Search results for ""Independent Publisher""

The only guide to caring for those with advanced Alzheimer disease.Winner of the IPPY Book Award Health/Medicine/Nutrition by the Independent PublisherCaring for someone living with advanced Alzheimer disease is a challenge. It can make you feel like you're on a hamster wheel—running in circles, trying the same things over and over with no effect on your loved one. You may also find it difficult to connect with your loved one and to understand what those living with Alzheimer disease are going through. In The Busy Caregiver's Guide to Advanced Alzheimer Disease, Dr. Jennifer Stelter, a psychologist working in memory care, shares a new model designed to help caregivers understand, cope with, and handle some of the most challenging behaviors associated with the disease while encouraging and reinforcing independence and quality of life for their loved ones. Her Dementia Connection Model, which is based on current scientific research, will aid you in forging a positive bond with your loved one with less frustration. Win-win! Follow along, step by step, as Dr. Stelter outlines the three main elements of the Dementia Connection Model and learn how to put these elements into practice to help with • communication problems• eating difficulties• mobility concerns• memory deficits• behavioral issues• toileting trouble• and other common complications of Alzheimer disease.The evidenced-based, practical interventions and strategies in The Busy Caregiver's Guide will help you stay emotionally, mentally, and physically involved in your loved one's life. Special dedicated worksheets help you practice the skills and keep track of what is working. You'll also read stories about other caregivers who face the same struggles.

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The surprising story of cork and its critical role in US security and the war effort.Winner of the IPPY Book Award History (World), Silver of the Independent PublisherIn 1940, with German U-boats blockading all commerce across the Atlantic Ocean, a fireball at the Crown Cork and Seal factory lit the sky over Baltimore. The newspapers said that you could see its glow as far north as Philadelphia and as far south as Annapolis. Rumors of Nazi sabotage led to an FBI investigation and pulled an entire industry into the machinery of national security as America stood on the brink of war. In Cork Wars, David A. Taylor traces this fascinating story through the lives of three men and their families, who were all drawn into this dangerous intersection of enterprise and espionage. At the heart of this tale is self-made mogul Charles McManus, son of Irish immigrants, who grew up on Baltimore’s rough streets. McManus ran Crown Cork and Seal, a company that manufactured everything from bottle caps to oil-tight gaskets for fighter planes. Frank DiCara, as a young teenager growing up in Highlandtown, watched from his bedroom window as the fire blazed at the factory. Just a few years later, under pressure to support his family after the death of his father, DiCara quit school and got a job at Crown. Meanwhile, Melchor Marsa, Catalan by birth, managed Crown Cork and Seal’s plants in Spain and Portugal—and was perfectly placed to be recruited as a spy. McManus, DiCara, and Marsa were connected by the unique properties of a seemingly innocuous substance. Cork, unrivaled as a sealant and insulator, was used in gaskets, bomber insulation, and ammunition, making it crucial to the war effort. From secret missions in North Africa to 4-H clubs growing seedlings in America to secret intelligence agents working undercover in the industry, this book examines cork’s surprising wartime significance. Drawing on in-depth interviews with surviving family members, personal collections, and recently declassified government records, Taylor weaves this by turns beautiful, dark, and outrageous narrative with the drama of a thriller. From the factory floor to the corner office, Cork Wars reflects shifts in our ideas of modernity, the environment, and the materials and norms of American life. World War II buffs—and anyone interested in a good yarn—will be gripped by this bold and frightening tale of a forgotten episode of American history.

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What if the stories of trees and people are more closely linked than we ever imagined?Winner of the World Wildlife Fund's 2020 Jan Wolkers PrizeOne of Science News's "Favorite Books of 2020" A New York Times "New and Noteworthy" BookA 2020 Woodland Book of the YearGold Winner of the 2020 Foreword INDIES Award in Ecology & EnvironmentBronze Winner of the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Award in Environment/EcologyPeople across the world know that to tell how old a tree is, you count its rings. Few people, however, know that research into tree rings has also made amazing contributions to our understanding of Earth's climate history and its influences on human civilization over the past 2,000 years. In her captivating book Tree Story, Valerie Trouet reveals how the seemingly simple and relatively familiar concept of counting tree rings has inspired far-reaching scientific breakthroughs that illuminate the complex interactions between nature and people.Trouet, a leading tree-ring scientist, takes us out into the field, from remote African villages to radioactive Russian forests, offering readers an insider's look at tree-ring research, a discipline known as dendrochronology. Tracing her own professional journey while exploring dendrochronology's history and applications, Trouet describes the basics of how tell-tale tree cores are collected and dated with ring-by-ring precision, explaining the unexpected and momentous insights we've gained from the resulting samples.Blending popular science, travelogue, and cultural history, Tree Story highlights exciting findings of tree-ring research, including the fate of lost pirate treasure, successful strategies for surviving California wildfire, the secret to Genghis Khan's victories, the connection between Egyptian pharaohs and volcanoes, and even the role of olives in the fall of Rome. These fascinating tales are deftly woven together to show us how dendrochronology sheds light on global climate dynamics and uncovers the clear links between humans and our leafy neighbors. Trouet delights us with her dedication to the tangible appeal of studying trees, a discipline that has taken her to austere and beautiful landscapes around the globe and has enabled scientists to solve long-pondered mysteries of Earth and its human inhabitants.

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IPPY 2012 Gold Award in the Fine Arts category (Independent Publisher Book Awards)ForeWord Reviews 2012 Book of the Year Award FinalistFor centuries, great artists have been drawn together in friendship and in love. In Artists in Love, curator and writer Veronica Kavass delves into the passionate and creative underpinnings of the art world's most provocative romances. From Picasso and Francoise Gilot to Lee Miler and Man Ray to Saul Steinberg and Hedda Sterne, Kavass' graceful and daring text provides a generous glimpse into the inspiring and sometimes tempestuous relationships between celebrated artists throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. From poetic beginnings to shocking endings (and vice-versa), the various dimensions of the artist couple archetypes are ceaselessly explored. Some are enduring and collaborative, yielding astonishing parallel bodies of work, as with Robert and Sonia Delaunay and Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Others are adoring and explosive, such as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Essays revealing what compelled these dynamic artists to partner, how their pairing influenced their work, and why their love may have faltered, are accompanied by lush illustrations of their art and documentary photographs of the couple. The first visual book to explore this subject in such epic scope, Artists in Love is a revelatory and riveting journey into the hearts and minds of artists in love. Artists featured include:Wassily Kandinsky & Gabriele MünterRobert & Sonia DelaunayAlfred Stieglitz & Georgia O’KeeffeJean Arp & Sophie Taeuber-ArpAnni & Josef AlbersFrida Kahlo & Diego RiveraLee Miller & Man RayJacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn KnightBarbara Hepworth & Ben NicholsonElaine & Willem de KooningPablo Picasso & Françoise GilotJackson Pollock & Lee KrasnerDorothea Tanning & Max ErnstNancy Spero & Leon GolubJasper Johns & Robert RauschenbergRobert Motherwell & Helen FrankenthalerChristo & Jeanne-ClaudeBernd & Hilla BecherEva Hesse & Tom DoyleCharles and Ray Eames Kay Sage and Yves TanguySaul Steinberg and Hedda SterneRobert Smithson & Nancy HoltNiki de Saint Phalle & Jean TinguelyMarina Abramović & UlayClaes Oldenburg & Coosje van BruggenBruce Nauman & Susan RothenbergDavid McDermott and Peter McGough

