one coal miner’s life below ground.In an age where coal mining is viewed as a thing of the past, it is more important than ever to understand how and why this dangerous occupation supporte...

NOW WITH A FOREWORD BY RON RASH AND AN APPRECIATION BY DWIGHT GARNER"One of the finest books I know about blue-collar work in America, its rewards and frustrations . . . If you are among the tens of millions who have never read Brown, this is a perfect introduction." —Dwight Garner, The New York TimesOn January 6, 1990, after seventeen years on the job, Larry Brown quit the Oxford, Mississippi, fire department to try writing full-tim...

1969 is a time of turmoil and murder for a New York PI in this " twisty, sometimes terrifying" novel from the author of the acclaimed Inspector Troy Novels ( Kirkus Reviews ).New York PI Turner Raines is a has-been—and the things he has been include a broken civil rights worker, a second-rate lawyer, and a tenth-rate yippie reporter. But in 1969, as the USA is about to land a man on the moon and the Vietnam War is ripping ...

One of the country’s most-acclaimed and popular novelists offers a selection of a dozen short stories set in James Lee Burke’s most beloved milieu, the Deep South.“America’s best novelist” (The Denver Post), two-time Edgar Award winner James Lee Burke is renowned for his lush, suspense-charged portrayals of the Deep South—the people, the crime, the hope and despair infused in the bayou landscape. This stunning anthology takes us back to where Burke's heart...

“A vividly detailed, heartbreaking tale about a dark, alien place, the people who loved working there and a town that has never been the same. He brings to life the hot, dirty, treasure-hunt environment where danger was a miner's heroin." —Seattle Times“Investigation at its best.” —Tucson CitizenOn May 2, 1972, 174 miners entered Sunshine Mine in Kellogg, Idaho, on their daily quest for silver. From his office window, safe...

Rock and Roll legend Ted Nugent contends that a lot of what is wrong with this country could be remedied by a simple, but controversial concept: gun ownership.

Fruitcake Hill is a cleverly written history and personal memoir of an Irish family from the Chicago suburbs that has continuously occupied a single farmhouse property for over 137 years. The story focuses on the family's struggles to preserve the life they knew before urban sprawl became a reality. A humorous and informative read!

Burnt is a captivating and “evocative” (Erin Brockovich) memoir of trailblazing and firefighting from California’s first—and only—female chief of fire protection, a pioneering woman in a male-dominated field.Burnt is a book about finding your calling, even if it’s an unexpected one. It’s about finding your home, even if you aren’t immediately welcomed. And it’s about reaching the top and making a difference, even if you don’t look like you fit in....

In The Chili Cone Chronicles, Michael Winslow shares his remarkable story of growing up and coming-of-age in a small midwestern town during the tempestuous, whirlwind time of the 1960s. Funny and poignant by turns, Winslow offers a memorable journey through the mayhem as he relies on the comfort of his family, oddball friends, and small-town charm to make everything right in his own little corner of the world. Against a backdrop of calamitous world and national events, Winslow rec...

You gonna leave here a warriah, a trained killah! Gonna come a time when you life gonna depend on it, so pay attenshun! June 25, 1950: North Korean armed forces, supported by the Soviet Union and China, drive deep into the heart of South Korea. They are met by the United States First Marine Division, and a draft is instituted back home. Able-bodied young men enrolled in college for critical skills receive temporary deferment; upon graduation they are obliged to serve a six-year term. July ...

In his first work of nonfiction since the acclaimed On Fire, Brown aims for nothing short of ruthlessly capturing the truth of the world in which he has always lived. In the prologue to the book, he tells what it's like to be constantly compared with William Faulkner, a writer with whom he shares inspiration from the Mississippi land. The essays that follow show that influence as undeniable. Here is the pond Larry reclaims and restocks on his place in Tula. Here is the Oxford bar ...

Herman Jackson never thought his past would catch up with him, least of all via a murdered Vietnam veteran named Charlie Victor. Jackson used to run a bookie operation in Detroit, but his bail bond business in St. Paul is much safer. And if Charlie Victor wasn't his best client, he was at least a steady one, paying his bonding fee out of a secret stash he called his frag box.Then Charlie is beaten to death on a public street in broad daylight. Strangely, he leaves behind a will nam...