The Zenith

A major new novel from the most important Vietnamese author writing today Duong Thu Huong has won acclaim for her exceptional lyricism and psychological acumen, as well as for her unflinching portraits of modern Vietnam and its culture and people. In this monumental new novel she offers an intimate, imagined account of the final months in the life of President Ho Chi Minh at an isolated mountaintop compound where he is imprisoned both physically and emotionally, weaving his story in with those of his wife’s brother-in-law, an elder in a small village town, and a close friend and political ally, to explore how we reconcile the struggles of the human heart with the external world. These narratives portray the thirst for absolute power, both political and otherwise, and the tragic consequences on family, community, and nationhood that can occur when jealousy is coupled with greed or mixed with a lust for power. The Zenith illuminates and captures the moral conscience of Vietnamese leaders in the 1950s and 1960s as no other book ever has, as well as bringing out the souls of ordinary Vietnamese living through those tumultuous times.

“Gleeful, shrewd, speculative, cynical, closely observed . . . The Zenith Angle offers wisdom and solace, thrills and laughter.”—The Washington Post “Compelling and important . . . A darkly comic fable of info-war, the black budget, über-geek idealism, and the politics of Homeland Insecurity.”—William Gibson, author of Pattern Recognition Pioneering computer wizard Derek “Van” Vandeveer has been living extra-large as a VP for a booming Internet company. But the September 11 attacks on America change everything. Recruited as the key member of an elite federal computer-security team, Van enters the labyrinthine trenches of the Washington intelligence community. His special genius is needed to debug the software glitch in America’s most crucial KH-13 satellite, capable of detecting terrorist hotbeds worldwide. But the problem is much deeper. Now Van must make the unlikely leap from scientist to spy, team up with a ruthlessly resourceful ex-Special Forces commando, and root out an unknown enemy—one with access to a weapon of untold destructive power. “Great fun . . . A cyberthriller of 21st-century technologies [that] peeps wittily behind the national security scenes of a modern superpower.”—New Scientist “A comedic thriller for the homeland security era.”—Entertainment Weekly

Sarah Bernhardt's trip to Edmonton, Canada in 1913.

The previously untold story of the Zenith Trans-Oceanic, the world's most romantic and expensive series of portable radios, now in a newly revised & expanded edition. Long a companion of kings, presidents, transoceanic yachtsmen and world explorers, the Trans-Oceanic was also carried into battle by American troops in three wars. Its great popularity in spite of a very high price can be laid at the feet of several generations of armchair travelers who used the shortwave capabilities of the Trans-Oceanic as a window on the world. With access to the Zenith corporate archives and their long experience as radio enthusiasts and writers for both the popular and scholarly press, Professors Bryant and Cones present the engrossing stories of the development and use of the Trans-Oceanic throughout its forty year life. They present a wealth of never-before published photographs, documents and information concerning these fascinating radios, their collection, preservation and restoration.