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A haunting collection of short fiction from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club, A Head Full of Ghosts, and The Cabin at the End of the World. Paul Tremblay has won widespread acclaim for illuminating the dark horrors of the mind in novels and stories that push the boundaries of storytelling itself. The fifteen pieces in this brilliant collection, The Beast You Are, are all monsters of a kind, ready to loudly (and lovingly) smash through your head and into your heart. In "The Dead Thing," a middle-schooler struggles to deal with the aftermath of her parents' substance addictions and split. One day, her little brother claims he found a shoebox with "the dead thing" inside. He won't show it to her and he won't let the box out of his sight. In "The Last Conversation," a person wakes in a sterile, white room and begins to receive instructions via intercom from a woman named Anne. When they are finally allowed to leave the room to complete a task, what they find is as shocking as it is heartbreaking. The title novella, "The Beast You Are," is a mini epic in which the destinies and secrets of a village, a dog, and a cat are intertwined with a giant monster that returns to wreak havoc every thirty years. A masterpiece of literary horror and psychological suspense, The Beast You Are is a fearlessly imagined collection from one of the most electrifying and innovative writers working today.

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We can either break under the weight of life's challenges--or we can bounce back and thrive. To Break or Bounce is Shelley Plumb's story of rediscovery and emotional healing. The action takes place over the course of one day, the day of her grandmother's funeral. During a long walk on her grandmother's property next to a bay, powerful memories return. Shelley reflects back on the events of her life and how her responses to those events and a drive to push harder and harder have left her feeling lost and without a vision of who she is. The reflections bring forth important lessons about the foundations we build our lives on and whether those foundations are solid or shaky. If they are not solid, says Plumb, we won't be able to handle stresses when they come our way. She offers insights about relationships and how important it is to set boundaries, heal past wounds, and to let those we love and trust come close to us once again. Readers follow her through many real-life scenarios--her mother's shocking death when Plumb was a child, divorce, sexual harassment, her grandmother's death, and the delicate balance between being a professional woman and a wife and mother. By the end of the day, Plumb makes sense of painful past memories and offers readers a way to find the stability, balance, and resilience they need to bounce back and take control of their lives and their futures. Dr. Shelley Plumb is a podiatric physician, video coach, prominent speaker, and Executive Producer at PlumbTalk Productions.

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A common critique of globalization is that it causes economic segmentation and even disintegration of the national economy. Quite to the contrary, Baldev Raj Nayar provides a thorough empirical treatment of India's political economy that challenges this critique by demonstrating that, on balance, both state and market have functioned to attenuate such a disintegrative impact and to accentuate economic integration. The active role of the Indian state in the areas of economic planning, fiscal federalism, and tax reform has resulted in improved economic integration and not increased segmentation. Similarly, his investigation of trade, investment, entrepreneurship, and migration suggests tendencies inherent in the market in favor of economic integration, especially when assisted by the state. While globalization has its benefits, such as higher economic growth, and costs, such as external shocks, Nayar's findings show that India has benefited from globalization more than it has been victimized by it. Globalization and India's Economic Integration shows how globalization's pressures favoring efficiency paradoxically induced the state to push for consolidation on a pan-Indian scale in the area of fiscal federalism and to advance the cause of the common market through reforming the indirect tax system; meanwhile, the state has pressed forward with social inclusiveness as never before in its economic planning. For another, the market, too, has been instrumental, because of its widened scope and its inherently expanding character, in strengthening economic integration through trade expansion, diffusion of industry, and increased inter-state migration. Nayar's groundbreaking work will interest students, scholars, and specialists of India, South Asia, globalization, and political economy.

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Normandy depicts the planning and execution of Operation Overlord in 96 full-color pages. The initial paratrooper assault is shown, as well as the storming of the five D-Day beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. But the story does not end there. Once the Allies got ashore, they had to stay ashore. The Germans made every effort to push them back into the sea. This book depicts the such key events in the Allied liberation of Europe as: 1. Construction of the Mulberry Harbors, two giant artificial harbors built in England and floated across the English Channel so that troops, vehicles, and supplies could be offloaded across the invasion beaches. 2. The Capture of Cherbourg, the nearest French port, against a labyrinth of Gennan pillboxes. 3. The American fight through the heavy bocage (hedgerow country) to take the vital town of Saint-Lô. 4. The British-Canadian struggle for the city of Caen against the "Hitler Youth Division," made up of 23,000 seventeen- and eighteen-year-old Nazi fanatics. 5. The breakout of General Patton's Third Army and the desperate US 30th Division's defense of Mortaine. 6. The Falaise Pocket, known as the "Killing Ground, " where the remnants of two German armies were trapped and bombed and shelled into submission. The slaughter was so great that 5,000 Germans were buried in one mass grave. 7. The Liberation of Paris, led by the 2nd Free French Armored Division, which had been fighting for four long years with this goal in mind.

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The second book in The Sun Chronicles trilogy, a galactic-scale, gender-swapped space opera series inspired by the life of Alexander the Great. Shrewd, brutal, relentless and patient, Queen-Marshal Eirene has led the Republic of Chaonia from the brink of annihilation to the edge of victory. One by one, her enemies have fallen in defeat, and now she is ready to push her battle-hardened fleets into territories long controlled by the mighty Phene Empire. But her victories are not without cost. The Republic has endured decades of conflict, with factions simmering beneath the surface, waiting for their chance to boil. The Phene know this. While they might not be able to defeat the Queen-Marshal in open battle, there are other ways to strike back. And on the eve of Eirene’s attack on the rich and populous Karnos System, they will. In the aftermath, Eirene’s daughter, Princess Sun, will face her greatest challenge yet. Can she escape her mother’s shadow and forge her own legend, despite all that’s arrayed against her? Reviews for the Sun Chronicles: 'Epic starship battles, court intrigue and Machiavellian betrayals' Guardian 'Enthralling, edge-of-your-seat stuff hurtling along at warp speed' Kirkus 'Not only is this action-packed with fascinating women characters, there is very inventive world-building and twisty turny political scheming' Book Riot 'Non-stop action! Space battles! Intrigue! This is the kind of space opera that I love best – but Elliott does it even better' Ann Leckie 'Breathtaking and mindblowingly good' Aliette de Bodard

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A 'cult' band with a mass following, the band's last five albums have made the top 30 in the UK. Still active, recording and touring. Completely unique - no other band mixes progressive rock, metal and jazz in the same way. There has never been - and never will be - another band like Opeth. Formed in Stockholm, Sweden circa 1989, their roughly thirty-year career showcases a melding of diverse influences; a prevailing commitment to songwriting and instrumental excellence; and unwaveringly chameleonic vision - no matter the cost - that's unmatched by any of their stylistic peers. Be it their most unashamedly brutal early LPs, their multifaceted and near-faultless mid-period opuses, or their somewhat polarizing recent glimpses into macabre 1970s-esque prog/jazz rock eccentricity, mastermind Mikael Akerfeldt and company continuously create records that push themselves, their audience, and progressive music as a whole, forward. The result is easily among the most extraordinary, dependable, and laudable legacies in modern metal. Using a meticulously crafted mixture of original analysis and behind-the-scenes research, this book digs into all facets of Opeth's output to discover how they innovated and evolved with practically every release. After all, each 'observation' - from their 1990s black metal classics (Morningrise and My Arms, Your Hearse) and 2000s progressive death metal masterpieces (Blackwater Park and Ghost Reveries) to their stunning progressive rock/jazz fusion excursions of the 2010s (Pale Communion and In Cauda Venenum) - found Opeth ceaselessly harvesting a one-of-a-kind catalogue that's still remarkably influential and impressive

