The Cartel: The Inside Story of Britain's Biggest Drugs Gang


Graham Johnson - 2012
    Billions in sales. But, unlike Tesco or BP, few have heard of it. The Cartel is Britain’s biggest drugs organisation, a shadowy network stretching from the freezing, fog-banks of the Mersey to the glittering marinas of Marbella, from the coffee shops of Amsterdam to the trading floors of Canary Wharf. Run by godfathers as rich as Branson but kept in line by a new generation of teenage killers. Here is the inside story.

Meet and Delete


Pauline Lawless - 2014
    All three are in their mid-thirties and have been unlucky in love. “Out of every ten replies I’ll probably get two perverts, two nerds, two frauds – usually married – and four genuine guys. Not a bad percentage really.” Claire is apprehensive about it and Megan downright sceptical but Viv, with her usual joie de vivre, takes to it with gusto. Many men and many dates later – from the boring to the bizarre – Viv thinks she has found her Mr Right. But does the course of true love ever run smooth? Meanwhile she coerces a doubtful Claire into joining the dating site too. Add to this mix Claire’s nasty sister Sarah who, bored with marriage, embraces online-dating with even more enthusiasm than Viv. Not to mention Megan’s thrice-married mother who’s looking for a toy boy not a husband . . . Is online dating the answer for all these women?

Chains Around the Grass


Naomi Ragen - 2001
    Her mother, Ruth, a dreamy and reluctant housewife, is left with 3 children to bring up. She must pick up the pieces, if she is to survive.

New York 1, Tel Aviv 0: Stories


Shelly Oria - 2014
    The result is an intimate document of niche moments, when relationships either run their course, take flight, or enter holding patterns.The characters in this collection are as intelligent and charming as they are lonely. In some stories, realistic urges materialize in magical settings: a couple discovers the ability to stop time together; another couple lives in an apartment where only one of them can hear a constant beeping, while the other must try to believe. In other stories, a nameless voice narrates the arc of a love affair through a list of the couple’s best and worst kisses; a father leaves his daughter in Israel to pursue a painting career in New York; and a sex worker falls in love with the Israeli photographer who studies her.The stories in this ambitious and exciting debut share a prevailing sense of existential strangeness, otherworldliness, and the search to belong, while the altering of time and space and memory creates unexpected magic. And yet there is something entirely familiar about the experiences of these characters, who are so brilliantly and subtly rendered by Shelly Oria’s capable mind.

Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit (Chicken Soup for the Soul)


Jack Canfield - 2001
    Storytelling is a major component of Jewish tradition and this book honors that heritage with stories that celebrate the joys, sorrows and challenges of being Jewish. Some stories are timely and others are timeless, yet all are filled with heart-and, of course, love. Discover the invincible power of love in the pages of this book-love of family, love of tradition, love of God. For Jews and non-Jews alike, this collection is sure to capture hearts.

Jews Queers Germans


Martin Duberman - 2017
    All five men are primarily homosexual, though they handle their erotic orientation in very different ways. Where Rathenau remains utterly closeted, Kessler feels free to bring his youthful working-class lover to the privileged soirées of the aristocracy, and the roustabout Röhm openly cavorts int he gay bathhouses and bars. Though Prince von Eulenburg, in contrast, is discretion itself, his enemies are hell-bent on his downfall; their intrigues culminate in the notorious trial of 1907 - at which Magnus Hirschfeld gives "expert" witness - that produces worldwide shock and titillation.The drama of these astonishing lives plays out against the rich tapestry of a period in human istory in which the remnants and artifices of a moribund society contend with the rise of revolutionary insurgencies, international antagonisms, and a surge of innovation in the arts, sciences - and self-knowledge.

Jewish Holidays


Michael Strassfeld - 1993
    . . with a greater devotion and joy."--Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler

Gates of Thunder


Alex Kosh - 2014
    It's a place where magic spells, enchanted artifacts, steam-powered machines, firearms and mechanical golems are a part of everyday life.Gamer Andrew Falk begins his journey in a small village on the border of Orcish territory. The locals are the keepers of many secrets, but their behavior is too realistic for characters in a game; so realistic, in fact, that Andrew starts to treat them as if they were real people. Maybe because of the way he plays, or maybe just thanks to good luck, he becomes one of a mysterious class of people known as "sliders,” and Elenia, the goddess of fate, sends him on an epic quest. But he quickly comes to understand that it's not just his stats as a gamer that are at stake here, but his real life. The virtual goddess turns out to be capable of affecting the real world in order to force Andrew to complete her assignments within the game.Now Andrew's going to have to turn Arktania upside-down in his quest for five ancient swords. But the "Loner" curse means that he won't have anyone to rely on but himself.

The Great Shift: Encountering God in Biblical Times


James L. Kugel - 2017
    Yet over the course of the thousand-year Biblical Era, encounters with God changed dramatically. As James L. Kugel argues, this transition allows us to glimpse a massive shift in human experience—the emergence of the modern, Western sense of self. In this landmark work, Kugel fuses revelatory close readings of ancient texts with modern scholarship from a range of fields, including neuroscience, anthropology, psychology, and archaeology, to explain the origins of belief, worship, and the sense of self, and the changing nature of God through history. In the tradition of books like The Swerve and The Better Angels of Our Nature,The Great Shift tells the story of a revolution in human consciousness and the enchantment of everyday life. This book will make believers and seekers think differently not just about the Bible, but about the entire history of the human imagination.

