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The Adventures of a Bed Salesman: A Novel
by Michael KumpfmüllerThis picaresque tale of a sexually voracious bed salesman whose life is dominated by his adventures with women opens in l962 as thirty-year-old Heinrich Hampel crosses the Berlin Wall leaving the West for East. This is not a political gesture but a desperate attempt to escape debt and the sexual mayhem caused by his bold selling techniques. Charming his way into the hearts and beds of his female customers (in Bavaria in the l950s), Heinrich doubles his turnover, but when an expensive mistress appears, his long-suffering wife Rosa has cause to worry. Despite the postwar economic miracle, Heinrich's debts build until he is forced to flee across the border and take up his old ways in the East. From this audacious and outlandish opening, the novel builds up a mosaic of Hampel's life. As fresh as it is provocative, Michael Kumpfmüller's first novel was a bestselling literary sensation in Germany.
Goodhouse: A Novel
by Peyton MarshallA bighearted dystopian novel about the corrosive effects of fear and the redemptive power of love.With soaring literary prose and the tense pacing of a thriller, the first-time novelist Peyton Marshall imagines a grim and startling future. At the end of the twenty-first century—in a transformed America—the sons of convicted felons are tested for a set of genetic markers. Boys who test positive become compulsory wards of the state—removed from their homes and raised on "Goodhouse" campuses, where they learn to reform their darkest thoughts and impulses. Goodhouse is a savage place—part prison, part boarding school—and now a radical religious group, the Holy Redeemer's Church of Purity, is intent on destroying each campus and purifying every child with fire.We see all this through the eyes of James, a transfer student who watched as the radicals set fire to his old Goodhouse and killed nearly everyone he'd ever known. In addition to adjusting to a new campus with new rules, James now has to contend with Bethany, a brilliant, medically fragile girl who wants to save him, and with her father, the school's sinister director of medical studies. Soon, however, James realizes that the biggest threat might already be there, inside the fortified walls of Goodhouse itself.Partly based on the true story of the nineteenth-century Preston School of Industry, Goodhouse explores questions of identity and free will—and what it means to test the limits of human endurance.
Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression
by Clara Cannucciari Christopher CannucciariYouTube® sensation Clara Cannucciari shares her treasured recipes and commonsense wisdom in a heartwarming remembrance of the Great Depression.Clara Cannucciari became an internet sensation late in life, making cooking videos until her 96th birthday. Her YouTube® Great Depression Cooking channel garnered an army of devoted followers. Now, in Clara's Kitchen, she gives readers words of wisdom to buck up America's spirits, recipes to keep the wolf from the door, and tells her story of growing up during the Great Depression with a tight-knit family and a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" philosophy of living.In between recipes for pasta with peas, eggplant parmesan, chocolate covered biscotti, and other treats Clara gives readers practical advice on cooking nourishing meals for less. Using lessons learned during the Great Depression, she writes, for instance, about how to conserve electricity when cooking and how you can stretch a pot of pasta with a handful of lentils. She reminisces about her youth and writes with love about her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Clara's Kitchen takes readers back to a simpler, if not more difficult time, and gives everyone what they need right now: hope for the future and a nice dish of warm pasta from everyone's favorite grandmother, Clara Cannuciari, a woman who knows what's really important in life.
Second Opinion: The Columbia Presbyterian Guide to Surgery
by Eric A. RoseSecond Opinion is the definitive resource for any of the 15 million people each year who are told they need surgery. This is the one book to turn to when you are sorting out whether or not to have surgery. Dr. Eric Rose and his collegues provide patients a reassuring arsenal of approaches and alternatives so they can participate fully in this important process to assure the best possible outcome. You'll want to bring Second Opinion with you for note-taking, list making, references, and support. It will help you be your own best advocate.Other features include:*45 of the most common operations described in detail*Full illustrations*Reasons to have the operation*What can happen if you don't*Possible complications*What to expect after surgery*Extensive, unbiased resources for getting a second opinion*Patient's worksheets, notes, and rights
Secrets of a Runaway Bride
by Valerie BowmanSECRETS OF A RUNAWAY BRIDEValerie BowmanMiss Annie Andrews is finally free to marry the man she loves. With her overprotective sister out of the country on her honeymoon, nothing can prevent her flight to Gretna Green—nothing, that is, but an abduction by the wrong gentleman.When Jordan Holloway, the Earl of Ashbourne, promised to look after his best friend's sister-in-law, he didn't realize she would prove so difficult. But when he spirits her away to his country house to prevent her elopement, he discovers that the tempting beauty knows how to put up a fight. To make matters worse, he's stuck playing the role of honorable protector...when what he really wants is to run away with her himself.
