A teen girl and her robot embark on a cross-country mission in this illustrated science fiction story, perfect for fans of Ready Player One and Black Mirror. In late 1997, a runaway teenager and her small yellow toy robot travel west through a strange American landscape where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside, along with the discarded trash of a high-tech consumerist society addicted to a virtual-reality system. As they approach the edge of the continent, the world outside the car window seems to unravel at an ever faster pace, as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in. Views: 29
Half-breed tinkerer Kali McAlister doesn’t care that the gold rush has stormed into Dawson and prospectors are flooding the north—all she wants is to finish construction of her airship, so she can escape the Yukon and see the world. Unfortunately, the world keeps chucking wrenches into her machinery: a mysterious gambler is pumping her for information on her... Views: 29
Plumbing. This is what the future has in store for Billy Box - to follow in the footsteps of generations of Boxes and spend his life with his arm down people's toilets. Or so he thinks... For when an angel appears on his 11th birthday, Billy's life suddenly takes an unexpected turn. His destiny is now to be a Guardian Angel and his first task is to protect Thelma Potts, the toughest girl in school. Billy soon finds himself caught up in a world of competitive pie eating, skeletons and magic, not to mention smelly drains! Views: 29
"Are our schools safe?" It's hard to turn on the news without hearing this question, and the answer is typically "no." This novel explores what happens when bullying escalates to violence, and it challenges our definition of victimization. With thought-provoking prose, Suzanne Phillips explores the psyche of Cameron, a bullied freshman who ultimately does the unthinkable: he kills another student. As she did with Chloe Doe, Suzanne has found a way to make this seemingly dark story ultimately redemptive. But she also dares readers to look at the behavior that provokes violence as having the potential to be as dangerous as the violence itself. It's Suzanne's hope that Burn will inspire readers to take a precautionary stance against bullying rather than waiting to react to it. Views: 29
Meet Milan, a young supermodel with a disability from New York's Upper East Side, who falls deeply in love as she is coming of age. In this romantic drama, the emotional conflict of a girl's inner soul is revealed as she deals with a first love, the pain of loss, and the pleasures of stardom, all while coping with a lifelong secret. In the world of Milan, the people are real, the situations are rolling, and the truth is often concealed. Broken is a racy circle of sisterhood, laced with a touch of earthiness, glamour, wealth, and fame. NEW TANILLE ALBUM INCLUDEDReaders get music downloads of the new Pop R&B hits "All of Me" and "What's a Girl to Do" by Tanille, and more. Views: 29
Bookish heiress Karin has failed in her first act of defiance! She's tried to take back the symbol of everything good in her life, but ruthless billionaire Xante Rossi has caught her red-handed! Why is this shy beauty stealing from him? Xante is intrigued. Karin's purity belies the corruption her family name represents. To save her from scandal and uncover the truth, he'll make a proposal. If Karin wants her precious heirloom, she'll have to earn it back in his bedroom! Views: 29
A lineman with something to proveA vendetta against a baseball legendThe rise of a real-life NHL all-starThe luckiest grapefruit in sports historyOpen up The Sports Pages, the third volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading, and you're in for all of this and more. From fiction to nonfiction, from baseball to mixed martial arts and everything in between, these are ten stories about the rush of victory and the crush of defeat on and off the field. Compiled by kid-lit all-star Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: The Sports Pages is a thrilling collection of brand-new short stories from some of your favorite authors and athletes. Views: 29
After losing her mother to a vigilante killer, Terri Mitchell has dedicated her life to justice. Working covertly as a new agent for the Bureau of American Defence agency, she's consulting with the New Orleans Police Department to bust an organised crime ring suspected of funding terrorism. But when rumours surface of a phantom ghost terrorising and killing the very people she's investigating, she's suspicious.
Nathan Drake has spent his life protecting his family, the only thing that matters to him...until the most feared drug lord in the southeast takes everything Nathan holds dear. Now he's a man on a mission with nothing to lose. He figures he only needs to stay alive long enough to protect the innocent lives the killers are out to destroy.
As the two of them seek a similar goal by different means, Terri and Nathan are drawn deep into an evil underbelly that cuts through all levels of society. Now two people who have no reason to trust must trust in each other or die. And if they die, a deadly attack will be unleashed on thousands of innocent people. Views: 29
A definitive account of the American experience in Afghanistan from the rise of the Taliban to the depths of the insurgency. After the swift defeat of the Taliban in 2001, American optimism has steadily evaporated in the face of mounting violence; a new “war of a thousand cuts” has now brought the country to its knees. In the Graveyard of Empires is a political history of Afghanistan in the “Age of Terror” from 2001 to 2009, exploring the fundamental tragedy of America’s longest war since Vietnam.
After a brief survey of the great empires in Afghanistan—the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the British in the era of Kipling, and the late Soviet Union—Seth G. Jones examines the central question of our own war: how did an insurgency develop? Following the September 11 attacks, the United States successfully overthrew the Taliban regime. It established security throughout the country—killing, capturing, or scattering most of al Qa’ida’s senior operatives—and Afghanistan finally began to emerge from more than two decades of struggle and conflict. But Jones argues that as early as 2001 planning for the Iraq War siphoned off resources and talented personnel, undermining the gains that had been made. After eight years, he says, the United States has managed to push al Qa’ida’s headquarters about one hundred miles across the border into Pakistan, the distance from New York to Philadelphia.