No Room for Small Dreams: The Decisions That Made Israel Great


Shimon Peres - 2017
    Demonstrating his political skills in adolescence, he became immersed in paramilitary operations against the British, and was a crucial part of the 1948 war for independence. A protégé of David Ben-Gurion, Peres not only helped create modern Israel, but would shape it in the years to come as the first director general of its Defense Ministry, as prime minister (twice), as the head of other key ministries—including foreign affairs, transportation, and finance—and until 2014, as president. Under his visionary stewardship, Israel became a formidable military power and global leader in high-tech. Peres was also instrumental in growing Israel's population—facilitating the immigration of millions of Jews worldwide-and in securing peace with its enemy the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which earned him the Nobel Prize.In this, his final testimonial, finished in the last weeks of his life, this man of war and peace reflects on key events and fundamental Israeli principles to provide an understanding of his nation's rise and the challenges it faces. No Room for Small Dreams spans decades, events, and places—from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to Washington, D.C. and Gaza; from the Arab riots in the wake of World War I and the success of Israeli spy operations to the creation of Israel's nuclear program and the birth of its astonishing high tech industry; from its controversial wars and contentious peace treaties to the early kibbutz movement and today's extremist settlers. In looking back Peres also looks forward, offering a provocative meditation on Jewish success, the difficulties and sacrifices of making peace, and the courage necessary to emerge from the dark shadows of history into the bright promise of tomorrow.

I and Thou


Martin Buber - 1923
    Many prominent writers have acknowledged its influence on their work; students of intellectual history consider it a landmark; and the generation born after World War II considers Buber one of its prophets. Buber's main proposition is that we may address existence in two ways: (1) that of the "I" toward an "It," toward an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience; (2) that of the "I" toward "Thou," in which we move into existence in a relationship without bounds. One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. All of our relationships, Buber contends, bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.The need for a new English translation had been felt for many years. The old version was marred by many inaccuracies and misunderstandings, and its recurrent use of the archaic "thou" was seriously misleading. Professor Walter Kaufmann, a distinguished writer and philosopher in his own right who was close to Buber, retranslated the work at the request of Buber's family. He added a wealth of informative footnotes to clarify obscurities and bring the reader closer to the original and wrote an extensive prologue that opened up new perspectives on the book and on Buber's thought. This volume provided a new basis for all subsequent discussions of Buber.

Out of the Depths: The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last


Israel Meir Lau - 2009
    Descended from a 1,000-year unbroken chain of rabbis, he grew up to become Chief Rabbi of Israel--and like many of the great rabbis, Lau is a master storyteller. Out of the Depths is his harrowing, miraculous, and inspiring account of life in one of the Nazis' deadliest concentration camps, and how he managed to survive against all possible odds.Lau, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust, also chronicles his life after the war, including his emigration to Mandate Palestine during a period that coincides with the development of the State of Israel. The story continues up through today, with that once-lost boy of eight now a brilliant, charismatic, and world-revered figure who has visited with Popes John Paul and Benedict; the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and countless global leaders including Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Tony Blair.

America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today


Pamela S. Nadell - 2019
    Nadell weaves together the stories of a diverse group of extraordinary people—from the colonial era’s Grace Nathan and her great-granddaughter Emma Lazarus to Bessie Hillman and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to scores of other activists, workers, wives, and mothers who helped carve out a Jewish American identity.The twin threads binding these women together, she argues, are a strong sense of self and a resolute commitment to making the world a better place. Nadell recounts how Jewish women have been at the forefront of causes for centuries, fighting for suffrage, trade unions, civil rights, and feminism, and hoisting banners for Jewish rights around the world. Informed by shared values of America’s founding and Jewish identity, these women’s lives have left deep footprints in the history of the nation they call home.

Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales


Dylan Howard - 2019
    But while he was flying around the world on his private jet and hosting lavish parties at his private island in the Caribbean, he also was secretly masterminding an international child sex ring—one that may have involved the richest and most influential men in the world. The conspiracy of corruption was an open secret for decades. And then this summer, it all came crashing down.   After his arrest on sex trafficking charges in July, it seemed Epstein’s darkest secrets would finally see the light. But hopes for true justice were shattered on August 10 this year, when he was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York.   The verdict: suicide. The timing: convenient, to say the least.     Now, Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales delivers bombshell new revelations, uncovers how the man President Trump once described as a “terrific guy” abused hundreds of underage girls at his mansions in Palm Beach and Manhattan… all while entertaining the world’s most powerful men—including President Clinton, Prince Andrew, and Donald Trump himself. How much did they know about his perversions? And did they take part? How might they have helped him to continue his abuse, and to escape justice for it? What responsibility might they have for his sudden, shocking death? And is there a shocking spy and blackmail story at the heart of the scandal? The answers to these questions and more will be explored in Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales with groundbreaking new reporting, never-before-seen court files, and interviews with new witnesses and confidants.   Combining the very best investigative reporting from investigative journalists Dylan Howard, Melissa Cronin and James Robertson—who have been covering the case for close to a decade—will send shockwaves through the highest levels of the establishment.

Microbrewer Alchemist


Jon Svenson - 2021
    After his parents died in a horrific car crash, he uses the inheritance money to start a brewery and gets married.Happiness doesn't last very long. The brewery is struggling, and his marriage is rocky. Still, he has his team at work supporting him. Until he doesn't.Microbrewer Alchemist is the story of a man who stumbles upon a secret that he is still trying to understand while turning his life around at the same time. There are no intimate scenes or harems, but there is a bit of swearing.