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Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

North America

• USA
• Canada

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  The Journals of Lewis and Clark

  Price: £11.99    Add to Basket

  The captivating journals of Lewis and Clark's unprecedented crossing of America, mapping unchartered territory, establishing claims to Idaho, Washington and Oregon and encounters with tribes and awe-inspiring landscape.

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  True Tales of American Life

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A wonderful collection of true stories sent in by the American public to Paul Auster as part of the National Story Project. Emotional and heartfelt anecdotes from real people.

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  Letter from America by Alistair Cooke

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  A selection of the best of Alistair Cooke's legendary Radio 4 broadcasts which, from 1946 until 2004, interpreted US events for the rest of the world. From JFK's assassination to OJ Simpson's trial verdict, from the San Francisco earthquake to the Vietnam War, together they paint a remarkable portrait of a nation.

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  The 9/11 Wars by Jason Burke

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  This is the definitive account of 9/11, written by a man who witnessed first-hand many of its key moments. At once investigation, reportage and contemporary history, it is based on hundreds of interviews with participants including desperate refugees and senior intelligence officials, ministers and foot-soldiers, active militants and their victims. Burke reveals the true nature of contemporary Islamic militancy and the inside story of the fight against it.

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  Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961 by Paul Hendrickson

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  The fishing boat that Hemingway used to trawl the Caribbean for blue-fin tuna during the last 27 years of his life was perhaps the only thing he ever loved purely in his lifetime. It saw him through three marriages, winning the Nobel Prize, alcoholism and a deeply ambivalent relationship with his son Gigi - a brilliant doctor and transvestite. In this profoundly beautiful biography, Hendrickson uses the motif of Hemingway's beloved boat to navigate the complexities of this volatile, conflicted man - his pleasures, weaknesses and insecurities.

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  O My America! by Sara Wheeler

  Price: £18.99    Add to Basket

  Sara Wheeler, returning to the United States after three decades, traces the lives of six women, who escaped various dangers and persecutions in the old world to start life anew in America. From Fanny Trollope (mother of Anthony)to Rebecca Burlend, a homesteader who had never travelled more than twelve miles from her Yorkshire village before packing for America, Wheeler leads us through the remarkable lives of some of the most fascinating pioneers to ever cross the Atlantic.

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  The Operators by Michael Hastings

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  Michael Hastings, a Rolling Stone journalist, accompanied General Stanley McChrystal across Europe in 2010, watching incredulously as they splurged money on frivolities and insulted the Obama administration they were allegedly subordinate to. His article got McChrystal fired, and in his new book, The Operators, Hastings continues the dark revelations about Allied military commanders on and off of the battlefield. Essential reading for anyone concerned about the state of military affairs today.

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  Pulphead: Dispatches from the Other Side of America by John Jeremiah Sullivan

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  In this wonderful collection of essays John Jeremiah Sullivan takes the reader on a bizarre cross country trip across America, navigating Christian rock concerts and former reality television stars, as well as meditating on darker matters, such as the gulf coast in the aftermath of Katrina. Though reminiscent of David Foster Wallace, Sullivan is more accessible than his predecessor. Often an essayist is trumped by their subject, but Sullivan’s talent is in engaging the uninitiated. He writes with a honed lucidity, approaches his subjects without condescension and can provoke embarrassing giggles on your morning commute. These are informative, funny and bizarre encounters that will make you want to hire an R.V. and head out onto the open road.

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  The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Already a bestseller in the US, director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick have turned their eyes to the dark side of American History. The conspiracies, the self-interest and the vaunted democratic ideals of the worlds only superpower come under their meticulous scrutiny. Strongly polemical in places, but so well-researched that it deserves the right, this is a must-read for anyone who wants to know the whole story of America in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

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  Ever the Diplomat by Sherard Cowper-Coles

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  Sherard Cowper-Coles last book, Cables from Kabul showed us a very different Afghan front line, that of the diplomats whose job it was to negotiate and explain Britain to the Afghans and Afghanistan to the Britons. Now, in Ever the Diplomat, Cowper-Coles takes us behind the doors of the Foreign Office to experience just what our diplomatic corps does to maintain and manage British interests around the world. From writing speeches for Thatcher to hiding an embarrassing bobble hat from Robin Cook, we are taken on a often humorous, always insightful journey through Whitehall and abroad, as the mandarins of the FCO respond to an ever shifting world.

