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Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World
by Nick SchouFew stories in the annals of American counterculture are as intriguing or dramatic as that of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love.Dubbed the "Hippie Mafia," the Brotherhood began in the mid-1960s as a small band of peace-loving, adventure-seeking surfers in Southern California. After discovering LSD, they took to Timothy Leary's mantra of "Turn on, tune in, and drop out" and resolved to make that vision a reality by becoming the biggest group of acid dealers and hashish smugglers in the nation, and literally providing the fuel for the psychedelic revolution in the process.Just days after California became the first state in the union to ban LSD, the Brotherhood formed a legally registered church in its headquarters at Mystic Arts World on Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, where they sold blankets and other countercultural paraphernalia retrieved through surfing safaris and road trips to exotic locales in Asia and South America. Before long, they also began to sell Afghan hashish, Hawaiian pot (the storied "Maui Wowie"), and eventually Colombian cocaine, much of which the Brotherhood smuggled to California in secret compartments inside surfboards and Volkswagen minibuses driven across the border.They also befriended Leary himself, enlisting him in the goal of buying a tropical island where they could install the former Harvard philosophy professor and acid prophet as the high priest of an experimental utopia. The Brotherhood's most legendary contribution to the drug scene was homemade: Orange Sunshine, the group's nickname for their trademark orange-colored acid tablet that happened to produce an especially powerful trip. Brotherhood foot soldiers passed out handfuls of the tablets to communes, at Grateful Dead concerts, and at love-ins up and down the coast of California and beyond. The Hell's Angels, Charles Mason and his followers, and the unruly crowd at the infamous Altamont music festival all tripped out on this acid. Jimi Hendrix even appeared in a film starring Brotherhood members and performed a private show for the fugitive band of outlaws on the slope of a Hawaiian volcano.Journalist Nicholas Schou takes us deep inside the Brotherhood, combining exclusive interviews with both the group's surviving members as well as the cops who chased them. A wide-sweeping narrative of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll (and more drugs) that runs from Laguna Beach to Maui to Afghanistan, Orange Sunshine explores how America moved from the era of peace and free love into a darker time of hard drugs and paranoia.
The Weekend: A Novel
by Peter CameronOn a midsummer weekend, in a country house in upstate New York, three friends, Lyle, Marian, and John, gather on the anniversary of the death of John's brother, who was also Lyle's lover. As Tony's absence haunts each of them in different ways, the reunion is complicated by the presence of Lyle's new lover, a much younger man named Robert, and a faux-Italian dinner guest with a penchant for truth telling. As the seemingly idyllic weekend proceeds, each character is stripped bare, and old memories and new desires create a chemistry that will transform them all.
Double Time: How I Survived—and Mostly Thrived—Through the First Three Years of Mothering Twins
by Jane RoperBecoming a mother is rarely what you expect.Jane Roper never expected she'd have twins—or that they'd be such a spirited twosome. She didn't expect that finding the right balance of work and home would be so tricky. And she certainly didn't expect she'd grapple with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder during her daughters' toddler years. But she also didn't anticipate just how much joy, laughter and self-discovery motherhood would bring.Full of warmth, honesty, occasional advice, and a generous helping of humor, Double Time is a smart and engaging account of the first three years with multiples and a refreshingly candid and vulnerable look at clinical depression. It's a memoir that will resonate countless women—especially those parenting in double time.
Stolen in the Night: The True Story of a Family's Murder, a Kidnapping and the Child Who Survived
by Gary C. King***Please note: This ebook edition does not contain the photos found in the print edition.*** Gary C. King's Stolen in the Night is the horrific, grisly true crime account of a child abuser and kidnapperJoseph Duncan had been convicted of raping and torturing a 14-year-old boy in Tacoma, Washington. On the Internet he proudly boasted of his perversions. But the system turned Duncan loose, and no one would stop him from committing an even more horrifying act...This time, he prepared meticulously. He chose his getaway car. He chose his murder weapon and loaded a video camera. Then, when he saw young Shasta and Dylan Groene playing outside their Idaho home, he struck—killing their mother and her boyfriend, and their older brother…and vanishing into the night with Shasta and Dylan. Detectives pored over the bloody murder scene. The FBI scrambled to find the children and the abductor. And even when Duncan was finally located, the story was not yet over: Dylan was still missing…and the depth of one man's evil was still coming horribly to light….
