An environmental disaster leads to global chaos in this science fiction thriller by the authors of Assemblers of Infinity. It is the largest oil spill in history: a supertanker crashes into the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. Desperate to avert environmental damage (as well as a PR disaster), the multinational oil company releases an untested designer oil-eating microbe to break up the spill. What the company didn’t realize is that their microbe propagates through the air…and it mutates to consumer anything made of polycarbons: oil, gasoline, synthetic fabrics, plastics of all kinds. And when every piece of plastic begins to dissolve, it’s too late . . . Praise for Ill Wind “A high-action, best-seller-caliber disaster novel grounded in unsettlingly accurate science. . . . Using the standard disaster novel format of multiple characters and plot lines, Beason and Anderson maintain a suspenseful, breakneck pace that carries us to a thrilling finish.” —Booklist “A big, near-future disaster novel straddling the border between science fiction and technothriller, likely to appeal to fans of both.” —Kirkus Reviews “A real winner . . . [the authors’] grasp of the science, the technology, and the political scene is unique.” —Dr. D. Allan Bromley, former assistant to the president for science and technology

In this breathtaking suspense novel by Nevada Barr, park ranger Anna Pigeon is faced with a sinister mystery that threatens the visitors of Mesa Verde. As a strange and deadly disease spreads through the park, Anna must unravel the source and put an end to the evil wind that carries it. With gripping twists and turns, Ill Wind transports readers to the atmospheric landscape of Mesa Verde, immersing them in the heart-pounding action as Anna races against time to uncover the truth. Fans of Nevada Barr's thrilling storytelling and gripping mysteries won't be able to put this book down.

Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. But now she is on the run from another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden. Unfortunately, he is also on the run, having stolen three bottles of Djinn and become the most wanted man on Earth.

*Shortlisted for the 2020 Arthur Ross Book Award* From America’s leading scholar of democracy, a personal, passionate call to action against the rising authoritarianism that challenges our world order—and the very value of liberty Larry Diamond has made it his life's work to secure democracy's future by understanding its past and by advising dissidents fighting autocracy around the world. Deeply attuned to the cycles of democratic expansion and decay that determine the fates of nations, he watched with mounting unease as illiberal rulers rose in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, the Philippines, and beyond, while China and Russia grew increasingly bold and bullying. Then, with Trump's election at home, the global retreat from freedom spread from democracy's margins to its heart. Ill Winds' core argument is stark: the defense and advancement of democratic ideals relies on U.S. global leadership. If we do not reclaim our traditional place as the keystone of democracy, today's authoritarian swell could become a tsunami, providing an opening for Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and their admirers to turn the twenty-first century into a dark time of despotism. We are at a hinge in history, between a new era of tyranny and an age of democratic renewal. Free governments can defend their values; free citizens can exercise their rights. We can make the internet safe for liberal democracy, exploit the soft, kleptocratic underbelly of dictatorships, and revive America's degraded democracy. Ill Winds offers concrete, deeply informed suggestions to fight polarization, reduce the influence of money in politics, and make every vote count. In 2020, freedom's last line of defense still remains "We the people."

A “comprehensive and fascinating study” of how wind has shaped the world as we know it, affecting all aspects of human and natural life—from geography to political history, plant life to psychology, and biology to philosophy (The Observer) Wind is everywhere and nowhere. Wind is the circulatory system of the earth, and its nervous system, too. Energy and information flow through it. It brings warmth and water, enriches and strips away the soil, aerates the globe. Wind shapes the lives of animals, humans among them. Trade follows the path of the wind, as empire also does. Wind made the difference in wars between the Greeks and Persians, the Mongols and the Japanese. Wind helped to destroy the Spanish Armada. And wind is no less determining of our inner lives: the föhn, mistral, sirocco, Santa Ana, and other “ill winds” of the world are correlated with disease, suicide, and even murder. Heaven’s Breath is an encyclopedic and enchanting book that opens dazzling new perspectives on history, nature, and humanity.

A Carnegie Medal winner, this delightful fantasy will appeal to children who love Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows. Major Palfrey is leaving for the wars, and he tells his two girls, Dinah and Dorinda, to be good while he is gone. But the sisters aren’t sure they can be. As Dorinda explains, “When we think we are behaving well, some grown-up person says we are really quite bad. It’s difficult to tell which is which.” Sure enough, the sisters are soon up to their usual mischief. They convince a judge that minds must be changed as often as socks, stage an escape from the local zoo (thanks to a witch’s potion which turns them into kangaroos), and—in the company of a golden puma and silver falcon—set off to rescue their father from the wicked tyrant of Bombardy. Penned at the height of World War II, this tale of hilarity and great adventure is also a work of high seriousness; after all, “life without freedom,” as the valiant puma makes clear, “is a poor, poor thing.”