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  Down the River by Edward Abbey

  Price: £12.00    Add to Basket

  A vitriolic collection of Edward Abbey's essays describing voyages through the wilderness of Southwest America and the harm being done to this astonishing landscape by modern development.

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  Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Western Wilderness by Stephen Ambrose

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  An evocative description of the challenges faced by the Lewis and Clark expedition as they steamed and rowed up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, while facing down aggressive Native American tribes, disciplining surly convicts conscripted to portage their boats across the Rockies to their triumphant arrival at the western mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific coast.

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  The Moronic Inferno by Martin Amis

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  A collection of essays and interviews from a Martin Amis both terrified and intrigued by America. He turns his witty and perceptive eye to the likes of Saul Bellow, Truman Capote, Kurt Vonnegut, Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan and Palm Beach.

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  The 9/11 Commission Report by National Commission on Terrorist Attacks

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  This lengthy report on the exhaustive investigation into the terrorist attacks of 2001 is a remarkably exciting read. The committee uncovers the intelligence failures that allowed the attacks to proceed, and describes, with intimate detail, the movements of the nineteen hijackers involved.

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  Foreskin's Lament by Shalom Auslander

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  A ferociously amusing and wildly controversial biography. Auslander describes growing up among a fundamental, Orthodox Jewish community in New York and his ongoing resentment towards it.

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  Deer Hunting with Jesus by Joe Bageant

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  Joe Bageant, a teacher and hippie who rebelled against his southern American origins, returns to Virginia to speak on behalf of the Red Necks. He doesn't mince his words, and this tirade at the fate of desperately poor Americans, "dumber than owl shit", who are exploited and manipulated by their own government, is fascinating, passionate and hilariously funny. Highly recommended.

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  Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

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  Part exquisite description of the Georgia coast and part true story of a murder amid old world Savannah society. Sinister, gothic and totally absorbing.

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  Do (Not) Feed the Bears by Alice Wondrak Biel

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  A sensitive yet amusing account of the history of Yellowstone National Park and the relationship between the wildlife and the tourists.

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  A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird

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  In 1873 the indefatigable Isabella Bird set out on a solo journey from San Francisco to the Rocky Mountains. An extraordinary tale of an extraordinary woman, written home in letters to her sister, which tell of her encounters with grizzly bears, pioneers and miners.

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  The Penguin History of Canada by Robert Bothwell

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  An approachable history to Canada through the eyes of the legislators and diplomats, it focuses specifically on political developments in Ontario, Quebec and Ottawa.

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  The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey by Douglas Brinkley

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  As a History professor at Hofstra University, the author took his class on a tour of historical sites across the country. This fluent and captivating travelogue is a thorough primer to American history and culture.

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  The Penguin History of the USA by Hugh Brogan

  Price: £14.99    Add to Basket

  A succinct, readable volume from the earliest colonisation up to the end of the Cold War. Highly recommended as an introduction to American history.

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  Social Animal by David Brooks

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  An enticing, entertaining explanation of how and why humans function. The author explores the unconscious mind and its influence on emotion, intuition, bias and longing.

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  The American West by Dee Brown

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  Dee Brown describes the birth of a nation through the lives of settlers, ranchers and Native Americans in the Old West. Illustrated by fascinating photographs, this history from the Civil War until the Sioux massacre at Wounded Knee is vivid and engaging.

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  Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Witty and observant, Bill Bryson returns to his homeland for this deconstruction of the American way of life and how it compares to Britain. This collection of essays were originally commissioned as articles for the Mail on Sunday.