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The Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey
Fouad Ajami - 1998
Ultimately, they came to face disappointment, exile, and, on occasion, death. Brilliantly weaving together the strands of a tumultuous century in Arab political thought, history, and poetry, Ajami takes us from the ruins of Beirut's once glittering metropolis to the land of Egypt, where struggle rages between a modernist impulse and an Islamist insurgency, from Nasser's pan-Arab nationalist ambitions to the emergence of an uneasy Pax Americana in Arab lands, from the triumphalism of the Gulf War to the continuing anguished debate over the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.For anyone who seeks to understand the Middle East, here is an insider's unflinching analysis of the collision between intellectual life and political realities in the Arab world today.
RED-HANDED: 20 Criminal Cases That Shook India
Souvik Bhadra - 2014
As the nation watched on in horror, the police uncovered the body parts of fifteen more children in the same location. These grisly killings were found to have been the handiwork of Surinder Koli, a serial killer who lived in a house nearby.In Red-Handed: 20 Criminal Cases That Shook India, lawyers Souvik Bhadra and Pingal Khan narrate the stories behind some of the most sensational criminal cases to have caught the attention of the country in the last few decades. From the murder of Nitish Katara in a case of ‘honour killing’ to the shooting of Jessica Lal; from the Harshad Mehta scam to the Best Bakery arson of 2002; and, from the horrifying ‘tandoor’ case, in which Naina Sahni was killed and then cremated, to the trial and conviction of Sanjay Dutt under TADA, Red-Handed examines the motives behind these crimes even as it aims to lay bare the inner workings of the Indian judicial system. Additionally, the authors illuminate the crucial role that the media has come to play in judicial matters—it shapes public opinion, and often even investigates cases and delivers justice, much before the judges do.
Blood Magick: by Nora Roberts (The Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy, Book 3) | Summary & Analysis
Book*Sense - 2014
Branna O’Dwyer has devoted her life to her magick, always dutifully accepting the responsibility that comes along with her ancestral roots as the Dark Witch of Mayo. As a witch, she is skilled in her abilities to concoct potions and write spells and she is a pillar of strength and healing. To family and friends, she is a gifted homemaker, her cottage radiating warmth and comfort. But no amount of magick can help her in the one area she truly struggles – love. Nora Roberts’ Blood Magick is the wickedly dramatic conclusion to The Cousins O’Dwyer trilogy, a series set around the Dark Witches of Mayo and their quest to bring an end to the evil reign of the dark sorcerer Cabhan. It first began with the story of Iona Sheehan, the young American who journeys to Ireland in search of her roots, and then secondly focused on Connor O’Dwyer as he comes to grips with two of the strongest powers he’s ever known: dark magick and true love. The third and final chapter surrounds Branna O’Dwyer, the Dark Witch of Mayo, a conjurer of dark magick who must find a way to destroy the evil Cabhan once and for all. You also get the following in this Summary & Analysis of Blood Magick: • Book Review • Story Setting of Blood Magick • Details of Characters & Key Character Analysis • Summary of the text, with some analytical comments interspersed • Discussion & Analysis of Themes, Symbols… • And Much More! This Analysis of Blood Magick fills the gap, making you understand more while enhancing your reading experience.
The Legacy Letters: Messages of Life and Hope from 9/11 Family Members
Tuesday's Children - 2011
They are first- generation Americans, citizens of other nations, and lifelong New Yorkers. But they all share one thing: They honor their loved ones by living their lives with purpose, and a promise to never forget.These courageous family members share their grief and loss-and hope- speaking in their own words, with love, courage, and strength enough to inspire us all.
The Talisman
Jonathan Aycliffe - 1999
Once there, it quickly exerts an evil influence over those with whom it comes into contact; an influence which threatens to spread throughout London and beyond, and which pits the living against the dead in a battle for all mankind.
Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation
Mitch Horowitz - 2009
Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early U.S. history, this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spiritual life of the still-young nation and, through it, much of the Western world.Yet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold. Now a leading writer on the subject of alternative spirituality brings it out of the shadows. Here is a rich, fascinating, and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history.
From the meaning of the symbols on the one-dollar bill to the origins of the Ouija board, Occult America briskly sweeps from the nation’s earliest days to the birth of the New Age era and traces many people and episodes, including:•The spirit medium who became America’s first female religious leader in 1776 •The supernatural passions that marked the career of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith •The rural Sunday-school teacher whose clairvoyant visions instigated the dawn of the New Age •The prominence of mind-power mysticism in the black-nationalist politics of Marcus Garvey•The Idaho druggist whose mail-order mystical religion ranked as the eighth-largest faith in the world during the Great Depression Here, too, are America’s homegrown religious movements, from transcendentalism to spiritualism to Christian Science to the positive-thinking philosophy that continues to exert such a powerful pull on the public today. A feast for believers in alternative spirituality, an eye-opener for anyone curious about the unknown byroads of American history, Occult America is an engaging, long-overdue portrait of one nation, under many gods, whose revolutionary influence is still being felt in every corner of the globe.
