THE BIG BOOK OF BEASTS: The World’s Most Curious Creatures

From the award-winning author of FINAL EXITS and GOD’S LUNATICS, a one-of-a-kind treasury of the strange and fascinating knowledge and lore about animals. Largo explores the captivating wonder of animals, telling us their most fascinating secrets and reveals fact after astonishing – and often hilarious – fact about their oddest behavior. He looks at the beasts we created with our imaginations, as well as ones long gone. Organized in A-Z format, THE BIG BOOK OF BEASTS covers everything from lions and tigers and bears…and dinosaurs and mermaids…to dragons and sea monsters. With more than 250 photographs, this beautifully designed volume promises to be fun for readers of all ages. William Morrow Paperbacks

Estimated length: 416 pages; b&w photos throughout

Manuscript available: May 2012
Morris, Dick

McGann, Eileen

*SCREWED! How Foreign Countries Are Ripping America Off and Plundering Our Economy and How Our Leaders Help Them Do It

The New York Times bestselling authors of 2010:TAKE BACK AMERICA and CATASTROPHE expose a massive scandal: how foreign countries are ripping America off and plundering our economy, with the help of our own political and business leaders. In SCREWED! Morris and McGann argue against the dogma of globalism, while other nations focus on their own self-interests. The authors examine the ways that nations and international organizations take advantage of us, detail the staggering scale of the great American ripoff, and reveal how our own leaders are complicit in the process. Dick Morris served as Bill Clinton’s political consultant for twenty years. A regular political commentor on Fox News, he is the author of nine New York Times bestsellers (all with Eileen McGann). Eileen McGann is an attorney who, with her husband, Dick, writes columns for the New York Post and for their website, dickmorris.com. Broadside Books
Publication: May 2012 (JS)

Estimated length: 368 pages

Manuscript available
Nader, Ralph

*THE SEVENTEEN SOLUTIONS: New Ideas for Our American Future

From one of the most important and provocative voices in American history, and a New York Times bestselling author, comes a new fiscal rescue program. In a hard-hitting introduction and seventeen tightly focused chapters, Ralph Nader offers a set of provocative, paradigm-shifting solutions for these difficult economic times. Nader has always focused on the disparities between corporate wealth and the plight of the average citizen. His core message fits exactly with the “We are the 99 percent” message that began with Occupy Wall Street and spread around the world this year. His radical yet practical Seventeen Solutions include “Cracking Down on Corporate Crime,” “Getting Corporations off Welfare,” “Returning Control of Science and Academia to the People,” “Innovative New Programs to Create Job Growth,” and “Replacing Spectator Sports with Participatory Sports.” Nader’s solutions offer fodder for debate, and important ideas designed to save us before it’s too late. Harper Paperbacks

Estimated length: 304 pages

Manuscript available: April 2012
Parnia, Sam, M.D.

*ERASING DEATH: The Science that is Rewriting the Boundaries Between Life and Death

From the author of the groundbreaking WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE? (Hay House), comes an exciting and revelatory look at the remarkable new stages of death research, filled with compelling stories, and covering the incredible advances at the frontiers of resuscitative science.  ERASING DEATH sheds light on the ultimate mystery—what happens to human consciousness, what we might call mind or “soul”, during and after death.  Dr. Parnia, who has spent years researching this question, leads readers from the emergency room, to the research lab and the philosophy department—in hot pursuit of the true identity of man’s ultimate challenge: death. Through this journey, readers will discover an extraordinary truth: that medical science is finally gaining real leverage in this battle. Dr. Sam Parnia is one of the world's leading experts on the scientific study of death, the human mind-brain relationship, and near-death experiences. He currently divides his time between hospitals in the United Kingdom and the USA, where he is an assistant professor of critical care medicine at the State University of New York, as well as a recent fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. He is an honorary research fellow and critical care physician at the University of Southampton in the UK, where he is the founder and director of the Human Consciousness ProjectSM, an international consortium of scientists and physicians who have joined forces to research the nature of consciousness and its relationship with the brain, as well as the neuronal processes that mediate and correspond to different facets of consciousness. HarperOne

Estimated length: 256 pages

Manuscript available: October 2012
Phipps, Carter

EVOLUTIONARIES: Unlocking the Spiritual and Cultural Potential of Science’s Greatest Idea