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WE ALL HAVE DEMONS. SOME DEMONS HAVE YOU.The world you know is dead. We did this to ourselves. The epidemic struck at the end of the Third World War. Fighting over oil, power, and religion, governments ignored the rise of an antibacterial-resistant plague. In just five years, the Earth was annihilated. Only one city survived—Etyom—a frozen hellhole in northern Siberia, engulfed in endless conflict.The year is 2251. Two groups emerged from the ashes of the old world. Within the walled city of Lower Etyom dwell the Robusts—descendants of the poor who were immune to the New Black Death. Above them, in a metropolis of pristine platforms called lillipads, live the Graciles—the progeny of the superrich, bio-engineered to resist the plague. Mila Solokoff is a Robust who trades information in a world where knowing too much can get you killed. Caught in a deal gone bad, she's forced to take a high-risk job for a clandestine organization hell-bent on revolution. Demitri Stasevich is a Gracile with a dark secret—a sickness that, if discovered, will get him Ax'd. His only relief is an illegal narcotic produced by the Robusts, and his only means of obtaining it is a journey to the arctic hell far below New Etyom. Thrust together in the midst of a sinister plot that threatens all life above and below the cloud line, Mila and Demitri must master their demons and make a choice—one that will either salvage what's left of the human race or doom it to extinction …Awards Bronze Winner — 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards — Science Fiction Gold (1st Place) Winner — 2019 Feathered Quill Book Awards — Science Fiction/Fantasy Finalist — 2018 Dragon Awards — Science Fiction Winner — 2018 New York Book Festival — Science Fiction

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The history of New York City is written in its streets; uncover 400 years of innovation through the true stories of the visionaries, risk-takers, dreamers, and schemers who built Manhattan. Witness life during the city's earliest days, when Greenwich Village was a bucolic suburb and disease was a fact of daily life. Explore the city's dark side, from the slums of Five Points to Harlem's Prohibition-era speakeasies, and find out which park covers a sea of unmarked graves. Then see it all for yourself with guided walking tours of each of Manhattan's historic neighbourhoods, illustrated with colour photographs and period maps. AUTHOR: A third-generation New Yorker, James Roman has regaled listeners with his chronicles of old New York as a real estate broker and sales manager for 15 years in Manhattan, and as a lecturer at the Real Estate Board of New York and New York University. He served as Editorial Contributor to New York Living magazine for six years, and contributes regularly to publications that document emerging technology. Readers can find him on re-runs of the HBO television series Six Feet Under, a break he attributes more to luck than to acumen. SELLING POINTS: . NEW: paintings of New York scenes by Ashcan school artists and "Then and Now" photos . NEW: theatre district (Broadway) chapter . 26 meticulously researched articles on dramatic stories from Manhattan history including episodes from the lives of John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Stanford White, Gertrude Whitney, Donald Trump, and more . 9 easy-to-follow neighbourhood walking tours . New York townhouse styles . Complete index The Chronicles series takes a look at the history behind some of the most fascinating cities in the world. Each book introduces the major characters that shaped the city, then offers comprehensive walking tours to see how their legacies shaped the cities today. To the date 9 titles have been released for New York, Paris, London, Rome, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Las Vegas. Museyon Guides is an award-winning independent publisher of cultural travel guide books and children's books. Additional content from Museyon and the Chronicles series can be found at www.museyon.com and at facebook.com/museyon 390 photos and illustrations, 60 maps

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The daughter of Appalachian snake handlers becomes a ward of the state after her eerie “gift” causes a tragedy that leaves her orphaned.Bram Stoker Nominee, Speak No Evil named #14 in Ginger Nuts of Horror’s Top 100 YA Horror Novels of the Last Decade. “Ultimately this is a novel about real life horror; abuse, overcoming it, and the resilience of Melody Fisher as she slowly, with a lot of help, turns her life around.” ~Ginger Nuts of Horror“Melody’s story is grim, but hope is weaved in throughout ... highly emotional.” ~School Library JournalCompelling, gripping, and evocative, Speak No Evil is a study in personality development, horror, how support systems for teens can either succeed or fail, and the impact a caring adult can have on a teenager’s life.” ~Midwest Book ReviewWhat if every time you told the truth, evil followed?My name is Melody Fisher. My daddy was a snake handler in Appalachia until Mama died. Though years have passed, I can still hear the rattle before the strike that took her from me.And it’s all my fault.Since then, I’ve been passed around from foster home to foster home. I didn’t think anything could be as bad as losing Mama.I was wrong.But I will not speak of things people have done to me. Every time I do, worse evil follows. Now, the only thing I trust is what saved me years ago.Back when I would sing the snakes calm ...WARNING: This book contains situations of violence and sexual abuse/rape which the reader may find disturbing.* * *“Expect a paranormal twist, spooky mountain folklore, rattlesnake handling and much soul searching as Melody makes peace with herself—and the trauma she has endured.” ~Girls' Life Magazine “Gardner’s storytelling displays the same sort of sinister charm as she unravels Melody’s past to tell the story of her present. Speak No Evil is at once hypnotic, vaguely sinister, and decidedly beautiful, with sharp, poignant prose that handles the heaviest of issues with grace and delicacy.” ~The Nerd Daily"... a touching tribute to the power of love." ~IndieReaderLiana Gardner named to the Ginger Nuts of Horror 30 YA Authors You Should Know ListAwards: Nominee for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel, Bram Stoker Awards® Silver Medal Winner: Young Adult Fiction, Nautilus Book Awards Bronze Medal Winner in Young Adult Fiction, Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Gold Medal Winner in Young Adult Fiction — Mature Issues, Moonbeam Children's Book Awards Gold Medal Winner in New Adult Fiction, NYC Big Book Awards Finalist in Best Juvenile or Young Adult Fiction, Silver Falchion Award

