Search results for ""Twelve""

A full-color case-based review of the essentials of pathophysiology covering all major organs and systemsMore than 130 case studies with Q&AThe goal of this trusted text is to introduce you to clinical medicine by reviewing the pathophysiologic basis of 132 diseases (and associated signs and symptoms) commonly encountered in medical practice. The authors, all experts in their respective fields, have provided a concise review of relevant normal structure and function of each body system, followed by a description of the pathophysiologic mechanisms that underlie several common diseases related to that system. The accessible presentation features high-quality full-color illustrations, and numerous tables and diagrams.Each chapter of Pathophysiology of Disease concludes with a collection of case studies and questions designed to test your understanding of the pathophysiology of each clinical entity discussed. These case studies allow you to apply your knowledge to specific clinical situations. Detailed answers to each case study question are provided at the end of the book. This unique interweaving of physiological and pathological concepts will put you on the path toward thinking about signs and symptoms in terms of their pathophysiologic basis, giving you an understanding of the "why" behind illness and treatment.HERE ARE SOME OF THE MANY UPDATES AND ADDITIONS:•Twelve additional case studies, bringing the total to 132, one for each of the clinical entities discussed in the book’s 24 chapters•More than 2/3 of the chapters are enhanced and refreshed by the input of new contributors•Totally revised chapter on neoplasia•New chapter sections on urticaria, spinocerebellar ataxia, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and spondyloarthropathies•New tables summarizing adverse prognostic signs in acute pancreatitis, genetic syndromes associated with pancreatic cancer, and causes of end-stage renal disease•New diagnosis and etiologic classification of diabetes mellitus, and review of mechanisms of newest pharmacologic agents for its treatment•Updates on fine-needle aspiration biopsy of thyroid nodules, and thyroid disorders in pregnancy•Updated references throughout the book

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If John Fowler was – in the words of the late Duchess of Devonshire – the Prince of Decorators, and Nancy Lancaster undoubted doyenne of English country house style, Imogen Taylor was their crown princess. She joined Colefax and Fowler in 1949 and was for many years John Fowler’s trusted assistant. John – and Nancy – had total faith in Imogen’s ‘perfect taste’, and when John retired in 1971 he passed on to her all his clients – who ranged from HM The Queen, through duchesses and film stars, to ladies of the night. From this time until she retired in 1999 she was, along with Tom Parr, the firm’s principal decorator. Over the years she extended the clientele she had inherited from John and developed her own subtle, comfortable and charming version of English country house style. In this unique combination of social history and style bible, Imogen Taylor brings a sharp eye and ready wit not only to decorating style but also to the social history of the latter part of the twentieth century. Here you will learn about how fabric walling was done, how the famous ‘twelve different whites’ were applied, how to oil gild, how the passementerie was made for Buckingham Palace and Windsor, about Bessarabian carpets and trompe l’oeil painting and Nancy Lancaster’s broderie anglaise lamp shades, ‘like a child’s skirt or a ball dress’. You will also find the Duchess of Windsor dismissing the Duke (‘David, you’re not needed − go and buy some brushes or something’), Dolly Rothschild’s iron bed (‘like a school or hospital bedstead’), Harry Hyams’ reluctance to sign cheques (‘It’s like spilling my own blood!’), John Fowler in a tantrum yelling at the Duchess of Cornwall (she was a girl assistant at the time, not a client), Imogen being summoned to Howletts because ‘a young Siberian tiger, who had been in bed with Aspinall and his wife, had ripped down the silk hangings on the inside of their canopy bed.’

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An illustrated guide to enrich and develop the practice of Thai massage• Presents guidelines for effortless and effective practice, including body mechanics, breathing patterns, flowing movements, incremental pressure, and exercises to improve sensing and to strengthen intuition as you work • Offers ways to refine and improve classic techniques that are often performed incorrectly, explains broad healing concepts behind individual techniques, and discusses the awareness and sensitivity with which they should be performed • Answers common questions, clarifies misunderstandings, and presents ways to work with focused intention on a deeper level, and with more grace, ease, and efficiency UNLIKE OTHER BOOKS ABOUT THAI MASSAGE, this guide offers a deep and insightful view of important and often neglected aspects of this work. Many of these concepts and techniques also apply to table massage, physical therapy, yoga, and other healing arts. This book guides the reader through the conceptual, spiritual, and practical approaches behind effective bodywork. An entire section is dedicated to awareness of breath for massage, movement, and everyday activities. Assessment guidelines help the therapist to work with others based on physical appearance, preexisting conditions, and elemental predisposition. Exercises are presented to sharpen sensing abilities and intuition, and to find, coax, and release blockages in the body. Twelve important Thai massage techniques that are often taught and performed incorrectly are described in great detail. Other chapters offer ways to create customized sequences of practice and to move from one technique to another with ease and grace. Finally, the chapter on medicinal herbs discusses the preparation, use, and benefits of herbal compresses, poultices, balms, oils, and baths, and it offers easy recipes for all of these therapies. This manual contains information that has never been previously available in print. Full of exercises and insights to help therapists hone their bodywork skills, it reveals key principles that give way to effective treatment and explores traditional Thai massage with a special focus on intention, awareness, sensitivity, and spirituality.

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Box Set: 12 Books Ages: 4 to 6 Stage 2: Emerging Readers Animal Stories includes twelve easy-to-read and humorous books, all featuring silly animal characters! From a pig who is a picky eater to a rabbit who loves playing chess, these charming and relatable stories will engage young readers while they practice their reading skills. One-syllable words using consistent short vowels build confidence while longer animal names and sight words sprinkled throughout add just the right amount of challenge. Perfect for kids in Years 1 and 2 (kindergarten and first grade)! Inside the box you'll find 12 easy-to-read books! ABOUT BOBS BOOKS Bob Books is America's no.1, award-winning, learning-to-read series trusted for over 40 years. Bob Books is a true first reader series, designed to make helping children learn to read simple and straightforward. The clean layout, short words, and simple phonics make learning to read a fun and natural step for a child that knows the alphabet. Companion workbooks extend children's reading journey by allowing them to practice the skills learned in the books. Bob Books is designed to give young children the tools to cross from learning letters to reading words. The award-winning beginning reader book sets start slowly and progress from books with three letter words, to books with more than one sentence per page. By meeting children at the right level, parents are often amazed at how quickly their child is able to sound out words when reading their first Bob Book. Bob Books covers four reading stages... Pre-Readings Skills Recognize shapes, patterns, and other pre-reading skills Stage 1: Starting to Read From learning the alphabet to sounding out your first words Stage 2: Emerging Readers Sentences become longer and sight words are introduced Stage 3: Developing Readers Words and sentences become longer, and new rules are introduced

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Two Books in one! Episodes 11 & 12 in the hit Bad Guys series - soon to be a feature film animation. "I wish I'd had these books as a kid. Hilarious!" – Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants and Dog Man They sound like the Bad Guys, they look like the Bad Guys ... and they even smell like the Bad Guys. But Mr Wolf, Mr Piranha, Mr Snake and Mr Shark are about to change all of that – whether you want them to or not! EPISODE ELEVEN: THE DAWN OF THE UNDERLORD The Bad Guys – sorry, Shadow Squad-G – have finally saved the world from butt-handed evil. And now it's time to celebrate! But when one member of the team makes a shocking discovery, the party might be over sooner than everyone thinks... EPISODE TWELVE: THE ONE?! Seriously, WHAT is going on with Snake?! Terrible powers have been revealed! Evil allies have materialized! Inter-dimensional doors have opened! Shady-looking cloaks have been purchased! What is his deal?!And that's not all! Why does Agent Fox suddenly have a whole lot more backstory than we'd counted on?! Dang it! We need answers! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!Wolf and the gang are back. And things are worse than ever. Or badder than ever... if you think that sounds cooler and don't have a problem with bad grammar.BAD GUYS #12 WILL MELT YOUR BRAIN... ABOUT THE SERIES Full of hilarious line illustrations throughout Fans of Dog Man, Cat Kid and Captain Underpants will love this series Perfect for children who a struggling with reading - or who just want to laugh their socks off The Bad Guys feature length animation will release in UK cinemas on 1 April 2022 Praise for The Bad Guys: "[T]his book instantly joins the classic ranks of Captain Underpants... We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face." - Kirkus Reviews BOOKS INCLUDED IN THIS TWO BOOK BIND-UP EDITION Episode 11: The Dawn of the Underlord Episode 12: The One?!

