Irwin Shaw was a prolific American playwright and novelist whose works frequently explored themes of war, social injustice, and human resilience. He masterfully wove his early experiences from World War II into novels that became global bestsellers. His style was characterized by a raw realism and an ability to craft complex characters grappling with internal and external conflicts. Shaw captured the spirit of his time, and his writing continues to resonate with readers seeking powerful stories about the human condition.
Wesley, haunted by his father's murder, begins a strange and deeply personal quest; Billy becomes involved with a girl who leads him into unexpected dangers; Gretchen finds new challenges and experiences a remarkable twist to her life. Moving between Europe and America, "Beggarman, Thief" is a brilliant novel chronicling the fortunes of one family - the joys, sorrows, successes and failures. This is not only the gripping sequel to Irwin Shaw's bestselling "Rich Man, Poor Man", but also an outstanding novel in its own right.
In this lively anthology of 21 stories and one classic poem about football, fathers and sons tackle their issues, coaches and quarterbacks collide, and ordinary heroes emerge from the blitz.
The Young Lions is a vivid and classic novel that portrays the experiences of ordinary soldiers fighting World War II. Told from the points of view of a perceptive young Nazi, a jaded American film producer, and a shy Jewish boy just married to the love of his life, Shaw conveys, as no other novelist has since, the scope, confusion, and complexity of war.
Rich Man, Poor Man is the story of two brothers whose contrasting natures reflect the turmoil of post-war America. Rudy is the rich man - a romantic who would let no one stand between him and success. Tom is the poor man - the black sheep of the family on the run from his violent past.
The Stands are a self-reliant family in New York City. Far from wealthy they are still reasonably content with their life until one night when their teenage daughter helps a wealthy and lonely Wall Street lawyer. Out of gratitude the lawyer showers the family with gifts and money. The Strands find their lives altered and not necessarily for the best.
One of Irwin Shaw's most unforgettable heroes battles to resurrect his declining career against a tough cast of women, whiskey, and old memories Jesse Crain was made for Cannes. A middle-aged filmmaker who dazzled audiences during Hollywood's Golden Age, Crain is talented, worldly, ambitious, and he knows how to play the game. As the Riviera sparkles in the spring of 1970, Crain juggles industry players while charming a persistent young journalist and fending off groupies. Beneath his polished exterior, though, Crain's life is coming apart at the seams. His last two films flopped, and for several years he's been adrift. Now desperate to reignite his career, a hit at any price feels like his only salvation. "Evening in Byzantium" is a masterwork that brilliantly documents a man's precipitous slide--along with that of his industry--from independence toward cynical mediocrity. It is a timeless story of a determined character grappling with the nature of success and power. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Irwin Shaw including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author's estate.
Michael Storr's joy comes from physical danger as a parachutist, a surfer, a hang glider, a free faller, a reckless skier. Oppressed by his life in New York City, he feels choked by his career as an executive in a high powered office as an executive in a high powered office, choked by the airless world of air conditioned towers. His own sanity depends on his finding a purer, simpler, more vigorous existence, and he sets out to search for one, even though he loses his wife in the process. He finds the physical excitement he craves but along with it developments he has not contempated. For some of the personal relationships in which he becomes entangled prove as threatening as the most dangerous of his sports.
A dead man’s briefcase presents a down-on-his-luck pilot with the chance of a lifetime. Pilot Douglas Grimes’s best days are long behind him. Grounded due to a medical condition, Douglas has resigned himself to menial work as a desk clerk at a seedy hotel. But his fortune flips when he discovers a hotel guest dead from a heart attack and, next to him, a tube jammed with hundred-dollar bills. Douglas grabs the money and, with it, the chance to remake his life. In Europe, he meets Miles Fabian, an elegant and erudite con man with a flair for extravagance. Fabian recruits him for his latest ploy: robbing members of the idle rich. But what will happen when his bad behavior catches up with him?
