Now, led by their mother, a prophetess, they are free to seek their promised land. But the journey is long and hard, filled with many dangers, enemies, distractions, and temptations. And each of the travelers is preoccupied with his or her own worries. Hanno Hath, the twins' father, is troubled to see his beloved wife weaken as they draw close to the promised land. As well, he must bolster the endurance of the often doubting and disgruntled Manth people. Bowman is torn between his attraction to Sisi, a former princess, and his destiny, as he perceives it, to sacrifice himself for the good of the people. Kestrel also feels a pull toward a mission, toward something-but for some reason, she cannot envision her life beyond the journey. This is the satisfying and profound ending to the trilogy, which began with The Wind Singer, winner of the coveted Smarties Prize in England.

    Like Faulkner's Mississippi and Cormac McCarthy's American West, Gay's Tennessee is redolent of broken souls. Mining that same fertile soil, his debut collection, I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down, brings together thirteen stories charting the pathos of interior lives. Among the colorful people readers meet are: old man Meecham, who escapes from his nursing home only to find his son has rented their homestead to "white trash"; Quincy Nell Qualls, who not only falls in love with the town lothario but, pregnant, faces an inescapable end when he abandons her; Finis and Doneita Beasley, whose forty-year marriage is broken up by a dead dog; and Bobby Pettijohn -- awakened in the night by a search party after a body is discovered in his back woods. William Gay expertly sets these conflicted characters against lush backcountry scenery and defies our moral logic as we grow to love them for the weight of their human errors.

    An omnibus edition of three of David Gemmell’s best loved Drenai novels.With a new introduction to each novel by the author, this mega volume contains: The Legend of Deathwalker, Winter Warriors and the Sunday Times’ bestseller Hero in the Shadows.

    In A Merry Heart, the man of Miriam Stolzfus's dreams has decided to marry another woman. Miriam's bitterness threatens to cloud her future until two special men enter her life - and she is forced to make a monumental decision. After a freak accident paralyzes her legs, Rebecca Stolzfus is Looking for a Miracle. Confined to a wheelchair, she longs to be loved for who she is - but she's forced to watch from the sidelines as the man who has stolen her heart is obviously infatuated with her best friend. When interior design student Laura Meade comes to Lancaster Valley, she falls in love with Eli Yoder, one of the Plain People. Will Laura be able to choose between a Plain and Fancy life? Rachel Beachy wants something she can't have - her sister's boyfriend. Yet in The Hope Chest she finds her floundering dreams for love rekindled in a most unexpected way. Will she be the next of the Lancaster Brides?

    Asterix in Spain features the daring rescue of Chief Huevos y Bacon's son - but returning him to Spain is more than the Gauls have bargained for! And in Asterix and the Roman Agent, a sneaky spy named Tortuous Convolvulus tries to turn our heroes against each other!

