TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of October 21, 2001

FictionNonfiction
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GERMS
Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad
Cover of GERMS

GERMS

by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad · Simon & Schuster

3 wks on list

In this “engrossing, well-documented, and highly readable” (San Francisco Chronicle) New York Times bestseller, three veteran reporters draw on top sources inside and outside the U.S. government to reveal Washington's secret strategies for combating germ warfare and the deadly threat of biological and chemical weapons. Today Americans have begun to grapple with two difficult truths: that there is no terrorist threat more horrifying—and less understood—than germ warfare, and that it would take very little to mount a devastating attack on American soil. Featuring an inside look at how germ warfare has been waged throughout history and what form its future might take (and in whose hands), Germs reads like a gripping detective story told by fascinating key figures: American and Soviet medical specialists who once made germ weapons but now fight their spread, FBI agents who track Islamic radicals, the Iraqis who built Saddam Hussein's secret arsenal, spies who travel the world collecting lethal microbes, and scientists who see ominous developments on the horizon. With clear scientific explanations and harrowing insights, Germs is a vivid, masterfully written—and timely—work of investigative journalism.

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JOHN ADAMS
David McCullough
Cover of JOHN ADAMS

JOHN ADAMS

by David McCullough · Simon & Schuster

20 wks on list

Profiles John Adams, an influential patriot during the American Revolution who became the nation's first vice president and second president.

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THE WILD BLUE
Stephen E. Ambrose
Cover of THE WILD BLUE

THE WILD BLUE

by Stephen E. Ambrose · Simon & Schuster

8 wks on list

Stephen E. Ambrose, acclaimed author of Band of Brothers and Undaunted Courage, carries us into the skies of World War II aviation, flying aboard the crowded and dangerous B-24 bombers as their crews fought to destroy the German war machine and secured Allied victory. The young men who flew the B-24s over Germany in World War II fought against horrific odds, and, in The Wild Blue, Ambrose recounts their extraordinary heroism, skill, daring, and comradeship with vivid detail and affection. Ambrose describes how the Army Air Forces recruited, trained, and selected the elite few who would undertake the most demanding and dangerous jobs in the war. These are the boys—turned pilots, bombardiers, navigators, and gunners of the B-24s—who suffered over fifty percent casualties. With his remarkable gift for bringing alive the action and tension of combat, Ambrose carries us along in the crowded, uncomfortable, and dangerous B-24s as their crews fought to the death through thick black smoke and deadly flak to reach their targets and destroy the German war machine. Twenty-two-year-old George McGovern, who was to become a United States senator and a presidential candidate, flew thirty-five combat missions (all the Army would allow) and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. We meet him and his mates, his co-pilot killed in action, and crews of other planes. Many went down in flames. As Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers portrayed the bravery and ultimate victory of the American soldiers from Normandy on to Germany, The Wild Blue illustrates the enormous contribution that these young men of the Army Air Forces made to the Allied victory.

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FIRE
Sebastian Junger

FIRE

by Sebastian Junger · Norton

2 wks on list
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CROSSING OVER
John Edward

CROSSING OVER

by John Edward · Jodere

7 wks on list

In this fascinating book, the incomparable John Edward tells you how to communicate with those on the Other Side, what to expect when you cross over, and how to vanquish any fears you may have. Crossing over is a natural, peaceful, and loving experience, he tells us, that will serve as a wondrous reunion with your loved ones from this life and other lives. John also shows you how to use tools such as meditation and visualization to contact your angels and guides. The difference between angels and guides, he says, is that an angle is an energy that has never had a physical incarnation, but who can assist, protect, nurture, and inspire the human condition. A guide may have a physical body at one time, and works with you when you choose to incarnate into the physical. This energy stays with you throughout your life to help you in every way. John also goes on to discuss how to understand the power of your own psychic abilities. He insists that everyone has psychic gifts, but most of the time they have been locked away in the recesses of the mind and need to be developed and recognized. You must give yourself permission to perceive and receive energy, and then use spiritual tools to enable you unleash your potential as you embark on your psychic and spiritual journey.

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WAR IN A TIME OF PEACE
David Halberstam
Cover of WAR IN A TIME OF PEACE

WAR IN A TIME OF PEACE

by David Halberstam · Scribner

4 wks on list

"Halberstam evokes the internecine conflicts, the untrammeled egos, and the struggles for dominance among the key figures in the White House, the State Department, and the military.

