In September 1862, the United States had been ripped apart by a civil war entering its 18th month and it was the nation's, and Mr. Lincoln's, most trying period, as Gen. Robert E. Lee invaded Union soil, panicking cities, destroying political alliances and causing the North to reconsider whether it was best to redouble its war efforts or give up and let the South pursue its own course. The author looks at a cache of newspapers from this time to demonstrate just how fragile the national bond had become by the autumn of 1862

The sitting room looked as familiar as the back of his hand, and immediately Lenox took a liking to the young man who inhabited it. He saw several small artifacts of the missing student’s life---a frayed piece of string about two feet long of the sort you might bind a package with, half of a pulpy fried tomato, which was too far from the breakfast table to have been dropped, a fountain pen, and lastly, a card which said on the front The September Society. . . . In the small hours of the morning one fall day in 1866, a frantic widow visits detective Charles Lenox. Lady Annabelle’s problem is simple: her beloved son, George, has vanished from his room at Oxford. When Lenox visits his alma mater to investigate, he discovers a series of bizarre clues, including a murdered cat and a card cryptically referring to the September Society. Then, just as Lenox realizes that the case may be deeper than it appears, a student dies, the victim of foul play. What could the September Society have to do with it? What specter, returned from the past, is haunting gentle Oxford? Lenox, with the support of his devoted friends in London’s upper crust, must race to discover the truth before it comes searching for him, and dangerously close to home.

Ken Follett wrote his first international bestseller, Eye of the Needle, when he was 25 years old. He has since been one of the most consistent international best-selling authors, with approximately 130 million copies of his books sold worldwide. His manifold influences on the thriller genre includes the pioneering use of strong female characters in espionage stories and the development of the historical thriller as a new form of novel, exemplified by Winter of the World (2012). This book is an investigation of Follett's development as an author, and of the craft of writing and the negotiation of serious versus popular literary value, from his earliest short stories and screenplays through his mature thrillers and entertainment fiction. Unpublished materials are also considered, including his notes, business and personal correspondence, unpublished drafts, journal entries and outlines. Follett's dramatic shift to writing historical fiction may be his most enduring legacy.

As American as jazz or rock and roll, comic books have been central in the nation's popular culture since Superman's 1938 debut in Action Comics #1. The author offers a history of the comic book industry within the context of twentieth-century American society.

Famous features such as "Sherlock Holmes Faces Death," "Johnny Allegro," "My Forbidden Past," "His Kind of Woman," "The Big Carnival," and "After the Thin Man" are examined, plus the "Bulldog Drummond" series, and a number of serials including "The Clutching Hand," "Chick Carter, Detective," "Panther Girl of the Congo," "Holt of the Secret Service" and "The Last of the Mohicans." Two bonus features are monographs on Robert Siodmak (of "Cobra Woman," "The Phantom Lady," "The Spiral Staircase," etc.) and Otto Preminger, who made "Laura," "Fallen Angel," "Whirlpool," "Where the Sidewalk Ends," "The 13th Letter" and "Angel Face."