In this warm collection of personal essays and recipes, Ann Hood nourishes both our bodies and our souls. From her Italian American childhood through singlehood, raising and feeding a growing family, divorce, and a new marriage to food writer Michael Ruhlman, Ann Hood has long appreciated the power of a good meal. With Hood's signature humor and tenderness, Kitchen Yarns spills tales of loss and starting from scratch, family love and feasts with friends,...

Presents a compelling account of the Eiffel Tower's creation and a superb portrait of Belle Epoque France. As Gustave Eiffel held court that summer atop his one-thousand-foot tower, a remarkable host of artists and personalities--Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Gauguin, Whistler, and Edison--traveled to Paris and the Exposition Universelle (1889 World's Fair) to mingle and make their mark.

Twelve autobiographical writings published by Italo Calvino in different books, one unpublished piece "American diary" and one work never published in Italy but printed in Lugano in a limited edition, Hermit in Paris--Pref.

"Beloved guide to Italian culture and history Tim Parks traces Garibaldi's famous journey across the Apennines in search of the country's past and present. In the summer of 1849 Giuseppe Garibaldi, the legendary hero of guerrilla wars and future architect of a united Italy, was finally forced to concede defeat to the French in his defense of a revolutionary Roman republic. But determined to turn defeat into moral victory, he set out from Rome with...

"Renowned historian Max Hastings recreates one of the most thrilling events of World War II: Operation Pedestal, the British action to save its troops from starvation on Malta--an action-packed tale of courage, fortitude, loss, and triumph against all odds. In 1940, Hitler had two choices when it came to the Mediterranean region: stay out, or commit sufficient forces to expel the British from the Middle East. Against his generals' advice, the Fuhrer...

In 1943, Primo Levi, a 25-year-old chemist and "Italian citizen of Jewish race," was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. This is Levi's classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the...

"One summer's night in 1946, over 1,000 European Jews waited silently on an Italian beach to board a secret ship. They had survived Auschwitz, hidden and fought in forests and endured death marches--now they were taking on the Royal Navy, running the British blockade of Palestine. From Eastern Europe to Israel via Germany and Italy, Rosie Whitehouse follows in the footsteps of those secret passengers, uncovering their extraordinary stories--some told...

Includes selections by Ernie Pyle, William L. Shirer, Dorothy Thompson, A.J. Liebling, Edward R. Murrow, Margaret Bourke-White, Howard K. Smith, E.B. White, Brendan Gill, Richard Tregaskis, John Hersey, Homer Bigart, I.F. Stone, S.J. Perelman, Robert Sherrod, Ernest Hemingway, Irwin Shaw, Bill Mauldin, Eric Sevareid, Richard C. Hottelet, James Agee, and others. Includes chronology and 9 maps.

"Mary Shelley is the definitive account of the gifted and tragic author whose escape to France at seventeen with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley caused great scandal in London and permanently scarred her reputation. The couple traveled, with Mary's stepsister Claire Clairmont in tow, from France to Italy and Switzerland. In the summer of 1816 they rented a villa near Lord Byron's on Lake Geneva where, on a famous night of eerie thunderstorms,...