Cathy Jansen is a small-town girl with big ideas. Strong-willed and stubborn, she grows up with too much independence and not enough guidance, enjoying the wilder side of life, which ends up leading her down unforeseen paths. While still in high school, Cathy gets pregnant, and although the school suggests she quit, she is determined to carry on with her education. Despite her resolve, Cathy must learn lessons the hard way. She struggles with self-esteem and identity issues as she fights to survive the ridicule and stigma of being a teenage mother. Her difficulties lead her toward her life's purpose, teaching Cathy to trust the "little voice inside" and create a new path of success, selflessness, and meaning. Cathy begins to understand the love of Jesus as she learns the rules and reasons leading her path. Despite heartbreak and frustration, she discovers ambition and appreciation, eventually finding a way to live without fear while living in love. Cathy's journey is one of trials and tribulations, but with tenacity, she unearths herself and happiness and recognizes God. "This book is authentic, important and real-just like its author. If we all had the courage to show our struggle instead of only our triumph the way she has, the world would be a far more beautiful place." -Meghan Heritage, creator and founder of the Be Event and owner of BlueWest Properties

The New York Times bestseller A New York Times Notable and Critics’ Top Book of 2016 Longlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction One of NPR's 10 Best Books Of 2016 Faced Tough Topics Head On NPR's Book Concierge Guide To 2016’s Great Reads San Francisco Chronicle's Best of 2016: 100 recommended books A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2016 Globe & Mail 100 Best of 2016 “Formidable and truth-dealing . . . necessary.” —The New York Times “This eye-opening investigation into our country’s entrenched social hierarchy is acutely relevant.” —O Magazine In her groundbreaking bestselling history of the class system in America, Nancy Isenberg upends history as we know it by taking on our comforting myths about equality and uncovering the crucial legacy of the ever-present, always embarrassing—if occasionally entertaining—poor white trash. “When you turn an election into a three-ring circus, there’s always a chance that the dancing bear will win,” says Isenberg of the political climate surrounding Sarah Palin. And we recognize how right she is today. Yet the voters who boosted Trump all the way to the White House have been a permanent part of our American fabric, argues Isenberg. The wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlement to today's hillbillies. They were alternately known as “waste people,” “offals,” “rubbish,” “lazy lubbers,” and “crackers.” By the 1850s, the downtrodden included so-called “clay eaters” and “sandhillers,” known for prematurely aged children distinguished by their yellowish skin, ragged clothing, and listless minds. Surveying political rhetoric and policy, popular literature and scientific theories over four hundred years, Isenberg upends assumptions about America’s supposedly class-free society––where liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility. Poor whites were central to the rise of the Republican Party in the early nineteenth century, and the Civil War itself was fought over class issues nearly as much as it was fought over slavery. Reconstruction pitted poor white trash against newly freed slaves, which factored in the rise of eugenics–-a widely popular movement embraced by Theodore Roosevelt that targeted poor whites for sterilization. These poor were at the heart of New Deal reforms and LBJ’s Great Society; they haunt us in reality TV shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been at or near the center of major political debates over the character of the American identity. We acknowledge racial injustice as an ugly stain on our nation’s history. With Isenberg’s landmark book, we will have to face the truth about the enduring, malevolent nature of class as well.

When the Saberton Corporation declares war against the Zombie Mafia, Angel and the remnants of her gang must claw their way through corporate intrigue, zombie drugs and undead trafficking to rescue their friends.

Not all magicians go to schools of magic. Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage. Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife. It isn’t long before Adam becomes the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings ... including his first love.

Horror meets humorous urban fantasy in third book of the White Trash Zombie series • Winner of the 2012 Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist by the RT Awards Our favorite white trash zombie, Angel Crawford, has enough problems of her own, what with dealing with her alcoholic, deadbeat dad, issues with her not-quite boyfriend, the zombie mafia, industrial espionage and evil corporations. Oh, and it’s raining, and won’t let up. But things get even crazier when a zombie movie starts filming in town, and Angel begins to suspect that it’s not just the plot of the movie that's rotten. Soon she's fighting her way through mud, blood, bullets and intrigue, even as zombies, both real and fake, prowl the streets. Angel’s been through more than her share of crap, but this time she’s in way over her head. She’ll need plenty of brainpower to fit all the pieces—and body parts—together in order to save herself, her town, and quite possibly the human race. At least for now.

