“We are not worth more, they are not worth less.” This is the mantra of S. Brian Willson and the theme that runs throughout his compelling psycho-historical memoir. Willson’s story begins in small-town, rural America, where he grew up as a “Commie-hating, baseball-loving Baptist,” moves through life-changing experiences in Viet Nam, Nicaragua and elsewhere, and culminates with his commitment to a localized, sustainable lifestyle. In telling his story, Willson provides numerous examples of the types of personal, risk-taking, nonviolent actions he and others have taken in attempts to educate and effect political change: tax refusal—which requires simplification of one’s lifestyle; fasting—done publicly in strategic political and/or therapeutic spiritual contexts; and obstruction tactics—strategically placing one’s body in the way of “business as usual.” It was such actions that thrust Brian Willson into the public eye in the mid-’80s, first as a participant in a high-profile, water-only “Veterans Fast for Life” against the Contra war being waged by his government in Nicaragua. Then, on a fateful day in September 1987, the world watched in horror as Willson was run over by a U.S. government munitions train during a nonviolent blocking action in which he expected to be removed from the tracks and arrested. Losing his legs only strengthened Willson’s identity with millions of unnamed victims of U.S. policy around the world. He provides details of his travels to countries in Latin America and the Middle East and bears witness to the harm done to poor people as well as to the environment by the steamroller of U.S. imperialism. These heart-rending accounts are offered side by side with inspirational stories of nonviolent struggle and the survival of resilient communities Willson’s expanding consciousness also uncovers injustices within his own country, including insights gained through his study and service within the U.S. criminal justice system and personal experiences addressing racial injustices. He discusses coming to terms with his identity as a Viet Nam veteran and the subsequent service he provides to others as director of a veterans outreach center in New England. He draws much inspiration from friends he encounters along the way as he finds himself continually drawn to the path leading to a simpler life that seeks to “do no harm.&rdquo Throughout his personal journey Willson struggles with the question, “Why was it so easy for me, a ’good’ man, to follow orders to travel 9,000 miles from home to participate in killing people who clearly were not a threat to me or any of my fellow citizens?” He eventually comes to the realization that the “American Way of Life” is AWOL from humanity, and that the only way to recover our humanity is by changing our consciousness, one individual at a time, while striving for collective cultural changes toward “less and local.” Thus, Willson offers up his personal story as a metaphorical map for anyone who feels the need to be liberated from the American Way of Life—a guidebook for anyone called by conscience to question continued obedience to vertical power structures while longing to reconnect with the human archetypes of cooperation, equity, mutual respect and empathy.

A young woman is found brutally murdered, and the main suspect is the victim's fiancé, a hideously scarred Iraq War vet known as the Burned Man. But railroad police Special Agent Sydney Rose Parnell, brought in by the Denver Major Crimes unit to help investigate, can't shake the feeling that larger forces are behind this apparent crime of passion. In the depths of an icy winter, Parnell and her K9 partner, Clyde, both haunted by their time in Iraq, descend into the underground world of a savage gang of rail riders. There, they uncover a wide-reaching conspiracy and a series of shocking crimes. Crimes that threaten everything Parnell holds dear. As the search for the truth puts her directly in the path of the killer, Parnell must struggle with a deadly question: Can she fight monsters without becoming one herself?

An in-depth, eyewitness account of the creation of one of Bob Dylan's most celebrated, anguished albums, written by the album's guitarist and an acclaimed journalist

“Vivid characters carry the action in latest book about grisly Metro Detroit murder . . . a page turner” from the true crime author of Darker Than Night (The Detroit News). Washington Township, Michigan: Valentine’s Day, 2007. Stephen Grant filed a missing person’s report on his beloved wife, Tara. The stay-at-home father of two was beside himself with despair. Why would Tara abandon him and their family? Was she involved with another man? Stephen’s frantic, emotional search for Tara made national headlines, and the case was featured on Dateline among other television shows and news outlets. But key elements in Stephen’s story still weren’t adding up: Why did he wait five days to go to police? What was the nature of his relationship with his children’s beautiful, nineteen-year-old babysitter? Why did Stephen have cuts on his hands, and random bruises? Then, the police made a gruesome discovery. Parts of Tara Grant’s body started turning up around the woods near the Grant’s home. The truth was finally coming to light . . . and, after a two-day manhunt, Stephen admitted to having killed Tara—first strangling her, then cutting her body into fourteen pieces before burying them. This is the shocking true story about a bitter, cheating husband whose crimes were revealed by the Blood in the Snow. Please note that the photos that appear in the print edition of the title do not appear in the e-book. “[Blood in the Snow is] the third book about the case but it’s also the only one that had police cooperation. And that makes all the difference . . . a wild ride of a read that’s still compelling.” —Metro Times

One hundred years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, Across the Tracks is a celebration and memorial of Greenwood, Oklahoma In Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre, author Alverne Ball and illustrator Stacey Robinson have crafted a love letter to Greenwood, Oklahoma. Also known as Black Wall Street, Greenwood was a community whose importance is often overshadowed by the atrocious massacre that took place there in 1921. Across the Tracks introduces the reader to the businesses and townsfolk who flourished in this unprecedented time of prosperity for Black Americans. We learn about Greenwood and why it is essential to remember the great achievements of the community as well as the tragedy which nearly erased it. However, Ball is careful to recount the eventual recovery of Greenwood. With additional supplementary materials including a detailed preface, timeline, and historical essay, Across the Tracks offers a thorough examination of the rise, fall, and rebirth of Black Wall Street.

