'With admirable clarity, Mrs Peters sums up what determines competence in spelling and the traditional and new approaches to its teaching.' -Times Literary Supplement

Many people know about Howard Hughes, Americas first billionaire. He was an aviation engineer, an Oscar-winning motion picture producer and director, and a hotel and casino owner in Las Vegas and Reno, with seven establishments. He built the biggest airplane in the world at the timeknown as the Spruce Gooseand the Glormar Explorer supership for the CIA. He owned RKO Motion Picture Studios in Hollywood, as well as tens of thousands of acres in California, Nevada, and Texas. Fewer people, however, know the Howard Hughes of the neon world of Las Vegas in the 1970s. Reclusive and eccentric, Hughes spent his later years surrounded by Mormon aides who insulated him from outsiders. This collection of biographical anecdotes includes stories of the power players of the timecelebrities, famous actresses, and the Las Vegas Mafiaas well as tales of Hughess bevy of less-well-known ladies. Told by an insider who knew Hughes in that era, these stories reveal new aspects of an American icon, set against the background of Sin City, the town he loved so much. John has captured a fascinating era here; I know I was there. Alvin Zuckert, Emmy-award winning television director Johns book caused me to relive an exciting and wonderful time in my life. There were sides of Hughes you never knew existed until now! Ted West, engineer for Hughes Television, KLAS-TV and FOX-TV, Las Vegas, Nevada No crapshoot here; Johns got an absolute winner. Gary Marlow, technical director for Hughes Television, KLAS-TV, Las Vegas, Nevada

Pierce Slattery, a renegade cavalry officer, brings an astonishing insight and masterful fighting abilities to the aid of a revolution. The army of ill-trained, poorly prepared peasants are fighting for their lives and their freedom - but British Intelligence has an interest in the Mexican Revolution and in the striking Slattery.

This second volume from Titan Books is a collection of world-renowned visionary artist John Harris’ unique paintings captures breath-taking, otherworldly vistas on a massive scale. The Art of John Harris II: Into the Blue is the third collection (second collection published by Titan) of world-renowned visionary artist John Harris’ unique paintings that capture future worlds on a massive scale, from vast landscapes and towering cities to breath-taking vistas. Readers will get a unique insight into the creative process behind the worlds depicted in the paintings as Harris takes them on a journey from sketch to finished painting, as well as his striking covers for a variety of esteemed science fiction authors, including John Scalzi, Ben Bova, Jack McDevitt, Orson Scott Card, Ann Leckie and many more.

Decisive biotechnological interventions in the lottery of human life--to enhance our bodies and brains and perhaps irreversibly change our genetic makeup--have been widely rejected as unethical and undesirable, and have often met with extreme hostility. But in Enhancing Evolution, leading bioethicist John Harris dismantles objections to genetic engineering, stem-cell research, designer babies, and cloning to make a forthright, sweeping, and rigorous ethical case for using biotechnology to improve human life. Human enhancement, Harris argues, is a good thing--good morally, good for individuals, good as social policy, and good for a genetic heritage that needs serious improvement. Enhancing Evolution defends biotechnological interventions that could allow us to live longer, healthier, and even happier lives by, for example, providing us with immunity from cancer and HIV/AIDS. But the book advocates far more than therapies designed to free us from sickness and disability. Harris champions the possibility of influencing the very course of evolution to give us increased mental and physical powers--from reasoning, concentration, and memory to strength, stamina, and reaction speed. Indeed, he supports enhancing ourselves in almost any way we desire. And it's not only morally defensible to enhance ourselves, Harris says. In some cases, it's morally obligatory. Whether one looks upon biotechnology with hope, fear, or a little of both, Enhancing Evolution makes a case for it that no one can ignore.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The definitive account of one of the most accomplished, controversial, and polarizing figures in American history Bill Clinton is the most arresting leader of his generation. He transformed American politics, and his eight years as president spawned arguments that continue to resonate. For all that has been written about this singular personality–including Clinton’s own massive autobiography–there has been no comprehensive, nonpartisan overview of the Clinton presidency. Few writers are as qualified and equipped to tackle this vast subject as the award-winning veteran Washington Post correspondent John F. Harris, who covered Clinton for six of his eight years in office–as long as any reporter for a major newspaper. In The Survivor, Harris frames the historical debate about President William Jefferson Clinton, by revealing the inner workings of the Clinton White House and providing the first objective analysis of Clinton’s leadership and its consequences. Harris shows Clinton entering the Oval Office in 1993 primed to make history. But with the Cold War recently concluded and the country coming off a nearly uninterrupted generation of Republican presidents, the new president’s entry into this maelstrom of events was tumultuous. His troubles were exacerbated by the habits, personal contacts, and the management style, he had developed in his years as governor of Arkansas. Clinton’s enthusiasm and temper were legendary, and he and Hillary Rodham Clinton–whose ambitions and ordeals also fill these pages–arrived filled with mistrust about many of the characters who greeted them in the “permanent Washington” that often holds the reins in the nation’s capital. Showing surprising doggedness and a deep-set desire to govern from the middle, Clinton repeatedly rose to the challenges; eventually winning over (or running over) political adversaries on both sides of the aisle–sometimes facing as much skepticism from fellow Democrats as from his Republican foes. But as Harris shows in his accounts of political debacles such as the attempted overhaul of health care, Clinton’s frustrations in the war against terrorism, and the numerous personal controversies that time and again threatened to consume his presidency, Bill Clinton could never manage to outrun his tendency to favor conciliation over clarity, or his own destructive appetites. The Survivor is the best kind of history, a book filled with major revelations–the tense dynamic of the Clinton inner circle and Clinton’s professional symbiosis with Al Gore to the imprint of Clinton’s immense personality on domestic and foreign affairs–as well as the minor details that leaven all great political narratives. This long-awaited synthesis of the dominant themes, events, and personalities of the Clinton years will stand as the authoritative and lasting work on the Clinton Presidency.