. .Often overshadowed by San Francisco, its twinkling sister city across the Bay, Oakland is itself an American wonder. The city is surrounded by and filled with natural beauty—mountains and hills and lakes and a bay—and architecture that mirrors its history as a Spanish mission, Gold Rush outpost, and home of the West’s most devious robber barons. It’s also a city of artists and blue-collar workers, the birthplace of the Black Panthers, neighbor to Berkeley, and home to a vibrant and volatile stew of immigrants and refugees.In Blues City, Ishmael Reed, one of our most brilliant essayists, takes us on a tour of Oakland, exploring its fascinating history, its beautiful hills and waterfronts, and its odd cultural juxtapositions. He takes us into a year in the life of this amazing city, to black cowboy parades and Indian powwows, to Black Panther reunions and Gay Pride concerts, to a Japanese jazz club where a Lakota musician plays Coltrane’s “Naima.” Reed provides a fascinating tour of an un-tamed, unruly western outpost set against the backdrop of political intrigues, ethnic rivalries, and a gentrification-obsessed mayor, opening our eyes not only to a singular city, but to a newly emerging America.

    Over 1100 colour photos illustrate every detail - and numerous simple cultivation solutions make for easy appeal to novice growers.

    It represents the ideal of an unattainable yet infinitely desirable goal, the possibility of perfection. Initially conceived in literature, it became a Christian icon which has been re-created in a multitude of forms over time even though the Grail has no specific material attributes or true religious significance.Richard Barber traces the history of the legends surrounding the Holy Grail, beginning with Chretien de Troyes's great romances of the twelfth century and the medieval Church's religious version of the secular ideal. He pursues the myths through Victorian obsessions and enthusiasms to the popular bestsellers of the late twentieth century that have embraced its mysteries. Crisscrossing the borders of fiction and spirituality, the quest for the Holy Grail has long attracted writers, artists, and admirers of the esoteric. It has been a recurrent theme in tales of imagination and belief which have laid claim to the highest religious and secular ideals and experiences. From Lancelot to Parsifal, chivalric romances to Wagner's Ring, T. S. Eliot to Monty Python, the Grail has fascinated and lured the Western imagination from beyond the reach of the ordinary world.

    Covers the Scottsboro case since its inception as a 1931 freight car incident, accentuating national and international ramifications.

    Readers all over the world—Shakespeare Our Contemporary has been translated into nineteen languages since it appeared in 1961—have similarly found their responses to Shakespeare broadened and enriched. Mary McCarthy called the work "the best, the most alive, radical book about Shakespeare in at least a generation."

    The book presents a lot of valuable phrases and sentences you will never think of unless you come across them. It contains plenty of common sentences used by native English speakers in everyday life. The book covers topics such as meeting new people and making small talk, dating and visiting friends, emergency situations and doctor’s appointments, car and flat rental, staying in hotels and traveling by air, shopping and bargaining.

    Cynthia is happily married to her lifelong sweetheart, but not even their present wealth and security makes her willing to reveal the abuse and trauma they suffered as children. Meriel’s husband has abandoned her for another woman. And well meaning but snobbish Joanne can’t admit that behind her prosperous façade, she’s struggling for every penny. As new people enter their lives, these women must draw on all their resources to meet the challenges thrown at them. But can they learn to rely on each other, or will they stand alone?  Friends and Secrets is a heartwarming contemporary tale from Grace Thompson, the much-loved author of saga series including the Valley series, the Pendragon Island series, and the Badgers Brook series.

    Meeting the handsome Jihad was pure coincidence, but she quickly catches feelings for this smooth-talking brother. A whirlwind romance develops between the two and before you know it, Brooklyn was thrown in a love triangle she was not aware of. She realized that common sense and her Ivy League education couldn't prepare her for what was to come in her once quiet life. Alyssa is a money hungry side chick that is on the prowl for her next victim. As faith would have it, she crossed paths with the lying, two-timing Jihad. She uses sex and her good mouthpiece to snatch his soul up. Not caring about his wife and determined to become his main squeeze, she and Jihad concoct a devious plan to get his wife out the way. Jihad is every woman's dream; ambitious, sex game on point and a mouth piece that will have the ladies squirming in their panties. He hit it big when he married the well-off Brooklyn. With no good intentions and his narcissistic behavior, he quickly put a plan into motion that will have deadly consequences. With jealousy, murder and greed mixed together in this web of deceit, there can be no happy ending in this twisted love triangle.

    Along the way you'll encounter lots of dogs, food, and some mouth-watering recipes.

    The indigenous creatures of Faust have never accepted any invaders--but today, new arrivals haunt their skies. The Black Ship is a predatory vessel. Built for stealth, she glides undetected among the stars, seeking colonies along the Faustian Chain that are ripe for raiding--or outright conquest. These three forces: the colonists, the alien life forms, and the cyborg crew of the Black Ship, are on a collision course in this thrilling military SF adventure. THE BLACK SHIP is a Novella of classic military science fiction by B. V. Larson. The stories in this series can be read in any order.

    Of course, this is more than snippy waiters or rude drivers who cut you off. It is a finely honed selection of 738 exasperating things, people, situations, complaints, and attitudes that everyone who's ever had a bad day can appreciate. And which will make us all feel better, just because we know someone else is paying attention--at last. Talk about annoying:Yoga instructors who smoke.Pets that only show affection right before mealtime.Tipping someone who hasn't earned it only because you don't want to look cheap.Late fees for a video you didn't have time to watch.The second-to-last day of a two-week vacation.A sneeze that lingers in your nose, doesn't come out, and then is absorbed by your forehead.When your Cracker Jack has melted into one big Jack.When your doctor asks if you mind if an intern watches your colonoscopy.