For more of Michael Kent's works, please visit www.michaelkentwriterartist.com. THE BIG JIGGETY, a picaresque, romantic, humorous, philosophical, sociological, (mostly autobiographical) novel, relates the travels and travails of Albert Nostran. An 18-year old American born and raised in the country outside 25 miles east of Paris, his quest is to find America, a woman, and himself. Lugging his guitar, Don Pedro, fleeing his cantankerous father, well-meaning mother and a brother he wants to turn into a fellow musician, he braves disease, fatigue, cold and angst to land in Big Sky University in Missoula, Montana, to sink his teeth into the frozen American west. Many aspects of US/Montana life intrigue the protagonist, yet Nostran retains a European sense of history and critical mind; arguably a Tocqueville of the late 1970s, he never misses an opportunity to comment on the local societal oddities and contradictions. "Perhaps you were more French than you thought," Damian his childhood friend tells the homesick hero in chapter one. Before they launch off in an exploration of a bleak, wintery, nocturnal Paris, during which Nostran loses his innocence in the arms of a prostitute. After whom our hero believes he has contracted something nasty, yet another little inconvenience he must face when flying back to Chicago via London. And matters do not improve in the endless yet at times magical bus ride between Salt-Lake-City and Butte, and he comes close to freezing trying to hitch-hike along the wide open spaces between Butte and Missoula. A few pills later, the sex quest resumes. Undaunted, Nostran in his diaspora flirts with one woman and then another with precious little of the supposed Gallic related savoir faire. Life at the university does harbor the excitement of weekends and dormitory life, with its freshman friendships and naïveté as well the tedium and occasional enlightenment of classes. And extra curricular activities, such as teaching dorm-mates how to strum a guitar. Against this background vivid characters are etched: Threats, the homophobic narcissistic football player; Rotch, another jock, who after having learned guitar from Albert begins to ridicule his former mentor. Up in Polson, Mt., we encounter Montcarlson and his wife, the curious couple who originally recommended the university. In Dubois, Wyoming, we meet Lancelot Wolf, owner of the Salamander Ranch, and Jim, the bisexual bartender, who reveals unexpected secrets about women the eager Nostran very quickly applies to Tweets, the stocky femme fatale in the blue car he more than befriends on yet another glacial return to Missoula. Bags repacked, the last U.S. trek takes him and two others back east to Chicago and New York--one American city whose intensity captivates him. If the USA experience at times mystified the adolescent, returning to France in the summer proves anticlimactic. At first. What the old country appears to lack in razzle-dazzle, it gradually makes up in terms of simplicity and deep-rooted friendships. Besides, after a stint with translations Nostran cannot sit still for long. Driving from his boyhood home in Seine-et-Marne (a little east of Paris), first up to Amsterdam with three rambunctious of old high school mates, then down to the Spanish border, via the Loire valley, with the equally lust-ridden Lecoq-Hasien, Nostran once again rediscovers the virtues of Europe and home. At the very last minute when all sexual hope has been abandoned, a young lady on the Saint-Jean-de-Luz boardwalk asks him for a light. She is not a prostitute and agrees to meet him the next day...
“The book is carefully organized and well written, and it deals with a question that is still of great importance—what is the relationship of the Bill of Rights to the states.”—Journal of American History “Curtis effectively settles a serious legal debate: whether the framers of the 14th Amendment intended to incorporate the Bill of Rights guarantees and thereby inhibit state action. Taking on a formidable array of constitutional scholars, . . . he rebuts their argument with vigor and effectiveness, conclusively demonstrating the legitimacy of the incorporation thesis. . . . A bold, forcefully argued, important study.”—Library Journal
Every year the Administration and the Congress battle stubbornly and often bitterly over appropriations for foreign aid. Clearly much more is at stake than a difference of opinion over a small fraction of the annual budget: the tug-of-war stems from clashes of basic political philosophies, divergent approaches to one of the most important elements of our foreign policy, and inherent conflicts among various domestic power blocs.In his book, which adds a much-needed dimension to the discussion and analysis of United States foreign policy, O'Leary reveals the many complex factors that go into the making of American foreign aid policy. While placing the emphasis on the political system as a whole--its components, the relative power of actors in the system, and the manner in which they interact to create policy--the author presents a detailed and enlightening picture of the attitudes of the general public, the political parties, the pressure groups, and Congress itself to the issue of foreign aid.Basing his work on poll data, press comment, Congressional and Executive documents, Congressional roll-call votes, and interviews with congressmen, their assistants, foreign aid officials, and lobbyists, O'Leary makes clear how the workings of the American political system affect our foreign aid policy and programs. Originally published in 1967, it remains useful for all courses dealing with our foreign relations, Congress, or the specifics of the operation of our government.