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The best-selling look at how American cities can promote racial equity, end redlining, and reverse the damaging health- and wealth-related effects of segregation.Winner of the IPPY Book Award Current Events II by the Independent PublisherThe world gasped in April 2015 as Baltimore erupted and Black Lives Matter activists, incensed by Freddie Gray's brutal death in police custody, shut down highways and marched on city streets. In The Black Butterfly—a reference to the fact that Baltimore's majority-Black population spreads out like a butterfly's wings on both sides of the coveted strip of real estate running down the center of the city—Lawrence T. Brown reveals that ongoing historical trauma caused by a combination of policies, practices, systems, and budgets is at the root of uprisings and crises in hypersegregated cities around the country. Putting Baltimore under a microscope, Brown looks closely at the causes of segregation, many of which exist in current legislation and regulatory policy despite the common belief that overtly racist policies are a thing of the past. Drawing on social science research, policy analysis, and archival materials, Brown reveals the long history of racial segregation's impact on health, from toxic pollution to police brutality. Beginning with an analysis of the current political moment, Brown delves into how Baltimore's history influenced actions in sister cities such as St. Louis and Cleveland, as well as Baltimore's adoption of increasingly oppressive techniques from cities such as Chicago. But there is reason to hope. Throughout the book, Brown offers a clear five-step plan for activists, nonprofits, and public officials to achieve racial equity. Not content to simply describe and decry urban problems, Brown offers up a wide range of innovative solutions to help heal and restore redlined Black neighborhoods, including municipal reparations. Persuasively arguing that, since urban apartheid was intentionally erected, it can be intentionally dismantled, The Black Butterfly demonstrates that America cannot reflect that Black lives matter until we see how Black neighborhoods matter.

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You're late to a meeting and caught in traffic. Your toddler is screaming and your in-laws just showed up. You're about to give an important presentation but you've misplaced your notes—and you're beginning to panic. We all find ourselves in situations that stir up anxiety. And for many of us, our fear and worry have reached debilitating levels. How can we stay balanced and live up to our potential when fear and anxiety seem so easily to get the best of us? According to Dr. Friedemann Schaub, the answer lies in the subconscious mind—the source of our most challenging emotions and the key to the wisdom they offer. The Fear and Anxiety Solution presents Dr. Schaub's breakthrough and empowerment program for learning to understand, direct, and utilize the subconscious mind as our greatest ally on the path to health and wholeness. The processes and tools of each chapter will show you how to consciously work with your subconscious mind to pinpoint and understand the root causes and deeper meanings of your fear and anxiety, release emotional blocks from the past, and "shine more of who you truly are out into the world." Through step-by-step guidance, Dr. Schaub explains how to transform fear and anxiety into healing catalysts that lead to greater confidence, self-worth, and success, as he illuminates: The five principles for change—awareness, flexibility, choice, actualization, and readjustment • How to address inner conflicts, stored emotions, and limiting beliefs—the three subconscious root causes of fear and anxiety • A five-step process for effectively eliminating negative self-talk and mind-racing • How to manage "free-floating anxiety" • The Parts Reintegration Process, a powerful method for peace of mind, increased energy, and improved health • The Pattern Resolution Process for releasing subconsciously stored fear and anxiety • How to replace your old anxiety-driven identity with a new foundation of self-empowerment at the cellular level "The more unresolved fear and anxiety you've stored in your subconscious, the more untapped potential awaits you," explains Dr. Schaub. With The Fear and Anxiety Solution, now you have the tools to change faster and perform better in every aspect of your life through the power of conscious-subconscious collaboration. The Fear and Anxiety Solution is the 2012 Independent Publisher Award Gold Medal Winner and the USA Best-Book Award Winner in the category best new-self-help book.

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If you think meditation is only for monks, think again. Today's world seems to be growing more and more stressful by the minute--for all of us. So now, as a teacher of Tibetan Buddhist practice and a 21st-century woman, Lama Tsomo offers us time-tested tools for getting underneath our everyday worries and making our lives richer and more fulfilling with the release of Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? Reviewers deem the book "a sympathetic, personalized text" (Foreword Reviews), and recommend it "to those who want to learn more about Buddhism, meditation, or just how to live a more peaceful lifestyle" (Readers' Favorite). Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? is a lively, approachable guide for using the ancient traditions and practices of Tibetan Buddhism to find happiness and peace in this modern world. Well received and praised, the book was honored with several awards in 2016, including winner of the Spirituality category at the Paris Book Awards, runner-up at the San Francisco Book Festival, and Silver medal recipient in the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Through step-by-step instructions, photographs, and helpful explanations, Lama Tsomo recounts her personal and spiritual journey to greater happiness, and teaches how we can experience the many benefits of meditation. She offers proven techniques for sharpening our focus, enhancing relationships, and living each day more mindfully and joyfully. Laced with humor, compassion, and stories from Lama Tsomo's own life, Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? meets us where we are and guides us onto the path to a deeper awareness of the world and ourselves. This is a journey well worth taking. As Lama Tsomo invites in the book's prologue, "Won't you come along?" Featuring an introductory letter from H.H. Dalai Lama, Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? includes a set of beautifully illustrated meditation cards, "Science Tidbits," a glossary of Buddhist terms, and lessons used in Namchak Foundation eCourses and retreats. Learn more about the book and Lama Tsomo at Namchak.org.

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Allow the award-winning Secret Venice guide you around the unusual and unfamiliar. Step off the beaten track with this fascinating Venice guide book and let our local experts show you the well-hidden treasures of an amazing city. Ideal for local inhabitants, curious visitors and armchair travellers alike. The places included in our guides are unusual and unfamiliar, allowing one to step off the beaten track. Now in it's 6th edition, Secret Venice features 270+ secret and unusual locations. Inside Secret Venice : Discover the secrets of St. Mark's Basilica without any tourist, decipher the capitals of the palace of the Doges, take the only underground canal in Venice, look out for of the alchemical sculpture of the winged horse, open your eyes to traces of the Teriaca, this miracle drink that was long made in Venice, tear up the paintings of the Scuola di San Rocco according to the principles of the Hebrew Kabbalah or the construction of San Francesco della Vigna according to those of the musical Kabbalah, visit an underground graveyard, push the doors of palaces and monasteries to walk in unsuspected gardens, admire the extraordinary forgotten library of the Venice seminary, sleep in a sublime room hidden in a palace, go shopping at the women's prison market of the Giudecca, play petanque in the heart of the city, make a retreat in a wonderful monastery of the lagoon ... *Secret Venice was singled-out as the Travel Guide of the Year at the Independent Publisher Awards (2011)* Don't miss - Each chapter of this Secret Venice travel guide book corresponds to a different part of the city so that one can always find a hidden or secret place to discover. Perfectly planned walks - Make sure that you do not miss any Secret location, by discovering each one featured in this guide by planning a walking tour of each part of the city.