Where Eagles Dance: A Saga of Early California
Marian Sepulveda - 2015
The wagon trains, Indian attacks, a lone survivor, and her tale of life among the Kumeyaay. Parts of this story are factual: the trail blazing Butterfield Overland Mail, the unfolding conflicts in California over the issue of slavery, and the looming Civil War. Woven into this historical fabric are the stories of Abby, a young girl raised by Indians; John Jay Butterfield, scion of the founder of the Overland Mail; Waterman Ormsby, reporter for the New York Herald; and many other compelling personages drawn from fact and fiction. Join author Marian Sepulveda as she guides you through this unique chapter in early California lore.
A TASTE OF THE TRENCHES: The story of a soldier on the Western Front
D. Reitz - 2015
Deneys Reitz was an unusual soldier. Having fought against the British in the Boer War, in 1917 he decided to go to London, in order to join the British Army. Presenting himself at a recruiting office in Chelsea, he enlisted as a private soldier. Shortly afterwards he was commissioned, and was sent to the Western Front in September 1917. Whilst on the Western Front, he witnessed the German spring offensive in 1918, and the allied counter-attack which followed. He was wounded twice as well as being gassed. Reitz experienced more than his fair share of the difficulties of trench warfare, from finding himself living in a trench whose sides were built out of sandbag-covered corpses, to being stretchered into a Casualty Clearing Station with serious wounds.
The Sharp End (Raiding Forces Book 10)
Phil Ward - 2017
However, it will take time before America can commit ground troops to the battle. Col. John Randal and the men in the American Volunteer Group who have been serving with Raiding Forces are back in US Army uniform serving under their own flag. Raiding Forces is being expanded into a joint US/UK outfit. As it is, reorganizing events in remote parts of the world require Col. Randal and a team of his Raiders to carry out a pair of long range operations of national strategic importance. Meanwhile, there is a mole in Middle East Command HQ that Rommel calls his “Good Source” and the German 621 Radio Intercept Company is providing the Desert Fox with the Allied Order of Battle that have become serious threats. Lady Jane is under suspicion of being the mole and Raiding Forces has been ordered to track down and kill the 621st’s Nazi commander. The action is nonstop.
A Town of Lawlessness
Ethan Westfield - 2020
When he is finally ready to turn a new page in life, he shoots for the moon and moves to the town of Moville to work in mining. Feeling like he is one step closer to his dream, little did he know that the life of a miner is more fraught with peril and disappointment than he'd imagined. The moment he discovers that a vicious killer is out there, taking the lives of innocent miners for no apparent reason, he is willing to risk it all to track him down. Will Jack manage to find the answer behind the enigma of the horrible murders? Or will the truth behind them remain forever hidden, haunting the small town?While trying to connect all dots and solve the intriguing mystery, Jack meets Charlotte Campbell, the town's head schoolteacher. Although they get off to a rocky start, he will soon realize that he's not alone in the battle against the town's enemies. Together they will fight the forces that wreak havoc in Moville, a lifetime adventure that will bring them closer. Even though their attraction is impossible to deny, their affection cannot be expressed as long as a criminal is out there. Will they finally have a chance at love, or will their romance be doomed to be lost forever?As the days go by and the murderers continue to bring chaos to what was once a thriving town, Jack feels like his dream is being shattered into a million pieces. Will his valor and wit win out in the end, leading him to the life he has been eagerly waiting for? Or will the cruel felon stop him from riding down the trail to happiness?"A Town of Lawlessness" is a historical adventure novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cliffhangers, only pure unadulterated action.
The New World Order
Ralph Epperson - 1990
Ralph Epperson purports to uncover hidden and sinister meanings behind all the symbols found on the Great Seal of the United States, committing America to "A Secret Destiny.
Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion
Alan Flusser - 2002
With his new book, he combines his encyclopedic knowledge of men's clothes with his signature wit and elegance to address the fundamental paradox of modern men's fashion: Why, after men today have spent more money on clothes than in any other period of history, are there fewer well-dressed men than at any time ever before?According to Flusser, dressing well is not all that difficult, the real challenge lies in being able to acquire the right personalized instruction. Dressing well pivots on two pillars -- proportion and color. Flusser believes that "Permanent Fashionability," both his promise and goal for the reader, starts by being accountable to a personal set of physical trademarks and not to any kind of random, seasonally served-up collection of fashion flashes.Unlike fashion, which is obliged to change each season, the face's shape, the neck's height, the shoulder's width, the arm's length, the torso's structure, and the foot's size remain fairly constant over time. Once a man learns how to adapt the fundamentals of permanent fashion to his physique and complexion, he's halfway home.Taking the reader through each major clothing classification step-by-step, this user-friendly guide helps you apply your own specifics to a series of dressing options, from business casual and formalwear to pattern-on-pattern coordination, or how to choose the most flattering clothing silhouette for your body type and shirt collar for your face.A man's physical traits represent his individual road map, and the quickest route toward forging an enduring style of dress is through exposure to the legendary practitioners of this rare masculine art. Flusser has assembled the largest andmost diverse collection of stylishly mantled men ever found in one book. Many never-before-seen vintage photographs from the era of Cary Grant, Tyrone Power, and Fred Astaire are employed to help illustrate the range and diversity of authentic men's fashion. Dressing the Man's sheer magnitude of options will enable the reader to expand both the grammar and verbiage of his permanent-fashion vocabulary.For those men hoping to find sartorial fulfillment somewhere down the road, tethering their journey to the mind-set of permanent fashion will deliver them earlier rather than later in life.
