Lawrence Goldstone Books In Order

Novels

  1. Rights (1992)
  2. Off-Line (1998)
  3. The Anatomy of Deception (2008)
  4. The Astronomer (2010)
  5. Murtro’s Niche (2014)
  6. Deadly Cure (2017)
  7. Assassin of Shadows (2019)

Non fiction

  1. Used and Rare (1997)
  2. Slightly Chipped (1999)
  3. Warmly Inscribed (2001)
  4. Out of the Flames (2002)
  5. The Friar and the Cipher (2005)
  6. Deconstructing Penguins (2005)
  7. Dark Bargain (2005)
  8. The Activist (2008)
  9. Inherently Unequal (2011)
  10. Lefty (2012)
  11. Birdmen (2014)
  12. Drive! (2016)
  13. Higher, Steeper, Faster (2017)
  14. Going Deep (2017)
  15. Unpunished Murder (2018)
  16. Stolen Justice (2020)
  17. On Account of Race (2020)
  18. Separate No More (2021)
  19. Days of Infamy (2022)

Novels Book Covers

Non fiction Book Covers

Lawrence Goldstone Books Overview

Off-Line

The year is 2020. Glynnis Rodman, brilliant and beautiful, a senior executive at MicroLink, one of the country’s most powerful cyber companies, has been found dead in her apartment after an S&M encounter with a stranger. Veteran senior investigator Phil Gagliardi Jr., forty two, bored, and recently divorced, is called to the scene. Computer analysis determines the cause of death to be cardiac arrest induced by an overdose of an illegal, org*asm enhancing drug. Records prove that the drug had been supplied by the partner. The case seems to be open and shut, but Phil cannot get the image of the dead woman out of his mind. Despite skepticism within the department and pressure from higher ups, he decides to investigate on his own. Phil soon learns that in the twenty first century investigating a crime is not so easy. In a society where ColorMatch selects the contents of a clothes closet, ArtTech chooses wall decor, and an AccuStove prepares dinner, criminal analysis has been entirely entrusted to microchips. For the first time in years, Phil must solve a crime without help from machines, a skill that he has almost forgotten.

The Anatomy of Deception

A mesmerizing forensic thriller that thrusts the reader into the operating rooms, drawing rooms, and back alleys of 1889 Philadelphia, as a young doctor grapples with the principles of scientific process to track a daring killerIn the morgue of a Philadelphia hospital, a group of physicians open a coffin and uncover the corpse of a beautiful young woman. What they see takes their breath away. Within days, one of them strongly suspects that he knows the woman’s identity and the horrifying events that led to her death. But in this richly atmospheric novel an ingenious blend of history, suspense and early forensic science the most compelling chapter is yet to come, as young Ephraim Carroll is plunged into a maze of murder, secrets and unimaginable crimes…
. Dr. Ephraim Carroll came to Philadelphia to study with a leading professor, the brilliant William Osler, believing that he would gain the power to save countless lives. As America hurtles toward a new century, medicine is changing rapidly, in part due to the legalization of autopsy a crime only a few years before. But Carroll and his mentor are at odds over what they glimpsed that morning in the hospital s Dead House. And when a second mysterious death is determined to have been a ruthless murder, Carroll can feel the darkness gathering around him and he ignites an investigation of his own. Soon he is moving between the realm of elite medicine, Philadelphia high society, and a teeming badlands of criminality and sexual depravity along the city s fetid waterfront. With a wealthy, seductive woman clouding his vision, the controversial artist Thomas Eakins sowing scandal, and the secrets of the nation s powerful surgeons unraveling around him, Carroll is forced to confront an agonizing moral choice between exposing a killer, undoing a wrong, and, quite possibly, protecting the future of medicine itself .

The Astronomer

1534, Paris. A student at the Catholic Coll ge de Montaigu, serving as a courier for the Inquisition, is murdered by members of an extreme Lutheran sect for the packet of letters he is carrying. His friend and fellow classmate Amaury de Faverges the illegitimate son of the Duke of Savoy and an expert in astronomy and natural science is recruited as his replacement and promised a decree of legitimacy if he can uncover the secret that threatens to overturn Catholicism and the reign of Fran ois I. Working undercover, Amaury journeys south to the liberal court of the king’s sister, Marguerite of Navarre, the alleged heart of the conspiracy. The deeper he probes, the more Amaury is forced to confront his own religious doubts; and when he discovers a copy of Copernicus’s shocking manuscript showing the sun at the center of the universe, he knows the path he must follow. Replete with characters and events from history from the iconoclastic Rabelais to the burning of heretics in Paris to preacher John Calvin and Copernicus himself The Astronomer is a powerful novel of love and betrayal, and a thrilling portrait of what might well have happened at a hinge point in history when science and ancient religious belief collided.