    But she had Hope - who lived in the big house, just a short skip away. After young Hope's brutal murder, unsolved to this day, Tory's life began to fall apart. And now, as she returns to the tiny town of Progress, South Carolina, with plans to settle in and open a stylish home-design shop, she is determined to find a measure of peace and free herself from the haunting visions of that terrible night. As she forges a new bond with Cade Lavelle - Hope's older brother and the heir to the Lavelle fortune - she isn't sure whether the tragic loss they share will unite them or drive them apart. The Villa (Laural Merlington, Sandra Burr, Jill Sovis): Sophia Giambelli has never worried about competition. For three generations, the Giambelli wines have been renowned for their quality - from Napa Valley to Italy, and throughout the world. But things are about to change at Villa Giambelli. Tereza, the matriarch, has announced a merger with the MacMillan family's winery - and Sophia will be assuming a new role. As a savvy businesswoman, she knows she must be prepared for anything . . .but she isn't prepared for Tyler MacMillan. Sophia must teach Tyler the finer points of marketing - and Ty, in turn, shows her how to get down and dirty, to use the sun, rain, and earth to coax the sweetest grapes from the vineyard. As they toil together, both in and out of the fields, Sophia is torn between a powerful attraction and a professional rivalry. Three Fates (Bernadette Quigley, Laura Grafton, Jill Sovis): When the Lusitania sank, more than one thousand people died. One passenger, however, survived to become a changed man, giving up his life as a petty thief but keeping a small silver statue that would become a family heirloom to future generations. Now, nearly a century later, that heirloom, one of a priceless, long-separated set of three, has been snatched away from the Sullivans. And Malachi, Gideon, and Rebecca Sullivan are determined to recover their great-great-grandfather's treasure, reunite the Three Fates, and make their fortune. The quest will take them from their home in Ireland to Helsinki, Prague, and New York and introduce them to a formidable female professor whose knowledge of Greek mythology will aid them in their quest; to a daring exotic dancer who sees the Fates as her chance at a new life; and to a seductive security expert who knows how to play high-tech cat-and-mouse. And it will pit them in a suspenseful fight against an ambitious woman who will stop at nothing to acquire the Fates.

    He had a family, a home, and even Marley, his beloved dog. Then one day his uncle Press showed up telling Bobby that some people needed his help, and nothing has been the same since. Now Bobby knows that he is a Traveler, and it's up to him to save the world. And not just Earth as we know it. All of Halla -- every time and place that has ever existed -- is being threatened by an evil enemy named Saint Dane, and Bobby must travel from one territory to another to stop Saint Dane's terrifying plans. Collected here together for the first time are books one through five in this exciting ten-book series!

    For three generations, the Giambelli wines have been renowned for their quality - from Napa Valley to Italy, and throughout the world. But things are about to change at Villa Giambelli. Tereza, the matriarch, has announced a merger with the MacMillan family's winery - and Sophia will be assuming a new role, working with Tyler MacMillan. Midnight Bayou: Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room. Only the companionship of the alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall - uncovering a secret that's been buried for a hundred years. Three Fates: When the Lusitania sank, more than one thousand people died. One passenger, however, survived to become a changed man, giving up his life as a petty thief but keeping a small silver statue that would become a family heirloom to future generations. Now, nearly a century later, that heirloom, one of a priceless, long-separated set of three, has been snatched away from the Sullivans. And Malachi, Gideon, and Rebecca Sullivan are determined to recover their great-great-grandfather's treasure, reunite the Three Fates, and make their fortune.

    Born in 1902 in Salinas, California, Steinbeck attended Stanford University before working at a series of mostly blue-collar jobs and embarking on his literary career. Profoundly committed to social progress, he used his writing to raise issues of labor exploitation and the plight of the common man, penning some of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century and winning such prestigious awards as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He received the Nobel Prize in 1962, "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." Today, more than thirty years after his death, he remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. The boxed set, containing deluxe trade paperback editions with french flaps, is being released in honor of the Steinbeck centennial being celebrated throughout 2002. Penguin Putnam Inc, in partnership with the Steinbeck Foundation and the Great Books Foundation is sponsoring numerous events throught the year.

    Their names aren't in the headline news or memorialized in song. The true hero is simply someone who makes a difference-large or small-in the lives of others. They battle disease, crime, poverty and human rights violations. They clean up environments, mentor neglected children and truly care about others. Most importantly, anyone can be a hero in the eyes of another.In Chicken Soup for the Soul of America, everyday heroes are celebrated. Heroes have always been in our midst, but the recent terrorist attacks on American soil have revealed many more heroes who have given their lives, love, time and strength to those in great need. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 events, Americans have found courage and inspiration from so many heroes, and this book pays tribute to them all, as well as those who appear every day in our lives.At a time when so many are in pain, these unique stories will touch readers with love and wisdom, the cornerstones of the American people and the hallmark of the well-loved Chicken Soup series.