Chunks: A Barfology
by Elissa Stein Kevin LeslieChunks: A Barfology is a stomach-turning, gut churning collection of true tales of the sick kind. Egestion experts Elissa Stein and Kevin Leslie have compiled a witty and truly outrageous bible of barfing which will astound and amaze.
Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present
by John G. Crowley"A superb study of Primitive Baptist belief and practice in a specific region of the South. Expands our knowledge of an often neglected group."--Bill Leonard, Dean, School of Divinity, Wake Forest UniversityBetween 1819 and 1848, Primitive Baptists emerged as a distinct, dominant religious group in the area of the deepest South known as the Wiregrass country. John Crowley, a historian and former Primitive minister, chronicles their origins and expansion into South Georgia and Florida, documenting one of the strongest aspects of the inner life of the local piney-woods culture.Crowley begins by examining Old Baptist worship and discipline and then addressing Primitive Baptist reaction to the Civil War, Reconstruction, Populism, Progressivism, the Depression, and finally the ferment of the 1960s and present decline of the denomination. Intensely conservative, with a strong belief in predestination, Old Baptists opposed modernizing trends sweeping their denomination in the early 19th century. Crowley describes their separation from Southern Baptists and the many internal schisms on issues such as the saving role of the gospel, the Two Seed Doctrine, and absolute as opposed to limited predestination. Going beyond doctrine, he discusses contention among Old Baptists over music, divorce, membership in secret societies, sacraments administered by heretics, and rituals such as the washing of feet.Writing with insight and sensitivity, he navigates the history of this denomination through the 20th century and the emergence of at least twenty mutually exclusive factions of Primitive Baptists in this specific region of the Deep South.
History of Andersonville Prison
by Ovid L. FutchIn February 1864, five hundred Union prisoners of war arrived at the Confederate stockade at Anderson Station, Georgia. Andersonville, as it was later known, would become legendary for its brutality and mistreatment, with the highest mortality rate--over 30 percent--of any Civil War prison.Fourteen months later, 32,000 men were imprisoned there. Most of the prisoners suffered greatly because of poor organization, meager supplies, the Federal government’s refusal to exchange prisoners, and the cruelty of men supporting a government engaged in a losing battle for survival.Who was responsible for allowing so much squalor, mismanagement, and waste at Andersonville? Looking for an answer, Ovid Futch cuts through charges and countercharges that have made the camp a subject of bitter controversy. He examines diaries and firsthand accounts of prisoners, guards, and officers, and both Confederate and Federal government records (including the transcript of the trial of Capt. Henry Wirz, the alleged "fiend of Andersonville"). First published in 1968, this groundbreaking volume has never gone out of print.
