David Baldacci

"When two wealthy white landowners are found dead, the whole country immediately thinks it must be Jerome Washington, the hired help, who killed them. He was standing over the bodies when the police responded to an anonymous call and the only one on the property at the time of death. As far as the state is concerned, it's an open and shut case. Jack Lee, born and raised in Freeman County, knows that every man deserves a solid defense and agrees to...

A bomb detonates in the White House immediately after the British Prime Minister departs from the State Dinner. Oliver Stone, who witnesses the event, believes the Prime Minister and the President were the targets of a terrorist plot. MI-5 agent Mary Chapman is assigned to assist the Stone and his Camel Club with the investigation, which reveals that the bombing may have actually been botched and is part of a darker, deadlier conspiracy.

It exists at the fringes of Washington, D.C., has no power, and consists solely of four eccentric and downtrodden members whom society has forgotten. Their simple goal is to find the "truth" behind their country's actions.

An unprecedented collective features pairings by 23 best-selling and critically acclaimed suspense writers, including John Sandford, F. Paul Wilson and R. L. Stine, who in short high-action stories pit their most popular characters against one another.

Boom turns to bust when the stock market crashes. The Great Depression and the dust bowl blanket the nation in darkness. Roosevelt's New Deal signals recovery.

The Civil War rages. The formidable Confederate army cannot match the Union's mastery of technology; railroads, supply lines and the telegram become new weapons in a modern war.

The attack on Pearl Harbor brings America into World War. The war effort revitalizes the nation's economy. American innovation and manufacturing might invigorate the Allies in Europe and in the Pacific.

Americans conquer a new frontier: the modern city, with Carnegie's empire of steel as its backbone. Skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty are symbols of the American Dream for millions of immigrants.