TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Nonfiction

Week of November 11, 2012

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1
KILLING KENNEDY
Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
Cover of KILLING KENNEDY

KILLING KENNEDY

by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard · Holt

14 wks at #1 · 4 on list

A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln. The basis for the 2013 television movie of the same name starring Rob Lowe as JFK. More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the iconic anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy—and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath. In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy struggles to contain the growth of Communism while he learns the hardships, solitude, and temptations of what it means to be president of the United States. Along the way he acquires a number of formidable enemies, among them Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In addition, powerful elements of organized crime have begun to talk about targeting the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy. In the midst of a 1963 campaign trip to Texas, Kennedy is gunned down by an erratic young drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes the scene, only to be caught and shot dead while in police custody. The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader.

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NO EASY DAY
Mark Owen with Kevin Maurer
Cover of NO EASY DAY

NO EASY DAY

by Mark Owen with Kevin Maurer · Dutton

8 wks on list

The #1 New York Times bestselling first-person account of the planning and execution of the Bin Laden raid from a Navy SEAL who confronted the terrorist mastermind and witnessed his final moments. From the streets of Iraq to the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean, and from the mountaintops of Afghanistan to the third floor of Osama Bin Laden’s compound, operator Mark Owen of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group—known as SEAL Team Six—has been a part of some of the most memorable special operations in history, as well as countless missions that never made headlines. No Easy Day puts readers alongside Owen and his fellow SEAL team members as they train for the biggest mission of their lives. The blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended Owen’s life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death, is an essential piece of modern history. In No Easy Day, Owen also takes readers into the War on Terror and details the formation of the most elite units in the military. Owen’s story draws on his youth in Alaska and describes the SEALs’ quest to challenge themselves at the highest levels of physical and mental endurance. With boots-on-the-ground detail, Owen describes several missions that illustrate the life and work of a SEAL and the evolution of the team after the events of September 11. In telling the true story of the SEALs whose talents, skills, experiences, and exceptional sacrifices led to one of the greatest victories in the War on Terror, Mark Owen honors the men who risk everything for our country, and he leaves readers with a deep understanding of the warriors who keep America safe.

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KILLING LINCOLN
Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
Cover of KILLING LINCOLN

KILLING LINCOLN

by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard · Holt

57 wks on list

A riveting historical narrative of the heart-stopping events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the first work of history from mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly The iconic anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts one of the most dramatic stories in American history—how one gunshot changed the country forever. In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America's Civil War finally comes to an end after a series of increasingly harrowing battles. President Abraham Lincoln's generous terms for Robert E. Lee's surrender are devised to fulfill Lincoln's dream of healing a divided nation, with the former Confederates allowed to reintegrate into American society. But one man and his band of murderous accomplices, perhaps reaching into the highest ranks of the U.S. government, are not appeased. In the midst of the patriotic celebrations in Washington D.C., John Wilkes Booth—charismatic ladies' man and impenitent racist—murders Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. A furious manhunt ensues and Booth immediately becomes the country's most wanted fugitive. Lafayette C. Baker, a smart but shifty New York detective and former Union spy, unravels the string of clues leading to Booth, while federal forces track his accomplices. The thrilling chase ends in a fiery shootout and a series of court-ordered executions—including that of the first woman ever executed by the U.S. government, Mary Surratt. Featuring some of history's most remarkable figures, vivid detail, and page-turning action, Killing Lincoln is history that reads like a thriller.

4
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ROD
Rod Stewart
Cover of ROD

ROD

by Rod Stewart · Crown Archetype

1 wks on list

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Ridiculously funny and astonishingly candid, Rod Stewart's memoir is the rock autobiography of the decade' DAILY MAIL 'One of the most entertaining, revealing, captivating books of the year' INDEPENDENT ___________________________________________ Rod Stewart was born the working-class son of a Scottish plumber in North London. Despite some early close shaves with a number of diverse career paths, ranging from gravedigging to professional football, it was music that truly captured his heart - and he never looked back. Rod started out in the early 1960s, playing the clubs on London's R&B scene, before his distinctively raspy voice caught the ear of the iconic front man Long John Baldry, who approached him while busking one night on a railway platform. Stints with pioneering acts like the Hoochie Coochie Men, Steampacket, and the Jeff Beck Group soon followed, paving the way into a raucous five years with the Faces, the rock star's rock band, whose offstage antics with alcohol, wrecked hotel rooms and groupies have become the stuff of legend. And during all this, he found a spare moment to write 'Maggie May', among a few others, and launch a solo career that has seen him sell an estimated 200 million records, be inducted into the Hall of Fame twice, and play the world's largest ever concert. Not bad, as he says, for a guy with a frog in his throat. And then, there is his not-so-private life: marriages, divorces and affairs with some of the world's most beautiful women - Bond girls, movie stars and supermodels - and a brush with cancer which very nearly saw it all slip away. Rod's is an incredible life, and here, thrillingly and for the first time, he tells the whole thing, leaving no knickers under the bed. A rollicking rock 'n' roll adventure that is at times deeply moving, this is the remarkable journey of a guy with one hell of a voice - and one hell of a head of hair.