Ninety Miles and a Lifetime Away: Memories of Early Cuban Exiles
by David PowellRare accounts of Cuban migration in the words of the exiles themselvesBringing together an unprecedented number of extensive personal stories, this book shares the triumphs and heartbreaking moments experienced by some of the first Cubans to come to the United States after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. Ninety Miles and a Lifetime Away is a moving look inside fifteen years of migration that changed the two countries and transformed the lives of the people who found themselves separated from their homeland.David Powell presents interviews with refugees who left Cuba between 1959 and the 1962 Missile Crisis, as well as those who embarked on the Freedom Flights of the late 1960s and early 1970s. During these years more than 600,000 Cubans migrated to the US, some by way of other countries and many arriving in Miami with only a few clothes and pocket money. In their own words, exiles describe why they left the island, how they prepared for departure, what situations they faced when they arrived in the US, and how they integrated into American life.Offering historical background that illuminates this pivotal period in the context of the Cold War, Powell shows how the US government’s Cuban refugee assistance program had far-reaching effects on refugee policy, bilingual education, and child welfare programs. The testimonies in this book include new information about low-cost “Cuban Loans” that enabled young exiles to attend US colleges, preparing many to be builders and leaders in their adopted country today.A powerful portrayal of the initial effects of a revolution that began a new era in Cuba’s relationship with the world, this book preserves rare accounts of the motivations and struggles of early Cuban exiles in the words of the emigres themselves, adding gripping detail to the history of the modern Cuban diaspora.Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Links: My Family in American History
by William A. LinkArthur Link (1920-1998) was one of the great historians of his generation, a prolific author with a wide following inside and outside the profession. For many years the foremost authority on Woodrow Wilson, he wrote a five-volume biography of the president and edited a sixty-nine volume edition of Wilson’s papers.Margaret Link (1918-1996), his wife and fellow North Carolinian, was the emotional core of the family. As an activist, she helped form an interdenominational crisis ministry in Princeton that reached out to the poor with counseling, clothing, and food, and she was a cofounder and president of the Association for the Advancement of Mental Health.In Links, their youngest son--an accomplished and award-winning historian--offers a moving and unsentimental biography of two individuals who experienced the intense change and tumult of the South during the mid-twentieth century. Drawing from a rich trove of letters, interviews with friends and family, and unique insights, Link offers a highly detailed, evocative portrait of the coming of age and lifelong partnership of his parents. Links combines the objectivity and critical judgment of the professional historian with the subjectivity and deep emotional connection of the memoirist who participated directly in part of the story.
Taíno Indian Myth and Practice: The Arrival of the Stranger King (Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series)
by William F. KeeganApplying the legend of the "stranger king" to Caonabo, the mythologized Taino chief of the Hispaniola settlement Columbus invaded in 1492, Keegan examines how myths come to resonate as history--created by the chaotic interactions of the individuals who lived the events of the past as well as those who write and read about them. The "stranger king" story told in many cultures is that of a foreigner who comes from across the water, marries the king's daughter, and deposes the king. In this story, Caonabo, the most important Taíno chief at the time of European conquest, claimed to be imbued with Taino divinity, while Columbus, determined to establish a settlement called La Navidad, described himself as the "Christbearer."Keegan's ambitious historical analysis--knitting evidence from Spanish colonial documents together with data gathered from the archaeological record--provides a new perspective on the encounters between the two men as they vied for control of the settlement, a survey of the early interactions of the Tainos and Spanish people, and a complex view of the interpretive role played by historians and archaeologists. Presenting a new theoretical framework based on chaos and complexity theories, this book argues for a more comprehensive philosophy of archaeology in which oral myths, primary source texts, and archaeological studies can work together to reconstruct a particularly rich view of the past.A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series
Victims of Ireland's Great Famine: The Bioarchaeology of Mass Burials at Kilkenny Union Workhouse (Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives)
by Jonny GeberWith one million dead, and just as many forced to emigrate, the Irish Famine (1845-52) is among the worst health calamities in history. Because historical records of the Victorian period in Ireland were generally written by the middle and upper classes, relatively little has been known about those who suffered the most, the poor and destitute. But in 2006, archaeologists excavated an until then completely unknown intramural mass burial containing the remains of nearly 1,000 Kilkenny Union Workhouse inmates. In the first bioarchaeological study of Great Famine victims, Jonny Geber uses skeletal analysis to tell the story of how and why the Famine decimated the lowest levels of nineteenth century Irish society. Seeking help at the workhouse was an act of desperation by people who were severely malnourished and physically exhausted. Overcrowded, it turned into a hotspot of infectious disease--as did many other union workhouses in Ireland during the Famine. Geber reveals how medical officers struggled to keep people alive, as evidenced by cases of amputations but also craniotomies. Still, mortality rates increased and the city cemeteries filled up, until there was eventually no choice but to resort to intramural burials. Deceased inmates were buried in shrouds and coffins--an attempt by the Board of Guardians of the workhouse to maintain a degree of dignity towards these victims. By examining the physical conditions of the inmates that might have contributed to their institutionalization, as well as to the resulting health consequences, Geber sheds new and unprecedented light on Ireland’s Great Hunger.
