Like other immigrant groups before them, they showed up with little money but with an intense work ethic and an unshakeable belief in the promise of the United States. Many of them lived in a world outside the law, working in a shadow economy overseen by the ruthless gangs that ruled the narrow streets of New York’s Chinatown.The figure who came to dominate this Chinese underworld was a middle-aged grandmother known as Sister Ping. Her path to the American dream began with an unusual business run out of a tiny noodle store on Hester Street. From her perch above the shop, Sister Ping ran a full-service underground bank for illegal Chinese immigrants. But her real business-a business that earned an estimated $40 million-was smuggling people. As a “snakehead,” she built a complex—and often vicious—global conglomerate, relying heavily on familial ties, and employing one of Chinatown's most violent gangs to protect her power and profits. Like an underworld CEO, Sister Ping created an intricate smuggling network that stretched from Fujian Province to Hong Kong to Burma to Thailand to Kenya to Guatemala to Mexico. Her ingenuity and drive were awe-inspiring both to the Chinatown community—where she was revered as a homegrown Don Corleone—and to the law enforcement officials who could never quite catch her. Indeed, Sister Ping’s empire only came to light in 1993 when the Golden Venture, a ship loaded with 300 undocumented immigrants, ran aground off a Queens beach. It took New York’s fabled “Jade Squad” and the FBI nearly ten years to untangle the criminal network and home in on its unusual mastermind.THE SNAKEHEAD is a panoramic tale of international intrigue and a dramatic portrait of the underground economy in which America’s twelve million illegal immigrants live. Based on hundreds of interviews, Patrick Radden Keefe’s sweeping narrative tells the story not only of Sister Ping, but of the gangland gunslingers who worked for her, the immigration and law enforcement officials who pursued her, and the generation of penniless immigrants who risked death and braved a 17,000 mile odyssey so that they could realize their own version of the American dream. The Snakehead offers an intimate tour of life on the mean streets of Chinatown, a vivid blueprint of organized crime in an age of globalization and a masterful exploration of the ways in which illegal immigration affects us all.www.doubleday.com

    Born two years after her parents' only son died just hours after his birth, Kat Chow became unusually fixated with death. She worried constantly about her parents dying -- especially her mother. One morning, when Kat was nine, her mother, a vivacious and mischievous woman, casually made a morbid joke: When she eventually dies, she said laughing, she'd like to be stuffed and displayed in Kat's future apartment in order to always watch over her.Four years later when her mother dies unexpectedly from cancer, Kat, her two older sisters, and their father are plunged into a debilitating, lonely grief. With a distinct voice that is wry and heartfelt, Kat weaves together what is part ghost story and part excavation of her family's history of loss spanning three generations and their immigration from China and Hong Kong to America and Cuba. This redemptive coming-of-age story uncovers the uncanny parallels in Kat's lineage, including the strength of sisterhood and the complicated duty of looking after parents, even after death.Seeing Ghosts asks what it means to claim and tell your family's story: Is writing an exorcism or is it its own form of preservation? What do we owe to our families in our grief, and how does it shape us? In order to answer these questions and to understand her family's ghosts, Kat unearths their sorrow and challenges the power structures of race, class, and gender. The result is an extraordinary new contribution to the literature of grief and the American family, and a provocative and transformative meditation on who we become under the specter of loss.

    With a rare combination of freshness and lucidity, he delves into the origins and history of Zen to explain what it means for the world today with incredible clarity. Watts saw Zen as “one of the most precious gifts of Asia to the world,” and in The Way of Zen he gives this gift to readers everywhere.

    Party Secretary Li cannot cope, and commits suicide, but not before daubing a series of slogans onto sheets of rice paper and hanging them outside his bedroom window (Our Leaders Are Drunk On The Taste Of Corruption reads one; The Party Officials Are Screwing Our Daughters, reads another).Those left behind have to clear up after him: Old Zhu has to keep Party Secretary Li's ashes in the bottom of his wardrobe. On the other side of the courtyard, their aria singing neighbour Madam Fan is temporarily silenced by the tragedy. Meanwhile Old Zhu's son, Da Shan, has returned from the city and fallen in love with not one but two childhood sweethearts.

