William D. Cohans The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co." is the astonishing story of the worlds most elite & legendary investment bank
- & the men who reigned over it all. For over 150 years Lazard Freres had stood apart from other Wall Street firms by offering ultra-wealthy clients the wisdom of its Great Men: from Felix Rohatyn the escapee from Nazi-occupied France turned financial genius to Michel David-Weill the inscrutable French billionaire Sun King; from Steve Rattner the boy wonder from Long Island who clashed violently with the old guard to larger-than-life CEO Bruce Wasserstein Bid-Em-Up-Bruce who broke with the banks traditions & made himself billions in the process. They amassed unimaginable fortunes & would stop at nothing to make a deal until their titanic egos started to jeopardize everything. In " The Last Tycoons" William Cohan himself a former high-level Wall Street banker takes us into their mysterious & secretive world telling a story of ruthless ambition whispered advice explosive feuds glamorous mistresses decadent excesses & unimaginable wealth. " Spellbinding". (" Financial Times"). "A definitive account.. .it lives up to the billing". (" The Times"). " Has sent a jolt through Lazard & the rest of Wall Street". (" Wall Street Journal"). William D. Cohan was an award-winning investigative journalist before embarking on a seventeen-year career as an investment banker on Wall Street. His first book " The Last Tycoons" about Lazard won the 2007 Financial Times/ Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award & was a " New York Times" bestseller. His second book " House of Cards" also a bestseller is an account of the last days of Bear Stearns & Co. He is also the author of " Money & Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World"."
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Human rights offer a vision of international justice that todays idealistic millions hold dear. Yet the very concept on which the movement is based became familiar only a few decades ago when it profoundly reshaped our hopes for an enhanced humanity. In this pioneering book Samuel Moyn elevates that extraordinary transformation to center stage & asks what it reveals about the ideals troubled present & uncertain future. For some human rights stretch back to the dawn of Western civilization the age of the American & French Revolutions or the post-World War II moment when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was framed. Revisiting these episodes in a dramatic tour of humanitys moral history The Last Utopia" shows that it was in the decade after 1968 that human rights began to make sense to broad communities of people as the proper cause of justice. Across eastern & western Europe as well as throughout the United States & Latin America human rights crystallized in a few short years as social activism & political rhetoric moved it from the hallways of the United Nations to the global forefront. It was on the ruins of earlier political utopias Moyn argues that human rights achieved contemporary prominence. The morality of individual rights substituted for the soiled political dreams of revolutionary communism & nationalism as international law became an alternative to popular struggle & bloody violence. But as the ideal of human rights enters into rival political agendas it requires more vigilance & scrutiny than when it became the watchword of our hopes." ...

Surviving through countless centuries Alisa is beautiful strong &.. .deadly. Alisa has long been hiding a dark & deadly secret but it seems that someone is finally onto her. When a private investigator is hired to delve into Alisa's personal affairs her shocking true age & untraceable fortune are uncovered. Alisa does what she must & kills the investigator but not before discovering who hired him. It is clear that an ancient evil
- the first vampire
- has returned. Alisa knows that his whole existence was her fault & she must therefore be the one to end his reign of slaughter.. .

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One hundred years have passed since Robert Falcon Scotts beleagured expeditionary team arrived at the South Pole only to find that they had been beaten by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. The most feted explorer of his generation Amundsen counted the discovery of the Northwest Passage in 1905 as well as the North Pole amongst his greatest achievements. In the golden age of polar exploration Amundsen whose revolutionary approach to technology transcends polar & nautical significance was a titan among men. However until now his story has rarely featured as more than a footnote to Scotts tragic failure. Reviled for defeating Scott but worshipped by his men Amundsen was pursued by women & creditors throughout his life before disappearing on a rescue mission for the Italian Fascist who had set off in an airship to claim the North Pole for Mussolini. The Last Viking is the life of a visionary & a showman who brought the era of Shackleton to an end put the newly independent Norway on the map & was the twentieth centurys brightest trailblazing explorer. Against the backdrop of the race to conquer the most inhospitable corners of the earth The Last Viking stands alongside The Worst Journey in the World for its grim immediacy of heroism & hardship. Bestriding the generation defined by adventure & the unquenchable desire for discovery it is the mesmerising story of courage misery friendship & the ultimate price paid for immortality. ...