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Bikepacking is the off-road equivalent of cycle touring, often offering opportunities for wild camping in addition to the usual accommodation options for sleeping under a roof: it promises an unparalleled opportunity to immerse yourself in the environment as you explore the best of what the area has to offer on two wheels. This guide presents eight challenging 2–5 day rides in the Lake District, suitable for mountain bikes (some routes are also rideable on a gravel bike). All routes are accessible by public transport and many can be completed over a long weekend. They are graded from Moderate to Very Hard, although all involve considerable ascent and descent and sections where you may need to push or carry your bike – as such, they are suited to fit experienced riders. Clear route description, mapping and elevation profiles are supplemented with a wealth of planning information, including accommodation listings, notes on facilities, and summary details (including grades) for each individual section of the route. Also included are tips on food, kit and navigation and alternative itineraries. The routes combine roads, tracks, lanes and bridleways to take you among, around and over the Lakeland Fells, with highlights including the iconic road climbs of Hardknott, Wrynose, Whinlatter and Honister; the off-road passes of Sticks Pass, Stake Pass and Black Sail; and the highest bridleway in England over Helvellyn, England's third highest mountain. The guide also features the classic Lakeland 200, which can be ridden over 5 days or completed as an Individual Time Trial.

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How scientists through the ages have conducted thought experiments using imaginary entities—demons—to test the laws of nature and push the frontiers of what is possible Science may be known for banishing the demons of superstition from the modern world. Yet just as the demon-haunted world was being exorcized by the enlightening power of reason, a new kind of demon mischievously materialized in the scientific imagination itself. Scientists began to employ hypothetical beings to perform certain roles in thought experiments—experiments that can only be done in the imagination—and these impish assistants helped scientists achieve major breakthroughs that pushed forward the frontiers of science and technology.Spanning four centuries of discovery—from René Descartes, whose demon could hijack sensorial reality, to James Clerk Maxwell, whose molecular-sized demon deftly broke the second law of thermodynamics, to Darwin, Einstein, Feynman, and beyond—Jimena Canales tells a shadow history of science and the demons that bedevil it. She reveals how the greatest scientific thinkers used demons to explore problems, test the limits of what is possible, and better understand nature. Their imaginary familiars helped unlock the secrets of entropy, heredity, relativity, quantum mechanics, and other scientific wonders—and continue to inspire breakthroughs in the realms of computer science, artificial intelligence, and economics today.The world may no longer be haunted as it once was, but the demons of the scientific imagination are alive and well, continuing to play a vital role in scientists' efforts to explore the unknown and make the impossible real.

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Frances is in a new house in a new neighbourhood and going to a new school, but no amount of new can make her forget the old, sad secret dragging at her heart. Not the pictures of bacteria that she draws with painstaking precision, not even Picasso, the puppy with the long soft ears and the cute black circle like a target on his bottom. Then Frances meets Kit, the tall, quiet boy with the two-coloured eyes. Kit is a real artist. His coloured pencils fill page after page of exercise books. He sees wonder in the rocks and ferns and sky. Though Kit has worries of his own.But when secrets are spilled, Frances's life turns grey and drab. Not even Picasso's wet nose can brighten her up. Frances and Kit will need to face the truth of their pasts to find colour in their world again. After all, don't the most brilliant sunsets need a cloudy sky?A beautiful novel about finding the remarkable in the ordinary and celebrating the wonder of every day, from the award-winning author of Borrowed Light. 'Marvellous, mind-opening, and deeply moving. The best book yet from this irresistible author.' Morris Gleitzman 'A beautifully written novel that encompasses such big things ... Frances, Kit and Picasso will stay with me for quite a while.' Karen Foxlee 'I loved this book with my whole heart. It's truly beautiful. And a gift to readers, young and old.' Maryam Master'Push this into the hands of anyone who loved Storm Boy or Lenny's Book of Everything.' Books+Publishing

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An uncensored account of the obstacles and triumphs of a mixed-race relationship during the biggest civil rights movement in history.'An illuminating book that will challenge what you think you know about relationships, cultural diversity and race.' Professor Olivette Otele'A must read book that will change the way we see mixed race couples and make us question our own entrenched beliefs.' Melissa Fleming, award-winning author of A Hope More Powerful than the SeaGrowing up Black in America, Tineka Smith knew she had to behave in a certain way because of the colour of her skin. She faced restrictions imposed upon her by an unfair system; don't talk back to White people, expect to be stopped by the police and work twice as hard as your White peers.Alex Court, a White British man, moved through his life in a very different way. As someone with White and male privilege he saw himself represented in every field of life and so he always had the confidence to excel and push forward.When Tineka and Alex first fell in love, they didn't realise how much the colour of their skin might impact on their relationship. But as time went on, and as their lives and cultures became interwoven, they recognised how dramatically different their experiences were. In Mixed Up, Tineka and Alex open up about their interracial relationship for the first time, and with anecdotes, analysis and raw revelations, the pair attempt to navigate their new and challenging world, confronting race and relationships in the 21st century head on.

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THE HOLIDAYS ARE OVER. IT'S TIME TO BECOME AN ASS-KICKING, GETS-THINGS-DONE SUPERWOMAN WITH RUN FAT BITCH RUN.'You'll be up and running in no time' Grazia'Ruth is an inspiring running buddy' Daily ExpressIs there a large arse-shaped dent in your sofa? An eye-wateringly expensive (and rarely used) gym membership burning a hole in your bank account? Does the sight of your wobbly thighs leave you cowering under the duvet?Then it's time you face the truth: if you want to lose weight and get fit there's only one thing left to do . . . RUN!Funny and brutally honest, Ruth Field and her straight-talking alter-ego The Grit Doctor will give you - yes, you - the push you need to start pounding the pavements and shedding pounds in no time.* Locate your inner grit and long-lost energy with a foolproof beginners' programme * Enjoy carbs without guilt with The Grit Doctor's tasty and nutritious recipes* Includes marathon training plan to transform you from casual jogger to elite(ish) athleteReaders LOVE Run Fat Bitch Run:'Exactly what I needed! I am now running regularly and have recently run a 10K' 'A must for anyone thinking they missed their New Year's fitness resolution!' 'Awesome, funny and real' 'Reading this book has kept me motivated and focused. Whenever I get the 'I'll go tomorrow' attitude, my inner bitch reminds me that tomorrow never comes' 'So good I bought a second one for a friend. We'll be running a marathon in no time!'

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NED BEAUMAN HAS BEEN NAMED AS ONE OF GRANTA MAGAZINE'S BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTS 2013LONGLISTED FOR THE 2012 MAN BOOKER PRIZEAN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEARA DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEARAN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEARThe fantastically inventive, ingenious and hilarious second novel from Ned Beauman, author of the acclaimed and prizewinning BOXER, BEETLE.HISTORY HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE HUNGOVERWhen you haven't had sex in a long time, it feels like the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone.If you're living in Germany in the 1930s, it probably isn't.But that's no consolation to Egon Loeser, whose carnal misfortunes will push him from the experimental theatres of Berlin to the absinthe bars of Paris to the physics laboratories of Los Angeles, trying all the while to solve two mysteries: whether it was really a deal with Satan that claimed the life of his hero, the great Renaissance stage designer Adriano Lavicini; and why a handsome, clever, charming, modest guy like him can't, just once in a while, get himself laid.From the author of the acclaimed BOXER, BEETLE comes a historical novel that doesn't know what year it is; a noir novel that turns all the lights on; a romance novel that arrives drunk to dinner; a science fiction novel that can't remember what 'isotope' means; a stunningly inventive, exceptionally funny, dangerously unsteady and (largely) coherent novel about sex, violence, space, time, and how the best way to deal with history is to ignore it.LET'S HOPE THE PARTY WAS WORTH IT