The Preservationist: A Novel
by David Maine"Noe says, -I must build a boat.-A boat, she says.-A ship, more like. I'll need the boys to help, he adds as an afterthought.-We're leagues from the sea, she says, or any river big enough to warrant a boat.This conversation is making Noe impatient. -I've no need to explain myself to you.-And when you're done, she says carefully, we'll be taking this ship to the sea somehow?As usual, Noe's impatience fades quickly. -We'll not be going to the sea. The sea will be coming to us."In this brilliant debut novel, Noah's family (or Noe as he's called here)-his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law-tell what it's like to live with a man touched by God, while struggling against events that cannot be controlled or explained. When Noe orders his sons to build an ark, he can't tell them where the wood will come from. When he sends his daughters-in-law out to gather animals, he can offer no directions, money, or protection. And once the rain starts, they all realize that the true test of their faith is just beginning. Because the family is trapped on the ark with thousands of animals-with no experience feeding or caring for them, and no idea of when the waters will recede. What emerges is a family caught in the midst of an extraordinary Biblical event, with all the tension, humanity-even humor-that implies.
Elizabeth and After: A Novel
by Matt CohenA touching and resonant story of a man who returns to the small town of West Gull, Ontario, to mend his family's legacy of alcohol and violence, to reconnect with his young daughter, and to reconcile himself with the spirit of his beautiful mother, killed several years earlier in a tragic accident. Elizabeth and After masterfully wraps us up in the lives of Carl and his family, and the other 683 odd residents of this snowy Canadian hamlet.
The Iliad
by HomerOne of the most important and influential works of the Western Canon, The Iliad has long been a favorite of scholars and laypeople, embraced by famed artists from Shakespeare to Brad Pitt.The Iliad opens in the late stages of the Trojan War, and, with reflection on prior battles, follows through the sacking of Troy and the Greeks' bitter victory. Spanning the defeats, allegiances, victories, and vengeances of mortals and Gods alike, this epic poem of the ages still manages to be intensely relevant to modern readers. The major thematic thrusts (glory, honor, wrath, and fate) are both the stuff of legend and part of our ongoing experience. Now, in an updated prose translation from the original Greek, Blakely focuses his Iliad on the gripping heroics of Achilles and Patroclus, recounting a relatable tale of angry young men striving for glory, trapped by fate into prescribed warrior roles.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Thorns (Gollancz S. F. Ser.)
by Robert SilverbergThe Science Fiction Grand Master&’s Thorns &“holds up chillingly well after all these decades. A dark pastiche upon Beauty and the Beast&” (SF Reviews). In a world where humanity has colonized the solar system and begun to explore more of the local galaxy, a vast audience follows real-life stories presented by wealthy media mogul Duncan Chalk. To satisfy his audience&’s voyeuristic needs—and his own appetite for others&’ pain—he pairs Minner Burris, an emotionally withdrawn space explorer who was captured and freakishly surgically altered by aliens, with Lona Kelvin, a suicidal seventeen-year-old girl who donated eggs for a fertility experiment that produced one hundred babies, none of whom she has been allowed to adopt or even see. Chalk promises to solve their personal problems in return for a joint performance tour. Though the love affair doesn&’t last, Chalk keeps the couple on the hook by making new offers. While Minner and Lona struggle to cope with their newfound celebrity and Chalk&’s broken promises, they will uncover the true nature of their manipulator—and risk everything to regain the humanity that has been stolen from them . . . An early exploration of media exploitation and a deep look at freak-show entertainment on a mass scale, this novel was one of the earliest of Silverberg&’s mature masterworks. &“Masterful . . . This is a sophisticated novel, beautifully written, intelligent and insightful, with wonderful dialogue and a satisfying conclusion.&” —Fantasy Literature &“Silverberg&’s brooding, post-utopian, rumination has the makings of a great science fiction novel. . . . A worthwhile read which rambles along a dark path . . . Well done.&” —Science Fiction Ruminations
Downton Abbey: The Official Companion to All Six Seasons (The World of Downton Abbey)
by Jessica FellowesThis perfect present allows fans to revisit the home and the lives of the family and staff of the Emmy Award-winning series--and now feature film--with Jessica Fellowes's Downton Abbey--A Celebration: The Official Companion to All Six Seasons."Downton Abbey set a new standard, and it's probable that in 20 or 50 years critics will look back and say that this was period drama at its very best, often imitated but never bettered." —The Daily MailSince the moment we first entered Downton Abbey in 1912, we have been swept away by Julian Fellowes’s evocative world of romance, intrigue, drama and tradition. Now, in 1925, as Downton Abbey prepares to close its doors for the final time, Jessica Fellowes leads us through the house and estate, reliving the iconic moments of the wonderfully aristocratic Crawley family and their servants as they navigate the emerging modern age.Travelling from Great Hall to servants’ hall, bedroom to boot room, we glimpse as we go Matthew and Isobel Crawley arriving for the first time, the death of Kemal Pamuk, Cora’s tragic miscarriage, Edith’s affair with Michael Gregson, Mary’s new haircut, Thomas and O’Brien’s scheming, Anna and Bates’s troubles with the law, and Carson’s marriage to Mrs Hughes.Alongside are in-depth interviews with the cast, who have worked on the show for six years and know it so well, as well as a complete episode guide for the first five seasons and a teaser for the sixth. Packed full of stunning location shots and stills from all six seasons of the show including exclusive behind-the-scenes photography, this celebratory book is the ultimate gift for Downton Abbey fans the world over.
