In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town. In a searing portrait of a community engulfed by panic—with ruthless prosecutors, and neighbors eager to testify against neighbor—The Crucible famously mirrors the anti-Communist hysteria that held the United States in its grip in the 1950’s. A Tony Award Winner for Best Play. A BBC and KCRW co-production. Recorded at Culver Studios, Culver City in March 1988. Directed by Martin Jenkins. Producing Director: Susan Albert LoewenbergAn L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance starring: Irene Aranga as Mercy Lewis René Auberjonois as Deputy Governor Danforth Ed Begley Jr. as Thomas Putnam Georgia Brown as Rebecca Nurse Jack Coleman as Marshal Herrick Bud Cort as Ezekiel Cheever Richard Dreyfuss as Reverend John Hale Héctor Elizondo as Giles Corey Judyann Elder as Tituba Fionnula Flanagan as Elizabeth Proctor Ann Hearne as Susanna Walcott Carol Kane as Mary Warren Stacey Keach as John Proctor Anna Sophie Loewenberg as Betty Parris Marian Mercer as Mrs. Ann Putnam Franklyn Seales as Judge Hathorne Madolyn Smith as Abigail Williams Joe Spano as Francis Nurse Michael York as Reverend Parris Read more

A backstage pass to the groundbreaking, hit musical Hamilton, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, including the award-winning libretto, behind-the-scenes photos and interviews, and exclusive footnotes from composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda, now streaming on Disney+ with the original cast. Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical Hamilton is as revolutionary as its subject, the poor kid from the Caribbean who fought the British, defended the Constitution, and helped to found the United States. Fusing hip-hop, pop, R&B, and the best traditions of theater, this once-in-a-generation show broadens the sound of Broadway, reveals the storytelling power of rap, and claims our country's origins for a diverse new generation.Hamilton: The Revolution gives readers an unprecedented view of both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda, along with Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages -- "since before this was even a show," according to Miranda -- traces its development from an improbable performance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. In addition, Miranda has written more than 200 funny, revealing footnotes for his award-winning libretto, the full text of which is published here. Their account features photos by the renowned Frank Ockenfels and veteran Broadway photographer, Joan Marcus; exclusive looks at notebooks and emails; interviews with Questlove, Stephen Sondheim, leading political commentators, and more than 50 people involved with the production; and multiple appearances by President Obama himself. The book does more than tell the surprising story of how a Broadway musical became a national phenomenon: It demonstrates that America has always been renewed by the brash upstarts and brilliant outsiders, the men and women who don't throw away their shot. Read more

From legendary playwright August Wilson comes the powerful, stunning dramatic bestseller that won him critical acclaim, including the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize.Troy Maxson is a strong man, a hard man. He has had to be to survive. Troy Maxson has gone through life in an America where to be proud and black is to face pressures that could crush a man, body and soul. But the 1950s are yielding to the new spirit of liberation in the 1960s, a spirit that is changing the world Troy Maxson has learned to deal with the only way he can, a spirit that is making him a stranger, angry and afraid, in a world he never knew and to a wife and son he understands less and less. This is a modern classic, a book that deals with the impossibly difficult themes of race in America, set during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. Now an Academy Award-winning film directed by and starring Denzel Washington, along with Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Viola Davis. Read more

Stacy Keach and Jane Kaczmarek star in this 1949 masterpiece by Arthur Miller, a searing portrait of the physical, emotional, and psychological costs of the American dream. Willy Loman (Keach) is the play's iconic traveling salesman, whose family is torn apart by his desperate obsession with greatness and social acceptance. As his two sons cast about aimlessly for their station in life, Willy begins to come unraveled when the reality of his life threatens his long-cherished illusions. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Stacy Keach as Willy Loman, Jane Kaczmarek as Linda Loman, Steven Culp as Biff Loman, Maureen Flannigan as Letta and Jenny, Jason Henning as Bernard and Stanley, Kathryn Meisle as The Woman, Tim Monsion as Uncle Ben, Sam Mcmurray as Charley, John Sloan as Happy Loman, Kate Steele as Miss Forsythe, and Kenneth Alan Williams as Howard. Directed by Eric Simonson. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in March 2011. Read more

