Love and Adventure Live On. . . After defying death during her wartime activities, Jana Brady leaps to accept President Andrew Johnson's bid for her and her soldier-sweetheart Keeley Cassidy to track down a two-million-dollar army payroll, stolen from the caboose of a prisoner train in the chaotic aftermath of its collision with a coal train. Her consent to the mission, without consulting Keeley, complicates their relationship. She is crushed when Keeley suggests they delay their wedding. Knowing Keeley fears Jana will choose adventure every time over a quieter life with him, Jana worries this venture will expose incompatibilities too irreconcilable to sustain a future together. This mission challenges their bond on every level, from a life-changing decision to adopt a runaway orphan to a frightening encounter with a bear. Will this adventure be the truest test of their love? Jana and Keeley discover that the train wreck reveals a more sinister plot behind the stolen payroll than mere petty thievery. They race against two Rebel train-wreck survivors, a bankrupt politician and his goons, and members of a powerful organization who aim to amass wealth to incite a second rebellion and perpetuate slavery. With help from Jana and Keeley's coonhound, Tracker, and cavalry comrades, Leanne and Charlie Watson, they sniff out the trail of the federal treasury and confront the thieves in a final showdown. Can Jana, Keeley, and friends outwit their foes to recoup the money? In this third book of Glory: A Civil War Series, Lisa Potocar continues to masterfully interweave adventure, romance, and suspense with a sweeping portrayal of post-Civil War times and women's expanding roles within it.

America, beginning as a small group of devout Puritan settlers, ultimately became the richest, most powerful Empire in the history of the world, but having reached that point, is now in a process of implosion and decay. This book, inspired by Frankfurt School Critical Theory, especially Erich Fromm, offers a unique historical, cultural and characterological analysis of American national character and its underlying psychodynamics. Specifically, this analysis looks at the persistence of Puritan religion, as well as the extolling of male toughness and America's unbridled pursuit of wealth. Finally, its self image of divinely blessed exceptionalism has fostered vast costs in lives and wealth. But these qualities of its national character are now fostering both a decline of its power and a transformation of its underlying social character. This suggests that the result will be a changing social character that enables a more democratic, tolerant and inclusive society, one that will enable socialism, genuine, participatory democracy and a humanist framework of meaning. This book is relevant to understanding America’s past, present and future.

"Reluctant to shed her riding trousers and fully submerse herself in her role as a growing woman, Jana Brady joins the Union army in the fight for her country. Hoping for Sweet Glory, she cuts her hair and disguises herself as a young cavalryman, eager to fight the Rebels, aided by Leanne Perham, another girl from town who has donned the Union blues. While Jana enjoys the camaraderie within her unit, soldiering and nursing severely test her notions of glory in war. And the possibility of dying as a man hits home when she witnesses a man and his disguised bride die hand in hand on the battlefield. Jana determines to find a way home, with the blossoming incentive of renewing a relationship with Keeley, [an Irishman in the same unit], once she is again living as a woman."--Page 4 of cover.

Building on the tradition of Little Bee, Chris Cleave again writes with elegance, humor, and passion about friendship, marriage, parenthood, tragedy, and redemption. What would you sacrifice for the people you love? KATE AND ZOE met at nineteen when they both made the cut for the national training program in track cycling—a sport that demands intense focus, blinding exertion, and unwavering commitment. They are built to exploit the barest physical and psychological edge over equally skilled rivals, all of whom are fighting for the last one tenth of a second that separates triumph from despair. Now at thirty-two, the women are facing their last and biggest race: the 2012 Olympics. Each wants desperately to win gold, and each has more than a medal to lose. Kate is the more naturally gifted, but the demands of her life have a tendency to slow her down. Her eight-year-old daughter Sophie dreams of the Death Star and of battling alongside the Rebels as evil white blood cells ravage her personal galaxy—she is fighting a recurrence of the leukemia that nearly killed her three years ago. Sophie doesn’t want to stand in the way of her mum’s Olympic dreams, but each day the dark forces of the universe seem to be massing against her. Devoted and self-sacrificing Kate knows her daughter is fragile, but at the height of her last frenzied months of training, might she be blind to the most terrible prognosis? Intense, aloof Zoe has always hovered on the periphery of real human companionship, and her compulsive need to win at any cost has more than once threatened her friendship with Kate—and her own sanity. Will she allow her obsession, and the advantage she has over a harried, anguished mother, to sever the bond they have shared for more than a decade? Echoing the adrenaline-fueled rush of a race around the Velodrome track, Gold is a triumph of superbly paced, heart-in-throat storytelling. With great humanity and glorious prose, Chris Cleave examines the values that lie at the heart of our most intimate relationships, and the choices we make when lives are at stake and everything is on the line.

