Nightworks

Marvin Bell has the largest heart since Walt Whitman.--Harvard Review

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts introduces an unforgettable thief in an unputdownable new novel... Greed. Desire. Obsession. Revenge . . . It’s all in a night’s work. Harry Booth started stealing at nine to keep a roof over his ailing mother’s head, slipping into luxurious, empty homes at night to find items he could trade for precious cash. When his mother finally succumbed to cancer, he left Chicago—but kept up his nightwork, developing into a master thief with a code of honor and an expertise in not attracting attention—or getting attached. Until he meets Miranda Emerson, and the powerful bond between them upends all his rules. But along the way, Booth has made some dangerous associations, including the ruthless Carter LaPorte, who sees Booth as a tool he controls for his own profit. Knowing LaPorte will leverage any personal connection, Booth abandons Miranda for her own safety—cruelly, with no explanation—and disappears. But the bond between Miranda and Booth is too strong, pulling them inexorably back together. Now Booth must face LaPorte, to truly free himself and Miranda once and for all.

New York Times Bestseller: The story of a down-on-his-luck desk clerk, a con man, and a fortune from the author of Rich Man, Poor Man. Pilot Douglas Grimes’s best days are long behind him. Grounded due to a medical condition, Grimes has resigned himself to working nights at a seedy hotel. But his fortune flips when he discovers a guest dead from a heart attack and, next to him, a tube jammed with a fortune in cold hard cash. Grimes grabs the money and, with it, the chance to remake his life. Then, in Europe, he meets Miles Fabian, an elegant and erudite con man with a flair for extravagance. Fabian recruits Grimes for his latest ploy: robbing members of the idle rich. But when the fun ends and his bad behavior catches up with him, things will get a lot more dangerous in this clever thriller from the multimillion-selling legend who brought us The Young Lions and countless other bestsellers. Known for both his literary talent—with two O. Henry Awards to his name—and for his ability to tell a propulsive, full-steam-ahead story, Shaw is perfect for those who enjoy the thrillers of Marcus Sakey or Lawrence Sanders. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Irwin Shaw including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

In Nightwork, Anne Allison opens a window onto Japanese corporate culture and gender identities. Allison performed the ritualized tasks of a hostess in one of Tokyo's many "hostess clubs": pouring drinks, lighting cigarettes, and making flattering or titillating conversation with the businessmen who came there on company expense accounts. Her book critically examines how such establishments create bonds among white-collar men and forge a masculine identity that suits the needs of their corporations. Allison describes in detail a typical company outing to such a club—what the men do, how they interact with the hostesses, the role the hostess is expected to play, and the extent to which all of this involves "play" rather than "work." Unlike previous books on Japanese nightlife, Allison's ethnography of one specific hostess club (here referred to as Bijo) views the general phenomenon from the eyes of a woman, hostess, and feminist anthropologist. Observing that clubs like Bijo further a kind of masculinity dependent on the gestures and labors of women, Allison seeks to uncover connections between such behavior and other social, economic, sexual, and gendered relations. She argues that Japanese corporate nightlife enables and institutionalizes a particular form of ritualized male dominance: in paying for this entertainment, Japanese corporations not only give their male workers a self-image as phallic man, but also develop relationships to work that are unconditional and unbreakable. This is a book that will appeal to anyone interested in gender roles or in contemporary Japanese society.

Reed would die to work for Victoria McCoy--and she may get the chance to do just that Reed Monroe chose Salem University for one reason: the opportunity to study with Victoria McCoy, writer-in-residence and bestselling author of horror fiction. When she learns that a lingering illness is preventing McCoy from teaching any classes, Reed starts a fan club for other McCoy obsessives. Although it only attracts a few members, the club is her passion until she hears about the opportunity of a lifetime: Victoria McCoy is hiring a new assistant. It's a job that any horror fan would kill for. After she's hired, Reed learns that the position was open because the last assistant disappeared, and that every one of McCoy's employees has vanished mysteriously. To survive freshman year, Reed must confront the possibility that her idol might be a murderer. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Diane Hoh including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author's personal collection.

A lively introduction to MIT hacks, from the police car on the Great Dome to the abduction of the Caltech cannon. An MIT "hack" is an ingenious, benign, and anonymous prank or practical joke, often requiring engineering or scientific expertise and often pulled off under cover of darkness—instances of campus mischief sometimes coinciding with April Fool's Day, final exams, or commencement. (It should not be confused with the sometimes non-benign phenomenon of computer hacking.) Noteworthy MIT hacks over the years include the legendary Harvard–Yale Football Game Hack (when a weather balloon emblazoned “MIT” popped out of the ground near the 50-yard line), the campus police car found perched on the Great Dome, the apparent disappearance of the Institute president's office, and a faux cathedral (complete with stained glass windows, organ, and wedding ceremony) in a lobby. Hacks are by their nature ephemeral, although they live on in the memory of both perpetrators and spectators. Nightwork, drawing on the MIT Museum's unique collection of hack-related photographs and other materials, describes and documents the best of MIT's hacks and hacking culture. This generously illustrated updated edition has added coverage of such recent hacks as the cross-country abduction of rival Caltech's cannon (a prank requiring months of planning, intricate choreography, and last-minute improvisation), a fire truck on the Dome that marked the fifth anniversary of 9/11, and numerous pokes at the celebrated Frank Gehry-designed Stata Center, and even a working solar-powered Red Line subway car on the Great Dome. Hacks have been said to express the essence of MIT, providing, as alumnus Andre DeHon observes, "an opportunity to demonstrate creativity and know-how in mastering the physical world." What better way to mark the 150th anniversary of MIT's founding than to commemorate its native ingenuity with this new edition of Nightwork?