Most Popular Books by John Hart

Looks at the Mexican Revolution against the background of world history, discusses the causes of the revolt, and compares it with those in Iran, Russia, and China.

John Hart creates a literary thriller that is as suspenseful as it is poignant, a riveting murder mystery layered beneath the southern drawl of a humble North Carolina lawyer. When Work Pickens finds his father murdered, the investigation pushes a repressed family history to the surface and he sees his own carefully constructed façade begin to crack. Work''s troubled sister, her combative girlfriend, his gold digging socialite wife, and an unrequited lifelong love join a cast of small town characters that create no shortage of drama in this extraordinary, fast-paced suspense novel. Hart''s mastery of prose and plot belie his newcomer status as he explores the true heart of a man. An illuminating anatomy of a murder and the ripple effect it produces within a family and a community, The King of Lies is a stunning debut. Now with an excerpt from John Hart''s next book The Hush, available February 2018.

Fresh off the success of his Edgar Award-winning, "New York Times" bestseller "Down River," Hart returns with the story of a young boy''s hunt for his missing sister, and the dark truths he uncovers in his North Carolina hometown.

On September 13, 2012, Point Reyes National Seashore near San Francisco turned fifty. Mixing wilderness, history, and agriculture, Point Reyes is a hybrid park unlike any other in America. An Island in Time traces the triumph of its creation, the rescue effort that saved it from early abandonment, and its frequent identity crises since. Sixty images by regional photographers make it clear why people care. Celebrating what has been accomplished in half a century at Point Reyes, Hart takes a clear-eyed look at the several (and ongoing) arguments about what this remarkable piece of land should ultimately be. The nationally noted debate about the fate of a historic oyster farm within the park takes its place as the latest in a series of struggles to define the terms. In 1962, Harold Gilliam''s classic book Island in Time: The Point Reyes Peninsula helped complete the drive to create the National Seashore. In 2012, An Island in Time: 50 Years of Point Reyes National Seashore tells the rest of the story-and illuminates the choices now at hand.

First published in 1981 and now with a new preface by the renowned scholar Jeffrey Weeks, The Theory and Practice of Homosexuality discusses the way people who are homosexuals see themselves and are seen by others. It provides a conceptual framework to account for the development and maintenance of a homosexual identity in a politico-cultural context, with a minimizing of psychological and social pathology. The book is divided into three sections. Part one considers the major theoretical models relating to homosexuality. Part two explores identities and lifestyles, and part three presents the practical problems confronting homosexuals. A comprehensive and bold study, this volume will be a valuable read for students and researchers of sociology and LGBTQ+ studies.

This powerfully argued appraisal of judicial review may change the face of American law. Written for layman and scholar alike, the book addresses one of the most important issues facing Americans today: within what guidelines shall the Supreme Court apply the strictures of the Constitution to the complexities of modern life? Until now legal experts have proposed two basic approaches to the Constitution. The first, “interpretivism,” maintains that we should stick as closely as possible to what is explicit in the document itself. The second, predominant in recent academic theorizing, argues that the courts should be guided by what they see as the fundamental values of American society. John Hart Ely demonstrates that both of these approaches are inherently incomplete and inadequate. Democracy and Distrust sets forth a new and persuasive basis for determining the role of the Supreme Court today. Ely’s proposal is centered on the view that the Court should devote itself to assuring majority governance while protecting minority rights. “The Constitution,” he writes, “has proceeded from the sensible assumption that an effective majority will not unreasonably threaten its own rights, and has sought to assure that such a majority not systematically treat others less well than it treats itself. It has done so by structuring decision processes at all levels in an attempt to ensure, first, that everyone’s interests will be represented when decisions are made, and second, that the application of those decisions will not be manipulated so as to reintroduce in practice the sort of discrimination that is impermissible in theory.” Thus, Ely’s emphasis is on the procedural side of due process, on the preservation of governmental structure rather than on the recognition of elusive social values. At the same time, his approach is free of interpretivism’s rigidity because it is fully responsive to the changing wishes of a popular majority. Consequently, his book will have a profound impact on legal opinion at all levels—from experts in constitutional law, to lawyers with general practices, to concerned citizens watching the bewildering changes in American law.

