But behind this archetypal small-town landscape lies a complicated past.Starting with the town's founding as a religious promised land, music journalist and poet Daniel Wolff plots a course through 130 years of entwined social and musical history, touching on John Philip Sousa, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, and Frankie Lymon on the way to the town Bruce was born to run from. Out of the details of local history-the boardwalk in the Gilded Age; the celebrities who passed through, from Stephen Crane to Martin Luther King; sensational murder trials; the birth of Mob control; and a devastating mid-century "race riot"-emerges a universal story of one small town's fortunes. Told with grace and full of fascinating detail, Daniel Wolff's tour across thirteen decades of the Fourth of July in Asbury Park captures all the allure and heartbreak of the American dream reduced to blight and decay, with gentrification as the one hope for a return to its glory days.

    Since then, guilt and regret have made him impervious to love. But when he rescues a family of would-be homesteaders attacked by the notorious Deckom gang, one of the sisters shines a light on his cold, locked-down heart.The last thing Brady deserves is happiness, and he fights his unwelcome feelings for Belle. Which is fine with her, since she'll never let herself care for another lawman—even one as wonderful as Brady.Heat level 3/5: contains some violence, minor cursing, and not-so-minor kissing.

    Her mother’s handwriting on the lined notepaper is so familiar, and the slight German accent Mali hears ticking through her words, so haunting. Mali reads the memories of her mother’s Jewish childhood in 1930s Berlin, then her life in war-torn London. But when she comes to her mother’s account of her too-early marriage and the divorce that forced her to leave her young daughter in London and go to New York, Mali is thrust back into her own unhappy childhood, where that relentless ache for her absent mother, lodged like a stony pit inside her, must now be reconciled.

    Treasury. And Alva Vanderbilt squandered tens of thousands on one evening to crack the closed social circle of the Mrs. Astor. And when Jay Gould, of Black Friday fame, sent his card to one of the Rothschilds, it was returned with the comment, "Europe is not for sale." It was this climate of mid- and late-nineteenth-century excess that fostered the most rapid period of growth in the history of the United States, replacing the unyielding Puritanism of Cotton Mather with the flexible creed of Henry Ward Beecher. National Book Award nominee Milton Rugoff gives his uniquely revealing view of the Gilded Age in this collective biography of Americans from 1850 to 1890. Writing on the political spoilsmen, money kings, parvenus, forty-niners, lords of the press, sexual transgressors, and women's rights leaders, Rugoff focuses on thirty-six men and women from almost every walk of life. His exponents include U.S. Grant, John Charles Frémont, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jim Fisk, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Horatio Alger, free-love advocate Victoria Woodhull, first female surgeon Bethenia Owens-Adair, Brigham Young's rebellious nineteenth wife Anna Eliza Young, Boston Brahmin Charles Eliot Norton, Gold Rush pioneer Sarah Royce, black visionary Sojourner Truth, and to critique American society, Walt Whitman. In examining the Gilded Age, Milton Rugoff offers fresh glimpses into the lives of the celebrities of the era, as well as some lesser-known Americans, while at the same time revealing the roots of problems that still plague us today.

    He also dwells at length on the Pakistan movement, where the seeds of many current problems were sown the opportunistic use of religion being the most lethal of these. With data-driven precision, Devasher takes apart the flawed prescriptions and responses of successive governments, especially during military rule, to the many critical challenges the country has encountered over the years. These, as much as the particular trajectory of its creation and growth, he contends, have brought Pakistan to an abyss where it risks multi-organ failure unless things change dramatically in the near future.

    But a few brave souls struck out into that desolate wilderness, desperate to free themselves from the restrictions of the civilized world…KING OF THE MOUNTAIN: Nathaniel King doesn’t need much incentive to escape the confining, bustling city of New York. When his uncle starts spinning tales of a great treasure hidden in the wilderness, Nathaniel finds the lure of the West impossible to resist. Nathaniel’s trail leads from danger to danger, and into the uninhabited Rocky Mountains. If he can survive, Nathaniel will unearth a treasure far more valuable than he ever imagined.LURE OF THE WILD: Nineteen-year-old Nathaniel King and a rugged mountain man named Shakespeare McNair are headed to a rendezvous of trappers and fur traders in the Rocky Mountains. But hostile Utes and Blackfeet Indians pursue them relentlessly, determined to have their scalps. Despite the protection of a friendly band of Shoshone, Nathaniel and his companion risk the loss of their freedom…and their lives.

    This boxed set is being released to celebrate the launch of PRICELESS, which is an Amato Brothers/Rixton Falls crossover! ***All books are standalones with interconnected characters. They can be read in any order.*** ROYAL His name is Royal, but he’s no prince charming. He’s not even a prince - though you could say I loved him once upon a time. He was my older brother’s best friend. Growing up, he sat at our dinner table every Sunday, teased me mercilessly, and pretended I annoyed him. When I was old enough, he took me on my first date. Royal taught me how to drive. Escorted me to my junior prom. Gave me my first kiss…amongst other things. He was my first taste of toe-curling, all-consuming, can’t-sleep love. We had our whole lives ahead of us. There was never anyone else for me but him. And then he disappeared. No letter. No explanation. Not even a goodbye. My sisters and brother never forgave him, and my parents forbade me from speaking his name in our house ever again. For all intents and purposes, we were to pretend Royal Lockhart never existed. I’ve spent the last seven years trying in vain to forget my first love, but just when I think I’ve finally moved on, guess who’s back in town? BACHELOR Derek Rosewood is never going to marry. Ever. Again. Fresh off the heels of a bitter divorce, there are only three things he gives a sh*t about: his daughter, his career, and his bachelorhood. An attorney by trade and happily married to his job, he saves the drama for the courtroom and keeps women at an arm’s length. Their fragile, sequined hearts are safer that way. And besides, he's not in any condition to offer them the love and attention they so foolishly seek from him. Believe him, he's not what they need. Not after what he's been through. It’s not until he's assigned as the financial conservatorship for an aloof, enigmatic heiress that he finds his professional – and personal – boundaries pushed to the wayside. They're all wrong for each other. Emotionally unavailable. Bitter. Jaded. And he's supposed to look out for her best interests. Protect her. But *this* wasn’t supposed to happen. And for that reason, Derek Rosewood pleads the fifth. FILTHY Filthy mouth. Dirty mind. Messy past. I’m no saint, and I hear my reputation precedes me, but you can’t believe everything people say. I’ve made a living playing by the rules only when the clock is ticking, the ball has been snapped, and I’m cleat-deep in AstroTurf. But I screwed up last year. I went too far with the girls and the partying and the benders, and I created a PR sh*t storm for my team in the process. As a result, the team owner sentenced me to live in some gated, Floridian retirement village until I can “calm down.” Football is my life, and I love my team. They’re the only family I’ve got anymore, so I’ll do what I have to do to stay where I am. The rules are clear: no girls, less booze, zero publicity stunts. If I lay low and repair my reputation, I won’t get cut. It’s that simple. Everything was going well. For the first time in my life, I was living by someone else’s rules . . . . . .

    maritime industry hit rock bottom starting in the early 1980's, right around the time the author was graduating from the California Maritime Academy. Even in his yearbook it warned about how bad things were—it was a time of cost cutting, reduced wages, desperate shipping companies and a lack of jobs. Eventually he made his way out to sea as both an able-bodied seaman and as a third mate. He saw first-hand what it was like out there; from the crazy captains to the weary sailors, and from the bad food to the dangerous working conditions. This book covers it all, and while the ships he sailed on were all scrapped long ago, the stories of the industry and what it took to make it on them, are remembered. This is his story.

    But, out of the blue, he is transferred without explanation to a temporary university teaching post. Shortly after, he is ordered to a prison-like correctional monastery deep in the Sonora Desert of Arizona. Murphy knows that he has been a devout priest and is puzzled and angry that he has been thrown in with the derelicts of the Catholic clergy. At the monastery, he finds that he has been cast among the pedophiles, alcoholics, embezzlers and other serious offenders who the church hierarchy is pressuring to resign or be defrocked. Convinced that God wants him to continue his ministry, he escapes. Murphy is now a fugitive, pursued by monks from the monastery who are little more than thugs with others to "do whatever it takes" to stop him and return him to the monastery, or even kill him, if necessary. Why, Steve Murphy asks himself, is his church doing this to him?

    This informative kids book includes well chosen words & great pictures to help children learn more about one of America's most beloved and iconic heroes, Neil Armstrong. Aside from the interesting facts and images Mr Smith presents in his Neil Armstrong for Kids Book he also covers some interesting insights about Neil Armstrong's background, his humble beginnings & how he first got started with flying. Kids will also learn about his many accomplishments, his influences on mankind today and more interesting facts. The pictures within this book are accompanied by small bits of easy to understand text while making it an exciting read about The life of Neil Armstrong. Therefore, Neil Armstrong Biography for Kids Book is a great educational book for kids ages 8 years and older (or for parents that want to read this book with their children). Currently set at a wonderfully low promotional price, this book on "Neil Armstrong for Kids" can be easily downloaded from the Amazon Kindle Store by any young readers that love to read on their own, as well as by parents who will read to younger children that are still learning to read.

    As a Uh-1 Helicopter pilot flying in the jungle highlands of South Vietnam, Warrant Officer Jim Crigler and the men he flew with were tested daily. Coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s was challenging for most young men of that era. Throw in drugs, free love, draft notices, the Vietnam War and a country deeply divided, and you have one of the most important books of this genre. This true story is a raw, bold, introspective autobiography where the author openly wrestles with his personal moral dilemma to find meaning and purpose in his life. He calls it his “Mission of Honor.”

    An inconsequential inconvenience.After eight years of dreaming of an unknown mother rescuing her from the workhouse, Beth is unexpectedly liberated to become an apprentice in Mr Whitaker's tailor's shop. Against all the odds, Mrs Whitaker becomes a maternal figure to the young girl who shows all the signs of a gifted seamstress.But fate's cruel hand had not finished denying Beth the comforts of a family.Lady Caroline comes into Beth's life as a godsend. A wealthy patron in need of beautiful dresses to be made. But there is more to her appearing at the tailor's shop at first apparent. Two lives from different classes become intertwined in the worst of conditions.Is having a family worth such suffering? Should the women deny each other and be relieved of the tortures beset upon them in the name of greed and a family name? Was the madness real? Would the answers be found along the unforgiving corridors of the asylum?

    His mission was to retrieve an important package and get it to a secret military base in northern California. He was hundreds of miles inside alien held territory with no heavy weapons, no support, no Intel on the aliens, and no way to report the mission was a bust. Between him and the secret base stood the Sierra Nevada Mountain, four hundred miles of treacherous road and an unknown number of world destroying aliens. Any transport was immidiately attacked and destroyed, so the only way to get there was to walk. To even think about taking these women on a four hundred mile yomp was crazy at best, and completely insane knowing winter would catch them before they reached their goal. But ever the perennial sheepdog he didn't have a choice. It was either leave them to their fate, or take them with him. The only way to do that was to teach them. Not only survive, but to turn these inexperienced civilians into a snarling, battle hardened 'Wolf Pack', willing and able to take down the assorted bad guys and aliens that stood in their path. In the SAS, he'd done some crazy thing, and if there was a kindly God who looked after little children, fools and village idiots, John ‘Wolfman’ Decker hoped he was paying special attention right about now, because he was the biggest village idiot of them all.Cover Artist: Jesus Condi

    

     If you are a fan of fast-paced, action-packed thrillers that combine corruption and murder with courtroom drama, then The Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series is for you Book 1 of the Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series, "Predatory Kill," has been called a "wild ride" by critics. In it, Kenneth Eade delivers another solid and intricately plotted financial thriller.A maniacal killer is on the loose. April’s mother is brutally murdered and her father beaten within an inch of his life. Attorney Brent Marks has already paid his dues as a lawyer, having taken his share of divorces and drunk driving cases over his 20 year career, but has finally reached a place in his life where he can take on cases of social importance. What he least expected was for April Marsh's predatory lending case against the big banks for wrongful foreclosure on her parent's home to turn into a murder investigation. As the courtroom drama heats up, the action outside the courtroom spirals out of control. ˃˃˃ Critically acclaimed series "Fans of John Grisham will find equal talent here in Eade's ability to captivate and hold readers with the unexpected, both in character development in nonstop action which lays the foundation for a story that's anything but predictable. The realistic dialogue is - well - simply killer; while action points in one direction, then often takes a 360-degree turn. In a world where plot and outcome are often predictable from the start, this will prove more than satisfying to readers already well versed in the legal thriller format." D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review Book two of the series is "A Patriot's Act," the prequel to "Predatory Kill." This fast-paced, action packed #1 best selling legal and political thriller will challenge everything you believe about justice and freedom. It's all about the delicate balance of power and experience - something gone awry in A Patriot's Act. Death, Law and in that Order at Guantanamo Bay When a naturalized American citizen turns up missing in Iraq, Brent Marks fights the Goliath U.S. Government's Patriot Act. Santa Barbara accountant Ahmed Khury responds to the plea of his brother, Sabeen, a suspected money launderer in Iraq. Before Ahmed realizes what has happened to him, he is sent to Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp as a suspected terrorist, and is subjected to torture to extract information that he doesn't have. "Eade, a lawyer by profession, weaves legal dialogue, corruption and international action to create a pacey read with echoes of Grisham, Baldacci and Clancy nipping at his writing heels. Law issues as well as forensics and police procedures are clearly explained with such authority as to add gritty realism in and out of the courthouse, but it's within the court drama that Eade really packs some punch. With some success with the first book of the series, Predatory Kill, this second saga looks sure to satisfy his growing base of readers." - SPR Review"A Patriot's Act is one hell of a legal thriller that challenges everything we know about justice and freedom."- Markus Book Reviews "An edge-of-your-seat thriller that could easily be transformed into a dramatic film. Simply riveting, start to finish!" InD' Tale Magazine. Book 3: HOA Wire:The president of the Orange Grove Homeowners Association is murdered and there are plenty of suspects - in fact everyone who lives in Orange Grove.