“Yogi Ramacharaka’s ‘Fourteen Lessons’ is remarkable. It puts into simple language many of the core concepts of yoga philosophy, and gives the reader tools to start practicing them.”—David Rogers, Yogi, International Yoga Instructor

“‘Fourteen Lessons’ is that rare book, full of wisdom and insights, not just for understanding yogi philosophy but for living a fuller life.”—Michael Gansrow, Co-Founder Massage on the Go, Wellness Expert, Author

Bamboo Leaf Press proudly presents a new edition of the classic Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy by Yogi Ramacharaka, with a Foreword by the renowned yoga teacher and writer, Richard Rosen. This unique edition includes Endnotes which offer a historical context about the mindset and language used at the turn of the 20th century and brief biographies of historical figures mentioned throughout the book, many of whom have been forgotten over time. Moreover, this high quality printed book with stitch-binding allows you to open the book flat on a desk without the pages falling out while reading.

 Written almost 120 years ago, Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy is one of the first, if not the first, book about yogi philosophy written for a Western audience. It presents the fundamental teachings in a simple, charming, and straightforward style. Although the book is an introduction to this perennial philosophy, it covers a wide range of subjects such as:

• The physical, mental, and spiritual constitution of Man
• The different Planes of Reality
• The Astral world
• Thought dynamics
• The human aura
• Occult therapeutics
• Spiritual evolution

Nine mantras for meditation are also included to help readers along their spiritual path.

"You are the most precious thing - a living soul - and if you were destroyed the whole system of universes would crumble, for you are as necessary as the greatest part of it - it cannot do without you - you cannot be lost or destroyed - you are part of it all, and are eternal."

“In ‘Advanced Course’ Yogi Ramacharaka provides the most straightforward explanation of the paths of Karma, Gnani, and Bhakti Yoga that I have encountered. And he provides a beautiful framework for understanding the concept of Dharma. This is the kind of book that one can turn to again and again as a source for both introspection and action in the world. The physical book of this new edition is very well designed and a pleasure to hold.”—David Rogers, Yogi, International Yoga Instructor

“As with its companion title ‘Fourteen Lessons’, ‘Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy’ is full of wisdom and insights for living an intentional life. Remarkably, these lessons are still relevant in the 21st century, even though they were written 120 years ago.”—Michael Gansrow, Co-Founder Massage on the Go, Wellness Expert, Author

Bamboo Leaf Press proudly presents a new edition of the classic Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy by Yogi Ramacharaka, with a Foreword by the renowned yoga teacher and writer, Richard Rosen. This unique edition includes Endnotes which offer a historical context about the mindset and language used at the turn of the 20th century and brief biographies of historical figures mentioned throughout the book, many of whom have been forgotten over time.

Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy is a continuation of the classic, Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy. It should be read after one has read the Fourteen Lessons since many concepts are introduced in the first book. Both books were written 120 years ago yet they remain the best introduction to yogi philosophy for a Western audience.

The Advanced Course delves deeper into Indian philosophy and explores some of humanity's perennial questions. The lessons of the course are written in a simple, charming, and straightforward style. Some of the subjects explored in the book:

• The three main paths of yoga: Karma, Gnani, and Bhakti
• Spiritual consciousness
• Yogi Ethics (Dharma)
• The relationship between Matter, Energy, Mind, and Spirit
• The Absolute and Man
• The Riddle of the Universe

This high quality printed book with stitch-binding allows you to open the book flat on a desk without the pages falling out while reading.

"The Universe is not a dead thing - it is alive, pulsating with life, energy and intelligence. It is a living thing, and YOU are part of it all. You are not The Absolute, but you are an atom comprising one of its rays - its life force is playing through you. You are in touch with the Centre, and the Centre is conscious of YOU and of its relation to you."

“Another gem from one of the world’s justly celebrated historians specializing in unusual and always fascinating subjects and people.” — Booklist (starred review)

The revered New York Times bestselling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement—precision—in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.

The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider.

Simon Winchester takes us back to the origins of the Industrial Age, to England where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. It was Thomas Jefferson who later exported their discoveries to the fledgling United States, setting the nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan. Winchester moves forward through time, to today’s cutting-edge developments occurring around the world, from America to Western Europe to Asia.

As he introduces the minds and methods that have changed the modern world, Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural co-exist in society?

•  Can you escape the whirling dragon?  
•  2 to 4 players  
•  Collect treasure and try to avoid the dragon  
•  3 "AA" batteries required (not included)  

Kif Kehlmann, a young, penniless writer, thinks he’s finally caught a break when he’s offered $10,000 to ghostwrite the memoir of Siegfried “Ziggy” Heidl, the notorious con man and corporate criminal. Ziggy is about to go to trial for defrauding banks for $700 million; they have six weeks to write the book.

