The relationship between two teenage girls who become acquainted through letters intensifies as their correspondence reveals some of the terrible problems of their lives.

For readers of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things, and Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl, Diane Smith’s warmhearted and award-winning epistolary novel about a spunky young woman who joins a makeshift field study in Yellowstone National Park at the end of the nineteenth century “I loved this book in a way that I haven’t loved a book in some time.” —James Welch, author of Fools Crow In the spring of 1898, A. E. (Alexandria) Bartram—a spirited young woman with a love for botany—is invited to join a field study in Yellowstone National Park. The study’s leader, a mild-mannered professor from Montana, assumes she is a man, and is less than pleased to discover the truth. Once the scientists overcome the shock of having a woman on their team, they forge ahead on a summer of adventure, forming an enlightening web of relationships as they move from Mammoth Hot Springs to a camp high in the backcountry. But as they make their way collecting amid Yellowstone’s beauty, the group is splintered by differing views on science, nature, and economics. Brimming with humor, excitement, and the romance of the Yellowstone landscape, Letters from Yellowstone is a love letter to the joys of scientific discovery and America’s majestic natural beauty, as well as a thoughtful reflection on environmentalism, Native American displacement, and feminism at the dawn of a new century.

Rare correspondence from Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Jane Fonda, and other Hollywood luminaries from the silent film era to the 1970s. Letters from Hollywood reproduces in full color scores of entertaining and insightful pieces of correspondence from some of the most notable and talented film industry names of all time—from the silent era to the golden age, and up through the pre-email days of the 1970s. Culled from libraries, archives, and personal collections, the 135 letters, memos, and telegrams are organized chronologically and are annotated by the authors to provide backstories and further context. While each piece reveals a specific moment in time, taken together, the letters convey a bigger picture of Hollywood history. Contributors include celebrities like Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Cary Grant, Francis Ford Coppola, Tom Hanks, and Jane Fonda. This is the gift book of the season for fans of classic Hollywood. With a foreword by Peter Bogdanovitch. “This is, quite simply, one of the finest books I’ve ever read about Hollywood.” —Leonard Maltin

The Marquis de Custine's unique perspective on a vast, fascinating country in the grip of oppressive tyranny In 1839, encouraged by his friend Balzac, Custine set out to explore Russia. His impressions turned into what is perhaps the greatest and most influential of all books about Russia under the Tsars. Rich in anecdotes as much about the court of Tsar Nicholas as the streets of St Petersburg, Custine is as brilliant writing about the Kremlin as he is about the great northern landscapes. An immediate bestseller on publication, Custine's book is also a central book for any discussion of 19th century history, as - like de Tocqueville's Democracy in America - it dramatizes far broader questions about the nature of government and society.

Upon arrival at Barton Prison, Julian is processed and taken to a cell occupied by a prisoner named Gordon, who soon becomes his lover. However, six months later, a jealous guard sends Gordon to another wing of the prison, separating the lovers. Not to be deterred, Julian sends a message to Gordon via Lanky, another prisoner, which starts a long correspondence between them. Through their letters, readers learn more about the two men -- their backgrounds, their secrets, their hopes and dreams. The letters reveal the story of two lovers trapped inside a prison, separated from the world outside and from each other. But prison life is hard. There are bashings and murders. There are corrupt prison officers and violent inmates. How can Julian, who comes from an upper middle-class family and is incarcerated for an accident, hope to survive against such odds, especially when he becomes the target of a particularly corrupt and vicious screw?

When Bronwyn Harris finally gets approval to visit her former third-grade student, Jorge, in prison, she doesn't know what to expect. After telling his story in her best-selling first book, Literally Unbelievable: Stories from an East Oakland Classroom, Harris worries that he will be upset or angered by her portrayal of him. Instead, in a captivating series of letters between a teacher and student, he shares incredible vulnerability while providing details of his life while growing up in East Oakland. Like many kids in the neighborhood, he joins a gang and, shortly after turning eighteen, is arrested for shooting at Oakland police officers in an episode of all-too-common street violence.As a grade-schooler, Jorge had asked, "How can I learn to be good?" And in prison, he commits himself to self-improvement. "I am going to change my life and that's the truth," he writes to Harris. "I want to become a better person and not just for me but for my family also. Because I got family that needs me to be out there."Letters From the Inside reveals a glimpse of prison life that's both tragic and mundane, as Jorge provides a raw glimpse of life behind bars in California. Because of the state's "gun enhancement" laws, he's locked up until 2030 but expresses amazing optimism even as he misses life milestones and the death of his mother. When I got locked up and sentenced to nineteen years, I felt as if my life was over. I didn't care about anything. During this time I lost my mother in a fire, so I was just hurt and going through a lot of pain. I was at the lowest point of my life. But after a few years of being incarcerated, I healed a bit from losing my mom and just told myself I was going to do everything and anything to come home and to better myself as a person. That's why I'm taking advantage of all the good things being offered to me right now.