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English File's unique, lively and enjoyable lessons are renowned for getting students talking.Advanced Plus is for higher-level students who want to push the boundaries of their English learning. Advanced Plus is a genuine step-up from the Advanced level, providing students with new, more challenging input with a focus on concepts such as finer shades of meaning, using language flexibly, more abstract and complex topics and an appreciation of humour. This Advanced Plus Workbook with key is suitable for CEFR language level C1+.Key Features:Relevant, entertaining and authentic content with a clear structure that challenges students.Video listening activity is integrated in to each even-numbered File. These short documentaries and dramas make class time more dynamic and exciting.The conversation feature allows students to observe authentic, unscripted conversations in English and learn and practise features of natural conversation to express their own ideas.Advanced Plus helps students develop relevant skills for higher-level exams, including practice activities in the Revise and Check sections and exams skills development in Writing sections. Further skills development available in 'Use of English' activities in the Workbook and on Online Practice.Online Practice provides students with learning tools and longer listening and reading texts to further challenge them at this level outside of class.Teacher's Resource Centre allows teachers to manage all English File resources and teaching materials in one place online.Classroom Presentation Tool shows the course content on screen, with interactive features making it easier than ever for teachers to deliver heads-up, engaging lessons.

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In Brainhacker, you’ll learn how to “rewire” your brain and boost its power. David Farrow, author of The Farrow Method, helps you get inside your own head and call the shots, with concrete exercises and tips to train your brain to work for you. These tricks can instantly boost your memory, improve your reading speed, help you push away pain, and form life-changing habits that actually last - with techniques as simple as a hand movement or a little bit of imagination. Farrow speaks from personal experience. His unlikely journey from underachieving kid with ADHD and dyslexia to winner of multiple Guinness World Records for memorization is proof that training your brain really works - and can unlock hidden potential. Brainhacker pairs Farrow’s unique, tried-and-true methods with his own story, following his path to success as he searched for solutions to overcome his struggles with focus, memory, sleep, anxiety, self-esteem, and more. On average, we waste 40 days of the year compensating for our bad memory. Many of us suffer from insomnia, stress, and chronic pain. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge surge in the already-huge number of people suffering from burnout and mental health problems. But all of this, from memory to ADHD symptoms to sleep problems, can be transformed with the simple hacks you’ll find in these pages. If you’re ready to tap into the full power of your brain, Brainhacker is your all-in-one guide to hacking into your brain - and making it as powerful as it can be.

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This new, sophisticated, comprehensive reference book will inspire and instruct painters on how to handle today's acrylics in innovative and individualistic ways. Acrylics have grown into the most adaptable art material for the modern age. Developments in the pigment industry have given acrylics a remarkably permanent, rich, and abundant palette, making it the favorite medium of many contemporary artists. As colors are being developed, their chemical components are also enhanced for better texture and handling. Art-supplies vendors now offer acrylic mediums for thinning, thickening, glazing, molding, pouring, texturing, and dozens of other uses. Even experienced acrylic painters can be confused - even intimidated - by this staggering diversity of products. Painter and art materials expert Rhéni Tauchid simplifies this daunting subject, clearly explaining each type of medium and suggesting ways it can enhance your painting practice. Over twenty step-by-step demonstrations teach you how to apply mediums to create vibrant colors, sensuous surfaces, and striking visual effects. Hundreds of beautiful photos illustrate mediums’ almost limitless potential and show you how other artists - both abstract and realist - are employing mediums to push their art in new creative directions. The first book of its kind, this essential reference belongs on every acrylic painter’s shelf. Includes the Work of Contemporary Masters: Nick Bantock, Diane Black, Bruno Capolongo, Pauline Conley, Marc Courtemanche, Marie-Claude Delcourt, Claire Desjardins, Marion Fischer, Heather Haynes, Lorena Kloosterboer, Suzy Lamont, Marie Lannoo, Connie Morris, Barry Oretsky, Lori Richards, Hester Simpson, Ksenia Sizaya, Rhéni Tauchid, Alice Teichert, Beth ten Hove, Sharlena Wood, and Heather Midori Yamada."

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The searing, wry memoir about a woman’s fight for a new life after a devastating brain injury. When Sarah Vallance is thrown from a horse and suffers a jarring blow to the head, she believes she’s walked away unscathed. The next morning, things take a sharp turn as she’s led from work to the emergency room. By the end of the week, a neurologist delivers a devastating prognosis: Sarah suffered a traumatic brain injury that has caused her IQ to plummet, with no hope of recovery. Her brain has irrevocably changed. Afraid of judgment and deemed no longer fit for work, Sarah isolates herself from the outside world. She spends months at home, with her dogs as her only source of companionship, battling a personality she no longer recognizes and her shock and rage over losing simple functions she’d taken for granted. Her life is consumed by fear and shame until a chance encounter gives Sarah hope that her brain can heal. That conversation lights a small flame of determination, and Sarah begins to push back, painstakingly reteaching herself to read and write, and eventually reentering the workforce and a new, if unpredictable, life. In this highly intimate account of devastation and renewal, Sarah pulls back the curtain on life with traumatic brain injury, an affliction where the wounds are invisible and the lasting effects are often misunderstood. Over years of frustrating setbacks and uncertain triumphs, Sarah comes to terms with her disability and finds love with a woman who helps her embrace a new, accepting sense of self.

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Anthony Barne started his diary in August 1939 as a young, recently-married captain in the Royal Dragoons stationed in Palestine. He wrote an entry for every day of the war, often with great difficulty, sometimes when dog-tired or under fire, and sometimes when things looked black and desperate, but more often in sunshine and optimism, surrounded by good fellows who kept one cheerful and helped one through the sad and difficult times'. His diary ends in July 1945, by which time he was commanding officer of the 4th Hussars, having recently visited Downing Street for lunch alone with the Churchills. The diaries have an enormous scope covering time in Palestine and Egypt before he joins the Eighth Army, describing the retreat back to El Alamein, the battle and its aftermath. He ends the campaign commanding his regiment. He often graphically details the physical realities of war: the appalling conditions in the desert, the bombardments of the regiment from the air, the deaths and serious injuries of fellow soldiers. In 1943, he flies down to Rhodesia to see his wife and infant son before returning to Cairo to join Churchill's regiment, the 4th Hussars. Arriving in Italy in 1944, he recounts the campaign as the Allies push north. The tone of the diaries varies wildly: often witty, sometimes outrageous but also poignant and philosophical. The voice and attitudes are entertainingly dated, but are delivered with warmth, a charming turn of phrase and a keen eye for the absurd.

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Something dramatic happened in the late summer and autumn of 2008. The post-Cold War world came to an abrupt end. This was the result of two conjoined crises. First, in its brief war with Georgia in August 2008, Russia asserted its military power to halt the expansion of NATO to its very borders. Secondly, on 15 September 2008 the Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. This precipitated a severe financial crash and helped to push the world economy into the worst slump since the 1930s. Both crises marked a severe setback for the global power of the United States, which had driven NATO expansion and forced through the liberalization of financial markets. More broadly they challenged the consensus that had reigned since the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989 that a US-orchestrated liberal capitalist order could offer the world peace and prosperity. Already badly damaged by the Iraq debacle, this consensus has now suffered potentially fatal blows. In Bonfire of Illusions Alex Callinicos explores these twin crises. He traces the credit crunch that developed in 2007-8 to a much more protracted crisis of overaccumulation and profitability that has gripped global capitalism since the late 1960s. He also confronts the interaction between economic and geopolitical events, highlighting the new assertiveness of nation-states and analysing the tense, complex relationship of interdependence and conflict that binds together the US and China. Finally, in response to the revelation that the market is not the solution to the world's problems, Callinicos reviews the prospects for alternatives to capitalism.