Deep Cover: A Love Over Duty Novel (The Love Over Duty Novels #3)
by Scarlett Cole"Cole is a genius." - USA TodayOne of Book Riot's "9 Not-To-Be-Missed Romances Hitting the Shelves this Summer"ARE THEY IN TOO DEEP?In Deep Cover, ex-Navy SEAL Cabe Moss always comes when called to duty—at all costs. Even though the death of his fiancée nearly destroyed him, Cabe won’t let his past interfere with any work that has to get done. When his latest task pushes him to team up with FBI operative Amy Murray, a fierce beauty with the undercover skills to match, Cabe must admit that, for the first time in years, he wants to do more than just complete their mission together…Amy was born ready for this assignment, but working side-by-side with the strong, silent, and frustratingly professional Cabe seems to be the biggest challenge of all. But when the sparks begin to fly—and the stakes rise to dangerous heights—the only thing Amy is left worrying about is how she can resist him. Their lives may be in danger, but their hearts hold the biggest risk of all…“Non-stop action and heart-pounding romance...a must-read for romantic suspense fans!” —Cynthia Eden, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author on Under Fire
One Thing at a Time: 100 Simple Ways to Live Clutter-Free Every Day
by Cindy GlovinskySimple, effective ways to put things in their placeThose piles of papers, clothes, and other things you thought you'd successfully de-cluttered have returned, and this time they brought friends. What's the use of trying to fight the clutter? Is there a better way?This powerful and useful guide delivers solutions that work, no matter how overwhelmed you feel. The answer isn't an elaborate new system, or a solemn vow to start tomorrow. Instead, psychotherapist and organizer Cindy Glovinsky shares 100 simple strategies for tackling the problem the way it grows--one thing at a time. Here's a sampling of the tips explained in the book: *Declare a fix-it day*Purge deep storage areas first *Label it so you can read it*Get a great letter opener*Practice toy population planning *Leave it neater than you found itWritten in short takes and with a supportive tone, this is an essential, refreshing book that helps turn a hopeless struggle into a manageable part of life, one thing at a time.
This Is How It Goes: A Play
by Neil LaButeBelinda and Cody Phipps appear a typical Midwestern couple: teenage sweethearts, children, luxurious home. Typical except that Cody is black--"rich, black, and different," in the words of Belinda, who finds herself attracted to a former (white) classmate. As the battle for her affections is waged, Belinda and Cody frankly doubt the foundation of their initial attraction, opening the door wide to a swath of bigotry and betrayal. Staged on continually shifting moral ground that challenges our received notions about gender, ethnicity, and even love itself, This Is How It Goes unblinkingly explores the myriad ways in which the wild card of race is played by both black and white in America.
Here Comes the Corpse: A Tom And Scott Mystery (Tom & Scott Mysteries #9)
by Mark Richard ZubroChicago area high school teacher Tom Mason and his lover, professional baseball player Scott Carpenter have had a taxing year. After publicly coming out, Scott and Tom have had to deal with a firestorm of publicity, a major loss of privacy, a great outpouring of support and an equal number of cranks. Now, finally, they are going to do something that they've always wanted - get married in a service before their family and close friends. Despite the potential problems of such of an event, the ceremony comes off with nary a hitch. With the reception in full swing - with a guest list ranging from long-time family friends and co-workers to the cream of the social elite - a small problem emerges. Tom happens to stumble over an ex-boyfriend from many years ago in the bathroom. Unfortunately, what he stumbles across is actually the corpse of the murdered ex-boyfriend and in addition to casting something of a pall across the proceedings, it puts Tom in the awkward position of being the prime suspect in the murder. If he's ever going to get to go on his long-planned honeymoon, Tom is going to have to uncover the truth behind the murder of this unwanted guest.