 “Richard Flanagan is among the most versatile writers in the English language. That he is also an environmental activist and the author of numerous influential works of nonfiction makes his achievement all the more remarkable. Each of Flanagan’s seven novels is distinct from the others, as if they are by different writers; each is a tour de force of its own kind, and several have been called ‘masterpieces’ by reviewers—as if a gifted writer might be expected to have a ‘masterpiece’ with each publication rather than once in a career . . . First Person is a kind of twenty-first-century Picture of Dorian Gray . . . Epiphanies and aphorisms abound: gem-like remarks [and] unexpected insights.”—Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books

But Ziggy swiftly proves almost impossible to work with: evasive, contradictory, and easily distracted by his still-running “business concerns”—which Kif worries may involve hiring hitmen from their shared office. Worse, Kif finds himself being pulled into an odd, hypnotic, and ever-closer orbit of all things Ziggy. As the deadline draws near, Kif becomes increasingly unsure if he is ghostwriting a memoir, or if Ziggy is rewriting him—his life, his future, and the very nature of the truth. 

By turns comic, compelling, and finally chilling, First Person is a haunting look at an age where fact is indistinguishable from fiction, and freedom is traded for a false idea of progress.

"The most thoughtful and judicious one-volume history of the war and the American political leaders who presided over the difficult and painful decisions that shaped this history. The book will stand for the foreseeable future as the best study of the tragic mistakes that led to so much suffering."—Robert Dallek

Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the young stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite millions of words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent, brilliant, and previously successful men stumbled so badly.

That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson. Yet beyond that, Road to Disaster is also the first history of the war to look at the cataclysmic decisions of those in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations through the prism of recent research in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational theory to explain why the "Best and the Brightest" became trapped in situations that suffocated creative thinking and willingness to dissent, why they found change so hard, and why they were so blind to their own errors.

An epic history of America’s march to quagmire, Road to Disaster is a landmark in scholarship and a book of immense importance.

America has entered troubling times. The rule of law is crumbling. The massive expansion of Federal government power with its destructive laws and policies is of grave concern to many. But what can be done to quell the abuse of power by civil authority? Are unjust or immoral actions by the government simply to be accepted and their lawless commands obeyed? How do we know when the government has acted tyrannically? Which actions constitute proper and legitimate resistance? This book places in your hands a hopeful blueprint for freedom. Appealing to history and the Word of God, Pastor Matthew Trewhella answers these questions and shows how Americans can successfully resist the Federal government’s attempts to trample our Constitution, assault our liberty, and impugn the law of God. The doctrine of the lesser magistrates declares that when the superior or higher civil authority makes an unjust/immoral law or decree, the lesser or lower ranking civil authority has both the right and duty to refuse obedience to that superior authority. If necessary, the lower authority may even actively resist the superior authority. Historically, this doctrine was practiced before the time of Christ and Christianity. It was Christian men, however, who formalized and embedded it into their political institutions throughout Western Civilization. The doctrine of the lesser magistrates is a historic tool that provides proven guidelines for proper and legitimate resistance to tyranny, often without causing any major upheaval in society. The doctrine teaches us how to successfully rein in lawless acts by government and restore justice in our nation. “Use this sword against my enemies, if I give righteous commands; but if I give unrighteous commands, use it against me.” -Roman Emperor Trajan, speaking to one of his subordinates. This is the first book published solely addressing the doctrine of the lesser magistrates in over 400 years. The book lays a strong foundation, covering all aspects and components of the doctrine. Matthew Trewhella is the pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church. He is a graduate of Valley Forge Christian College. He and his wife, Clara, have eleven children and nine grandchildren, and reside in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. His research and teaching on the lesser magistrate doctrine is reshaping the thinking of Americans. He was instrumental in publishing the Magdeburg Confession in 2012 - the first English translation of the document since it was written in 1550.