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Gold Medal at Independent Publisher Book Awards. Finalist at the International Book Awards. Finalist at the American Bookfest Best Book Awards. We face a crisis of trust because people feel there is no longer any truth. Singh and Luthra have written a highly-readable analysis of how it happened and how we might return truth to it's necessary prominence in a social media-infused society. An urgently needed book. – David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect and founder of Techonomy Media The new world of information is overwhelming, but it is not insurmountable. In Savvy, Shiv and Rohini offer hope - and important practical advice - for professionals trying to navigate amidst the chaos. This is a smart and useful book for anyone trying to gain a firmer footing in the Information Age. –Tom Nichols, author of The Death of Expertise and Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College Fake news is nothing new. Technology has turbo-charged its spread leaving us inundated with misrepresentations, exaggerations, and outright lies. Finding the truth is like searching for a needle in a haystack. We are in a crisis of trust—no longer knowing who or what to believe.In the post-trust era, so much is out of our control, and yet there are ways in which we can inoculate ourselves. Savvy is a book about the human glitches that cause us to fall for alternative facts and what we can do to override them. In Savvy, we meet the social scientists who questioned the behavior of Nazi war criminals, Ivy League football fans, John F. Kennedy and more to better understand why human beings often suspend critical judgement and readily fall for fakeness. We also meet current CEOs, politicians, media moguls and artificial intelligence engines to examine why we put our trust in people, organizations and information that is biased (or blatantly deceptive) while doubting credible sources. Through examples from today’s political and business headlines, Savvy guides you out of the post-trust era and includes science and analysis that makes you more informed and savvy in the business world and your personal life.

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Robert Clinton was born and raised in upstate New York. He studied at Union College and received an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College in 1979. He has worked at many jobs in many places, mostly as a carpenter and cabinet-maker, and is currently a designer for a custom cabinet shop in Boston. His poems have appeared in journals such as Anteaus, Prairie Schooner, The Atlantic Monthly and Ploughshares,"Perhaps what's so refreshing about Taking Eden is that it fits into no neat category. There's a sensitivity in it to the natural world, but the phrase 'nature poetry' certainly doesn't apply; many of the poems use a narrative structure, yet 'narrative poetry,' too, seems inaccurate. The surreal leaves its tracks throughout the book, but they are as delicate as the traces left by subatomic particles in a Wilson's cloud chamber, dispersing as soon as they are seen, reabsorbed into the other events of these poems. Clinton's imagination is multidimensional, and the pleasures of Taking Eden are accordingly complex. While the poems here share some qualities-an alertness couched in simple diction, often-they do not predict one another. This is especially admirable in a first book. . . . Robert Clinton is a poet with a unique outlook. . . . Taking Eden has a maturity that bodes well for Clinton's future work: these poems grow more like oak than ailanthus; they are dense and strong."-The Boston Book Review"Many of the thirty-nine poems in Robert Clinton's first book of poetry, Taking Eden, seem at once autobiographical and universally appealing."-Independent Publisher"'Some days are holidays of silence,' Clinton writes in 'My Father;' his most introspective and lonely short work owes much to the early Mark Strand. His more narrative poems relate visionary, solitary encounters with bearers of wisdom, frequently father-substitutes but sometimes the speaker's own father, who form an understated lineage: 'The men I know / born in labor all of them // go along the rock / the way I go without / much hesitation.' In 'Treetops,' a 'son who will remain unborn' finds the poet 'in the shade of the house collecting stones,' 'he stands up, / pushing the house into the

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Gold Medal (tie) in the 2022 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) - History (U.S.) Category. A rich account of 1920s to 1950s New York City, starring an eclectic mix of icons like James Joyce, Margaret Sanger, and Alfred Kinsey—all led by an unsung hero of free expression and reproductive rights: Morris L. Ernst. At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States was experiencing an awakening. Victorian-era morality was being challenged by the introduction of sexual modernism and women's rights into popular culture, the arts, and science. Set during this first sexual revolution, when civil libertarian-minded lawyers overthrew the yoke of obscenity laws, Dirty Works focuses on a series of significant courtroom cases that were all represented by the same lawyer: Morris L. Ernst. Ernst's clients included a who's who of European and American literati and sexual activists, among them Margaret Sanger, James Joyce, and Alfred Kinsey. They, along with a colorful cast of burlesque-theater owners and bookstore clerks, had run afoul of stiff obscenity laws, and became actors in Ernst's legal theater that ultimately forced the law to recognize people's right to freely consume media. In this book, Brett Gary recovers the critically neglected Ernst as the most important legal defender of literary expression and reproductive rights by the mid-twentieth century. Each chapter centers on one or more key trials from Ernst's remarkable career battling censorship and obscenity laws, using them to tell a broader story of cultural changes and conflicts around sex, morality, and free speech ideals. Dirty Works sets the stage, legally and culturally, for the sexual revolution of the 1960s and beyond. In the latter half of the century, the courts had a powerful body of precedents, many owing to Ernst's courtroom successes, that recognized adult interests in sexuality, women's needs for reproductive control, and the legitimacy of sexual inquiry. The legacy of this important, but largely unrecognized, moment in American history must be reckoned with in our contentious present, as many of the issues Ernst and his colleagues defended are still under attack eight decades later.

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What if the stories of trees and people are more closely linked than we ever imagined?Winner of the World Wildlife Fund's 2020 Jan Wolkers PrizeOne of Science News's "Favorite Books of 2020" A New York Times "New and Noteworthy" BookA 2020 Woodland Book of the YearGold Winner of the 2020 Foreword INDIES Award in Ecology & EnvironmentBronze Winner of the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Award in Environment/EcologyPeople across the world know that to tell how old a tree is, you count its rings. Few people, however, know that research into tree rings has also made amazing contributions to our understanding of Earth's climate history and its influences on human civilization over the past 2,000 years. In her captivating book Tree Story, Valerie Trouet reveals how the seemingly simple and relatively familiar concept of counting tree rings has inspired far-reaching scientific breakthroughs that illuminate the complex interactions between nature and people.Trouet, a leading tree-ring scientist, takes us out into the field, from remote African villages to radioactive Russian forests, offering readers an insider's look at tree-ring research, a discipline known as dendrochronology. Tracing her own professional journey while exploring dendrochronology's history and applications, Trouet describes the basics of how tell-tale tree cores are collected and dated with ring-by-ring precision, explaining the unexpected and momentous insights we've gained from the resulting samples.Blending popular science, travelogue, and cultural history, Tree Story highlights exciting findings of tree-ring research, including the fate of lost pirate treasure, successful strategies for surviving California wildfire, the secret to Genghis Khan's victories, the connection between Egyptian pharaohs and volcanoes, and even the role of olives in the fall of Rome. These fascinating tales are deftly woven together to show us how dendrochronology sheds light on global climate dynamics and uncovers the clear links between humans and our leafy neighbors. Trouet delights us with her dedication to the tangible appeal of studying trees, a discipline that has taken her to austere and beautiful landscapes around the globe and has enabled scientists to solve long-pondered mysteries of Earth and its human inhabitants.

