Joe and Vera Bailey and their four daughters got caught up in a vicious and deadly civil war in Liberia in 1990. Their daughters were fifteen, twelve, ten, and two. At that time in Liberia, Charles Taylor was trying to take over the brutal regime of Samuel Doe by using even more brutal, dreadful methods. The country was in complete political, economic, and social chaos. Their very lives depended on escaping the country. Vera was allowed to escape first with the baby because little Nai Nai had been born in the United States. Vera eluded the shooting and looting to finally reach the American embassy, where she was able to get an American marine helicopter to Sierra Leone, and a flight to America. Joe and the other three girls had to wait for several agonizing months to escape, never knowing if they would ever see Vera and the baby again. Joe said that he got out of there with only The Shirt on His Back!

The new 'Benjamin January' novel from the best-selling author Abishag Shaw is seeking vengeance for his brother's murder - and Benjamin January is seeking money after his bank crashes. Far beyond the frontier, in the depths of the Rocky Mountains, both are to be found at the great Rendezvous of the Mountain Men: a month-long orgy of cheap booze, shooting-matches, tall tales and cut-throat trading. But at the rendezvous, the discovery of a corpse opens the door to hints of a greater plot, of madness and wholesale murder . . .

The Shirt off his Back provides crafters with the ultimate thrifty, creative project. What happens to men’s shirts when they are no longer worn? This book puts them to excellent use and shows how, with a little imagination, it’s easy to transform them into beautiful, useful objects -– from bunting to bags, doorstops to duvet covers, cushions to chairs and much more. Successful blogger and craft expert Juliet Bawden reveals how to re-invent men’s shirts to make an array of charming, pretty and functional projects -including things to wear, accessories, toys and a host of ideas for your home. Charity shops are always brimming with men’s shirts in a wonderful array of styles, patterns and colours. Whether you’re on the hunt for stripes, checks, florals, retro prints or plain brights or pastels, you’ll have little problem sourcing inexpensive, good quality material with which to create fabulously stylish items. Each project is beautifully photographed and features clear instructions as well as either painted illustrations or step-by-step photos. Juliet Bawden’s book caters for the absolute beginner and the veteran of creative recycling alike: you’ll be surprised and inspired by how many inventive ways there are to utilise every part of your shirt – from the smallest button to its sleeves, collars and cuffs.

After a brief relationship, Catherine and Terry found themselves the parents of twins. Catherine, a reluctant mother from the start, abandoned the children for a career overseas. Terry has raised the twins by himself and now, eleven years later, is about to expand the family again by marrying Jackie. Suddenly, realising she needs a better family image to advance her career, Catherine turns up and demands custody. A sparkling combination of humour and drama, this is an entertaining novel of relationships and one man's determination to keep his family together.

“An animating, heartwarming look into the life of single parenthood.”—Black Issues Book Review After a brief relationship in college, Catherine and Terry found themselves the parents of twin baby girls. A reluctant mother from the start, Catherine quickly abandoned the children for a successful career overseas. With the help of family and friends, Terry has raised the twins by himself, and now, eleven years later, he’s about to expand his family by marrying Jackie, herself a single parent. Suddenly realizing she needs a better family image to advance her career, Catherine shows up and demands custody of the twins. But Terry will not give them up without a fight. Engagingly blending humor and drama, Parry “EbonySatin” Brown has written an entertaining novel of friendship, romance, and one man’s determination to keep his family together. “Parry ‘EbonySatin’ Brown has done a superb job in her debut novel of portraying a strong man doing exactly what he needs to do.”—Booklist

Twenty-One Ways to Give Your Kids the Shirt Off Your Back by Wanda A. Landrey By: Wanda A. Landrey In author Wanda A. Landrey’s humorous take on raising children, she is able to relay to well-meaning parents that mistakes can and will be made, but the important thing to remember is that you learn from them.

