For Captain Garrett McGuire, neutrality is not an option. He was commissioned to find a treasure that will fund continuation of the Napoleonic war, but everyone wants their cut. No one is trustworthy, and he is captured, imprisoned, and tortured, his ship claimed as bounty by the Americans who want him to relinquish the treasure. Garrett’s wife, Bessy, capable and fearless, learns from escaped crew members where her husband is held. She entrusts the children to their aunt and embarks on a journey to do the impossible—brave intervening battlefields, go the distance, risk all to rescue her man. When she becomes an objective in the hunt for the riches that could change the war, can she outsmart and outmaneuver the danger threatening herself and her family?

After a violent civil war and the devastation wrought by the now-fallen Darth Caedus, the Galactic Alliance is in crisis--and in need, in this latest chapter in the extraordinary history of the "Star Wars" Galaxy.

'Dark, gritty and funny' - Steve Cavanagh on Marnie Riches Keep your enemies close and your neighbours closer... When Private Investigator Beverley Saunders is tasked with going undercover, she relishes the chance to disguise herself as a cleaner in order to get close to Manchester bad boy Anthony Anthony, aka 2Tone. Anthony's neighbours are suspicious of his wealth and sick of his anti-social behaviour, and Bev's just the woman they need to find out what's going on behind closed doors. As Bev begins to infiltrate Anthony's world, she soon realises she's in danger - and this time, she might be too far in to get out. Alongside her sidekick Doc, Bev must fight to discover the truth - but when people begin to die, she has to ask herself - is exposing Anthony worth risking her own life? Marnie Riches is back with a gritty, gripping thriller, perfect for fans of Martina Cole and Kimberley Chambers. Praise for Marnie Riches: 'Dark, gritty and funny.' STEVE CAVANAGH 'A gripping page-turner of a plot' ROZ WATKINS 'A corking thriller' ED JAMES

Locked in a war of wills and weapons, the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance must come to terms—before the Sith’s army of darkness enacts revenge. Repercussions from the dark side’s fatal seduction of Jacen Solo and the mysterious plague of madness afflicting young Jedi continue to wreak galaxywide havoc. Luke and Ben Skywalker are in pursuit of the now Masterless Sith apprentice—a chase that leads to the forbidding planet Dathomir, where the Skywalkers will be forced into combat for their quarry and their lives. Meanwhile, Han and Leia have completed their own desperate mission, shuttling madness-stricken Jedi to safe haven beyond the grasp of Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala. Yet no greater threat exists than Abeloth, a being of ravenous dark-side energy who calls out to Jedi and Sith alike. For some it may be the ultimate source of answers for survival. For others it could be the ultimate weapon of conquest. But for all, it is a game-changing encounter of untold magnitude with unimaginable consequences. Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

Captain Sebastian Valentino is a half-man, half-fox mercenary war veteran who loses the respect of his crew after a botched infiltration mission leaves his first officer and best friend dead. Matters grow worse when the powerful Canis Dominion places an unprecedented bounty on his head, leading an old enemy with a vendetta to pursue him.

"Lively, definitive, eye-opening, [this book] by acclaimed historian Robert W. Merry brilliantly evokes the life and presidency of William McKinley, cut short by an assassin. Most often lost in the shadow of his brilliant and flamboyant successor, TR, the twenty-fifth president is presented by Merry as a transformative figure, the first modern Republican. It was President McKinley who established the United States as an imperial power. In the Spanish-American War he kicked Spain out of the Caribbean; in the Pacific he acquired Hawaii and the Philippines through war and diplomacy; he took the country to a strict gold standard; he developed the doctrine of 'fair trade'; he forced the 'Open Door' to China; and he forged the 'special relationship' with Great Britain. McKinley established the noncolonial imperialism that took America global. He set the stage for the bold leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, who built on his accomplishments. [This book] brings to life a sympathetic man and an often overlooked president. Merry raises his rank to a chief executive of consequence who paved the way for the American Century."--Dust jacket flap.