The Challenge of Blackness: The Institute of the Black World and Political Activism in the 1970s (Southern Dissent)
by Derrick E. WhiteThe Challenge of Blackness examines the history and legacy of the Institute of the Black World (IBW), one of the most important Black Freedom Struggle organizations to emerge in the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.A think tank based in Atlanta, the IBW sought to answer King's question "Where do we go from here?" Its solution was to organize a broad array of leading Black activists, scholars, and intellectuals to find ways to combine the emerging academic discipline of Black Studies with the Black political agenda.Throughout the 1970s, debates over race and class in the Unites States grew increasingly hostile, and the IBW's approach was ultimately unable to challenge the growing conservatism. By using the IBW as the lens through which to view these turbulent years, Derrick White provides an exciting new interpretation of the immediate post-civil rights years in America.
Waiting for Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
by Lawrence Squeri"A cogent, engaging history of humanity's most ambitious quest--seeking outward for other minds."--David Brin, author of Existence "A fascinating perspective on humankind's obsession for knowing if there is anyone else out there."--Gerrit L. Verschuur, author of The Invisible Universe: The Story of Radio Astronomy "Squeri has written what will likely be the definitive history of the early days of SETI that includes profiles of some of its leading characters."--Ben Zuckerman, coeditor of Extraterrestrials: Where Are They? "An insightful history that explores the scientific foundations of the modern-day search for our place in the cosmos. Waiting for Contact delivers unparalleled access to the inner history of SETI and invites us to ride along on the journey to answer one of science's ultimate questions: Are we alone?"--Douglas Vakoch, president, METI International "Waiting for Contact is a balanced account, telling the tale of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence without the overpromise usually trumpeted by enthusiastic proponents and the hyperventilation so commonly added by UFO enthusiasts. If you are simply interested in the history, unvarnished by an agenda, you'll enjoy this book."--Don Lincoln, author of Alien Universe: Extraterrestrial Life in Our Minds and in the Cosmos Imagine a network of extraterrestrials in radio contact with each other across the universe, superior beings who hail from advanced civilizations quadrillions of miles away, just waiting for Earth to tune in. Some people believe it’s only a matter of time before we discover the right "station." Waiting for Contact tells the story of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) movement, which emerged in 1959 as astronomers began using radio telescopes to listen for messages from space. New technological developments turned what once was speculation into science. Boosted by support from Frank Drake, Philip Morrison, Carl Sagan, and the genre of science fiction, the SETI movement gained followers and continues to capture imaginations today. In this one-of-a-kind history, Lawrence Squeri looks at the people, reasons, goals, and mindsets behind SETI. He shows how it started as an expression of the times, a way out of Cold War angst with hope for a better world. SETI's early advocates thought that with guidance from technically and ethically advanced outsiders, humanity might learn how to avoid horrors like nuclear annihilation and societal collapse from overpopulation. Some hoped that good news from outer space might reveal a cure for cancer or even the secret of immortality. Squeri also describes the challenges SETI has faced over the years: the struggle to be taken seriously by the scientific community and by NASA, competition for access to radio telescopes, perpetual lack of funding, and opposition from influential politicians. He covers the rise and fall of Soviet SETI and the few rare meetings between Soviet and American astronomers. Despite many setbacks, the movement pressed forward with the aid of private donations and developed outreach programs. Volunteers can now help search for new civilizations on their personal computers by joining the SETI@Home project. Today, SETI researchers continue to see themselves as explorers. They often identify with Columbus, and just as Columbus never realized the full implications of his discovery, we cannot predict what will happen if contact is made. This book points out that if, against all expectations, the embattled SETI movement finally succeeds, the long-awaited first signal picked up by its radio antennas will usher the greatest shift in human history. A new adventure will begin. Lawrence Squeri is professor emeritus of history at East Stroudsburg University.
