Not since the fantastic story of the Kon-Tiki expedition has there appeared such as exciting saga of a primitive raft expedition across the Pacific for scientific investigation. From Raft to Raft tells the incredible, suspenseful drama of the dangerous voyage led by Eric de Bisschop from Tahiti to Chile and back to Polynesia—a foray twice as long as that undertaken by Kon-Tiki and one that encountered infinitely greater difficulties and dangers.

"There's no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it." The men and women in these eight short fictions grasp this truth on an elemental level, and their stories, as told by James Baldwin, detail the ingenious and often desperate ways in which they try to keep their head above water. It may be the heroin that a down-and-out jazz pianist uses to face the terror of pouring his life into an inanimate instrument. It may be the brittle piety of a father who can never forgive his son for his illegitimacy. Or it may be the screen of bigotry that a redneck deputy has raised to blunt the awful childhood memory of the day his parents took him to watch a black man being murdered by a gleeful mob. By turns haunting, heartbreaking, and horrifying--and informed throughout by Baldwin's uncanny knowledge of the wounds racism has left in both its victims and its perpetrators--Going to Meet the Man is a major work by one of our most important writers. A collection of eight short stories that explore with devastating frankness the roots of love, hate, and racial conflict. By turns haunting, heartbreaking, and horrifying, this is a major work by one of America's quintessential writers.

Finalist for the National Book Award: On the verge of receiving a vast inheritance, three brothers' clashing aspirations turn into an all-out war Brothers Leo and Max Land came to America from Romania in 1911, but they took different paths in pursuit of the American dream. Even as they worked together, Max sought out material things while Leo made a simple, private life for himself. Now, after the death of both brothers, Leo's three sons—the only surviving heirs—learn that they stand to inherit a fortune. As they battle for control, they come to expose their own deeply complicated visions of success in America. The Will is a stunning portrait of American idealism crushed under the weight of material desires.

Judith Taverner and her brother, Peregrine, are orphans. The death of their eccentric father left them well provided for but consigned to the guardianship of a man they have never met, Julian St. John Audley, Lord Worth. When repeated requests for an introduction to him go unanswered, they set off to London to force a meeting. En route, they spend the night in the village of Grantham, where they make the acquaintance of their Uncle Bernard. Judith and Perry, knowing that their father had disowned his brother many years ago are reluctant to acknowledge the relationship, but Bernard proves to be polite and charming. They also run afoul of an arrogant aristocrat when Perry mishandles a borrowed gig on the road and causes a near-accident. On reaching London, Judith and Perry are amazed and horrified to discover that the insufferable nobleman who made their lives a misery in Grantham is none other than Lord Worth himself.

Early in 1977 a retired NATO general called together six of his collegues — including an admiral, an airman, an economist and a diplomat — to write a dramatized game-plan for the next world war. A sensational international bestseller, it is a vivid, detailed, and often blood-curdling on-the-spot report from the battle fronts of a "real war", from tank assaults to air clashes to ICBM launchings, based on an insider's knowledge of weaponry and actual NATO and Soviet battle strategies. In the light of changes in Eastern Europe the question now is: Could it ever have happened? Could it ever happen again?

1st EditionFirst appeared in the Anthology Again, Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison, 1972Dutch and German book editions preceded the book edition in English [1975] ISFDBBase Edition for this ePubThe copyright page indicates that this is a Berkley Medallion Books. There were several prints under this name with unknown date, subsequent to the 1976 edition.  ISFDBBook DescriptionWhen the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters. Desperation causes the Athsheans, led by Selver, to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. But in defending their lives, they have endangered the very foundations of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back. 

Prince Paul, Jack, Peggy, Nora and Mike have come to Africa on what seems an impossible search. Yet they mustn't give it up because Captain and Mrs. Arnold have been kidnapped and taken to the Secret Mountain. But where is the mountain? And who are the strange red-haired people who live there? Their rescue expedition seems destined to fail, until they meet young Mafumu…

The planet Ishtar has three suns: Bel, the “real” sun, the Life Giver. Ea, the Companion who warms the Ishtaran summers. Anu, the Demon Star. Mostly Anu is so far away that it is just a light in the Ishtaran sky. But once every thousand years it comes close. It is then that the barbarians must flee their scorched lands, and civilizations fall. The natives call this Fire Time. Always before, its coming had meant the death of a civilization. But this time, the humans are here, and they have brought with them their magical technology. This time things could have been different. Too bad that the humans are suddenly faced with a war of their own, their own Fire Time . Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1975.

In the words of Time magazine, "A near perfect novel...a small masterpiece" by the author of The Great FirePassionate undercurrents sweep in and out of this eloquent novel about a love affair in a summer countryside in Italy and its inevitable end. It takes place in a setting of pastoral beauty during a time of celebration--a festival.Sophie, half English, half Italian, meets Tancredi, an Italian who is separated from his wife and family. In telling the story of their love affair, Shirley Hazzard punctures the placid surface of polite Italian society to reveal the intense yearnings and surprising responses in sophisticated people caught up in emotions they do not always understand.

It’s Not Human! It began with a few small items in the newspapers—dead dogs and cats, a mutilated child, a series of unexplained fires. Then, suddenly, it exploded into a full-sized catastrophe. Huge mutants—half rat, half man—began to take over the world, stealing children for laves and destroying while cities and their populations. Only a few people escaped, among them Tim Barrett, his wife Jane, and a handful of survivors. Alone on the high seas in a small ship, they set off to find the island where Dr. Theodore Piper ahd been experimenting with a sonic death ray. They knew Dr. Piper was their only hope for personal and world survival—if he was still alive . . if the King Rats hadn’t forced him to serve their evil purpose . . . and if he could find a way to stop the spreading horror of invasion.

Anna is the story of a woman and an era. Against the background of France and Germany at the time of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, Norman Collins tells with great brilliance the story of Anna, a beautiful woman. Born in Rhineland, when she was nineteen she fell in love with a French cousin whom she followed to Paris on the eve of the outbreak of war. When he was killed by her compatriots she found herself in besieged Paris, destitute, alone, and a German. Thrown into prison, she got out only by marrying a middle-aged restaurateur for whom she had no feeling. These are the opening incidents in a novel which is full of incident, of tragedy and of adventure, and which carries Anna from France to Germany, and finally to England, where at last she finds both peace and happiness. Few historical novels have a wider scope, a more enchanting heroine and a stronger theme. Here is one of the best of Norman Collins' major novels.

Even before his birth in 1194, legends surrounded the only child of the emperor Henry VI and the Empress-Queen Constance of the royal Norman house of Sicily. Joachim de Flora pronounced him Antichrist; other prophets saw in him the long-expected child who would usher in the Golden Age. Such high expectations are rarely halfway met. In the case of Frederick II the prophecies were only the start. His bitter fight with the Pope, his decision to go on Crusade, and his taking of Jerusalem with the connivance of the sultan al-Kamil are the bare bones of a story which sweeps through the Mediterranean world from Sicily to Cyprus to Jaffa and climaxes with the crowning of Frederick in Saint Sepulcher in Jerusalem. As always with this superb writer, the modern parallels are subtly drawn.

Gideon’s day is a busy one. He balances family commitments with solving a series of seemingly unrelated crimes from which a plot nonetheless evolves and a mystery is solved. One of the most senior officers within Scotland Yard, George Gideon’s crime-solving abilities are in the finest traditions of London’s world-famous police headquarters. His analytical brain and sense of fairness is respected by colleagues and villains alike.**