Down River is the winner of the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Everything that shaped him happened near that river…. Now its banks are filled with lies and greed, shame, and murder…. John Hart’s debut, The King of Lies, was compelling and lyrical, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times declaring, “There hasn’t been a thriller as showily literate since Scott Turow came along.” Now, in Down River, Hart makes a scorching return to Rowan County, where he drives his characters to the edge, explores the dark side of human nature, and questions the fundamental power of forgiveness. Adam hase has a violent streak, and not without reason. As a boy, he saw things that no child should see, suffered wounds that cut to the core and scarred thin. The trauma left him passionate and misunderstood---a fighter. After being narrowly acquitted of a murder charge, Adam is hounded out of the only home he’s ever known, exiled for a sin he did not commit. For five long years he disappears, fades into the faceless gray of New York City. Now he’s back and nobody knows why, not his family or the cops, not the enemies he left behind. But Adam has his reasons. Within hours of his return, he is beaten and accosted, confronted by his family and the women he still holds dear. No one knows what to make of Adam’s return, but when bodies start turning up, the small town rises against him and Adam again finds himself embroiled in the fight of his life, not just to prove his own innocence, but to reclaim the only life he’s ever wanted. Bestselling author John Hart holds nothing back as he strips his characters bare. Secrets explode, emotions tear, and more than one person crosses the brink into deadly behavior as he examines the lengths to which people will go for money, family, and revenge. A powerful, heart-pounding thriller, Down River will haunt your thoughts long after the last page is turned. Praise for John Hart and The King of Lies “Treat yourself to something new and truly out of the ordinary.” ---Rocky Mountain News “A top-notch debut. Hart’s prose is like Raymond Chandler’s, angular and hard.” --Entertainment Weekly (grade A) “A gripping performance.” ---People magazine “A marriage of carefully crafted prose alongside have-to-keep-reading suspense.” ---The Denver Post “A masterful piece of writing.” ---The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) “A gripping mystery/thriller and a fully fleshed, thoughtful work of literature.” ---Winston-Salem Journal “The King of Lies moves and reads like a book on fire.” ---Pat Conroy “John Hart’s debut . . . is that most engrossing of rarities, a well-plotted mystery novel that is written in a beautifully poetic style.” ---Mark Childress, author of Crazy in Alabama “Grisham-style intrigue and Turow-style brooding.” ---The New York Times

THE INSTANT BESTSELLER “We the unwilling, led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate, die for the ungrateful.” —Unknown Soldier Set in the South at the height of the Vietnam War, The Unwilling combines crime, suspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul in New York Times bestselling author John Hart''s singular style. Gibby''s older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and hard, a decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison. Jason won''t speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn''t known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women. But the day turns ugly when the four encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. Beautiful but drunk, one of the women taunts the prisoners, leading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the moment, but is savagely murdered soon after. Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason; but when the second woman is kidnapped, the police suspect Gibby, too. Determined to prove Jason innocent, Gibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother''s hidden life, a dark world of heroin, guns and outlaw motorcycle gangs. What he discovers there is a truth more disturbing than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra''s murder, but the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnam, the reason he was framed, and why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison. This is crime fiction at its most raw, an exploration of family and the past, of prison and war and the indelible marks they leave.

Imaginez : Un garçon, une arme à la main, attend l’homme qui a tué sa mère.Une inspectrice de police perturbée affronte son passé à la suite d’une fusillade meurtrière. Après treize ans de prison, celui qui fut un bon flic se retrouve libre tandis que, dans la forêt profonde, sur l’autel d’une église abandonnée, un corps refroidit enveloppé dans un drap blanc... C’est une ville au bord du gouffre. C’est le chemin de la rédemption. Débordant de tension, de secrets et de trahisons, Redemption road prouve encore une fois que John Hart est un maître de la littérature policière. Traduit de l’anglais par Laurence Kiefé