The History of Human Space Flight
by Ted SpitzmillerMilitary Writers Society of America Awards, Gold Medal for History Highlighting men and women across the globe who have dedicated themselves to pushing the limits of space exploration, this book surveys the programs, technological advancements, medical equipment, and automated systems that have made space travel possible. Beginning with the invention of balloons that lifted early explorers into the stratosphere, Ted Spitzmiller describes how humans first came to employ lifting gasses such as hydrogen and helium. He traces the influence of science fiction writers on the development of rocket science, looks at the role of rocket societies in the early twentieth century, and discusses the use of rockets in World War II warfare. Spitzmiller considers the engineering and space medicine advances that finally enabled humans to fly beyond the earth's atmosphere during the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. He recreates the excitement felt around the world as Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn completed their first orbital flights. He recounts triumphs and tragedies, such as Neil Armstrong's "one small step" and the Challenger and Columbia disasters. The story continues with the development of the International Space Station, NASA's interest in asteroids and Mars, and the emergence of China as a major player in the space arena. Spitzmiller shows the impact of space flight on human history and speculates on the future of exploration beyond our current understandings of physics and the known boundaries of time and space.
Back from the Undead: The Bloodhound Files
by DD BarantVampires, lycanthropes, golems, and other creatures who make up 99% of the population—these are the characters who fill FBI profiler Jace Valchek's days. And just when she thinks life is starting to seem "normal," Jace finds herself in a whole new world of trouble.Another work day, another case for the Bloodhound Files. But this time, Jace is truly stumped: How is she, a mere human, supposed to penetrate the dark heart of a child-trafficking ring of pire orphans—one that turns out to be part of a blood-farm operation, in the crime-ridden border city of Vancouver, British Columbia?Jace is in over her head. But with the help of her former lover, Tanaka—whose family is one of the last samurai clans left in Japan—she stands a chance at seeking justice for the condemned children… Until the Yakuza tries to put an end to Jace's investigation. Jace risks more than death—this time, it's the fate of her very soul that's in danger . . .
One Got Away: A Novel (Nikki Griffin)
by S. A. Lelchuk“Nikki Griffin is one spectacular heroine…One Got Away is one seriously entertaining read.” —USA TodayPrivate investigator Nikki Griffin is on a case. The reclusive matriarch of one of San Francisco’s wealthiest and most private families has been defrauded by a con-man, and her furious son enlists Nikki to find the money. And find the con-man, Dr. Geoffrey Coombs.Nikki isn’t a fan of men who hurt people. Quietly running her used bookstore by day, her secret mission, born of revenge and trauma, is to do everything she can to remove the innocent from dangerous situations—and punish the men responsible.It seemed like a simple job, but as Coombs leads Nikki on a trail littered with deceptions, she realizes that he’s not the only one lying: no one involved is telling her the truth. As Nikki draws closer to Coombs and learns more about who he really is, she is taken aback to realize that she is starting to enjoy the chase—and that the two of them might share more in common than she would like to admit. But while she closes in on Coombs, others are looking for him, too. As Nikki glimpses secrets that powerful people want to remain hidden, she begins to suspect that lives are in peril. From breathtaking cliffside resorts to the shady underworld of stolen cars, from drug-filled trailers to the city’s loftiest penthouses, Nikki slowly uncovers the deep rot at the center of the case. She is forced to make terrible choices about who to help—and how to keep herself alive.If she can fit the pieces together in time, she just might be able to save them all. PI Nikki Griffin – a badass bookseller who punishes abusers – is back in S. A. Lelchuk's One Got Away…
Deadly Mistress: A True Story of Marriage, Betrayal, and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
by Michael FleemanLOVE GONE BAD. MURDER GONE WRONG.West Coast doctor Kenneth Stahl would do anything to free himself from his wife Carolyn. Then Adriana Vasco—Kenneth's former receptionist and mistress of nine years—obliged by introducing him to ex-con Dennis Earl Godley. The deal was set. Godley would murder Carolyn for thirty-thousand dollars. On the day after her 44th birthday, the trusting victim was lured to a lonely stretch of road. The deadly rendezvous took a shocking turn. Not only was Carolyn gunned down with a .357 Magnum, but Kenneth would also be killed.The hit man's getaway driver was the other woman, Adriana Vasco. In a sensational trial, a tangled web of lies, sex, and betrayal unfolded as Adriana and Dennis turned against each other…and Michael Fleeman tells the whole shocking story in his true crime book Deadly Mistress.
