Two family names have come to be associated with the violence that plagued Colorado County, Texas, for decades after the end of the Civil War: the Townsends and the Staffords. Both prominent families amassed wealth and achieved status, but it was their resolve to hold on to both, by whatever means necessary, including extra-legal means, that sparked the feud. Elected office was one of the paths to success, but more important was control of the sheriff’s office, which gave one a decided advantage should the threat of gun violence arise. No Hope for Heaven, No Fear of Hell concentrates on those individual acts of private justice associated with the Stafford and Townsend families. It began with an 1871 shootout in Columbus, followed by the deaths of the Stafford brothers in 1890. The second phase blossomed after 1898 with the assassination of Larkin Hope, and concluded in 1911 with the violent deaths of Marion Hope, Jim Townsend, and Will Clements, all in the space of one month.
Best of TOC is a collection of essential posts from the last 12 months, selected from the TOC blog and a number of external sources. One of the mantras at Tools of Change is "fail forward fast," which is an alliterative way of encouraging experimentation. That's why we felt it appropriate to use Best of TOC as a testing ground for a "Web-to-book" process. As we hoped, experimentation led to lessons we wouldn't have learned otherwise. The material in Best of TOC is a small part of an ongoing dialog. We hope you'll join us on the TOC blog and the TOC Community as we collaboratively discuss the tools, developments, and organizations that are shaping the future of publishing.
To travel upon the Silk Road is to travel through history. Millennia older than California's Camino Real, and perhaps even a few years senior to the roads of the Roman Empire, the Silk Road is a network of routes stretching from delta towns of China all the way to the Mediterranean Sea – a cultural highway considered to be essential to the development of some of the world's oldest civilizations. It was upon this road that that Chinese silk traveled and was exchanged for incense, precious stones, and gold from India, the Middle East and as far the Mediterranean, contributing to the great tradition of commercial and idea exchange along the way. In the fall of 1992, celebrated translator, writer, and scholar Bill Porter left his home in Hong Kong and decided to travel from China to Pakistan by way of this famous and often treacherous Silk Road. Equipped with a plastic bottle of whiskey, needle–nose pliers, and the companionship of an old friend, Porter embarks upon the journey on the anniversary of Hong Kong's liberation from the Japanese after World War II and concludes in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, at the end of the monsoon season. Weaving witty travel anecdotes with the history and fantastical mythology of China and the surrounding regions, Porter exposes a world of card–sharks, unheard–of ethnic minorities, terracotta soldiers, nuclear experiments in the desert, emperors falling in love with bathing maidens, monks with miracle tongues, and a giant Buddha relaxing to music played by an invisible band. The Silk Road is the second of a three–book memoir series about Porter's travels in and around China to be published by Counterpoint. With an eye for cultural idiosyncrasies and a vast knowledge of history, Porter continues to make with his mark as an expert and travel writer.
Developed by The Open University, this textbook offers an innovative introduction to the study of the English language and the practices, skills and strategies of creative writing. For anyone studying English Language or Creative Writing at tertiary level or in higher education, or for developing writers and those interested in the nature of linguistic creativity, it offers a uniquely integrated approach. Readers will better understand the structure and uses of language and be able to use a full range of strategies in crafting and developing their own writing. Offering a detailed investigation of language, the authors examine both everyday use and examples from literature and the media to illustrate the diverse ways in which language is used in a variety of social contexts. They consider accent and dialect, standard and non-standard English, how language use varies according to its purpose, and the relationship it has to identity. Interwoven with the study of language are creative writing chapters that introduce strategies for the reader to draw upon in their own writing. Practical writing exercises develop the ability to select and shape language for different effects, create 'voice' in a story, and utilise patterns of sound in the composition of poetry. This unique textbook will develop a better appreciation of language in use, as well as the skills to craft writing in distinctive ways.
By 1926 the Mexican government of Plutarco Elias Calles had sparked widespread discontent with its radical social policies. Plots to overthrow the administration ran rampant. One of the strangest conspiracies arose within a clique of exiled Mexican military officers...in Hollywood.Bill Mills takes readers inside the forgotten story of General Enrique Estrada and his Southern California army. Secretly gathering recruits from city barrios and Imperial Valley farms, Estrada and his staff of ex-generals not only built an invasion force but stockpiled an arsenal of small arms to supply it. Attempts to acquire armored vehicles and airplanes had moved forward when law enforcement got wind of the clandestine military activity. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, newly reorganized under J. Edgar Hoover, assigned a four-man team to unravel the plot. Racing against time, the agents pitted old-school legwork against Estrada's determination and, as the day of the invasion arrived, confronted the general's caravan fewer than ten miles from the Mexican border.Packed with intrigue, The Estrada Plot is the unlikely true crime drama of how the early FBI foiled an invasion from within the United States.