    . . when the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie to the frozen Arctic.Vacation Under the VolcanoWho wants to vacation next to a volcano? Jack and Annie are about to find out when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to the days of the Roman Empire.Day of the Dragon KingWho would burn books? Jack and Annie find out when the Magic Tree House takes them back to ancient China.Viking Ships at Sunrise“Beware of Vikings!” warns Morgan. Then Jack and Annie are whisked back to ancient Ireland.Hour of the Olympics:No girls allowed at the Olympic Games! That's the rule when the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie back to ancient Greece. But when Annie tells jack to go to the games without her, he knows she's up to something. Will Annie find a way to see the games? Or will she get herself—and Jack—into Olympic-size trouble? Find out in Hour of the Olympics.

    BRAND NEW!!! Qualifies for FREE SHIPPING! Over 60,000 happy customers, 100% GUARANTEED!!!

    THE NUMA FILES COLLECTION SERPENT When Kurt Austin, the leader of a courageous National Underwater & Marine Agency (NUMA) exploration team, rescues beautiful marine archaeologist Nina Kirov off the coast of Morocco, he becomes the next target of Texas industrialist Don Halcon. A madman bent on carving a new nation out of the southwestern United States and Mexico, Halcon's scheme hinges on Nina's recent discovery involving Christopher Columbus, and a priceless pre-Columbian antiquity buried in the battered remains of the sunken Italian luxury liner "Andrea Doria."BLUE GOLDAn investigation into the sudden deaths of gray whales leads NUMA crew leader Kurt Austin to the Mexican coast, where someone tries to put him and his mini-sub permanently out of commission. Meanwhile, in South America's lush hills, a specially assigned NUMA team discovers a mysterious tribe, a mythical white goddess, and a murderous cadre of bio-pirates intent on stealing medicinal secrets worth millions. Soon, Austin and his crew realize they're working opposite ends of the same grand scheme. But every step toward salvation takes them deeper into a dense jungle of treachery, blackmail, and death.8 Audio CDs / 9 Hours (Approx)~

    A Window into the Fiction of Bob Leman - Introduction [Jim Rockhill]PrefaceWindowThe TehamaIndustrial ComplexThe Pilgrimage of Clifford M.Change of AddressSkirmish on Bastable StreetOlidaHow Dobbstown Was SavedThe Time of the WormBaitLoobUnlawful PossessionCome Where My Love Lies DreamingInstructionsFeesters in the LakeCover Illustration by Allen Koszowski

    

    Now the Highsmith renaissance continues with this brilliant collection of 28 short stories, a great majority of which have never been seen before. The stories assembled in 'Nothing That Meets the Eye', written between 1938 and 1982, are vintage Highsmith: a gigolo-like psychopath preys on unfulfilled career women; a lonely spinster's fragile hold on reality is tethered to the bottle; an estranged postal worker invents homicidal fantasies about his coworkers. While some stories anticipate the diabolical narratives of the Ripley novels, others possess a Capra-like sweetness that forces us to see the author in a new light. From this new collection, a remarkable portrait of the American psyche at mid-century emerges, unforgettably distilled by the inimitable eye of Patricia Highsmith. Patricia Highsmith is the author of such classics as 'Strangers on a Train' and 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, she died in 1995 in Locarno, Switzerland.