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WINNER OF IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE WRITERS’ PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024ONE OF SARAH JESSICA PARKER’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023Book of the Year 2023 according to New York Times, New Yorker, The Sunday Times, The Economist, Observer, Guardian, Washington Post, Lit Hub, TIME magazine, Irish Times, The Oldie, Daily Mail, i Paper, Independent, The Standard, The Times, Kirkus, Daily Express, City A.M. From one of our greatest comic novelists and the author of Skippy Dies comes a funny, thought-provoking story of one family desperately clinging on as their world falls apart . . .'A tragicomic triumph. You won't read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year' GuardianThe Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie's once-lucrative car business is going under - but rather than face the music, he's spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman.His wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home.Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favour to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil?Can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written - is there still time to find a happy ending?‘The finest novel that Murray has yet written . . . will surely be one of the books of 2023’ Sunday Independent'Murray is a natural storyteller . . . Ambitious, expansive, hugely entertaining tragicomic fiction' Irish Times'It's a thing of beauty, a novel that will fill your heart' Observer‘Generous, immersive, sharp-witted and devastating . . . a triumph’ Financial Times‘It's been compared to Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections; I'd argue it's better’ Daily Mail

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'John Cook is the Jack Reacher of 1940's Britain' - Damien Lewis*****May 1940. With Nazi forces sweeping across France, invasion seems imminent. The English Channel has never felt so narrow. In rural Sussex, war veteran John Cook has been tasked with preparing the resistance effort, should the worst happen. But even as the foreign threat looms, it's rumours of a missing child that are troubling Cook. A twelve-year-old girl was evacuated from London and never seen again, and she's just the tip of the iceberg - countless evacuees haven't made it to their host families. As Cook investigates, he uncovers a dark conspiracy that reaches to the highest ranks of society. He will do whatever it takes to make the culprits pay. There are some lines you just don't cross. THE LAST LINE is a blistering action thriller combined with a smart noir mystery, played out expertly against the taut backdrop of the British home front.*****'A brilliant noir thriller set in the darkest days of the Second World War' - Stephen Leather'A vivid sense of place with tension on every level, The Last Line dripped with historical detail and authenticity. I absolutely loved it!' - Marion ToddREADERS LOVE THE LAST LINE:'This is an excellent debut novel with a gripping storyline' - 5* NetGalley Review'This is a first class 5 star read that is a cleverly written compelling, captivating historical crime thriller that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys an unputdownable thrilling read' - 5* NetGalley Review'Stephen has a way of describing his characters so tremendously that you really fall in love with them. John, Margaret and Doc for me are just the most incredible characters' - 5* NetGalley Review'A superb novel which I thoroughly enjoyed' - 5* NetGalley Review'If you like Lee Child then you will like this book. It has all the familiar hallmarks . . . vivid writing, well crafted characters, excellent plot and a crusading Superman with definite ideas about right and wrong and meting out his version of justice' - 5* NetGalley Review

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'1,100 men went into the water…’ So begins the critically acclaimed and haunting monologue by actor Robert Shaw as grizzled shark hunter Quint in the movie Jaws, in which he describes his experience as a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in the dying days of the Second World War. The Indianapolis was returning from delivering the first atomic bomb to Tinian, and on its way to the Philippines, when a Japanese submarine hit it with two torpedoes. The ship sank in twelve minutes, leaving hundreds of crew floating in the ocean with hardly any food, water or lifeboats. During the next five days most died from a combination of exposure, salt poisoning, dehydration and the worst mass shark attacks in recorded history. Only 316 of 1,195 crew survived. This historic event provides the motivation for Quint’s iconic character in Jaws. As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Jaws, the first summer blockbuster, author and host of the podcast ‘The Jaws Obsession’ Ryan Dacko has written the definitive prequel novel to the movie, telling the story of Quint. Beginning with him adrift in the Philippine Sea after the sinking, and after the end of the war following him first to San Francisco and then to Amity Island, we read of how and when he acquires his many scars, how he comes to own his boat, the Orca, and how he develops his technique for hunting sharks as seen in the movie. Along the way we meet figures from history such as Charles McVay, captain of the doomed Indianapolis, and characters from the movie Jaws such as Larry Vaughn, the slippery mayor of Amity Island, ichthyologist Matt Hooper and Quint’s mate Hershel Salvatore. This novel, the result of extensive research by the author, expands the Jaws universe, and adds crucial backstory that enhances the experience of watching what many still consider to be the greatest movie ever made. It is a story of overcoming odds, survivor’s guilt, PTSD, one man’s quest for justice, and lots of sharks.

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WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE AND THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION'Endlessly fascinating and enjoyable' Neil MacGregor'A marvellous book' David Attenborough'Full of delights' Tom StoppardAn extraordinary exploration of the medieval world - the most beguiling history book of the yearThis is a book about why medieval manuscripts matter. Coming face to face with an important illuminated manuscript in the original is like meeting a very famous person. We may all pretend that a well-known celebrity is no different from anyone else, and yet there is an undeniable thrill in actually meeting and talking to a person of world stature.The idea for the book, which is entirely new, is to invite the reader into intimate conversations with twelve of the most famous manuscripts in existence and to explore with the author what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history - and sometimes about the modern world too. Christopher de Hamel introduces us to kings, queens, saints, scribes, artists, librarians, thieves, dealers, collectors and the international community of manuscript scholars, showing us how he and his fellows piece together evidence to reach unexpected conclusions. He traces the elaborate journeys which these exceptionally precious artefacts have made through time and space, shows us how they have been copied, who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell), how they have been embroiled in politics and scholarly disputes, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty and luxury and as symbols of national identity. The book touches on religion, art, literature, music, science and the history of taste.Part travel book, part detective story, part conversation with the reader, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts conveys the fascination and excitement of encountering some of the greatest works of art in our culture which, in the originals, are to most people completely inaccessible. At the end, we have a slightly different perspective on history and how we come by knowledge. It is a most unusual book.

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“Jon Dorenbos is a magical person. Life Is Magic shows how we can all choose happiness in the face of overwhelming odds.” —Ellen DeGeneres An extraordinary and empowering story of resilience, forgiveness, and living a life of purpose in the face of unfathomable obstacles.You may know him as an NFL All-Pro or as a world-class magician who made the finals of America’s Got Talent, but Jon Dorenbos says that what he does is not who he is. He is someone who coached himself, at the most tender of ages, to turn tragedy to triumph. One morning in August 1992, when Jon was twelve years old and living a seemingly idyllic childhood in suburban Seattle, he woke up for baseball camp. His dad waved goodbye. Later that day, Jon heard the news: his father had murdered his mother in the family’s three-car garage. In an instant, his life had shattered. He’d essentially been orphaned. Thrust into foster care while his father stood trial for murder, Jon struggled. Left to himself, he discovered an unlikely escape performing magic tricks. If you found a way to alter your reality, after your dad—your hero—killed your mom, wouldn’t you cling to it too? Then came football, which provided a release for all of his pent-up anger. Together, magic and football saved him, leading to fourteen NFL seasons on the gridiron and raucous sleight of hand performances to packed houses across the globe. In 2017, he was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition leaving him with a choice. To either break down or—as he’d by now long taught himself—bounce back. “Life Is Magic shows how we can all choose happiness in the face of overwhelming odds” (Ellen DeGeneres) and provides a roadmap for overcoming even the darkest of times. Jon’s story is poignant and powerful, told by a charismatic and optimistic man who has overcome life-or-death challenges with grace, persistence, a childlike sense of wonder…and jaw-dropping card tricks.

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THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!"Secrets of the Sprakkar is a fascinating window into what a more gender-equal world could look like, and why it's worth striving for. Iceland is doing a lot to level the playing field: paid parental leave, affordable childcare, and broad support for gender equality as a core value. Reid takes us on an exploration not only around this fascinating island, but also through the triumphs and stumbles of a country as it journeys towards gender equality."-Hillary Rodham ClintonIceland is the best place on earth to be a woman-but why?For the past twelve years, the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report has ranked Iceland number one on its list of countries closing the gap in equality between men and women. What is it about Iceland that makes many women's experience there so positive? Why has their society made such meaningful progress in this ongoing battle, from electing the world's first female president to passing legislation specifically designed to help even the playing field at work and at home? And how can we learn from what Icelanders have already discovered about women's powerful place in society and how increased fairness benefits everyone?Eliza Reid, the First Lady of Iceland, examines her adopted homeland's attitude toward women-the deep-seated cultural sense of fairness, the influence of current and historical role models, and, crucially, the areas where Iceland still has room for improvement. Reid's own experience as an immigrant from small-town Canada who never expected to become a first lady is expertly interwoven with interviews with dozens of sprakkar ("extraordinary women") to form the backbone of an illuminating discussion of what it means to move through the world as a woman, and how the rules of society play more of a role in who we view as "equal" than we may understand. Secrets of the Sprakkar is a powerful and atmospheric portrait of a tiny country that could lead the way forward for us all.

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Fans of Bridgerton will love this feminist, steamy historical romance from award-winning author Anna Harrington.Brandon Pearce, former brigadier and now the Earl West, is determined to help the girl he once loved save her property and the charity she's been struggling to build. But he'll have to deceive her first...Twelve years ago, Brandon Pearce had to give up the girl he loved, Amelia Howard. Now Amelia is a grown woman with a past she desperately needs to keep hidden in order to save her brother Frederick's reputation. In an effort to avoid blackmail, Frederick needs to place a list of gentlemen into government positions, and for that, he'll need an ally in Parliament—Pearce.Pearce has been investigating Scepter, a criminal group the Armory believes is behind the government appointments. Pearce must pretend that he sides with the blackmailer—keeping someone else's secrets—even though it means breaking Amelia's heart. But Pearce is willing to do anything he can for a second chance with her, even when he discovers she's been keeping secrets of her own.Get out your smelling salts: This sexy Regency romance features a second-chance romance between a former military commander who stubbornly thinks he knows best and a strong-headed heroine who will fight tooth and nail for those she loves."As steamy as it is sweet as it is luscious. My favorite kind of historical!"—GRACE BURROWES, New York Times bestselling author, for Dukes Are Forever"Enchanting…Harrington combines suspenseful mystery and charming romance in this compulsively readable treat."—Publishers Weekly STARRED Review for An Inconvenient Duke"Harrington is a rising star...plenty of both love and danger."—Booklist STARRED Review for An Inconvenient Duke"Action, suspense, seduction, and two determined lovers fighting for what is right provide a host of reasons to read well into the night."—Library Journal STARRED Review for An Inconvenient Duke

