Full AspenCat Catalog

Seabiscuit was an unlikely champion. He was a rough-hewn, undersized horse with a sad little tail and knees that wouldn't straighten all the way. At a gallop, he jabbed one foreleg sideways, as if he were swatting flies. For two years, he fought his trainers and floundered at the lowest level of racing, misunderstood and mishandled, before his dormant talent was discovered by three men. One was Red Pollard, a failed prizefighter and failing jockey...

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro...

In "Founding Mothers," Roberts tells the fascinating yet overlooked story of the women who helped create a new nation. While the men were debating the merits of revolution, these women were living it even as the Redcoats landed on their doorsteps.

A Detroit sportswriter conveys the wisdom and life lessons of his late mentor, professor Morrie Schwartz.

Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them.

"Out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times - the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. ... Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man's...

An account of GI's who fought in Europe during World War II. It captures the fear and exhilaration of combat, the hunger and cold and filth of foxholes, the intense world of the individual rifleman as well as the big picture of the European theater.

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared -- Lt. Louis Zamperini ... Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a floundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft and beyond, a trial even greater. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended...

In this companion book to the HBO series on the war in the Pacific, historian Hugh Ambrose focuses on five American soldiers who each took an active role in the difficult and costly--in terms of lives--campaign to reach the Japanese mainland. Ambrose recounts key battles--Guadalcanal, Midway, Okinawa, and the lesser-known Peleliu--and he provides a soldier's eye view of the events, conveying the great valor and sacrifices of those in uniform.

"A famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima--and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island's highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself,...