Private State

The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State is an 1884 treatise by Friedrich Engels. The work is partially based on notes by Karl Marx to Lewis H. Morgan's book Ancient Society and is regarded as one of the first major works on family economics. Engels argued that the traditional monogamous household was a recent construct, closely bound up with capitalism. He called it a patriarchal system in which women were servants and claimed that communism would herald the dawn of communal living and a new sexual freedom. The role of the state would then become superfluous.

Steve Coll investigates the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States, revealing the true extent of its power. ExxonMobil’s annual revenues are larger than the economic activity in the great majority of countries. In many of the countries where it conducts business, ExxonMobil’s sway over politics and security is greater than that of the United States embassy. In Washington, ExxonMobil spends more money lobbying Congress and the White House than almost any other corporation. Yet despite its outsized influence, it is a black box.

In this sharp and controversial international best seller, an award-winning economist debunks the pervasive myth that the government is sluggish and inept, and at odds with a dynamic private sector. She reveals in detailed case studies that the opposite is true: The state is, and has been, our boldest and most valuable innovator. Denying this history is leading us down the wrong path. A select few get credit for what is an intensely collective effort, and the US government has started disinvesting from innovation.

The story's four whip-smart narrators - idealistic Cory, Internet-lurking Will, awkward Henrik, and vicious Linda - are torn between fixing the world and cannibalizing it. In boisterous prose that ricochets between humor and pain, the four estranged friends stagger through the Bay Area's maze of tech startups, protestors, gentrifiers, karaoke bars, house parties, and cultish self-help seminars, washing up in each other's lives once again.

America's first families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and heartwarming, The Residence reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the president and first family.

For the first time ever, the intimate thoughts and political decisions of Abraham Lincoln’s entire presidency - day by day. In a startlingly innovative format, journalist Stephen A. Wynalda has constructed a painstakingly detailed day-by-day breakdown of president Abraham Lincoln’s decisions in office - including his signing of the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862; his signing of the legislation enacting the first federal income tax on August 5, 1861; and more personal incidents like the day his 11-year-old son, Willie, died.

When Samantha Moon is hired by a film crew to help hunt for the most elusive creature of them all, she’s pretty sure they have the wrong person. Turns out this is a super well-funded expedition, and the eccentric backer is sparing no expense, including hiring, among dozens of other specialists, a private investigator—someone trained to find the missing. And there is nothing more missing than Bigfoot. The logic almost makes sense to Sam, and the money is right. In the least, the vampire private eye is intrigued. After all, even among her fellow supernaturals, the creature known as ...

It is 1997, and someone is slaughtering young women in Burdon County, Arkansas. But no one in the Dirty South wants to admit it. In an Arkansas jail cell sits a former NYPD detective, stricken by grief. He is mourning the death of his wife and child, and searching in vain for their killer. Obsessed with avenging his lost family, his life is about to take a shocking turn.

I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to me lately. I’m drinking too much. My sheets are soaking wet when I wake up from nightmares of decaying corpses. I order another drink and swig it, trying to forget about the latest case I can’t shake. Crime solving for me is more complex than the challenge of the hunt, or the process of piecing together a scientific puzzle. The thought of good people suffering drives me to the point of obsession.

In Grace and Power, New York Times best-selling author Sally Bedell Smith takes us inside the Kennedy White House with unparalleled access and insight. Having interviewed scores of Kennedy intimates, including many who have never spoken before, and drawing on letters and personal papers made available for the first time, Smith paints a richly detailed picture of the personal relationships behind the high purpose and poiltical drama of the 20th century's most storied presidency.

Emmy’s a good girl who lives a quiet life and always does the right thing. Unlike her twin sister, Isa, a famous DJ who lives life on her own terms. But when Isa vanishes one night before a big show, Emmy’s orderly life is thrown into disarray as she embarks on a search to find out just what happened to her sister. Jason Armstrong is a security guard working at the club the night Isa disappears. As one of the last people to see her, he feels personally responsible. Jason is still trying to come to terms with a troubling incident that occurred a few years ago, something he has had ...

Diana’s Boys revealed the powerful bond between the teenaged princes and how it strengthened even more in the wake of their mother’s tragic death. Now, 20 years later, Queen Elizabeth II is in her mid-90s, Prince Charles is in his 70s, and all eyes are turned increasingly toward William and Harry again. Andersen picks up where he left off, covering everything that has happened to the brothers as they have grown up, gotten married to two remarkable women, and had children.

When the story opens, the eponymous hero of Rudolfo Anaya's novel is in an ambulance en route to a hospital for crippled children in the New Mexican desert. A poor boy from Albuquerque, 16-year-old Tortuga takes his name from the odd, turtle-shaped mountain that is rumored to possess miraculous curative powers. Tortuga is paralyzed, and not even his mother's fervent prayers can heal him. But under the mountain's watchful gaze, with the support of fellow patients, he begins the Herculean task of breaking out of his shell and becoming whole again.

A deeply private man, shut off even to those who worked closely with him, Abraham Lincoln often captured “his best thoughts", as he called them, in short notes to himself. He would work out his personal stances on the biggest issues of the day, never expecting anyone to see these pieces of writing, which he’d then keep close at hand, in desk drawers and even in his top hat. The profound importance of these notes has been overlooked, because the originals are scattered across several different archives and have never before been brought together and examined as a coherent whole.

Penny is invited by Alex Adamas, her secret crush, to a glamorous evening at the Vienna State Opera. But she quickly discovers that there are no romantic motives behind this rendezvous. Alex is on the trail of a poisoner at the opera house, and soon Penny is up to her ears in a new case. One that's going to challenge her in every way…

Cade Golden is a father first and a private investigator second. Between his teenage daughter, Rory, and his friends at Voss Agency, Cade has a full life. Autumn Bates also has a daughter who is the light of her life, but no other friends or family. She walked away from all that in order to keep her daughter, and she has never looked back. Except now it seems like her old life is catching up with her, and she needs Cade’s help to keep her daughter safe. Autumn is everything Cade never knew he wanted, and if they can make it out of her own personal house of horrors alive, then he’ll ...

Shane Voss formed Voss Agency with his closest friends after his time in the military came to an end. When Thea Savage, a private investigator from Chicago, shows up on the scene, hired by a third party to work on one of his cases, Shane isn’t happy. Thea seems to think he has something to do with the murders, and she follows him around everywhere, upsetting his investigation and getting in the way. But then Thea comes to him with a piece of information that turns everything upside down. Suddenly, instead of working against each other, Shane and Thea must work side by side. Shane finds ...

The Minnesota State Fair wows again with 4-H exhibits, rides, a Neil Diamond concert, and deep-fried everything on a stick. Covering it is a breezy assignment as fluffy as cotton candy for reporter Mira James, until the main attraction becomes murder.

Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was a German businessman, journalist philosopher, historian, political scientist, and revolutionary socialist. Engels developed Marxism together with Karl Marx. In 1848, Engels coauthored The Communist Manifesto (originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party) with Marx.

Jackson Roam isn’t looking for love. He’s dedicated to his job as a private investigator with Voss Agency and committed to his friends. There are no holes in his life that he’s looking to fill. Then Chloe Yang walks into his life. Chloe is Eden’s most popular event planner, and she takes great pride in her thriving business. Except someone has been sabotaging her events, and it’s starting to put people in danger—not to mention threatening her business. Not knowing what else to do, Chloe turns to Jackson for help. As Jackson spends time with Chloe, he quickly begins to realize ...