The Mahyna Buddhist doctrine teaches that all sentient beings have Buddha nature and will eventually attain Buddhahood. For the spiritual training of those who are resolved to become Buddhas to benefit themselves and others, kyamuni Buddha recommends a Pure Land-Amitbha Buddha's Land of Ultimate Bliss. To be reborn in that land, one must have faith, resolve, and training. In that splendid environment and in the excellent company of advanced Bodhisattvas, one will attain Buddhahood with Amitbha Buddha's training and support. The Pure Land School, originated in China, is founded on five sutras and one treatise. This book, Rulu's second, presents these six texts and four other sutras in English, all translated from texts in the Chinese Buddhist Canon. Five of these ten English translations have never before been published in book form. To help readers, the translator's introduction provides an organized presentation of Pure Land teachings; another chapter tells the life stories of the patriarchs of the Pure Land School. Buddhist terms are explained in the glossary. This book will benefit readers at all levels and serve as a basis for scholarly research. For those who aspire to be reborn in the Pure Land, it is the only English guidebook available.

DOES THE GOVERNMENT EXIST TO SERVE US OR TO MASTER US?

If the government exists to serve us, and if freedom is part of our humanity, how can the government take freedom from us?  Is human freedom in America a myth, or is it reality?  The United States of America was born out of a bloody revolt against tyranny.  Yet almost from its inception, the government here has suppressed liberty.  Within the pages of It Is Dangerous To Be Right When The Government Is Wrong, New York Times best-selling author Judge Andrew P. Napolitano lays out the case that the U.S. government, whose first obligation is to protect and preserve individual freedoms, actually does neither.

The judge offers eye-opening, sometimes frightening examples of how, time and again, the human liberties we are guaranteed in the Constitution are vanishing before our eyes.  He asks: where does freedom come from?  How can government in America exercise power that the people have not given to it? What forces have collaborated to destroy personal freedom? This back-to-basics on freedom addresses hard questions:

• What is a Constitution, and do we still have one?
• What are the limits to government power in a free society?
• Why does the government attack, rather than defend, our rights?
• If our rights are inalienable, how can the government take them away?
• Do we really own any private property?

America is at a fundamental crossroads.  There are stirrings in the land and a cry that "enough is enough."  The stories within these pages are told to help reawaken the natural human thirst for freedom-to point out government interference with natural order and the disastrous consequences that follow.

Rule the Realm Game from Pressman Games

Ages 8 and up, 2-4 players

Innovative gameplay meets unique components in this family strategy game! Gather resource cards, use them to claim your territories and collect the treasures within! Conquer territories by walling them off with colorful rubber bands on a special 3D game board. The player with the most victory points at the end is the winner!

Rule the Realm Contents:

1 Plastic Game Base, 12 Interchangeable, Double-Sided, Location Game Boards, 50 Cards, 100 Rubber Bands (4 Colors), 50 Energy Tokens, 4 Pawns, 1 Round Marker, 1 Scoring Track, Complete Instructions

The best-kept secret of the Catholic Church...and a journalist who has made it her life -mission to discover the truth-at any cost. 

The night after he is elected to the Throne of St. Peter, Benedict XVI, like every Pope before him, is given an ancient document to read. Handed down only on his coronation, the document is the first thing a Pope reads when he is elected, and holds the Church's best-kept secret-one which it will preserve at all costs. But there may be other versions. A mysterious Gospel kept by an Israeli millionaire in London might hint at what the document contains. And there are rumours that the Dead Sea Scrolls, found by a Bedouin in 1947 might have been staged in order to obscure the shocking truth it reveals. Rafael, Vatican's shadowy priest/operative, is sent to investigate the stories of these other documents...and discovers evidence that may implicate his old friend Sarah Monteiiero, the British journalist who already knows too many of the Church's secrets. 

Will the world soon learn what revelations the Pope's secret document holds? Or will the Vatican manage to silence the rumors forever?

In 2009, the CIA's Kabul Station fell for a source who promised to lead it to Bin Laden, but instead he blew himself up, taking the station's most senior officers with him. Now, more than two years later, the station is still floundering, agents are dying, and at Langley the CIA's chiefs wonder if the unthinkable has happened, if somehow the Taliban has infiltrated the station.

When they ask John Wells to investigate, he reluctantly agrees to return to the country where his career as an undercover operative began. But there, he finds a vipers' nest of hostility and mistrust-and clues that hint at a drug-trafficking operation involving the Agency, the military, and the Taliban. Americans are dying, and an American is responsible. And only John Wells stands in his way . . . for now.

Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson: New Women in Search of Love and Power by Susan Hertog

Born in the 1890s on opposite sides of the Atlantic, friends for more than forty years, Dorothy Thompson and Rebecca West lived strikingly parallel lives that placed them at the center of the social and historical upheavals of the twentieth century. In Dangerous Ambition, Susan Hertog chronicles the separate but intertwined journeys of these two remarkable women writers, who achieved unprecedented fame and influence at tremendous personal cost.
 