    In it, his father admits that he was never just a restaurateur—in fact he was part of a vast international crime syndicate that formed during China’s leanest communist years.Victor travels to Beijing, where he navigates his father’s secret criminal life, confronting decades-old grudges, violent spats, and a shocking new enterprise that the organization wants to undertake. Standing up against it is likely what got his father killed, but Victor remains undeterred. He enlists his growing network of allies and friends to finish what his father started, no matter the costs.

    Previous novels by Williams include 'The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure' and 'The Emperor's Bones'.

    Living in Texas, she's bored of her ho-hum high school and dull job. So when she learns about the S.A.S.S. program to Xi'an, China, she jumps at the chance. She'll be able to learn about her passion - anthropology - and it will give her the opportunity to explore her roots. But when she arrives, she receives quite a culture shock. And the closer she comes to finding out about her birth parents, the more apprehensive she gets. Enter Will, the cute guy she first meets on the plane. He and Cece really connect during the program. But can he help her get accustomed to a culture she should already know about, or will she leave China without the answers she's been looking for?

    The silliest thing just happened to me! Just because I never did any of my homework and hardly showed up to some classes I’ve been forced into summer school if I want to be able to pass the fifth grade and get into middle school next year. It’s not as bad as it seems though, my best friend Grunt is in summer school too, so at least I’ll have someone to talk to. My entire summer is going to be filled with summer classes because I failed three classes last year. I bet I’ll be bored out of my mind, but it’s not like zombies have anything better to do in the summer, avoiding the sun and all. Anyway, I heard that my first month-long session is in history and it’s being taught by a skeleton! I wonder what sort of crazy stuff I’ll learn...or what kind of crazy dreams I’ll have when I end up sleeping through class. I guess I’ll just need to wait to find out. Author’s Note: This short story is for your reading pleasure. The characters in this "Minecraft Adventure Series" such as Steve, Endermen or Herobrine...etc are based on the Minecraft Game coming from Minecraft ®/TM & © 2009-2013 Mojang / Notch

    The furthest thing from Yatta’s mind is love and relationships. He’s focused on providing for his family, hitting licks with his day one niggas, Alaric and Zamir, and staying out of the way of the law. But, as fate has it, he meets the alluring Erin Hughes and his perception of love shifts in a new direction. Erin is a born and raised Detroit city girl with dreams as big as her heart. Her love for drawing and painting made her a bit of an out cast. But with the support of her cousin Dreka, her best friend Cassidy and her father, she has never known the feeling of not being loved, despite the lack of it it she received from her distant mother. Erin doesn’t let anything discourage her from living life and being happy. Lately, the one thing that would truly make her happy is being with Yatta. But its easier said than done as many things get on the way of them being together. One of them being Yatta’s baby mama, Cleo. Things slowly unravel and before you know it love, secrets, and deadly decisions causes great turmoil in their lives. Will Erin regret the day she gave her heart to a bad boy? Or will Yatta sweep her off her feet, showing her that bad boys fall in love, too?

    Everyone but the actual shooter is suspected, and when it comes to light, someone very close to Oden is to blame. In Shorty Is In Love With a Real One II, Khyle, Tasmine, Bella, and timid Perry return with much more drama than before. Khyle makes a huge mistake after letting her trust issues get in the way of her relationship, making her feel like she will never recover. Tasmine must figure out if Anton is worth all of the drama he continues to bring to himself and her, or if it's best she keeps it pushing. And Bella struggles to decide on whether she wants to risk her heart to be with Santino, or stick with a man she has never loved but feels obligated to be with. Oh and Perry? Let's just say she becomes very tired of being alone and in the background, prompting her to shake things up, no matter how harmful it may be to others. Come back to Sin City and follow these four ladies, as they attempt to make it through college while dealing with some ugly, heavy, and very shady drama.

