Undergraduate textbooks for statistics courses in the behavioral, biological, and social sciences must devote so much space to the nuts-and-bolts details of statistical methods that they have little left over for the larger conceptual framework of probability theory. This brief, lucid book fills the gap with its intelligible and in-depth explanation of probability, laid out step-by-step in a clear and congenial fashion. Even the student with little background in mathematics will find it readable and accessible.

GOLD MEDAL FOR NON-FICTION, HISTORY, 2010, MILITARY WRITERS SOCIETY OF AMERICA Fallujah. Few names conjure up as many images of blood, sacrifice, and valor as does this ancient city in Al Anbar province forty miles west of Baghdad. This sprawling concrete jungle was the scene of two major U.S. combat operations in 2004. The first was Operation Vigilant Resolve, an aborted effort that April by U.S. Marines intent on punishing the city's insurgents. The second, Operation Phantom Fury, was launched seven months later. Richard Lowry's 'New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah' is the first...

A new angle on Lincoln and his legacy, exploring the rich and suggestive dialogue between art, image, and politics at the time of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was one of the most photographed figures of his century. Richard Lowry explores Lincoln's association with Alexander Gardner, the man who would create the most memorable and ultimately iconic images of the president, both in his studio and on the battlefields of the Civil War. Lowry's book is an accessible and lively narrative of this symbiotic relationship and an examination of the emerging role of the media at a moment of national...