Books in New York Times series

August 29, 2005Peering through the latticed brickwork of The New Orleans police headquarters parking garage, New York Times journalist Joseph B. Treaster is watching the devastating power of a hurricane up close. Packing winds of 118 miles per hour, Hurricane Katrina is attacking New Orleans, uprooting trees, tearing down power lines, and flattening homes. Inside headquarters, phones are ringing off the hook as more and more people, trapped by the rising floodwaters, call for help. But rescue workers cannot leave the safety of the building until the hurricane has passed. From this harrowing vantage point, Treaster is poised to report on what may prove to be the most infamous storm in American history.But as with all hurricanes, the story of this storm began weeks before, off the coast of North Africa. Treaster details the evolution of the storm as it unfolds in the sky above the Caribbean Sea and is anxiously tracked by the National Weather Bureau in Florida before it strikes. This is a complete behind-the-scenes account of one of nature's most terrifying and fascinating disasters.

Containing one hundred puzzles from the best of yesterday's and today's crossword constructors, this elegant commemorative edition is a collector's item for every New York Times crossword puzzle fan.To celebrate the twenty-fifth volume of Sunday crosswords from The New York Times, Times Books is proud to present this expanded anniversary edition. The first fifty puzzles in this book are the best and brightest from the history of The Times -- including their very first crossword -- and have been personally selected by Will Shortz. The next fifty are modern-day masterpieces edited by Mr. Shortz. A must-have for loyal fans, this historic edition is primed to be a classic.

A personal history of the civil rights movement from activist and acclaimed journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault. On January 20, 2009, 1.8 million people crowded the grounds of the Capitol to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. Among the masses was Charlayne Hunter-Gault. She had flown from South Africa for the occasion, to witness what was for many the culmination of the long struggle for civil rights in the United States. In this compelling personal history, she uses the event to look back on her own involvement in the civil rights movement, as one of two black students who forced the University of Georgia to integrate, and to relate the pivotal events that swept the South as the movement gathered momentum through the early 1960s. With poignant black-and-white photos, original articles from the New York Times, and a unique personal viewpoint, this is a moving tribute to the men and women on whose shoulders Obama stood.

In the beginning, there was the computer. And it was big. As big as a room. Sometimes as big as a house. Early computers required teams of white-coated scientists to keep them running, yet one of those giant behemoths could not match the computing power of a single microchip today. From the first massive computers to today's nanotechnology, DIGITAL REVOLUTIONARIES offers a guided tour of the history of computers and a celebration of the human ingenuity that led the world from ENIAC to iMAC.

Now in paperback, current events get in-depth treatment in this exciting series produced in collaboration with the New York Times. First-person narratives by the world-renowned newspaper's award-winning journalists tell the stories behind the headlines.This compelling account carries readers back to Berlin, Germany, in 1989, on the night that the Berlin Wall fell. From the moment his East German assistant bursts into his West Berlin office to tell him that the wall is open, Serge Schmemann is in the thick of things, taking readers along with him as he witnesses the celebration when the wall is opened and the dramatic changes that follow. From this unique perspective, readers learn about the Berlin Wall, its construction, and what it symbolized to the world.

A personal history of the civil rights movement from activist and acclaimed journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault.On January 20, 2009, 1.8 million people crowded the grounds of the Capitol to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. Among the masses was Charlayne Hunter-Gault. She had flown from South Africa for the occasion, to witness what was for many the culmination of the long struggle for civil rights in the United States. In this compelling personal history, she uses the event to look back on her own involvement in the civil rights movement, as one of two black students who forced the University of Georgia to integrate, and to relate the pivotal events that swept the South as the movement gathered momentum through the early 1960s. With poignant black-and-white photos, original articles from the New York Times, and a unique personal viewpoint, this is a moving tribute to the men and women on whose shoulders Obama stood.

An epidemic strikes the United States, plunging the country into chaos. New York Times medical reporter Denise Grady uses this terrifying scenario, taken from the pages of a U.S. government report on the potential outcome of a pandemic, as the starting point for a journey into the gripping world of emerging diseases.In search of a better understanding of these often deadly diseases, Grady heads to Angola, the site of the 2005 Marburg virus epidemic, a disease closely related to Ebola. On the ground, and sometimes frighteningly close to victims of the disease, Denise explores the realities of health care in the developing world, and its potential effects on our own welfare.With supplemental sidebars that explain key scientific and social issues and in-depth chapters on the origins and spread of Marburg, avian flu, HIV, SARS, West Nile virus, hantavirus, and monkeypox, this is a fascinating look at the health dangers we face in a global society.

This fascinating biography looks at the life of Nelson Mandela, placing hisawe-inspiring accomplishments in historical context for a new generationto admire. On a February day in 1994, Mandela visited Robben Island,a desolate rock where he had been held during his twenty-seven years asa prisoner. Days later, he triumphed in an election that rescued SouthAfrica from the climate of oppression that had held sway for so long. ByNew York Times executive editor, Bill Keller, this inspiring biography looksat the events that led Mandela from his tribal homeland to the center of thestruggle for racial equality in South Africa. From early acts of protest tothe leadership of an apartheid-free nation, this is an honest portrayal of amodern political and social icon.

1968, THE YEAR AMERICA GREW UP From racial and gender equality fights to the struggle against the draft and the Vietnam war, in 1968 Americans asked questions and fought for their rights. Now, 30 years later, we look back on that seminal year--from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assasination to the Columbia University riots to our changing role among other nations--in this gripping introduction to the events home and abroad. The year we first took steps in space, the year we shaped the present, 1968 presented by a former New York Times writer who lived through it all, shares the story with detail and passion.

Daytona Beach, Florida, 2001. Sportswriter Dave Caldwell watches from the stands as a black Chevrolet pulls ahead in the final laps of the Daytona 500. In an instant, it's over. The car smashes into a wall at 175 miles an hour, killing one of stock car racing's most loved drivers. The death of Dale Earnhardt inspired an outpouring of grief, drawing new fans to the sport and driving NASCAR to the top of the sporting industry. From its roots during Prohibition to today's die-hard fans, Dave Caldwell weaves together his firsthand observations as a NASCAR reporter with excerpts from The New York Times archives to give readers an inside look at the spectacle that is America's new favorite pastime.

The sun never sets, the air is twenty degrees below zero, and the ice is moving at four hundred yards an hour. Welcome to the North Pole. In 2003, environmental reporter Andrew Revkin joined a scientific expedition to one of the world's last uncharted frontiers, where he was the first New York Times reporter ever to file stories and photographs from the top of the world.In his quest to understand the pole, Andrew leads readers through the mysterious history of arctic exploration; he follows oceanographers as they drill a hole through nine feet of ice to dive into waters below; peers into the mysteries of climate modeling and global warming; and ultimately shows how the fate of the pole will affect us all.

This is history as only an eyewitness can tell it. In 1989, veteran journalist Serge Schmemann was in his hotel room when his assistant from East Germany burst in with some incredible news: the Berlin Wall was open. Serge jumped into the first cab he could find and raced to the wall in time to witness one of the great moments of European history.Including articles from the archives of The New York Times, this gripping narrative tells the whole story, from the division of Germany after World War II, to life in the Communist East, to the massive protests that brought an end to the Eastern Bloc, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.