The tragic story of Lily Bart, a beautiful young lady caught up in the glittering but shallow and corrupt world of New York society at the turn of the 20th century.

It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a thirteen-year-old African American girl in Newark's public housing, dreams of following in the footsteps of the first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams; but with a dysfunctional family (mother in jail, father withdrawn, drunken grandfather, gay cousin) the odds are against her--until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter.

Built in the twelfth century as a Norman stronghold, Leeds Castle once housed kings and queens. It lay in disrepair for nearly a century until Anthony Russell's grandmother, Lady Baillie, restored the fortress to its former glory. Here, surrounded by a moat and sprawling grounds, Anthony spent his childhood. It was life of beauty and privilege, but for a shy boy often lonely. And, as Anthony reveals in his extraordinarily vivid and frank memoir,...

She's one of our most beloved political figures, and on the surface, seems to have led a charmed life. Beautiful family, thriving career, loving marriage. But she's no stranger to adversity. Many know of the strength she had shown after her son was killed in a car accident. She would exhibit this remarkable grace and courage again when the very private matter of her husband's infidelity became public fodder. And her own life has been on the line:...

Ray Bradbury, America's most beloved storyteller, has spent a lifetime carrying readers to exhilarating and dangerous places, from dark street corners in unfamiliar cities and towns to the edge of the universe. Now, in an extraordinary flight of the imagination a half-century in the making, he takes us to a most wondrous destination: into the heart of an Eternal Family.They have lived for centuries in a house of legend and mystery in upper Illinois-and...

Ten years after her death, Princess Diana remains a mystery. Was she "the people's princess," who electrified the world with her beauty and humanitarian missions? Or was she a manipulative, media-savvy neurotic who nearly brought down the monarchy? Journalist Tina Brown knew Diana personally and has far-reaching insight into the royals and the Queen herself. In this book, you will meet a formidable female cast and understand as never before the society...

From the Publisher: The Sufi mystic and poet Jalaluddin Rumi is most beloved for his poems expressing the ecstasies and mysteries of love in all its forms-erotic, platonic, divine-and Coleman Barks presents the best of them in this delightful and inspiring collection. Rendered with freshness, intensity, and beauty as Barks alone can do, these startling and rich poems range from the "wholeness" one experiences with a true lover, to the grief of a lover's...

The second revision in sixty years, this sublime collection ranges over the verse, stories, essays, and journalism of one of the twentieth century's most quotable authors. There are some stories new to the Portable, "Such a Pretty Little Picture," along with a selection of articles written for such disparate publications as Vogue, McCall's, House and Garden, and New Masses. At the heart of her serious work lies her political writings racial, labor,...