Books published by Open Road Media

The Fossils of Iowa field guide is written primarily for amateurs in geological exploration and collecting. Robert Wolf provides a comprehensive coverage of more than 150 sites in Iowa and adjacent areas of Minnesota and Nebraska with the types of fossils that can be found and precise directions. Excellent illustrations by Carol Ann Ratcliff aide in identification. For an update in site conditions and geological names since the book was first published contact the author at midnightwriter@frontiernet.net.

';A biography of great immediacy.... There are many sections of great poignancy, many funny things, many of electric intimacy and candor... there is spellbinding power, never more so than in describing Cheever's death, pages that are both terrible and deeply moving; one is losing an old, beloved friend.' James Salter, Los Angeles Times Book Review ';John Cheever: A Biography is clearly an indispensable book. Donaldson moves gracefully from the personal to the literary.... Solidly researched and entirely readable, admiring of the writer and knowing about the man. Stuffed with fascinating anecdotes. It's a gut-wrenching story. Donaldson tells it straight, without embellishment, and our attention never strays.' Dan Cryer, Newsday ';A coup of investigative reporting.' Publishers Weekly ';Both erudite and earthly. What emerges is a rich tapestry that gives the reader extraordinary insight into the workings of a master storyteller's mind.' Jean Graham, New York Daily News ';John Cheever: A Biography by Scott Donaldson is as readable and ';unputdownable' as any thriller.' T. Coraghessan Boyle ';A revelation. What a triumph.' Frederick Exley ';Donaldson has set a high standard that other biographers will find difficult to equal.' John Blades, Chicago Tribune

Archibald MacLeish was the winner of the 1993 Ambassador Book Award for biography.

The Literary Legacy of Rebecca West is the first book to explore the entire corpus of her extraordinary seventy-one year writing career. The general introductory studies of West are outdated and do not take into account her posthumous publications, or her large literary archive of unpublished letters and manuscripts. Previous scholarly books have chopped West up into categories and genres instead of following the evolution of her career.

This is the only comprehensive, annotated bibliography of writing about biography. Rollyson, a biographer and scholar of biography, includes chapters on the history of biography (beginning in the Greco-Roman period and concluding with biographers such as Leon Edel and Richard Ellmann). Ample sections on psychobiography, the new feminist biography, and on biographers who appear in works of fiction, are also included. Cited in many recent books on the genre of biography, Biography: An Annotated Bibliography, is an essential research tool as well as a clearly written work for those wishing to browse through the commentary on this important genre.

Martha Gellhorn died in February 1998, just shy of her 90th birthday. Well before her death, she had become a legend. She reported on wars from Spain in the 1930s to Panama in the 1980s, and her travel books are considered classics. Her marriage to Ernest Hemingway, affairs with legendary lovers like H. G. Wells, and her relationships with two presidents, Roosevelt and Kennedy, reflect her campaigns against tyranny and deprivation, as well as her outrage at the corruption and cruelty of modern governments. This controversial and acclaimed biography portrays a vibrant and troubled woman who never tired of fighting for causes she considered just.

Journey Home is the story of Tamara Woodson, who lives in the American West in the 1880s. She is smart and sassy, and has a mind of her own. Like many black families of that era following slavery, her family traveled west and founded their own town. Tamara Woodson is at a turning point in her life. She begins a journey of self-discovery that reveals important connections to her ancestral past. Prompted by her ambitions and experiences, she prepares herself for an uncertain future. At one point, Tamara's fears are expressed in a dream that intertwines a Nigerian Yoruba folktale. She learns to interpret important symbols. At another, Tamara learns about the Apache Indian culture from a girl who is preparing for her own elaborate coming of age ceremony. Exposure to these two cultures helps Tamara validate the values and traditions of others as well as her own. As she matures, Tamara learns to let go of her own fears and to rely on her inner strength. Journey Home is book one in the juvenile historical fiction series, "Passage to Womanhood."

The deeply personal story of Odie Hawkins's journey, from ';the poorest of the poor' childhood in Chicago to Hollywood screenwriterand the people who deeply mattered. A tough, touching autobiography.

Odie Hawkins utilizes the same thrust, power, and creativity that made Ghetto Sketches his first bestseller. He has moved the focus from Chicago to Los Angeles; and once again, he has populated his stories with unforgettable charactersthe telephone freak, the tenants of Mrs. Solomon's apartment building, and a few surrealistic types. The Secret Music we all hear is echoed within these stories...

Portrait of Simone is the poignant story of a young soldier stationed in the Deep South, in the recent past, and his romance with a woman nearly twice his age. Simone is mysterious, alluring, charming, complex. The author brings us the story of true love, love that grows deeper with the passage of time, and pays tribute to the woman known as Simone.

Midnight offers us a sensitive view inside the soul of a young African American gangster who is influenced by an older man, a convict, to look into his African side. ';You may not be what they've told you that you are, over here. When you check out where we came from.'