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IPPY 2012 Outstanding Book of the Year, Most Likely to Save the Planet (Independent Publisher Book Awards) Nautilus 2012 Gold Grand Winner, General Adult Foreword Reviews 2012 Book of the Year Finalist, Social SciencesTwo years ago, photographer Paul Mobley and author and editor Katrina Fried set out to find fifty Americans who had made it their business to improve the lives of others. The result is this groundbreaking book profiling some of America’s leading social entrepreneurs whose energy and nonprofit organizations have changed the lives of millions around the world, very often one at a time. From activists who have rallied the support of hundreds of volunteers to bring such necessities as clean drinking water, economic support, and urgent medical care to developing nations, to educational leaders who are using their gifts to elevate the opportunities of the poor and disadvantaged, to crusaders of equal rights and women’s advocacy, these are remarkable everyday citizens. Fried interviewed this eclectic and passionate group of people and has written their startling stories, sharing a unique view of their personalities, journeys, and causes. You will meet heroes such as infectious disease specialist, Gary Slutkin, who returned from Africa (where he reversed the Aids epidemic in Uganda) to reduce street violence in Chicago with stunning success through his organization CeaseFire; Geoffrey Canada, the founder and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, whose pioneering efforts to reform education in one of New York’s most impoverished neighborhoods has touched thousands of students and families; Susan Burton who after fifteen years in and out of the justice system, rehabilitated herself and started A New Way of Life, which provides housing and support services to formerly incarcerated women in South Central Los Angeles; and Roy Prosterman, a man who has devoted an entire lifetime to securing land rights for the poor throughout the Third World.Their narratives are accompanied by powerful portraits from award-winning photographer Paul Mobley who brings a grace and epic quality to his images of these remarkable people. Traveling the country to capture his subjects where they live and work, Mobley has created a body of images that harnesses the spirit and energy of giving.A complete directory of the organizations founded by the heroes is included. Each American celebrated in these pages is making a profound contribution to bettering our world. Their stories serve as an inspiration and as a reminder of an empowering truth: every human being can and should make a difference.

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Book Design Made Simple gives DIY authors, small presses, and graphic designers—novices and professionals alike—the power to design their own books. It’s the only book of its kind, explaining every step from installing Adobe® InDesign® right through to sending the files to press.Book Design Made Simple explains WHAT book design is, and HOW to do it. It guides the novice designer through the process of leasing and installing Adobe® InDesign® and then shows how to place the author’s text into real book pages right away. From there, the look of the text is refined, one element at a time, until it develops into a coherent design that complements the text. Every imaginable kind of text is shown, and meticulous instructions are given. Examples include chapter openings, part openings, headings, lists, poetry, tables, math, extracts, table of contents, and index. Multiple choices are offered for each design element so that the reader can decide on a look and learn how to achieve it.Stressing their conviction that a front book cover attracts but it’s the back cover that sells, the authors devote an entire section to cover design—front, back, and spine—for paperbacks, dust jackets, and hard covers. With examples and illustrations, the reader is guided through decisions about typefaces, images, colors, and layout, and is given many choices as to what to include on the back cover. Setting up an Adobe® InDesign® document to meet printers’ specifications is explained in detail. The result is a cover that will look professional in the marketplace and attract readers.Although print books are emphasized, ebooks are also considered throughout. Some design features that work well in print might not translate in an ebook, so cautions and instructions are given in each instance.Together with thorough design instruction, all kinds of publishing advice is offered along the way, guiding the reader through some of the tough decisions that self-publishers face concerning trim size, what printing method to use, and how and why to get an ISBN and copyright, to name a few.In short, Book Design Made Simple is a semester of book design instruction plus a publishing class, all rolled into one. Let two experts guide you through the process with easy step-by-step instructions, resulting in a professional-looking top-quality book.DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL WINNER—Independent Publisher Book Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. WINNER—New England Book Show.“Regardless of design background, anyone who wants to design and produce a professional-looking book should find everything they need in Book Design Made Simple.” —Clarion Reviews

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**Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) Winner**Bushido: The Samurai Code of Japan is the most influential book ever written on the Japanese "Way of the Warrior." A classic study of Japanese culture, the book outlines the moral code of the Samurai way of living and the virtues every Samurai warrior holds dear. It is widely read today in Japan and around the world. There are seven core precepts of Bushido: Rectitude: "The power of deciding upon a certain course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering." Courage: "Doing what is right." Benevolence: "Love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity." Civility: "Courtesy and urbanity of manners." Sincerity: "The end and the beginning of all things." Honor: "A vivid conscious of personal dignity and worth." Loyalty: "Homage and fealty to a superior." Together, these seven values create a system of beliefs unique to Japanese philosophy and culture that is widely followed today. Inazo Nitobe, one of Japan's foremost scholars, thoroughly explores each of these values and explains how they differ from their Western counterparts. Until you understand the philosophy behind the ethics, you will never fully grasp what it meant to be a Samurai—what it meant to have Bushido. In Bushido, Nitobe points out similarities between Western and Japanese history and culture. He argues that "no matter how different any two cultures may appear to be on the surface, they are still created by human beings, and as such have deep similarities." Nitobe believed that connecting Bushido with greater teachings could make an important contribution to all humanity—that the way of the Samurai is not something peculiarly Japanese, but of value to the entire human race. With an extensive new introduction and notes by Alex Bennett, a respected scholar of Japanese history, culture and martial arts with a firsthand knowledge of the Japanese warrior code, Bushido: The Samurai Code of Japan is an essential guide to the essence of Japanese culture. Bennett's views on this subject are revolutionizing our understanding of Bushido, as expressed in his Japanese bestseller The Bushido the Japanese Don't Know About.