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With the “Curse” a distant memory, the Boston Red Sox are the first team this century to win three World Series titles. Before 2004, an obnoxious Yankees fan might have smirked: The Red Sox in the World Series? The world’s shortest book!” In actual fact, the Red Sox have played in twelve World Series and won eight. Even during their stories 86-year drought, the Sox took four Series to Game Seven before losing.Lavishly illustrated, From the Babe to the Beards is the result of another collaboration by Bill Nowlin and Jim Prime—each with more than a dozen Sox books to their credit. The book includes full game accounts of every one of the 74 Series games played (to date) and profiles a significant player from each game. Supplemented with dozens of photos and line scores from every game, the book will provide a solid and eminently readable companion as the team prepares for additional Series in the years to come.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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The period since 1945 has been one of enormous change and tribulation in the United States. The country emerged from World War II as a superpower, yet is still confronted by threats from abroad. On the domestic front, in the early part of the period, a great revolution occurred in American society as women and minorities battled for legal and human rights. The challenge of teaching courses on this period is to bring some order out of the rapid change and great upheaval without losing the sense of drama and tension experienced by those who lived through it. The Human Tradition in America since 1945 provides professors with a way to help students understand both the sweeping changes and some of the individual contributions to those changes by presenting the personal stories of twelve Americans. In these brief biographical essays, students will meet a wide range of diverse individuals-both men and women, rich and poor, powerful and vulnerable-who represent key elements of post-World War II America. The volume is organized around the dual themes of power and revolution. The pieces in the first half of the book focus on the Cold War: the careers of the subjects in the first three pieces are indicative of Cold War globalism and the rise of the national security state in the early Cold War years; the next three subjects represent different reactions to American globalism and its domestic consequences. The second half of the text explores the revolutionary social reform in America. The lives of those profiled in the first three essays reveal the considerable individual sacrifice made to bring about these transformations; the remaining essays deal with how the conventional political process tried to accommodate international and domestic tensions. These original, lively essays by leading scholars put a human face on the globalism and social activism that are emblematic of America since 1945.

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"…true theologians are more than good religious managers, for their hearts must be in what they are doing. Without personal authenticity, no one will believe in the truth of their message."- Jürgen Moltmann, from his lecture What is a Theologian? at the Pontifical University, Maynooth, Ireland (1998). Jürgen Moltmann was born into a secular family of teachers in Hamburg in 1926. His plans to study mathematics and physics were interrupted by the destruction of Hamburg in July of 1943. He was one of only a few students serving in the anti-aircraft battery in the central city that survived the Royal Air Force "fire storm" that killed over 40,000. He spent the next three years as a prisoner of war in labor camps in Belgium and Scotland, and finally at Camp Norton near Nottingham in England. After devouring every book that crossed his path during captivity, he eventually turned to reading the psalms and New Testament. These writings soothed his experiences with death, his depression and his guilt, and ushered along his theology, his belief in God and the power of hope. Jürgen Moltmann's work sprung from the social and political turmoil in post World War II German culture. In this Bibliography, the author lists more than twelve hundred sources from Jürgen Moltmann and more than eight hundred significant reviews, articles, and books on his work. He has also included most of the theologian's early writings in either German or English through the year 2001. Besides a foreword and essay by Moltmann, this volume includes a bibliographic biography of his life. Most of his works are listed by title and first place of publication. Also listed are later versions and many of the translations. Translations of Moltmann's major books (in as many European languages as possible) as well as a list of known dissertations and monographs, presented in reverse chronological order for the reader's convenience, make for a well-rounded work. A research index helps the reader find the major pieces for some of Moltmann'

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Few reptiles command more respect than the mighty boas and pythons. Prized for their size, relative docility, and spectacular coloration and patterning, they are the most dramatic snakes in the world. But the same snakes that many consider gentle giants--the Green Anaconda can exceed twelve yards in length--are also finely tuned killing machines. In Boas and Pythons of the World, renowned snake expert Mark O'Shea takes readers on an exciting continent-by-continent journey to look at these snakes in their native habitats. Stunning color photographs and intriguing stories from O'Shea's encounters with these snakes in the wild bring these reptiles to life. There is a tremendous variety of boas and pythons. While the largest are measured in yards, the smallest, the Javelin Sand Boa, is no longer than thirty-two inches. And they inhabit a vast range of habitats on five continents, from stony desert to lush tropical forest. In more than one hundred detailed species accounts, Boas and Pythons of the World examines snakes as different as the cryptically patterned Madagascan Ground Boa and Australasia's beautiful Green Tree Python. Although some of these snakes are capable of attacking and killing humans, boas and pythons are much more likely to be man's victims. Across the world, these snakes are retreating in the face of habitat destruction, hunting, and climate change. Addressing the dire risks they face, O'Shea discusses what can be done to help save what are among our most fascinating reptiles. * Snake expert Mark O'Shea's tour of the fascinating world of boas, pythons, and basal snakes--from primitive blindsnakes to the mighty anaconda * Dramatic accounts of O'Shea's personal encounters with these great snakes in their natural habitats--on five continents * Detailed information about the snakes' habitats and behaviors * Over 150 superb color photographs that capture the diverse beauty of more than 100 species, including rarely seen and endangered species * Two world maps showing the distribution of the various families of boas, pythons, and basal snakes

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A Newbery Honor Book • BookPage Best Books • Chicago Public Library Best Fiction • Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee • Horn Book Fanfare • New York Times Notable Children’s Book • School Library Journal Best Book • Today Show Pick • An ALA Notable Book “A 10 out of 10 . . . Anyone interested in science, sibling relationships, and friendships will enjoy reading We Dream of Space.”—Time for Kids Newbery Medalist and New York Times–bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly transports readers to 1986 and introduces them to the unforgettable Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas in this pitch-perfect middle grade novel about family, friendship, science, and exploration. This acclaimed Newbery Honor Book is a great choice for readers of Kate DiCamillo, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Rebecca Stead. Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas are three siblings in seventh grade together in Park, Delaware. In 1986, as the country waits expectantly for the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, they each struggle with their own personal anxieties. Cash, who loves basketball but has a newly broken wrist, is in danger of failing seventh grade for the second time. Fitch spends every afternoon playing Major Havoc at the arcade on Main and wrestles with an explosive temper that he doesn’t understand. And Bird, his twelve-year-old twin, dreams of being NASA’s first female shuttle commander, but feels like she’s disappearing. The Nelson Thomas children exist in their own orbits, circling a tense and unpredictable household, with little in common except an enthusiastic science teacher named Ms. Salonga. As the launch of the Challenger approaches, Ms. Salonga gives her students a project—they are separated into spacecraft crews and must create and complete a mission. When the fated day finally arrives, it changes all of their lives and brings them together in unexpected ways. Told in three alternating points of view, We Dream of Space is an unforgettable and thematically rich novel for middle grade readers. We Dream of Space is illustrated throughout by the author.

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The first complete English translation of three chansons de geste inspired by the Romance epic, the Song of Roland. The success of the eleventh-century Song of Roland gave rise to a series of around twenty related chansons de geste, known collectively as the Cycle of the King. In addition to reworkings of the Song of Roland in Old French and other medieval languages, these poems are devoted to the numerous military campaigns of Charlemagne against the Muslims before and after the tragic Battle of Roncevaux. These texts provide valuable insights into the medieval reception of the Roland material, exemplifying the process of cycle formation and attesting to the diversity of the Romance epic. Far from presenting a simplistic view of the clash of civilizations, these chansons de geste display a web of contradictions, offering both a glorification and a critique of hatred and violence. This volume offers English translations of the three epic poems whose action directly precedes the events of the Song of Roland. Gui of Burgundy extends the period of time spent in Spain by Charles and his army from seven to twenty-six years, which gives the sons of the Twelve Peers the opportunity to reach adulthood and come to the rescue of their fathers. Roland at Saragossa, composed in Occitan, takes place in the days immediately preceding the decisive defeat and relates in an heroi-comic manner how Roland sneaks into Saragossa at the request of the pagan Queen Braslimonda, who has been enraptured by his strength and beauty. Finally, Otinel tells of a Saracen envoy who comes to Paris to challenge Charlemagne on behalf of the Emir Garsile, who has his capital in Lombardy. The action takes place in France and northern Italy in a lull between the capture of Pamplona and the defeat at Roncevaux. The translations are presented with notes, and the volume includes an introduction placing the poems in their wider historical and cultural contexts.

