"One mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal," the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote in The New York Times, reviewing The World is Flat in 2005. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Friedman brilliantly demystifies the new flat world for listeners, making sense of the advances in technology and communications

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As he nation moves toward civil war, one resident of Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania has her live irrevocably changed. Dorthea Granger is asked by her uncle--shortly before his violent death--to stitch an unusual quilt. When she learns the quilt contains hidden clues for the Underground Railroad, Dorthea makes a brave decision. she will put her own life at risk to continue the work that cost her uncle his life.

Following the death of her husband, Betta Nolan fulfills her promise to him to move to a small town and build a new life for herself, as she strives to cope with her grief and find pleasure and solace in the ordinary things of everyday life.

Oskar Schell, the nine-year-old son of a man killed in the World Trade Center attacks, searches the five boroughs of New York City for a lock that fits a black key his father left behind.