American Dorothy Thompson was the first female head of a European news bureau, a columnist and commentator with a tremendous following whom Time magazine once ranked alongside Eleanor Roosevelt as the most influential woman in America. Rebecca West, an Englishwoman at home wherever genius was spoken, blazed a trail for herself as a journalist, literary critic, novelist, and historian. In a prefeminist era when speaking truth to power could get anyone—of either gender—ostracized, blacklisted, or worse, these two smart, self-made women were among the first to warn the world about the dangers posed by fascism, communism, and appeasement.
 
But there was a price to be paid, Hertog shows, for any woman aspiring to such greatness. As much as they sought voice and power in the public forum of opinion and ideas, and the independence of mind and money that came with them, Thompson and West craved the comforts of marriage and home. Torn between convention and the opportunities of the new postwar global world, they were drawn to men who were as ambitious and hungry for love as themselves: Thompson to the brilliant, volatile, and alcoholic Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis; West to her longtime lover H. G. Wells, the lusty literary eminence whose sexual and emotional demands doomed any chance they may have had at love. Tragically, both arrangements produced troubled sons, whose anger and jealousy at their mothers’ iconic fame eroded their sense of personal success.
 
Brimming with fresh insights obtained from previously sealed archives, this penetrating dual biography is a story of twinned lives caught up in the crosscurrents of world events and affairs of the heart—and of the unique trans-Atlantic friendship forged by two of the most creative and complex women of their time.

In the court of King Henry VIII, nothing is free--
and love comes at the highest price of all. 

“In modern times, Cat would most likely be a cheerleader; the king, captain of the football team. But the royal backdrop with historical underpinnings makes a far more interesting story…Readers can practically feel the embroidered ball gowns and hand-stitched lace.” –The Los Angeles Times

“Longshore, who's clearly done her historical homework, takes full advantage of the Tudor standards. . . and surroundings. . .  but Cat is a completely contemporary American teenager.”—BCCB 

“Longshore writes a believable novel of historical fiction with well-developed characters and entertaining . . . plot twists.”—VOYA 

When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

The #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of A Patriot's History of the United States examines ten current challenges.

America is at a crossroads. We face two options: continue our descent toward big government, higher taxes, less individual liberty, and more debt or pull our country back on the path our Founding Fathers planned for us. But that path isn't always so easy to see.

Following the success of his previous books, conservative historian Larry Schweikart tackles some of the key issues confronting our nation today: education, government bailouts, gun control, health care, the environment, and more. For each he asks, "What would the founders say?" and sets out to explore our history and offer wisdom to help us get back on track. What would really be compatible with the vision that Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and the other founders had for America?

Written in Schweikart's informal yet informative style, What Would the Founders Say? is sure to delight his fans and anyone looking for a little clarity on tough issues.

5.0 out of 5 stars grinds like a miller

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2012

Henry Miller wrote this when he was all but broke in France and in such dire states he wrote for 50 francs a page and he did so at around the time he was involved with Anaias Nin. Every single page (almost) that you open the book at will contain language that will blow you away (bad pun), even those who profess no imagination at all will be fired up with the content and it is perhaps the most explicit and for me the best written book of its genre and I include Nins the Delta of Venus in that group.--rabigyin

In 1978, racing fans witnessed a rivalry for the ages when a horse hailing from Harbor View Farm named Affirmed and an eighteen-year-old jockey dubbed “Stevie Wonder” faced off against the celebrated Alydar and emerged victorious in each leg of the Triple Crown---by a combined margin of less than two lengths. In this long-overdue biography of Affirmed, veteran sportswriter Lou Sahadi captures the life and spirit of this indomitable horse who twice earned Horse of the Year honors and placed #12 on the Blood-Horse list of “Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century.”

     The descendent of Man o’ War and War Admiral, Affirmed possessed an unrivaled combination of speed and heart. Sahadi chronicles how the initially docile chestnut colt began his stellar rise in 1977, winning seven times and placing twice in nine races. Entering the 1978 season, many experts speculated that Alydar, the latest prize product from the storied Calumet Farm, would prove himself the better horse on longer distances, as he had done in the Champagne Stakes the previous October. Trainer Laz Barrera opted to run Affirmed in three races in California—away from Alydar—in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby, a strategy that paid off as Affirmed, under reigning Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year jockey Stevie Cauthen, bested his rival in three races that fascinated even the most casual of sports fans.

     Affirmed also delivers fascinating subplots including that of jockey Louis Pincay Jr., who took over for Cauthen in the winter of 1979 and rode Affirmed to victory in the horse’s final seven races; and owner Louis Wolfson, the Wall Street financier who found redemption in Harbor View Farm with Affirmed after Wolfson served one year in a federal prison, his conviction having led to the resignation of Supreme Court justice Abe Fortas.

     Sahadi draws on interviews with Cauthen, some members of the Wolfson family, and many more to tell the story of how Affirmed emerged from one of the most exciting showdowns in sports history to capture imaginations across America. Telling a story that transcended the Thoroughbred racing world, Affirmed finally gives this courageous horse his due.

The New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz is at the top of her game with Truth or Dare.

From Publishers Weekly

Zoe Luce, psychic interior decorator, has finally settled down to domestic life in Whispering Springs, Ariz., with private investigator Ethan Truax after their tempestuous courtship in Krentz's previous romantic thriller, Light in Shadow. However, sinister cobwebs of energy confront her when she enters certain rooms, threatening to make her lose her tenuous grip on sanity. Meanwhile, Arcadia Ames, Zoe's old friend from Candle Lake Manor Psychiatric Hospital, fears the husband she sacrificed her identity to escape has finally tracked her down. Krentz never fully explains exactly why Grant, Arcadia's husband, wants her dead, relying instead on facts revealed in Light in Shadow. Indeed, from beginning to end, this sequel feels more like an appendix to the last book than a novel in its own right, as Krentz forgoes a strong central plot to focus on the kind of warm and fuzzy details about Zoe and her Whispering Springs friends that most novels relegate to the epilogue. She fattens the story with pizza dinners, heartfelt talks and proffered slices of lemon meringue pie, but scrimps when the action picks up and offers limp, far-fetched conclusions to the book's various subplots. Though no one will begrudge the goodhearted characters from Whispering Springs their tasty tidbits, in her rush to get to the happy endings, Krentz leaves readers hungry for a more substantial story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In her latest paranormal tale, Krentz takes up the story of psychic interior designer Zoe and private investigator Ethan, who met and fell in love in Light in Shadow [BKL N 1 02]. They are now working to create a successful marriage, but different events in their pasts keep interfering with their hopes for wedded bliss. Still haunted by his brother's murder and his own pursuit of justice in that case, Ethan expects Zoe to dump him, just as his previous three wives did. Zoe is plagued by memories of her imprisonment in a private psychiatric sanatorium, as she unexpectedly encounters psychic "spider webs" clinging to several places she has recently visited. As Ethan and Zoe struggle with their pasts, both become caught up in the dilemma of Zoe's friend, Arcadia, who fears that her ex-husband has returned from the dead to settle an old score. With its potent combination of danger and thrills, sexy romance, and polished writing suffused with a deliciously tart sense of humor, the best-selling Krentz's sophisticated brand of romantic suspense will never go out of style with readers. John Charles
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Planets are for leaving

That's an old saying in the Explorers.  But for every Explorer there is somewhere a planet he will not leave.  For some, the cause is love.  For others, the desire to give up the strange roving life of the star wanderers who live outside of planet-time.  Even for the ones who love the metal ships that are their only home there is still a planet waiting, a planet that will hold them forever--in the final clasp of death.  But until then, life is adventure and wonders undreamed of by mere planet dwellers, an Endless Universe of the unknown.

This edition contains over 30,000 words of material never before published in any form.  The original text has been revised in detail.

According to The Waiter, eighty percent of customers are nice people just looking for something to eat. The remaining twenty percent, however, are socially maladjusted psychopaths. Waiter Rant offers the server's unique point of view, replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogant misbehavior, and unseen bits of human grace transpiring in the most unlikely places. Through outrageous stories, The Waiter reveals the secrets to getting good service, proper tipping etiquette, and how to keep him from spitting in your food. The Waiter also shares his ongoing struggle, at age thirty-eight, to figure out if he can finally leave the first job at which he's truly thrived.

Future Christ is one of the first English translations of the work of François Laruelle, one of the most exciting voices in contemporary French philosophy and the creator of the practice of 'non-philosophy'.

In this work Laruelle draws on material from the traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Gnosticism, but he does so by suspending their authority. This adventure in non-philosophy does not claim to think for religion, but from it as material and with disinterest towards its self-given status as ultimate authority. This provocative, yet remarkably accessible book introduces philosophy to the lessons of heresy and makes use of them in a non-philosophical "dualysis" of messianism and apocalypticism. Laruelle investigates the "heretic question", analogous to but historically distinguished from the "Jewish question", to develop a "non-Christian science" that struggles against and for our World. Future Christ thus opens up novel ways of thinking within existing religious and philosophical thought and marks an incisive and wide-ranging non-philosophical engagement with key contemporary debates in philosophy and theology.

Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan Hardcover

by Greg Mortenson  (Author), Khaled Hosseini (Foreword)

From the author of the #1 bestseller Three Cups of Tea, the continuing story of this determined humanitarian’s efforts to promote peace through education

In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region in 2005; and the unique ways he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders. He shares for the first time his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy, as well as touching on military matters, Islam, and women—all woven together with the many rich personal stories of the people who have been involved in this remarkable two-decade humanitarian effort.

Since the 2006 publication of Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson has traveled across the U.S. and the world to share his vision with hundreds of thousands of people. He has met with heads of state, top military officials, and leading politicians who all seek his advice and insight. The continued phenomenal success of Three Cups of Tea proves that there is an eager and committed audience for Mortenson’s work and message.

America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, analyze those challenges - globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption - and spell out what we need to do now to rediscover America and rise to this moment.

“[In That Used to Be Us there] are big truths, and the authors see them clearly and whole. As is usual in Mr. Friedman's work the power of the core argument is buttressed by detailed reportage and blizzards of specific fact and detail, but the accumulation of anecdote and evidence never detracts from the book's central thrust. That Used to Be Us is an important contribution to an intensifying debate, and it deserves the widest possible attention.” ―Walter Russell Mead, The New York Times

“Friedman and Mandelbaum are men of the American elite, and they write to salute those members of the American elite who behave public-spiritedly and to scourge those who do not. They are winners, writing to urge other winners to have more of a care for their fellow citizens who are not winners. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that! . . . American society has had a big serving of that ugly anti-elitist spirit in the recent past. It could use more of the generous responsible spirit Friedman and Mandelbaum recommend.” ―David Frum, The New York Times Book Review

“[An] important and eminently readable book…” ―Stanley Hoffmann, The New York Review of Books

They explain how the end of the cold war blinded the nation to the need to address these issues. They show how our history, when properly understood, provides the key to addressing them, and explain how the paralysis of our political system and the erosion of key American values have made it impossible for us to carry out the policies the country needs. They offer a way out of the trap into which the country has fallen, which includes the rediscovery of some of our most valuable traditions and the creation of a new, third-party movement.

That Used to Be Us is both a searching exploration of the American condition today and a rousing manifesto for American renewal. "As we were writing this book," Friedman and Mandelbaum explain, "we found that when we shared the title with people, they would often nod ruefully and ask: 'But does it have a happy ending?' Our answer is that we can write a happy ending, but it is up to the country - to all of us - to determine whether it is fiction or nonfiction. We need to study harder, save more, spend less, invest wisely, and get back to the formula that made us successful as a country in every previous historical turn. What we need is not novel or foreign, but values, priorities, and practices embedded in our history and culture, applied time and again to propel us forward as a country. That is all part of our past. That used to be us and can be again - if we will it."

The earliest known prison memoir by an African American writer—recently discovered and authenticated by a team of Yale scholars—sheds light on the longstanding connection between race and incarceration in America.

“[A] harrowing [portrait] of life behind bars . . . part confession, part jeremiad, part lamentation, part picaresque novel (reminiscent, at times, of Dickens and Defoe).”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

In 2009, scholars at Yale University came across a startling manuscript: the memoir of Austin Reed, a free black man born in the 1820s who spent most of his early life ricocheting between forced labor in prison and forced labor as an indentured servant. Lost for more than one hundred and fifty years, the handwritten document is the first known prison memoir written by an African American. Corroborated by prison records and other documentary sources, Reed’s text gives a gripping first-person account of an antebellum Northern life lived outside slavery that nonetheless bore, in its day-to-day details, unsettling resemblances to that very institution.

Now, for the first time, we can hear Austin Reed’s story as he meant to tell it. He was born to a middle-class black family in the boomtown of Rochester, New York, but when his father died, his mother struggled to make ends meet. Still a child, Reed was placed as an indentured servant to a nearby family of white farmers near Rochester. He was caught attempting to set fire to a building and sentenced to ten years at Manhattan’s brutal House of Refuge, an early juvenile reformatory that would soon become known for beatings and forced labor.

Seven years later, Reed found himself at New York’s infamous Auburn State Prison. It was there that he finished writing this memoir, which explores America’s first reformatory and first industrial prison from an inmate’s point of view, recalling the great cruelties and kindnesses he experienced in those places and excavating patterns of racial segregation, exploitation, and bondage that extended beyond the boundaries of the slaveholding South, into free New York.

Accompanied by fascinating historical documents (including a series of poignant letters written by Reed near the end of his life), The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict is a work of uncommon beauty that tells a story of nineteenth-century racism, violence, labor, and captivity in a proud, defiant voice. Reed’s memoir illuminates his own life and times—as well as ours today.

Praise for The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict

“One of the most fascinating and important memoirs ever produced in the United States.”—Annette Gordon-Reed, The Washington Post

“Remarkable . . . triumphantly defiant . . . The book’s greatest value lies in the gap it fills.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

“Reed displays virtuosic gifts for narrative that, a century and a half later, earn and hold the reader’s ear.”—Thomas Chatterton Williams, San Francisco Chronicle

“[The book’s] urgency and relevance remain undiminished. . . . This exemplary edition recovers history without permanently trapping it in one interpretation.”—The Guardian

“A sensational, novelistic telling of an eventful life.”—The Paris Review

“Vivid and painful.”—NPR

“Lyrical and graceful in one sentence, burning with fury and hellfire in the next.”—Columbus Free Press

"The most important book he has ever written!"--from the cover

In Search of Ancient Gods by Erich von Daniken
My Pictorial Evidence for the Impossible

Now, Erich von Daniken caps his career with a magnificent work vividly illustrated with graphic proof of his revolutionary theories. See for yourself!

• Japanese Dogu Sculpture of Helmeted Figures with Astronaut's Goggles
• Age-old Constructions on the Plain of Nazca Which Compare with Blueprints of American Space-Travel Centers
• Ancient Piri Resi Maps Which Resemble Photos Taken on the Apollo Moon Shot
  

Peter Mayle’s delicious new fictional confection is set, bien entendu, in Provence, where a suave if slightly threadbare English expat named Bennett is reaching the end of his credit. In desperation he places an ad in The International Herald Tribune: “Unattached Englishman … seeks interesting and unusual work. Anything considered except marriage.”

In no time at all Bennett is being paid handsomely to impersonate the mysterious and very wealthy Julian Poe. This entails occupying Poe’s palatial flat in Monte Carlo, whizzing around in his Mercedes, and charging meals at the Côte d'Azur’s better restaurants. Unfortunately, there are certain complications … involving Sicilian and Corsican Mafiosi, the loveliest woman ever to drive a tank, and a formula for domesticating the notoriously unpredictable black truffle. As orchestrated by Mayle, these elements make Anything Considered a novel of nail-biting suspense and champagne-dry wit, whose evocations of the good life are so convincing that you’ll come away with a suntan.

The biggest, the boldest, the most comprehensive collection of Pulp writing ever assembled.

Weighing in at over a thousand pages, containing over forty-seven stories and two novels, this book is big baby, bigger and more powerful than a freight train—a bullet couldn’t pass through it. Here are the best stories and every major writer who ever appeared in celebrated Pulps like Black Mask, Dime Detective, Detective Fiction Weekly, and more. These are the classic tales that created the genre and gave birth to hard-hitting detectives who smoke criminals like packs of cigarettes; sultry dames whose looks are as lethal as a dagger to the chest; and gin-soaked hideouts where conversations are just preludes to murder. This is crime fiction at its gritty best.

Including:

• Three stories by Raymond Chandler, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Dashiell Hammett.

• Complete novels from Carroll John Daly, the man who invented the hard-boiled detective, and Fredrick Nebel,

one of the masters of the form.

• A never before published Dashiell Hammett story.

• Every other major pulp writer of the time, including Paul Cain, Steve Fisher, James M. Cain, Horace McCoy, and many

many more of whom you’ve probably never heard.

• Three deadly sections–The Crimefighters, The Villains, and Dames–with three unstoppable introductions by Harlan Coben,

Harlan Ellison, and Laura Lippman

Featuring:

• Plenty of reasons for murder, all of them good.

• A kid so smart–he’ll die of it.

• A soft-hearted loan shark’s legman learning–the hard way–never to buy a strange blonde a hamburger.

• The uncanny “Moon Man” and his mad-money victims.

The buildings of the Smithsonian Institution not only contain impressive collections; they are themselves icons of great cultural significance, many of them part of the historic National Mall. The Smithsonian's unique buildings illustrate the changing styles and sensibilities of America as an evolving nation. Representing the work of major architects, each building evokes a specific time in history: the mid-19th-century turreted Castle, the sky-reflecting mid-century modern Air and Space Museum, and the golden, undulating, 21st-century American Indian Museum.