The Scariest Place in the World: A Marine Returns to North Korea
by James BradyA memoir from the New York Times bestselling author of Warning of War and Marines of Autumn, James Brady's The Scariest Place in the World. Half a century after he fought there as a young lieutenant of Marines, James Brady returns to the brooding Korean ridgelines and mountains to sound taps for a generation. It's been years since Brady first wrote of Korea in The Coldest War, drawing raves from Walter Cronkite and The New York Times, which called it "a superb personal memoir of the way it was." In the spring of 2003, Brady and Pulitzer Prize–winning combat photographer Eddie Adams flew in Black Hawk choppers and trekked the Demilitarized Zone where it meanders into North Korea, interviewing four-star generals and bunking in with tough U.S. recon troops, in Brady's words, "raw meat on the point of a sharpened stick." Brady recalls that first time on bloody Hill 749, the men who died there, what happened to the Marines who lived to make it home, and experiences yet again the emotional pull of a lifelong love affair with the Corps in which they all served. Brady summons up the past and illuminates the present, be it the Korea of "the forgotten war," the Yanks who fought there long ago, or today's soldiers standing wary sentinel over "the scariest place in the world." The result is uplifting, inspiring, often heartbreaking, and this Brady memoir proves as powerful as his first.
The Face of Emotion: How Botox Affects Our Moods and Relationships
by Eric FinziWilliam Shakespeare famously wrote that "a face is like a book," and common wisdom has it that our faces reveal our deep-seated emotions. But what if the reverse were also true? What if our facial expressions set our moods instead of revealing them? What if there were actual science to support the exhortation, "smile, be happy?" Dermatologic surgeon Eric Finzi has been studying that question for nearly two decades, and in this ground breaking book he marshals evidence suggesting that our facial expressions are not secondary to, but rather a central driving force of, our emotions. Based on clinical experience and original research, Dr. Finzi shows how changing a person's face not only affects their relationships with others but also with themselves. In his studies using Botox, he has shown how inhibiting the frown of clinically depressed patients leads many to experience relief. This work is a dramatic departure from the neuroscience-based thinking on emotions that tends to view emotions solely as the result of neurotransmitters in the brain. Part absorbing medical narrative, part think piece on the nature of emotion, this is a bold call for us to rethink the causes of unhappiness.
24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid
by Willie Mays John SheaTHE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ANDSAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BESTSELLERThe legendary Willie Mays shares the inspirations and influences responsible for guiding him on and off the field in this reflective and inspirational memoir."Even if, like me, you thought you had pretty much read and heard all there was to read and hear about Willie Mays, this warmhearted book will inform and reward you. And besides, what true baseball fan can ever get enough of Willie Mays? Say Hey! Read on and enjoy." —From the Foreword by Bob Costas “It’s because of giants like Willie that someone like me could even think about running for President.” —President Barack ObamaWidely regarded as the greatest all-around player in baseball history because of his unparalleled hitting, defense and baserunning, the beloved Willie Mays offers people of all ages his lifetime of experience meeting challenges with positivity, integrity and triumph in 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid.Presented in 24 chapters to correspond with his universally recognized uniform number, Willie’s memoir provides more than the story of his role in America’s pastime. This is the story of a man who values family and community, engages in charitable causes especially involving children and follows a philosophy that encourages hope, hard work and the fulfillment of dreams.“I was very lucky when I was a child. My family took care of me and made sure I was in early at night. I didn’t get in trouble. My father made sure that I didn’t do the wrong thing. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for children and their well-being, and John Shea and I got the idea that we should do something for the kids and the fathers and the mothers, and that’s why this book is being published. We want to reach out to all generations and backgrounds. Hopefully, these stories and lessons will inspire people in a positive way.” —Willie Mays
Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up
by John Allen PaulosA Lifelong Unbeliever Finds No Reason to Change His MindAre there any logical reasons to believe in God? Mathematician and bestselling author John Allen Paulos thinks not. In Irreligion he presents the case for his own worldview, organizing his book into twelve chapters that refute the twelve arguments most often put forward for believing in God's existence. The latter arguments, Paulos relates in his characteristically lighthearted style, "range from what might be called golden oldies to those with a more contemporary beat. On the playlist are the firstcause argument, the argument from design, the ontological argument, arguments from faith and biblical codes, the argument from the anthropic principle, the moral universality argument, and others." Interspersed among his twelve counterarguments are remarks on a variety of irreligious themes, ranging from the nature of miracles and creationist probability to cognitive illusions and prudential wagers. Special attention is paid to topics, arguments, and questions that spring from his incredulity "not only about religion but also about others' credulity." Despite the strong influence of his day job, Paulos says, there isn't a single mathematical formula in the book.