    Its 300-year history apparently came to an end with the eccentric collectors of the baroque age, when scientific thinking and rationalism took over. But in recent years the cabinet of curiosities has reappeared in exhibitions in Europe and America and in international colloquia on university campuses, while reemerging as a source of inspiration for interior decorators and contemporary artists.This spectacular and ingenious book traces the history of these "rooms of wonders, " from their first appearance in the inventories and engravings commissioned by Renaissance nobles such as the Medici and the Hapsburgs, via those of the Dane Ole Wurm and the Italian polymath Athanasius Kircher, to the cabinets of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century scientists Elias Ashmole and Levinas Vincent.Much was genuinely scientific: minerals, fossils, stuffed and preserved animals and plants. Some items were merely curious, or even grotesque -- freaks of nature, monstrous births, insects in amber. The artificial or man-made was equally prominent -- wax effigies, death masks, specimens of almost incredible ingenuity (such as carvings on cherry-stones), or mechanical automata that imitated living things. The fascination of curiosities lies in their combination: they represent a stage of human inquiry in which imagination had not been divorced from reason.Patrick Mauries reconstructs these rooms of wonders as they were in their heyday and illustrates many of the most exotic items they contained, as well as the fewcomplete interiors that survive. He begins with the totality of the collection, the "theater of the world, " the whole sum of human knowledge gathered together in one room. He then examines the cabinets that contained and categorized the objects. Next he opens them to reveal the extraordinary melange of curiosities, specimens, and works of art. He looks at the personalities of the collectors themselves, from great princes to humble scholars, and finally at the modern revival of the cabinet of curiosity.

    Titles included are:Midnight for Charlie BoneCharlie Bone and the Time Twister Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy

    You are enough You have enough You do enough It's true

    A charismatic and inspiring speaker and writer, LaDuke possesses a stirring passion that comes through in the 30 speeches, articles, and fiction excerpts compiled in The Winona LaDuke Reader. This is the first collection of the many political speeches and "think-pieces" that she has written for magazines such as Sierra, Smithsonian’s American Indian, and more.

    The concept of purification of the soul as a whole is and always be central to the message of Islam and to the welfare of humans, both in this life and the hereafter.

    Under Nina Baym's direction, the editors have considered afresh each selection and all the apparatus to make the anthology an even better teaching tool.

    Lock the doors. Pull down the shades—and BEWARE! It's time to read the favorite scary stories of R.L. Stine, bestselling children’s author and master of the spooky tale.R.L. Stine has gathered a selection of all things scary, and even added two new tales of his own! Short stories, fables old and new, comics, and poems. It′s a spine-tingling collection of work by dozens of writers and artists who are famous for hair-raising fun.Discover a ghastly secret in a retelling of the classic story "The Judge′s House," by Bram Stoker. Peek into a Christmas stocking that holds a shocking surprise in a Vault of Horror comic, "A Sock for Christmas." Meet an ice-cream man who will chill your blood in "Mister Ice Cold" by Gahan Wilson.But first, visit an evil carnival in "The Black Ferris," by Ray Bradbury. R.L. Stine says that this story changed his life! Be sure to read all the introductions—because R.L. reveals why he picked these stories just for you, and why he finds them the creepiest ... the funniest ... the scariest! BEWARE!Black ferris / Ray Bradbury --Conjure brother / Patricia McKissack --My sister is a werewolf / Jack Prelutsky --Surprise guest / R.L. Stine --Judge's house / Bram Stoker, retold by R.L. Stine --Cremation of Sam McGee / Robert W. Service --Elevator / William Sleator --Witches / Roald Dahl --Joe is not a monster / R.L. Stine --Tiger in the snow / Daniel Wynn Barber --Sock for Christmas / Grim Fairy Tale from "The vault of horror"; Volume 4, by Jack Kamen --Terrifying adventures of the Golem / Jewish folktale, retold by R.L. Stine --Examination day / Henry Slesar --Harold / retold by Alvin Schwartz --Girl who stood on a grave / retold by Alvin Schwartz --Grave misunderstanding / Leon Garfield --Mister Ice Cold / Gahan Wilson --Haunted / Shel Silverstein --Blood-curdling story / Shel Silverstein

    The scope and quality of the translations, by some of America's finest poets, mark the centrality of his work on the map of modern poetry. Aridjis's sources range from Nahuatl chants and Huichol initiation songs to San Juan de la Cruz and the 16th-century Spanish poet Luis de Gongora y Argote. He is, in the words of translator George McWhirter, "a troubadour of love for lost environments, a voice in the wilderness of Mexico City and Mexico." Included in this selection are poems by Aridjis evoking his own life, present and past, his memories always sticking close to his birthplace Contepec, where, on Altamirano Hill, the Monarch butterflies arrive each year. This long awaited Selected Poems enables the reader to witness, from his 1960 collection The Eyes ora Double Vision to new unpublished poems -- in a bilingual edition -- the poetic and personal evolution of this "visionary poet of lyrical bliss, crystalline concentrations and infinite spaces" (Kenneth Rexroth).