While on holiday in Scotland visiting a macabre tourist attraction The Dungeons of Edinburgh a young Russian tourist is murdered. As the police grapples with the fact that the cause of the young mans death was a massive loss of blood the Watches are immediately aware that there is a renegade vampire on the loose. Anton
- the hero of The Night Watch & The Day Watch
- is detailed to this seemingly mundane investigation but on arriving in Scotland begins to realise that there is much more to the story than a wildcat vampire & a single murder. Aided by Thomas the head of Edinburghs Night Watch Anton investigates & ruminates & becomes aware that a team of unlicensed Others are hunting for a fabled magical treasure hidden in the sixth level of the Twilight by Merlin himself.

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For two centuries Jacob Marlowe has wandered the world enslaved by his lunatic appetites & tormented by the memory of his first & most monstrous crime. Now the last of his kind he knows he cant go on. But as Jake counts down to suicide a violent murder & an extraordinary meeting plunge him straight back into the desperate pursuit of life. ...

This is a brilliant new interpretation of one of the most dramatic periods of British history. The Wars of the Roses" didn't end at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Despite the death of Richard III & Henry VII's victory it continued underground into the following century with plots pretenders & subterfuge by the ousted white rose faction. In a brand new interpretation of this turning point in history well known historian Desmond Seward reviews the story of the Tudors' seizure of the throne & shows that for many years they were far from secure. He challenges the way we look at the reigns of Henry VII & Henry VIII explaining why there were so many Yorkist pretenders & conspiracies & why the new dynasty had such difficulty establishing itself. King Richard's nephews the Earl of Warwick & the little known de la Pole brothers all had the support of dangerous enemies overseas while England was split when the lowly Perkin Warbeck skilfully impersonated one of the princes in the tower in order to claim the right to the throne. Warwick's surviving sister Margaret also became the desperate focus of hopes that the White Rose would be reborn. The book also offers a new perspective on why Henry VIII constantly threatened by treachery real or imagined & desperate to secure his power with a male heir became a tyrant. Praise for Desmond Seward's "A Brief History of the War of the Roses": " It is hard to imagine a historian more in command of his subject... The result is history as compelling as any novel". (" Independent"). " This is a splendidly & vividly written book." (" Evening Standard"). A Brief History of the Hundred Years Wars: "A well-written narrative beautifully illustrated & which takes into account most recent scholarship. It is also a good read." (Richard Cobb " New Statesman")." ...

Three bears' incredible journey. ' Hunter creates a richly sensuous world filled with cruelty beauty tenderness savagery & just enough underlying legendary background to add mystery.' Kirkus Reviews After countless trials & an epic struggle for survival the bears have reached the fabled last great wilderness.. . Prey is abundant & people are scarce. Can the bears finally live in peace? Though the ice pulls Kallik & the trees call to Lusa it is Toklo who strikes out on his own trying to exist in isolation as a fully-grown grizzly. But when Ujurak's life is threatened the bears just come together once more to save their friend. ...

A frosty December night in Stockholm. A thousand guests attend the prestigious Nobel Prizewinners' dinner. The evening is one of prestige & glamour. Until wo shots are fired on the dance floor. Crime reporter Annika Bengtzon is there covering the event for the Evening Post". As the police realize she caught a glimpse of the suspect she is far more interested in getting back to the newsroom. But as more brutal murders follow Annika finds herself in the middle of something far larger than she had anticipated. No longer just a reporter but also a vulnerable key witness she begins to close up the gaps linking these crimes just as the suspect starts closing the net on Annika herself." ...

Geralt is a witcher a man whose magic powers enhanced by long training & a mysterious elixir have made him a brilliant fighter & a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters & vile fiends that ravage the land & attack the innocent. He roams the country seeking assignments but gradually comes to realise that while some of his quarry are unremittingly vile vicious grotesques others are the victims of sin evil or simple naivety. One reviewer said: This book is a sheer delight. It is beautifully written full of vitality & endlessly inventive: its format with half a dozen episodes & intervening rest periods for both the hero & the reader allows for a huge range of characters scenarios & action. Its thought-provoking without being in the least dogmatic witty without descending to farce & packed with swordfights without being derivative. The dialogue sparkles; characters morph almost imperceptibly from semi-cliche to completely original; nothing is as it first seems. Sapkowski succeeds in seamlessly welding familiar ideas unique settings & delicious twists of originality: his Beauty wants to rip the throat out of a sensitive Beast; his Snow White seeks vengeance on all & sundry his elves are embittered & vindictive. Its easily one of the best things Ive read in ages. ...