An enchanting intro to a collection of unforgettable characters. Bobo, Burks, Leo (sometimes, when into imaginative self-hatred, alias Tony De Medrow), Billy Woods, Herb Cross, Bruce, Mooney, Johnny Fox, Bernard Kelly, and a few others who lived in the same neighborhood and hung out on the same corners. Some of the less informed thought we were a ';gang' because we spent a lot of time together, but that was the result of them being unable to penetrate the esoteric haze surrounding our relationships. There were times, to be honest, when we didn't know what was happening either.

In the postWatts Rebellion 1970s, Chester L. Simmons takes up the study of martial artsHapkido and Tae Kwon Do. Author Odie Hawkins, using his special blend of wry humor, incisiveness, and sensitivity, takes alter ego Simmons through that experience, as well as a series of misadventures writing movie and television scripts for Hollyweird studios.

Let Chester take you on a journey through Spain in his search to find himselfand write about it. He hooks up with ';El Encanto', a star-crossed matador. Then back to the States, where he meets and marries the love of his life. A honeymoon in West Africa leaves them yearning for a place they've never known, but feel is their home...

Chester L. Simmons, nicknamed ';The Great Lawd Buddha' by his hip constituents because of his almond shaped eyes and his generous tummy, is one of those delightfully free spirits that life gives the world now and then. With his storytelling he sometimes fuses reality and creativity into a seamless possibility; or seamless possibilities. He has been known to bend the truth, if the truth was not creating the right kind of life-vibe for him.

Henrik Malan was the South African secret agent who devised the plan to have the Black American ghettos destroy themselves by supplying them with a cheap but highly addictive drug known on the streets as ';Ghetto Blaster.'

There was no sharper con man on the streets of Chicago than Elijah Brookes. Women were his preferred preybut no mark and no bankroll was safe when Elijah was on the prowl. Cool, beautiful Toni warned him, ';Elijah, brothers be playin' games so hard sometimes they don't know when to stop. You know what I'm sayin'?' Elijah Brookes had to learn the ultimate lesson the hard way. So many games to be played, so little time.

Monday evening comn' downthe dreariest day of the week anywhere, but especially in the ghettos (yea, y'all, they still there) where people have taken their hangovers and other symptoms of a fast weekend to their individual plantations around town (if they're lucky enough to have one) return to their shacks for four/five more days of clock punching and locksteppin' before the Eagle flies. Then was then and now is now. What's the difference?

Valonga Price takes a three-year sabbatical from the grime of owning her own company to try to discover her true self. Armed with questions that have been whirling around in her head, she travels to places like Brazil, San Salvador, Bahia, Nigeria, Cuba, and Japan.

Chicago, the center of America's heartland, from its founding in the late 1700s by Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a French-educated black man, to the modern day Gypsies who live on Maxwell Street. It's a city steeped in Black History. This is the story of a city where a unique African American history has grown, a center for the emergence of jazz, blues, dance, art, and the DuSable Museum of African American History.

An enchanting intro to a collection of unforgettable charactersElizabeth, ';Queen of the Projects'; the girl ';Billie' who sings like Lady Day; young Randolph who, to his family's embarrassment, grows a second head for a while; Dean Dale Jackson, talented writer, sculptor, auto mechanic, and dedicated to the underbelly of a bottle; the Vernon family upwardly mobile but required by a will to grow cotton in their suburban backyard; and Marlene and James, who find happiness in an unexpected way, in marriage.

Tradition demands that King Sharn Am Zor conduct himself with all the pomp and circumstance befitting a king of Chameln, but underneath the fine jewelry and the beautifully embroidered tunic he secretly hates, Sharn remains an impulsive, restless young man. After the suggestion of marriage provokes an angry outburst from Sharn during a formal ceremony, his beloved cousin and co-ruler, Queen Aidris Am Firn, promises to draw up a list of suitable maidens. To everyone's surprise, Sharn not only listens to her counsel; he proceeds to confidently select a princess from the land of the Eildon to be his wife. But courtship is far more complicated than Sharn had originally imagined, for in Eildon, neither the land nor the people are as they appear. While Sharn must compete against other suitors for the hand of the princess, the loyal companions who accompany him are faced with a series of magical attacks that begin as petty pranks but soon escalate into outright hostility with potentially fatal consequences. As Sharn nears the end of his quest, however, he learns that this predation may be the least of his problems.

Anyone who has ever held a babyor observed a nesting birdwill find much to inform and entertain in this enchantingly written and thoroughly researched book. Allport revels in the marvelous diversity of care in the animal world. She shows us our place in that world with great humor, knowledge, and common sense.

Food makes the world go around, according to this absorbing account of how the search for food has shaped human nature. It is more important than love or sex for the simple reason that food is harder to find than a mate. Think of it this way, says Allport, who draws on the research of anthropologists and biologists in presenting her fascinating and provocative theories: Mates are often willing accomplices in the act of mating; food is never a willing accomplice in the act of eating.