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Nick Wolf is a public research specialist for NorthAm Oil Company, but he likes to think of himself as the company storyteller. Nick, who believes in the old-fashioned integrity of the people who run NorthAm, is sent to scout potential oil exploration/drilling sites to assess the political climate. His latest assignment sends him to Hatteras Island, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Growing up, Nick’s grandmother used to whisper the name of the island “like a hissing curse that shouldn’t be spoken out loud.” Nick’s grandfather was said to have died on Hatteras during World War II, though he was mysteriously claimed as a fallen soldier by both the American and German armies. As soon as he arrives on the island, Nick is the victim of several suspicious accidents and begins receiving cryptic notes that lead him to surprising revelations about his grandfather. In the course of his research for NorthAm, Nick discovers that four families run everything and everyone is somehow connected. Even Julia Royal, the fascinating and frustrating woman who runs the boarding house where Nick is staying, is the granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful patriarch of the four families—Liam Royal, known as The Founder. This mystery/thriller follows two intriguing storylines. Contemporary politics of the Outer Banks, including the always-controversial question of offshore drilling, interweave with the history of German saboteurs during World War II. The book’s title—The Dark of the Island—is what the old-timers on Hatteras called a moonless night with no stars. It was on these nights that the “mooncussers and wreckers” would raise a false light on the beach luring an unwary ship’s captain to run aground so the locals could row out to the wreck and loot the cargo. In this novel, it’s Nick Wolf’s destiny to discover what is behind the true “dark of the island.” Philip Gerard is the author of five novels and eight books of nonfiction, including Down the Wild Cape Fear: A River Journey Through the Heart of North Carolina and The Patron Saint of Dreams, winner of the 2012 North American Gold Medal in Essay/Creative Nonfiction from The Independent Publisher. "Greed, regret, deceit, and betrayals drive the mystery, but Gerard’s addition of a realistic love story and his literary, often emotionally charged, writing make this a worthwhile read." —Foreword Reviews

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Awarded at the 2022 Moonbeam Children's Awards GOLD medal - Winner of the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Moving to a new city can be a heartbreaking experience, but also an opportunity to grow. This Birch Tree will realize that even in the darkest spots, one can shine brighter than ever.The day they took me out of my home and loaded me onto a truck changed everything. I went from living surrounded by nature, with my brothers, to ending up girdled by towering buildings in a polluted, noisy city. I was homesick. Accepting that change was extremely difficult, but then I started to realize that the city was not that bad after all. A friendly gardener took care of me. He watered my soil, gave me fertilizer, and trimmed my dry branches so that a pair of finches could nest in them. I began to feel very useful, as I gave people my shade, my oxygen, and my gently-flavored seeds. I soon understood that hope and love could manifest anywhere in the world, so I decided to put down roots.A story that invites us to see adversities as opportunities, and to trust that changes, despite surprising us, can help us grow. Ganador de la medalla de oro en los premios Moonbeam Children's Book Awards. Mudarse de ciudad puede ser una experiencia angustiosa, pero también es una oportunidad para crecer. Este abedul se dará cuenta que aunque uno se encuentre en uno de los momentos más oscuros, uno puede brillar más que nunca.El día que me sacaron de casa y me transportaron en camión a la ciudad lo cambió todo. Pasé de vivir rodeado de naturaleza, con mis hermanos, a acabar rodeado de edificios altísimos en una ciudad llena de contaminación. Aceptar ese cambio me costó mucho, pero pronto me di cuenta de que la ciudad también tenía su parte positiva. Un amable jardinero se ocupó de mí. Abonó mi suelo con ricos nutrientes, me suministró agua y me cortó las ramas secas para que pareja de jilgueros construyese su nido en mí. Empecé a sentirme muy útil para las personas al darles mi sombra, mi oxígeno y mis frutos, y entonces entendí que la esperanza y el amor se podían manifestar en cualquier lugar del mundo, así que decidí echar raíces.Una historia que nos invita a contemplar las adversidades como oportunidades, y a confiar en que los cambios, a pesar de sorprendernos, pueden ayudarnos a crecer.

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Awarded at the 2022 Moonbeam Children's Awards GOLD medal - Winner of the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Moving to a new city can be a heartbreaking experience, but also an opportunity to grow. This Birch Tree will realize that even in the darkest spots, one can shine brighter than ever.The day they took me out of my home and loaded me onto a truck changed everything. I went from living surrounded by nature, with my brothers, to ending up girdled by towering buildings in a polluted, noisy city. I was homesick. Accepting that change was extremely difficult, but then I started to realize that the city was not that bad after all. A friendly gardener took care of me. He watered my soil, gave me fertilizer, and trimmed my dry branches so that a pair of finches could nest in them. I began to feel very useful, as I gave people my shade, my oxygen, and my gently-flavored seeds. I soon understood that hope and love could manifest anywhere in the world, so I decided to put down roots.A story that invites us to see adversities as opportunities, and to trust that changes, despite surprising us, can help us grow. Ganador de la medalla de oro en los premios Moonbeam Children's Book Awards. Mudarse de ciudad puede ser una experiencia angustiosa, pero también es una oportunidad para crecer. Este abedul se dará cuenta que aunque uno se encuentre en uno de los momentos más oscuros, uno puede brillar más que nunca.El día que me sacaron de casa y me transportaron en camión a la ciudad lo cambió todo. Pasé de vivir rodeado de naturaleza, con mis hermanos, a acabar rodeado de edificios altísimos en una ciudad llena de contaminación. Aceptar ese cambio me costó mucho, pero pronto me di cuenta de que la ciudad también tenía su parte positiva. Un amable jardinero se ocupó de mí. Abonó mi suelo con ricos nutrientes, me suministró agua y me cortó las ramas secas para que pareja de jilgueros construyese su nido en mí. Empecé a sentirme muy útil para las personas al darles mi sombra, mi oxígeno y mis frutos, y entonces entendí que la esperanza y el amor se podían manifestar en cualquier lugar del mundo, así que decidí echar raíces.Una historia que nos invita a contemplar las adversidades como oportunidades, y a confiar en que los cambios, a pesar de sorprendernos, pueden ayudarnos a crecer.

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The daughter of Appalachian snake handlers becomes a ward of the state after her eerie “gift” causes a tragedy that leaves her orphaned.Bram Stoker Nominee, Speak No Evil named #14 in Ginger Nuts of Horror’s Top 100 YA Horror Novels of the Last Decade. “Ultimately this is a novel about real life horror; abuse, overcoming it, and the resilience of Melody Fisher as she slowly, with a lot of help, turns her life around.” ~Ginger Nuts of Horror“Melody’s story is grim, but hope is weaved in throughout ... highly emotional.” ~School Library JournalCompelling, gripping, and evocative, Speak No Evil is a study in personality development, horror, how support systems for teens can either succeed or fail, and the impact a caring adult can have on a teenager’s life.” ~Midwest Book ReviewWhat if every time you told the truth, evil followed?My name is Melody Fisher. My daddy was a snake handler in Appalachia until Mama died. Though years have passed, I can still hear the rattle before the strike that took her from me.And it’s all my fault.Since then, I’ve been passed around from foster home to foster home. I didn’t think anything could be as bad as losing Mama.I was wrong.But I will not speak of things people have done to me. Every time I do, worse evil follows. Now, the only thing I trust is what saved me years ago.Back when I would sing the snakes calm ...WARNING: This book contains situations of violence and sexual abuse/rape which the reader may find disturbing.* * *“Expect a paranormal twist, spooky mountain folklore, rattlesnake handling and much soul searching as Melody makes peace with herself—and the trauma she has endured.” ~Girls' Life Magazine “Gardner’s storytelling displays the same sort of sinister charm as she unravels Melody’s past to tell the story of her present. Speak No Evil is at once hypnotic, vaguely sinister, and decidedly beautiful, with sharp, poignant prose that handles the heaviest of issues with grace and delicacy.” ~The Nerd Daily"... a touching tribute to the power of love." ~IndieReaderLiana Gardner named to the Ginger Nuts of Horror 30 YA Authors You Should Know ListAwards: Nominee for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel, Bram Stoker Awards® Silver Medal Winner: Young Adult Fiction, Nautilus Book Awards Bronze Medal Winner in Young Adult Fiction, Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Gold Medal Winner in Young Adult Fiction — Mature Issues, Moonbeam Children's Book Awards Gold Medal Winner in New Adult Fiction, NYC Big Book Awards Finalist in Best Juvenile or Young Adult Fiction, Silver Falchion Award

