Lamar Public Library

In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, ten-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values, and beliefs.

To those who found Ayn Rand's "Atlas shrugged" a powerful voice raised in defense of the individual, this book continues the theme. It proclaims the same philosophy, and its theme is the right of the individual to the pursuit of his own happiness. It portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives. It tells of a girl's passionate love, held like a fortress against the viciousness, cruelty,...

In a world gone forever, at a time of mystery and cruelty, in an ancient land of breathtaking beauty and exotic surprise...here, you'll discover Spring Moon, pampered child of a noble house, privileged daughter of destiny, a courageous woman who triuphs over her world's ultimate tragedy.

In the midst of running a long-shot political campaign, Democratic political consultant John Simon discovers a 100-year-old manuscript written by his grandfather Joseph--a brilliant young revolutionary whose exile to Siberia by the last czar of Russia is just the beginning of an extraordinary tale of survival, romance, and revolution. As Joseph's manuscript is translated, chapter-by-chapter, the Simon family is pulled deep into their ancestor's story--...

Born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other in the Calcutta neighborhood where they grow up. But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead. It is the 1960s, and Udayan-charismatic and impulsive-finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequity and poverty; he will give everything, risk all, for what he believes. Subhash, the dutiful...

In 1931 Shanghai, two Nationalist spies pose as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders causing unrest in the city.

After years of mutual resentment and tension, there is a sudden recognition that the real interests of America and its European allies are diverging sharply and that the trans-atlantic relationship itself has changed, possibly irreversibly. Europe sees the United States as high-handed, unilateralist, and unnecessarily belligerent; the United States sees Europe as spent, unserious, and weak. The anger and mistrust on both sides are hardening into incomprehension....

The author recounts growing up on her grandparents' farm in the Romanian countryside and describes being shunned at school and by neighbors after discovering that her father was a political dissident during the time of Ceausescu.

Excerpt: "One of the minor peculiarities of this unprecedented war is the Tour of the Front. After some months of suppressed information-in which even the war correspondent was discouraged to the point of elimination-it was discovered on both sides that this was a struggle in which Opinion was playing a larger and more important part than it had ever done before. This wild spreading weed was perhaps of decisive importance; the Germans at any rate...