Used and Rare

Journey into the world of book collecting with the Goldstones rediscover the joy of reading, laugh, and fall in love with books all over again. The idea that books had stories associated with them that had nothing to do with the stories inside them was new to us. We had always valued the history, the world of ideas contained between the covers of a book or, as in the case of The Night Visitor, some special personal significance. Now, for the first time, we began to appreciate that there was a history and a world of ideas embodied by the books themselves.

Slightly Chipped

More than a sequel, Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore is a companion piece for Used and Rare. Slightly Chipped details the warm and witty story of Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone’s further explorations into the curious world of books. In Slightly Chipped, the Goldstones get hooked on the writings, correspondence and couplings of the Bloomsbury group; they track down Bram Stoker’s earliest notes for Dracula; they put in a bid at a glamorous Sotheby’s auction; they try out book collecting on the Internet; and they are introduced to hyper moderns. Slightly Chipped is filled with the same anecdotes, esoterica and fun facts about the world of book collecting that so charmed readers of Used and Rare. The Goldstones have discovered new places to buy rare tomes and new eccentric personalities along the way, all presented in a style that Kirkus Reviews has called ‘evocative, compassionate and frequently hilarious.’

Warmly Inscribed

The authors of two previous well received volumes on book collecting now regale their many fans with fascinating facts and fables about famous libraries and infamous forgers. ‘The Goldstones, a husband and wife book book collecting/writing team, follow two previous memoirs about their occupational adventures with this entertaining offering…
The Goldstones writes with flair and humor…
an undemanding and fun read for bibliophiles, whether antiquarian collectors or not.’ Publishers Weekly on Warmly Inscribed.

Out of the Flames

Michael Servetus is one of those hidden figureheads of history who is remembered not for his name, but for the revolutionary deeds that stand in his place. Both a scientist and a freethinking theologian, Servetus is credited with the discovery of pulmonary circulation in the human body as well as the authorship of a polemical masterpiece that cost him his life. The Chrisitianismi Restituto, a heretical work of biblical scholarship, written in 1553, aimed to refute the orthodox Christianity that Servetus’ old colleague, John Calvin, supported. After the book spread through the ranks of Protestant hierarchy, Servetus was tried and agonizingly burned at the stake, the last known copy of the Restitutio chained to his leg. Servetus’s execution is significant because it marked a turning point in the quest for freedom of expression, due largely to the development of the printing press and the proliferation of books in Renaissance Europe. Three copies of the Restitutio managed to survive the burning, despite every effort on the part of his enemies to destroy them. As a result, the book became almost a surrogate for its author, going into hiding and relying on covert distribution until it could be read freely, centuries later. Out of the Flames tracks the history of this special work, examining Servetus’s life and times and the politics of the first information during the sixteenth century. Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone follow the clandestine journey of the three copies through the subsequent centuries and explore its author’s legacy and influence over the thinkers that shared his spirit and genius, such as Leibniz, Voltaire, Rousseau, Jefferson, Clarence Dorrow, and William Osler. Out of the Flames is an extraordinary story providing testament to the power of ideas, the enduring legacy of books, and the triumph of individual courage. From the Hardcover edition.

The Friar and the Cipher

A compulsively readable account of the most mysterious manuscript in the world, one that has stumped the world’s greatest scholars and codebreakers. The Voynich Manuscript, a mysterious tome discovered in 1912 by the English book dealer Wilfrid Michael Voynich, has puzzled scholars for a century. A small six inches by nine inches, but over two hundred pages long, with odd illustrations of plants, astrological diagrams, and naked women, it is written in so indecipherable a language and contains so complicated a code that mathematicians, book collectors, linguists, and historians alike have yet to solve the mysteries contained within. However, in The Friar and the Cipher, the acclaimed bibliophiles and historians Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone describe, in fascinating detail, the theory that Roger Bacon, the noted thirteenth century, pre Copernican astronomer, was its author and that the perplexing alphabet was written in his hand. Along the way, they explain the many proposed solutions that scholars have put forth and the myriad attempts at labeling the manuscript’s content, from Latin or Greek shorthand to Arabic numerals to ancient Ukrainian to a recipe for the elixir of life to good old fashioned gibberish. As we journey across centuries, languages, and countries, we meet a cast of impassioned characters and case crackers, including, of course, Bacon, whose own personal scientific contributions, Voynich author or not, were literally and figuratively astronomical. The Friar and the Cipher is a wonderfully entertaining and historically wide ranging book that is one part The Code Book, one part Possession, and one part The Da Vinci Code and will appeal to bibliophiles and laypeople alike.