Meow Te Ching features more than 200 proverbs on everything from philosophy and mysticism ("Do not blame God for creating dogs, but thank him for not giving them wings") to romance ("No road seems long when a cat goes to meet his lover"). And such seemingly familiar axioms as: o "Give me liberty or give me my next life." o "The early cat catches the early bird." o "You can't have your mouse and eat it too." According to the book's introduction, Meow Tzu, whose teachings are presented in Meow Te Ching, is probably the most famous cat to have ever lived; yet most humans know little about him. Cats have kept his name a secret, waiting for the darkest hour, when most people are asleep, to pass on his wisdom from generation to generation. Recently, however, archaeological digs near the Dead Sea, Machu Picchu, and Tibet have unearthed a number of manuscripts, notes taken by disciples of the venerable Meow. These ancient manuscripts reveal a cat with remarkable insight into feline nature. In addition, the sayings in Meow Te Ching give people the opportunity to learn a thing or two about themselves.
In Pop the Plug we find the iconoclastic Albert "Big Jiggety" Nostran about to graduate from a diminutive rural New England college. He has extricated himself from a thorny patch of a year all but tethered to a 97.5 percent incompatible roommate. While his lady quest has remained fraught, as he clutches his hard-earned diploma, a certain dark English professor reemerges, inviting him out to dinner to celebrate a new commencement. It is a pivotal moment for all the Nostrans: Back in France, where his immediate family has sought exile for 20 odd years, his tempestuous father, Quentin, has retired. His younger brother, Simon, has finished high-school. Upon his return, Albert becomes something of an organizer/conductor as the whole family gradually empties the grand old house, the home where he grew up, destination: America. In this second Nostran installment, the protagonist grapples with more the New World's many idiosyncracies, no longer alone. Hobbled by an aging husband and difficult to fathom circumstances, his mother asserts herself now as she seldom has in the land of Meaux mustard and Brie cheese. After exploring some of his old college haunts, attempting to rekindle the friendship Albert once enjoyed with brother Simon, the latter is whisked off himself to the world of higher education. The recent graduate must contend with his father's exponential barrage of venom. And find a job, a mountain he never had to climb living overseas as a non-citizen. Pop the Plug explores the chiasm pried open as the neurotic world of school no longer extends its safety net. It also relates the many sparks that flicker and sear within a complex father-son relationship. Angst-ridden though it may sound, the novel is also perforated with humor. Pointed observations, pithy dialogue give the reader ample reason to forge ahead and delight in the protagonists' tribulations which include a trial. Literally.
Written by an experienced teacher of students, this book aims to motivate A-Level students. Questions are presented in two styles, 'Quick Check' and 'Food for Thought', to give opportunities to practise both recall and analytical skills. It includes colour illustrations and graduated questions to practise recall and analytical skills.
In the fall of 1848, Joseph and Susanna Harker became the first pioneers "Over Jordan" as they crossed to the west side seeking a new home in the valley. Other families soon followed, and by the 1880s, canals brought irrigation water, allowing farming settlements to spread out toward the Oquirrh Mountains. The agrarian communities of Hunter, Granger, Redwood, and Chesterfield began to take shape. The decades after World War II saw enormous growth, new neighborhoods, and the Valley Fair Mall. When the area finally incorporated as West Valley City in 1980, it was immediately one of Utah's largest cities. The city has seen remarkable progress in its first three decades, including being a venue city for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and emerging as Utah's most ethnically diverse city.
Poems at Last for Hearts of Glass is dedicated to all those hearts that have been chipped, craked, broken or shattered. To all those hearts of glass its time at last to leave it all in the past.
Central to the development of the American legal system, writes Professor Finkelman in Slavery & the Law, is the institution of slavery. It informs us not only about early concepts of race and property, but about the nature of American democracy itself. Prominent historians of slavery and legal scholars analyze the intricate relationship between slavery, race, and the law from the earliest Black Codes in colonial America to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law and the Dred Scott decision prior to the Civil War. Slavery & the Law's wide-ranging essays focus on comparative slave law, auctioneering practices, rules of evidence, and property rights, as well as issues of criminality, punishment, and constitutional law. What emerges from this multi-faceted portrait is a complex legal system designed to ensure the property rights of slave-holders and to institutionalize racism. The ultimate result was to strengthen the institution of slavery in the midst of a growing trend toward democracy in the mid-nineteenth-century Atlantic community.
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