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*Finalist for two International Latino Book Awards* *Selected as a Staff Pick by The Paris Review* *Shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award* *Finalist for the Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award (Multicultural)* *SILVER MEDAL winner in the Independent Publisher Book Awards in Multicultural Fiction**SILVER winner of the Nautilus Book Award* PRAISE FOR SUBDUCTION: “Subduction is a gritty novel in which floundering people find hope and understanding where they least expect it.”—Foreword Reviews The brilliance of Subduction only suggests the wonders to come. It is a good day for us when Kristen Millares Young puts pen to paper. Highly recommended.—Luis Alberto Urrea, winner of the American Book Award, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, author of The House of Broken Angels, The Devil’s Highway, Queen of America, Into the Beautiful North, The Hummingbird’s Daughter. In this commanding novel, Kristen Millares Young captures the brutality of an anthropological gaze upon a Makah community. Her complex, exquisitely shaped characters embody the calamity of intrusion and the beauty of resilience.—Elissa Washuta, author of My Body is a Book of Rules and Starvation Mode Young beautifully and vividly renders the Pacific Northwest, particularly the unique world of Neah Bay. Subduction is at once a thought-provoking meditation on the geography and geology of the natural world and a generous exploration of the natural shifts and movements that shape her characters.—Jonathan Evison, New York Times bestselling author, Lawn Boy, This is Your Life Harriet Chance!, West of Here, All About Lulu, and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving Fleeing the shattered remains of her marriage and treachery by her sister, a Latina anthropologist named Claudia takes refuge in Neah Bay, a Native whaling village on the jagged Pacific coast. Claudia yearns to lose herself to the songs of the tribe and the secrets of a spirited hoarder named Maggie. Instead, she stumbles into Maggie’s prodigal son Peter, who, spurred by his mother’s failing memory, has returned seeking answers to his father’s murder. Claudia helps Peter’s family convey a legacy delayed for decades by that death, but her presence, echoing centuries of fraught contact with indigenous peoples, brings lasting change and real damage. Through the ardent collision of Peter and Claudia, Subduction portrays not only their strange allegiance after grievous losses but also their shared hope of finding solace and community on the Makah Indian Reservation. An intimate tale of stunning betrayals, Subduction bears witness to the power of stories to disrupt—and to heal.Orcas Island Literary Festival Panel highlighted in Seattle Met

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Winner of the 2017 Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Outstanding Book Award, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Finalist for the C. Wright Mills Book Award, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Winner of the 2017 Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award, sponsored by the American Sociological Association's Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Winner of the 2017 Mary Douglas Prize for Best Book, sponsored by the American Sociological Association's Sociology of Culture Section. Honorable Mention in the 2017 Book Award from the American Sociological Association's Section on Race, Class, and Gender. NAACP Image Award Nominee for an Outstanding Literary Work from a debut author. Winner of the 2017 Prose Award for Excellence in Social Sciences and the 2017 Prose Category Award for Law and Legal Studies, sponsored by the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, Association of American Publishers. Silver Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (Current Events/Social Issues category). Americans are slowly waking up to the dire effects of racial profiling, police brutality, and mass incarceration, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities of color. The criminal courts are the crucial gateway between police action on the street and the processing of primarily black and Latino defendants into jails and prisons. And yet the courts, often portrayed as sacred, impartial institutions, have remained shrouded in secrecy, with the majority of Americans kept in the dark about how they function internally. Crook County bursts open the courthouse doors and enters the hallways, courtrooms, judges' chambers, and attorneys' offices to reveal a world of punishment determined by race, not offense. Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve spent ten years working in and investigating the largest criminal courthouse in the country, Chicago–Cook County, and based on over 1,000 hours of observation, she takes readers inside our so-called halls of justice to witness the types of everyday racial abuses that fester within the courts, often in plain sight. We watch white courtroom professionals classify and deliberate on the fates of mostly black and Latino defendants while racial abuse and due process violations are encouraged and even seen as justified. Judges fall asleep on the bench. Prosecutors hang out like frat boys in the judges' chambers while the fates of defendants hang in the balance. Public defenders make choices about which defendants they will try to "save" and which they will sacrifice. Sheriff's officers cruelly mock and abuse defendants' family members. Delve deeper into Crook County with related media and instructor resources at www.sup.org/crookcountyresources. Crook County's powerful and at times devastating narratives reveal startling truths about a legal culture steeped in racial abuse. Defendants find themselves thrust into a pernicious legal world where courtroom actors live and breathe racism while simultaneously committing themselves to a colorblind ideal. Gonzalez Van Cleve urges all citizens to take a closer look at the way we do justice in America and to hold our arbiters of justice accountable to the highest standards of equality.

