Set in the Caribbean, this novel tells the story of a grim, poverty-stricken shanty town (named after the nearby oil depot) on the edge of Fort de France, the capital of Martinique.

A candid and colorful memoir by the singer, songwriter, and “Duchess of Coolsville” (Time). This troubadour life is only for the fiercest hearts, only for those vessels that can be broken to smithereens and still keep beating out the rhythm for a new song . . . Last Chance Texaco is the first-ever no-holds-barred account of the life of two-time Grammy Award-winner and Rickie Lee Jones in her own words (Hilton Als). It is a tale of desperate chances and impossible triumphs, an adventure story of a girl who beat the odds and grew up to become one of the most legendary artists of her time, turning adversity and hopelessness into timeless music. With candor and lyricism, she takes us on a singular journey through her nomadic childhood, her years as a teenage runaway, her legendary love affair with Tom Waits, and ultimately her longevity as the hardest working woman in rock and roll. Rickie Lee’s stories are rich with the infamous characters of her early songs—“Chuck E’s in Love,” “Weasel and the White Boys Cool,” “Danny’s All-Star Joint,” and “Easy Money”—but long before her notoriety in show business, there was a vaudevillian cast of hitchhikers, bank robbers, jail breaks, drug mules, and a pimp with a heart of gold, and tales of her fabled ancestors. This intimate memoir by one of the most trailblazing and tenacious women in music is filled with never-before-told stories of the girl in the raspberry beret, whose songs defied categorization and inspired American pop culture for decades. “A striking, distinctive self-portrait.” —The New York Times “Terrific . . . Jones is as fearless in prose as she is on stage.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Men leave, fame fizzles, family breaks your heart . . . but Jones knows a good story and how to tell it.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “[The] premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation.” —Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize–winner and author of White Girls

Texaco recruited banking executive Bari-Ellen Roberts with promises of a professional challenge and advancement. But she and 1400 other African Americans faced a persistant pattern of racial discrimination so onerous that it wound up in a lawsuit-and ultimately in the largest discrimination settlement in U.S. History. This is the true story of how a giant corporation was challenged against all odds by one brave woman who was determined to stand her ground. Here, in Bari-Ellen Roberts' own words, is the fascinating, infuriating, and ultimately triumphant account of how she acheived an electrifying result that could change the face of corporate America, including the inside story of the notorious "Texaco Tapes," which recorded senior executives making racially-charged comments while they allegedly plotted the destruction of evidence. Here is a fresh and inspiring vantage point on what is unquestionably the major civil rights battleground of the twenty-first century: the workplace. Spellbinding and eloquent, intensely personal and dramatically riveting, this is the most persuasive yet damning account of corporate racial discrimination ever written.

Shannon was a juror in the 1984 Houston trial that awarded $10.5 billion damages to the Pennzoil Company in its lawsuit against Texaco for preempting Pennzoil's supposedly binding merger agreement with Getty Oil. The verdict stunned the business world and Texaco declared bankruptcy; a compromise four years later reduced the award to $3 billion. With excerpts from court testimony and legal arguments between lawyers, bankers and executives, Shannon reconstructs the four-month trial, adding narrative and interpretations of his own. He tells how jury-room deliberations led to a consensus that Texaco had interfered intentionally, and therefore illegally, with Pennzoil's ``done deal'' and must pay a $3 billion penalty in addition to the $7.5 billion Pennzoil claimed to have lost by not acquiring Getty's oil reserves. Major ad/promo; author tour. (June) Copyright 1988 Cahners Business Information.

Texaco filling stations, products, giveaways, sales promotional toys, signs, banners, uniforms, and equipment are presented in color photos and text. Historical black and white photos of vintage Texaco stations, as well as early airplanes and ships from the extensive Texaco fleet are also included.