Reality television remains a pervasive form of television programming within our culture. The new mantra is go big or go home, be weird or be invisible. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty, for example,are arguably two of the most compelling reality television programs currently airing because of their uniqueness and ability to transcend traditional boundaries in this genre. Reality Television: Oddities of Culture seeks to explore not the mundane reality programs, but rather those programs that illustrate the odd, unique or peculiar aspects of our society. This anthology will explore such programs across the categories of culture, gender, and celebrity.

History comes alive for kids like no textbook can in this epic account of the American Civil War that's perfect for history buffs and reluctant readers! From courageous cavalry rides deep into enemy territory to harrowing covert missions undertaken by spies and soldiers, the events of the American Civil War were filled with daring figures and amazing feats. This exhilarating overview covers the biggest battles as well as captivating lesser-known moments to entertain kids with unbelievable (and totally true) tales of one of America's most fascinating conflicts. History buff, Civil War reenactor, and popular blogger Ben Thompson uses his extensive knowledge and vivid storytelling style to bring the Civil War to life in this first book in a thrilling new series featuring incredible people, events, and civilizations. Get ready to learn just how awesome history can be!

Focusing on more than 20 sports events of all kinds, Krantz captures the drama of the all-time greatest grudge matches, each with spectacular photos and sidebars. Includes a one-hour DVD with highlights. 150 photos, many in color.

Gamers can learn all the secrets to playing and winning Killer Instinct Gold by using this guide. A multitude of exciting new options are included, such as invisible tag, Supers, Secret Enders, team combat, and incredible new backgrounds that will be certain to lure fighting gamers.

In the 2000s, reality programs showcasing white, working-class men performing hazardous occupations in wilderness settings proliferated on U.S. cable networks. Shannon O’Sullivan argues that this genre represents a reactionary veneration of white, rural, working-class men as “real Americans” amid the Great Recession and current events.

Below the Salt tells the exciting story of how the 90th Infantry Division discovered the greatest treasure to be found by Allied forces in World War II, buried deep underground in a German salt mine. It sets the stage for momentous event by following the division from its D-Day landings on Utah Beach, through its heartrending struggles to become a successful fighting unit in the hedgerows of Normandy, gradually transforming itself into one of the best battle-hardened divisions in Europe as it closed the Falaise Gap, raced across France, crossed the flooded Moselle River, created a bridgehead across the Saar River, helped to trap thousands of Germans in the Bulge, forced a surprise assault crossing of the Rhine, and eventually ended the war in Czechoslovakia. Despite the 90th Division's exploits in battle, the tale that wagged its dog proved to be the capture of the Kaiseroda Mine in the small village of Merkers, Germany in April 1945. Deep in the potash mine the division found untold wealth: virtually the entire gold and currency reserves of the German Reichsbank, together with all of the priceless art treasures which had been removed from Berlin's museums for protection against allied bombing raids and possible capture by rapidly advancing Russian troops. Taking the mine stirred the imagination of the public and the press. All of America's top military leadership in Europe, including Generals Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton, visited the mine and viewed the treasure. It was a heady experience for the battle-weary GIs of the 90th Division, and a welcome respite from combat. Below the Salt concludes with the story of what happened to all of the gold and art treasures after the war.