"A queer way to be in the world and with others"--

Bottoms Up showcases the architecture and history of 70 Wisconsin breweries and bars. Beginning with inns and saloons, the book explores the rise of breweries, the effects of temperance and Prohibition, and attitudes about gender, ethnicity, and morality. It traces the development of the megabreweries, dominance of the giants, and the emergence of microbreweries. Contemporary photographs of unusual and distinctive bars of all eras, historic photos, postcards, advertisements, and breweriana help tell the story of how Wisconsin came to dominate brewing—and the place that bars and taverns hold in our social and cultural history.

On November 18, 1944, the end of the war in Europe finally in sight, American copilot Lieutenant Lee Lamar struggled alongside pilot Randall Darden to keep Bottoms Up, their B-24J Liberator, in the air. They and their crew of eight young men had believed the intelligence officer who, at the predawn briefing at their base in southern Italy, had confided that their mission that day would be a milk run. But that twenty-first mission out of Italy would be their last. Bottoms Up was staggered by an antiaircraft shell that sent it plunging three miles earthward, the pilots recovering control at just 5,000 feet. With two engines out, they tried to make it to a tiny strip on a British-held island in the Adriatic Sea and in desperation threw out everything not essential to flight: machine guns, belts of ammunition, flak jackets. But over Pula, in what is now Croatia, they were once more hit by German fire, and the focus quickly became escaping the doomed bomber. Seemingly unable to extricate himself, Lamar all but surrendered to death before fortuitously bailing out. He was captured the next day and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at a stalag on the Baltic Sea, suffering the deprivations of little food and heat in Europe’s coldest winter in a century. He never saw most of his crew again. Then, in 2006, more than sixty years after these life-changing experiences, Lamar received an email from Croatian archaeologist Luka Bekic, who had discovered the wreckage of Bottoms Up. A veteran of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, Bekic felt compelled to find out the crew’s identities and fates. Lee Lamar, a boy from a hardscrabble farm in rural northwestern Missouri, had gone to college on the GI Bill, become a civil engineer, gotten married, and raised a family. Yet, for all the opportunity that stemmed from his wartime service, part of him was lost. The prohibition on asking prisoners of war their memories during the repatriation process prevented him from reconciling himself to the events of that November day. That changed when, nearly a year after being contacted by Bekic, Lamar visited the site, hoping to gain closure, and met the Croatian Partisans who had helped some members of his crew escape. In this absorbing, alternating account of World War II and its aftermath, Dennis R. Okerstrom chronicles, through Lee Lamar’s experiences, the Great Depression generation who went on to fight in the most expensive war in history. This is the story of the young men who flew Bottoms Up on her final mission, of Lamar’s trip back to the scene of his recurring nightmare, and of a remarkable convergence of international courage, perseverance, and friendship.

Alec had never been to Belgium, so it came as some surprise when he found himself at the altar of a small church in Flanders, reciting wedding vows in Flemish. It was the start of a long relationship with this unassuming and much maligned little country. He vowed to put worldwide opinion to the test: just how boring can Belgium be?

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • A wild, humane, and hilarious meditation on post-privacy America—from the acclaimed author of Thrown "At 25, [Reality] Winner—yoga teacher, beloved sister, AR-15 owner—was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking classified documents about a Russian election attack. Howley deftly analyzes the brutal, surreal conditions that underlie this drama and the way that they implicate all of us.” —Glamour Who are you? You are data about data. You are a map of connections—a culmination of everything you have ever posted, searched, emailed, liked, and followed. In this groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction, Kerry Howley investigates the curious implications of living in the age of the indelible. Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs tells the true story of intelligence specialist Reality Winner, a lone young woman who stuffs a state secret under her skirt and trusts the wrong people to help. After printing five pages of dangerous information she was never supposed to see, Winner finds herself at the mercy of forces more invasive than she could have possibly imagined. Following Winner’s unlikely journey from rural Texas to a federal courtroom, Howley maps a hidden world, drawing in John Walker Lindh, Lady Gaga, Edward Snowden, a rescue dog named Outlaw Babyface Nelson, and a mother who will do whatever it takes to get her daughter out of jail. Howley’s subjects face a challenge new to history: they are imprisoned by their past selves, trapped for as long as the Internet endures. A soap opera set in the deep state, Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs is a free fall into a world where everything is recorded and nothing is sacred, from a singular writer unafraid to ask essential questions about the strangeness of modern life.

When you’re mean, mad, and not in the mood for love... But he loves you anyway. Burned twice, Boracay magazine editor Alana Quezon is sick and tired of the same old, heartbreaking love. She figures, Why not be the reckless one for a change? If they can sleep around, so can she. If they can lie, she can do it better. If love is a game, then she’ll learn to play around. Besides, on a sizzling island like Boracay, where there’s no shortage of hot men, what single girl wouldn’t be tempted? For as long as they understand the rules: no talk of love, no exclusivity, and no strings attached. But then comes a gamechanger. One guy refuses to play by her rules. She declares she’ll be no man’s girlfriend, and he romances her with a bunch of love letters. She rejects him repeatedly, but he keeps showing up to save her. She hurts him, but he loves her anyway. As temperatures rise towards the end of Boracay’s amihan season, will he succeed in finally melting her heart? Or is Alana right — will he be her biggest heartbreak yet?

How do you get over someone? Get under someone else. Or so an islander tells her. When Alana’s world shatters for the first time after a breakup, she’s desperate for a way out of her personal hell to survive. So she quits her job and the city and runs to a place often called paradise, Boracay Island. Little did she know it’s habagat season, and the island is raining with men and possibilities. Suddenly, she discovers there’s more to life than swimming in tears. And when a hot guy or two offers a new liquid shot at love and happiness? She takes it, bottoms up! Never mind the spills. If you like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love or are a fan of the Sex & the City series, then you will enjoy taking this journey with Alana as she learns to let go and live the best life in Boracay.

Aoife After my mother passed away, I packed up my entire life and moved to her home country of Ireland. I wanted a change of scenery, a different life… to distance myself from the memories of all that I lost. I wanted a fresh start. The small Irish village of Duthmoore was everything I had hoped when I envisioned myself starting a new life. And for the first time since I lost her, I felt like I was home… like I wasn’t alone. It wasn’t until I found myself walking into Getting Lucky, the most well-known pub in Duthmoore, that I found myself face-to-face with the owner, Cillian McGowan, and realizing that maybe Duthmoore had a hell of a lot more to offer than I thought. Cillian I was a born and raised Scot but on a whim had moved to Duthmoore, Ireland, and started up my own pub. Over the years, Getting Lucky had become the most popular pub in the village, and business was booming. My pub was my dream, my life, the only thing I needed to focus on, or so I thought. When I saw the pretty strawberry-blonde walk into my pub, I was pretty sure angels sang, the world slowed, and everything else faded away. I’d never been so mesmerized by another person, never felt like if I wasn't near them, the air would be sucked from my lungs. But I sure as hell felt like that for Aoife. And as the hours passed and she consumed more, her story started to unfold. I had never thought love at first sight was possible, but with her, it was very clear I didn’t know much about how the world worked. Because I was already head over heels for the little Irish-American, and I was pretty sure I couldn’t let her walk away after tonight. *A complete standalone in the Getting Lucky series.*