The fizzy, “marvelously entertaining” (Los Angeles Times) story of the world’s favorite beverageFor God, Country & Coca-Cola is the definitive history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it. From its origins as a patent medicine in Reconstruction Atlanta through its rise as the dominant consumer beverage of the American century, the story of Coke is as singular, appealing, and effervescent as the drink itself. Mark Pendergr...

The definitive history of the world's most popular drug—coffee.Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. Mark Pendergrast reviews the dramatic changes in coffee culture over the past decade, from the disastrous "Coffee Crisis" that caused global prices to plummet to the rise of the Fair Trade movement and the "third-wave" of quality-obsessed coffee connoisseurs.As the sc...

The "fascinating" story of the CDC's intrepid investigators, who travel the world to protect us from deadly pathogens ( Chicago Tribune).Since its founding in 1951, the Epidemic Intelligence Service has waged war on every imaginable ailment. When an epidemic hits, the EIS will be there to crack the case, however mysterious or deadly, saving countless lives in the process. Over the years they have successfully battled polio, cholera, and smallpox, to name a ...

The most comprehensive book on the repressed memory therapy epidemic of the late 1980s and 1990s. A misguided form of pseudoscientific psychotherapy became a fad during these years and encouraged adults to believe that they had been sexually abused for years during their childhood and had completely forgotten (repressed) the memories. Through dubious methods such as dream analysis, hypnosis, guided imagery, and so-called "body memories" and misinterpretation of panic attacks as "flashbacks...

What we can learn from Atlanta's struggle to reinvent itself in the 21st CenturyAtlanta is on the verge of tremendous rebirth-or inexorable decline. A kind of Petri dish for cities struggling to reinvent themselves, Atlanta has the highest income inequality in the country, gridlocked highways, suburban sprawl, and a history of racial injustice. Yet it is also an energetic, brash young city that prides itself on pragmatic solutions.Today, the most promising ...

The author of Uncommon Grounds offers "a rich and resonantly detailed account of an unlikely partnership" that redefined the concept of fair trade ( Coffee Review).The Akha hill Tribe of Thailand has a long, tumultuous history. Politics, economics, and land development consistently worked against the Akha's desire to move away from their dependency on opium production and create a stable future for their children. That all changed in 2006 when Canadian bus...

JAPAN'S TIPPING POINT is a small book on a huge topic. In the post-Fukushima era, Japan is the "canary in the coal mine" for the rest of the world. Can Japan radically shift its energy policy, become greener, more self-sufficient, and avoid catastrophic impacts on the climate? Mark Pendergrast arrived in Japan exactly two months after the Fukushima meltdown. This book is his eye-opening account of his trip and his alarming conclusions.Japan is at a crucial tipping point. A develope...

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the concept of repressed memories. It provides a history and context that documents key events that have had an effect on the way that modern psychology and psychotherapy have developed. Chapters provide an overview of how human memory functions and works and examine facets of the misguided theories behind repressed memory. The book also examines the science of the brain, the reconstructive nature of human memory, and studies of suggestibility. ...

Of all human inventions, the mirror is perhaps the one most closely connected to our own consciousness. As our first technology for contemplation of the self, the mirror is arguably as important an invention as the wheel. Mirror Mirror is the fascinating story of the mirror's invention, refinement, and use in an astonishing range of human activities -- from the fantastic mirrored rooms that wealthy Romans created for their orgies to the mirror's key role in the use and understandi...

A New York Times –bestselling history of the United States in the years between the Gilded Age and World War I, by the author of A Night to Remember ."[Lord had] the extraordinary ability to bring the past to life." —Jenny Lawrence, author of The Way It Was: Walter Lord on His Life and BooksThough remarkable in their own right,...

The New York Times bestseller that tells the story of an overheated stock market and the financial disaster that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s.A riveting living history about Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929. Captures the era, the intoxicating expectancy, the hope that ruled men's heart and minds before the bubble burst and the black despair of the decade that followed.

"Uses modern methods of operational analysis to determine exactly how the Japanese planned and executed the great raid . . . a worthy, useful analysis" ( Naval History).The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor has been portrayed by historians as a dazzling success. With most American historians concentrating on command errors and the story of participants' experiences, the Japanese attack has never been subjected to a comprehensive critical analysis of t...