The New York Times–bestselling history of the rise of California's wine country and its most famous vintners—from the author of Napa at Last Light.James Conaway's remarkable bestseller delves into the heart of California's lush and verdant Napa Valley, also known as America's Eden. Long the source of succulent grapes and singular wines, this region is also the setting for the remarkable true saga of the personalities behind the winemaking empires....

A mixture of travelogue and personal narrative, James Conaway's smart, informative essays offer an insightful depiction of his journeys between Washington, D.C., and Big Sur, California, as he tries to understand what has become of the places, people, and traditions that were once so precious but have now been irreparably changed. Incorporating the voices of cowboys, real estate agents, activists, and many others, he raises vital questions about the merits of sprawling development and the ...

The New York Times bestselling author of Napa tells the captivating story of how the Napa Valley region transformed into an extraordinary engine of commerce, glamour, and an outsized version of the American dream—and how it could be lost—in “a strong plea for responsible stewardship of the land” (Kirkus Reviews).Not so long ago, wine was an exclusively European product. Now it is thoroughly American; emblematic of Napa Valley, an area ide...

In a gorgeous wine valley in northern California, the economic downturn has put a number of dreams on hold. But not so for wine critic Clyde Craven-Jones, a man whose ego nearly surpasses his substantial girth. During a routine tasting in advance of his eponymous publication's new issue, he blindly samples a selection of Cabernets. To his confounded delight, he discovers one bottle worthy of his highest score (a 20, on the Craven-Jones-on- Wine scale), an accolade he's never before awarded...

Step aboard the Peter Hughes dive boat and plunge into the untamed underwater world of the Galápagos Islands. In Beneath the Blue, seasoned diver Jim Conaway takes you on an unforgettable journey beneath the waves, where hammerheads school in the shadows and marine iguanas glide through volcanic rockscapes.Part travelogue, part personal memoir, this vivid, image-rich book captures the magic and mystery of one of Earth's last wild frontiers. From close encounters with whale...

An epic, scandal-plagued story of the immigrant family that built—and then spectacularly lost—a global wine empireSet in California’s lush Napa Valley and spanning four generations of a talented and visionary family, The House of Mondavi is a tale of genius, sibling rivalry, and betrayal. From 1906, when Italian immigrant Cesare Mondavi passed through Ellis Island, to the Robert Mondavi Corp.’s twenty-first-century battle over a billion-dollar fortune, awa...

The rivetingly strange story of the world's most expensive bottle of wine, and the even stranger characters whose lives have intersected with it.The New York Times bestseller, updated with a new epilogue, that tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it.Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years?...

Three addictive novels of romance and suspense in a small California town from the New York Times –bestselling author of The Diary and Garden of Lies.In Stranger in Paradise, the first book of Eileen Goudge's bestselling Carson Springs series, an unlikely wedding upends the tranquil California town. It isn't easy to watch your daughter marry ...

Read all about the fascinating world of sharks. There are over 500 species of sharks, and there is a great deal of diversity among them. Sharks include the world's largest fish, the Whale Shark, as well as some as small as a few inches. Most are predators, but a few filter plankton from the seawater.

A look into the history of obsession, greed, and violence in California's wine industry—"From its explosive prologue to the very last sentence, Frances Dinkelspiel has written an utterly riveting true-crime book" ( The Los Angeles Review of Books ).A New York Times BestsellerA San Francisco Chronicle B...

Lakes define not only Canada's landscape but the national imagination. Blending writing on nature, travel, and science, award-winning journalist Allan Casey systematically explores how the country's history and culture originates at the lakeshore. Lakeland describes a series of interconnected journeys by the author, punctuated by the seasons and the personalities he meets along the way including aboriginal fishery managers, fruit growers, boat cap...

"Connie Shelton gets better with every book she writes." --The Midwest Book ReivewUSA Today bestselling author Connie Shelton brings the third installment in her popular pet-sleuthing mystery series. Charlie Parker returns from her Hawaiian vacation to find her older brother Ron involved with a much younger woman. The more Charlie sees of cute Vicky, the more she realizes how deceitful Ron’s new love is. Is it simply a case of male mid-life crisis, or is there som...