In early 1958, in the far northern town of Cornucopia, Wisconsin's "last" timber wolf was accidentally run over by an automobile. The "humane" intention to end the animal's suffering produced a grisly aftermath: the wolf survived the impact of the car, was bludgeoned with a tire iron twice but survived, and finally had its throat slit with a restaurant knife. This horrifying scene is certainly an apt (if appalling) symbol of the timber wolf's early fate in Wisconsin. Feared, detested, hunted down for state-authorized bounties, the animal was systematically exterminated as an enemy of man and progress. Yet this bleak chapter in the history of conservation has a happier ending. Seventeen years later, in 1975, the timber wolf had officially reestablished itself and, as a protected species, is now flourishing under the care of Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources. Few can be more caring than the author, a DNR educator in wildlife management. As an inquisitive teenager, Richard Thiel began his pursuit of the Wisconsin timber wolf's story in the mid-1960s and has been at it ever since. The result is this arresting, intensely readable book, a story of fear, mistrust, and misunderstanding that ends, thankfully, as one of hope and appreciation.

Do you fear for our democracy? Are you ready to throw in the towel? Don't! This is your guidebook to reassembling our hyperpolarized American society in six (not-so-easy) steps, written by the cohost of WNYC's On the Media. As is often observed, Trump is a symptom of a virus that has been incubating for at least fifty years. But not often observed is where the virus is imbedded: in the psychic core of our identity. In American Manifesto: Saving Democracy from Villains, Vandals, and Ourselves, popular media personality Bob Garfield examines the tragic confluence of the American preoccupation with identity and the catastrophic disintegration of the mass media. Garfield investigates how we've gotten to this moment when our identity is threatened by both the left and the right, when e pluribus unum is no longer a source of national pride, and why, when looking through this lens of identity, the rise of Trumpism is no surprise. Overlaying this crisis is the rise of the Facebook-Google duopoly and the filter bubble of social media, where identity is insular and immutable. But fear not! WNYC's On the Media cohost Garfield has ideas about how we may counter the forces of fragmentation—the manifesto itself: six steps to take to reassemble our fractured society. A quick, fascinating read, American Manifesto offers not only a vision of a country in extremis, but also a plan for how to address the ways in which our democracy is imperiled. Provocative, profound, and sometimes hilariously profane, American Manifesto is a call to action like no other.

"Enormous numbers of boys and youths served in the American Civil War. The first book to arrive at a careful estimate, Of Age argues that underage enlistees comprised roughly ten percent of the Union army and likely a similar proportion of Confederate forces. Their importance extended beyond sheer numbers. Boys who enlisted without consent deprived parents of badly needed labor and income to which were legally entitled, setting off struggles between households and the military. As the contest over underage enlistees became a referendum on the growing centralization of military and political power, it was the United States, more than the Confederacy, that fought tooth and nail to retain this valuable cohort. How far could the federal government breach the sanctity of the household when the nation's very survival was at stake? Should military officers bow to the will of local and state judges? And what form should the military take to ensure victory while remaining true to the nation's republican principles? As they detail how Americans grappled with these questions, Clarke and Plant introduce readers to common but largely unknown wartime scenarios-parents chasing after regiments to recover their sons, state judges defying the federal government by discharging boys, and recently enslaved African American youths swept up by Union recruiters. Examining the phenomenon from multiple perspectives-legal, military, medical, social, political, and cultural-Of Age demonstrates why underage enlistment is such an important lens for understanding the Civil War and its transformative effects"--

From the first European contact with Tahiti in 1767, the myth of the South Sea maiden has endured through many incarnations. Although the maiden frequently provided an idealized antidote to Western women's self-assertion, the South Pacific also afforded a space where boundaries between the sexes could be relaxed and transgressed. From James Cook and Captain Bligh to James Michener and Margaret Mead, the Island girl has occupied a special place in the erotic imagination of the West. In a sweeping study that embraces history, literature, visual arts, anthropology and film, this study gives fresh insight into the myths and reality of a Western icon. While women from far off lands have always been presented as exotic and alluring, the South Sea maiden has come to symbolize feminine sexuality, as an integral part of the adventure, sensuality, and romance of the South Pacific. Everyone from early explorers to 19th century writers and artists to latter day anthropologists, film makers, and tourism promoters have extolled their virtues and their bodies. Sturma looks behind the popular clich^D'es to reveal how the myth-making process reflected not only Western desires, but the cut and thrust of changing sexual politics. The result is an intriguing look at both South Sea image-makers and the women whom they found so seductive.