No author has attempted to write the history of all the newspapers on the North Olympic Peninsula—until now. Strait Press: A History of the News Media on the North Olympic Peninsula does that. There have been books that detailed the newspaper history in Clallam County, and two books covered the media history in Jefferson County. Now Strait Press encompasses both counties. This book is about not only newspapers but also radio stations and even television. The reader will learn which president came to Port Angeles in 1937 and was instrumental in establishing Olympic National Park. Creating that park was perhaps the most divisive issue in the history of the Port Angeles newspapers. You will discover why. Learn which newspaper owner in Sequim arrived and vowed to run the Sequim Press out of town and did it. Find out what well-known author spent a night in a Port Townsend jail on his way back from gold panning in the Klondike. In Forks, the reader will learn which newspaper owner became part of a quad marriage in which four sisters were wed in the same ceremony. The history of each area is discussed. Learn about mastodons, the Great Blowdown, devastating fires, oil spills, and how each paper handled 9/11. And whenever possible, the author infuses the discussion with humorous anecdotes. So pull up a chair and start your education of North Olympic news media.
In Paris's Pere-Lachaise cemetery lie the bones of many renowned departed. It is also home to a large number of stray cats. Now, what if by some strange twist of fate, the souls of the famous were reborn in the cats with their personalities intact? There's Maria Callas, a willful and imperious diva, wailing late into the night. Earthy, bawdy chanteuse Edith Piaf is a foul-mouthed washerwoman. Oscar Wilde is hopelessly in love with Jim Morrison, who sadly does not return his affections. Frederic Chopin is as melancholic and deeply contemplative as ever, and in honor of the tradition of leaving love letters at his tomb, he is now the cemetery's postmaster general. Last but not least, Marcel Proust is trying to solve the mystery behind some unusual thefts - someone has stolen Rossini's glass eye and Sarah Bernhardt's leg. Told in a series of amusing set pieces and intercepted letters, this is a delicious tale of intrigue, unrequited love, longstanding quarrels, character assassinations, petty spats, and sorcery that builds to a steady climax at the cats' annual Christmas pageant.
Trying to decide what you're going to do for the rest of your life is not an easy decision to make. But this is the quandry that Hank Stuart finds himself in. Motivated by 'do-gooder' tendencies, Hank who comes with an agricultural and ranching background, is concerned whether or not the world will be able feed itself over the next 30 - 40 years. With this motivation and these concerns Hank decides to leave his beloved family ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska to search for answers and his individual purpose in life. Initially his departure leads him to Arizona State University with a goal in obtaining a Master's Degree in International Agriculture. Following graduation he departs for Central and South America visiting farms and ranches as well as meeting people from all sorts of various backgrounds. Two years later while living on a ranch in Paraguay, Hank is confronted by a decision where he must decide his purpose as it relates to the future of his family and ranch in Nebraska and to the agricultural dilemma confronting the world and the process of feeding the people of the world.
Join author Bill Yenne on a whirlwind tour of the world of beer! After a quick stop to learn about the anatomy of beer, including ingredients, styles, and even museums, Beer: The Ultimate World Tour will take you to all the regions of the world. Inside, you will find maps, charts, illustrations, and photographs showcasing favorite brews of the areas!Featuring beer from regions like: Belgium, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Great Britain & Ireland, France, Netherlands, USA, Caribbean, Canada, Australia/New Zealand/Far East, And more! So grab a pint and dive into a wonderful tour of one of the world’s best beverages!
What-?! Zippy hijacked!? And by marauding speech balloon appropriators, no less!? This shocking turn of events, and more, is chronicled in th latest collection of the Zippy the Pinhead daily comic strip, Zippy: Walk a Mile in My Muu-Muu. In the aforementioned storyline, all of the strip's dialogue is usurped by balloons taken directly from old comics like Beach Blanket Bingo, Rusty Riley, UFO Comics, Mutt and Jeff, and Steve Roper. Will Zippy get his voice back? And will he remember being abducted from a Kansas cow-lot by little gray aliens?
