The river of life has followed an unusual course for Mary Stickney. World traveler, artist and writer, she became familiar with American embassies and diplomatic outposts abroad while the wife of a U.S. Foreign Service agricultural scientist. In River of Pearls, she recounts adventures and family life in Southeast Asia during the Viet Nam War era. The story begins in exotic Bangkok, Thailand, and continues to Manila, Bataan, Corregidor and remote mountain villages of the Philippines. The journey also travels to Saigon and Danang, South Viet Nam, as the author spent time there as a civilian with her husband, who was working in a pacification program of the U.S. Agency for International Development. After retuning to America, she found herself suddenly alone, went back to college and shaped a new life and a new career for herself. Writing from her journals with a personal, colorful style, she illuminates the wonders, excitement, the sorrows and the surprising joys of exploring far corners of the globe with an open heart and mind. River of Pearls is her second book, following Jungle Paths and Palace Treasures (2001). "The danger and romance of the lands comes alive in the book." -The Florida Times-Union " the adventure of a lifetime, told here in lively, highly readable detail. This book will appeal to a wide audience, both young and old, travel-buffs and armchair globetrotters." -Foreign Service Journal

Clinch River Pearls reflects actual events that made headlines across the nation when a tiny hamlet became the crucible of racial tension during the Civil Rights era of the 1950s. When the Supreme Court dictated that schools could no longer be racially segregated, the citizens of Clinton, Tennessee were catapulted into confrontation and violence. The story focuses on blacks and whites alike; on students, teachers, parents, grandparents, and others who took no sides in the great debate but were determined to continue as before, whether that involved compliance with law and local norms or defiance of them. The demonstrations and riots that rocked Clinton severely tested black families on Foley Hill, especially those who became known as the Clinton 12, those first black students required to implement integration. The order tested families (with and without children), leaders in the community attempting to cope, teachers, farmers, and even the majority white students. This story is a multifaceted view of tumultuous times in a quaint, bucolic community, showing how people coped with a new world. Over fifty years later, this is a story that still needs to be told. About the Author: Danny Thomas grew up in East Tennessee. After graduating from Clinton High School and playing football for legendary Bear Bryant at Alabama, he worked as a teacher/administrator for twenty years in Durham, North Carolina. The family-his wife, Cynthia, two daughters, and a son, accompanied him to new jobs in Salisbury and Sanford. Upon retirement in 2006, he began consulting work which allows him time for writing. Now, the family divides their time between home in Winston-Salem and summers on an island retreat in Northern Ontario.

South Flows the Pearl is a fascinating journey through the history of Chinese Australia. Taking the reader from Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta to Sydney, Perth, Cairns, Darwin, Bendigo and beyond, it explores the struggles and successes of Chinese people in Australia since the 1850s, as told in their own words. This unique book was written by an insider. Mavis Yen was born in Perth in 1916, the daughter of a Chinese father and an Australian mother. She lived in both countries and understood what it meant to navigate two worlds, to live through war and revolution, and to experience racial discrimination. In the 1980s she began interviewing elderly Chinese Australians, recording hours of conversations. Her intimate understanding of their languages and life experiences encouraged them to share their stories. Published here for the first time, they will change how you think about Australian history. “This is a book that offers a new way to be Australian in this country, and casts Chinese Australians as the protagonists in their own stories... When people agree to tell their stories, they speak to the future. Whether or not we listen is up to us.” — Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson, University of Sydney

Don’t miss Elizabeth Wein’s stunning new novel, Stateless Before Verity . . . there was Julie. When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she'd imagined won't be exactly what she anticipated. And once she returns to her grandfather's estate, a bit banged up but alive, she begins to realize that her injury might not have been an accident. One of her family's employees is missing, and he disappeared on the very same day she landed in the hospital. Desperate to figure out what happened, she befriends Euan McEwen, the Scottish Traveler boy who found her when she was injured, and his standoffish sister, Ellen. As Julie grows closer to this family, she witnesses firsthand some of the prejudices they've grown used to-a stark contrast to her own upbringing-and finds herself exploring thrilling new experiences that have nothing to do with a missing-person investigation. Her memory of that day returns to her in pieces, and when a body is discovered, her new friends are caught in the crosshairs of long-held biases about Travelers. Julie must get to the bottom of the mystery in order to keep them from being framed for the crime. This exhilarating coming-of-age story, a prequel to the Printz Honor Book Code Name Verity, returns to a beloved character just before she first takes flight.

As the world's population exceeds an incredible 6 billion people, governmentsâ€"and scientistsâ€"everywhere are concerned about the prospects for sustainable development. The science academies of the three most populous countries have joined forces in an unprecedented effort to understand the linkage between population growth and land-use change, and its implications for the future. By examining six sites ranging from agricultural to intensely urban to areas in transition, the multinational study panel asks how population growth and consumption directly cause land-use change, and explore the general nature of the forces driving the transformations. Growing Populations, Changing Landscapes explains how disparate government policies with unintended consequences and globalization effects that link local land-use changes to consumption patterns and labor policies in distant countries can be far more influential than simple numerical population increases. Recognizing the importance of these linkages can be a significant step toward more effective environmental management.