No play in the modern theatre has so captured the imagination and heart of the American public as Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie.Menagerie was Williams's first popular success and launched the brilliant, if somewhat controversial, career of our pre-eminent lyric playwright. Since its premiere in Chicago in 1944, with the legendary Laurette Taylor in the role of Amanda, the play has been the bravura piece for great actresses from Jessica Tandy to Joanne Woodward, and is studied and performed in classrooms and theatres around the world. The Glass Menagerie (in the reading text the author preferred) is now available only in its New Directions Paperbook edition. A new introduction by prominent Williams scholar Robert Bray, editor of The Tennessee Williams Annual Review, reappraises the play more than half a century after it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award: "More than fifty years after telling his story of a family whose lives form a triangle of quiet desperation, Williams's mellifluous voice still resonates deeply and universally." This edition of The Glass Menagerie also includes Williams's essay on the impact of sudden fame on a struggling writer, "The Catastrophe of Success," as well as a short section of Williams's own "Production Notes." The cover features the classic line drawing by Alvin Lustig, originally done for the 1949 New Directions edition. Read more

New York Times Bestseller * Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, O: The Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek"Kingsolver brilliantly captures both the price of profound change and how it can pave the way not only for future generations, but also for a radiant, unexpected expansion of the heart." — O: The Oprah MagazineThe acclaimedauthor of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, and recipient of numerous literary awards—including the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Orange Prize—returns with a story about two families, in two centuries, navigating what seems to be the end of the world as they know it. With history as their tantalizing canvas, these characters paint a startlingly relevant portrait of life in precarious times when the foundations of the past have failed to prepare us for the future.How could two hardworking people do everything right in life, a woman asks, and end up destitute? Willa Knox and her husband followed all the rules as responsible parents and professionals, and have nothing to show for it but debts and an inherited brick house that is falling apart. The magazine where Willa worked has folded; the college where her husband had tenure has closed. Their dubious shelter is also the only option for a disabled father-in-law and an exasperating, free-spirited daughter. When the family's one success story, an Ivy-educated son, is uprooted by tragedy he seems likely to join them, with dark complications of his own.In another time, a troubled husband and public servant asks, How can a man tell the truth, and be reviled for it? A science teacher with a passion for honest investigation, Thatcher Greenwood finds himself under siege: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting work just published by Charles Darwin. His young bride and social-climbing mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his worries that their elegant house is unsound. In a village ostensibly founded as a benevolent Utopia, Thatcher wants only to honor his duties, but his friendships with a woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor threaten to draw him into a vendetta with the town's powerful men.A timely and "utterly captivating" novel (San Francisco Chronicle), Unsheltered interweaves past and present to explore the human capacity for resiliency and compassion in times of great upheaval. Read more

They’re billionaires, alpha men, powerful…and they need love too. Find out what happens when these powerful, handsome men cross paths with the vibrant, strong-willed women who will change their lives forever. This romance box set includes the following books: Billionaire Boss’s Fake Mrs. RightBillionaire Silver Fox Baby DaddyBad Boy Billionaire BikerAnd as a special bonus, you also get the holiday romance story, Grumpy Bad Boy SantaBook 1: Billionaire Boss's Fake Mrs. RightThe first time, my dream romance with the billionaire, star hockey player shattered on the ice he loved playing on. The second time, I fake married him without knowing we were playing a high-stakes game for keeps.Book 2: Billionaire Silver Fox Baby DaddyKeep your friends close and your ruthless, billionaire enemy closer.Book 3: Bad Boy Billionaire Biker There are two loves in life I can ride forever….my custom bike and my best friend’s little sister. Book 4: Grumpy Bad Boy SantaHe’s a hot, grumpy mall Santa. He’s also the man I love and wrongly convicted. Some loves never get a second chance...unless you're both on the naughty list.The road to love is a long, hard bumpy ride, but ALL books end in HEA. Read more

