Iowa housewife Tracey Pittman Roberts seemed to have it all: natural beauty, three loving children, and a fairy tale second marriage to a wealthy, handsome businessman. But beneath the happy façade was a woman who used lies, manipulation, sex, ugly allegations, blackmail—and even murder—to serve her own selfish ends.On December 12, 2001, police rushed to Tracey's home after a shooting left her vulnerable young neighbor dead. Tracey claimed it was an act of self-defense. Nine gunsho...

Step into the Alpine Regions of Austria for a complete introduction to the local traditions, beliefs, and folklore surrounding the dark half of the year.Within these pages you will come face-to-face with the ghostly procession of otherworldly beings called the Wild Hunt, the goddess Percht who slits open the bellies of the idle and lazy, as well as that most feared, infamous, and sensationalized figure of the Yuletide season: Krampus.Detailing over twenty a...

The most definitive management ideas of the century, all in one place.Harvard Business Review is the foremost destination for smart management thinking. Now, at its 100th anniversary, this commemorative volume brings together the most influential ideas since its inception. With thought leaders including Michael E. Porter, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Rosabeth Moss Kantor, Peter Drucker, and Clayton M. Christensen, this book puts HBR's greatest...

Everybody wants someone to love and spend time with, and searching for your ideal partner is a natural and healthy human tendency. Just about everyone dates at some point in their lives, yet few really understand what they're doing or how to get the best results. In Wired for Dating, psychologist and relationship expert Stan Tatkin—author of Wired for Love—offers powerful tips based in neuroscience and attachment theory to help you find a compatible mate and go on to crea...

For close to a decade, technology analyst Dan Wang―"a gifted observer of contemporary China" (Ross Douthat)―has been living through the country's astonishing, messy progress. China's towering bridges, gleaming railways, and sprawling factories have improved economic outcomes in record time. But rapid change has also sent ripples of pain throughout the society. This reality―political repression and astonishing growth―is not a paradox, but rather a feature of China's engineering mindset....

America was built on white pine. From the 1600s through the Civil War and beyond, it was used to build the nation's ships and houses, barns, and bridges. Yet this popularity came at a cost: by the end of the nineteenth century, clear cutting had decimated much of America's white pine forests. In White Pine, ecologist and writer John Pastor takes listeners on walk through history, connecting the white pine forests that remain today to a legacy of destruction and renewal.Sin...

Cherry Walker was a devoted, trusting, uncommonly innocent young woman who loved caring for a neighbor's little boy. But when she was asked to testify in court against his abusive mother, Cherry never got the chance. She couldn't lie if her life depended on it—and it did. Cherry's body was found on the side of a Texas road, after being doused with lighter fluid and set aflame.Attractive, manipulative, and violent, mother of four Kim Cargill had a wealth of dirty secrets she'd do an...

Eighteen delightful holiday stories by a colorful lineup of your favorite Soho Crime authorsThis captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.Nine mall Santas must find the imposter among them. An elderly lady seeks peace from her murderously loud neighbors at Christmastime. A young woman receives a mysterious invitation to Ch...

When Vonlee "Nicole" Titlow and her aunt, Billie Jean Rogers, came home from a night of gambling in a casino near Detroit, they told police they found Billie's husband unconscious on the floor of the Rogers' mansion. Just another of his alcoholic benders, they assumed. But this time, Donald Rogers didn't wake up.The investigation would reveal the sordid story behind the death of a self-made millionaire—including transgender adventures in Chicago and Denver, a tangled web o...

“Without question this is the best popular account of the last war fought between the United States and Great Britain. . . . In a gripping narrative the author not only explains the importance of the War of 1812 but vividly recreates its exciting land and sea battles.” —Robert V. Remini, author of The Life of Andrew JacksonAlthough frequently overlooked between the American Revolution and the Civil War, the War of 1812 tested a rising generation of America...

Authoritative and immediate, this is the classic account of the most powerful of the American Indian tribes. T. R. Fehrenbach traces the Comanches' rise to power, from their prehistoric origins to their domination of the high plains for more than a century until their demise in the face of Anglo-American expansion.Master horseback riders who lived in teepees and hunted bison, the Comanches were stunning orators, disciplined warriors, and the finest makers of arrows. They lived by a...

Life is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we'd ever call fun. But what if we've gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety; transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities. The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games. Play Anything, reveals that games appeal to us not because they a...