When eighteen-year-old teleporter Ember Pierce wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, she remembers only the basics: she's been trained by the government as a spy, she's sent on dangerous missions, and her last assignment--the one that landed her in the hospital--was a setup. Caden Hawthorne has spent the past ten months of his life grieving Ember's death. So when she shows up in his room like an apparition, he can't believe his eyes. But this Ember is different. Her hair is longer, her skin is paler, her gaze is haunted. She tells him what he's already begun to suspect: someone he trusted betrayed her. Now, uncertain who is friend and who is foe, Ember and Caden face the toughest mission of their lives--to stay together and survive, as they run from danger toward an unknown future.

Each night after Ember Pierce falls asleep, she disappears. She can teleport anywhere in the world: London, Paris, her crush's bedroom, or wherever her dreams lead her. Ten minutes is all she gets, and once time's up, she returns to her bed. It's a secret she's successfully kept for the last five years. But now someone knows. A week after her eighteenth birthday, when frustratingly handsome Caden Hawthorne kidnaps her, delivers her to the government, and then disappears before her eyes, Ember realizes two things: One, she is not alone. And two, people like her--teleporters--are being used as weapons. Forced into a quasi-military training camp for teleporters, Ember discovers she has been paired--perhaps for life--with Caden, the boy who got her into this mess in the first place. Now, she has to work with him on a series of teleporting missions, each one riskier than the last. But Caden just might hold the key to Ember's escape plan, if she can survive her missions without losing her heart...or her life. Revised edition: This edition of The Vanishing Girl includes editorial revisions and is intended for mature audiences.

From the coauthor of the New York Times bestselling The Shape of Water comes the second and final book in the “utterly riveting” (Entertainment Weekly) epic tale about a murdered teen who is resurrected to walk the earth for more than a century. Zebulon Finch has faced more violence, lust, and heartbreak than any other seventeen-year-old in history. But nothing can prepare him for what is coming next. Half a century has passed since Zebulon Finch was gunned down and then inexplicably resurrected to experience a second life. Picking up his tale where he left off, Zebulon heads to Nazi Germany on a top-secret mission. From there he escapes to the shiny new world of the suburbs—a tidy neighborhood hiding dark secrets. He will exchange the pains of this world for what he believes will be peace among the stars. He will march for social change all the way to Woodstock, go raving mad in the desert, and finally exit from humanity the only way he knows how. We first met Zebulon sealed in a tomb beneath the World Trade Center—might he yet crawl from the rubble to discover a different America? Enthralling and gut-wrenching, The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume Two: Empire Decayed is the conclusion to the epic saga of one young man’s journey down the long road to redemption.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • The bestselling author of Nobody's Fool and Straight Man delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace. “Rich, humorous ... Mr. Russo’s most seductive book thus far.” —The New York Times Welcome to Empire Falls, a blue-collar town full of abandoned mills whose citizens surround themselves with the comforts and feuds provided by lifelong friends and neighbors and who find humor and hope in the most unlikely places, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Russo. Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self-respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school. Or maybe it’s Janine, Miles’ soon-to-be ex-wife, who’s taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. Or perhaps it’s the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town–and seems to believe that “everything” includes Miles himself. Look for Richard Russo's new book, Somebody's Fool, coming soon.

Have you ever wondered what lies behind the rotting walls of an abandoned building? Empire State of Decay: Discarded New York offers a rare look into forgotten spaces that offer visual wonder, beautifully decaying sights, and an insight as to what happens when the public walks away. Follow one woman's adventure through forgotten hospitals, poorhouses, and resorts in the Empire State-documenting its history through poignant photographs. See what's left of the formerly bustling Catskills, what's forgotten in Staten Island, and how nature reclaims her space throughout New York. While sometimes dangerous, these spaces have stories to tell. Hidden from the public, visit these blighted spaces suffering from years of neglect and disrepair. Author Alex Gulino offers an inside look as she slides down icy hallways, runs across fields, and crawls under fences to explore and document these lost spaces. See the history that lives on in quiet desperation with hopes that you, too, see the beauty in decay.

A Historical Survey of the Many Ways Empires have Succumbed to External and Internal Pressures There are no self-proclaimed empires today. After the twentieth century, with its worldwide wave of decolonizing and liberation movements, the very word "empire" conjures images of slavery, war, repression, and colonialism. None of this is to say that empires are confined to the past, however. By at least some reasonable definitions, empires do exist today. Many articles and books speak about the decline of the "American Empire," for example, or compare the history of the United States to that of Rome or the British Empire. Yet no public official would speak candidly of American "imperial" interests in the Middle East or use the word "empire" in discussions of the nation's future the same way British politicians did in the twentieth century. In addition, empires don't have to fit the classical Roman mold; there are many kinds of empire and varieties of international authority, such as cultural imperialism and economic imperialism. But it is clear empires do not last, even those that once harnessed great wealth, strong armies, and sophisticated legal systems. InThe Fall of Empires: A Brief History of Imperial Collapse, historian Chad Denton describes the end of seventeen empires throughout world history, from Athens to Qin China, from the Byzantium to the Mughals. He reveals--through stories of conquest, corruption, incompetence, assassination, bigotry, and environmental crisis--how even the most seemingly eternal of empires declined. For Athens and Britain it was military hubris; for Qin China and Russia it was alienating their subjects through oppression; Persia succumbed with the loss of its capital; the Khmer faced ecological catastrophe; while the Aztecs were destroyed by colonial exploitation. None of these events alone explains why the empires fell, but they do provide a glimpse into the often-unpredictable currents of history, which have so far spared no empire. A fascinating and instructive survey, The Fall of Empiresprovides compelling evidence about the fate of centralized regional or global power.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

"The story follows Zebulon Finch, a teenager murdered in 1896 Chicago who inexplicably returns from the dead and searches for redemption through the ages."--