The authors (note plural) of this collection of short stories have led long and sometimes turbulent lives . Both came as young children to what was at the time British-ruled Palestine in the 1930s. Chance brought them together in high school in Tel-Aviv in 1942, and they have been together ever since, through thick and thin, in what they consider the most enduring union of two souls they know. The stories they recount range from the humorous, ironic, through near-tragic; A journalist who i...

Interesting books are populated by exceptional people. Drama begins when social, political and psychological conditions are out of the ordinary. Nature was in no mood for understatement when she created Lilian Kert Cornfield, whose eventful and near century-long voyage through life would be hard to find between the covers of any novel. Most women want to be loved for what they are, while men seek recognition for what they accomplish. Lilian came to Jerusalem soon after the end of Ottoman r...

When you play a recording, have you ever paused to think about what went into making of it? Rest assured: there is more here than meets the eye and ear. This book takes an irreverent behind-the-scenes look at the classical record business. The author draws on three decades in recording and broadcasting to tell the story of his own and other classical record labels. This amusing and informative memoir covers recording and editing techniques, and how albums are planned, made and marketed. So...

A tender work of mourning, this poetry collection—owing to the remembered words of a much-loved husband—recalls the author's life before marriage and considers a future after her husband's death. Imagining that future, she confronts the myths of an afterlife, a belief in God, her debts to other poets, and her dependence on friends and children. At the center of these beautiful lyrics—written with complete control of rhythm and tone—it is a man, rather than grief, that appears clearly.

Acclaimed travel writer Rick Antonson sets his adventurous compass on Mount Ararat, exploring the region’s long history, religious mysteries, and complex politics.Mount Ararat is the most fabled mountain in the world. For millennia this massif in eastern Turkey has been rumored as the resting place of Noah’s Ark following the Great Flood. But it also plays a significant role in the longstanding conflict between Turkey and Armenia.Author Rick Antonson joined...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR“A deeply reported, deeply personal history of Zionism and Israel that does something few books even attempt: It balances the strength and weakness, the idealism and the brutality, the hope and the horror, that has always been at Zionism’s heart.”—Ezra Klein, The New York TimesWinner of the Natan Book Award...

One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books 2011Alex Ross's award-winning international bestseller, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, has become a contemporary classic, establishing Ross as one of our most popular and acclaimed cultural historians. Listen to This, which takes its title from a beloved 2004 essay in which Ross describes his late-blooming discovery of pop music, showcases the best of his writing from more than a decade at

Ted Simon is the author of the classic travel book JUPITER'S TRAVELS. It documents his four-year journey round the world by motorbike, travelling through Europe, Africa, South and North America, and Asia. A number one bestseller in the late 1970s, it is still regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle books - indeed, one of the greatest travel books - ever written.In 2001, at the age of 69, Ted Simon decided to retrace his journey, and DREAMING OF JUPITER is the result. It took him ...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • ONE OF THE BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE CENTURY*In this celebrated modern classic, a former teacher in revolutionary Iran tells the extraordinary true story of the women who risked their lives to study Western literature in her living room.“Stunning . . . a literary life raft on Iran’s fundamentalist sea.”—Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale

Almost all of us have stories of miraculous encounters of a supernatural nature. In Angelic Encounters, Christian author Joe Callihan relates the many such encounters he has had through the years. Encounters when his guardian angel has intervened in a life saving way to prevent Joe's untimely demise.One one such encounter, did Joe actually get to meet his guardian angel face to face? To learn the answer to this intriguing question, get your copy of Angelic Encounters today. It is a hard bo...

Few westerners will ever be able to understand Muslim or Afghan society unless they are part of a Muslim family. Twenty years old and in love, Phyllis Chesler, a Jewish-American girl from Brooklyn, embarked on an adventure that has lasted for more than a half-century. In 1961, when she arrived in Kabul with her Afghan bridegroom, authorities took away her American passport. Chesler was now the property of her husband's family and had no rights of citizenship. Back in Afghanistan, her husba...

If you enjoy great music but want to know more about how it came to be the way it is - without investing time in a graduate degree - here are the background stories of over 200 great compositions. If you're only just coming to experiment with great music, here are guideposts to help you understand and enjoy what you encounter. The stories and sounds behind the scenes: welcome to Classical Music Insights.