When bullets hit Agnes Kamara-Umunna's home in Monrovia, Liberia, she and her father hastily piled whatever they could carry into their car and drove toward the border, along with thousands of others. An army of children was approaching, under the leadership of Charles Taylor. It seemed like the end of the world. Slowly, they made their way to the safety of Sierra Leone. They were the lucky ones. After years of exile, with the fighting seemingly over, Agnes returned to Liberia--a country now devastated by years of civil war. Families have been torn apart, villages destroyed, and it seems as though no one has been spared. Reeling, and unsure of what to do in this place so different from the home of her memories, Agnes accepted a job at the local UN-run radio station. Their mission is peace and their method is reconciliation through understanding and communication. Soon, she came up with a daring plan: Find the former child soldiers, and record their stories. And so Agnes, then a 43-year-old single mother of four, headed out to the ghettos of Monrovia and befriended them, drinking Club Beer and smoking Dunhill cigarettes with them, earning their trust. One by one, they spoke on her program, Straight from the Heart, and slowly, it seemed like reconciliation and forgiveness might be possible. From Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female president, to Butt Naked, a warlord whose horrific story is as unforgettable as his nickname--everyone has a story to tell. Victims and perpetrators. Boys and girls, mothers and fathers. Agnes comforts rape survivors, elicits testimonials from warlords, and is targeted with death threats--all live on the air. Set in a place where monkeys, not raccoons, are the scourge of homeowners; the trees have roots like elephant legs; and peacebuilding is happening from the ground-up. Harrowing, bleak, hopeful, humorous, and deeply moving--And Still Peace Did Not Come is not only Agnes's memoir: It is also her testimony to a nation's descent into the horrors of civil war, and its subsequent rise out of the ashes.

Margaret Roach worked at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for 15 years, serving as Editorial Director for the last 6. She first made her name in gardening, writing a classic gardening book among other things. She now has a hugely popular gardening blog, "A Way to Garden." But despite the financial and professional rewards of her job, Margaret felt unfulfilled. So she moved to her weekend house upstate in an effort to lead a more authentic life by connecting with her garden and with nature. The memoir she wrote about this journey is funny, quirky, humble--and uplifting--an Eat, Pray, Love without the travel-and allows readers to live out the fantasy of quitting the rat race and getting away from it all.

Have you ever come home from a long vacation, or even a short weekend away, and been so focused on your new destination that you forgot to unpack? Perhaps it was just a day of shopping, a time of running errands, anything to get you out of the house for a little while, and you came home with heaping shopping bags, filled with groceries or clothes or all sorts of treasures. Well, my time away was 21 months, and I came home in March with just a suitcase and a hiking backpack that was falling apart to show for it. At the time, I did not know how long I would be living out of my suitcase--or how much time it would take to unpack. Well, here I am, in August, five months later, looking around my childhood bedroom at fragments of my suitcase, scattered around the room. It's taken time to unpack. From the physical articles of clothing, to the memories I carry with me from my time in Ethiopia. Some things I unpacked quickly, like food products and coffee and souvenirs I was anxious to hand off to friends and family. Other items have taken a little longer to unpack--the memories of coffee ceremonies, bartering for hand-woven baskets, at the Axum market, letters from my favorite students tied deeply to my heart. Slowly but surely, I have been approaching the end of my unpacking. And that is what I've done here in this book--gradually unpacked my Peace Corps experience for you (in a way that is hopefully in much better shape than my hiking backpack)--and in a way that is both honest and vulnerable, the stories as uplifting as they were humbling for me. This is not the year I was expecting. I don't think it was for anyone. So let me pause and say that sometimes, in the most unexpected of circumstances, we find true beauty. If you had asked me as a high school or university student what my plan was when I graduated, I can assure you I would not have answered with 'live in the desert of northern Ethiopia and teach hormonal teenagers English grammar.' No way.And yet, it was one of the most invigorating, amazing, awe-inspiring experiences of my life. I didn't expect it to, but it knocked my world upside down and taught me the most important parts of my self, my community, and the world I live in. 550 days of living in a foreign country, serving as everything from an English teacher to a coffee maker to a diplomat for the U.S., and I can without a doubt say I am exhausted. It's a good kind of tired, though. It's the kind of muscle-aching, foot-throbbing, belly-bloating tired that you get when you come home from the adventure of a lifetime and run into the arms of those you love most, to receive a never-ending hug. I'm tired, but I am inspired. I spent 550 days of my young adult life wandering in a desert, both physical and emotional, filling my heart and my head with stories, colors, beauty and pain all at the same time. And I hope the chapters on the following pages do it justice. I first made it a goal of mine to write one page every day of my time in Ethiopia. I did not come close, but I still managed to leave with some pretty good content. Only a fraction of my time was spent journaling about the day--the other 94% was spent building relationships, making new friends, teaching high school level English, learning the language of Tigrigna, and dancing my heart out. Still, I flipped through written pages of lists, highlights, joys and sorrows, and narrowed down the list from over 450 blog posts to a little over 200 pages of stories and quips. I hope you enjoy them.

Do you spend much of your time struggling against the growing ranks of papers, books, clothes, housewares, mementos, and other possessions that seem to multiply when you're not looking? Do these inanimate objects, the hallmarks of busy modern life, conspire to fill up every inch of your space, no matter how hard you try to get rid of some of them and organize the rest? Do you feel frustrated, thwarted, and powerless in the face of this ever-renewing mountain of stuff? Help is on the way. Cindy Glovinsky, practicing psychotherapist and personal organizer, is uniquely qualified to explain this nagging, even debilitating problem -- and to provide solutions that really work. Writing in a supportive, nonjudmental tone, Glovinsky uses humorous examples, questionnaires, and exercises to shed light on the real reasons why we feel so overwhelmed by papers and possessions and offers individualized suggestions tailored to specific organizing problems. Whether you're drowning in clutter or just looking for a new way to deal with the perennial challenge of organizing and managing material things, this fresh and reassuring approach is sure to help. Making Peace with the Things in Your Life will help you cut down on your clutter and cut down on your stress!

A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King's essay "Letter from Birmingham Jail," part of Dr. King's archives published exclusively by HarperCollins. With an afterword by Reginald Dwayne Betts On April 16, 1923, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., responded to an open letter written and published by eight white clergyman admonishing the civil rights demonstrations happening in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King drafted his seminal response on scraps of paper smuggled into jail. King criticizes his detractors for caring more about order than justice, defends nonviolent protests, and argues for the moral responsibility to obey just laws while disobeying unjust ones. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" proclaims a message - confronting any injustice is an acceptable and righteous reason for civil disobedience. This beautifully designed edition presents Dr. King's speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality.

This book is my challenge to you to erase the scars of your past that have kept you from becoming the person you truly Are. It shows you a way to bring back that perfect child you were before others gave you a pattern to follow and a mask to wear. That is not to discount the wonderful teachings and things you have learned in life but to erase the messages that kept you from becoming the most you can be.It leads the way to reopen the childs' Awareness of your Beginning that kept your Soul alive to the Spirit of God where you were free of a man made guilt. It kept you joyful and happy with your surroundings.When you erase the suppressions ,you renew your beginning,fresh and free to awaken the true talent you were meant to share in the Creation of a New and Peaceful World. You are not insignificant but truly Important to its Completion., every one of you. For you were not made to fail even if others told you that you were. You were made to, Become " that we may all share in your true talents .