Michael Hastings

At age 25, Michael Hastings arrived in Baghdad to cover the war in Iraq for Newsweek, with a little Hemingway romanticism and all the apparatus of a 21st-century reporter. He describes the chaos, the violence, the threats of bomb and mortar attacks, the front lines that can be anywhere. This is a new kind of war: private security companies follow their own rules or lack thereof; soldiers in combat get instant messages from their girlfriends and families....

The contributing editor of "Rolling Stone" whose uncensored article "The Runaway General" led to the resignation of General Stanley McChrystal provides a behind-the-scenes account of the United States' involvement in Afghanistan.

Christopher Newman is a 19th-century 'new man' who has amassed a fortune in California, and heads to Paris to learn its ways and find a wife. There he finds a young widow whose beauty ignites desire in the American.

The American: American Christopher Newman is smart, educated and rich. He is a Civil War veteran and a self made tycoon who goes to Europe to see the 'treasures and entertain' himself. He meets Claire and after the fifth meeting he asks her to marry him. The portrait of a lady: Isabel Archer is a beautiful, spirited American who is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett. It is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel is resolved to determine...