“Carter Phipps brilliantly expands our understanding of evolution by showing us that a new science is emerging—one that will holistically integrate theories of consciousness, cosmology, and evolution. Evolutionaries is going to help create a worldview that will influence our vision of the future direction of evolution and also our role in consciously participating in it” —Deepak Chopra

“A significant contribution to the increasingly important conversation between the natural sciences and our spiritual traditions.” – John F. Haught, Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center

“Carter Phipps’s new book is a profound and profoundly important new work, covering the many ways that evolution has become an all-pervading and all-embracing worldview.” – Ken Wilber, author A Brief History of Everything

This first popular presentation of an emerging school of thought called “evolutionary spirituality” will do for evolution what Gary Zukav and Lynne McTaggart have done for physics. Evolution is the most creative, awe-inspiring force in the universe—it propelled the world from the Big Bang to the wonders of human achievement. Sadly we’ve reduced all discussion of evolution to a debate between two opposing sides, the Godless Darwinists vs. anti-science Creationists. But in fact, there is a growing spectrum of bold, visionary ideas that are causing us to understand evolution in spiritual terms. Perfectly positioned as the influential Executive Editor of EnlightenNext magazine, Carter Phipps has made it his life’s work to chart the emerging evolutionary theories in both science and spirituality. This book will be the first popular guide to these exciting progressive minds who are rethinking our conclusions about where we come from, who we are, and where we might be going. Is evolution spiritually directed? If the universe tends toward higher and higher forms of consciousness, will humans evolve toward the divine? Is human civilization now nearing a point where we have the power to take the reigns of evolution from nature and consciously evolve ourselves in any direction we choose? If so, what future should we choose? Identifying twelve distinct streams or schools of evolutionary thought, EVOLUTIONARIES reveals a fascinating, challenging, and accurate picture of how evolution is being perceived in the spiritual, philosophical, and scientific circles that are helping define the leading edge of contemporary culture. Carter Phipps is Executive Editor of EnlightenNext magazine (formerly What Is Enlightenment?). He is a key player in a growing network of thinkers, activists, spiritual leaders, scientists, scholars, and cultural pioneers who are reshaping the face of spirituality and progressive culture today. HarperPerennial
Publication: July 2012 (JS)

Estimated length: 416 pages

“The author effectively pairs his personal experiences with significant research, interviews and lively anecdotes.  An articulate food book that has an opinion without being preachy and that exudes a joy about food without being oversimplified.” – Kirkus

For fans of Michael Pollan, a fascinating investigation that takes the conversation a step further into the trends and technologies that are transforming the world of food, from Alice Water’s micro farm to nanotechnology and food pills. Are food pills possible?  Can we invent a new species of fish? Journalist Josh Schonwald vividly captures this world and its characters—mad scientists, plucky entrepreneurs, renegade farmers, maverick food engineers, brilliant idealists—racing to revolutionize what we eat. We meet a Harvard pediatrician who gave up a medical career to change the way humans raise fish; a New York chef who believes he’s found the next great ethnic food; a lawyer-turned-nanotechnologist who believes he can completely eliminate the need for food. Schonwald gives us a rare glimpse at the ways new foods are invented. He has come to believe that his one-time hero Michael Pollan has fostered a dangerous strain of anti-scientism, a foodie neo-Luddism. This culinary journey concludes with an impassioned call to action, arguing that food production technologies such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and food processing, must be embraced if we are to feed the world and protect the planet. Josh Schonwald has written for the New York Times, Washington Post and Salon, and he edits TheGreenFoodTechie.org.  He and his wife and children live with an indoor aquaponic system. Harper
Rights sold: Japanese/Kodansha

Publication: April 2012                                                                                              (JS)

Estimated length: 288 pages

Book available

Sites, Kevin

From an award-winning journalist, a deeply personal and moving look at the impact of war, told through the stories of soldiers on what they’ve seen, done and failed to do at war. Kevin Sites seeks to portray the human side of war’s inhumanity. By telling the stories of the people on every side and those caught in the crossfire, he provides a greater understanding of the true casualties of war. Site tells the stories of twelve soldiers he met while covering the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq, plus other wars in different countries. As an embedded war correspondent he had the opportunity to befriend and earn the trust of soldiers on the front lines. By sharing their stories and his own experiences with post traumatic stress disorder, Site lends an honest and sympathetic voice to a difficult subject. Harper Perennial