Immediately after the release of Blood On The Tracks (1975), most reviewers, journalists and fans agree: Dylan thematizes, poignantly honest in masterful songs, the expired state of his marriage.This annoys the Nobel Prize winner. He acknowledges the songs articulate pain, in a first radio interview, but objects when interviewer Mary Travers half-heartedly suggests it sounds autobiographical. "I" is not "me, Bob Dylan," Dylan argues, je est un autre.Dylan becomes more vicious in the years that follow, culminating in the booklet Biograph (1985), in which he even starts to scold those "stupid and misleading jerks" with their their "unimaginative mentality" who think that it is about his divorce.To no avail. "BOTT" is stubbornly honoured as The Divorce Album. In his autobiography Chronicles (2004), Dylan then takes a different turn: "Eventually I would even record an entire album based on Chekhov short stories - critics thought it was autobiographical - that was fine."In Blood On The Tracks - Dylan's Masterpiece In Blue, Dylan scholar Jochen Markhorst takes the reader through the beauty and background of the songs, the beautiful outtakes, the build-up to the masterpiece and its reverberation.

Between 1835 and the 1850s, railway mania blossomed around Britain. Crime emerged as the railways developed, at first opportunistic crimes such as fare evasion and robberies, but gradually more inventive forms evolved, notably the minor clerk Redpath in the 1850s, whose shameless cooking of the books to live the high life exposed the lack of any kind of accountancy across the railway industry. The first train murder was not until the 1840s, and sparked great fear of foreigners as a German was charged and hanged for the crime. The outcry resulted in the communication cord being introduced to the railway carriages, so that no longer would they exist as completely separate spaces and passengers could alert the driver to any assault within. This fascinating history covers all varieties of crime on the railways and how it has changed over the years, from assaults and robberies, to theft of goods, murder, vandalism, football and other crowd activity, suicide on the line, fraud and white collar crime, and also looks at the use of railway crime in film and literature.

A railroad cult is a dying woman’s only hope. Athena and the Hellcat crew are driving hard. Their first stop is the wasteland’s only remaining radio station in Columbus, Ohio—run by the quirky Dapper brothers. It’s there that Athena learns of the dangers farther west in the nuclear hell—radiation, massive insects and a savage group of raiders called Wraiths. Athena’s best hope of getting to California is the organization that runs the railroads—The Trakers. Athena suspects not all is as it seems with the powerful religious group, but the Traker’s titanic locomotive—the Bulldozer—is the only way she can cover the dusty dead expanse of the Midwest. So she makes a deal. One with fatal consequences.

This morning. Room 211. The Chelsea Hotel. Elysian Row. A man is lying face up on a red crushed-velvet chaise. His wide-open eyes stare at some unseen spot on the ceiling. He is wearing a pair of tight-fitting jeans, scuffed-up Spanish leather boots, and a matching Bolero vest. At first glance, one might mistake him for a vagabond, a vagrant, a drifter. He would have liked that. He always thought of himself as a traveling troubadour. But look closer. The lifeless man lying across the chaise is none other than superstar Bob Dorian. He'd been hailed a poet, a prophet, and the voice of a generation. Dorian never wanted to be any of those things. The most famous rock star in the world always resented the attention. Of course, turning up dead attracts the most attention of all. Suspects? Tons of them. They're all characters in Dorian's songs, not to mention they all hold a grudge. Intent on finding the killer, Dorian's manager, Jack Frost, teams with Commissioner Tiresias and obituary writer Mister Johns to track down the true culprit and solve the mysterious murder. And the answers they need may just be staring them in the face.

Elaine-a young, recent college graduate-attends a conference in Reno, Nevada, which is being sponsored by her new employer, VISTA. Feeling restless one evening, she wanders into the casino and encounters a mysterious stranger at a blackjack table. After a swirling night tainted by broken memories, the stranger disappears, and Elaine returns to her Las Vegas home to begin her new career. In addition to finding passion on the trip, however, she brings home with her enough winnings to purchase a horse (the other great passion of her life) and a secret-she is carrying the mystery man's child. Eric O'Neil, the mysterious stranger from Reno, again meets Elaine at a Las Vegas blood bank (which he owns) several months later. Neither of them is yet aware of the changes growing inside of her, but Eric is changing too, having been turned into a vampire. Together, they renew their love, discover each other's secrets, and decide to marry. But Elaine's new life comes with dangers. Who is the sinister gang of Europeans that is stalking her and trying to kill her new husband? Assisted by her horseback-riding friend, Heather, and the aunt and uncle who raised her since the death of her parents in an auto-train collision years before, she embarks on a voyage of discovery that will reveal to her a war between forces that are as ancient as the Americas-and the prize the battle is over is nothing less than eternal life!