J P: 1902 books

“A picaresque novel to stop them all. Lusty, violent, wildly funny, it is a rigadoon of rascality, a bawled-out comic song of sex.” (Dorothy Parker, Esquire) First published in Paris in 1955, and originally banned in the United States and Ireland, J. P. Donleavy’s debut novel has since...

A funny and entertaining history of printed books as told through absurd moments in the lives of authors and printers, collected by television’s favorite rare-book expert from HISTORY’s hit series Pawn Stars. Since the Gutenberg Bible first went on sale in 1455, printing has been viewed...

It starts with the crows. When you see them, you know he’s found you. Koda Okita is a high school student in modern-day Japan who isn’t very popular. He suffers from narcolepsy and has to wear a watermelon-sized helmet to protect his head in case he falls. But Koda couldn’t care less...

A charismatic new governor.  A radical political movement. An overzealous central government. When libertarian Republican candidate Paul Spooner is elected Governor of New Hampshire, his policies set the tiny, independent-minded state on an inevitable collision course with the Federal...

An essential new history of ancient Ireland and the Irish, written as an engrossing detective story About eighty million people today can trace their descent back to the occupants of Ireland. But where did the occupants of the island themselves come from and what do we even mean by “Irish”...

Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras are four Spanish speaking countries in Central America that possess uniformed military institutions. These four countries represent different approaches to reforms of civil-military relations, and embody varying degrees of success in both institutional...

One marker of the majesty of ancient Rome is its surviving architectural legacy, the stunning remains of which are scattered throughout the circum-Mediterranean landscape. Surprisingly, one truly remarkable aspect of this heritage remains relatively unknown. There exists beneath the waters of the...

The sexual odyssey of a hopeless romantic from the author of the legendary bestseller The Ginger Man—“a comic writer rivaling Waugh and Wodehouse” (Life). In the years before and after World War II, Balthazar B is the world’s last shy, elegant young man. Born to riches in Paris and...

Tomatoes are the second most important vegetable crop in the world after potatoes. Originating in South America, they are now grown widely around the world. As the population continues to grow, there is a need to increase yields in the face of such challenges as climate change, threats from pests...

Canada is ruled by an organized minority of the 1%, a class of corporate owners, managers and bankers who amass wealth by controlling the large corporations at the core of the economy. But corporate power also reaches into civil society and politics in many ways that greatly constrain democracy. In...

Rylee has manifested illegal magic. Abandoned since before she can remember and virtually friendless, Rylee now finds herself in the middle of a power struggle between an heir to the ruling house within the Vampirum and an agent for the US Department of Mysticism and Metaphysics. Both fight...

Fashion-worshipping, coffee-obsessed extreme-queen Peter London chronicles his juicy sexual conquests in an outrageous and hilarious series of 'party tales'! Peter London's been there, done that, done them. Turns out, there's a lot of different species of 'guy' out there, and Peter, or one...

Arla Lightrider is the newest captain of the <i>Profit and Luck</i>, her late father's aether tradeship.  She plans to follow in his footsteps, shuttling cargo through the tradelanes as a member of the Galactic Merchants Compact.  Though her work is complicated by the...

The third short story in the Clockwork Imperium series. The mysterious and alluring Myra Abernathy has disappeared without a trace, and Henry Emerson is left wondering just who she really was, and who she really worked for. But dark events in Europe soon overtake him, cutting short...