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'A supernatural tour-de-force' Daily Mail'Haunting and atmospheric' A.J. Gnuse, author of Girl in the Walls'The perfect modern ghost story' Katie Lowe, author of The Furies 'Mason is one of the best ghost story writers around today' Jess Kidd Some secrets can never be concealed . . .Nell Galilee, her husband and twelve year old step-daughter Maude rent a holiday cottage by the sea, needing time and space away from home. Nell grew up in this small, wind-blown town and has mixed feelings about returning, and it isn't long before she is recognised by a neighbour, seemingly desperate to befriend her. The cottage has been empty for some time, and from the start Nell feels uncomfortable there. Something isn't quite right about this place . . .Maude, furious about being brought here against her will, soon finds herself beguiled by the house's strange atmosphere. There are peculiar marks in the roof beams above her bedroom, and in another room, a hiding place, concealing a strange, unnerving object.As the house gradually reveals its secrets, Nell becomes increasingly uneasy - and Maude spellbound. But these women - and the women that surround them - are harbouring their own secrets too, and soon events will come to a terrible head . . .A brilliant, unsettling and chilling ghost story of mothers and daughters, truth and deception that asks how far you would go, to get what you truly desire . . . Everyone is talking about The Hiding Place...'There's nothing like a haunted house to get the heart racing and this deliciously dark contemporary gothic tale set in Whitby will do just that. Hugely atmospheric, the writer builds the tension gradually - unsettling and creepy, it's a perfect supernatural read for Halloween' My Weekly'Satisfyingly unsettling, this is a hugely atmospheric novel that oozes with uncanny menace' Lucie McKnight Hardy'Tense, atmospheric and suffused with the peculiar longing of motherhood' Araminta Hall'Full of intrigue . . . sure to leave readers unsettled' Anita Frank, author of The Lost Ones

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'The perfect book to take you away from this endless winter' Jenny Ashcroft When Willow walks out on her own wedding, there's only one place she can go... Growing up in the island village of Seaview, Willow always dreamed of a bigger life. Then her childhood sweetheart Luc betrayed her and she ran, resolving never to look back. Now, twelve years on, her glamorous London life is a mess and the island is her only option. But she's not the only one back for the summer. Luc is now a world-famous heartthrob musician, and he's finally come home to headline the Isle of Wight's annual music festival. As Willow untangles her messy past, she stumbles on a secret that could destroy her family, the island's fragile community – and her second chance at love... What readers are saying about The Summer Island Festival... 'I devoured this book! A wonderful summer read' Lauren North 'A gorgeous book to lose yourself in' Sarah Bennett 'Loved this, I flew through it really quickly and got engrossed in the storyline. Fab read' Lis Beasley, Careful of Books, 5* 'An absolutely fantastic read. More twists than you could imagine' – Reader review, 5* 'The story is so perfectly written the words just flow off the pages' – Reader review, 5* 'Burton is a terrific storyteller' – Reader review, 5* 'This book was fabulous and just the perfect escapism that I really needed!' – Reader review, 5* 'I fell in love with Rachel Burton's writing last year, her style and stories transport me into her pages' – Reader review, 5* 'A truly beautiful read. Highly recommend you pick this one up, you will not be left disappointed. A huge ????? from me' – Reader review, 5* 'Oh, this book is an absolute must! Truly, it is an incredible read that kept me hooked page after page' – Reader review, 5* 'You'll feel like you've travelled back in time 30 years and assumed the life of a roadie or groupie!' – Reader review, 5*

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THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!A New York Times Book Review Editor's Pick"Secrets of the Sprakkar is a fascinating window into what a more gender-equal world could look like, and why it's worth striving for. Iceland is doing a lot to level the playing field: paid parental leave, affordable childcare, and broad support for gender equality as a core value. Reid takes us on an exploration not only around this fascinating island, but also through the triumphs and stumbles of a country as it journeys towards gender equality."-Hillary Rodham ClintonIceland is the best place on earth to be a woman-but why?For the past twelve years, the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report has ranked Iceland number one on its list of countries closing the gap in equality between men and women. What is it about Iceland that makes many women's experience there so positive? Why has their society made such meaningful progress in this ongoing battle, from electing the world's first female president to passing legislation specifically designed to help even the playing field at work and at home? And how can we learn from what Icelanders have already discovered about women's powerful place in society and how increased fairness benefits everyone?Eliza Reid, the First Lady of Iceland, examines her adopted homeland's attitude toward women-the deep-seated cultural sense of fairness, the influence of current and historical role models, and, crucially, the areas where Iceland still has room for improvement. Reid's own experience as an immigrant from small-town Canada who never expected to become a first lady is expertly interwoven with interviews with dozens of sprakkar ("extraordinary women") to form the backbone of an illuminating discussion of what it means to move through the world as a woman, and how the rules of society play more of a role in who we view as "equal" than we may understand. Secrets of the Sprakkar is a powerful and atmospheric portrait of a tiny country that could lead the way forward for us all.

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They Called Us River Rats: The Last Batture Settlement of New Orleans is the previously untold story of perhaps the oldest outsider settlement in America, an invisible community on the annually flooded shores of the Mississippi River. This community exists in the place between the normal high and low water line of the Mississippi River, a zone known in Louisiana as the batture. For the better part of two centuries, batture dwellers such as Macon Fry have raised shanty-boats on stilts, built water-adapted homes, foraged, fished, and survived using the skills a river teaches. Until now the stories of this way of life have existed only in the memories of those who have lived here. Beginning in 2000, Fry set about recording the stories of all the old batture dwellers he could find: maritime workers, willow furniture makers, fishermen, artists, and river shrimpers. Along the way, Fry uncovered fascinating tales of fortune tellers, faith healers, and wild bird trappers who defiantly lived on the river. They Called Us River Rats also explores the troubled relationship between people inside the levees, the often-reviled batture folks, and the river itself. It traces the struggle between batture folks and city authorities, the commercial interests that claimed the river, and Louisiana's most powerful politicians. These conflicts have ended in legal battles, displacement, incarceration, and even lynching. Today Fry is among the senior generation of ""River Rats"" living in a vestigial colony of twelve ""camps"" on New Orleans's river batture, a fragment of a settlement that once stretched nearly six miles and numbered hundreds of homes. It is the last riparian settlement on the Lower Mississippi and a contrarian, independent life outside urban zoning, planning, and flood protection. This book is for everyone who ever felt the pull of the Mississippi River or saw its towering levees and wondered who could live on the other side.

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The Developing Core Literacy Proficiencies program is an integrated set of English Language Arts/Literacy units spanning grades 6-12 that provide student-centered instruction on a set of literacy proficiencies at the heart of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Reading Closely for Textual Details Making Evidence-Based Claims Making Evidence-Based Claims about Literary Technique (Grades 9-12) Researching to Deepen Understanding Building Evidence-Based Arguments The program approaches literacy through the development of knowledge, literacy skills, and academic habits. Throughout the activities, students develop their literacy along these three paths in an integrated, engaging, and empowering way. Knowledge: The texts and topics students encounter in the program have been carefully selected to expose them to rich and varied ideas and perspectives of cultural significance. These texts not only equip students with key ideas for participating knowledgeably in the important discussions of our time, but also contain the complexity of expression necessary for developing college- and career-ready literacy skills. Literacy Skills: The program articulates and targets instruction and assessment on twenty CCSS-aligned literacy skills ranging from “making inferences” to “reflecting critically.” Students focus on this set of twenty skills throughout the year and program, continually applying them in new and more sophisticated ways. Academic Habits: The program articulates twelve academic habits for students to develop, apply, and extend as they progress through the sequence of instruction. Instructional notes allow teachers to introduce and discuss academic habits such as “preparing” and “completing tasks” that are essential to students’ success in the classroom. The program materials include a comprehensive set of instructional sequences, teacher notes, handouts, assessments, rubrics, and graphic organizers designed to support students with a diversity of educational experiences and needs. The integrated assessment system, centered around the literacy skills and academic habits, allows for the coherent evaluation of student literacy development over the course of the year and vertically across all grade levels.

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The Developing Core Literacy Proficiencies program is an integrated set of English Language Arts/Literacy units spanning grades 6-12 that provide student-centered instruction on a set of literacy proficiencies at the heart of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Reading Closely for Textual Details Making Evidence-Based Claims Making Evidence-Based Claims about Literary Technique (Grades 9-12) Researching to Deepen Understanding Building Evidence-Based Arguments The program approaches literacy through the development of knowledge, literacy skills, and academic habits. Throughout the activities, students develop their literacy along these three paths in an integrated, engaging, and empowering way. Knowledge: The texts and topics students encounter in the program have been carefully selected to expose them to rich and varied ideas and perspectives of cultural significance. These texts not only equip students with key ideas for participating knowledgeably in the important discussions of our time, but also contain the complexity of expression necessary for developing college- and career-ready literacy skills. Literacy Skills: The program articulates and targets instruction and assessment on twenty CCSS-aligned literacy skills ranging from “making inferences” to “reflecting critically.” Students focus on this set of twenty skills throughout the year and program, continually applying them in new and more sophisticated ways. Academic Habits: The program articulates twelve academic habits for students to develop, apply, and extend as they progress through the sequence of instruction. Instructional notes allow teachers to introduce and discuss academic habits such as “preparing” and “completing tasks” that are essential to students’ success in the classroom. The program materials include a comprehensive set of instructional sequences, teacher notes, handouts, assessments, rubrics, and graphic organizers designed to support students with a diversity of educational experiences and needs. The integrated assessment system, centered around the literacy skills and academic habits, allows for the coherent evaluation of student literacy development over the course of the year and vertically across all grade levels.

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Christian parables have retained their force well beyond the sphere of religion; indeed, they share with much of modern literature their status as a form of address: “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” There is no message without there first being—or, more subtly, without there also being in the message itself—an address to a capacity or an aptitude for listening. This is not an exhortation of the kind “Pay attention!” Rather, it is a warning: if you do not understand, the message will go away. The scene in the Gospel of John in which the newly risen Christ enjoins the Magdalene, “Noli me tangere,” a key moment in the general parable made up of his life, is a particularly good example of this sudden appearance in which a vanishing plays itself out. Resurrected, he speaks, makes an appeal, and leaves. “Do not touch me.” Beyond the Christ story, this everyday phrase says something important about touching in general. It points to the place where touching must not touch in order to carry out its touch (its art, its tact, its grace). The title essay of this volume is both a contribution to Nancy’s project of a “deconstruction of Christianity” and an exemplum of his remarkable writings on art, in analyses of “Noli me tangere” paintings by such painters as Rembrandt, Dürer, Titian, Pontormo, Bronzino, and Correggio. It is also in tacit dialogue with Jacques Derrida’s monumental tribute to Nancy’s work in Le toucher—Jean-Luc Nancy. For the English-language edition, Nancy has added an unpublished essay on the Magdalene and the English translation of “In Heaven and on the Earth,” a remarkable lecture he gave in a series designed to address children between six and twelve years of age. Closely aligned with his entire project of “the deconstruction of Christianity,’” this lecture may give the most accesible account of his ideas about God.