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THE SIGNAL AND THE NOISE
Nate Silver
Cover of THE SIGNAL AND THE NOISE

THE SIGNAL AND THE NOISE

by Nate Silver · Penguin Press

4 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The groundbreaking exploration of probability and uncertainty that explains how to make better predictions in a world drowning in data, from the nation’s foremost political forecaster—updated with insights into the pandemic, journalism today, and polling One of The Wall Street Journal’s Ten Best Works of Nonfiction of the Year “Could turn out to be one of the more momentous books of the decade.”—The New York Times Book Review Most predictions fail, often at great cost to society, because experts and laypeople mistake more confident predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence is often the reason for failure. If our appreciation of uncertainty improves, our predictions can get better too. This is the “prediction paradox”: The more humility we have about our ability to make predictions, the more successful we can be in planning for the future. Drawing on his own groundbreaking work in sports and politics, Nate Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating how to seek truth from data. In The Signal and the Noise, Silver visits innovative forecasters in a range of areas, from hurricanes to baseball to global pandemics, from the poker table to the stock market, from Capitol Hill to the NBA. He discovers that what the most accurate ones have in common is a superior command of probability—as well as a healthy dose of humility. With everything from the global economy to the fight against disease hanging on the quality of our predictions, Nate Silver’s insights are an essential read.

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MAKEUP TO BREAKUP
Peter Criss with Larry Sloman
Cover of MAKEUP TO BREAKUP

MAKEUP TO BREAKUP

by Peter Criss with Larry Sloman · Scribner

1 wks on list

LEGENDARY founding KISS drummer Peter “Catman” Criss has lived an incredible life in music, from the streets of Brooklyn to the social clubs of New York City to the ultimate heights of rock ’n’ roll success and excess. KISS formed in 1973 and broke new ground with their elaborate makeup, live theatrics, and powerful sound. The band emerged as one of the most iconic hard rock acts in music history. Peter Criss, the Catman, was the heartbeat of the group. From an elevated perch on his pyrotechnic drum riser, he had a unique vantage point on the greatest rock show of all time, with the KISS Army looking back at him night after night. Peter Criscuola had come a long way from the homemade drum set he pounded on nonstop as a kid growing up in Brooklyn in the fifties. He endured lean years, street violence, and the rollercoaster music scene of the sixties, but he always knew he’d make it. Makeup to Breakup is Peter Criss’s eye-opening journey from the pledge to his ma that he’d one day play Madison Square Garden to doing just that. He conquered the rock world—composing and singing his band’s all-time biggest hit, “Beth” (1976)—but he also faced the perils of stardom and his own mortality, including drug abuse, treatment in 1982, near-suicides, two broken marriages, and a hard-won battle with breast cancer. Criss opens up with a level of honesty and emotion previously unseen in any musician’s memoir. Makeup to Breakup is the definitive and heartfelt account of one of rock’s most iconic figures, and the importance of faith and family. Rock ’n’ roll has been chronicled many times, but never quite like this.

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HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED
Paul Tough
Cover of HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED

HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED

by Paul Tough · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

8 wks on list

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control. How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough traces the links between childhood stress and life success. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to improve the lives of children growing up in poverty. Early adversity, scientists have come to understand, not only affects the conditions of children’s lives, it can also alter the physical development of their brains. But innovative thinkers around the country are now using this knowledge to help children overcome the constraints of poverty. With the right support, as Tough’s extraordinary reporting makes clear, children who grow up in the most painful circumstances can go on to achieve amazing things. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book has the potential to change how we raise our children, how we run our schools, and how we construct our social safety net. It will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

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AMERICA AGAIN
Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Tom Purcell et al.

AMERICA AGAIN

by Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Tom Purcell et al. · Grand Central

4 wks on list

The host of the popular Colbert Report show celebrates the lighter side of the modern world's most relevant issues, providing straightforward discussions of such topics as faith, politics, and how the author believes the country can reacquire its nerve. 500,000 first printing.

