I spend a lot of time in Morocco, where I am married to the Berber woman, Jamila. We live in a mountain area in the village of Hay Assersif, which is near a larger town, called Aourir, located approximately 20 km from Agadir. When I am in Morocco, I often talk to the people about Morocco and the different areas, each with their own distinctive character. When I drink my tea with nana (mint), I get to know many things ranging from geography, population composition, occupations, government systems and family relationships and much more. Regarding family relationships, you have to be careful, because in the Berber area where I am, I have learned that many people are related to each other. "Well, I know your wife well because my mother is her cousin!" I was told once, and it was not the last time. Sometimes when we go to Aourir and my wife greets someone I might already know, I say: Where do you know her from!" Well, that's my aunt," says Jamila. The family is like brothers and sisters, they can say bad things about each other; but if I interfere, I get the "hat pool." Although all those I have talked to and talk to about Morocco probably do not think how much and great information they have given me, I would like to thank them very much, because without their help it would not have been possible to write this book. I would especially like to thank my little Berber wife Jamila. Subsequent thanks must go to my friends mentioned in no particular order: Soufiane, Hassan, my brother-in-law Mohamed, Ahmed and Aaziz. I have purposely not mentioned their last names as I know they won't care. Furthermore, my late brother Henning Jorgensen's reports have been an invaluable help. He often told about the Morocco he traveled sparsely, when he worked in Morocco, where he also had many acquaintances from high to law.

A New York Times Editors' Choice • Finalist for the California Book Award • Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Best Book of the Year: Time, NPR, Bookpage, Los Angeles Times In this brilliantly argued and deeply personal work, Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S.citizen, using her own story as a starting point for an exploration of the rights, liberties, and protections that are traditionally associated with American citizenship. Tapping into history, politics, and literature, she elucidates how accidents of birth—such as national origin, race, and gender—that once determined the boundaries of Americanness still cast their shadows today, poignantly illustrating how white supremacy survives through adaptation and legislation. Weaving together her experiences with an examination of the place of nonwhites in the broader American culture, Lalami illuminates how conditional citizens are all those whom America embraces with one arm and pushes away with the other.

“The most honest book about climate change yet.” —The Atlantic “The Infinite Jest of climate books.” —The Baffler An eye-opening look at the consequences of coal mining and oil and natural gas production—the second of a two volume work by award-winning author William T. Vollmann on the ideologies of energy production and the causes of climate change The second volume of William T. Vollmann's epic book about the factors and human actions that have led to global warming begins in the coal fields of West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky, where "America's best friend" is not merely a fuel, but a "heritage." Over the course of four years Vollmann finds hollowed out towns with coal-polluted streams and acidified drinking water; makes covert visits to mountaintop removal mines; and offers documented accounts of unpaid fines for federal health and safety violations and of miners who died because their bosses cut corners to make more money. To write about natural gas, Vollmann journeys to Greeley, Colorado, where he interviews anti-fracking activists, a city planner, and a homeowner with serious health issues from fracking. Turning to oil production, he speaks with, among others, the former CEO of Conoco and a vice president of the Bank of Oklahoma in charge of energy loans, and conducts furtive roadside interviews of guest workers performing oil-related contract labor in the United Arab Emirates. As with its predecessor, No Immediate Danger, this volume seeks to understand and listen, not to lay blame--except in a few corporate and political cases where outrage is clearly due. Vollmann is a carbon burner just like the rest of us; he describes and quantifies his own power use, then looks around him, trying to explain to the future why it was that we went against scientific consensus, continually increasing the demand for electric power and insisting that we had no good alternative.

After cracking their first case together as a private investigation team, Oz Blackstone and Primavera Phillips find themselves simultaneously in love and in the money. And where better to lie back and contemplate life than the picturesque village of St Marti, on the rugged Costa Brava. But beneath the surface of their idyllic new home bubbles a brew of intrigue, deception - and murder. Before long Prim and Oz find themselves helping to evict a skeletal squatter whom the locals fear might harm the tourist trade, as well as trying to authenticate a previously undiscovered Dali masterpiece bought by a gullible client at a highly unconventional auction...

Azure-colored oceans blending into bright turquoise at the shores, undulating hills of green surrounding crystal clear lakes, and rolling sand dunes brushed with light blue...man-made monuments that have withstood the march of time from the pyramids to Hadrian's Wall--are rich memories of Ellen and Stephen Williams' adventures. Eating brik in Tunisia and churchkhela in Tblisi! Drinking kvas in Ukraine! Passing up lavabread in Wales—all were adventures that nearly didn't happen. Ellen did not want to leave her comfortable home in Texas. Content with their rural life but forced to relocate due to her husband's job she reluctantly began her move to Germany. She was a foot-dragging-don't-want-to-move-wife. Determined to make the best of a challenging situation she and her husband soon embarked on a plan--to experience as much of the region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea as possible. Within months Ellen and Stephen developed a passion for touring. Faced with language barriers, clashes of culture and cuisine they followed their plan with a vengeance visiting over 30 countries in the space of three years. Their frequent trips within a short period of time gave them a unique overview of the region. They could spot historical and cultural linkages between people and their respective countries. They saw the crossovers and mingling of traditions and languages. Soon they became the consummate travelers. Many friends began asking for recommendations of their favorite locale. Chronicled here are their adventures, misadventures, faux pas and joys as they grow from fledgling sightseers to consummate travelers. Journey with them as they realized the more you discover about other people and cultures, the more you ultimately learn about yourself. After reading the book perhaps you, too, will also learn to say in French Bon Voyage, in Spanish Buen Viaje, and in German Gute Reiser—In short, Happy Travels!