An enhanced eBook featuring fifteen videos from investigative reporter Greg Palast’s globetrotting, Sam Spade-style investigation—including extraordinary footage of pre-dawn stake-outs of billionaire financial vultures, narrowly avoiding prison in Azerbaijan (shot with a spy-pen camera), exploring the inside a whale carcass in the Arctic and trekking deep in the Amazon rainforest. Watch as Palast connects the dots of corruption between the oil industry, the financial sector, and the government. On April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven men and spilling million of barrels of crude oil into the water. Days later, a confidential cable arrives on investigative reporter Greg Palast’s desk from a terrified insider. He has the real, hushed-up facts of the disaster––facts that can only be found buried in the files of a Central Asian dictatorship. Taking him and his team of journalist-detectives from the streets of Baku, where Palast searches for a brown valise full of millions, to a small Eskimo village where he hears first hand of the depth of deceit and heartbreaking environmental devastation, to a burnt out nuclear reactor in Japan to Chevron's operations in the Amazon jungle, Vultures’ Picnic charts the course of Palast’s quest to bring the truth of the BP disaster to light. Along the way, we see the many other crimes perpetrated by the energy giants of the worlds, the banks that fund their lies, and the governments that turn a blind eye. Like a page-turning spy thriller, full of mystery, intrigue, and featuring a reporter with the guts to get arrested, chase down insiders, or stakeout a Vulture in the still of a winter morning, Vultures’ Picnic is pulp non-fiction at its best. It’s a journey into the corrupt heart of Big Oil, and behind it, Bigger Finance, exposing once and for all the corporate vultures that feed on the weak, and poison our planet.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita made landfall less than four weeks apart in 2005. Months later, much of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast remained in tatters. As the region faded from national headlines, its residents faced a dire future. Emmanuel David chronicles how one activist group confronted the crisis. Founded by a few elite white women in New Orleans, Women of the Storm quickly formed a broad coalition that sought to represent Louisiana's diverse population. From its early lobbying of Congress through its response to the 2010 BP oil spill, David shows how members' actions were shaped by gender, race, class, and geography. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnographic observation, and archival research, David tells a compelling story of collective action and personal transformation that expands our understanding of the aftermath of an historic American catastrophe.

The New York Times bestselling author of Armed Madhouse offers a globetrotting, Sam Spade-style investigation that blows the lid off the oil industry, the banking industry, and the governmental agencies that aren't regulating either. This is the story of the corporate vultures that feed on the weak and ruin our planet in the process-a story that spans the globe and decades. For Vultures' Picnic, investigative journalist Greg Palast has spent his career uncovering the connection between the world of energy (read: oil) and finance. He's built a team that reads like a casting call for a Hollywood thriller-a Swiss multilingual investigator, a punk journalist, and a gonzo cameraman-to reveal how environmental disasters like the Gulf oil spill, the Exxon Valdez, and lesser-known tragedies such as Tatitlek and Torrey Canyon are caused by corporate corruption, failed legislation, and, most interestingly, veiled connections between the billionaires of financial industry and energy titans. Palast shows how the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, and Central Banks act as puppets and bandits for Big Oil. With Palast at the center of an investigation that takes us from the Arctic to Africa to the Amazon, Vultures' Picnic shows how the big powers in the money and oil game slip the bonds of regulation over and over again, and simply destroy the rules that they themselves can't write-and take advantage of nations and everyday people in the process.

The bestselling author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy offers a globetrotting, Sam Spade-style investigation that blows the lid off the oil industry, the banking industry, and the governmental agencies that aren't regulating either. This is the story of the corporate vultures that feed on the weak and ruin our planet in the process-a story that spans the globe and decades. For Vultures' Picnic, investigative journalist Greg Palast has spent his career uncovering the connection between the world of energy (read: oil) and finance. He's built a team that reads like a casting call for a Hollywood thriller-a Swiss multilingual investigator, a punk journalist, and a gonzo cameraman-to reveal how environmental disasters like the Gulf oil spill, the Exxon Valdez, and lesser-known tragedies such as Tatitlek and Torrey Canyon are caused by corporate corruption, failed legislation, and, most interestingly, veiled connections between the financial industry and energy titans. Palast shows how the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, and Central Banks act as puppets for Big Oil. With Palast at the center of an investigation that takes us from the Arctic to Africa to the Amazon, Vultures' Picnic shows how the big powers in the money and oil game slip the bonds of regulation over and over again, and simply destroy the rules that they themselves can't write-and take advantage of nations and everyday people in the process.

