“Ponder this: not a speck will be left of you and me; no trace at all.” Carlos Eire immediately dives into how conceptions of eternity have evolved in Western culture and how they have shaped history. As the Riggs Professor of... Read More

Deep-fried Twinkies. Yes, deep-fried Twinkies. That’s just one of the more, um, exotic recipes that can be found in this book. While ostensibly a cookbook, this ring-bound volume is actually a celebration of the culture that has... Read More

In the humorous style of Tom Robbins, this novel tells an amusing yet wise story about love and power. Its quirky, recognizable characters act out a comedy of errors, replaying the old roles and conflicts of Greek myths within a... Read More

If youve ever wondered whether the old Charlie Chan books by Earl Derr Biggers were better than the series of B-movies cranked out in the 1930s, "The House Without a Key" (Academy Chicago, 978-0-89733-579-9), first published in 1925,... Read More

A significant part of the United States counter-culture movement of the 1960s and 70s included thousands of adventuresome hippies engaged in spiritual pilgrimages to eastern destinations such as India Nepal Iran and other Hindu Buddhist... Read More

When toddlers don mini skirts, platform shoes, and eyeshadow on Halloween and declare they are dressed like their favorite doll, perhaps it is time to look at the ways that sexuality is presented to impressionable minds. Durham, a... Read More

A diamond mine in post-apartheid South Africa a missing gargantuan-sized diamond and an engaging geologist hired to find it—what could be more exotic and enticing to mystery readers? Add a beautiful woman the South African countryside... Read More

The author (1903-1996) spent her entire life between two worlds. She was at different times Japanese and American, a member of the elite upper class and a struggling laborer, a political activist and an employee of the War Department. In... Read More