In this lavishly illustrated volume we meet the man who did NOT say "There's a sucker born every minute." Barnum's was a colorful figure: his best friends were clergymen, his autobiography sold more than a million copies, he took a public leap through a flaming hoop to prove to the ASPCA that his performing horses were in no danger, and his abiding influence is still with us in the form America's irrepressible infatuation with show biz. The book includes more than 500 photos, engravings, and color lithographs.

Patrick O'Brian, who is renowned for his novels about the English navy during the Napoleonic wars, is also an amateur of art who knew Picasso and writes about him in this critical/biographical appreciation.

When an American sea vessel loaded with nuclear weapons disappears in the suspicious area of the ocean known as the "Pacific Vortex," Dirk Pitt sets out to uncover the real plot.

A teenager named Em Gold falls in love with the son of family friends, and her resulting pregnancy turns her happiness to despair. She persuades her boyfriend to shoot her, and he is, predictably, accused of murder. The two families' histories are explored in flashbacks, and the novel ends with a stirring courtroom scene.