Estimated length: 384 pages

Manuscript available: April 2012
Skinner, David

*THE STORY OF AIN’T: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published

The captivating, delightful, and surprising story of Merriam Webster’s Third Edition (1961), the dictionary that provoked America’s greatest language controversy, what David Foster Wallace called, “the Fort Sumter of the Usage Wars.” In 1934, Webster’s Second was the great gray eminence of American dictionaries. It served as the all-knowing guide to the world of grammar and information. But in 1961, when Webster’s Third came along, it ignited an unprecedented controversy in America’s newspapers, universities, and living rooms. The new dictionary’s editor, Philip Gove, had created a reference work that had “no traffic with…artificial notions of correctness or authority.” Correct use was determined by how the language was actually spoken, and not by “notions of correctness” set by the learned few. Gove’s editorial approach had editors and scholars longing for Webster’s Second. Reporters across the country sounded off on Gove and his dictionary. The New York Times even called on Merriam to preserve the printing plates for Webster’s Second. And soon Dwight MacDonald, a formidable American critic and writer, emerged as Webster’s Third’s chief nemesis when in the pages of the New Yorker he likened the new dictionary to the end of civilization. Critical parties took particular umbrage at Webster’s Third’s treatment of “aint,” a word that represented everything that was wrong with the dictionary; the definition of which was, in fact, inaccurately described in Gove’s press release. Altogether, THE STORY OF AIN’T describes a great cultural shift in America, when the voice of the masses resounded in the highest halls of culture, and the division between highbrow and lowbrow was inalterably blurred. A dictionary will never again seem as important as it did in 1961. David Skinner is the editor of Humanities magazine. Previously, he was an editor at The Weekly Standard and before that managing editor of The Public Interest. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Salon, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, the Weekly Standard, American Spectator, Slate, and other publications. Harper
Publication: October 2012 (JS)

Estimated length: 352 pages

Manuscript available
Stewart, Christopher

LOST IN THE WHITE CITY

For fans of The Lost City of Z—a real-life Indiana Jones story set in the jungle of Honduras from journalist Christopher Stewart. LOST IN THE WHITE CITY chronicles the epic search for a lost city buried somewhere deep in the jungles of the Mosquito Coast in Honduras. The city is called Ciudad Blanca, or the White City, and explorers as far back as the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes have all tried to find it—with no luck. Some of the men never came out of the jungle; they died or disappeared. Others got lost. La Mosquitia is one of the biggest, wildest, and most impenetrable jungles in the world—known as the little Amazon. But in 1939, one man claimed he located the El Dorado-like city. This is where our story begins. Theodore Morde was an American explorer and World War II spy. He was part of a group who attempted to assasinate Hitler. His story is as layered and enigmatic as the White City. But there’s a twist: he died under strange circumstances before disclosing the city’s location. To this day, the mystery remains: What’s out there? What was it that drew in these explorers, and at such terrific risk? With Morde’s secret journals in tow, award-winning journalist Christopher Stewart sets out to find the answers. Christopher S. Stewart’s work has appeared in GQ, Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Salon, Wired, and other publications. He is the author of HUNTING THE TIGER, a book about Zeljko “Arkan” Raznatovic, the Serbian mobster and warlord. Harper

Estimated length: 320 pages

Manuscript available: April 2012
Sullenberger, Chesley B.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

In this follow up to his New York Times bestselling autobiography HIGHEST DUTY, Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, one of the most captivating American heroes of the last decade, asks people of achievement what it takes to lead and inspire. Sullenberger’s subjects come from fields as diverse as technology, medicine, education, sports, philanthropy, finance, law and the military. Among those featured are Eugene Kranz, the NASA Flight Director during the historic Gemini and Apollo programs; Michelle Rhea, founder of the New Teacher Project; and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. They are a vast assortment of individuals, yet all embody the truest sense of “moral courage” and “leadership by personal example.” Sully takes readers on an inspirational journey that asks us to consider the fundamental question: What is the nature of leadership? And, perhaps more importantly, how can each of us learn something that we can apply to our own lives? Captain Chesley B. ‘Sully’ Sullenberger III became a source of inspiration and hope for millions after his successful emergency water landing of a damaged commercial aircraft on the Hudson River. His autobiography Highest Duty was a New York Times bestseller. Co-author Douglas Century has co-authored several national bestsellers including UNDER AND ALONE with William Queen, TAKEDOWN with Rick Cowan, STREET KINGDOM: Five Years Inside the Franklin Avenue Posse, and IF NOT NOW, WHEN? with Colonel Jack Jacobs. William Morrow

