The author and poet recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums. "Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou's debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother...

In 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they reached the island's highest peak and raised the American flag. The coauthor is Ron Powers.

McMurphy, a criminal who feigns insanity, is admitted to a mental hospital where he challenges the autocratic authority of the head nurse

Presents a collection of essays by writer Hunter S. Thompson that outlines the misdeeds and corruption he believes is in the White House, as well as lampooning events and social phenomena in society.

Officer Jim Chee is drawn into his Navajo heritage as he investigates the bizarre theft of a box of trinkets -- a theft that endangers his life as well as the life of a young schoolteacher.

A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Personal essays share the author's adventures after buying a vacation house on the Carolina coast and his reflections on middle age and mortality.

One of the most essential works on the 1960s counterculture, Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Test is the seminal work on the hippie culture, a report on what it was like to follow along with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as they launched out on the "Transcontinental Bus Tour" from the West Coast to New York, all the while introducing acid (then legal) to hundreds of like-minded folks, staging impromptu jam sessions, dodging the Feds, and meeting...

An advertising executive remembers his childhood with his eccentric foster family and his early adulthood experiences of trying to establish an independent life for himself.

In this book, Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away, and unearths the well of emotions she experienced long afterward as a result. For the first time, she reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence, a presence absent during much of the author's early life. Their reunion a decade later began a story that has never before been...