Presenting an original audiobook performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, starring the cast of the National Theatre's 2018 Broadway revival.In this production, adapted especially for the listening experience, Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, and the entire cast recreate their acclaimed performances from the 2018 Tony Award-winning National Theatre revival of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. With narration by Bobby Cannavale and Edie Falco, and a musical score by Adrian Sutton, this audiobook is a compelling and immersive theatrical listening experience.A play in two parts, "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika", Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is a complex and insightful look into identity, community, justice, and redemption.New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, and heaven and hell as the AIDS crisis intensifies during a time of political reaction—the Reagan Republican counterrevolution of the 1980s.Published to celebrate the Broadway revival, this is a unique opportunity to hear one of the most honored and timeless plays in American history.Full cast:Andrew Garfield as Prior WalterNathan Lane as Roy M. CohnSusan Brown as Hannah PittDenise Gough as Harper PittBeth Malone as The AngelJames McArdle as Louis IronsonLee Pace as Joseph PittNathan Stewart-Jarrett as BelizeWith narration by:Bobby Cannavale ("Millennium Approaches")Edie Falco ("Perestroika")Based on the National Theatre production, directed by Marianne Elliott.Music by Adrian Sutton.Cover art Ryan Hopkinson Read more

A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist for Best Fiction and Best Debut • BookBrowse's Best Book of the Year • A Marie Claire Best Women's Fiction of the Year • A Real Simple Best Book of the Year • A PopSugar Best Book of the Year All Written By Females • A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A Washington Post 10 Books to Read in March • A Newsweek Best Book of the Summer • A USA Today Best Book of the Week • A Washington Book Review Difficult-To-Put-Down Novel • A Refinery 29 Best Books of the Month • A Buzzfeed News 4 Books We Couldn't Put Down Last Month • A New Arab Best Books by Arab Authors • An Electric Lit 20 Best Debuts of the First Half of 2019 • A The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2019“Garnering justified comparisons to Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns... Etaf Rum’s debut novel is a must-read about women mustering up the bravery to follow their inner voice.”   —Refinery 29The New York Times bestseller and Read with Jenna TODAY SHOW Book Club pick telling the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women struggling to express their individual desires within the confines of their Arab culture in the wake of shocking intimate violence in their community."Where I come from, we’ve learned to silence ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence will save us. Where I come from, we keep these stories to ourselves. To tell them to the outside world is unheard of—dangerous, the ultimate shame.”Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children—four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear.Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra’s oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda’s insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. Deya can’t help but wonder if her options would have been different had her parents survived the car crash that killed them when Deya was only eight. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man.But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family—knowledge that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, the past, and her own future. Read more

A landmark American drama that inspired a classic film and a Broadway revival—featuring an introduction by David MametA blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal prejudices or biases. Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst.   After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, and award-winning, run on Broadway.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Read more

Set in a topsy-turvy world like a holiday revel, this comedy devises a romantic plot around separated twins, misplaced passions, and mistaken identity. Juxtaposed to it is the satirical story of a self-deluded steward who dreams of becoming “Count Malvolio” only to receive his comeuppance at the hands of the merrymakers he wishes to suppress. The two plots combine to create a farce touched with melancholy, mixed throughout with seductively beautiful explorations on the themes of love and time, and the play ends, not with laughter, but with a clown’s sad song.' Read more

As promised, Neo will go to Jamaica to help solve Antonique"s parents murder. What will he find? Can he handle Jamaica's most wanted bad men? Read more

She's a runaway bride.He's the father of the groom.Together they flee her Christmas Day wedding.Fitness studio owner Wynter Ravenhurst caught her fiancé cheating. Right before she walks down the aisle to say, ‘I do.’ He’s on her naughty list right along with her backstabbing maid of honor. Her best friend. Heartbroken, she makes a run for it. But bumps into her ex’s dad.Billionaire adult toy founder Nick Frost is a grump. He’s a Grinch towards everyone except his best friend’s daughter. So, when Nick finds Wynter crying in his arms, his protective side kicks in. Good old Saint Nick dashes them away in a Christmastime flurry.Only to awaken the next morning with a terrible hangover, aboard a festive honeymoon cruise and wearing a wedding band. But Nick Frost is too.He’s her ex-fiancé’s father.And she’s the forbidden holiday treat.Frostfully Yours is a dad’s best friend standalone novel with marriage of convenience. Read more

