Small town boy journeys from Ponce, Puerto Rico to Manhattan: a riff on many famous movies and books. Except in this case the boy is gay, confused, frightened, and trying to find where he will fit in and be happy. The story has a happy ending—of sorts. Boy from Ponce finds companionship, happiness, and his proud gay identity in the Big City. But it also has a sad ending—of sorts. Boy from Ponce finds out he has HIV, almost dies, gets almost well, then meets another illness—Inclusion Body Myositis. He is confined to a wheelchair. And yet— In the same year he becomes wheelchair-bound, the man rediscovers an old love: writing poetry. He begins to write. He writes more. He becomes adept. His poetry soars. "This," he says, "is what I should have been doing all along." As you read the poems of Félix Garmendía, you will say to yourself, "This is what I should have been reading all along." You will discern influences from Whitman, from Neruda, and also from the art of Frida Kahlo, with whom Felix feels a particularly strong kinship as a disabled artist. After all, he says, they both fly on invisible wings. In this book you will discover poems light as the summer art in Fort Tryon Park, poems as down and raunchy as a honky-tonk on Canal Street, poems as pensive and stately as the Statue of Liberty and her pedestal. For in many ways this book also pays homage to New York, Félix's fiercely loved home since 1988. Happy, sad, frightened, soaring, ecstatic, loving. Moods galore and then some. Images that magic you from deep anguish to utter excitement and bliss. Come fly with Félix. You will never read anything quite like these poems. You may even find your own invisible wings.

The story behind the technology that revolutionized both aeronautics, and the course of history On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen airplanes appeared in the skies over Baghdad. Or, rather, didn't appear. They arrived in the dark, their black outlines cloaking them from sight. More importantly, their odd, angular shapes, which made them look like flying origami, rendered them undetectable to Iraq's formidable air defenses. Stealth technology, developed during the decades before Desert Storm, had arrived. To American planners and strategists at the outset of the Cold War, this seemingly ultimate way to gain ascendance over the USSR was only a question. What if the United States could defend its airspace while at the same time send a plane through Soviet skies undetected? A craft with such capacity would have to be essentially invisible to radar - an apparently miraculous feat of physics and engineering. In Stealth, Peter Westwick unveils the process by which the impossible was achieved. At heart, Stealth is a tale of two aerospace companies, Lockheed and Northrop, and their fierce competition - with each other and with themselves - to obtain what was estimated one of the largest procurement contracts in history. Westwick's book fully explores the individual and collective ingenuity and determination required to make these planes and in the process provides a fresh view of the period leading up to the end of the Soviet Union. Taking into account the role of technology, as well as the art and science of physics and engineering, Westwick offers an engaging narrative, one that immerses readers in the race to produce a weapon that some thought might save the world, and which certainly changed it.

Half a century before the 'flying wing' B-2 stealth bomber entered service, John K. 'Jack' Northrop was already developing prototypes of a large 'flying wing' strategic bomber, which would have been the most radical bombers of their age. World War II brought a need for very long-range bombers and Northrop received a contract for a 172-ft span bomber, the B-35. Several of these were built, gradually evolving into the definitive XB-35 configuration. Testing revealed that the aircraft was invisible to radar, but engineers struggled to overcome the design challenges and several pilots were lost in crashes. While the program was cancelled in the 1950s, the concept extended into other highly innovative areas, such as the XP-56 and MX-324 Rocket Wing prototype fighters. But the greatest legacy was the first operational flying wing – the Northrop Grumman B-2 stealth bomber, which used much of the hard-won experience from the pioneering programs of half a century before.

The empire of Larenta has fallen, along with its king, Sylvia's father. With the loss of her kingdom and family, she is now the last of her ancestral line—a line of secrecy and great power. The last true descendant of an extinct and powerful race Sylvia must be careful; she knows too well how her powers could be used for good or for evil. Struggling to stay alive, Sylvia goes into hiding but is soon discovered by a rogue warrior named Derik and his two companions. Derik promises to protect her, and she reluctantly decides to trust him. She soon reveals her family secret to Derik—and pulls herself into a dangerous mission that could either threaten or save the world. Warm feelings develop between Sylvia and Derik, but he has secrets of his own. What's more, his small group is divided about how Sylvia's gifts should be used—and, to complicate matters, a bloodthirsty bounty hunter is on their trail. Derik must get Sylvia to battle; her supernatural strengths will decide the fate of the land ... but will her powers be used for good, or will her deep fears become a reality as her powers destroy all that she loves?

The #1 New York Times bestseller of hope, daring, and the quest for freedom taken on by two unforgettable American women, from the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees. “A remarkable novel that heightened my sense of what it meant to be a woman – slave or free . . a conversation changer.” – Oprah Winfrey, O, The Oprah Magazine “Powerful…furthers our essential understanding of what has happened among us as Americans – and why it still matters.” –The Washington Post Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world—and it is now the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women. Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements. Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better. This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

A memoir of the Lindbergh family by a daughter of the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh.