Contained in this volume are the following essays: Civil Disobedience, Natural History of Massachusetts, A Walk to Wachusett, The Landlord, A Winter Walk, The Succession of Forest Trees, Walking, Autumnal Tints, Wild Apples, Night and Moonlight, Aulus Persius Flaccus, Herald of Freedom, Life Without Principle, Paradise (to be) Regained, A Plea for John Brown, The Last Days of John Brown, After the Death of John Brown, The Service, Slavery in Massachusetts, and Wendell Phillips Before Concord Lyceum.

    You've reached major milestones and accumulated more assets than you dreamed possible, and yet you hesitate. “Can I retire?” This book will help answer that question by showing you…. The tools you need to live a secure and independent retirement, without worrying about money What you must know before leaving a career behind How much it will cost you to live in retirement, and how to manage your cash flow The current choices for retirement health care, including lesser-known but effective options The threat from inflation: two secrets that politicians and bankers will never admit A realistic assessment of the impact that income taxes will have on your retirement Social Security’s role in your retirement: when you should claim and how much it’s worth to you How to construct and manage an investment portfolio for income and growth in retirement About immediate annuities and why you need multiple sources of retirement income The key variables and unknowns in your retirement withdrawal equation Reviews of the best retirement calculators, and tips for how to use them accurately Beyond the simplistic 4% Rule to the latest research on safe withdrawal rates Realistic bracketing of your retirement savings needs, without over caution or overconfidence The history of economic cycles and the related asset classes for optimal retirement security A survey of strategies plus original research for how to orchestrate your retirement distributions A practical retirement fuel gauge alerting you to problems while you still have time to act Backup plans: the lifeboat strategies for ensuring you'll never be without essential income The 6 crucial questions to answer before you can retire The one, simple, powerful, non-financial reason that you can and should retire earlier than later

    Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that inequality never dies peacefully. Inequality declines when carnage and disaster strike and increases when peace and stability return. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of violent shocks in reducing inequality over the full sweep of human history around the world.Ever since humans began to farm, herd livestock, and pass on their assets to future generations, economic inequality has been a defining feature of civilization. Over thousands of years, only violent events have significantly lessened inequality. The "Four Horsemen" of leveling—mass-mobilization warfare, transformative revolutions, state collapse, and catastrophic plagues—have repeatedly destroyed the fortunes of the rich. Scheidel identifies and examines these processes, from the crises of the earliest civilizations to the cataclysmic world wars and communist revolutions of the twentieth century. Today, the violence that reduced inequality in the past seems to have diminished, and that is a good thing. But it casts serious doubt on the prospects for a more equal future.An essential contribution to the debate about inequality, The Great Leveler provides important new insights about why inequality is so persistent—and why it is unlikely to decline anytime soon.

    It is an invitation to my thoughts

    What effects has this “capitalist realism” had on work, culture, education and mental health? Is it possible to imagine an alternative to capitalism that is not some throwback to discredited models of state control?

    It is more powerful than the Mafia or the military. It has global catastrophic effects and can be found anywhere from the world's most powerful boardrooms to your local pub. This is the immensely powerful force of human stupidity.Seeing the shambolic state of human affairs, and sensing the dark force at work behind it, Carlo M. Cipolla, the late, noted professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley, created a vitally important economic model that would allow us to detect, know, and neutralize this threat: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.If you've ever found yourself despairing at the ubiquity of stupidity among even the most 'intellectual' of people, then this hilarious, timely, and slightly alarming little book is for you. Arm yourself in the face of baffling political realities, unreasonable colleagues, or the unbridled misery of Christmas day with the in-laws with the first and only economic model for stupidity."Cipolla's subtle tongue-in-cheek humor made this book an underground classic in Italy. Today, under current worldwide political trends, it reads more like black humor. Keep in mind: reliable statistical data shows that 98% of the people seriously believe that they are far less stupid than the average." --Carlo Rovelli, author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

    Symptoms of decline are all around us today, it seems: slowing growth, crushing debts, aging populations, anti-social behaviour. But what exactly is amiss with Western civilization? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, is that our institutions - the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail - are degenerating. Representative government, the free market, the rule of law and civil society: these were once the four pillars of West European and North American societies. It was these institutions, rather than any geographical or climatic advantages, that set the West on the path to global dominance after around 1500. In our time, however, these institutions have deteriorated in disturbing ways. Our democracies have broken the contract between the generations by heaping IOUs on our children and grandchildren. Our markets are increasingly distorted by over-complex regulations that are in fact the disease of which they purport to be the cure. The rule of law has metamorphosed into the rule of lawyers. And civil society has degenerated into uncivil society, where we lazily expect all our problems to be solved by the state.The Great Degeneration is a powerful - and in places polemical - indictment of an era of negligence and complacency. While the Arab world struggles to adopt democracy, and while China struggles to move from economic liberalization to the rule of law, Europeans and Americans alike are frittering away the institutional inheritance of centuries. To arrest the degeneration of the West's once dominant civilization, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform. This book is based on Niall Ferguson's 2012 BBC Reith Lectures, which were broadcast under the title 'The Rule of Law and Its Enemies'.