While observing the tense and often adversarial relationship between NATO allies in the Coalition, Jones—who has distinguished himself at RAND and was recently named by Esquire as one of the “Best and Brightest” young policy experts—introduces us to key figures on both sides of the war. Harnessing important new research and integrating thousands of declassified government documents, Jones then analyzes the insurgency from a historical and structural point of view, showing how a rising drug trade, poor security forces, and pervasive corruption undermined the Karzai government, while Americans abandoned a successful strategy, failed to provide the necessary support, and allowed a growing sanctuary for insurgents in Pakistan to catalyze the Taliban resurgence.
Examining what has worked thus far—and what has not—this serious and important book underscores the challenges we face in stabilizing the country and explains where we went wrong and what we must do if the United States is to avoid the disastrous fate that has befallen many of the great world powers to enter the region. 12 maps and charts
From Publishers Weekly Since 2001, RAND Corporation political scientist Jones ( The Rise of European Security Cooperation ) has been observing the reinvigorated insurgency in Afghanistan and weighing the potency of its threat to the country's future and American interests in the region. Jones finds the roots of the re-emergence in the expected areas: the deterioration of security after the ousting of the Taliban regime in 2002, the U.S.'s focus on Iraq as its foreign policy priority and Pakistan's role as a haven for insurgents. He revisits Afghan history, specifically the invasions by the British in the mid- and late-19th century and the Russians in the late-20th to rue how little the U.S. has learned from these two previous wars. He sheds light on why Pakistan—a consistent supporter of the Taliban—continues to be a key player in the region's future. Jones makes important arguments for the inclusion of local leaders, particularly in rural regions, but his diligent panorama of the situation fails to consider whether the war in Afghanistan is already lost.
Review “A useful and generally lively account of what can go wrong when outsiders venture onto the Afghan landscape.” ( Steven Simon - *Foreign Affairs * )
“This is a serious work that should be factored in as a new policy in Afghanistan evolves.” ( Jay Freeman - *Booklist * )
“Offers a valuable window onto how officials have understood the military campaign.” ( Robert D. Crews - *San Francisco Chronicle * )
“[An] excellent book.” ( James Blitz - *Financial Times * )
“How we got to where we are in Afghanistan.” ( Matthew Kaminski - *Wall Street Journal * )
“[Zeroes] in on what went awry after America’s successful routing of the Taliban in late 2001.” ( Michiko Kakutani - *The New York Times * )
“A blueprint for winning in a region that has historically brought mighty armies to their knees.” ( Doug Childers - *Richmond Times-Dispatch * )
“Seth Jones . . . has an anthropologist’s feel for a foreign society, a historian’s intuition for long-term trends, and a novelist’s eye for the telling details that illuminate a much larger story. If you read just one book about the Taliban, terrorism, and the United States, this is the place to start.” ( Jeremi Suri, author of *Henry Kissinger and the American Century * )
“A timely and important work, without peer in terms of both its scholarship and the author’s intimate knowledge of the country, the insurgency threatening it, and the challenges in defeating it.” ( Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University, author of *Inside Terrorism * )
“A deeply researched and well-analyzed account of the failures of American policies in Afghanistan, In the Graveyard of Empires will be mandatory reading for policymakers from Washington to Kabul.” ( Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. and *The Osama bin Laden I Know * )
“Seth Jones has combined forceful narrative with careful analysis, illustrating the causes of this deteriorating situation, and recommending sensible, feasible steps to reverse the escalating violence.” ( James Dobbins, author of *After the Taliban: Nation Building in Afghanistan * )
“Seth G. Jones’s book provides a vivid sense of just how paltry and misguided the American effort has been.… In the Graveyard of Empires will help to show what might still be done to build something enduring in Afghanistan and finally allow the U.S. to go home.” ( Dexter Filkins - *The New Republic * ) Views: 29
In a courtroom, David Sloane can grab a jury and make it dance. He can read jurors' expressions, feel their emotions, know their thoughts. With this remarkable ability, Sloane gets juries to believe the unbelievable, excuse the inexcusable, and return the most astonishing verdicts. The only barrier to Sloane's professional success is his conscience-until he gets a call from a man later found dead, and his life rockets out of control. Views: 29
New York City is miles from Salt Lick, Texas, in more ways than one, but Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin are rarin' to go. The best friends/beauty shop owners/private-eye partners have been offered an all-expense-paid trip to the National Association of Private Investigators convention in the Big Apple. Debbie Sue sees the invitation as validation, but Edwina has one goal: to get her feet into a pair of super-glam designer shoes, not easily had back home. Yee-haw!As a sign of things to come, the two Texas tornadoes don't even get out of the state without causing pandemonium at the Dallas airport. And once they land in the Big City they meet Celina, a small-town librarian who's broke and bereft from getting robbed, and Cher, an amiable "working girl" with a heart of gold. Taking them under their wings, they head right for trouble as Edwina nearly starts a riot in the hotel bar.But the Big Apple hasn't seen nothin' yet! While helping shy Celina hook up with... Views: 29
