Jack Nicholson plays Francis Phelan, a washed-up ballplayer who deserted his family back in the 1910s when he accidentally killed his infant son by dropping him. Since that time, Phelan has been a shabby barfly, living from drink to drink.

Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums. She used to be a singer on the radio, he used to be a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them. Helen is sick, one of their pals has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped. Visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. One night, while drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits...

The Red Badge of Courage was published in 1895, when its author, an impoverished writer living a bohemian life in New York, was only twenty-three. It immediately became a bestseller, and Stephen Crane became famous. Crane set out to create "a psychological portrayal of fear." Henry Fleming, a Union Army volunteer in the Civil War, thinks "that perhaps in a battle he might run ... As far as war was concerned he knew nothing of himself." And he does...

A dramatic novel of love, revolution, and redemption from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Ironweed

When journalist Daniel Quinn meets Ernest Hemingway at the Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba, he has no idea that his own affinity for simple, declarative sentences will change his life radically overnight. So begins a tale of revolutionary intrigue, heroic journalism, crooked politicians, drug-running gangsters, Albany...

In 1849, a boy saves a girl from the Hudson River in this story "of wonders and sweetness, magic and horrors {that} immerses itself in the marvelous" (The Boston Sunday Globe). A penniless Irish orphan, Daniel Quinn is among the crowds gathered at the Hudson River in Albany to watch a legendary dancer aboard the ferry. But when the boat strikes the ice that chokes the water on this wintry day, awe turns to terror. Though the dancer's life is lost,...

The international bee crisis is threatening our global food supply, but this user-friendly field guide shows what you can do to help protect our pollinators. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation offers browsable profiles of 100 common flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees that support bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. The recommendations are simple: pick the right plants for pollinators, protect them from pesticides, and provide...

While snow was still on the ground, noted naturalist/photographer Hope Ryden set out to find and document the wide variety of wildflowers that bloom each season. In conversational essays accompanied by stunning full-color photographs, she introduces readers to more than thirty wildflowers found in backyards, vacant lots, and swamps across the country, from the common dandelion to the rare and delicate nodding ladies' tresses. She also tells the story...

"Distillery Cats contains the whimsical tales of working cats in distilleries around the world, with charming illustrations of the beloved mousers. Distillery Cats cheekily tells the tale of the historical role of these spirited cats and their evolution from organic pest controlto current brand ambassadors. James Beard Award-winning author (and noted cat enthusiast) Brad Thomas Parsons profiles 30 of the world's most adorable and lovable distillery...