The story of The Hundreds and the precepts that made it an iconic streetwear brand by Bobby Hundreds himself Streetwear occupies that rarefied space where genuine "cool" coexists with big business; where a star designer might work concurrently with Nike, a tattoo artist, Louis Vuitton, and a skateboard company. It’s the ubiquitous style of dress comprising hoodies, sneakers, and T-shirts. In the beginning, a few brands defined this style; fewer still survived as streetwear went mainstream. They are the OGs, the “heritage brands.” The Hundreds is one of those persevering companies, and Bobby Hundreds is at the center of it all. The creative force behind the brand, Bobby Kim, a.k.a. Bobby Hundreds, has emerged as a prominent face and voice in streetwear. In telling the story of his formative years, he reminds us that The Hundreds was started by outsiders; and this is truly the story of streetwear culture. In This Is Not a T-Shirt, Bobby Hundreds cements his spot as a champion of an industry he helped create and tells the story of The Hundreds—with anecdotes ranging from his Southern California, punk-DIY-tinged youth to the brand’s explosive success. Both an inspiring memoir and an expert assessment of the history and future of streetwear, this is the tale of Bobby’s commitment to his creative vision and to building a real community.

The international literary icon opens his eclectic closet: Here are photographs of Murakami’s extensive and personal T-shirt collection, accompanied by essays that reveal a side of the writer rarely seen by the public. Many of Haruki Murakami's fans know about his massive vinyl record collection (10,000 albums!) and his obsession with running, but few have heard about a more intimate passion: his T-shirt collecting. In Murakami T, the famously reclusive novelist shows us his T-shirts—from concert shirts to never-worn whiskey-themed Ts, and from beloved bookstore swag to the shirt that inspired the iconic short story "Tony Takitani." These photographs are paired with short, frank essays that include Murakami's musings on the joy of drinking Guinness in local pubs across Ireland, the pleasure of eating a burger upon arrival in the United States, and Hawaiian surf culture in the 1980s. Together, these photographs and reflections reveal much about Murakami's multifaceted and wonderfully eccentric persona.

Oh, Men, with Sisters dear! Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives! It is not linen you're wearing out, But human creatures' lives! Stitch - stitch - stitch, In poverty, hunger and dirt, Sewing at once, with a double thread, A Shroud as well as a Shirt. -from "The Song of the Shirt" by Thomas Hood (1843) In April 2013 Rana Plaza, an unremarkable eight-story commercial block in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, collapsed, killing 1,129 people and injuring over 2,000. Most of them were low paid textile workers who had been ordered to return to their cramped workshops the day after ominous cracks were discovered in the building's concrete structure. Rana Plaza's destruction revealed a stark tragedy in the making: of men (in fact mostly women and children) toiling in fragile, flammable buildings who provide the world with limitless cheap garments - through Walmart, Benetton and Gap - and bring in 70% of Bangladesh's foreign exchange. In elegiac prose, Jeremy Seabrook investigates the disproportionate sacrifices demanded by the manufacture of such throwaway items as baseball caps and sweatshirts. He also traces the intertwined histories of workers in what is now Bangladesh, and Lancashire. Two hundred years ago the former were dispossessed of ancient skills and their counterparts in Lancashire forced into labour settlements; in a ghostly replay of traffic in the other direction, the decline of Britain's textile industry coincided with Bangladesh becoming one of the world's major clothing exporters. The two examples offer mirror images of impoverishment and affluence. With capital becoming more protean than ever, it won't be long before global business, in its nomadic cultivation of profit, relocates mass textile manufacture to an even cheaper source of labour than Bangladesh, with all too predictable consequences for those involved.

Beautifully illustrated with more than 700 images, The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands tells the colourful stories behind the marvellous Hawaiian shirts: as cultural icons, evocative of the mystery and the allure of the Islands; as collectibles, valued by professional collectors and by the millions of tourists who still cherish the shirts hanging in their wardrobes; and as a lifestyle - casual, relaxed and fun. Drawing from hundreds of interviews, newspaper and magazine archives, and personal memorabilia, the author evokes the world of the designers, seamstresses, manufacturers and retailers of the Golden Age of the Aloha shirt (from the 1930s to the end of the 1950s), who created the industry and nurtured it from its single-sewing-machine shop beginnings to an enterprise of international scope and importance. Here are the fun-loving 1960s; interviews with collectors who preserve these shirts as fine works of art; and insights into the roles of coconut buttons, matched pockets, woven labels and exotic fabrics in the evolution of the Aloha shirt.