"The Arthurian flavor is well maintained throughout, and both characterizations and events are totally convincing."--Booklist   

Lord Artos--later to rule as the legendary King Arthur--knew he could defeat the Saxon invaders if only he could find a race of horses swift and strong enough to carry warriors in full regalia, fast and far. And so he set out for the Continent, in search of the famed horses of the desert.

The key to Lord Artos's plan was the young runaway Galwyn Varianus, whose gift for horse-trading was second only to his skill with horses. What no one expected was how crucial Galwyn would be to the upcoming battles--as he mastered the secrets of the iron shoes that would protect the desert horses' delicate hooves . . .

This fast-moving historical fantasy by bestselling author Anne McCaffrey--the story of King Arthur as it has never been told before---is about the beginnings of the British cavalry, as recounted by a boy growing up in exciting and perilous times.  

"McCaffrey's unromanticized portrait of the times is full of muck and grit, and horse lovers and fans of historical fiction will find much to enjoy in the details."  --Library Journal

After rising from poverty to earn two Ivy League degrees, an Appalachian lawyer pays tribute to the strong “hill women” who raised and inspired her, and whose values have the potential to rejuvenate a struggling region.

“Destined to be compared to Hillbilly Elegy and Educated.”—BookPage (starred review)

“Poverty is enmeshed with pride in these stories of survival.”—Associated Press

Nestled in the Appalachian mountains, Owsley County is one of the poorest counties in both Kentucky and the country. Buildings are crumbling and fields sit vacant, as tobacco farming and coal mining decline. But strong women are finding creative ways to subsist in their hollers in the hills.

Cassie Chambers grew up in these hollers and, through the women who raised her, she traces her own path out of and back into the Kentucky mountains. Chambers’s Granny was a child bride who rose before dawn every morning to raise seven children. Despite her poverty, she wouldn’t hesitate to give the last bite of pie or vegetables from her garden to a struggling neighbor. Her two daughters took very different paths: strong-willed Ruth—the hardest-working tobacco farmer in the county—stayed on the family farm, while spirited Wilma—the sixth child—became the first in the family to graduate from high school, then moved an hour away for college. Married at nineteen and pregnant with Cassie a few months later, Wilma beat the odds to finish school. She raised her daughter to think she could move mountains, like the ones that kept her safe but also isolated her from the larger world.

Cassie would spend much of her childhood with Granny and Ruth in the hills of Owsley County, both while Wilma was in college and after. With her “hill women” values guiding her, Cassie went on to graduate from Harvard Law. But while the Ivy League gave her knowledge and opportunities, its privileged world felt far from her reality, and she moved back home to help her fellow rural Kentucky women by providing free legal services.

Appalachian women face issues that are all too common: domestic violence, the opioid crisis, a world that seems more divided by the day. But they are also community leaders, keeping their towns together in the face of a system that continually fails them. With nuance and heart, Chambers uses these women’s stories paired with her own journey to break down the myth of the hillbilly and illuminate a region whose poor communities, especially women, can lead it into the future.

One of the classics of English children's literature, and one of the earliest books written specifically for boys, this novel's steady popularity has given it an influence well beyond the upper middle-class world that it describes. It tells a story central to an understanding of Victorian life, but its freshness helps to distinguish it from the narrow schoolboy adventures that it later inspired. The book includes an introduction and notes by Andrew Sanders.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Christmas. St. Patrick's Day. Easter. As the calendar's days stack up, so do the bodies littered in the streets of Gotham City. A murderer is loose, killing only on holidays. The only man that can stop this fiend? The Dark Knight. In a mystery taking place during Batman's early days of crime fighting, Batman: The Long Halloween is one of the greatest Dark Knight stories ever told.

“Loeb and Sale imaginatively update old standbys while staying true to the characters’ long-standing portrayals.” —Booklist

“Featuring Sale’s breathtaking art, which perfectly echoes the moodiness of the subject matter, The Long Halloween was an instant classic..." —Metro Toronto
 
"The Long Halloween stretches beyond the normal boundaries of comics to create a legendary story of onem man's crusade against an insane world." —IGN
 
"The Long Halloween is more than a comic book. It's an epic tragedy." —Christopher Nolan (Director The Dark Knight Rises)

Working with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant James Gordon, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month. A mystery that has the reader continually guessing the identity of the killer, this story also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman's deadly enemy, Two-Face.

The magnificent creative team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale reach their apex in Batman: The Long Halloween. This edition includes original 13-issue series as well as four additional story pages cut from the original series, which are presented fully colored and restored to their place in the story.  Also featured are sketches and an introduction by the director and writer of The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan and David Goyer.