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PLUTOCRATS
Chrystia Freeland
Cover of PLUTOCRATS

PLUTOCRATS

by Chrystia Freeland · Penguin Press

2 wks on list

Forget the 1% - it's time to get to grips with the 0.1% ... There has always been some gap between rich and poor, but it has never been wider - and now the rich are getting wealthier at such breakneck speed that the middle classes are being squeezed out. While the wealthiest 10% of Americans, for example, receive half the nation's income, the real money flows even higher up, in the top 0.1%. As a transglobal class of highly successful professionals, these self-made oligarchs often have more in common with one another than with their own countrymen. But how is this happening, and who are the people making it happen? Chrystia Freeland, acclaimed business journalist and Global Editor-at-Large of Reuters, has unprecedented access to the richest and most successful people on the planet, from Davos to Dubai, and dissects their lives with intelligence, empathy and objectivity. Pacily written and powerfully researched, Plutocrats could not provide a more timely insight into the current state of Capitalism and its most wealthy players. 'A superb piece of reportage ... a tremendous illumination' (New Statesman on Freeland's previous title, Sale of the Century)

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WHO I AM
Pete Townshend

WHO I AM

by Pete Townshend · Harper/HarperCollins

3 wks on list

The legendary lead guitarist and principal songwriter for the Who, one of the most influential rock-and-roll bands of all time, pens his own story.

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WAGING HEAVY PEACE
Neil Young
Cover of WAGING HEAVY PEACE

WAGING HEAVY PEACE

by Neil Young · Blue Rider

5 wks on list

The perfect gift for music lovers and Neil Young fans, telling the story behind Neil Young's legendary career and his iconic, beloved songs. “I think I will have to use my time wisely and keep my thoughts straight if I am to succeed and deliver the cargo I so carefully have carried thus far to the outer reaches.”—Neil Young, from Waging Heavy Peace Legendary singer and songwriter Neil Young’s storied career has spanned over forty years and yielded some of the modern era’s most enduring music. Now for the first time ever, Young reflects upon his life—from his Canadian childhood, to his part in the sixties rock explosion with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, through his later career with Crazy Horse and numerous private challenges. An instant classic, Waging Heavy Peace is as uncompromising and unforgettable as the man himself.

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WHY I LEFT GOLDMAN SACHS
Greg Smith
Cover of WHY I LEFT GOLDMAN SACHS

WHY I LEFT GOLDMAN SACHS

by Greg Smith · Grand Central

1 wks on list

Reveals the unsettling changes that prompted the author to resign from the once-esteemed investment bank, as he discusses his growing disenchantment with the company's corporate culture and its exploitation of its clients.

15
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THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB
Will Schwalbe
Cover of THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB

THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB

by Will Schwalbe · Knopf

3 wks on list

'A wonderful book about wonderful books and mothers and sons and the enduring braid between them.' - Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays With Morrie 'a true meditation on what books can do.' - Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes Mary Anne Schwalbe is waiting for her chemotherapy treatments when Will casually asks her what she's reading. The conversation they have grows into tradition: soon they are reading the same books so they can have something to talk about in the hospital waiting room. Their choices range from classic (Howards End) to popular (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), from fantastic (The Hobbit) to spiritual (Jon Kabat-Zinn), with many more in between. We hear their passion for reading and their love for each other in their intimate and searching discussions. The End of Your Life Book Club is a profoundly moving testament to the unconditional love between a child and parent, and the power of reading in our lives.

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HERE COME THE BLACK HELICOPTERS!
Dick Morris & Eileen McGann
Cover of HERE COME THE BLACK HELICOPTERS!

HERE COME THE BLACK HELICOPTERS!

by Dick Morris & Eileen McGann · Broadside/HarperCollins

3 wks on list

When it comes to spotting political abuses and covert conspiracies designed to strip Americans of their rights and freedoms, no one is more vigilant than #1 New York Times bestselling authors Dick Morris and Eileen McGann (Screwed!, Revolt!, Fleeced, Outrage). In their latest call-to-arms, Here Come the Black Helicopters!, Morris and McGann expose the most potent threat to date to our cherished way of life: the brazen and treacherous Liberal plan to circumvent our democratic processes by putting ultimate governing power in the hands of unaccountable international organizations. Filled with shocking, incontrovertible evidence as well as a concrete action plan, Here Come the Black Helicopters! is an essential read that will open the public’s eyes to the catastrophe that will surely occur if we allow our misguided politicians to hand the reins of government over to a devious and frighteningly inept United Nations.

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