In May 1906, the Atlantic Monthly commented that Americans live not merely in an age of things, but under the tyranny of them, and that in our relentless effort to sell, purchase, and accumulate things, we do not possess them as much as they possess us. For Bill Brown, the tale of that possession is something stranger than the history of a culture of consumption. It is the story of Americans using things to think about themselves. Brown's captivating new study explores the roots of modern America's fascination with things and the problem that objects posed for American literature at the turn of the century. This was an era when the invention, production, distribution, and consumption of things suddenly came to define a national culture. Brown shows how crucial novels of the time made things not a solution to problems, but problems in their own right. Writers such as Mark Twain, Frank Norris, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Henry James ask why and how we use objects to make meaning, to make or remake ourselves, to organize our anxieties and affections, to sublimate our fears, and to shape our wildest dreams. Offering a remarkably new way to think about materialism, A Sense of Things will be essential reading for anyone interested in American literature and culture.
In the tradition of Voltaire''s Philosophical Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce''s Devil''s Dictionary, and Joseph McCabe''s Rationalist Encyclopedia, this accessible dictionary addresses the contemporary need for a reference book that succinctly summarizes the key concepts, current terminology, and major contributions of influential thinkers broadly associated with atheism, skepticism, and humanism. In the preface, author Bill Cooke notes that his work is intended "for freethinkers in the broadest sense of the word: people who like to think for themselves and not according to the preplanned routes set by others." This dictionary will serve as a guide for all those people striving to lead fulfilling, morally responsible lives without religious belief. Readers are offered a wide range of concepts, from ancient, well-known notions such as God, free will, and evil to new concepts such as "eupraxsophy." Also included are current "buzzwords" that have some bearing on the freethought worldview such as "metrosexual." The names of many people whose lives or work reflect freethought principles form a major portion of the entries. Finally, a humanist calendar is included, on which events of interest to freethinkers are noted. This unique, accessible, and highly informative work will be a welcome addition to the libraries of open-minded people of all philosophic persuasions.
A timely cannon blast at the right-wing media machine and how it subverts the principles of democratic representation Talk radio has done an end run around the voting populace. With Rush Limbaugh now the unofficial leader of the Republican Party and the far right controlling the five major syndicates, conservatives have a disproportionate voice in the medium—even in liberal cities such as New York, Boston, and San Francisco. Writing with his characteristic and incisive wit, Bill Press exposes the destructive power of Rush, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly, and the other polarizing figures of talk radio who dominate 90% of the political airwaves today. Citing their own words as evidence, Press brilliantly makes the case that much of what is broadcast on radio and television today is—at best—distorted and partisan, and—at worst—lies, propaganda and bigotry sold by these talented modern-day pitchmen who have followings in the millions.
China’s rise has upset the global balance of power, and the first place to feel the strain is Beijing’s back yard: the South China Sea. For decades tensions have smoldered in the region, but today the threat of a direct confrontation among superpowers grows ever more likely. This important book is the first to make clear sense of the South Sea disputes. Bill Hayton, a journalist with extensive experience in the region, examines the high stakes involved for rival nations that include Vietnam, India, Taiwan, the Philippines, and China, as well as the United States, Russia, and others. Hayton also lays out the daunting obstacles that stand in the way of peaceful resolution. Through lively stories of individuals who have shaped current conflicts—businessmen, scientists, shippers, archaeologists, soldiers, diplomats, and more—Hayton makes understandable the complex history and contemporary reality of the South China Sea. He underscores its crucial importance as the passageway for half the world’s merchant shipping and one-third of its oil and gas. Whoever controls these waters controls the access between Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Pacific. The author critiques various claims and positions (that China has historic claim to the Sea, for example), overturns conventional wisdoms (such as America’s overblown fears of China’s nationalism and military resurgence), and outlines what the future may hold for this clamorous region of international rivalry.
Physical models have been, and continue to be used by engineers when faced with unprecedented challenges, when engineering science has been non-existent or inadequate, and in any other situation when the engineer has needed to raise their confidence in a design proposal to a sufficient level to begin construction. For this reason, models have mostly been used by designers and constructors of highly innovative projects, when previous experience has not been available. The book covers the history of using of physical models in the design and development of civil and building engineering projects including bridges in the mid-18th century, William Fairbairn?s Britannia bridge in the 1840s, the masonry Aswan Dam in the 1890s, concrete dams in the 1920s, thin concrete shell roofs and the dynamic behaviour of tall buildings in earthquakes from the 1930s, tidal flow in estuaries and the acoustics of concert halls from the 1950s, and cable-net and membrane structures in the 1960s. Traditionally, progress in engineering has been attributed to the creation and use of engineering science, the understanding materials properties and the development of new construction methods. The book argues that the use of reduced scale models have played an equally important part in the development of civil and building engineering. However, like the history of engineering design itself, this crucial contribution has not been widely reported or celebrated. The book concludes with reviews of the current use of physical models alongside computer models, for example, in boundary layer wind tunnels, room acoustics, seismic engineering, hydrology, and air flow in buildings.