Cellar of Horror: The Story of Gary Heidnik (St. Martin's True Crime Classics)
by Ken Englade***Please note: This ebook edition does not contain the photos found in the print edition.***Serial killer Gary Heidnik's name will live on in infamy, and his home, 3520 North Marshall Street in Philadelphia, is a house tainted with the memory of unbelievable horrors. What police found there was an incredible nightmare made real. Four young women had been held captive--some for four months--half-naked and chained. They had been tortured, starved, and repeatedly raped. But more grotesque discoveries lay in the kitchen: human limbs frozen, a torso burned to cinders, an empty pot suspiciously scorched...This is not a story for the faint-hearted. Cellar of Horror is a shocking true account of the self-proclaimed minister with a long history of mental illness, who preyed upon the susceptible in a bizarre plan to create his own "baby factory." It is a macabre web spun around money, power, and religion, tangled with courtroom drama and lawyers' tactics, sure to send a chill into your very soul.
Chains of Darkness (Men in Chains #2)
by Caris RoaneA VAMPIRE BOUNDFor countless days and nights, the vampire Lucian has been chained, starved, and tortured in a Himalayan cavern. Prisoner and pawn of his powerful Ancestral father, Lucian has all but given up any hope of escape. Until a beautiful stranger risks her life to save him…A WOMAN SET FREETwo years ago, Claire and her friend Zoey were kidnapped by vampires and sold as human slaves. Claire managed to escape, tracking her missing friend through the vampire underworld—and stumbling upon the only man who could help her. A dangerously captivating vampire in chains…A LOVE EVERLASTINGBinding herself to a creature she doesn't trust, Claire frees the vampire from his nightmare prison. But now he needs Claire's blood and body to regain his strength. To defeat his father. And to sustain his deepest, darkest needs. Can Claire give herself to this seductive creature…without becoming a slave to desire? Chains of Darkness is the third Men in Chains novel by Caris Roane.
Ancients: An Event Group Thriller (Event Group Thrillers #3)
by David L. GolemonReminiscent of the works of James Rollins and Matthew Reilly comes the latest in an action-packed series about the nation's most secret agency---the Event GroupTen thousand years before the Roman Empire marched great legions across the known world, there was a civilization dedicated to the sciences of earth, sea, and sky. In the City of Light lived people who made dark plans to lay waste to their uncivilized neighbors using the very power of the planet itself. As the great science of their time was brought to bear on the invading hordes, hell was set loose on Earth. And the civilization of Atlantis disappeared in a suicidal storm of fire and water.Now history threatens to repeat itself. The great weapon of the Ancients has been uncovered in the South Pacific, and it is being deciphered by men of hatred---by an evil once thought banished from history. Again, the black swastika of hate is rising. Their plan is to attempt to control and direct the most destructive force this world has yet to see, a weapon that would make nuclear arms pale in comparison. The world starts to tremble under the power of the ancient science. The seas rise, the earth cracks, and entire cities crumble to dust as the evil plan mapped out thousands of years before takes shape.The Event Group, the most secret department of the United States government, staffed by the most brilliant men and women of science, philosophy, and the military, must take the lead and try to stop the power of the Ancients. With a presidential mandate to discover the truth behind the myths and legends of history, the Event Group fights to ensure that mistakes from the past are never repeated. Headed by Colonel Jack Collins, the Group must face its most dangerous assignment ever: to find the lost trail of the Ancients and unearth the missing key before the new Reich. Can the most secret federal service of the United States track down the lost trail that will lead them to the lair of this secret power? Or will the world explode in a chain reaction that began more than eleven thousand years ago? The Event Group is the world's only hope as they search and battle for the lost power of the Ancients.Heart-pounding action combines with historical adventure as the Event Group discovers that some myths never die. . . .
Blackburn: A Novel
by Bradley DentonJimmy Blackburn grows up in the Midwest believing the things that adults tell him. He questions his teachers and they lie to him. He questions his parents and his father beats him. He questions the world and it hurts him.And so Jimmy Blackburn becomes a killer.In this novel we meet many of Blackburn's twenty-one victims. They include law enforcers, writers, adulterers, auto mechanics, and other liars.This is an exceptional novel, at once riotously funny and searingly potent: a vision of America through the eyes of the central bogeyman of our culture.