Beachglass: A Novel
by Wendy BlackburnWhen Delia entered treatment for drug and alcohol addiction at age seventeen, her life changed completely: she immersed herself in AA, began to heal old family wounds, and developed a whole new outlook on herself, on spirituality, on relationships. Out of the rubble, she built a life for herself that any recovering woman would be proud of: a loving husband, a beautiful daughter, her own brand of hard-won wisdom. But her long-term sobriety is put to the test when she receives a phone call from her gay best friend, Timothy. Fulfilling a pact they made a decade prior, Delia tears herself away from her new life in Seattle and rushes home to Los Angeles, to Timothy's bedside, facing the one thing she fears her sobriety cannot survive—losing him.Back in LA, Delia begins to encounter familiar people, places, and temptations…a barrage of memories that makes her stop and sort through her past, looking for the courage she knows she needs now more than ever. As her past catches up with her present, she sees that she has not merely survived her losses and mistakes, but has been made stronger because of them. This understanding comes to her in full as she holds a piece of beachglass in her hand and realizes that it is its scuffs and scrapes that give it its quiet splendor, its imperfections that give it its beauty and individuality, and that it is from being tossed and tumbled that it no longer shatters—and she knows the same goes for her too.Set against a backdrop of West Hollywood in the late 1980s, populated by a drag queen and a stripper, beautiful boys and artists, and told by a narrator with equal doses of self-deprecating humor, old-soul awareness, fallibility, and brutal honesty, Beachglass is a gritty and uplifting story of recovery, a journey that presents a fresh look into the world of AA and offers a convincing rendering of the constant struggle to go into recovery and stay there—no matter what. In this stunning debut novel, Wendy Blackburn writes of the transformative power of love—for others and oneself—and about friendship, about forgiveness, about redemption.
The Return: A Novel
by Joseph HelmreichDuring a live television broadcast on the night of a lunar eclipse, renowned astrophysicist Andrew Leland is suddenly lifted into the sky by a giant spacecraft and taken away for all to see. Six years later, he turns up, wandering in a South American desert, denying ever having been abducted and disappearing from the public eye.Meanwhile, he inspires legions of cultish devotees, including a young physics graduate student named Shawn Ferris who is obsessed with finding out what really happened to him. When Shawn finally tracks Leland down, he discovers that he’s been on the run for years, continuously hunted by a secret organization that has pursued him across multiple continents, determined to force him into revealing what he knows.Shawn soon joins Leland on the run. Though Leland is at first reluctant to reveal anything, Shawn will soon learn the truth about his abduction, the real reason for his return, and will find himself caught up in a global conspiracy that puts more than just one planet in danger.Equal parts science-fiction and globe-hopping thriller, Joseph Helmreich's The Return will appeal to fans of both, and to anyone who has ever wondered... what’s out there?
