The Matador's Cape delves into the causes of the catastrophic turn in American policy at home and abroad since 9/11. In a collection of searing essays, the author explores Washington's inability to bring 'the enemy' into focus, detailing the ideological, bureaucratic, electoral and (not least) emotional forces that severely distorted the American understanding of, and response to, the terrorist threat. He also shows how the gratuitous and disastrous shift of attention from al Qaeda to Iraq was shaped by a series of misleading theoretical perspectives on the end of deterrence, the clash of civilizations, humanitarian intervention, unilateralism, democratization, torture, intelligence gathering and wartime expansions of presidential power. The author's breadth of knowledge about the War on Terror leads to conclusions about present-day America that are at once sobering in their depth of reference and inspiring in their global perspective.

As something of an expert on the medieval period, archaeologist Annja Creed jumps at the invitation from the Museum of Cadiz to assess its acquisition of Egyptian coins. She soon finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation that takes her through the colorful world of flamenco and bullfighting. Original.

Part sports writing, part travelogue, this is a portrait of Spain, its people, and their passion for a beautiful yet deadly spectacle. A brilliant observer in the tradition of Adam Gopnik and Paul Theroux, Edward Lewine reveals a Spain few outsiders have seen. There's nothing more Spanish than bullfighting, and nothing less like its stereotype. For matadors and aficionados, it is not a blood sport but an art, an ancient subculture steeped in ritual, machismo, and the feverish attentions of fans and the press. Lewine explains Spain and the art of the bulls by spending a bullfighting season traveling Spanish highways with the celebrated matador Francisco Rivera Ordónez, following Fran, as he’s known, through every region and social stratum. Fran’s great-grandfather was a famous bullfighter and the inspiration for Hemingway’s matador in The Sun Also Rises. Fran’s father was also a star matador, until a bull took his life shortly before Fran’s eleventh birthday. Fran is blessed and haunted by his family history. Formerly a top performer himself, Fran’s reputation has slipped, and as the season opens he feels intense pressure to live up to his legacy amid tabloid scrutiny in the wake of his separation from his wife, a duchess. But Fran perseveres through an eventful season of early triumph, serious injury, and an unlikely return to glory. A New York Times Editor’s Choice Praise for Death and the Sun “May be the most in-depth, incisively written guide to bullfighting available in English. Every drunken sophomore riding the rails to Pamplona this summer ought to keep a volume in his backpack.” —New York Times Book Review “Lewine demonstrates knowledge of and respect for the matador’s dangerous profession. E also explores the history of Spaine and the charms and contradictions evident within the country’s exceptionally varied cultures and people.” —Boston Globe

An examination of the world of the Matador. Journeying across Spain, the author interviews Matadors from the top and bottom of the profession, looks at the cut-throat world of the bull breeders and witnesses the Pamplona Festival, where both animals and men have been killed in recent years.

A novel about the intertwining lives of the denizens of a hotel in an unnamed Latin American country in the midst of political turmoil.

If you think that witches were burned at Salem, that St. Patrick was Irish, and that George Washington was our first president...don't you believe...