Star Dragon
by Mike BrothertonThe SS Cygni probe sent back hours of video, captured by the Biolathe AI, but only a few minutes mattered--the four minutes that showed a creature made of fire, living , moving, dancing in the plasma fire of the double star's accretion disk. A dragon made of star stuff, so alien that only a human expedition to observe and perhaps capture it, could truly understand them.It's a perilous journey into the future, however, for SS Cygni is 245 light- years from Earth, and even though only two years' subjective time will pass on board the Karamojo, the crew will return to an Earth where five hundred years have passed. Captain Lena Fang doesn't care--she has made her life on her ship, where her best friend is the ship's AI. Samuel Fisher, the contract exobiologist,doesn't care, either. He is making the voyage of a lifetime and in the small world of the Karamojo he will have to live with the consequences of his obsessive quest for knowledge. The rest of the small crew--Axel Henderson, the biosystems engineer; Sylvia Devereaux, the beautiful physical sciences expert; and Phil Stearn, the ship's jack-of-all-trades--have their own reasons for saying good-bye to everyone they have ever known. As the Biolathe AI said, uncertain five hundred- year round trips don't attract the most stable personalities, but somehow they'll have to learn to get along with each other, if they're to catch their dragon and come home again.For at the end of the journey is the star dragon--a creature of fire with a nuclear furnace for heart. The crew of the Karamojo--human and AI alike--will risk everything to capture it, and it will take all their technology, all their skill, and more courage than they knew they had, to come home alive.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Wild Colonial Boy: A Novel
by James HynesAfter years of violence, a tense calm pervades Northern Ireland, soon to be broken by Jimmy Coogan, an IRA veteran gone renegade. Jimmy has stolen ten pounds of plastic explosive, intending to destroy the parliamentary ambitions of the IRA leadership. Into Jimmy's turbulent world come two young Americans: Brian, vain, ironic, but well-meaning; and Clare, a beautiful, earnest college student. In Ireland on an errand for his Irish Republican family in Detroit, Brian is recruited to Jimmy's bloody mission by his cousin Maire, Coogan's sharp-tongued wife. Soon they are all drawn into the unforgiving labyrinth of modern terrorism, borne toward a horrific and fatal climax in James Hynes's thrilling TheWild Colonial Boy
Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods
by Michael WexAs the main spoken language of the Jews for more than a thousand years, Yiddish has had plenty to lament, plenty to conceal. Its phrases, idioms, and expressions paint a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled the Jews of Europe to survive a millennium of unrelenting persecution: they never stopped kvetching---about God, gentiles, children, food, and everything (and anything) else. They even learned how to smile through their kvetching and express satisfaction in the form of complaint.In Born to Kvetch, Michael Wex looks at the ingredients that went into this buffet of disenchantment and examines how they were mixed together to produce an almost limitless supply of striking idioms and withering curses (which get a chapter all to themselves). Born to Kvetch includes a wealth of material that's never appeared in English before. You'll find information on the Yiddish relationship to food, nature, divinity, and humanity. There's even a chapter about sex.This is no bobe mayse (cock-and-bull story) from a khokhem be-layle (idiot, literally a "sage at night" when no one's looking), but a serious yet fun and funny look at a language that both shaped and was shaped by those who spoke it. From tukhes to goy,meshugener to kvetch, Yiddish words have permeated and transformed English as well. Through the idioms, phrases, metaphors, and fascinating history of this kvetch-full tongue, Michael Wex gives us a moving and inspiring portrait of a people, and a language, in exile.
End of Days: A Novel
by Frank LauriaThe novelization of End of Days, the hit film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Every thousand years, on the eve of the Millennium, Satan enters the body of a human being and stalks the Earth, searching for the woman who is the key to his kingdom. Christine York, who has been having horrible, unexplained visions for the past twenty-one years of her life, is that woman. If the Prince of Darkness catches up with her in New York City, the door to the underworld will be unlocked and life will be, literally, a living hell.New Year's Eve: 1999. Jericho Cane is a fallen hero. He's a cop linked to Christine through a recent outbreak of bizarre religious crimes. Cane soon realizes he's not only her chosen protector, but he's Earth's only hope against the Dark Angel. But what happens when Jericho realizes his arsenal of weapons doesn't faze the Unholy? Can he summon every fiber of faith before the New Year and quell the end of days?