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Winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing'Reading this book might make you wish to set fire to your smartphone, but it might also make you wish to call for reform. If you do the latter you might consider the former, as long as that thing is on, they know where you live.' Margaret Atwood How to comprehend and correct the negative impact of the internet on politics, the economy, the environment and humanity? Reset is a fast-paced, compelling expose; and a rallying call for clear change. Drawing on the cutting-edge research of the Citizen Lab, the world-renowned digital security research group he founded, Ronald J. Deibert exposes the influence of the communications ecosystem on civil society. He tracks a mostly unregulated surveillance industry, innovations in technologies of remote control, superpower policing practices, dark PR firms and highly profitable hack-for-hire services feeding off rivers of poorly secured personal data. He also unearths how dependence on social media and its expanding universe of consumer electronics creates immense pressure on the natural environment.  Determined to find solutions, Deibert has written a unique, readable and forward-looking book. In order to combat authoritarian practices, environmental degradation and rampant electronic consumerism, Deibert urges for very specific restraints on tech platforms and governments to reclaim the internet for civil society. It's time for us to push RESET. 'Deibert is a rare hybrid who combines an advanced understanding of computer technology with a rich background in political science. He is also a legend in security and tech circles.' Misha Glenny

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* THE TIMES BOOK CLUB STAR PICK * * A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH * * A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK * 'Chilling and compelling' - THE SUN 'Turns a traditional crime plot to very modern effect' - SUNDAY TIMES 'Brilliant - creepily atmospheric and incredibly tense' - HARRIET TYCE THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST REALITY SHOW. A PRIZE WORTH KILLING FOR... Frozen Out is set to be a TV sensation. On a small ship off the coast of Greenland, six contestants will push themselves to breaking point for a £100,000 prize. The show is Tori Matsuka's baby. After years working her way up the ladder, she's finally launching her own production company and everything is riding on the show. For camerawoman Dee, it's a chance to start again after the tragedy that tanked her undercover journalism career. But as errors and mishaps mount on set, tempers among the cast and crew start to fray. And when one of the contestants is found dead, only Dee realises that the death wasn't natural - and from what she's seen from behind the camera, it won't be the last. As the Arctic ice closes in and all chance of escape is cut off, one thing becomes clear: although the world outside wants them dead, it's the secrets inside the ship that might cost them their lives... Packed with suspense from the first page to the last, Freeze is a must-read for fans of Shiver, The Sanatorium and One By One. This thriller isn't just chilling: it's sub-zero.

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It's time to outsmart your worry and anxiety. Drawing on the same cutting-edge psychology presented in author David Carbonell's The Worry Trick, this irreverent, on-the-go guide offers ten powerful"counter-intuitive" strategies to help you put worry in its place-anytime, anywhere.Anxiety is a powerful force. It makes us question our decisions and ourselves, worry about the future, and it fills our days with dread and emotional turbulence. But what if we understood that anxiety is merely a trick of the mind, trying to convince us we're in danger? Anxiety is like a magician behind the curtain, playing subtle tricks on us to convince us that we're in danger when we're not. When we understand this, we can observe our anxious feelings with some distance.Based on the author's popular book, The Worry Trick, this helpful and humorous guide identifies the "trick" of chronic anxiety, and provides the ten most powerful techniques based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help you respond differently to panic, anxiety, worry, and phobias. Once you learn to respond differently to the worry trick, you'll be able to break the cycle of chronic anxiety forgood.Instead of trying to "manage" your anxiety or push anxious thoughts away-techniques that you've probably already discovered don't work-the ten powerful strategies outlined in this guide will empower you to actually change how you respond to worry and anxiety, so you can get your life back!

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A vibrantly illustrated biography about visionary artist Christo, encouraging creativity, perseverance, and appreciating the beauty all around usChristo (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009) are renowned for their large-scale, ambitious art installations that wrapped landmarks and swaths of land in fabric, including Berlin’s Wrapped Reichstag, Paris’s The Pont Neuf Wrapped, and concluding with New York City’s The Gates in Central Park (2005). This lively biography chronicles Christo's humble childhood in Soviet-controlled Bulgaria—under a regime that suppressed individuality and creativity—to his international fame as a bold (and controversial) innovator in the art world. Christo discovered an early love of art and found a way to make a living out of his passion by wrapping bottles, cans, stacks of magazines, and even an air conditioner. When he met his wife, Jeanne-Claude, they moved to New York City as undocumented immigrants and became equal partners in both life and work—he, the artist, and she, the dealmaker. Together, Christo and Jeanne-Claude made elaborate, visually stunning installations that transformed public spaces around the world, all free to the public. Christo never explained why he felt compelled to wrap things in fabric—rather, his work celebrated individual interpretation and the simple joy of seeing something familiar in a new way. And though each work was temporary, their awe-inspiring designs, uniting nature with the manmade, stayed with viewers long afterward. Covered in Color inspires readers to appreciate the beauty around us, however fleeting, and to push the boundaries of "possible."

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The first decade of the 21st century saw a remarkable number of large-scale disasters. Earthquakes in Haiti and Sumatra underscored the serious economic consequences that catastrophic events can have on developing countries, while 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina showed that first world nations remain vulnerable. The Social Roots of Risk argues against the widespread notion that cataclysmic occurrences are singular events, driven by forces beyond our control. Instead, Kathleen Tierney contends that disasters of all types—be they natural, technological, or economic—are rooted in common social and institutional sources. Put another way, risks and disasters are produced by the social order itself—by governing bodies, organizations, and groups that push for economic growth, oppose risk-reducing regulation, and escape responsibility for tremendous losses when they occur. Considering a wide range of historical and looming events—from a potential mega-earthquake in Tokyo that would cause devastation far greater than what we saw in 2011, to BP's accident history prior to the 2010 blowout—Tierney illustrates trends in our behavior, connecting what seem like one-off events to illuminate historical patterns. Like risk, human resilience also emerges from the social order, and this book makes a powerful case that we already have a significant capacity to reduce the losses that disasters produce. A provocative rethinking of the way that we approach and remedy disasters, The Social Roots of Risk leaves readers with a better understanding of how our own actions make us vulnerable to the next big crisis—and what we can do to prevent it.

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In Underground, Volume 1, Karim Yun, a biracial taekwondo fighter, pits his skills against New York’s most brutal underground martial artists.Seeking revenge against the violent gang who attacked him and ended his Olympic dreams, he’s determined to battle every colorful combatant in his path. His only obstacle is the illness brought about by the violent attack, which could kill Karim if he becomes too reckless—serving as his conscience is his nurse, who is trying to push him into changing his lifestyle but is learning more about the danger and the allure of secret mixed martial arts contests. Created by black belt martial artist JR De Bard, this sports manga provides a detailed look into the world of underground fight clubs. Exploring fighters from various disciplines with realistic tactics and movements will thrill and educate readers. Underground is rated OT for Older Teen, recommended for ages 16 and up for language and bloody, stylized violence. Saturday AM, the world’s most diverse manga-inspired comics, are now presented in a new format! Introducing Saturday AM TANKS, the new graphic novel format similar to Japanese Tankobons where we collect the global heroes and artists of Saturday AM. These handsome volumes have select color pages, revised artwork, and innovative post-credit scenes that help bring new life to our popular BIPOC, LGBTQ, and/or culturally diverse characters. Join in even more adventures with the other action-packed Saturday AM TANKS series:Apple Black, Clock Striker, Gunhild, Hammer, Henshin!, The Massively Multiplayer World of Ghosts, Oblivion Rouge, Saigami, Soul Beat, Titan King, and Yellow Stringer.

