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In modern-day Havana, the remnants of the glamorous past are everywhere—the old hotel-casinos, vintage American cars, and flickering neon signs speak of a bygone era that is widely familiar and often romanticized, but little understood In Havana Nocturne, T. J. English offers a riveting, multifaceted true tale of organized crime, political corruption, roaring nightlife, revolution, and international conflict that interweaves the dual stories of the Mob in Havana and the event that would overshadow it, the Cuban Revolution.

As the Cuban people labored under a violently repressive regime throughout the 1950s, Mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano turned their eye to Havana. To them, Cuba was the ultimate dream, the greatest hope for the future of the American Mob in the post-Prohibition years of intensified government crackdowns. But when it came time to make their move, it was Lansky, the brilliant Jewish mobster, who reigned supreme. Having cultivated strong ties with the Cuban government and in particular the brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista, Lansky brought key mobsters to Havana to put his ambitious business plans in motion.

Before long, the Mob, with Batista's corrupt government in its pocket, owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos in Havana, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, the world's biggest celebrities, the most beautiful women, and gambling galore. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead the country's disenfranchised to overthrow their corrupt government and its foreign partners—an epic cultural battle that English captures in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory.

Bringing together long-buried historical information with English's own research in Havana—including interviews with the era's key survivors—Havana Nocturne takes readers back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders. English deftly weaves together the parallel stories of the Havana Mob—featuring notorious criminals such as Santo Trafficante Jr. and Albert Anastasia—and Castro's 26th of July Movement in a riveting, up-close look at how the Mob nearly attained its biggest dream in Havana—and how Fidel Castro trumped it all with the Cuban Revolution.

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He is one of the world's most accomplished figures of modern finance As chairman and chief executive officer of Citigroup, Sanford "Sandy" Weill has become an American legend, a banking visionary whose innovativeness, opportunism, and even fear drove him from the lowliest jobs on Wall Street to its most commanding heights. In this unprecedented biography, acclaimed Wall Street Journal reporter Monica Langley provides a compelling account of Weill's rise to power. What emerges is a portrait of a man who is as vital and as volatile as the market itself.

Tearing Down the Walls tells the riveting inside story of how a Jewish boy from Brooklyn's back alleys overcame incredible odds and deep-seated prejudices to transform the financial-services industry as we know it today.

Using nearly five hundred firsthand interviews with key players in Weill's life and career -- including Weill himself -- Langley brilliantly chronicles not only his success and scandals but also the shadows of his hidden self: his father's abandonment and his loving marriage; his tyrannical rages as well as his tearful regrets; his fierce sense of loyalty and his ruthless elimination of potential rivals. By highlighting in new and startling detail one man's life in a narrative as richly textured and compelling as a novel, Tearing Down the Walls provides the historical context of the dramatic changes not only in business but also in American society in the last half century.

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If you were a military general on the march, you'd want your troops to have plenty of maps--detailed information about the mission they were on, the roads they would travel, the campaigns they would undertake, and the weapons at their disposal The same holds true in business: a workforce needs clear and detailed information to execute a business strategy successfully. Authors Robert Kaplan and David Norton, cocreators of the balanced scorecard, have adapted that seminal tool to create strategy maps. Strategy maps let an organization describe and illustrate--in clear and general language--its objectives, initiatives, targets markets, performance measures, and the links between all the pieces of its strategy. Using Mobil North American Marketing and Refining Company as an example, Kaplan and Norton walk through the creation of a strategy map and its four distinct regions--financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth--which correspond to the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard. The authors show how the Mobil division used the map to transform itself from a centrally controlled manufacturer of commodity products to a decentralized, customer-driven organization..
Price: $6.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Everybody has dreams. They're part of what makes us uniquely us. But not everybody knows how to make their dreams come true.

Let best-selling author and leadership expert John Maxwell guide you through proven ways to bring your dreams to life. Under his instruction and encouragement, you'll discover ways to maximize your gifts to really make a difference and succeed in your personal dreams.

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Price: $5.43 [Notify me when price goes down.]

MILLIONS OF READERS HAVE PROVED THAT THE MAGIC OF BELIEVING WORKS WONDERS!

For more than four decades success-oriented Americans have turned to the no-nonsense, time-tested motivational techniques described in The Magic of Believing to achieve all their long- and short-term goals: a better job, an increased income, a happier marriage, or simply a good night's sleep. Now it's your turn to put Claude M. Bristol's special "magic" into your life and into action!

His tough-minded, hard-hitting message speaks directly to You. It has yielded proven results for forty years and remains as fresh and focused as ever. Learn how to:

* Harness the unlimited power of the subconscious mind and make your dreams come true

* Protect your thoughts and turn them into achievements

* Use "the law of suggestion" to step up your effectiveness in everything you do

* Apply the power of your imagination to overcome obstacles

* And much more!

If you seek to become more assertive in business, more fulfilled at home, more influential in your dealings with others -- you can believe in MAGIC!

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Price: $3.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book is an inspirational, comical, and honest look at the dating scene through the eyes of a Christian woman who is trying to live up to God’s standards in today’s society..
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A sell out in Hardcover, It Is Beautiful...then Gone presents the celebrated graphic design work of Martin Venezky. This unconventional monograph includes both influential commercial works for the Sundance Film Festival, Reebok, and Speak and Open magazines among others. It also features new graphic work created for the book by this champion of the handmade and the unexpected.

'With essays, notebook entries, photographs, and Venezky's enormous collection of ephemera, it is a fresh take on a designer's work and mindset. It is not just a history of his work, but a look into his thought process in design and in life.'—Step Inside Design

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Price: $11.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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