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LIVING A LIFE THAT MATTERS
Harold S. Kushner
Cover of LIVING A LIFE THAT MATTERS

LIVING A LIFE THAT MATTERS

by Harold S. Kushner · Knopf

5 wks on list

Explores the nature of true accomplishment while examining the troubling impact of compromising one's integrity to achieve success, and argues that the path to leading a significant life lies in family, friendship, generosity, and self-sacrifice.

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THE NEW JACKALS
Simon Reeve
Cover of THE NEW JACKALS

THE NEW JACKALS

by Simon Reeve · Northeastern University

1 wks on list

Bogen er bygget op som to portrætter af Ramzi Yousef, manden bag World Trade Center bomben i 1993, respektive Osama Bin Laden. Bogen skildrer indgående og informativt den antiamerikanske terrorismes historie i 1990'erne.

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IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE!
Kurt Angle with John Harper
Cover of IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE!

IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE!

by Kurt Angle with John Harper · ReganBooks/ HarperCollins

From the Junior National Freestyle Championship to the 1996 summer Olympics, Kurt Angle's achievements are second to none in the world of professional wrestling. In the tradition of the World Wrestling Federation autobiographies from Mankind and The Rock, comes the inspiring true story of Kurt Angle, Olympic gold medalist and WWF World Title holder.

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FOUNDING BROTHERS
Joseph J. Ellis
Cover of FOUNDING BROTHERS

FOUNDING BROTHERS

by Joseph J. Ellis · Knopf

43 wks on list

An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic--John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. During the 1790s, which Ellis calls the most decisive decade in our nation's history, the greatest statesmen of their generation--and perhaps any--came together to define the new republic and direct its course for the coming centuries. Ellis focuses on six discrete moments that exemplify the most crucial issues facing the fragile new nation: Burr and Hamilton's deadly duel, and what may have really happened; Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison's secret dinner, during which the seat of the permanent capital was determined in exchange for passage of Hamilton's financial plan; Franklin's petition to end the "peculiar institution" of slavery--his last public act--and Madison's efforts to quash it; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address, announcing his retirement from public office and offering his country some final advice; Adams's difficult term as Washington's successor and his alleged scheme to pass the presidency on to his son; and finally, Adams and Jefferson's renewed correspondence at the end of their lives, in which they compared their different views of the Revolution and its legacy. In a lively and engaging narrative, Ellis recounts the sometimes collaborative, sometimes archly antagonistic interactions between these men, and shows us the private characters behind the public personas: Adams, the ever-combative iconoclast, whose closest political collaborator was his wife, Abigail; Burr, crafty, smooth, and one of the most despised public figures of his time; Hamilton, whose audacious manner and deep economic savvy masked his humble origins; Jefferson, renowned for his eloquence, but so reclusive and taciturn that he rarely spoke more than a few sentences in public; Madison, small, sickly, and paralyzingly shy, yet one of the most effective debaters of his generation; and the stiffly formal Washington, the ultimate realist, larger-than-life, and America's only truly indispensable figure. Ellis argues that the checks and balances that permitted the infant American republic to endure were not primarily legal, constitutional, or institutional, but intensely personal, rooted in the dynamic interaction of leaders with quite different visions and values. Revisiting the old-fashioned idea that character matters, Founding Brothers informs our understanding of American politics--then and now--and gives us a new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history.

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AVA'S MAN
Rick Bragg
Cover of AVA'S MAN

AVA'S MAN

by Rick Bragg · Knopf

6 wks on list

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • With the same emotional generosity and effortlessly compelling storytelling that made All Over But the Shoutin’ a beloved bestseller, Rick Bragg continues his personal history of the Deep South. This time he’s writing about his grandfather Charlie Bundrum, a man who died before Bragg was born but left an indelible imprint on the people who loved him. Drawing on their memories, Bragg reconstructs the life of an unlettered roofer who kept food on his family’s table through the worst of the Great Depression; a moonshiner who drank exactly one pint for every gallon he sold; an unregenerate brawler, who could sit for hours with a baby in the crook of his arm. In telling Charlie’s story, Bragg conjures up the backwoods hamlets of Georgia and Alabama in the years when the roads were still dirt and real men never cussed in front of ladies. A masterly family chronicle and a human portrait so vivid you can smell the cornbread and whiskey, Ava’s Man is unforgettable.

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HIDDEN POWER
Kati Marton

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.