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After forty years of largely cooperative Sino-U.S. relations, policymakers, politicians, and pundits on both sides of the Pacific see growing tensions between the United States and China. Some go so far as to predict a future of conflict, driven by the inevitable rivalry between an established and a rising power, and urge their leaders to prepare now for a future showdown. Others argue that the deep economic interdependence between the two countries and the many areas of shared interests will lead to more collaborative relations in the coming decades. In this book, James Steinberg and Michael O'Hanlon stake out a third, less deterministic position. They argue that there are powerful domestic and international factors, especially in the military and security realms, that could well push the bilateral relationship toward an arms race and confrontation, even though both sides will be far worse off if such a future comes to pass. They contend that this pessimistic scenario can be confidently avoided only if China and the United States adopt deliberate policies designed to address the security dilemma that besets the relationship between a rising and an established power. The authors propose a set of policy proposals to achieve a sustainable, relatively cooperative relationship between the two nations, based on the concept of providing mutual strategic reassurance in such key areas as nuclear weapons and missile defense, space and cyber operations, and military basing and deployments, while also demonstrating strategic resolve to protect vital national interests, including, in the case of the United States, its commitments to regional allies.

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How do terrorist groups control their members? Do the tools groups use to monitor their operatives and enforce discipline create security vulnerabilities that governments can exploit? The Terrorist's Dilemma is the first book to systematically examine the great variation in how terrorist groups are structured. Employing a broad range of agency theory, historical case studies, and terrorists' own internal documents, Jacob Shapiro provocatively discusses the core managerial challenges that terrorists face and illustrates how their political goals interact with the operational environment to push them to organize in particular ways. Shapiro provides a historically informed explanation for why some groups have little hierarchy, while others resemble miniature firms, complete with line charts and written disciplinary codes. Looking at groups in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, he highlights how consistent and widespread the terrorist's dilemma--balancing the desire to maintain control with the need for secrecy--has been since the 1880s. Through an analysis of more than a hundred terrorist autobiographies he shows how prevalent bureaucracy has been, and he utilizes a cache of internal documents from al-Qa'ida in Iraq to outline why this deadly group used so much paperwork to handle its people. Tracing the strategic interaction between terrorist leaders and their operatives, Shapiro closes with a series of comparative case studies, indicating that the differences in how groups in the same conflict approach their dilemmas are consistent with an agency theory perspective. The Terrorist's Dilemma demonstrates the management constraints inherent to terrorist groups and sheds light on specific organizational details that can be exploited to more efficiently combat terrorist activity.

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In the post-Cold War era, why has democratization been slow to arrive in the Arab world? This book argues that to understand support for the authoritarian status quo in parts of this region--and the willingness of its citizens to compromise on core democratic principles--one must factor in how a strong U.S. presence and popular anti-Americanism weakens democratic voices. Examining such countries as Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, Amaney Jamal explores how Arab citizens decide whether to back existing regimes, regime transitions, and democratization projects, and how the global position of Arab states shapes people's attitudes toward their governments. While the Cold War's end reduced superpower hegemony in much of the developing world, the Arab region witnessed an increased security and economic dependence on the United States. As a result, the preferences of the United States matter greatly to middle-class Arab citizens, not just the elite, and citizens will restrain their pursuit of democratization, rationalizing their backing for the status quo because of U.S. geostrategic priorities. Demonstrating how the preferences of an international patron serve as a constraint or an opportunity to push for democracy, Jamal questions bottom-up approaches to democratization, which assume that states are autonomous units in the world order. Jamal contends that even now, with the overthrow of some autocratic Arab regimes, the future course of Arab democratization will be influenced by the perception of American reactions. Concurrently, the United States must address the troubling sources of the region's rising anti-Americanism.

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In 1913, the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston admitted its first patient, Mary Agnes Turner, who suffered from varicose veins in her legs. The surgical treatment she received, under ether anesthesia, was the most advanced available at the time. At the same hospital fifty years later, Nicholas Tilney—then a second-year resident—assisted in the repair of a large aortic aneurysm. The cutting-edge diagnostic tools he used to evaluate the patient’s condition would soon be eclipsed by yet more sophisticated apparatus, including minimally invasive approaches and state-of-the-art imaging technology, which Tilney would draw on in pioneering organ transplant surgery and becoming one of its most distinguished practitioners.In Invasion of the Body, Tilney tells the story of modern surgery and the revolutions that have transformed the field: anesthesia, prevention of infection, professional standards of competency, pharmaceutical advances, and the present turmoil in medical education and health care reform. Tilney uses as his stage the famous Boston teaching hospital where he completed his residency and went on to practice (now called Brigham and Women's). His cast of characters includes clinicians, support staff, trainees, patients, families, and various applied scientists who push the revolutions forward.While lauding the innovations that have brought surgeons' capabilities to heights undreamed of even a few decades ago, Tilney also previews a challenging future, as new capacities to prolong life and restore health run headlong into unsustainable costs. The authoritative voice he brings to the ancient tradition of surgical invasion will be welcomed by patients, practitioners, and policymakers alike.

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Seeking to historicize the 2007-2009 Great Recession, this volume of essays situates the current economic crisis and its impact on workers in the context of previous abrupt shifts in the modern-day capitalist marketplace. Contributors use examples from industrialized North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia to demonstrate how workers and states have responded to those shifts and to their disempowering effects on labor. Since the Industrial Revolution, contributors argue, factors such as race, sex, and state intervention have mediated both the effect of economic depressions on workers' lives and workers' responses to those depressions. Contributors also posit a varying dynamic between political upheaval and economic crises, and between workers and the welfare state.The volume ends with an examination of today's "Great Recession": its historical distinctiveness, its connection to neoliberalism, and its attendant expressions of worker status and agency around the world. A sobering conclusion lays out a likely future for workers--one not far removed from the instability and privation of the nineteenth century.The essays in this volume offer up no easy solutions to the challenges facing today's workers. Nevertheless, they make clear that cogent historical thinking is crucial to understanding those challenges, and they push us toward a rethinking of the relationship between capital and labor, the waged and unwaged, and the employed and jobless.Contributors are Sven Beckert, Sean Cadigan, Leon Fink, Alvin Finkel, Wendy Goldman, Gaetan Heroux, Joseph A. McCartin, David Montgomery, Edward Montgomery, Scott Reynolds Nelson, Melanie Nolan, Bryan D. Palmer, Joan Sangster, Judith Stein, Hilary Wainright, and Lu Zhang.

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In 1974, the Hughes Glomar Explorer, ostensibly an advanced deep-sea mining vessel owned by reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, lowered a claw-like contraption to the floor of the Pacific Ocean. This high-tech venture was only a cover story for an even more improbable scheme: a CIA mission to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine. Like a Jules Verne novel with an Ian Fleming twist, the saga of the Glomar Explorer features underwater espionage, impossible gadgetry, and high-stakes international drama. It also marks a key moment in the history of transparency—and not just for what became known as the Glomar response: “We can neither confirm nor deny. . . . ”M. Todd Bennett plumbs the depths of government secrecy in this new account of the Glomar mission and its consequences. Trawling through recently declassified documents, he explores the logistics, media fallout, and geopolitical significance of one of the most ambitious operations in intelligence history. Glomar, Bennett argues, played a pivotal but underappreciated role in helping the CIA ward off oversight amid a push for transparency and accountability. He reframes the operation’s history to offer an alternative perspective on the 1970s, a decade known for expansive openness, as well as the persistent tension between the demands of democracy and the need for secrecy in foreign policy. Combining keen historical analysis and gripping storytelling, Neither Confirm nor Deny brings to the surface fresh insights into the history of the security state, the politics of intelligence, and the CIA’s relationship with the media and the public.

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The path from Moscow to Stalingrad was littered with successes and losses for both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht, with tensions remaining high and culminating in one of the harshest battles of the Second World War. Part of the Casemate Illustrated series, this volume outlines how it was that, less than a year after their defeat at Moscow, the German army had found a way to make the Soviet troops waver in their defence, with their persistence eventually leading to the Battle of Stalingrad.The successful expulsion of the German troops from Moscow in the winter of 1941 came at a cost for the Red Army. Weaknesses in the Soviet camp inspired the Wehrmacht, under Adolf Hitler’s close supervision, to make preparations for offensives along the Eastern Front to push the Russians further and further back into their territory. With a complex set of new tactics and the crucial aid of the Luftwaffe, the German army began to formulate a deadly two-pronged attack on Stalingrad to reduce the city to rubble.Initially only on the periphery of operations, bit by bit German ambitions focused on Stalingrad. In the lead up to this, Timoshenko’s failed attack on Kharkov followed by the Battle of Sebastopol in June 1942 prompted Operation Blue, the German campaign to advance east on their prized objective. This volume includes numerous photographs of the ships, planes, tanks, trucks, and weaponry used by both sides in battle, alongside detailed maps and text outlining the constantly changing strategies of the armies as events unfolded.

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Deeply personal essays probing the lingering legacies of the southern social divide In Written in the Sky: Lessons of a Southern Daughter, Patricia Foster presents a double portrait of place and family, a book of deeply personal essays that interrogate the legacy of racial tensions in the South, the constriction of caste and gender, and the ways race, class, and white privilege are entwined in her family story. After interviewing girls at Booker T. Washington High School in Tuskegee, Alabama, visiting the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, and exploring Africatown in Plateau, Alabama, Patricia Foster was moved to reflect on the racial scars and crossroads in her southern past as well as to reckon with the intimate places of her own wounding and grief. The story of place, she discovers, emerges not only from family histories and cultural traditions but also from wrestling with a culture’s irreconcilable ideas: the hard push to determine what matters. What matters to her are the shadow stories beneath our mythologies, the complicated and radiant narratives that must be excavated and reckoned with, stories that have no neat or binary resolution, stories full of luminous moments and riveting facts, and stories where the secrets hide. Written in the Sky presents the best of nonfiction storytelling: searingly honest portraits, dramatic encounters, and lyrical narratives that will interest teachers and students as well as social justice advocates, policymakers, and readers compelled by stories of awakening and the white-hot beauty of language.

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The first half of the 1970s was an especially fertile period for British progressive rock laying claim to classics such as ÊTarkusÊ ÊSelling England by the PoundÊ ÊLarks' Tongues in AspicÊ ÊThe Dark Side of the MoonÊ and ÊThick as a BrickÊ. Collectively these and other works represent the best British progressive rock had to offer. Yet it's Yes's 1972 three-track masterpiece ÊClose to the EdgeÊ that presents a snapshot of an adventurous rock band at the peak of its powers daring to push itself musically both as individuals and as a unit. In this absorbing chronicle which draws upon dozens of original and archived interviews and features rare photographs and an extensive discography acclaimed music journalist Will Romano examines why ÊClose to the EdgeÊ is the ultimate prog rock album.ÞYes had previously penned epic tracks for ÊThe Yes AlbumÊ and ÊFragileÊ but nothing on the magnitude of the musical gems appearing on ÊClose to the EdgeÊ. It's something of a small miracle ä perhaps even magic ä that the virtuoso quintet crafted such a cohesive and compelling album during an often-hectic recording process that very nearly relegated this monumental work to the dustbin of history. So potent was the power of ÊClose to the EdgeÊ that even before its release it had forever shifted the personal dynamics of the group and the course of progressive rock. Rarely had Yes or any rock outfit for that matter been simultaneously so expansive and concise spiritual and savage profound and nebulous.

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For all readers of Robert Harris, William Boyd and John le Carre, The Suicide Club is a First World War spy thriller set in Occupied Belgium in 1917, and tells the dark, disturbing and untold story of the shadow espionage battle fought behind the lines. Andrew Williams is 'in the front rank of English thriller writers' (Daily Mail) and his novels possess 'a richness of characterisation and intelligence that few thrillers can match' (Sunday Times). August 1917. Britain is mired in bloody stalemate on the Western Front and questions are being asked in government about the leadership of the army. Soldier spy Sandy Innes is summoned from his undercover work in Belgium by the new Secret Service to investigate. Officially transferred to Field Marshal Haig's headquarters in France to prepare agents for the next big push, his secret mission is to spy on Haig's intelligence chiefs. At GHQ, no one is interested in Innes's inside knowledge. Instead, he is attached to an advance assault group dubbed 'The Suicide Club'. His fellow intelligence officers have little faith in the top secret information being fed to Haig by their superior, and as Innes digs deeper he begins to suspect treachery. The stakes could not be higher: the fate of hundreds of thousands of British soldiers.In a tense race against time, against the background of political machinations in government and at GHQ, Innes must survive membership of The Suicide Club, and then risk all by going back behind enemy lines to uncover the truth.

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Interviews with young Muslims in Chicago explore the complexity of identities formed at the crossroads of Islam and hip hop This groundbreaking study of race, religion and popular culture in the 21st century United States focuses on a new concept, “Muslim Cool.” Muslim Cool is a way of being an American Muslim—displayed in ideas, dress, social activism in the ’hood, and in complex relationships to state power. Constructed through hip hop and the performance of Blackness, Muslim Cool is a way of engaging with the Black American experience by both Black and non-Black young Muslims that challenges racist norms in the U.S. as well as dominant ethnic and religious structures within American Muslim communities. Drawing on over two years of ethnographic research, Su'ad Abdul Khabeer illuminates the ways in which young and multiethnic US Muslims draw on Blackness to construct their identities as Muslims. This is a form of critical Muslim self-making that builds on interconnections and intersections, rather than divisions between “Black” and “Muslim.” Thus, by countering the notion that Blackness and the Muslim experience are fundamentally different, Muslim Cool poses a critical challenge to dominant ideas that Muslims are “foreign” to the United States and puts Blackness at the center of the study of American Islam. Yet Muslim Cool also demonstrates that connections to Blackness made through hip hop are critical and contested—critical because they push back against the pervasive phenomenon of anti-Blackness and contested because questions of race, class, gender, and nationality continue to complicate self-making in the United States.

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From the author of New York Times bestsellers Contagious and Invisible Influence comes a revolutionary approach to changing anyone’s mind. Everyone has something they want to change. Marketers want to change their customers’ minds and leaders want to change organisations. Start-ups want to change industries and nonprofits want to change the world. But change is hard. Often, we persuade and pressure and push, but nothing moves. Could there be a better way? This book takes a different approach. Successful change agents know it’s not about pushing harder, or providing more information, it’s about being a catalyst. Catalysts remove roadblocks and reduce the barriers to change. Instead of asking, “How could I change someone’s mind?” they ask a different question: “Why haven’t they changed already? What’s stopping them?”The Catalyst identifies the key barriers to change and how to mitigate them. You’ll learn how catalysts change minds in the toughest of situations: how hostage negotiators get people to come out with their hands up and how marketers get new products to catch on, how leaders transform organisational culture and how activists ignite social movements, how substance abuse counselors get addicts to realise they have a problem and how political campaigners change deeply rooted political beliefs. This book is designed for anyone who wants to catalyse change. It provides a powerful way of thinking and a range of techniques that can lead to extraordinary results. Whether you’re trying to change one person, transform an organisation, or shift the way an entire industry does business, this book will teach you how to become a catalyst.