Horror meets humorous urban fantasy in the fifth book in the White Trash Zombie series • Winner of the 2012 Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist by the RT Awards Angel Crawford has buried her loser past and is cruising along in undead high gear—that is, until a murder-by-decapitation sends her on a hazardous detour. As Angel hunts for the killer, she uncovers a scheme that would expose zombies to the public and destroy the life she’s built, and she’s determined not to rest until she finds out who’s behind it. Soon she’s neck-deep in lies, redneck intrigue, zombie hunters, and rot-sniffing cadaver dogs. It’s up to her to unravel the truth and snuff out the conspiracy before the existence of zombies makes headline news and she’s outed as a monster. But Angel hasn’t quite escaped the pill-popping ghosts of her past—not with an illicit zombie pharmaceutical at her fingertips. Good thing she’s absolutely sure she can handle the drug’s unpredictable side effects and still take down the bad guys…or maybe she’s only one bad choice away from being dead meat—for real this time. Angel knows a thing or two about kicking ass, but now the ass she needs to kick might be her own.

When Tweedy began medical school, he envisioned a bright future where his segregated, working-class background would become irrelevant. Instead he found himself grappling with race, bias, and the unique health problems of black Americans, and met a professor who bluntly questioned whether he belonged in medical school. In examining the complex ways in which both black doctors and patients must navigate the difficult and often contradictory terrain of race and medicine, he illustrates the complex social, cultural, and economic factors at the root of most health problems in the black community.

Horror meets humorous urban fantasy in second book of the White Trash Zombie series • Winner of the 2012 Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist by the RT Awards Angel Crawford is finally starting to get used to life as a brain-eating zombie, but her problems are far from over. Her felony record is coming back to haunt her, more zombie hunters are popping up, and she’s beginning to wonder if her hunky cop-boyfriend is involved with the zombie mafia. Yeah, that’s right—the zombie mafia. Throw in a secret lab and a lot of conspiracy, and Angel’s going to need all of her brainpower—and maybe a brain smoothie as well—in order to get through it without falling apart.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S TOP TEN NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK SELECTION • A BOOKLIST EDITORS' CHOICE BOOK SELECTION One doctor's passionate and profound memoir of his experience grappling with race, bias, and the unique health problems of black Americans When Damon Tweedy begins medical school,he envisions a bright future where his segregated, working-class background will become largely irrelevant. Instead, he finds that he has joined a new world where race is front and center. The recipient of a scholarship designed to increase black student enrollment, Tweedy soon meets a professor who bluntly questions whether he belongs in medical school, a moment that crystallizes the challenges he will face throughout his career. Making matters worse, in lecture after lecture the common refrain for numerous diseases resounds, "More common in blacks than in whites." Black Man in a White Coat examines the complex ways in which both black doctors and patients must navigate the difficult and often contradictory terrain of race and medicine. As Tweedy transforms from student to practicing physician, he discovers how often race influences his encounters with patients. Through their stories, he illustrates the complex social, cultural, and economic factors at the root of many health problems in the black community. These issues take on greater meaning when Tweedy is himself diagnosed with a chronic disease far more common among black people. In this powerful, moving, and deeply empathic book, Tweedy explores the challenges confronting black doctors, and the disproportionate health burdens faced by black patients, ultimately seeking a way forward to better treatment and more compassionate care.

Teenager, Marilyn Patterson is a stunning beauty, and she knows it. Born in New Hampshire to a family of impoverished women, she quickly figures out what she needs to do to survive. Marilyn is nothing but bored as she and her sister smoke their Marlboros, and watch the hicks walk by at the towns Fourth of July celebration. Just as she sits on the steps of the railroad station a handsome boy approaches and changes her life forever. Tyrone Sullivan is a self- confident college student from a large middle-class family. Marilyn lives in a small cabin full of empty bottles and overflowing ashtrays along with her sisters and her alcoholic mother. Even though their lives could not be more different, Ty and Marilyn can only see each other and immerse themselves in a passionate relationship. But when reality closes in, Ty reluctantly lets Marilyn go, sending her back into a world of fast drug deals and even faster men. Marilyns life comes full circle when she arrives back to the same small town several years later. Now she must decide if she wants to take back the man she has spent years trying to forget.