    The book opens with a group of new poems, including “What Would You Like to Be When You Grow Up?”—a question that has kept Ponsot’s work vital for more than five decades. Throughout the selections from her four earlier books and a trove of previously unpublished work covering the years 1946 to 1971, she offers us a “lost haven in a springing world.” Sometimes sharp in her self-perception, but always listing toward pleasure and elegance, unafraid of grief and the passage of time, Ponsot continually refreshes her language and the spirited self from which it emerges.From the Hardcover edition.

    Editors Heid E. Erdrich and Laura Tohe have gathered stories from across the nation that celebrate, record, and explore Native American women's roles in community. The result is a rich tapestry that contains work by established writers along with emerging and first-time authors. Contributors include Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Diane Glancy, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Allison Hedge Coke, LeAnne Howe, Roberta Hill, Kim Blaeser, Linda LeGarde Grover, with a foreword by Winona LaDuke.

    Kiernan as one of today's most versatile fantasists. Spanning and transcending the fields of fantasy, dark fantasy, and science fiction, these stories include some of Kiernan's early and hard-to-find work, and explore the limits of that ubiquitous bane of contemporary F&SF, the "theme" and "shared-world" anthology. In the words of Douglas E. Winter: "Caitlin Kiernan's stories, even when appearing in theme anthologies, fill a space that is genuinely hers ó thematically and stylistically. Rarely do her texts offer the punch line ending of a campfire tale, or even a tidy denouement. Instead they present a fine mingling of attitude and atmosphere, expressed with delightful idiosyncrasy . . ." Including such critically-acclaimed stories as "Emptiness Spoke Eloquent" (selected for The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror) and "Persephone," as well as Kiernan's first ever collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite, From Weird and Distant Shores is a nightmare tour de force you won't easily forget.

    Includes Anthony Arnove, Naseer Aruri, David Barsamian, Paul D'Amato, Phil Gasper, Toufic Haddad, Tikva Honig-Parnass, Rania Masri, Tanya Reinhart, Edward Said, and Ahmed Shawki.

    It is composed of interlocking stories; each novel is self-contained and may be read independently of the others. The first novel, The Four Last Things, is set in the 1990s. The second, The Judgement Of Strangers, moves back to 1970, and the third, The Office Of The Dead, to 1958.Each book discreetly modifies the others, and each of them is written in a different style. Taken as a whole, the three books make one large novel, which should keep readers occupied for the longest transcontinental flights

    One tale recounts the author's search for a Kafka story that can only be found in an elusive and quite possibly cursed edition. Other stories feature humans dressing in full-body protective exoskins in the personas of old Hollywood movie stars to barter old Earth movies for an alien aphrodisiac and a young boy coming to terms with creation and moulding his own man out of detritus from a nearby forest. In the title story, a great fantasy writer loses touch with the world he has created and pleads with his young assistant to help him visualise the story's end and enable him to complete his greatest novel ever.