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Islamic societies of the past have often been characterized as urban, with rural and other extra-urban landscapes cast in a lesser or supporting role in the studies of Islamic history and archaeology. Yet throughout history, the countryside was frequently an engine of economic activity, the setting for agricultural and technological innovation, and its inhabitants were frequently agents of social and political change. The Islamic city is increasingly viewed in the context of long and complex processes of urban development. Archaeological evidence calls for an equally nuanced reading of shifting cultural and religious practices in rural areas after the middle of the seventh century. Landscapes of the Islamic World presents new work by twelve authors on the archaeology, history, and ethnography of the Islamic world in the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central Asia. The collection looks beyond the city to engage with the predominantly rural and pastoral character of premodern Islamic society. Editors Stephen McPhillips and Paul D. Wordsworth group the essays into four thematic sections: harnessing and living with water; agriculture, pastoralism, and rural subsistence; commerce, production, and the rural economy; and movement and memory in the rural landscape. Each contribution addresses aspects of extra-urban life in challenging new ways, blending archaeological material culture, textual sources, and ethnography to construct holistic studies of landscapes. Modern agrarian practices and population growth have accelerated the widespread destruction of vast tracts of ancient, medieval, and early modern landscapes, highlighting the urgency of scholarship in this field. This book makes an original and important contribution to a growing subject area, and represents a step toward a more inclusive understanding of the historical landscapes of Islam. Contributors: Pernille Bangsgaard, Karin Bartl, Jennie N. Bradbury, Robin M. Brown, Alison L. Gascoigne, Ian W. N. Jones, Phillip G. Macumber, Daniel Mahoney, Stephen McPhillips, Astrid Meier, David C. Thomas, Bethany J. Walker, Alan Walmsley, Tony J. Wilkinson, Paul D. Wordsworth, Lisa Yeomans.

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Benjamin Barber is one of America's preeminent political theorists. He has been a significant voice in the continuing debate about the nature and role of democracy in the contemporary world. A Passion for Democracy collects twenty of his most important writings on American democracy. Together they refine his distinctive position in democratic theory. Barber's conception of "strong democracy" contrasts with traditional concepts of "liberal democracy," especially in its emphasis on citizen participation in central issues of public debate. These essays critique the "thin representation" of liberal democracy and buttress the arguments presented in Barber's twelve books, most recently in his well-received Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Re-shaping the World. In these pieces, Barber argues for participatory democracy without dependence on abstract metaphysical foundations, and he stresses the relationship among democracy and civil society, civic education, and culture. A Passion for Democracy is divided into four sections. In the first, "American Theory: Democracy, Liberalism, and Rights," Barber addresses issues of ongoing relevance to today's debates about the roots of participatory democracy, including individualism vs. community, the importance of consent, and the irrelevance of Marxism. Essays in the second section, "American Practice: Leadership, Citizenship, and Censorship" provide a "strong democracy" critique of American democratic practice. "Education for Democracy: Civic Education, Service, and Citizenship" applies Barber's theories to three related topics and includes his much-discussed essay "America Skips School." The final section, "Democracy and Technology: Endless Frontier or End of Democracy?" provides glimpses into a future that technology alone cannot secure for democracy. In his preface, Barber writes: "In these essays ...I have been hard on my country. Like most ardent democrats, I want more for it than it has achieved, despite the fact that it has achieved more than most people have dared to want." This wide-ranging collection displays not only his passion for democracy, but also his unique perspective on issues of abiding importance for the democratic process.

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An epistemological diptych.Plato, the great philosopher of Athens, was born in 427 BC. In early manhood an admirer of Socrates, he later founded the famous school of philosophy in the grove Academus. Much else recorded of his life is uncertain; that he left Athens for a time after Socrates’ execution is probable; that later he went to Cyrene, Egypt, and Sicily is possible; that he was wealthy is likely; that he was critical of “advanced” democracy is obvious. He lived to be 80 years old. Linguistic tests including those of computer science still try to establish the order of his extant philosophical dialogues, written in splendid prose and revealing Socrates’ mind fused with Plato’s thought. In Laches, Charmides, and Lysis, Socrates and others discuss separate ethical conceptions. Protagoras, Ion, and Meno discuss whether righteousness can be taught. In Gorgias, Socrates is estranged from his city’s thought, and his fate is impending. The Apology (not a dialogue), Crito, Euthyphro, and the unforgettable Phaedo relate the trial and death of Socrates and propound the immortality of the soul. In the famous Symposium and Phaedrus, written when Socrates was still alive, we find the origin and meaning of love. Cratylus discusses the nature of language. The great masterpiece in ten books, the Republic, concerns righteousness (and involves education, equality of the sexes, the structure of society, and abolition of slavery). Of the six so-called dialectical dialogues Euthydemus deals with philosophy; metaphysical Parmenides is about general concepts and absolute being; Theaetetus reasons about the theory of knowledge. Of its sequels, Sophist deals with not-being; Politicus with good and bad statesmanship and governments; Philebus with what is good. The Timaeus seeks the origin of the visible universe out of abstract geometrical elements. The unfinished Critias treats of lost Atlantis. Unfinished also is Plato’s last work, Laws, a critical discussion of principles of law which Plato thought the Greeks might accept. The Loeb Classical Library edition of Plato is in twelve volumes.

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First published in 1989, just before the Gulf War broke out, "Republic of Fear" was the only book that explained the motives of the Saddam Hussein regime in invading and annexing Kuwait. This edition, updated in 1998, has a substantial introduction focusing on the changes in Hussein's regime since the Gulf War. In 1968 a coup d'etat brought into power an extraordinary regime in Iraq, one that stood apart from other regimes in the Middle East. Between 1968 and 1980, this new regime, headed by the Arab Ba'th Socialist party, used ruthless repression and relentless organization to transform the way Iraqis think and react to political questions. In just twelve years, a party of a few thousand people grew to include nearly ten percent of the Iraqi population. This book describes the experience of Ba'thism from 1968 to 1980 and analyzes the kind of political authority it engendered, culminating in the personality cult around Saddam Hussein. Fear, the author argues, is at the heart of Ba'thi politics and has become the cement for a genuine authority, however bizarre. Examining Iraqi history in a search for clues to understanding contemporary political affairs, the author illustrates how the quality of Ba'thi pan-Arabism as an ideology, the centrality of the first experience of pan-Arabism in Iraq, and the interaction between the Ba'th and communist parties in Iraq from 1958 to 1968 were crucial in shaping the current regime. Saddam Hussein's decision to launch all-out war against Iran in September 1980 marks the end of the first phase of this re-shaping of modern Iraqi politics. The Iraq-Iran war is a momentous event in its own right, but for Iraq, the author argues, the war diverts dissent against the Ba'thi regime by focusing attention on the specter of an enemy beyond Iraq's borders, thus masking a hidden potential for even greater violence inside Iraq.

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From crime scene to morgue to courtroom, and finally the court of public opinion, this riveting narrative is essential reading for true-crime enthusiasts. If you think the media has told you everything there is to know about Michael Jackson and Casey Anthony, think again! This engrossing, almost cinematic page-turner, offers never-before-published information on the mysterious deaths of Michael Jackson and Caylee Anthony, plus five other ripped-from-the-headlines criminal cases. Based on the authors' long investigative experience, these two insiders offer revealing insights into the following high-profile cases: -Casey Anthony: An assessment of the Trial of this Century, during which a Florida mother stood accused of killing her young daughter, Caylee. At stake were issues that included accuracy of air sampling and cadaver dogs, post-mortem hair banding, chloroform, duct tape identification, computer clues, and deep family secrets. -Michael Jackson: The authors provide never-disclosed data on the autopsies of Jackson's body and a microscopic view of the singer's life and career, plus analysis of the cardiologist charged with his death: Was Dr. Conrad Murphy recklessly negligent or a fall guy for a hopelessly addicted celebrity? -Drew Peterson: Heroic Illinois SWAT team cop or wife killer? Did his third wife slip and fall in the bathtub, or was she beaten and drowned? The controversy over her death led to an exhumation and the filing of homicide charges against him, but can prosecutors prove their case? And what happened to his fourth wife, who remains missing? -Rolling Stone Brian Jones: Was the rock musician's death an accident or something more sinister? And was he impaired by drugs or alcohol when he died? After more than forty years, there is finally an answer. In addition, the authors examine the tragic death of twelve-year-old Gabrielle Bechen, whose rape-murder changed her community; Col. Philip Shue, whose demise was a battle of suicide versus homicide until Dr. Wecht solved the case; and Carol Ann Gotbaum, a respected Manhattan mother who died in police custody in Phoenix.

