It was the great disaster of the 1930s, a horrific experience for all those aboard the ill-fated liner Morro Castle. Sailing to New York from anything-goes Cuba, the luxurious cruise ship was filled with passengers finding an escape from the Great Depression. But, the night before arriving home, the ship became a scene of panic as a raging fire quickly spread, killing 137 and sending many overboard. The aftermath literally floated into public view ¿ on the beach at Asbury Park, where the Jersey Shore resort town filled with rescuers, press, and gawking curiosity-seekers from throughout the northeast. The charred, smoldering ship became a tourist attraction; hawkers sold souvenirs and photographs, and the dramatic story filled front pages for weeks. Controversy and intrigue surrounded the death of the captain, as well as the cause of the fire itself, and much of the mystery has endured for nearly eighty years. But for many of those who survived, it was a closed subject; they rarely spoke of the events. In Inferno at Sea -- a large-format hardcover, filled with never-before-seen photographs -- we finally hear those personal accounts. Survivors tell their stories, family and friends share narratives of those lost that night, rescuers and volunteers all contribute to give us a rare glimpse into the events of September 8, 1934. The fading, maritime mystery of the Morro Castle fire remains, but those closest to the disaster speculate about what really happened, and we gain a new perspective on a famous and tragic shipwreck.

Dante's immortal vision of Hell shines "as it never did before in English verse" (Edward Mendelson) in Clive James's new translation of Inferno. The most captivating part of perhaps the greatest epic poem ever written, Dante's Inferno still holds the power to thrill and inspire. The medieval equivalent of a thriller, Inferno follows Dante and his faithful guide, Virgil, as they traverse the complex geography of Hell, confronting its many threats, macabre punishments, and historical figures, before reaching the deep chamber where Satan himself resides. Now, in this new translation, Clive James communicates not just the transcendent poetry of Dante's language but also the excitement and terror of his journey through the underworld. Instead of Dante's original terza rima, a form which in English tends to show the strain of composition, James employs fluently linked quatrains, thereby conveying the seamless flow of Dante's poetry and the headlong momentum of the action. As James writes in his introduction, Dante’s great poem "can still astonish us, whether we believe in the supernatural or not. At the very least it will make us believe in poetry."

"As poetry, Mr. Zappulla's English Dante is successful--. The power of Dante's descriptive poetry should be apparent, and that is perhaps the highest compliment one can pay a translator."--Washington Times In this new rendition of a timeless classic, Italian scholar Elio Zappulla captures the majesty and enduring power of the Inferno, the first of the three canticles of Dante's The Divine Comedy, unarguably one of the masterpieces of world literature. Rendering Dante's terza rima into lyrical blank verse, Zappulla's translation makes accessible to the modern reader the journey of the famed Florentine poet Dante through the nine circles of hell. With Virgil at his side, the great poet descends through horrific landscapes of the damned--dark forests, boiling muck, and burning plains filled with unspeakable punishment, lamentation, and terror--depicted with gruesome detail unmatched in all literature. Richly annotated, this translation takes even the first-time reader on a truth-seeking journey whose imaginative and psychological discoveries make clear why this work persists at the heart of Western culture. "If Dante's Inferno is a cautionary tale of the history of human depravity, it is also an amazingly complex narrative, treating timeless ethical themes, medieval philosophy and religion, tendentious political issues and deeply personal events."--San Diego Union-Tribune

“Remarkable personal journals . . revealing the combat experience of the German-Russian War as seldom seen before . . . a harrowing yet poignant story” (Military Times). Hans Roth was a member of the anti-tank panzerjager battalion, 299th Infantry Division, attached to the Sixth Army, as the invasion of Russia began. As events transpired, he recorded the tension as the Germans deployed on the Soviet frontier in June 1941. Then, a firestorm broke loose as the Wehrmacht tore across the front, forging into the primitive vastness of the East. During the Kiev encirclement, Roth’s unit was under constant attack as the Soviets desperately tried to break through the German ring. At one point, after the enemy had finally been beaten, a friend serving with the SS led him to a site—possibly Babi Yar—where he witnessed civilians being massacred. After suffering through a brutal winter against apparently endless Russian reserves, his division went on the offensive again when the Germans drove toward Stalingrad. In these journals, attacks and counterattacks are described in you-are-there detail. Roth wrote privately, as if to keep himself sane, knowing his honest accounts of the horrors in the East could never pass Wehrmacht censors. When the Soviet counteroffensive of winter 1942 begins, his unit is stationed alongside the Italian 8th Army, and his observations of its collapse, as opposed to the reaction of the German troops sent to stiffen its front, are of special fascination. Roth’s three journals were discovered many years after his disappearance, tucked away in the home of his brother. After his brother’s death, his family discovered them and sent them to Rosel, Roth’s wife. In time, Rosel handed down the journals to Erika, Roth’s only daughter, who had emigrated to America. Roth was likely working on a fourth journal before he was reported missing in action in July 1944. Although his ultimate fate remains unknown, what he did leave behind, now finally revealed, is an incredible firsthand account of the horrific war the Germans waged in Russia.

Little did Evan know his suicide attempt would not be a disappearing into a void but the beginning of a journey to repentance and faith. Long suffering from alcoholism and depression, college sophomore Evan Esco hoped to escape his pain by committing suicide. Evan hoped he would simply cease to be, but he did not count on the existence of God to foil his plans. Instead of wrath, God is now giving Evan the chance to repent—that is, the chance to return to the world above, turn from his sins, and place his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But if Evan is to learn what it means to repent, he must first travel through the realms of the Inferno—Hell—and speak with those condemned. There, by interviewing shades and demons, some you may find familiar, Evan will learn why he must turn from his sins, look to Christ as his Savior, and trust in God to save him from such a realm.

An introduction and notes accompany this classic epic poem about a spiritual pilgrim being led by Virgil through the nine circles of hell.