This is a book that is sure to bring families together. Bill Vincent is the author of Children Stories and he has put this book together with action, drama, imagination and so much more. These stories are meant to share the truths of God's word to children with tales that a child can relate to. These fairy tale-type stories, realistic situation stories, fantasy, and a few other genres as well! All the stories are Christian-based and aimed to put a smile on those children we love. This will sure get you closer as a family as you discover the many tales told in this book. Some Christians will cringe when they see witchcraft and wizards. I tell you this world has consumed itself with Harry Potter and witchcraft. These stories that name witchcraft and wizards will have another side to the stories. The stories have Jesus over taking these spiritual battles. It is time for the children of America and the world to know the real difference between good and evil.
We humans have an extraordinary capacity for compassion—much of it in response to the atrocities we inflict on the planet, its animals, and each other. The popular explanation for this paradox is that we evolved as carnivorous “killer apes,” who gradually curbed our lust for violence (with frequent exceptions) by implementing humane social norms. This explanation is so well worn, especially in the American psyche, that it epitomizes cliché. So, we could be forgiven for believing it, when nearly every word is fiction. Current research shows that our original biological and social programming is nonviolent. So, what changed? What turned us from goddess-worshiping, plant-eating peacemakers into god-worshiping, animal-eating warmongers? Find out in this fresh, avant-garde nonfiction, The Red Planet: Gendered Landscapes and Violent Inequalities, and learn how our intrinsically feminine predilection for peace may yet save us.
Leverage the financial services evolution to maximize your firm's value The Essential Advisor presents an insightful handbook for advisors looking to navigate the changing face of financial services. The industry is evolving, consumers are evolving, and many advisors are being left behind as old methods become less and less relevant. This book shows you how to turn this shift into a positive, by positioning your firm to maximize these new opportunities, and deliver the results and experience increasingly expected of financial advisors. You'll learn how to provide the transparency, hands-on interaction, and around-the-clock access today's clients demand, and how to consistently deliver service that robo-advisors cannot duplicate. Emerging technologies do not have to be a threat to your practice—they are tools that represent opportunities to provide greater service to your clients, and smart technology integration will be a hallmark of firms that survive the shift. This guide provides a clear vision of the future of financial services, and an indispensable management framework for maximizing your firm's future value. Advisors are increasingly confused about what clients are seeking, and clients are equally confused about what advisory firms offer that alternatives cannot. This book helps clear the air on both sides by examining the client's perspective of financial services, and helping advisors better communicate their strengths. Articulate the value of your services Leverage new technology to complement your practice Capitalize on opportunities and maximize your firm's value Position your firm to benefit from the changing consumer population Financial advisors can only grow their businesses if clients know what they do, know how to hire them, and can access them affordably. The Essential Advisor shows you to bring your firm into the future successfully.