Cuisine and Culture presents a multicultural and multiethnic approach that draws connections between major historical events and how and why these events affected and defined the culinary traditions of different societies. Witty and engaging, Civitello shows how history has shaped our diet--and how food has affected history. Prehistoric societies are explored all the way to present day issues such as genetically modified foods and the rise of celebrity chefs. Civitello's humorous tone and deep knowledge are the perfect antidote to the usual scholarly and academic treatment of this universally important subject.

Perfect for first-time visitors, day hikers, and seasoned canyoneers alike, expert hiker John Annerino’s Hiking the Grand Canyon is one of the most user-friendly and comprehensive guides to America’s premier natural wonder and UNESCO World heritage Site. • Fold-out map of Grand Canyon Trails • Color photographs and historical black and white photos • Vignettes of the Canyon’s Native Peoples, explorers, and trail blazers • Environment, geology, life zones, natural history, and sacred landmarks • Preparation, training, clothing, gear, food, maps, hazards, and precautions • Camping, lodging, guided trips, permits, and resources Featuring detailed, authoritative descriptions of more than one hundred of the Canyon’s best trails, from easier day hikes perfect for beginners to more rigorous, rim-to-river and cross-canyon treks.

The Rough Guide to the Lake District, features comprehensive reviews of the finest places to stay and eat for every budget, based on personal inspection by a long-time Lakes expert. Whether you're looking for a walker's hostel or boutique hotel, café or gastro-pub, farmhouse B&B or country-house hotel, this guide has the lowdown on all the best deals. There's detailed information on the best way to get around by public transport, while special features on the great outdoors focus on local walks, classic hikes, mountain climbs, lake cruises and family adventures. Whether you're on a walking holiday or family break you can discover all the facts you need - from current opening times to festival dates. There's also background information on the history, culture, nature and wildlife of the English Lakes, and plenty of special features - from the history of rock-climbing or a rundown of music festivals to the fascinating lives of the locals. Make the most of your time with The Rough Guide to the Lake District. Now available in PDF format.

Ever had someone tell you just a little too much about himself? Meet Eric Broder, who made a habit of doing this—in the newspaper! Certain classic elements make a humor column irresistible. Workplace humiliation, weird food, rotten vacations, cats getting rubdowns, sex machines, raging self-delusion, enraged babies, at-risk squirrels, and of course pitiful date fantasies with Madonna and Katarina Witt—pure catnip to the modern reader. At least, that is, if you judge by the regular readers of Broder’s “The Great Indoors” newspaper column. Between 1987 and 1996, Eric Broder captivated and even astonished readers of Cleveland’s alternative weeklies with just such intimate and rarely believable details from his own remarkable life. And he did it with remarkable style. In fact, Broder’s writing style has been said to recall an unholy combination of Dave Barry, Barry White, Dr. Laura, Super Joe Charboneau, Walt Disney, and former Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker Jack Lambert. This book is a treasure sure to be cherished throughout the millenium. Or at least to be left in the bathroom until it gets too mildewed to pick up. Either way, it will change your life.

Meet one hundred of the strangest superheroes ever to see print, complete with backstories, vintage art, and colorful commentary. You know about Batman, Superman, and Spiderman, but have you heard of Doll Man, Doctor Hormone, or Spider Queen? So prepare yourself for such not-ready-for-prime-time heroes as Bee Man (Batman, but with bees), the Clown (circus-themed crimebuster), the Eye (a giant, floating eyeball; just accept it), and many other oddballs and oddities. Drawing on the entire history of the medium, The League of Regrettable Superheroes will appeal to die-hard comics fans, casual comics readers, and anyone who enjoys peering into the stranger corners of pop culture.