Second Wind: Navigating the Passage to a Slower, Deeper, and More Connected Life
Bill Thomas - 2014
It's like the moment when your favorite tennis shoes start to give you blisters. The way you've been living your adult life doesn't fulfill you anymore.Dr. Bill Thomas, one of the most innovative thinkers in medicine, explains that a new life phase is beginning to emerge within our society. When the Baby Boom generation came of age in the 1960s and 1970s, they jump-started a cultural revolution that shaped today's society. Now, many feel they are living a life of frenzied disharmony. This out-of-balance feeling is a signal that you are ready for your second coming of age, your life beyond adulthood. Second Wind illuminates how to recognize and navigate the most challenging and fulfilling developmental stage of life.Life can and should be reimagined. New ways of living and working are waiting to be discovered on the far side of adulthood. Dr. Thomas treats the Baby Boom generation as he would one of his patients, sympathetically exploring its history before recommending a path toward a life rich with developmental opportunities. Predicting that Boomers will choose the path of the Denialist, the Realist, or the Enthusiast, he discusses the behaviors and attitudes that will provide new and more nourishing fuel for the rest of life’s journey: hope and a renewed sense of all that is possible.
See Something, Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government's Submission to Jihad
Philip Haney - 2016
Muslim leader reacted to the November 2015 Paris attacks with a declaration that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has nothing to do with Islam, President Obama made the same assertion. Who exactly is the enemy we face, not only in the Middle East but also within our borders? Is it "murderers without a coherent creed" or "nihilistic killers who want to tear things down," as some described ISIS after 130 people were brutally slain and another 368 injured in a coordinated attack on Western soil that authorities say was organized with help from inside France's Muslim communities.After the Paris attacks, Obama, himself, described ISIS as "simply a network of killers who are brutalizing local populations." But how much do words and definitions really matter? According to the legendary military strategist Sun Tzu, if "you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one (battle) and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."When the Department of Homeland Security was founded in 2003, its stated purpose was "preventing terrorist attacks within the United States and reducing America's vulnerability to terrorism." The Bush administration's definition of the enemy as a tactic, terrorism, rather than a specific movement, proved consequential amid a culture of political correctness. By the time President Obama took office, Muslim Brotherhood-linked leaders in the United States were forcing changes to national security policy and even being invited into the highest chambers of influence. A policy known as Countering Violent Extremism emerged, downplaying the threat of supremacist Islam as unrelated to the religion and just one among many violent ideological movements.When recently retired DHS frontline officer and intelligence expert Philip Haney bravely tried to say something about the people and organizations that threatened the nation, his intelligence information was eliminated, and he was investigated by the very agency assigned to protect the country. The national campaign by the DHS to raise public awareness of terrorism and terrorism-related crime known as If You See Something, Say Something effectively has become If You See Something, Say Nothing.In SEE SOMETHING, SAY NOTHING, Haney – a charter member of DHS with previous experience in the Middle East – and co-author Art Moore expose just how deeply the submission, denial and deception run. Haney's insider, eyewitness account, supported by internal memos and documents, exposes a federal government capitulating to an enemy within and punishing those who reject its narrative.Haney discloses:How the Bush administration stripped him and other frontline officers of their ability to define the threat;How much the Obama administration knew in advance of the Boston Marathon bombing and how it launched an ongoing cover-up on behalf of a major ally;The administration’s stealth policy to protect Islamic leaders with supremacist beliefs and violent-jihadist ties, allowing them to freely travel between the U.S. and the Middle East;The scope of access to the White House and the classified information the Obama administration gave to members of Muslim Brotherhood front groups;The damning intelligence on Muslim Brotherhood-linked leaders invited to sit at the table and help form national-security policy;The "words matter" memo imposing the demands of radical U.S. Muslims leaders on the DHS, including stripping intelligence and official communications of any mention of Islam in association with terrorism;The purging of training material that casts Islam in a negative light;The erasing and altering of vital intelligence on terrorists and terror threats;The fear-based tactics imposed by the Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the U.S. and their accomplices that paralyze officials, members of Congress and any Department of Homeland Security employee who dares to expose or resist their agenda; andMuch more … In this well-documented, first-person account of his unique service with DHS, Haney shows why it's imperative that Americans demand that when they see something and say something, the servants under their charge do something to prevent a cunning, relentless enemy from carrying out its stated aim to "destroy Western Civilization from within."
Haunted New York City: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Big Apple
Cheri Revai - 2008
The most bizarre and frightening stories of the paranormal from the five boroughs are compiled in this volume, including the phantom searching for lost gold in the Parrish House in the Bronx, the demonic flying Coney Island Monster in Brooklyn, the haunted St. Paul's Chapel in Manhattan, the raving ghost of Mount Olivet Cemetery in Queens, the restless spirits that peer from the windows of the Kreischer Mansion in Staten Island, and many others.