    The excitement, compassion, lyricism, and humor that epitomize his writing for the theater are all present in his poetry. It was as a young poet that Williams first came to the attention of New Directions' founder James Laughlin who initially presented some of Williams' verse in the New Directions anthology Five Young American Poets 1944 (before he had any reputation as a playwright), and later published the individual volumes of Williams's poetry, In the Winter of Cities (1956, revised in 1964) and Androgyne, Mon Amour (1977). In this definitive edition, all of the playwright's collected and uncollected published poems (along with substantial variants), including poems from the plays, have been assembled, accompanied by explanatory notes and an Introduction by Tennessee Williams scholars David Roessel and Nicholas Moschovakis.The CD included with this edition features Tennessee Williams reading, in his delightful and mesmerizing Mississippi voice, several of the whimsical folk poems he called his "Blue Mountain Ballads,"poems dedicated to Carson McCullers and to his longtime companion Frank Merlo, as well as his long early poem, "The Summer Belvedere."

    Breathtaking vivid prose unveils a world beyond belief in this fantasy novel by Vera Nazaraian.

    Frank Baum's Santa Claus stories: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, and A Kidnapped Santa Claus. In The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, Baum gives us a glimpse into the magical history that surrounds the life story of Santa Claus. In a A Kidnapped Santa Claus, we find out what happens when Santa is kidnapped shortly before Christmas.

    If, as Matt Cardin suggests, tehom derives from the Sumerian Tiamat, the primeval chaos dragon of Babylonian mythology, then tehom, the deep, is a primeval chaos fashioned by God into an ordered cosmos.We may speculate, therefore, that tehom, like Tiamat, predated God: that God may even be the offspring of the deep.If such were true, then we would be forced to conclude that both God and His world the ordered world of light, light, and logic exist against a background of death, darkness, and derangement.A few scattered souls claim that we can glimpse this primal chaos even now, while the cosmic charade still runs its course. At the seams of the universe, they say, a thread will sometimes become unraveled; a ray of darkness will shine through; and the light does not overcome it.Divinations of the Deep presents five such glimpses, which the reader receives at his own peril. To question the universe in this manner is always dangerous, because there is no way of knowing in advance what form the answers will take. All that is known is that their form will be the unexpected.MATT CARDIN's stories and essays have appeared in various print and on-line publications, including The Children of Cthulhu, The HWA Presents; Dark Arts, The Thomas Ligotti Reader; and Penny Dreadful. His eclectic professional history includes time spent as a videographer, mortgage broker, and high school English teacher, as well as seven years spent in the pursuit of a graduate degree in religious studies. He resides in southwest Missouri with his wife and stepson.Jacket art by Jason Van Hollander.

    With its mountainous and desert landscapes, labyrinthine souks, delectable cuisine, exquisite rugs and textiles, vibrant mosaics, fragrant odors, mesmerizing music, and welcoming people, Morocco is a most alluring and tantalizingly exotic destination. Digging a little deeper into the myth of Morocco, Barbara and René Stoeltie bring us this eclectic selection of homes that demonstrate all that is most wonderful about Moroccan style. Flipping through these pages of fairy tale interiors (ideally whilst sipping a steaming cup of sweet, fragrant mint tea) youll be instantly transported.

    Such societies have existed in the past, in the golden eras of Islamic civilization, and we have the hope that, if Allah wills, such a society may appear again.In The Ideal Muslim Society , Dr. Muhammad ‘Ali al-Hashimi gives us a detailed picture of what this society would look like. Drawing on his extensive research of Islamic history and contrasting the ideal with the sorry state of affairs in human societies today, he explores the religious, political, economic, social and other facets of this ideal society, illustrating everything from the responsibilities of those in authority to the interactions between individuals on the humblest levels. For those who are longing to see a better world, this book offers practical ideas and hope.