    This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

    The hot, werebear, shifter series with over 300 five star reviews!Includes: Book 1: Bare Knuckle Bear Book 2: Bear Knuckle Grizzly Book 3: Bear Knuckle Black Bear Book 4: Bear Knuckle Kodiak Book 5: Bear Knuckle Luke Full of comedy, action, suspense and lots of hot sex! Book 1: Bare Knuckle Bear Bear shifter, Grayson, is thrilled when he walks into Bar Knuckle, the only bar in his new Northern town. Not only is it packed with shifters of all species waiting for their turn to fight in the steel cage but he also hits it off with the curvy, blond waitress in the cowboy hat. Grayson loves to fight and he quickly jumps into the cage for a go after he secures a date with the voluptuous waitress. BBW, Dakota, has been working in boring Laughlin City at the seedy shifter bar getting constantly harassed by Brad, the son of the town boss, for years. But everything is about to change when a sexy new bear shifter named Grayson walks in. He's tough and hot and he is nothing but trouble. Grayson defeats Brad in the shifter fighting cage and his father, a powerful rhino shifter and the company boss, takes it very personally. Now Grayson will have to fight for something besides just fun. He will have to fight for his life...and for Dakota's. Book 2: Bear Knuckle Grizzly Grizzly bear shifter, Hunter Stevens, has just bonded to the newest waitress at the Bar Knuckle. She is curvy and beautiful and the younger sister of one of his best friends. But when his friend Jack says that his sister is off limits he might be in for some trouble. BBW and bear shifter, Brooke Jones, is on the run from her abusive ex. She’s hiding out in the secluded Laughlin City with her over protective brother and his buddies. She’s enjoying herself and becomes more than just friends with Hunter when she’s awaken from her dream and her worst nightmare comes true. Brooke’s life is thrown into chaos when her past catches up to her and threatens the safety of everyone she loves. Hunter and his Grizzly bear will have to step in the metal cage and fight for a mate who he is forbidden to be with. Book 3: Bear Knuckle Black Bear Skyler Cash is back in Laughlin City, the place that she swore she would never return to, and she has her hands full. She is a female human in a town full of male shifters, her brother is trying to steal the family logging company from her and a hot rugged werebear has inexplicably bonded to her. The smart move would be to return to her comfortable life in New York City but she feels that she owes it to someone to stay. Jack Jones is in love. His black bear has bonded with the sexy new human in town, which makes him, and his friends, targets from her multiple enemies. But what is a bear shifter do? Walk away from his mate? Well that ain’t going to happen. When the new town boss, and Skyler’s brother, Brad decides that he wants Skyler out of Laughlin City there is only one shifter who can step in and help her out. But Jack may lose everything for his mate, his friends and for himself when he has to step in the cage and face an opponent who will fight dirty and do whatever it takes to win the company and send Skyler away for good. Book 4: Bear Knuckle Kodiak BBW Roxy Jacoby needs a change. She’s tempted fate for too long as a bear shifter living in the city and after a close call with her unruly bear, she decides to move into the wild for the first time in her life. She heads to work at Cash Loggings a logging company exclusively for shifters. It seems like a shifter paradise but the reality is anything but. Bear shifter, Wyatt Griffin, is thrilled. Cash Loggings is hiring their first batch of female employees in over three generations. His friends all have mates and with twenty-three women arriving in town one of them has to be his mate. Right? Right??? Roxy quickly catches Wyatt’s eye, but he’s not the only one who finds the curvy bear shifter irresistible. A far more powerful and downright evil shifter has bonded to her as well. And Wyatt and his Kodiak bear will have to fight in the cage for the new woman who has his heart against an opponent who he can’t possibly beat on his own. Book 5: Bear Knuckle LukeHoney badger shifter, Luke, has happily worked as a bartender at The Bar Knuckle for years until a dangerous new threat comes to town and ruins everything. When the billionaire dragon shifter, Dax Winters, takes over the bar and threatens his friends and new mate, Luke is the only shifter in town willing to stand up to the terrifying beast.BBW and helicopter pilot, Noel, has been tormented by her dragon shifter boss for years. Dax has destroyed everything in his path until they come to a tiny town in the middle of the Canadian forest with a tough, hot, honey badger shifter who finally stands up to him. Could Luke be more than just Noel's savior? Could he also be the one?Luke and Dax's rivalry will come to a head on fight night at The Bar Knuckle where Luke will be fighting for his mate. But can a honey badger defeat a dragon in a cage match?

    It’s not like you have to actually kill a dragon to collect its scales. Dragons moult. When he woke up one morning beside a beautiful crystal-clear lake only to have a woman fall out of the sky in front of him, Alex’s life took a turn for the exciting, and dangerous. With his new companion around, things would never be the same again.

    To Kill a MockingbirdThe Shoes of the FishermanSeven Days in MayTo Catch an Angel