Estimated length: 336 pages

Galley available
Swarns, Rachel

*AMERICAN TAPESTRY: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama

“A grand, important book that shows how American bloodlines are rarely wholly black or purely white, neither one race nor another. Nowhere is that more true than in American Tapestry, an eloquent history of the First Lady’s family.”—James McBride, author of the New York Times bestseller The Color of Water

“Swarns provides numerous tales of heartbreak and achievement…Elegantly woven…tremendously moving.” – Kirkus

“A work of impressive historical imagination and deep cultural significance.” – Steve Hahn, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration.

In the tradition THE HEMMINGWAYS OF MONTICELLO and SLAVES IN THE FAMILY, New York Times reporter Rachel Swarns uncovers the remarkable history of First Lady Michelle Obama’s mixed ancestry that turns out to be an expansive portrait of America itself. This sweeping saga traces the black, white and multiracial forebears of America’s first African-American first lady back to the 19^th century and reveals the identity of Mrs. Obama’s white great-great-great grandfather, a man who remained hidden for more than a century in her family tree. This fascinating book further illuminates the lives of the ordinary people who fought for freedom in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars; who founded the Jewish Reform movement; who endured the agonies of slavery, the displacement of the Great Migration, and the horrors of Jim Crow as they journeyed from slavery to the White House in five generations. It is an intimate family history, but it is also the collective story of a changing nation. Expertly researched and epic in sweep, AMERICAN TAPESTRY is a singularly inspiring story. Prior to joining the New York Times, reporting from Russia, Cuba and Southern Africa where she served as the Johannesburg bureau chief, Swarns worked for the Miami Herald. Amistad
Publication: June 2012 (CB)

Estimated length: 304 pages; 8-page color insert; 3 interior photos; family tree

ARE available

Tobin, Greg

On the fiftieth anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s opening of the Vatican Council II in October 1962 and of his death in June 1963, as well as for his likely canonization in 2013, Greg Tobin celebrates the “Good Pope” as a profile of a greatly beloved religious figure who ushered in an era of hope and openness; and it is this “openness” that powerful internal forces have been battling ever since, causing many of the Catholic crises we see today. The Second Vatican Council is one of the most historic church councils and its legacy still reverberates through the Catholic Church today. Many now take for granted the changes it ushered into the church: Mass being presented in English with the priest facing the congregation, the study of the Bible by both clergy and laity, and the wide use of laity in leadership positions in the church. In THE GOOD POPE, Tobin follows the Good Pope, Saint John XXIII’s, footprints throughout the twentieth century, from his upbringing and church career to his surprise election as pope in 1958 and the event that stunned the entire world: convoking the epochal meeting of all the world’s bishops at the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. Through Vatican II, Pope John advocated that the Catholic Church play a positive, humanizing and spiritual role in transforming this new world and saving it from looming self-destruction. Now, for the first time, Tobin presents a major and authoritative biography of John XXIII and argues that the rejection of Pope John’s reforms directly resulted in the many criseses within the Church today. Greg Tobin is vice president for university advancement at Seton Hall University. He is the author of THE WISDOM OF ST. PATRICK, SAINTS AND SINNERS, HOLY FATHER (a biography of Pope Benedict XVI), and WAS JESUS REALLY BORN ON CHRISTMAS? THE CATHOLIC ORIGINS OF HOLY DAYS, HOLIDAYS AND EVERY DAY and co-general editor of Religion in America. He has been featured widely in national and international media, including The New York Times, CBS, MSNBC, Fox News, and countless radio stations. HarperOne

Estimated length: 288 pages; black and white photo insert

Manuscript available: June 2012

Business
Chipchase, Jan

Steinhardt, Simon