    

     The first three thrillers from eBook no 1 bestselling author Carol Wyer, introducing you to maverick Detective Robyn Carter. Little Girl Lost: ‘Her breath rose and fell in fearful gasps, but it was too late. She could already see what she dreaded most. The back seat was empty. Her little girl was gone. When toddler Izzy is snatched from a carpark Detective Robyn Carter finds a worrying connection with a current murder investigation and fears there is a twisted serial killer at work. And unless she gets to them in time, a little girl will die … Secrets of the Dead: ‘Colourful, plastic boats were scattered in puddles on the floor. In the bathtub lay Linda Upton, fully-clothed, lips a shade of blue, and bloodshot eyes wide open.’ When a young mother is found drowned in the bath, clutching a receipt saying, ‘all debts paid’, Detective Robyn Carter knows it’s just the beginning of a harrowing case. But as she hones in on the killer’s awful motive, one of her own is put into terrible danger … The Missing Girls: ‘One girl found dead. Another girl gone... Long shadows danced on the tin walls. Inside the trunk lay Carrie Miller, wrapped in plastic, arms folded across her ribcage, lips sealed tight forever...’ When a girl’s body is found at a Midlands storage unit, it is too decomposed for Detective Robyn Carter to read the signs left by the killer. But just as Robyn makes progress and begins to close in on the killer’s shocking hunting ground, another girl goes missing, and this time it’s someone close to her own heart. This gripping series will have you up in the small hours turning the pages. Fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Caine and Robert Dugoni will love The Detective Robyn Carter Series. Readers are going crazy for Carol Wyer: ‘Absolutely nail biting! … From the first page, I was hooked; I could not put this book down … Halfway through the book, once everything clicked, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor … I would start to read it on a day where you have no other commitments; you won’t want to put this one down!’ 5 stars – Clues and Reviews ‘OMG this book had me hooked from the first to very last page ... It’s impossible to put down, I was falling asleep about 3 in the morning with my kindle still in my hands!’ 5 stars – Goodreads Reviewer ‘Absolutely stunning!... wow it blew me away. Totally my favourite book so far of 2018… I loved everything about it… Amazing… 5 stars, although it is a shame I can’t give it more, it’s easily worth a 7.’ Bonnie’s Book Talk, 5 stars ‘Oh my god what a brilliant book you have to read it … This book grabs you from the first page right till the last page with so many twists and turns you do not know what is coming next … If I could give it more than 5 stars I would.

    In fact, over the course of one month, this family is thrown so many curveballs as they prepare themselves for Christmas Day. This is the season for joy, laughter, and giving, but for the Wiggin’s family, it’s more like turmoil, anger, and sadness. The goal is for everyone to make it to Christmas Day in one piece, but that seemed almost impossible. This is a holiday read that will take you through the wild journey of love, hate, family, and forgiveness. The Wiggins family may not be perfect, or at times they may even seem like they’ll crumble, but weathering storms just happens to be one thing that they're good at.

    All he knows for sure is that he owes a debt to the man he left for dead.As Range plunges ever deeper into the dark and chaotic heart of the terrorists's murderous plot he realises that nothing is what it seems, and that his elite band of warriors are facing a desperate fight like no other.

    Usually the symptoms decrease in the weeks after birth, but when that’s not the case, it’s a clear indication there’s some other mental issues. Bianca Whitted was less then ecstatic initially about her pregnancy, but the love of her love convinced her he had her and their child, so she continued on with her pregnancy, looking forward to the arrival of her bundle of joy. What she didn’t count on was her child’s father doing a 360. Struggling with a broken heart, being a new mother and Postpartum Depression, Bianca’s joy became sadness, then anger. Will she get the help she needs to save her, or will others suffer her wrath before it’s all said and done?

    In the meantime, Nick recruits Dom Bello, consigliere of New York City's five families into the fight against the New World Order.

    The world outside for an orphan teen on dark Victorian streets is not a kind one.Bradford Pikes has loved Amy since their first childhood games together, but now his sweetheart has disappeared and his love remains unspoken. He knows the dark London streets swallow innocent girls like Amy leaving them bereft of not only family but of hope.Will he find her in time? Save Amy from the forces arrayed against their love? Or will the Sheffield lass be lost forever?The Lost Lass of Sheffield is the debut Victorian romance by Rosie Swan. If you love historical Victorian sagas that celebrate the resilience of the human heart in the face of insurmountable challenges you will love the deep and moving tale of The Lost Lass of Sheffield.