Investigating a murder in a family too much like his own, El Paso Homicide Detective Devon Gray walks a tightrope between protecting his kin and upholding the law. When his ex-con brother is implicated in the case, Devon strives to keep silent about his brother’s complicity while seeking the truth. Award-winning author Elizabeth Fackler deftly portrays the two families opposed across the field of one detective’s love and honor.

For women who believe that childbirth is a normal event, and that hospitals are places to treat illness, home birth with a licensed professional midwife is a safe and viable option. Unlike the rest of the world where home birth and midwifery are the norm, Western society has captured the traditional childbirth model and recreated it as a high-tech pathological event fraught with dangerous interventions. Yet, the United States continues to rank 20th or worse in United Nations statistics of maternal and infant mortality. When this book was first published in 1978, the convergence of the back-to-nature and feminist movementsand the rise of consumer advocacy in health carecontributed to a growing home birth movement. Today, a 40% cesarean rate and the universal acceptance of stay-in-bed electronic fetal monitoring, an unproven technology, are just two of the common hospital occurrences that keep some women at home for childbirth. Midwife comes from the German word that translates as ';with woman.' Research has shown that the close observation of an educated and caring woman makes birth complications predictable or preventable. Studies published in medical literature have documented that the care of educated, professional midwives is equal to or better than that of medical doctors, whether the birth takes place in the home or hospital. Home Birth reports on this research, as well as personal, practical stories of real childbearing families. The book reviews typical birth practices and gives advice on preparing both the family and the home for the event. There is also a chapter on preparing for hospital birth, should a transport in labor become necessary.

The twelve-year rampage of "Missoula Mauler" Wayne Nance—and the shocking end to his murder spree.To his neighbors, Wayne Nance, a furniture mover from Missoula, Montana, appeared to be an affable, considerate, and trustworthy guy. No one knew that Nance was the "Missoula Mauler," a psychopath responsible for a series of sadistic sex slayings that rocked the idyllic town between 1974 and 1986.Nance's only requirement for murder was accessibility--a preacher's wife, a teenage runaway, a female acquaintance, a married couple. Putting on a friendly facade, he could easily gain his victims' trust. Then, one September night, thirty-year-old Nance pushed his luck, preying on a couple who lived to tell the tale.A true story with an incredible twist, written by former Wall Street Journal editor John Coston and complete with photos, To Kill and Kill Again reveals the disturbing compulsions of a charming serial killer who fooled everyone he knew, stumped the authorities, terrified a community, and nearly got away with it.

Two Americans, a naval petty officer and a shipping agent, are drawn into the undercurrents of early 20th-century Yokohama, Inchon, Manilla, and Shanghai as they investigate four grisly beheadings and a missing sailing ship. Smoldering insurgencies in Korea and the Philippines backlight USS Pluto’s course between violence, betrayal, and hope. Blending the historical authenticity of Patrick O’Brian with the crackling dialogue of Raymond Chandler, Crossland establishes himself as a unique voice in nautical fiction. 

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Thank You for Your Service tells you what you need to know--before or after you read David Finkel's book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of Thank You for Your Service includes: Historical contextChapter-by-chapter overviewsProfiles of the main charactersImportant quotesFascinating triviaGlossary of termsSupporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About Thank You for Your Service by David Finkel: Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Finkel's Thank You for Your Service is an intimate and powerful account of the lives of Iraq veterans after they return home. Having depicted life on the front lines in Baghdad in his first book, Finkel follows the struggle of the same soldiers' return to civilian life. He exposes the hidden costs of war: the reality of living with post-traumatic stress disorder, the physical wounds and financial struggles of military personnel, and the spiraling suicide rate amongst veterans. Soldiers are plagued by nightmares, memory loss, violent impulses, and guilt over their dead comrades. Spouses and children are bewildered by the return of their loved ones, whose personalities have changed beyond all recognition. Finkel humanizes the aftermath of military life and makes a strong case for increased investment in veteran mental healthcare. Thank You for Your Service has received great critical acclaim and was among the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Economist's top 10 Books of the Year in 2013.the The summary and analysis in this book are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.

When a woman is shot in a cannabis patch, Arly Hanks must restore order to her Ozarks community, in this sharp-witted mystery by an Agatha Award–winning author.When small-town police chief Arly Hanks returns to Maggody, Arkansas, after vacation, she finds the population has risen to a booming 802. Among the newbies: Madame Celeste, the psychic who’s holding locals in thrall with her predictions of doom; a handsome new high school guidance counselor; and a gaggle of mantra-chanting hippies who have turned the old general store into the source for cosmic harmony. Unfortunately, life in Maggody is anything but harmonious.Robin Buchanon—a member of Maggody’s most abundant family—has been murdered. The moonshiner, prostitute, and mother of four foul-mouthed little bad seeds was found shot to death in a booby-trapped marijuana field. Assuming the weed harvesters are sending a message to trespassers, Arly decides to hold vigil and set her own trap. But when another, seemingly unrelated, murder catches Arly off-guard, even Madame Celeste can’t predict where this case is headed.