[The author] has excelled in recreating in the reader's mind the enormity of the tragedy a man suffered, and how he chose to sculptor his choked passion into a concrete beauty...' -Dr Meerza Kaukab, great-grandson of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah The last king of Audh, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow was exiled by the British to Metiabruz in Bengal, on the fringes of Calcutta. Despite being robbed of his rightful throne, the Nawab did not lose hope; instead, he set about establishing a new mini-kingdom on the banks of the River Hoogly. Little by little he brought in the Laknawi way of life to this area of Bengal, so much so that Metiabruz came to be called 'Chota Lucknow'. Extensively researched and evocatively written, this book looks at a forgotten king and how he turned his exile into a victory of sorts.

"Katie Chin has done us all a huge favor: she's provided us with recipes for so many of the Chinese dishes we always wanted to cook but have never had clear and easy instructions to prepare…Thank you, Katie Chin!" --Martha Stewart Home chefs will enjoy preparing these Chinese home cooking-inspired dishes with this easy-to-follow Chinese cookbook. Author Katie Chin's love of cooking blossomed at an early age--watching and later helping her renowned mother, Leeann Chin, prepare delicious Chinese dishes in her popular restaurants. Born in China, Leeann was an award-winning restaurateur and author revered for her ability to demystify Chinese cooking for the American home cook. Katie inherited her mom's passion and talent, and has become a respected food writer and television personality in her own right. Sadly, Leeann passed away in 2010, but her recipes live on. Katie is eager to share her mother's food legacy with you in this book--an homage to Leeann's mastery of all that Chinese cooking has to offer. This treasury of family recipes includes many unique dishes that Leeann developed during a six-decade career in the food business, including time-honored classics that she herself learned from her mother in China. Some dishes reflect Leeann's Chinese-American childhood or are recipes which Katie and Leeann developed while together. Others are creations that Katie has developed more recently. Woven throughout the book are fond memories and anecdotes from Katie's childhood, always involving cooking and eating with her mom. Katie Chin's Everyday Chinese Cooking is a celebration of Leeann Chin's amazing mastery of the complete array of flavors and techniques in Chinese cuisine, and her unique ability to make them accessible to Westerners. Katie provides tips and techniques which allow anyone to create a refined and tasty Chinese meal at home. Favorite Chinese recipes include: Firecracker Shrimp Mu Shu Pork Peking Duck Summer Rolls General Tso's Chicken Tangerine Beef Hoisin Lacquered Ribs Tea-Smoked Sea Bass Banana Wontons Five Spice Chocolate Cake And many more… Let yourself be inspired by the exquisite flavors of Leeann and Katie Chin's signature Chinese cuisine!

Can a Canaanite harlot who made her living enticing men be a fitting wife for a leader of Israel? Shockingly, the Bible’s answer is yes. This 10th anniversary edition of Pearl in the Sand includes new features that will invite you into the untold story of Rahab’s journey from lowly outcast to redeemed child of God. Rahab’s home is built into a wall, a wall that fortifies and protects the City of Jericho. However, other walls surround her too, walls of fear, rejection, and unworthiness… Years of pain and betrayal have wounded Rahab’s heart—she doubts whether her dreams of experiencing true love will ever come true… A woman with a wrecked past—a man of success, of faith... of pride. A marriage only God would conceive! Through the heartaches of a stormy relationship, Rahab and Salmone learn the true source of one another’s worth and find healing in God.

Pearls have enthralled global consumers since antiquity, and the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella explicitly charged Columbus with finding pearls, as well as gold and silver, when he sailed westward in 1492. American Baroque charts Spain's exploitation of Caribbean pearl fisheries to trace the genesis of its maritime empire. In the 1500s, licit and illicit trade in the jewel gave rise to global networks, connecting the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean to the pearl-producing regions of the Chesapeake and northern Europe. Pearls—a unique source of wealth because of their renewable, fungible, and portable nature—defied easy categorization. Their value was highly subjective and determined more by the individuals, free and enslaved, who produced, carried, traded, wore, and painted them than by imperial decrees and tax-related assessments. The irregular baroque pearl, often transformed by the imagination of a skilled artisan into a fantastical jewel, embodied this subjective appeal. Warsh blends environmental, social, and cultural history to construct microhistories of peoples' wide-ranging engagement with this deceptively simple jewel. Pearls facilitated imperial fantasy and personal ambition, adorned the wardrobes of monarchs and financed their wars, and played a crucial part in the survival strategies of diverse people of humble means. These stories, taken together, uncover early modern conceptions of wealth, from the hardscrabble shores of Caribbean islands to the lavish rooms of Mediterranean palaces.