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Extensive revision of the best-selling text on satellite communications — includes new chapters on cubesats, NGSO satellite systems, and Internet access by satellite There have been many changes in the thirty three years since the first edition of Satellite Communications was published. There has been a complete transition from analog to digital communication systems, withanalog techniques replaced by digital modulation and digital signal processing. While distribution of television programming remains the largest sector of commercial satellite communications, low earth orbit constellations of satellites for Internet access are set to challenge that dominance. In the third edition, chapters one through three cover topics that are specific to satellites, including orbits, launchers, and spacecraft. Chapters four through seven cover the principles of digital communication systems, radio frequency communications, digital modulation and multiple access techniques, and propagation in the earth’s atmosphere, topics that are common to all radio communication systems. Chapters eight through twelve cover applications that include non-geostationary satellite systems, low throughput systems, direct broadcast satellite television, Internet access by satellite, and global navigation satellite systems. The chapter on Internet access by satellite is new to the third edition, and each of the chapters has been extensively revised to include the many changes in the field since the publication of the second edition in 2003. Two appendices have been added that cover digital transmission of analog signals, and antennas. An invaluable resource for students and professionals alike, this book: Focuses on the fundamental theory of satellite communications Explains the underlying principles and essential mathematics required to understand the physics and engineering of satellite communications Discusses the expansion of satellite communication systems in areas such as direct-broadcast satellite TV, GPS, and internet access Introduces the rapidly advancing field of small satellites, referred to as SmallSats or CubeSats Provides relevant practice problems based on real-world satellite systems Satellite Communications is required reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students in satellite communications courses and an authoritative reference for engineers working in communications, systems and networks, and satellite operations and management.

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In 1941, philosopher and poet Gendun Chopel (1903-51) sent a large manuscript by ship, train, and yak across mountains and deserts to his homeland in the northeastern corner of Tibet. He would follow it five years later, returning to his native land after twelve years in India and Sri Lanka. But he did not receive the welcome he imagined: he was arrested by the government of the regent of the young Dalai Lama on trumped-up charges of treason. He emerged from prison three years later a broken man and died soon after. Gendun Chopel was a prolific writer during his short life. Yet he considered that manuscript, which he titled Grains of Gold, to be his life's work, a book to delight his compatriots with tales of an ancient Indian and Tibetan past, while alerting them to the wonders and dangers of the strikingly modern land abutting Tibet's southern border, the British colony of India. Now available for the first time in English, Grains of Gold is a unique compendium of South Asian and Tibetan culture that combines travelogue, drawings, history, and ethnography. Gendun Chopel describes the world he discovered in South Asia, from the ruins of the sacred sites of Buddhism to the Sanskrit classics he learned to read in the original. He is also sharply, often humorously critical of the Tibetan love of the fantastic, bursting one myth after another and finding fault with the accounts of earlier Tibetan pilgrims. Exploring a wide range of cultures and religions central to the history of the region, Gendun Chopel is eager to describe to his Buddhist audience in Tibet all the new knowledge he gathered in his travels. At once the account of the experiences of a tragic figure in Tibetan history and the work of an extraordinary scholar, Grains of Gold is an accessible, compelling book animated by a sense of discovery of both a distant past and a strange present.

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She saved her son once. Would she do the same again?Sara and her family needed a fresh start after a tragedy that ruined many lives. They have found peace since arriving at their new home in the Kielder Forest National Park twelve months ago. That is, unless you count the dark cloud that has settled over them, and the crippling tension behind closed doors. Sara tries to pretend everything is normal, but in reality she is haunted by a devastating truth about one of her children.Travis has a reputation as a counsellor skilled at helping troubled teens. He has been watching Sara. He sees her fragility, and believes that he can fix her and her eldest son. Like his mother, Scott barely speaks, and has a look in his eye that hints at unimaginable trauma. If Travis could only get close to Sara she would see that he can protect her, and put an end to their suffering.Yet below the surface, Sara is anything but weak. No matter what, she won’t give up on her child. And when she is cornered, she will go to extreme lengths to protect her most precious boy.A compulsive tale of family secrets with twists you won’t see coming. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Shalini Boland and K.L. Slater.Praise for The Other Son 'This was such a good read that I finished in one sitting... It was fast paced, twisty and unpredictable. I really enjoyed it.' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Draws you in from the start. I enjoyed it immensely' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A really well written book. I thought that it was gripping and also original' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐I loved this one. Very fast paced, had me turning pages as I tore through it – I had to see how it would end. The characters were well rounded and the narrative felt believable. Gave me chills. Solid five. NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Improve your chess by studying the greatest games of all time, from Adolf Anderssen's 'Immortal Game' to Magnus Carlsen's world championship victories, and featuring a foreword by five-times World Champion Vishy Anand.This book is written by an all-star team of authors. Wesley So is the reigning Fischer Random World Champion, the 2017 US Champion and the winner of the 2016 Grand Chess Tour. Michael Adams has been the top British player for the last quarter of a century and was a finalist in the 2004 FIDE World Championship. Graham Burgess is the author of thirty books, a former champion of the Danish region of Funen, and holds the world record for marathon blitz chess playing. John Nunn is a three-time winner of both the World Solving Championship and the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award. John Emms is an experienced chess coach and writer, who finished equal first in the 1997 British Championship and was chess columnist of the Young Telegraph.The 145 greatest chess games of all time, selected, analysed, re-evaluated and explained by a team of British and American experts and illustrated with over 1,100 chess diagrams. Join the authors in studying these games, the cream of two centuries of international chess, and develop your own chess-playing skills - whatever your current standard. Instructive points at the end of each game highlight the lessons to be learned.First published in 1998, a second edition of The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games in 2004 included an additional twelve games. Another new edition in 2010 included a further thirteen games as well as some significant revisions to the analysis and information regarding other games in earlier editions of the book, facilitated by the use of a variety of chess software. This 2021 edition, further updated and expanded, now includes 145 games.The authors have made full use of the new generation of chess analysis engines that apply neural-network based AI.

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An epic adventure: from the Vikings to the Enlightenment, from barbaric outpost to global hub, this book tells the dazzling history of northern Europe's transformation by sea.'Pye writes like a dream. Magnificent' Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps______________This is a story of saints and spies, of anglers and pirates, traders and marauders - and of how their wild and daring journeys across the North Sea built the world we know.When the Roman Empire retreated, northern Europe was a barbarian outpost at the very edge of everything. A thousand years later, it was the heart of global empires and the home of science, art, enlightenment and money. We owe this transformation to the tides and storms of the North Sea.Boats carried food and raw materials, but also new ideas and information. The seafarers raided, ruined and killed, but they also settled and coupled. With them they brought new tastes and technologies - books, science, clothes, paintings and machines. Drawing on an astonishing breadth of learning and packed with human stories and revelations, this is the epic drama of how we came to be who we are.______________'A closely-researched and fascinating characterisation of the richness of life and the underestimated interconnections of the peoples all around the medieval and early modern North Sea' Chris Wickham, author of The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000'Elegant writing and extraordinary scholarship . . . Miraculous' Hugh Aldersey-Williams, author of Periodic Tales and Anatomies'Bristling, wide-ranged and big-themed . . . at its most meaningful, history involves a good deal of art and storytelling. Pye's book is full of both' Russell Shorto, New York Times'For anyone, like this reviewer, who is tired of medieval history as a chronicle of kings and kingdoms, knights and ladies, monks and heretics, The Edge of the World provides a welcome respite' Prof Patrick J Geary, Wall Street Journal

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Wyl Menmuir’s The Draw of the Sea is a beautifully written and deeply moving portrait of the Cornish Coast and the people who make their livings there, examining the ephemeral but universal pull the sea holds over the human imagination.‘A beautiful portrait of lives shaped by the swell of ocean and tide - a powerful salt-thread of connection’ - Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path Since the earliest stages of human development, the sea has fascinated and entranced us. It feeds us, sustaining communities and providing livelihoods, but it also holds immense destructive power which can take all those away in an instant. It connects us to far away places, offering the promise of new lands and voyages of discovery, but also shapes our borders, carving divisions between landmasses and eroding the very ground beneath our feet. In this beautifully-written meditation on what it is that draws us to the waters' edge, author Wyl Menmuir tells the stories of the people whose lives revolve around the sea in the Cornish community where he lives. In twelve interlinked chapters, Menmuir explores the lives of local fishermen steeped in the rich traditions of a fishing community, the beachcombers who wander the shores in search of the varied objects which wash ashore and the stories they tell, and all number of others who have made their lives on the beautiful Cornwall coast. In the specifics of these livelihoods and their rich histories and traditions, Wyl Menmuir captures the universal human connection to the sea. Into this seductive tapestry, Wyl weaves the story of how the sea has beckoned, consoled and restored him. This book is a meaningful and moving work into how we interact with the environment around us, and how it comes to shape the course of our lives. As unmissable as it is compelling, as profound as it is personal, this must-read book will delight anyone familiar with the intimate and powerful pull which the sea holds over us.