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An essential resource for managers at every level of any organization A management book written by managers for front-line managers, The Effective Manager, 2nd edition, is a concise, practical, and incisive take on what to do and say to get the best results possible from your co-located or remotely distributed team. The book's concrete advice will improve your relationships with your team members, increase your chances of being promoted, and generate trust amongst those you lead. You'll learn why managing remote teams is so much harder than managing one in a single location and how to meet that challenge head-on. You'll also discover how to introduce your ideas to your team, counter their concerns and pushback, and ensure your instructions are followed. In the place of vague bromides about being "impactful" or "candid," you'll get hands-on guidance on how to behave in the situations that managers find themselves in on a daily basis. The authors also offer: Data- and evidence-driven advice that's been proven to work in the real world over the last 30 years Ground-level, real-world tips on getting the best work out of your team without burning them out Four critical manager behaviors that build success: Know your people, talk about performance, ask for more, and push work down A book for every manager at every level, The Effective Manager shows you what you can do now, today, with your team members to improve their performance, increase personnel retention, and get better results.

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The best minds in positive psychology survey the state of the field Positive Psychology in Practice, Second Edition moves beyond the theoretical to show how positive psychology is being used in real-world settings, and the new directions emerging in the field. An international team of contributors representing the best and brightest in the discipline review the latest research, discuss how the findings are being used in practice, explore new ideas for application, and discuss focus points for future research. This updated edition contains new chapters that explore the intersection between positive psychology and humanistic psychology, salugenesis, hedonism, and eudaimonism, and more, with deep discussion of how the field is integrating with the new areas of self-help, life coaching, social work, rehabilitation psychology, and recovery-oriented service systems. This book explores the challenges and opportunities in the field, providing readers with the latest research and consensus on practical application. Get up to date on the latest research and practice findings Integrate positive psychology into assessments, life coaching, and other therapies Learn how positive psychology is being used in schools Explore possible directions for new research to push the field forward Positive psychology is being used in areas as diverse as clinical, counseling, forensic, health, educational, and industrial/organizational settings, in a wide variety of interventions and applications. Psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to promote human flourishing and well-being will find the second edition of Positive Psychology in Practice to be an informative, comprehensive guide.

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Dive into this treasure trove of offbeat, clever, and endlessly absorbing drawing prompts. The perfect inspirational guided art journal: A rolling pin, a robot, a pickle, a water tower, a hammock, a wasp, a safety pin, a kiss. Some are deceptively simple (just try drawing a bicycle!), some are conceptually mind-bending (sketching the sound of girlish laughter?), and some are refreshingly basic (the only hard thing about drawing an egg is deciding how you want it to be cooked). Hip and helpful, 642 Things to Draw is the perfect inspirational sketchbook, sure to entertain and provoke the imagination of anyone ready to pick up a pencil. • Includes 642 random drawing prompts to spark casual doodling while entertaining the mind. • With a collection of silly, thought-provoking, simple, and complex prompts, this drawing ideas book will push your mind – and pencil – to think outside the box. • While there are no step-by-step, how-to-draw instructions included, you don’t have to be a skilled artist to enjoy the relaxing, stimulating, and entertaining drawing ideas. Budding artists and experienced sketchers alike will find themselves invigorated by this collection of unique and wonderful drawing prompts. 642 Things to Draw is a guided journal that will inspire creativity, energize the mind and stimulate artistry in any aspiring or skilled creator. • Makes a unique gift for artists of any age to expand knowledge and boost creative awareness. • A must-have for anyone who could benefit from an occasional creative brain break that is pure enjoyment.

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'I am alone in the dark, turning the world around in my head as I struggle through another bout of insomnia, another white night in the great American wilderness.' Seventy-two-year-old August Brill is recovering from a car accident in his daughter's house in Vermont. When sleep refuses to come, he lies in bed and tells himself stories, struggling to push back thoughts about things he would rather forget - his wife's recent death and the horrific murder, in Iraq, of his granddaughter's boyfriend, Titus. Brill, a retired book critic, imagines a parallel world in which America is not at war with Iraq but with itself. In this other America the Twin Towers did not fall on 9/11, and the 2000 election results led to secession, as state after state pulled away from the union and a bloody civil war ensued. As the night progresses, Brill's story grows increasingly intense, and what he is so desperately trying to avoid insists on being told. Joined in the early hours by his granddaughter, he gradually opens up to her and recounts another hidden story, this time of his own marriage. After she falls asleep, he at last finds the courage to revisit the trauma of Titus's death.Passionate and shocking, political and personal: Man in the Dark is a novel that reflects the consequences of 9/11, that forces us to confront the blackness of night even as it celebrates the existence of ordinary joys in a world capable of the most grotesque violence.

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How do authoritarian regimes deal with pressure from the international community? China's leaders have been subject to decades of international attention, condemnation, resolutions, boycotts, and sanctions over their treatment of human rights. We assume that hearing about all this pressure will make the public more concerned about human rights, and so regimes like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should do what they can to prevent this from happening. In Hostile Forces, Jamie Gruffydd-Jones argues that while international pressure may indeed embarrass authoritarian leaders on the international stage, it may, in fact, benefit them at home. The targets of human rights pressure, regimes like the Communist Party, are not merely passive recipients, but actors who can proactively shape and deploy that pressure for their own advantage. Taking us through an exploration of the history of the Communist Party's reactions to foreign pressure, from condemnation of Mao's crackdowns in Tibet to outrage at the outbreak of COVID-19, analysis of a novel database drawn from state media archives, as well as multiple survey experiments and hundreds of interviews, Gruffydd-Jones shows that the CCP uses the most 'hostile' pressure strategically - and successfully - to push citizens to view human rights in terms of international geopolitics rather than domestic injustice, and reduce their support for change. The book shines a light on how regimes have learnt to manage, manipulate, and resist foreign pressure on their human rights, and illustrates how support for authoritarian and nationalist policies might grow in the face of a liberal international system.

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For decades, Sharon Steuer and her international WOW! team have been showcasing the world's best artists and designers working in Adobe Illustrator. In this edition of the best-selling and award-winning Illustrator WOW! Book, you'll find hundreds of tips, tricks, and techniques derived from actual projects from top illustrators. You'll discover exciting ways to create complex effects, learn fresh ways to use venerable tools to speed up your workflow, and find updated information on features through the 2019 CC release. This edition is loaded with lessons, technical information, and stunning artwork galleries including: Coloring with Freeform Gradients, Gradients, Mesh Transforming with Puppet Warp Painting and generating artwork with raster brushes Harnessing Live Corners/Rectangles, and new reshaping tools Mastering type effects and controls Creating airbrush and neon effects with gradients on strokes Quickly styling with multiple lines, fills, and effects Creating complex repeating patterns Forming 3D and perspective effects Exploring different ways to globally change artwork Preparing and saving artwork for print and web Using Adobe Illustrator with Adobe Photoshop and other apps Register your book at peachpit.com to download artwork that you can manipulate in Adobe Illustrator, see the “How to use this book” section for details. “This book has the perfect mix of inspiration and instruction–I have yet to find a better motivational tool for using Illustrator to push the envelope and create art that forces people to notice.” MORDY GOLDING, Senior Director of Content, lynda.com “Every Illustrator user should have a copy of the WOW! book. Period.” DAVID BLATNER, co-publisher of CreativePro.com and InDesignSecrets.com

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After the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked, "Well, Doctor, what have we got--a Republic or a Monarchy?" Franklin's response: "A Republic--if you can keep it." This book argues: we couldn't keep it. A true republic privileges the common interest above the special interests. To do this, our Constitution established an elaborate system of checks and balances that separates power among the branches of government, and places them in conflict with one another. The Framers believed that this would keep grasping, covetous factions from acquiring enough power to dominate government. Instead, only the people would rule. Proper institutional design is essential to this system. Each branch must manage responsibly the powers it is granted, as well as rebuke the other branches when they go astray. This is where subsequent generations have run into trouble: we have overloaded our government with more power than it can handle. The Constitution's checks and balances have broken down because the institutions created in 1787 cannot exercise responsibly the powers of our sprawling, immense twenty-first century government. The result is the triumph of special interests over the common interest. James Madison called this factionalism. We know it as political corruption. Corruption today is so widespread that our government is not so much a republic, but rather a special interest democracy. Everybody may participate, yes, but the contours of public policy depend not so much on the common good, but rather the push-and-pull of the various interest groups encamped in Washington, DC.