Set in the world of his most beloved novel The Last Child (“A magnificent creation” —The Washington Post), John Hart delivers a stunning vision of a secret world, rarely seen. "Hart evokes that surreal landscape with a power and economy worthy of the great British horror novelist Ramsey Campbell." —Washington Post New York Times bestseller It’s been ten years since the events that changed Johnny Merrimon’s life and rocked his hometown to the core. Since then, Johnny has fought to maintain his privacy, but books have been written of his exploits; the fascination remains. Living alone on six thousand acres of once-sacred land, Johnny’s only connection to normal life is his old friend, Jack. They’re not boys anymore, but the bonds remain. What they shared. What they lost. But Jack sees danger in the wild places Johnny calls home; he senses darkness and hunger, an intractable intent. Johnny will discuss none of it, but there are the things he knows, the things he can do. A lesser friend might accept such abilities as a gift, but Jack has felt what moves in the swamp: the cold of it, the unspeakable fear. More than an exploration of friendship, persistence, and forgotten power, The Hush leaves all categories behind, and cements Hart''s status as a writer of unique power.

Cosmic Commons explores terrestrial-extraterrestrial intelligent life Contact. It uses a thought experiment to consider the ecological-economic-ethical-ecclesial impacts of Contact, analyzing incidents around the world described by credible witnesses (two of whom are interviewed for the book), including Roswell and the Hudson River Valley. It discusses government and academic efforts to use ridicule and coercion to suppress Contact investigations, supports a scientific method to research ETI reports in a field that should excite scientists, and calls on academics to publicly disclose their Contact experiences. It traces Earth ecological and economic injustices to the European Enlightenment and the Discovery Doctrine by which European nations rationalized invasion of distant continents, genocide, and seizure of the territories and natural goods of native peoples. It advocates a change in humans'' Earth conduct to avoid replicating in space the policies and practices that wrought economic injustice and ecological devastation on Earth, provides an innovative cosmosociological praxis ethics theory and practice toward that end, and develops a Cosmic Charter, based on UN documents, to guide humankind in space and in ETI encounters. Permeated by a profound sense of the sacred, Cosmic Commons explores a positive relationship between religion and science as humankind ventures into space.

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Twenty years after the signing of the Paris Accords, the constitutional ambiguities of American involvement in the Vietnam War remain unresolved. John Hart Ely examines the overall constitutionality of America''s role in Vietnam; and shows that Congress authorized each new phase of American involvement without committing itself to the stated aims of intervention.

Reprint of the original.

A magnificent pictorial tribute to the San Francisco Bay and the Delta region, which together make one of the world''s great estuaries. This book celebrates the Bay''s beauty and its importance to the region, and inspires those who are helping restore and protect it.

"[A] rich, impressive contemporary thriller from [a] two-time Edgar-winner . . . deftly interweaves a complex family history . . . [with a] quest for vengeance." — Publishers Weekly, starred review He would go to hell . . . At the Iron Mountain Home for Boys, there was nothing but time. Time for two young orphans to learn that life isn''t won without a fight. Julian survives only because his older brother, Michael, is fearless and fiercely protective. When a boy is brutally killed, Michael flees the orphanage and takes the blame with him. . . . to keep her safe. For two decades, Michael has been an enforcer in New York''s world of organized crime. But the life he''s fought to build unravels when he meets Elena, a beautiful innocent who teaches him the meaning and power of love. He wants a fresh start with her, the chance to start a family like the one he and Julian never had. But escape is not that easy. . . . Go to hell, and come back burning! The mob family who gave Michael his second chance is now intent on making him pay for his betrayal. Determined to protect Elena, Michael spirits her back to North Carolina, to the place he was born and the brother he lost so long ago. There, he will encounter deceit and violence that leads inexorably to the place he''s been running from his whole life: Iron House. "A tour de force." —Vince Flynn, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Mitch Rapp thrillers "Outstanding." —Associated Press "Hart whips up an intoxicating brew." — Entertainment Weekly "An unforgettable novel from a master of popular fiction." — Booklist, starred review