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A BBC RADIO 2 BOOKCLUB PICKSHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTRE FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE, THE GOTHAM BOOK PRIZE AND THE LAMBDA AWARD*'Absolutely incredible. Beautiful, powerful writing. These pages will stay with me forever' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS, author of QUEENIE*'A gift as big, beautiful and complicated as living itself' Jacqueline Woodson, author of RED AT THE BONE*'Hilariously funny and quietly devastating' Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of PATSY and HERE COMES THE SUN*'There are three books on earth that I would give anything to be able to write and reread until the suns burns us up. Big Girl is one of those books' Kiese Laymon, author of HEAVYA THING IS MIGHTY BIG WHEN TIME AND DISTANCE CANNOT SHRINK ITIt was a quote by Zora Neale Hurston. Malaya liked the words. The message was a mouthful of meaning, and it changed each time she read it. At first it had seemed ominous, but now she looked at it differently. She wondered for the first time if there could be something good about bigness, something mighty about not shrinking, after all. Growing up in rapidly gentrifying 90s Harlem, Malaya struggles to fit into a world that makes no room for her. She's funny, creative and smart, but all people see - even those who love her - is her size. At eight, she is forced to go to Weight Watchers; at twelve, her parents fear she'll be taken from them; by sixteen, a gastric bypass is discussed. On good days, Malaya braids bright colours into her hair, turns up Biggie Smalls on her Walkman, and strides through Harlem, his words galvanising her; on bad days, she doesn't leave her bed other than for furtive trips for the forbidden food that will comfort her - for a while. Big Girl is an unforgettable portrait of a queer Black girl as she learns to take up space in the world on her own terms.

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For the serious collector and connoisseur of the field of American art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this series of essays will be invaluable. Twenty-eight writers, each of them highly experienced and an acknowledged expert in their field, examine every aspect of the subject and contribute illuminating and often thought-provoking examinations of a wide variety of topics. The book is divided into three sections. Part I, The Historical Overview, contains fourteen essays. Their subjects range from the Hudson River School to the art of the American West, American artists in Europe, American Impressionism, Modernism, examinations of the major artists Marguerite Zorach, John Sloan, Everett Shinn, Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, John Graham, Willem de Kooning, Guy Pene du Bois and his relationship with the collector Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, African American Art, figurative sculpture, and period frame connoisseurship. Part II deals with Connoisseurship and the Collector, and covers such topics as developing an instinct for quality; dealing in fine art; conservation; choosing wisely in making a collection; the pleasures and perils of collecting art works on paper; researching paintings you may be considering acquiring; the role of qualified art advisors; the anatomy of an auction; knowing the law when buying art; and legal issues for the collector selling art. There are glimpses of the prominent collectors who have contributed so greatly to the American art scene over many years. Part III covers Current Themes in the Art Market, and what to look out for, examining how to make historical American art relevant to the modern age and avoiding misinterpretation of what could be seen as sensitive subjects such as race; pointers to ways of connecting historical American art and the modern world; a look at why galleries matter; and discussing shifting tastes in American art. The authors include owners of established galleries, directors of museums, art historians, and teachers at prestigious universities and other major institutions. Virtually all the essays are illustrated with outstanding examples of works of art: 174 in all. Among them are works by Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, Benjamin West, Childe Hassam, Sloan, Shinn, Hartley, Marguerite Zorach, Davis, De Kooning, Pene du Bois, John Singleton Copley, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frederic Edwin Church, and many others. Elizabeth Broun, PhD, Director Emerita of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and currently on the Board of Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation and The Olana Partnership, is Visual Art Advisor to the Kennedy Center for its expansion project, called The Reach. She contributes a Foreword that expands on the role of the Atlanta Art Forum over the last twelve years and explains why it has played such a leading part in the appreciation of historical American art, exploring the nuances and purposes of art collecting generally, and of American art specifically. The speakers invited to the Forum were at the top of their fields, and the city of Atlanta quickly found itself "on the map" as a major site for American art. The general editor, and the progenitor of this book, Stephen M. Sessler, has with his wife Linda been an active collector of historical American art for many years. Joining the Fine Art Collectors group in Atlanta, Georgia, in the 1990s, they increased their knowledge hugely over time. Eventually, as that group's activities were scaled back, he saw an opportunity and founded the Atlanta Art Forum in 2006, becoming its visionary "dean," with the aim of meeting other enthusiasts and experts and discussing his chosen subject with them. He felt that so much information and knowledge acquired over twelve years should be available to a much wider audience, and this book was the result. The market and interest in historical American art has undergone a dramatic shift in the past ten to fifteen years as contemporary art has become the standard-bearer for the art market in general. By revisiting this art from many different angles and perspectives, this collection of essays will remind collectors, curators, and the art market as a whole of the value and intrinsic worth that still exist in this field, which has stood the test of time so well.

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This collection of 64 beautiful romantic motifs and accompanying transfers provides a must-have source of design ideas for anyone who enjoys stitching. The designs include hearts, flowers, swallows, wedding rings and butterflies and cover a range of sizes and styles. The book is broken down into four main sections: the key stitches and techniques, the samplers, the projects and finally the cut-out transfers. Each design is shown as a sampler sewn by Carina in colours and stitches of her choice. Carina has a wonderful eye for colour and design, so the samplers will encourage those who might need some guidance. Clear instructions accompany each motif, with information given on the DMC thread colours and the embroidery stitches used. Those who prefer to create their own look can do so by simply adapting the colours and stitches. The book then showcases twelve beautiful projects embroidered with designs from the samplers and stitched by Carina in different colourways to the originals. These are intended to inspire: whether you are looking for a small, dainty motif to decorate a child's dress or sunhat, or a large, bold design to add impact to a pillow or tea towel, there will be a design in this book that matches your chosen item to give it a touch of contemporary homemade style. Finally, the transfers at the back can be cut out and ironed up to ten times each; the book contains a handy pocket at the back for storing cut-out designs. There are notes on the materials and basic techniques used at the start of the book, including how to successfully use the transfers and how to frame up a ring frame. With just eleven simple embroidery stitches to choose from, all with clear, step-by-step diagrams, even those new to stitching will be able to tackle all the designs provided. This is a must-have resource for sewers of all abilities.

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An updated edition of the legal art classic.Legal Guide for the Visual Artist is a classic guide for artists. This sixth edition is completely revised and updated to provide an in-depth view of the legal issues facing the visual artist today and provides practical legal guidance for any visual artist involved with creative work. It has been over twelve years since the fifth edition was published, and so much has changed in the world since that time, especially in the law and artists’ legal rights and obligations. This edition has been updated for both a new generation of visual artists and for those who have purchased earlier editions. Among the many new topics covered in this comprehensive guide are: copyright fair use transformative rights; recognition of the rights of temporal street art in the Five Pointz VARA case; the demise of California’s Resale Royalty statute; NFTs; detailed coverage of the myriad developments in copyright (including online copyright registration procedures and use of art on the Internet); changes in laws protecting artists in artist-gallery relationships are explained in depth; scope of First Amendment protections for graffiti art and the sale of art in public spaces; detailed as well as new cases dealing with art and privacy; and a model contract for Web site design and much more. The book also covers copyrights, moral rights, contracts, licensing, sales, special risks and protections for art and artists, book publishing, video and multimedia works, leases, taxation, estate planning, museums, collecting, grants, and how to find the best professional advisers and attorneys. In addition, the book suggests basic strategies for negotiation, gives information to help with further action, contains many sample legal forms and contracts, and shows how to locate artists' groups and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts organizations.Legal Guide for the Visual Artist is a must-have for any visual artist hoping to share, sell, display, or publish their art.

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Retention of African Americans on campus is a burning issue for the black community, and a moral and financial one for predominantly white institutions of higher education. This book offers fresh insights and new strategies developed by fifteen scholars concerned by the new climate in which affirmative action is being challenged and eliminated.This is the first book devoted specifically to retention of African Americans in higher education, and is unique in addressing the distinct but inter-related concerns of all three affected constituencies: students, faculty and administrators. Each is considered in a separate section.The student section shifts attention from, to paraphrase McNairy, "fixing the student" to focussing on higher education's need to examine and, where appropriate, revise policies, curriculum, support services and campus climate. Responding to the new agenda shaped by the opponents of affirmative action, but rejecting the defensive "x percent solutions" espoused by its proponents, this book puts forward new solutions that will provoke debate. Section II begins with a survey of the literature on African American administrators, and presents a Delphi study of twelve administrators to provide an understanding of pathways and barriers to success. The contributors then consider the importance of developing community support and creating alliances, the role of mentoring, and the setting of clear expectations between the individual and the institution.Starting with the recognition that African Americans represent less than five percent of full-time faculty, the chapters in the final section examine the effects of the dismantling of affirmative action, the consequences of faculty salaries trailing more lucrative non-academic employment, the declining enrollment of students of color, the politics of promotion and tenure, and issues of identity and culture. The book concludes by stressing the roles that parents, faculty and administrators must play to empower African American students to take responsibility for their own academic performance.This is a compelling, controversial and constructive contribution to an issue of national importance.

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Seekers of the Wild Realm meets My Diary from the Edge of the World in this poignant and “action-packed” (School Library Journal) story of a lonely girl who befriends a kitten that might be much more—the first in a new series from author of Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls, Beth McMullen!Twelve-year-old Cassie King’s father always told her the universe was on her side. All she had to do was work hard and things would go her way. But then Cassie’s father died, her mom retreated into herself, and her best friend traded her in for the popular crowd at school. The only thing Cassie still has is the volunteer work she does at the local library, a place where she can leave her troubles behind. Unfortunately, classmate and school outcast Joe Robinson is always there doing the same thing. One day, while Cassie and Joe are leaving the library, a bizarre storm hits, trapping them in a narrow alley. In the storm’s aftermath, Cassie discovers a bedraggled little kitten abandoned in a smelly dumpster. Cassie feels an immediate connection to the kitten and takes him home. But the kitten—who Cassie names Albert—is a little odd, with impossible strength and agility for a creature his size. At one point, Cassie swears she sees plumes of smoke rising from his water bowl, and one afternoon, while Albert is alone in her room, a strange symbol appears on the closet door. With new friend Joe’s help, Cassie figures out the symbol is a map. But a map to what? The friends soon discover that Albert is much more than he appears and is in grave danger. He needs Cassie’s help in ways she never could have imagined. Keeping him safe is the first thing Cassie has believed in for a long time. But is she strong enough to face down a sinister enemy moving ever closer and protect everything she loves?