Hero of the Underground: A Memoir
by Tony O'Neill Jason PeterThis New York Times bestselling gritty memoir Hero of the Underground offers a no-holds-barred look at the twisted underbelly of a seemingly perfect life. Jason Peter, an All-American football player, captain of the National Champion Nebraska Cornhuskers, first round NFL draft pick. . . and heroin addict.I wasn't afraid of death.How could I be? I lived under death's shadow every day. When you swallow sixty Vicodin, twenty sleeping pills, drink a bottle of vodka, and still survive, a certain sense of invulnerability stays with you.When you continually use drugs with the kind of reckless determination that I did, the limit to how much heroin or crack you can ingest is not defined by dollar amounts but by the amounts your body can withstand without experiencing a seizure or respiratory failure. . . .I found myself contemplating death again. Only this time I wasn't going to leave it to chance. I was going to buy a gun, load the thing, place the barrel in my mouth, and blow my fucking brains out."Had Hunter Thompson been a football player instead of a fan, this is the book he'd have written. Flat-out, mash-your-face-in-the-dirt amazing." —Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight
The Secret of "The Secret": Unlocking the Mysteries of the Runaway Bestseller
by Karen KellyThe bestselling blockbuster The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes has taken America by storm. The Secret of "The Secret" explores the explosive success of The Secret as well as the intriguing people and ideas behind it.The Secret has already become a runaway sensation. All across America, people are clamoring to embrace it. Karen Kelly delves into this extraordinary phenomenon -- What IS the secret? Where did it come from and does it really work? The Secret of "The Secret" also investigates why this little book, particularly in America, has struck such a chord--does hope always spring eternal in the U.S.? What is it about our culture that has historically drawn us to seek answers and change our destiny using the power of the mind and the universe? Scholars and popular culture experts provide perspective on what makes the idea so appealing.Several participants from The Secret share their behind-the-scenes stories and insights. Renowned psychologists, scientists, and theologians, weigh in on the power and limits of positive thinking and The Law of Attraction (the basis behind The Secret). Uncover the scientific and religious roots that form the building blocks of The Secret, as experts evaluate the author's claims about the various connections between these principles and "the secret."Finally, the answers to the burning questions behind one of the biggest success stories of our time have arrived. Discover The Secret of "The Secret."
The California Trail (The Trail Drive Series)
by Ralph ComptonFrom bestselling author Ralph Compton—the bold saga of a trail-blazing cattle drive in the blistering heat of the California gold rush. The only riches Texans had left after the Civil War were five million maverick longhorns and the brains and brawn to drive them north to where the money was. But it all took a wild and dangerous turn on the California Trail, a passage overrun with dreamers, schemers, and gold… Gold fever has hit California, and suddenly the land is full of hungry pioneers. For Texas brothers Gil and Van Austin, it means a chance to sell their well-grazed longhorns after years of hard ranching and a death-defying cattle drive up through Mexico. The only thing that stands between them and California is a scorching desert, swollen rivers, a barrage of Indian attacks, and a passel of outlaws. And while the Texans are ready and willing to take it all on, there’s one thing they’re not prepared for: the ultimate act of treachery, greed, and back-stabbing deceit. . .
The Faces: A Novel
by Tove DitlevsenFrom Tove Ditlevsen, the acclaimed author of the Copenhagen Trilogy, comes The Faces, a searing, haunting novel of a woman on the edge, portrayed with all the vividness of lived experience.Copenhagen, 1968. Lise, a children’s book writer and married mother of three, is increasingly haunted by disembodied faces and voices. She is convinced that her husband, already extravagantly unfaithful, will leave her. Most of all, she is scared that she will never write again. Yet as she descends into a world of pills and hospitals, she begins to wonder—is insanity really something to be feared, or does it bring a kind of freedom?
La Meri and Her Life in Dance: Performing the World
by Nancy Lee Chalfa RuyterThis intriguing biography details the life and work of world dance pioneer La Meri (1899–1988). An American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and writer, La Meri was ahead of her time in championing cross-cultural dance performances and education, yet she is almost totally forgotten today. In La Meri and Her Life in Dance, Nancy Ruyter introduces readers to a visionary artist who played a pivotal role in dance history. Born in Texas as Russell Meriwether Hughes, La Meri toured throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and the United States in the 1920s and ’30s, immersing herself in different dance traditions at a time when few American dancers explored styles outside their own. She learned about Indian dance culture from the celebrated Uday Shankar, studied belly dancing with the Moroccan sultan’s top dancer, and took flamenco lessons in Spain. La Meri spread awareness and enjoyment of the world’s myriad forms of expression before it was common for performing artists from these countries to tour internationally. Ruyter describes how La Meri founded the Ethnologic Dance Center in New York City, choreographed innovative works based on various dance cultures for Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and other venues, and wrote widely on the styles and techniques of international dance genres. This long-overdue book illustrates that the popularity of world dance today owes much to the trailblazing efforts of La Meri.