Hoping to get out of Russia and return to his adopted home in the U.S., Misha Vainberg, the obese son of a wealthy Russian, makes his way to Absurdsvani?, a small unstable country on the brink of civil war.

In the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And, the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The great Biblical flood so described in Genesis has long been a subject of fascination and speculation. In the 19th century the English archbishop James Ussher established it as having happened...

A brilliant narrative history tracing today's troubles back to grandiose imperial overreach of Great Britain and the United States.

"Join Sarit and Itamar on a journey filled with flavor and fire as they visit their favorite cities collecting recipes, stories, and the best of culinary culture along the way. Organized into five ingredient-led chapters (Fruit and Vegetables; Fish and Seafood; Chicken and Other Birds; Lamb, Beef and Pork; and Bread and other unmissables), it couldn't be easier to create a simple mouth-watering meal for two or a joyful feast for friends and family....

Something sinister is brewing. A chilling video has already cast its ominous spell over the White House situation room. Now scientists connected to the top-secret Sword of Allah project are dropping dead. Seeking to unravel the enigma, Scot Harvath reaches England just in time to rescue British paleopathologist Jillian Alcott from al-Qaeda's top assassin. This expert soon confirms Scott's worst fears--and triggers an adrenaline-fueled rush for survival....

"When New York Times foreign correspondent J.B. Collins hears rumors that an al-Qaeda splinter cell--ISIS--has captured a cache of chemical weapons inside Syria, Collins knows this is a story he must pursue at all costs. Does the commander of the jihadist faction really have the weapons? If so, who is the intended target? The U.S.? Israel? Or someone else? With tensions already high, the impending visit of the American president to the region could...