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Young readers will find action, suspense, and a perilous battle between good and evil in The Hadley Academy for the Improbably Gifted from New York Times bestselling author Conor Grennan. For ages 10 and up, this dystopian fantasy novel follows a boy's unlikely journey to save humanity as he unravels his true identity and the responsibility it comes with.Jack Carlson is dreading a class presentation when he suddenly finds himself transported to the Hadley Academy, a secret institution that tracks teens with unlikely gifts and trains them to protect the world from an unseen squad of killers. But Jack isn't the only one who doesn't know what he's doing at Hadley. Despite indications that he is the one prophesied to end the ancient Reaper War, Jack appears to have no extraordinary abilities.So when dark, mysterious forces grow, Hadley is in a confused panic. Much to everyone's dismay, humanity seems to depend on Jack and his new teammates. Can Hadley's rawest recruits push past personal struggles and enormous doubts, develop their dormant powers, and stop the spreading evil? And are they willing to commit to Hadley's motto, "One Life for Many," and make the ultimate sacrifice? The Hadley Academy for the Improbably Gifted might be just the place for Jack after all.This action-packed novel will captivate readers with its riveting plot, relatable characters, humorous dialogue, and dynamic illustrations. Fans of the Hunger Games, the Chronicles of Narnia, Divergent, Maze Runner, and Rick Riordan's books will find themselves at home in the battle for good at the Hadley Academy.

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Do you want to learn the keys to sales success? Confidence and self-esteem are just a few factors that separates successful salespeople from unsuccessful ones. Let Brian Tracy help you master the art of closing the deal.As one of the top salespeople in the world, Brian Tracy knows the ability to close the sale is the key skill required by all top sales professionals. Fortunately, closing the sale is a skill that can be learned by practicing the closing skills of the highest paid sales leaders in every business.When salespeople follow a proven, step-by-step process, they can get more orders, faster and quicker than before. Through this comprehensive program, Tracy shares more than 50 practical, daily techniques for increasing your confidence in your sales abilities and boosting sales profits.In The Art of Closing the Sale, you will learn: The two major "motivating" factors in closing a sale The three "hot buttons" to push when selling to businesses How to avoid the five simple errors that spell the difference between success and near-success No matter how eloquent or passionate a salesperson you may be, no matter how friendly your smile or likable your personality, if you can't close the sale, your efforts yield nothing.The Art of Closing the Sale teaches skills that anyone can use to transform the sales process into a consistent win. This book is an absolute must-read for every sales professional seeking to boost their career and create a successful future.

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Why has old-age security become less solidaristic and increasingly tied to risky capitalist markets? Drawing on rich archival data that covers more than fifty years of American history, Michael A. McCarthy argues that the critical driver was policymakers' reactions to capitalist crises and their political imperative to promote capitalist growth.Pension development has followed three paths of marketization in America since the New Deal, each distinct but converging: occupational pension plans were adopted as an alternative to real increases in Social Security benefits after World War II, private pension assets were then financialized and invested into the stock market, and, since the 1970s, traditional pension plans have come to be replaced with riskier 401(k) retirement plans. Comparing each episode of change, Dismantling Solidarity mounts a forceful challenge to common understandings of America’s private pension system and offers an alternative political economy of the welfare state. McCarthy weaves together a theoretical framework that helps to explain pension marketization with structural mechanisms that push policymakers to intervene to promote capitalist growth and avoid capitalist crises and contingent historical factors that both drive them to intervene in the particular ways they do and shape how their interventions bear on welfare change. By emphasizing the capitalist context in which policymaking occurs, McCarthy turns our attention to the structural factors that drive policy change. Dismantling Solidarity is both theoretically and historically detailed and superbly argued, urging the reader to reconsider how capitalism itself constrains policymaking. It will be of interest to sociologists, political scientists, historians, and those curious about the relationship between capitalism and democracy.

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Interviews with young Muslims in Chicago explore the complexity of identities formed at the crossroads of Islam and hip hop This groundbreaking study of race, religion and popular culture in the 21st century United States focuses on a new concept, “Muslim Cool.” Muslim Cool is a way of being an American Muslim—displayed in ideas, dress, social activism in the ’hood, and in complex relationships to state power. Constructed through hip hop and the performance of Blackness, Muslim Cool is a way of engaging with the Black American experience by both Black and non-Black young Muslims that challenges racist norms in the U.S. as well as dominant ethnic and religious structures within American Muslim communities. Drawing on over two years of ethnographic research, Su'ad Abdul Khabeer illuminates the ways in which young and multiethnic US Muslims draw on Blackness to construct their identities as Muslims. This is a form of critical Muslim self-making that builds on interconnections and intersections, rather than divisions between “Black” and “Muslim.” Thus, by countering the notion that Blackness and the Muslim experience are fundamentally different, Muslim Cool poses a critical challenge to dominant ideas that Muslims are “foreign” to the United States and puts Blackness at the center of the study of American Islam. Yet Muslim Cool also demonstrates that connections to Blackness made through hip hop are critical and contested—critical because they push back against the pervasive phenomenon of anti-Blackness and contested because questions of race, class, gender, and nationality continue to complicate self-making in the United States.

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During the five full years of his presidency (1964–1968), Lyndon Johnson initiated a breathtaking array of domestic policies and programs, including such landmarks as the Civil Rights Act, Head Start, Food Stamps, Medicare and Medicaid, the Immigration Reform Act, the Water Quality Act, the Voting Rights Act, Social Security reform, and Fair Housing. These and other “Great Society” programs reformed the federal government, reshaped intergovernmental relations, extended the federal government’s role into new public policy arenas, and redefined federally protected rights of individuals to engage in the public sphere. Indeed, to a remarkable but largely unnoticed degree,Johnson’s domestic agenda continues to shape and influence current debates on major issues such as immigration, health care, higher education funding, voting rights, and clean water, even though many of his specific policies and programs have been modified or, in some cases, dismantled since his presidency.LBJ’s Neglected Legacy examines the domestic policy achievements of one of America’s most effective, albeit controversial, leaders. Leading contributors from the fields of history, public administration, economics, environmental engineering, sociology, and urban planning examine twelve of LBJ’s key domestic accomplishments in the areas of citizenship and immigration, social and economic policy, science and technology, and public management. Their findings illustrate the enduring legacy of Johnson’s determination and skill in taking advantage of overwhelming political support in the early years of his presidency to push through an extremely ambitious and innovative legislative agenda, and emphasize the extraordinary range and extent of LBJ’s influence on American public policy and administration.

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