A Purim Story -- The Megila, through the eyes of the King's Horse

When Elvis Presley decided he wanted to buy a horse in 1966, he didn't want just any horse. "He wanted a Golden Palomino," Priscilla Presley remembers. "He would get up at 3:00 in the morning, go to certain farms and ranches and say, 'Do you have a Golden Palomino for sale?' People would say, 'That was Elvis Presley!" Elvis's legendary love of horses drove him to find the Golden Palomino who would become his beloved companion Rising Sun, and to fill Graceland's stables and Circle G Ranch with horses for family and friends to ride. In the first-ever book dedicated to Elvis's equestrian side, horse lovers Kimberly Gatto and Victoria Racimo share rare stories, interviews, and photographs that shed light on the beautiful, quiet life the King lived when he was with his horses.

A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Fiction • A Recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the Rathbones Folio Prize • Longlisted for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence • One of New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Book Named a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly • GQ • The New York Times (Selected by Dwight Garner) • NPR • The Wall Street Journal • San Francisco Chronicle • Refinery29 • Booklist • Kirkus Reviews • Commonweal Magazine "In its poetic splendor and moral seriousness, The Sport of Kings bears the traces of Faulkner, Morrison, and McCarthy. . . . It is a contemporary masterpiece."—San Francisco Chronicle Hailed by The New Yorker for its “remarkable achievements,” The Sport of Kings is an American tale centered on a horse and two families: one white, a Southern dynasty whose forefathers were among the founders of Kentucky; the other African-American, the descendants of their slaves. It is a dauntless narrative that stretches from the fields of the Virginia piedmont to the abundant pastures of the Bluegrass, and across the dark waters of the Ohio River; from the final shots of the Revolutionary War to the resounding clang of the starting bell at Churchill Downs. As C. E. Morgan unspools a fabric of shared histories, past and present converge in a Thoroughbred named Hellsmouth, heir to Secretariat and a contender for the Triple Crown. Newly confronted with one another in the quest for victory, the two families must face the consequences of their ambitions, as each is driven---and haunted---by the same, enduring question: How far away from your father can you run? A sweeping narrative of wealth and poverty, racism and rage, The Sport of Kings is an unflinching portrait of lives cast in the shadow of slavery and a moral epic for our time.

Lord Artos is on a historic quest - to search out the finest black horses ever known to man. He has vowed to drive the invading Saxons out of Britain, and he needs big, strong, powerful horses to carry his army into battle. Galwyn, a young Roman-Celt, leaps at the chance to accompany the group, little guessing the adventure ahead of him - or the price he will have to pay for his loyalty...

Since 1066 there have been 42 monarchs in Britain, each with their individual tastes and styles of government, yet the one thing which has always linked them is an overriding fascination and love of horses, from their use in war and pageantry to sport and leisure. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I bred horses at Hampton Court to race and imported stallions and mares from North Africa and the Middle East. James I and Charles I expanded the importation of Barb and Arab blood, and though Oliver Cromwell prohibited racing, the studs and racetracks of the Restoration were able to continue to produce some of the finest horses in the world. Amanda Murray's intriguing and comprehensive study offers a new history of the British royal family told through the fascinating and often surprising story of 'The Sport of Kings'. Discover how the side saddle was introduced, how horsemanship has always worked hand in hand with architecture, Queen Victoria's many and impressive achievements as a breeder, as well as countless other tales of the heroes and villains of horse-racing and breeding.

The unlikely king who saved England. Down swept the Vikings from the frigid North. Across the English coastlands and countryside they raided, torched, murdered, and destroyed all in their path. Farmers, monks, and soldiers all fell bloody under the Viking sword, hammer, and axe. Then, when the hour was most desperate, came an unlikely hero. King Alfred rallied the battered and bedraggled kingdoms of Britain and after decades of plotting, praying, and persisting, finally triumphed over the invaders. Alfred's victory reverberates to this day: He sparked a literary renaissance, restructured Britain's roadways, revised the legal codes, and revived Christian learning and worship. It was Alfred's accomplishments that laid the groundwork for Britian's later glories and triumphs in literature, liturgy, and liberty. "Ben Merkle tells the sort of mythic adventure story that stirs the imagination and races the heart?and all the more so knowing that it is altogether true!" ?George Grant, author of The Last Crusader and The Blood of the Moon