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THE NINTH NOVEL IN THE MULTIMILLION-COPY BESTSELLING ADAM DALGLIESH SERIES FROM THE 'QUEEN OF ENGLISH CRIME' (Guardian) 'Outstanding . . . A book to escape into, delighting in the sense that you are in safe hands, no matter how unsafe the subject.' Observer'Classic P. D. James: rich, delicious and satisfying.' Evening Standard 'Crime novel perfection!' 5* reader reviewPERFECT FOR FANS OF VAL MCDERMID, RUTH RENDELL AND ELLY GRIFFITHS__________________________________________________________________________________Where murder is concerned, fiction cannot compete with real life.The Peverell Press is losing money. The two-hundred-year-old independent publisher is still housed in its dramatic mock-Venetian palace on the Thames, but its ruthless new director, Gerard Etienne, wants to move to cheaper offices as part of his plan to save the company. Before he can push through any ambitious changes, though, he is found murdered, his body bizarrely desecrated.Commander Adam Dalgliesh soon finds that the director had a host of dangerous enemies: a discarded mistress, a neglected and humiliated author, rebellious colleagues, disgruntled staff. But did any of them hate Gerard enough to kill him?__________________________________________________________________________________'Puts the work of most of her rivals to shame.' Sunday Times 'Each of the complex, finely drawn characters has an excellent motive for murder, and as death extends its tentacles through the marble building, no one connected with the Peverell press seems remotely safe or innocent.' The Times'Probably the best of the Dalgliesh series so far. Unputdownable.' 5* reader review**Now a major Channel 5 series**__________________________________________________________________________________READERS LOVE THE ADAM DALGLEISH SERIES:'If you are not already an Adam Dalgliesh fan, I urge you to become one . . . James can describe a scene or delineate a character with precision and depth, like no other writer I have read.' 5* reader review'This series is now as thrilling and gripping as Agatha Christie's great mysteries . . . A wonderful treat I must savour.' 5* reader review'P. D. James is guaranteed to be worth reading.' 5* reader review'I would never give less than 5 stars to any P. D. James book. She is one of a kind, always constant, always wonderful writing, always great characters, and always a good mystery that you cannot put down.' 5* reader review'P. D. James writes mysteries for ordinary people. Her characters are relatable and her hero is dynamic. But don't expect cell phones or computers. Her stories are strictly old school, which is what I love about them.' 5* reader review'Crime writing at its very best!' 5* reader reviewPRAISE FOR P. D. JAMES:'A legend.' VAL MCDERMID'Masterful.' MICK HERRON'The greatest contemporary writer of classic crime.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Nobody can put the reader in the eye of the storm quite like P. D. James.' SUNDAY EXPRESS'One of the literary greats. Her sense of place was exquisite, characterisation and plotting unrivalled.' MARI HANNAH'There are very few thriller writers who can compete with P. D. James at her best.' SPECTATOR'Simply a wonderful writer.' NEW YORK TIMES'The queen of English crime.' GUARDIAN

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Winner of the 2017 Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Outstanding Book Award, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Finalist for the C. Wright Mills Book Award, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Winner of the 2017 Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award, sponsored by the American Sociological Association's Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Winner of the 2017 Mary Douglas Prize for Best Book, sponsored by the American Sociological Association's Sociology of Culture Section. Honorable Mention in the 2017 Book Award from the American Sociological Association's Section on Race, Class, and Gender. NAACP Image Award Nominee for an Outstanding Literary Work from a debut author. Winner of the 2017 Prose Award for Excellence in Social Sciences and the 2017 Prose Category Award for Law and Legal Studies, sponsored by the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, Association of American Publishers. Silver Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (Current Events/Social Issues category). Americans are slowly waking up to the dire effects of racial profiling, police brutality, and mass incarceration, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities of color. The criminal courts are the crucial gateway between police action on the street and the processing of primarily black and Latino defendants into jails and prisons. And yet the courts, often portrayed as sacred, impartial institutions, have remained shrouded in secrecy, with the majority of Americans kept in the dark about how they function internally. Crook County bursts open the courthouse doors and enters the hallways, courtrooms, judges' chambers, and attorneys' offices to reveal a world of punishment determined by race, not offense. Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve spent ten years working in and investigating the largest criminal courthouse in the country, Chicago–Cook County, and based on over 1,000 hours of observation, she takes readers inside our so-called halls of justice to witness the types of everyday racial abuses that fester within the courts, often in plain sight. We watch white courtroom professionals classify and deliberate on the fates of mostly black and Latino defendants while racial abuse and due process violations are encouraged and even seen as justified. Judges fall asleep on the bench. Prosecutors hang out like frat boys in the judges' chambers while the fates of defendants hang in the balance. Public defenders make choices about which defendants they will try to "save" and which they will sacrifice. Sheriff's officers cruelly mock and abuse defendants' family members. Delve deeper into Crook County with related media and instructor resources at www.sup.org/crookcountyresources. Crook County's powerful and at times devastating narratives reveal startling truths about a legal culture steeped in racial abuse. Defendants find themselves thrust into a pernicious legal world where courtroom actors live and breathe racism while simultaneously committing themselves to a colorblind ideal. Gonzalez Van Cleve urges all citizens to take a closer look at the way we do justice in America and to hold our arbiters of justice accountable to the highest standards of equality.

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Peregrine Island is the recipient of the following 10 literary awards: 2017 Winner of the New York City Big Book Award for Mystery 2017 Best Book Awards Finalist in General Fiction for Fiction, for Literary, and for Mystery & Suspense 2017 Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Regional Fiction: Northeast 2017 Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction by Independent Press Awards 2017 International Book Awards Finalist for Literary Fiction 2017 National Indie Excellence Award Finalist for Fiction 2017 Bronze Award for US Northeast Fiction from the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards 2018 Reader Views Literary Award Finalist and Honorable Mention for Adult - Fiction 2018 A Reader's Favorite literary fiction award winner 2018 Semifinalist, Somerset Award for Literary Fiction, Chanticleer International Book Awards ~~~~~ Literary Mystery Highlights an Heirloom Painting on Long Island Sound and the Relationships between Three Generations of Women Part “who-done-it” and part family drama, this award-winning novel reveals that neither people nor paintings are always what they appear to be. Contradictory relationships within troubled families are nothing new, but the award-winning psychological novel written by well-known journalist Diane B. Saxton elevates these relationships and the mysterious heirloom painting that both exposes and unites them to an art form. Peregrine Island interweaves the stories of three generations of women, one valuable painting, the artist who created it, and those who would do anything to possess it – including kill. Lush with sensory details, this psychologically complex mystery novel is set on a private island in the middle of Long Island Sound. It begins when the family’s lives are turned upside-down one summer by so-called art experts, who appear on the doorstep of their isolated home to appraise a favorite heirloom painting. When incriminating papers along with two other paintings are discovered behind the painting in question, the appraisal turns into a full-fledged investigation and detectives are called into the case—but not by the family whose members grow increasingly antagonistic toward one another. During the course of the inquiry and as the summer progresses, the family members discover new secrets about one another and new facts about their past. Above all, they learn that neither people nor paintings can be taken at face value. The Peregrine family's lives are turned upside down one summer when so-called "art experts" appear on the doorstep of their Connecticut island home to appraise a favorite heirloom painting. When incriminating papers, as well as other paintings, are discovered behind the art work in question, the appraisal turns into a full-fledged investigation. Antagonism mounts between grandmother, mother, and child, who begin to suspect one another, as well as the shady newcomers in their midst, of foul play. As the summer progresses and the Peregrines discover facts about their past in the course of the investigation, they learn that people―including them―are not always who they appear to be.

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