Deconstructing Penguins

Books are like puzzles, write Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. The author’s ideas are hidden, and it is up to all of us to figure them out. In this indispensable reading companion, the Goldstones noted parent child book club experts encourage grownups and young readers alike to adopt an approach that will unlock the magic and power of reading. With the Goldstones help, parents can inspire kids lifelong love of reading by teaching them how to unlock a book s hidden meaning. Featuring fun and incisive discussions of numerous children s classics, this dynamic guide highlights key elements theme, setting, character, point of view, climax, and conflict and paves the way for meaningful conversations between parents and children. Best of all, the Goldstones note, you don t need an advanced degree in English literature or forty hours a week of free time to effectively discuss a book with your child. This isn t Crime and Punishment, it s Charlotte s Web.

Dark Bargain

An eye opening examination of America’s foundation On September 17, 1787, at the State House in Philadelphia, thirty nine men from twelve states, after months of often bitter debate, signed America’s Constitution. Yet very few of the delegates, at the start, had had any intention of creating a nation that would last. Most were driven more by pragmatic, regional interests than by idealistic vision. Many were meeting for the first time, others after years of contention, and the inevitable clash of personalities would be as intense as the advocacy of ideas or ideals. No issue was of greater concern to the delegates than that of slavery: it resounded through debates on the definition of treason, the disposition of the rich lands west of the Alleghenies and the admission of new states, representation and taxation, the need for a national census, and the very make up of the legislative and executive branches of the new government. As Lawrence Goldstone provocatively makes clear in Dark Bargain, ‘to a significant and disquieting degree, America s most sacred document was molded and shaped by the most notorious institution in its history.’Goldstone chronicles the forging of the Constitution through the prism of the crucial compromises made by men consumed with the needs of the slave economy. As the daily debates and backroom conferences in inns and taverns stretched through July and August of that hot summer and as the philosophical leadership of James Madison waned Goldstone clearly reveals how tenuous the document was, and how an agreement between unlikely collaborators John Rutledge of South Carolina, and Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut got the delegates past their most difficult point. Dark Bargain recounts an event as dramatic and compelling as any in our nation s history.

The Activist

The story of the landmark case that put the Supreme in Supreme Court. Among the many momentous decisions rendered by the Supreme Court, none has had a greater impact than that passed down in 1803 by Chief Justice John Marshall in the case of Marbury v. Madison. While the ruling itself was innocuous denying the plea of a minor functionary named William Marbury on constitutionally technical grounds its implications were enormous. For Marshall had, in essence, claimed for the Supreme Court the right to determine what the Constitution and our laws under it really mean, known formally as the principle of judicial review. Yet, as Lawrence Goldstone shows in his compelling narrative, that right is nowhere expressed in the Constitution and was not even considered by the Framers or the Founding Fathers, who would never have granted such power in a checks and balances system to unelected officials serving for life. The Activist underscores the drama that occurred in 1803 by examining the debates that took place during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 among the most dramatic moments in American history over the formation and structure of our judicial system. In parallel, Goldstone introduces in brief the life and ambition of John Marshall, and the early, fragile years of the Supreme Court, which until Marshall’s ascension to Chief Justice sat atop the weakest of the three branches of government. Marshall made the Court supreme, and while judicial review has been used sparingly, without it the Court would likely never have intervened in the 2000 presidential election. Indeed, the great irony Goldstone reveals is that judicial review is now so enfranchised that Justice Antonin Scalia could admit, as he has, that the Supreme Court made it up in the same breath as he insists that justices must adhere steadfastly to the exact words of the Constitution. Nobody brings the debates of the Constitutional Convention to life as does Lawrence Goldstone, and in this election year, no more interesting book on the Supreme Court will appear than The Activist, which makes the past come alive in the present.

Inherently Unequal

A potent and original examination of how the Supreme Court subverted justice and empowered the Jim Crow era. In the following years following the Civil War, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery; the 14th conferred citizenship and equal protection under the law to white and black; and the 15th gave black American males the right to vote. In 1875, the most comprehensive civil rights legislation in the nation’s history granted all Americans ‘the full and equal enjoyment’ of public accomodations. Just eight years later, the Supreme Court, by an 8 1 vote, overturned the Civil Rights Act as unconstitutional and, in the process, disemboweled the equal protection provisions of the 14th Amendment. Using court records and accounts of the period, Lawrence Goldstone chronicles how ‘by the dawn of the 20th century the U.S. had become the nation of Jim Crow laws, quasi slavery, and precisely the same two tiered system of justice that had existed in the slave era.’The very human story of how and why this happened make Inherently Unequal as important as it is provocative. Examining both celebrated decisions like Plessy v. Ferguson and those often overlooked, Goldstone demonstrates how the Supreme Court turned a blind eye to the obvious reality of racism, defending instead the business establishment and status quo thereby legalizing the brutal prejudice that came to definite the Jim Crow era.

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