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This chilling account of the “warm war” over control of the South China Sea—one that is threatening to flare into full-scale conflict—presents a “telling picture of the operational challenges the US Navy faces in the western Pacific” (Wall Street Journal) from an award-winning journalist with unprecedented access to the highest naval officers in America and China.Out in the Pacific Ocean, there is a war taking place. It is a “warm war,” a shoving match between the United States, the uncontested ruler of the seas since WWII, and China, which now possesses the world’s largest navy. The Chinese regard the Pacific, and especially the South China Sea, as their ocean, and they’re ready to defend it. Each day the heat between the two countries increases as the Chinese try to claim the South China Sea for their own, and the United States insists on asserting freedom of navigation. Throughout Southern Asia, countries are responding with outrage and growing fear as China turns coral reefs into manmade islands capable of supporting airstrips and then attempts to enforce twelve-mile-radius, shoot-down zones. The immediate danger is that the five trillion dollars in international trade that passes through the area will grind to a standstill. The ultimate danger is that the US and China will be drawn into all-out war. Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Michael Fabey has had unprecedented access to the Navy’s most exotic aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, aircraft, and submarines, as well as those who command them. In his “well-informed, readable treatment” (Library Journal, starred review), Fabey offers “good…reporting from both sides of the conflict. He gives his Chinese sources a thorough workout, the little emperors and true believers alike, and he has a sharp eye for what faces the American fleet if push comes to shove” (Kirkus Reviews). Fabey predicts the next great struggle between military superpowers will play out in the Pacific, and Crashback, more than any other book, is an accurate preview of how that conflict might unfold.

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The Canadian contribution to the Second World War Allied bombing campaign, from the first days of the war to the last, proved instrumental in securing the defeat of Nazi Germany. Author and historian Ken Cothliff has pieced together the extraordinary stories of four Canadian volunteers who chose to fly 'Under the Maple Leaf'. There was no mandatory conscription in Canada. They chose to serve their country and the British Commonwealth in it’s time of greatest need, and the choice was theirs and theirs alone. Reg Lane joined Bomber Command relatively early and was in action by the autumn of 1941, rising from NCO pilot to become a‘Master Bomber’ with the elite Pathfinder Force. Jim Moffat, the ‘Evader’, ended his flying combat career after twelve operations, becoming a fighter on the European mainland with the Resistance. Steve Puskas’s comprehensive diaries and unpublished writings provide an extraordinary insight into his training as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, an experience familiar to many Commonwealth and British air crew. Bill Gracie, a Scot who had emigrated to Canada as a boy, was keen to take up the fight when the war began, with the sole aim of becoming aircrew. Sadly, he was one of the 55,573 Bomber Command aircrew, of which over 10,000 were Canadian, who never returned home. These young men volunteered three times; once to join up, the second time to go overseas, and the third to become aircrew. All came from different backgrounds and found life in the air force very different. With the exception of one man, all came home with their lives radically changed for ever. The debt owed to the people of Canada can never be forgotten. Ken Cothliff’s 'Under the Maple Leaf' is the story of a few of Bomber Command’s many young Canadian aircrew, all of whom made their contribution to the eventual victory over tyranny.

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The Sword and the Shield is based on one of the most extraordinary intelligence coups of recent times: a secret archive of top-level KGB documents smuggled out of the Soviet Union which the FBI has described, after close examination, as the "most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source." Its presence in the West represents a catastrophic hemorrhage of the KGB's secrets and reveals for the first time the full extent of its worldwide network.Vasili Mitrokhin, a secret dissident who worked in the KGB archive, smuggled out copies of its most highly classified files every day for twelve years. In 1992, a U.S. ally succeeded in exfiltrating the KGB officer and his entire archive out of Moscow. The archive covers the entire period from the Bolshevik Revolution to the 1980s and includes revelations concerning almost every country in the world. But the KGB's main target, of course, was the United States.Though there is top-secret material on almost every country in the world, the United States is at the top of the list. As well as containing many fascinating revelations, this is a major contribution to the secret history of the twentieth century.Among the topics and revelations explored are: The KGB's covert operations in the United States and throughout the West, some of which remain dangerous today. KGB files on Oswald and the JFK assassination that Boris Yeltsin almost certainly has no intention of showing President Clinton. The KGB's attempts to discredit civil rights leader in the 1960s, including its infiltration of the inner circle of a key leader. The KGB's use of radio intercept posts in New York and Washington, D.C., in the 1970s to intercept high-level U.S. government communications. The KGB's attempts to steal technological secrets from major U.S. aerospace and technology corporations. KGB covert operations against former President Ronald Reagan, which began five years before he became president. KGB spies who successfully posed as U.S. citizens under a series of ingenious disguises, including several who attained access to the upper echelons of New York society.

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ABC’s chief medical correspondent helps you ring in the New Year right with a resolution that’s actually doable: a year-long plan to improve your emotional and physical health—from giving up alcohol to doing a digital detox, but each for only one month.Dr. Jennifer Ashton is at the top of her field as an ob-gyn and news correspondent. But even at the top there’s still room to improve, and with The Self-Care Solution, she upends her life one month at a time, using her own experiences to help you improve your health and enhance your life.Dr. Ashton becomes both researcher and subject as she focuses on twelve separate challenges. Beginning with a new area of focus each month, she guides you through the struggles she faces, the benefits she experiences, and the science behind why each month’s challenge—giving up alcohol, doing more push-ups, adopting an earlier bedtime, limiting technology—can lead to better health. Month by month, Dr. Ashton tackles a different area of wellness with the hope that the lessons she learns and the improved health she experiences will motivate her (and you) to make each change permanent. Throughout, she offers easy-to-comprehend health information about the particular challenge to help you understand its benefits and to stick with it. Whether it’s adding cardio or learning how to meditate, Dr. Ashton makes these daily lifestyle choices and changes feel possible—and shows how beneficial a mindful lifestyle can be.Inspiring, practical, and informative, illustrated with helpful photos and charts, The Self-Care Solution teaches you how to recalibrate your life to enjoy a better, healthier year, one month at a time. Featuring guidance from top experts, entertaining case studies, easy-to-follow advice and tips, and Dr. Ashton’s observations and insights, this book can help you achieve a better life balance and a more active and healthy lifestyle.

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The twentieth anniversary of the Countryside & Rights of Way (CRoW) Act in 2020 provides a good opportunity to look back on the doughty band of campaigners who fought for so long to give ramblers their cherished right to roam. This century-old battle brought to the fore a number of larger-than-life characters who were prepared to go to extreme lengths--in some cases even imprisonment--to reclaim the right of access which were taken from the people by the hated Enclosure Acts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This book describes the life and work of twenty of these "wilderness warriors", retelling the battles they fought against seemingly intractable politicians and the Establishment and includes memories of personal encounters by the author with many of them. From the nature-loving romantic poet John Clare and access pioneers such as Tom Stephenson and Benny Rothman, to present-day activists and writers such as Jim Perrin, Fiona Reynolds and Kate Ashbrook, Walking Class Heroes describes the contributions made by philanthropists, writers and political militants. Their battlegrounds included the Peak District, Dartmoor and Scotland and their tactics encompassed campaigning journalism, legal dexterity and even mass trespass. Some are no longer with us of course, but several others are continuing the fight for the same kind of public access to the countryside currently enjoyed by our neighbours in Scotland and the rest of Europe. Roly Smith was recently described by a reviewer as "one of Britain's most knowledgeable countryside writers". He has written over ninety books on the British countryside and is vice-president of the Outdoor Writers' and Photographers' Guild, having been its president for twelve years, and is also a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers. A journalist by training, Roly was Head of Information Services for the Peak District National Park for thirteen years, where he became known as "Mr Peak District".

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In 1895/6 the sixty-year-old Mark Twain set off on a worldwide lecture tour to pay off his debts from a publishing company bankruptcy, notes from which a year later became his final travel book Following the Equator. Two years later he wrote, 'How I did loathe that journey around the world! except the sea-part and India.' Although he was only in India for just over two of the twelve months, his exploits and observations there take up forty per cent of the book-and by common consent are by far the best and liveliest part of it. In The Indian Equator the Mark Twain travel trilogist Ian Strathcarron, his wife and photographer Gillian and his factota Sita follow in his mentor's footsteps, train tracks and boat wakes tracing the route that Twain, his wife Livy, his daughter Clara, his manager Smythe and his bearer Satan took as they crisscrossed the sub-continent. Leaving from the Bombay that was and the Mumbai that is, both writers follow the lecture circuit of old India--including what is now Pakistan--across the plains and cities of the north up to the peaks of the Himalayas by way of Baroda, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Benares/Varanasi, Calcutta/Kolkata, Darjeeling, Lahore and Rawalpindi. Staying in the same Raj clubs, travelling down the same train lines, meeting the high and mighty and the downtrodden and destitute, Twain and Strathcarron are absorbed by an India that then was and now is 'not for the faint of heart nor mild of spirit nor weak of mind nor dull of sense nor correct of politic'; a rapidly changing yet still deeply traditional society where 'a few hundred million have grabbed the twenty-first century by the whiskers and many more hundred million still tuck the nineteenth century into bed at night'. Mark Twain loved the India of 1896; like his trilogist, he would love it still.

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