Tragedy Time

Adam chose to meet life’s tough breaks and cruel realities with stand-up comedy; his older sister, Anna, chose law; while their youngest sister, Lydia, struggled to find her place in the world. Beautiful and whip-smart, Lydia was witty, extremely sensitive, fiercely stubborn, and always somewhat haunted. She and Adam bonded over comedy from a young age, running skits in their basement and obsessing over episodes of The Simpsons.

On a quiet Saturday morning in August 2000, two explosions - one so massive it was detected by seismologists around the world - shot through the shallow Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. Russia's prized submarine, the Kursk, began her fatal plunge to the ocean floor. Award-winning journalist Robert Moore presents a riveting, brilliantly researched account of the deadliest submarine disaster in history.

In this sweeping history, Ireland's best-known historian, Tim Pat Coogan, tackles the dark history of the Irish Famine and argues that it constituted one of the first acts of genocide. In what the Boston Globe calls "his greatest achievement", Coogan shows how the British government hid behind the smoke screen of laissez faire economics, the invocation of divine providence, and a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign, allowing more than a million people to die agonizing deaths and driving a further million into emigration.

Based largely on documents declassified in only the last few years, One Man Against the World paints a devastating portrait of a tortured yet brilliant man who led the country largely according to a deep-seated insecurity and distrust of not only his cabinet and Congress but the American population at large. In riveting, tick-tock prose, Weiner illuminates how the Vietnam War and the Watergate controversy that brought about Nixon's demise were inextricably linked.

This story follows a true crime murder case from New York in 1906. Clyde Griffiths is the impoverished young man from a family of street preachers who dreams of bettering his station in life. However, his dream ends in murder and he is subsequently arrested and put on trial—putting the media in a frenzy.

The Christ Cure is comprehensive handbook of healing for victims of trauma and their families, guiding the listener through a unique path of true restoration, inspired by the life and works of the Apostle Paul (a survivor of multiple traumas), by modern day mentors, the humbling personal experiences of the author, psychologist, Navy veteran, and former member of Congress Dr. Tim Murphy, and reinforced by solid scientific research.

In this compelling account, eminent literary critic Terry Eagleton explores the nuances of tragedy in Western culture-from literature and politics to philosophy and theater. Eagleton examines the political nature of tragedy, looking closely at its connection with periods of historical transition. The dramatic form originated not as a meditation on the human condition, but at moments of political engagement, when civilizations struggled with the conflicts that beset them. Tragedy, Eagleton demonstrates, is fundamental to human experience and culture.

An American Tragedy is the story of Clyde Griffiths, who spends his life in the desperate pursuit of success. On a deeper, more profound level, it is the masterful portrayal of the society whose values both shape Clyde's ambitions and seal his fate; it is an unsurpassed depiction of the harsh realities of American life and of the dark side of the American dream.

From award-winning author Tim Jeal comes a vivid examination of the six larger-than-life men and one extraordinary woman who set out to find the source of the White Nile in the 19th century.

In the 11th century, York was an important northern English city. At this time, English Jews were subject to considerable religious prejudice and primarily worked from cities in which there was a local royal castle that could provide them with protection in the event of attacks from the majority Christian population. When Richard I was crowned King in 1189, there were rumours that the king had ordered that the English Jews be attacked. Shortly afterwards, in York, tensions broke out into violence and York became the location of one of the worst pogroms for Jews in England during the ...

Considered by Ty Cobb as the "finest natural hitter in the history of the game," "Shoeless Joe" Jackson is ranked with the greatest players to ever step onto a baseball diamond. With a career .356 batting average - which is still ranked third all-time - the man from Pickens County, South Carolina, was on his way to becoming one of the greatest players in the sport's history. That is until the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919, which shook baseball to its core.

From the moment he laid eyes on her, he knew she was the one. But fate had other plans. Wade Walker's life was meticulously mapped out: earn a law degree, marry his high school love, and lead an ideal life. But life doesn't always go according to plan. Betrayal was about to derail Wade's well-laid plans, and he would soon discover that he'd been on autopilot heading in the wrong direction. Melissa Ryan had never been in love. A car accident that robbed her of the full use of her legs left the grown woman too shy to date. Melissa spent her time building up her photography business, but ...

Eamon Redmond is a judge in Ireland’s high court, a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm Tóibín reconstructs the history of Eamon’s relationships - with his father, his first "girl", his wife, and the children who barely know him - and he writes about Eamon’s affection for the Irish coast with such painterly skill that the land itself becomes a character. The result is a novel of stunning power.

The sands of time never fall the same way twice. Jessie thought he’d lost it all, but what if there was a chance to save Scarlet, however slim? There is a time machine in the subterranean levels of the tower. The only problem is that it kills everyone who tries to use it. If he could figure out how to activate it without being turned into a mass of quivering flesh, he could go back. He could fix things.

Does time heal all wounds? Or do some last forever? Pennsylvania, 1971: Graham Davidson is a young man with survivor’s guilt after the death of three siblings. Estranged from his father and seeking a direction in his life, Graham learns about vision quests from a Crow Indian. He secures seasonal employment in Yellowstone National Park and embarks on a spiritual journey. Wyoming Territory, 1871: Under a full moon at a sacred thermal area, Graham finds himself in Yellowstone a century earlier - one year before it was established as a national park.

On a dismal day at the end of October, 1968, a weekend sailor by the name of Donald Crowhurst set out from England in a flimsy trimaran, hoping to become the first solo sailor to circumnavigate the world nonstop. His was an exercise in over-arching ambition, delusion, and tragedy such as the world has seldom seen. Before it was over, the world media would be subject to a fraud of enormous proportions, and Crowhurst would die a madman in the middle of the Atlantic. What he left behind was a shattered boat, a shattered family, and this incredible story.

It's 412 BC, and Athens' invasion of Sicily has failed catastrophically. Thousands of Athenian soldiers are held captive in the quarries of Syracuse, starving, dejected and hanging on by the slimmest of threads. Lampo and Gelon are local potters, men with no work and barely two obols to rub together. With not much to fill their time, they take to visiting the nearby quarry, where they discover prisoners who will, in desperation, recite lines from the plays of Euripides in return for scraps of bread and a scattering of olives. And so an idea is born: the men will put on Medea in the quarry.

Scientists throughout history, from Galileo to today's experts on climate change, have often had to contend with politics in their pursuit of knowledge. But in the Soviet Union, where the ruling elites embraced, patronized, and even fetishized science like never before, scientists lived their lives on a knife edge. The Soviet Union had the best-funded scientific establishment in history. Scientists were elevated as popular heroes and lavished with awards and privileges.

In "Hope for the Hurting Heart," Tim Sawyer takes readers on a deeply personal journey through loss, healing, and renewal. After experiencing the heart-wrenching deaths of his two sons—one at age five and another at forty-four—along with the losses of numerous family members across generations, Sawyer shares how he discovered hope in life's darkest moments. Through engaging family stories spanning multiple generations, Sawyer weaves together tales of parents, grandparents, siblings, and children who faced profound losses yet found ways to keep living and loving. From the impact of a ...

Finding peace in times of worldwide trauma is difficult, and finding peace in times of personal trauma, such as a family death or tragedy, can be overwhelming. Therapist Christy Monson professionally and compassionately describes how tragedy physically changes the brain and the body. She provides powerful techniques to help heal those invisible wounds and cope with the turmoil of our day. Through detailed research, years of experience, and detailed interviews with survivors, Monson shows that there is hope for not only peace after tragedy but also joy.