A biography on the legendary gay American composer of contemporary classical music. American composer Lou Harrison (1917–2003) is perhaps best known for challenging the traditional musical establishment along with his contemporaries and close colleagues: composers John Cage, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, and Leonard Bernstein; Living Theater founder, Judith Malina; and choreographer, Merce Cunningham. Today, musicians from Bang on a Can to Björk are indebted to the cultural hybrids Harrison pioneered half a century ago. His explorations of new tonalities at a time when the rest of the avant-garde considered such interests heretical set the stage for minimalism and musical post-modernism. His propulsive rhythms and ground-breaking use of percussion have inspired choreographers from Merce Cunningham to Mark Morris, and he is considered the godfather of the so-called “world music” phenomenon that has invigorated Western music with global sounds over the past two decades. In this biography, authors Bill Alves and Brett Campbell trace Harrison’s life and career from the diverse streets of San Francisco, where he studied with music experimentalist Henry Cowell and Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, and where he discovered his love for all things non-traditional (Beat poetry, parties, and men); to the competitive performance industry in New York, where he subsequently launched his career as a composer, conducted Charles Ives’s Third Symphony at Carnegie Hall (winning the elder composer a Pulitzer Prize), and experienced a devastating mental breakdown; to the experimental arts institution of Black Mountain College where he was involved in the first “happenings” with Cage, Cunningham, and others; and finally, back to California, where he would become a strong voice in human rights and environmental campaigns and compose some of the most eclectic pieces of his career. “Lou Harrison’s avuncular personality and tuneful music coaxed affectionate regard from all who knew him, and that affection is evident on every page of Alves and Campbell’s new biography. Eminently readable, it puts Harrison at the center of American music: he knew everyone important and was in touch with everybody, from mentors like Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives and Harry Partch and Virgil Thomson to peers like John Cage to students like Janice Giteck and Paul Dresher. He was larger than life in person, and now he is larger than life in history as well.” —Kyle Gann, author of Charles Ives’s Concord: Essays After a Sonata
Truth is stranger than fiction. If you've imagined famous writers to be desk-bound drudges, think again. Writers Gone Wild rips back the (book) covers and reveals the seamy underside of the writing life. Insightful, intriguing, and irresistibly addictive, Writers Gone Wild reveals such fascinating stories as: * The night Dashiell Hammett hired a Chinese prostitute to break up S. J. Perelman's marriage (and ran off with his wife). * Why Sylvia Plath bit Ted Hughes on the cheek. * Why Ernest Hemingway fought a book critic, a modernist poet, and his war correspondent/wife Martha Gellhorn (but not at the same time). * The near-fatal trip Katherine Anne Porter took while high on marijuana in Mexico. * Why women's breasts sent Percy Bysshe Shelley screaming from the room. * The day Virginia Woolf snuck onto a Royal Navy ship disguised as an Abyssinian prince. Pull up a chair, turn on good reading light, and discover what your favorite writers were up to while away from their desks. Sometimes, they make the wildest characters of all.
Beyond Deceit is a novel for the intrepid reader. It is wildly imaginative fiction that sears the mind with a fantastical tale so well written and plotted that it could be mistaken for reality. The reader is pulled into the story when a sick old man named Karl is found comatose in an alley in Los Angeles and taken to a hospital/rest home in Palm Springs. There he is cared for by a staff that includes Jason, a curious young man who is immediately drawn to the stranger. What is his story and how did he get to be the way he was found? Little by little, Jason gains Karl's confidence and he listens to a story that will change his life. Karl tells of a city under the streets of Berlin, Germany, he discovered during World War II. The underground community is populated by surviving Nazis who are planning to unite with Arab terrorists and a group of radical Hispanics living and operating in the United States. Their goal is to destroy the United States, followed by world domination. Beyond Deceit is more than a good read. It is a must read. Amazon five star reviews: "A must read for history lovers." "A nail biter." "A great read." "Very compelling." "An exciting book filled with suspense." "I can't wait for the next one." "Fantastic read." Raised in Dayton, Nevada,
Take a deep dive into the five practices for facilitating productive mathematical discussions Enhance your fluency in the five practices—anticipating, monitoring, selecting, sequencing, and connecting—to bring powerful discussions of mathematical concepts to life in your elementary classroom. This book unpacks the five practices for deeper understanding and empowers you to use each practice effectively. • Video excerpts vividly illustrate the five practices in action in real elementary classrooms • Key questions help you set learning goals, identify high-level tasks, and jumpstart discussion • Prompts guide you to be prepared for and overcome common challenges Includes planning templates, sample lesson plans and completed monitoring tools, and mathematical tasks.
When Bill James published his original Historical Baseball Abstract in 1985, he produced an immediate classic, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “holy book of baseball.” Now, baseball's beloved “Sultan of Stats” (The Boston Globe) is back with a fully revised and updated edition for the new millennium. Like the original, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is really several books in one. The Game provides a century's worth of American baseball history, told one decade at a time, with energetic facts and figures about How, Where, and by Whom the game was played. In The Players, you'll find listings of the top 100 players at each position in the major leagues, along with James's signature stats-based ratings method called “Win Shares,” a way of quantifying individual performance and calculating the offensive and defensive contributions of catchers, pitchers, infielders, and outfielders. And there's more: the Reference section covers Win Shares for each season and each player, and even offers a Win Share team comparison. A must-have for baseball fans and historians alike, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is as essential, entertaining, and enlightening as the sport itself.
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