“[Our Town] leaves us with a sense of blessing, and the unspoken but palpable command to achieve gratitude in what remains of our days on earth.” — The New YorkerThornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of life in the mythical village of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire—an allegorical representation of all life—is an American classic. It is the simple story of a love affair that asks timeless questions about the meaning of love, life, and death.Our Town explores the relationship between two young neighbors, George Gibbs and Emily Webb, whose childhood friendship blossoms into romance, and then culminates in marriage. When Emily loses her life during childbirth, the circle of life portrayed in each of the three acts—childhood, adulthood, and death—is fully realized.Widely considered one of the greatest American plays of all time, Our Town debuted on Broadway in 1938 and continues to be performed daily on stages around the world. This special edition includes an afterword by Wilder's nephew, Tappan Wilder, with illuminating documentary material about the playwright and his most famous drama. Read more

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for DramaNominee for 3 Tony Awards including Best Play“Lynn Nottage’s best work. She offers a powerful critique of the American attitude toward class, and how it affects the decisions we make. Sweat has fraternity at its heart, but also the violence, and the suspicion that can result from class aspirations.” –Hilton Als, New YorkerLynn Nottage has written one of her most exquisitely devastating tragedies to date. In one of the poorest cities in America, Reading, Pennsylvania, a group of down-and-out factory workers struggle to keep their present lives in balance, ignorant of the financial devastation looming in their near future. Based on Nottage’s extensive research and interviews with residents of Reading, Sweat is a topical reflection of the present and poignant outcome of America’s economic decline.Lynn Nottage is the recipient of two Pulitzer Prize Awards for Drama for Sweat and Ruined. She is the first woman playwright to be honored twice. Her other plays include Intimate Apparel; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; and Las Meninas. Read more

I set my new apartment on fire. Good thing the grumpy silver fox next door is a fireman.A fallen candle had my place in flames and my life truly in danger.Like a hero, this silver fox charged in and saved me with his strong arms and muscular chest.I had been on his bad side due to several mishaps, but the offer to stay with him until my apartment is repaired was made irresistible by those piercing blue eyes.Then I walked in on him naked, fresh out of the shower.I was already attracted to his rugged good looks and now I’m beginning to see the great guy behind the grouchy exterior.We finally crossed that line and I’m wondering if this is a mistake.The closer we become, I realize I know nothing about him.When he finally tells me about his family,I see why he has closed himself off.I’m falling for this man and now I must help him confront his past if I want to be in his future. Read more

Cassandra Reynolds can see a red flag from a mile away.In fact, it’s her job. A favor for a friend in college who was afraid she’d been catfished soon turned into a full-blown business. Now, as the owner of The Ex Files, a matchmaking service based Ocean View, she dates men nearly every day of the week in order to vet them, assuring the matches she makes are perfectly informed and free of heartache.With her job comes pitfalls, though: every man she meets is hiding something, trying to impress, and not showing his true colors. It’s just not worth the emotional stress to even try anymore. But when she has to attend her father’s wedding, the man who once lived his own double life, she realizes after years of matchmaking, she has no date of her own to bring to the event.His sisters want him to have the happily-ever-after their parents do.When mechanic Luke Dawson helps a woman on the side of the road, he didn’t think it would be the matchmaker his sisters set him up with. But just one date is all it takes for him to decide that he’s not going for a match - he’s interested in the matchmaker herself.Now it’s his job to convince her to give him a shot without scaring her off. But try after try, he’s hitting obstacles in the form of the strict and uptight rules she’s crafted in order to protect herself.Can he get past her walls and make her see they’d be a perfect match if she let herself fall? Read more

None

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922. Following a move to the French Riviera, Fitzgerald completed a rough draft of the novel in 1924. He submitted it to editor Maxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. After making revisions, Fitzgerald was satisfied with the text, but remained ambivalent about the book's title and considered several alternatives. Painter Francis Cugat's cover art greatly impressed Fitzgerald, and he incorporated its imagery into the novel. Read more