As the United States prosecuted a bloody campaign to pacify its newly won Philippines territory at the turn of the nineteenth century, a secret mission of mercy went terribly wrong. The result was a prisoner-of-war crisis, the likes of which our nation had never encountered before. The epic struggle for survival that followed was not only a test of the human will to live, but a crucible for heroes. And yet, what was touted as a heroic rescue operation extended a war by almost two years and cost the lives of thousands.

In April 1899, Admiral George Dewey dispatched the USS Yorktown to liberate a detachment of Spanish soldiers under siege by Filipino rebels. To reconnoiter enemy defenses, one of the Yorktown’s armed cutters—manned by a crew of fifteen sailors—was sent toward shore. And then it happened. Defying orders, Lieutenant James C. Gillmore Jr. recklessly pushed upriver into heavy jungle—and headlong into an ambush that would kill four of his men. The survivors were dragged across mountains and through dense jungle from one pestilent prison to the next along what Gillmore called “a veritable Devil’s Causeway.” 

Their captivity and the torturous expedition sent to recover them, recalled toda y a s one of the greatest marches in US Army history, features a tightly hewn cast of characters—including a frail yet determined teenaged sailor and his hardened seafaring mates; battle-tested veterans of the Civil War and the Indian Wars; and a fiery revolutionary commander who gave orders to bury wounded Americans alive. A sweeping military epic drawing on international primary sources, The Devil’s Causeway tells their extraordinary story in its entirety for the first time.

More than 30 years ago, singer Olivia Newton-John poured herself into black leather pants and danced around in "Grease." With a career spanning more than four decades, with over 100 million albums sold, numerous awards, and Number One hits, Olivia’s appeal remains timeless. Now, age 63, and a breast cancer "thriver," she is still the picture of health and well-being.

The secret of Newton-John’s success is no secret at all. She exercises daily and eats a simple diet based mostly on salads, vegetables, fish, and some whole grains. Newton-John firmly believes that what we eat is imperative to staying healthy and well-balanced and she shares this philosophy in her first book, "Livwise."

Recipes in "Livwise" have been put together using Newton-John’s own experience in the kitchen and with the help of nutritionists, friends, and chefs from Gaia, her Australian health retreat. The resulting meals are imaginative, tasty, and very healthy from delicious salads and snacks to hearty main meals and guilt-free desserts. The common thread throughout these recipes is the food philosophy behind them and the importance of eating a healthy, balanced diet along with regular exercise, to help your body find its own natural balance.

Mitt Romney had a strong showing in the Iowa caucus, was the front-runner in New Hampshire, but has trailed Newt Gingrich since South Carolina. As the nation waits to see if the once-assumed Republican victor will be catapulted on to victory, a new book by Ronald B. Scott explores how Romney decided to enter politics in the first place, portraying him as more human than he often appears to be on the stump. Both as a seasoned journalist and as a fellow Mormon and a distant cousin to Romney, Scott examines Romney’s character and convictions, his words and actions, his flips and flops, and his triumphs and setbacks, interviewing those who know him best—allies and adversaries alike—to provide what nationally syndicated columnist George E. Curry calls “a fascinating portrait of one of America’s most complicated political figures.” 

The only independent biographical profile of the candidate who would be president, “Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics” puts the businessman and former Republican governor of Massachusetts in context like no other book before.

The San Francisco Chronicle hails ABC’s Suburgatory as “a genuinely funny and immediately likable sitcom,” and The Hollywood Reporter calls it “one of the biggest surprises of the fall,” a show that not only “clicks on a number of different levels, it even has a Juno-esque element to it, plus a breakout-worthy star in Jane Levy.” Viewers are equally taken by the series. The show opened in late September as ABC’s biggest half-hour comedy premiere in 8 years, and its ratings have increased steadily ever since.

As with many good TV shows and movies, Suburgatory started with a great book. Linda Erin Keenan was a CNN senior producer/h ead-writer for seven years before she reconsidered her 24/7 lifestyle, exchanging a decent paycheck and a New York City address for a baby and a house in the suburbs. Going from “80 miles an hour to zero,” however, this thoroughly urban, trash-talking news producer soon found herself trapped in what she calls “Lesschester County, a gleaming expanse of white people as far as the eye could see, where subversion seemed policed and I often felt like I’d been taken hostage by an adult Girl Scout troop. What was less about Lesschester? Less humor, less edge.”

Refusing to lessen her own humor and blunt her edge, however, Keenan trained her twisted reporters eye on the strange inhabitants of this foreign land, writing fake news satire. The result was Suburgatory: Twisted Tales from Darkest Suburbia—a book that uses laugh-out-loud humor to target racism, homophobia, submerged suburban sexuality, class welfare, willful ignorance, and the all-around bad behavior raging beneath the surface of those obsessively tended suburban lawns and bikini lines.