Best Selling Books by Russell Martin

The destruction of a town, and the creation of a masterpiece--On April 26, 1937, in the late afternoon of a busy market day in the Basque town of Gernika in northern Spain, the German Luftwaffe began the relentless bombing and machine-gunning of buildings and villagers at the request of General Francisco Franco and his rebel forces. Three-and-a-half hours later, the village lay in ruins, its population decimated. This act of terror and unspeakable cruelty--the first intentional, large-scale attack against a nonmilitary target in modern warfare--outraged the world and one man in particular, Pablo Picasso. The renowned artist, an expatriate living in Paris, reacted immediately to the devastation in his homeland by creating the canvas that would become widely considered one of the greatest artworks of the twentieth century--Guernica. Weaving themes of conflict and redemption, of the horrors of war and of the power of art to transfigure tragedy, Russell Martin follows this monumental work from its fevered creation through its journey across decades and continents--from Europe to America and, finally and triumphantly, to democratic Spain. Full of historical sweep and deeply moving drama, Picasso''s War delivers an unforgettable portrait of a painting, the dramatic events that led to its creation, and its ongoing power today.

Describes what is is like traveling and working in the space shuttle and looks at highlights of the space exploration program.

The basis for the movie of the same name, an astonishing tale of one lock of hair and its amazing travels--from nineteenth-century Vienna to twenty-first-century America. When Ludwig van Beethoven lay dying in 1827, a young musician named Ferdinand Hiller came to pay his respects to the great composer, snipping a lock of Beethoven''s hair as a keepsake--as was custom at the time--in the process. For a century, the lock of hair was a treasured Hiller family relic, until it somehow found its way to the town of Gilleleje, in Nazi-occupied Denmark. There, it was given to a local doctor, Kay Fremming, who was deeply involved in the effort to help save hundreds of hunted and frightened Jews. After Fremming''s death, his daughter assumed ownership of the lock, and eventually consigned it for sale at Sotheby''s, where two American Beethoven enthusiasts, Ira Brilliant and Che Guevara, purchased it in 1994. Subsequently, they and others instituted a series of complex forensic tests in the hope of finding the probable causes of the composer''s chronically bad health, his deafness, and the final demise that Ferdinand Hiller had witnessed all those years ago. The results, revealed for the first time here, are the most compelling explanation yet offered for why one of the foremost musicians the world has ever known was forced to spend much of his life in silence. In Beethoven''s Hair, Russell Martin has created a rich historical treasure hunt, a tale of false leads, amazing breakthroughs, and incredible revelations. This unique and fascinating book is a moving testament to the power of music, the lure of relics, the heroism of the Resistance movement, and the brilliance of molecular science.

Having just returned from a successful space shuttle mission, Jack Healy must now deal with problems on earth.

An inspiring book that follows this family''s journey as they struggle to restore an autistic son''s speech.

Introduces the life of the Austrian composer, along with the story of a lock of his hair cut by a barber after his death, which was kept by various owners and the analysis of which revealed the high level of lead present in the composer''s body.

On a bright afternoon in February 1910, thirteen-year-old Tommy Dumont witnesses the most stupendous event he has ever seen-the first flight of a powered airplane in Denver history. But only months later, this enterprising son of a wealthy banker is living on the city''s streets and alleys because his father is appalled by the epileptic seizures that have begun to regularly overtake him. Eventually looked after by both an Irish immigrant who earns her living as a prostitute and Denver''s renowned juvenile court Judge Ben Lindsey, Tommy survives by his bountiful wits and his determination to make something of his life despite his seizures until the judge make a life-changing request of him. Tommy is a remarkable character, and his story is one of courage and the meaning friendship, tragedy and redemption. "Martin is, first and foremost, a consummate storyteller," says Kirkus Reviews. Daily Bread is a novella that will capture your heart and linger in your memory.

One hot Colorado afternoon, physician-turned-archaeologist Sarah MacLeish unearths the skeleton of an Ancestral Puebloan girl with a deformed leg. Her efforts to understand something of the long-ago life of that girl confront her with the flaws in her own body, and in her marriage.

Jesus proclaimed God''s imminent universal kingdom. His Jewish followers were faithful to him. Paul misunderstood Jesus and subverted his message, but succeeded when the truth was accidentally lost in history.

Author Russell Martin follows a practicing Colorado neurologist into the frontier of brain science. Together, they provide an unforgettable picture of the brain and its diseases, a moving account of personal courage and a revealing look into the practice of modern medicine.

Closely based on the movie, this storybook highlights the adventures of two 14-year-old kids and their dolphin pal as they take on a hostile fishing industry. Packed with full-color photos from the film.

Problems after each chapter

The Essential Russell Martin is a collection of work by the internationally renowned writer that spans forty years. Collected here are three excerpts from novels and a novella, five articles, and excerpts from seven narrative nonfiction books-all of them published between the years 1983 and 2022. As he describes in the book''s introduction, Martin has written often over the years about the work people choose to do and how they go about it. He has written about people with disabilities a number of times and has been lured by the inspired work of artists-painters, musicians, writers-who have achieved monumental creative heights. Both Europe and the New World have captured his attention, and he has always been as interested in history as the present moment. He written about death repeatedly, and once wrote about the young men, most of them actually still boys, who forged a football team that had a transcendent season. When Colorado College awarded him an honorary doctorate, the citation read, in part, "Mr. Martin offers to general audiences precise and accurate, but highly readable, studies of extraordinarily complex issues. He does more: he sees beyond what is already known; he moves beyond synthesis to new insights. His work is disciplined, analytical, and creative. It is also profoundly humane." This is an important retrospective collection of some of the very finest work by one of America''s most celebrated writers.

Traces the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, describes the controversy surrounding its environmental impact, and discusses its impact on the West

Russell Martin, the best-selling author of ¿Beethoven¿s Hair,¿ weaves politics, history, art, & science into a stirring narrative of the monumental canvas that was to become the most important artwork of the 20th century. Pablo Picasso, enraged by Hitler¿s bombing of Guernica in northern Spain on April 26, 1937, responded to the devastation in his homeland by beginning work on ¿Guernica,¿ a painting that became his masterpiece & perhaps the most eloquent visual statement in opposition to war in history. Here, Martin follows ¿Guernica¿ across decades & continents, crafting a story of its impassioned creation & the struggle to find hope in the face of unspeakable acts of terror. Martin is a first-rate investigator who deftly weaves together world & art history.