    While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

    Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Locus Awards for Best Novella and Best Critic, and numerous other awards. Twenty-four of his 30 books are still in print, in 10 languages. His short work has appeared in magazines around the planet, from Omni and Analog to Xhurnal Izobretatel i Rationalizator (Moscow), and in numerous anthologies. His most recent books are the novels Callahan's Key, and The Free Lunch.Contents:God Is an Iron (1979)In the Olden Days (1984)Local Champ (1979)Melancholy Elephants (1982)Not Fade Away (1982)Orphans of Eden (1996)Rubber Soul (1982)Soul Search (1979)Stardance (1977) with Jeanne RobinsonThe Magnificent Conspiracy (1977)

    Dogs. Dogs. Big dogs, small dogs, cowboy dogs, and even astrodogs! In poems that bounce and spill and shoot off into space (just like their subjects!) and stunning hand-beaded pictures that capture the true nature of man’s best friend, this delightful collection celebrates dogs in all their tail-wagging, tongue-lolling glory.

    Platt - Is an accomplished writer of Fiction and the Non, Comic Book scripts, Poetry and Journalism. For the past 10 years John R. Platt has covered almost every writing medium there is and now Medium Rare Books will cover him. From Bulimic Zombies still hungry after Asian Cuisine, to Hoodlums trying to cash in on the Super Hero racket. 'Die Laughing' will scare the humor right into you.

     Each book will also include an A+ Essay; an actual literary essay written about the Spark-ed book, to show students how an essay should be written.

    With the passing of generations, it has curdled. At night it casts a buttery light on the moon. Fortunately, all the action in this book occurs elsewhere. It mostly happens in a warped version of the music industry or in an impossible tavern or in a future where everything is illegal. It sometimes even happens outside the narrative. But never in Milkwood. Never. Milkwood is barely even mentioned. For it is not a nice place to be.

    The range of Christmas tree pins, shown in over 1,200 beautiful color photographs, described, identified, and valued here, will astound you. Over 1,100 different pins, from the mid-20th century to the present, made by more than 200 designers and manufacturers, are alphabetically ordered for easy reference. The identifying marks, company dates, and materials are listed for each pin. Beauty distinguishes many of the designs, and the rhinestones, enamels, and metalwork are of the finest quality. The hunt for Christmas tree pins is a year-round persuit, and this book will certainly inspire you to start your own collection.

    - Presents the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from "The Odyssey through modern literature- The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism- Contains critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index- Introductory essay by Harold Bloom

    Detroit disc jockey Alan Freed, among the very first to play and promote new music, christened it "Rock 'n Roll" from an old blues lyric. Detroit, like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Memphis, contributed its own distinctive regional character to the music and became a hub of industry activity. An epicenter of American music by the mid-1950s, Detroit built its reputation upon a wealth of talented singers and musicians, the vast amount of clubs and theaters available to them, and a multitude of enthusiastic industry professionals who helped bring their unique sound to the world. Many record labels, including Fortune and Fox, also thrived in the metro Detroit area in the days before Berry Gordy's Motown Records gained international recognition. This book documents the extraordinary style of music that took shape in Detroit well before Motown was a gleam in Gordy's eye. The Birth of the Detroit Sound chronicles great talents like John Lee Hooker, Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, Jackie Wilson, Jack Scott, Andre Williams, and Nolan Strong. Featuring a rare collection of vintage photographs, the book also spotlights record industry personalities, deejays, and long-forgotten venues where the giants of Detroit music once performed.

    Local people are seen at work, at play and socializing. Iron workers, construction crews and munitions makers show us the gritty, tiring work of a community and emphasize the man and animal power once common in industry. There are social changes as well, like the coming of women to the workplace. Shirtwaisted ladies at the Illinois Watch Company and "Rosie the Riveter" on the production line during the war make their appearance. Aerial views of the downtown area present a century of change in Springfield. The evolution of transportation in the community is chronicled, from horse and buggy to the railroad to the automobile. Images of ladies cooking at Temple and crews preparing community garden plots showcase the city's volunteer service heritage. Commonplace images of life in Springfield, such as children at play, shopping, parades, and the first day of school, are all presented here. But the less common events are included as well: fires, the race riot, even a baptism at Lake Springfield. Together, these images tell the story of who we were, and perhaps more importantly, who we have become as a result. This book shows a community readers may know intimately, yet have never seen.