Neil Smith

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. 'War, what is it good for?' THE VIETNAM WAR: HISTORY IN AN HOUR gives a gripping account of the most important Cold War-era conflict, fought between the United States and the Viet Cong, the Vietnam People's Army and their Communist allies. It was one of the most traumatic military conflicts America has ever been involved in - and provoked a backlash of anti-war protests at home. Here are the...

Power Thinking What You Need to Know...about thinking your way to a happy and successful life. We've all heard this phrase before: 'think positively.' Often, it's at times where we really don't feel positive. Although it may seem purely like a cliché, behind the apparent glibness of it lies a lot of power, indeed scientifically backed power. That's right, thinking positively really can make a difference in many aspects of our lives. Before we get...

"An American Empire, constructed over the last century, long ago overtook European colonialism, and it has been widely assumed that the new globalism it espoused took us "beyond geography." Neil Smith debunks that assumption, offering an incisive argument that American globalism had a distinct geography and was pieced together as part of a powerful geographical vision. The power of geography did not die with the twilight of European colonialism, but...

Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix their own marriage. There's a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about...

"A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don?t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they?ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it?s a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring...

Bjorn is a compulsive, meticulous bureaucrat who discovers a secret room at the government office where he works--a secret room that no one else in his office will acknowledge. When Bjorn is in his room, what his co-workers see is him standing by the wall and staring off into space looking dazed, relaxed, and decidedly creepy. Bjorn's bizarre behavior eventually leads his co-workers to try and have him fired, but Bjorn will turn the tables on them...

Faye has loved Jack since they were students at business school. Jack, the perpetual golden boy, grew up wealthy, unlike Faye, who has worked hard to bury a dark past. When Jack needs help launching a new company, Faye leaves school to support him, waitressing by day and working as his strategist by night. With the business soaring, Faye and Jack have a baby, and Faye finds herself at home, caring for their daughter, wealthier than she ever imagined,...

"Across the continent, someone is brutally murdering Europe's worst criminals. Who can object to taking out rapists, arsonists, human traffickers? But when two of the victims have a direct connection to detective Joona Linna, it's clear to him that somebody's trying to send him a message. His longtime colleague Saga Bauer dismisses his hunch as paranoid ravings, but all evidence points to a killer who they previously thought could only haunt their...

"It begins with a nursery rhyme. Nineteen minutes later you die. A masked stranger stands in the shadows. He watches his victim through the window. He will kill him slowly?make him pay. Soon the Rabbit Hunter has claimed another three victims. This predator will stop at nothing to reap his ultimate revenge. It?s up to Joona Linna and Saga Bauer to untangle one of the most complex cases of their career, and follow the killer?s trail of destruction...

The internationally acclaimed author of Blood on Snow and the Harry Hole novels now gives us the tightly wound tale of a man running from retribution, a renegade hitman who goes to ground far above the Arctic circle, where the never-setting sun might slowly drive a man insane. He calls himself Ulfas good a name as any, he thinksand the only thing he's looking for is a place where he won't be found by Oslo's most notorious drug lord: the Fisherman....