The intellectual autobiography of a leading figure in the field of Latin American Philosophy. In 1961, at the age of nineteen, Jorge J. E. Gracia escaped from the island of Cuba by passing himself off as a Catholic seminarian. He arrived in the United States with just a few spare belongings and his mother’s diamond ring secured in a hole in one of his shoes. With a Diamond in My Shoe tells the story of Gracia’s quest for identity—from his early years in Cuba and as a refugee in Miami to his formative role in institutionalizing the field of Latin American philosophy in the US academy. Committed to integrating into Anglo America without forgetting his roots, Gracia reflects on his struggles and successes as an immigrant and academic, bringing a philosopher’s eye to bear on his personal and professional development as a leading Latinx scholar. “Gracia is a writer in full control of his material, and yet someone who in his own search for identity as a philosopher, as a Cuban, as a Cuban American, as a Hispanic, as a Latino, as a Latinx, leaves many questions open, as any good philosopher should, allowing his readers to answer for themselves. The strength of his authorial voice resides in his honesty.” — Rolando Pérez, author of Severo Sarduy and the Neo-Baroque Image of Thought in the Visual Arts

Fleeing Cuba in 1961, Jorge J. E. Gracia arrived in the USA at the age of nineteen without family and unable to speak English. Ten years later he was assistant professor of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Over the next 50 years Gracia published dozens of books and hundreds of articles, making major contributions to numerous areas of philosophy: Latin American philosophy, race and ethnicity, Medieval philosophy, philosophical historiography, metaphysics and ontology, and theory of interpretation. This book is a critical response to Gracia’s work and a tribute to his legacy. It includes a comprehensive bibliography of Gracia’s philosophical works.

Spanning from the time he talked Babe Ruth into signing his tennis shoe at the age of 12 to his last Tiger broadcast more than 60 years later, this book is a personal scrapbook of Hall-of-Famer Ernie Harwell's life-long love of baseball.

"I am not moving to Iraq to teach." How does a liberal American girl in red suede boots end up teaching English to conservative Muslim Iraqis in headscarves? Gretchen Berg has met the recession: she has eaten cereal for dinner, given up the gym membership, and come face to face with looming unemployment. To cope, she decided to uproot her life and move to the Middle East. She expected to make some good money, pay off some bad debt, and take some photos of camels. She did not expect to feel at home. She did not expect to fall for a student. She did not expect Diet Coke withdrawal. Irreverent, hilarious, and completely relevant, I Have Iraq in My Shoe takes a single, broke, fashion-conscious American female who prefers Project Runaway to CNN and tosses her into Iraq in exchange for cash and vacation time. Watch the desert sand fly!

Aharon Golub is the kaddishel for his family - the only son upon whose shoulders falls the responsibility to recite the prayer for the dead, the Kaddish, for his parents. And as the kaddishel, he honors his parents by remembering both the joys of his early childhood in Ludvipol and the hatred that sought to destroy Ludvipol, and his childhood. Aharon bears the burden of an entire generation of children who made promises to their parents, promises that are relived at every Yahrzeit, every anniversary of the death of their parents: Never to bask in the luxury of forgetting.

The academic study of diamonds is as multi-faceted as the precious stones themselves. Mineralogists and geographers have written about them, as have historians and economists and students of art and fashion. They each shine their light on a different aspect of this source of luminous radiance. But who would venture to describe the entire complicated worldwide system starting in the diamond mines and ending with the consumers of Western metropolises? In The Mazzel Ritual: Culture, Customs and Crime in the Diamond Trade, Russian-Israeli cultural anthropologist and criminologist Dina Siegel follows the route of a diamond from the mines of Africa to the shops of Europe and the United States, as it passes through countless hands and places and is smuggled, stolen, cut, polished, sold, exchanged and, finally, worn as jewelry. In the course of this long and exciting journey, a wide range of people face all sorts of risks and criminality, as well as various moral and ethical judgments. Siegel describes the range of ethnic groups that are active in the diamond trade and the culture and customs that are specific to this business. She analyses the dangers and threats to the industry and aims to uncover the strategies and tactics to deal with them. Finally, this story of risk, trust and crime examines the vulnerability of diamond production and distribution to illicit and criminal activities. This book is about the diamond business itself as well as about those involved in it. It tells the story of people who simply cannot stay away from this expensive and alluring commodity.

The Deadly Blue Diamond, a fast-paced thriller, pits a young surgeon against vicious mobsters, crooked cops, and Chicago politicians. Little Louie, who killed his first man at age fifteen, organized a robbery to steal the Blue Diamond, a power symbol, that belonged to Al Capone. The heist goes bad. Rooky cops shoot Louie’s punch-drunk accomplice after he swallowed the diamond. A young surgeon, who lost his confidence in the Korean War, operates for the gunshot, but doesn’t find the diamond. The patient dies. The cops and a big-time politician claim the surgeon stole the diamond. The surgeon and a sexy reporter steal the body from the morgue to retrieve the diamond, but the hit man shoots a cop and kidnaps the reporter, the surgeon, and the corpse. The surgeon does an autopsy with a switchblade, finds the diamond, and stabs the mobster. The chase is on, through the streets of Chicago into Bubbly Creek and onto storm-tossed Lake Michigan. The reporter uses her charms to lay hands on the diamond.

Discover heart-racing intrigue in this Thriller Short of romantic suspense. Originally published in LOVE IS MURDER (2013), edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown. In this spicy Thriller Short, New York Times bestselling author Roxanne St. Claire pens a sensual tale with a savvy twist. On a routine diamond drop between Antwerp Central Station and Paris, security expert Donovan Rush encounters a fascinating woman in obvious jeopardy. Having been warned that a thief will attempt to intercept him, Rush must determine if Claudia is trustworthy…or the thief. When an attempt to intercept the diamonds is ultimately made, Rush is out of time and must decide if Claudia is working with the thief. It’s a split-second decision with deadly consequences. Does he forfeit her life or the diamonds? Instincts and emotions collide, and if he chooses wrong, they’re both dead. Don’t miss any of these Thriller Shorts from Love Is Murder:Diamond Drop by Roxanne St. Claire Cold Moonlight by Carla Neggers Poisoned by Beverly Barton Speechless by Robert Browne Lockdown by Andrea Kane Spider’s Tango by William Simon Night Heat by Laura Griffin B.A.D. Mission by Sherrilyn Kenyon Deadly Fixation by Dianna Love Hot Note by Patricia Rosemoor Last Shot by Jon Land & Jeff Ayers Grave Danger by Heather Graham Without Mercy by Mariah Stewart Even Steven by D.P. Lyle Dying to Score by Cindy Gerard The Number of Man by J.T. Ellison Hard Drive by Bill Floyd After Hours by William Bernhardt Blood In, Blood Out by Brenda Novak Wed to Death by Vicki Hinze The Honeymoon by Julie Kenner Execution Dock by James Macomber In Atlantis by Alexandra Sokoloff Break Even by Pamela Callow Dirty Down Low by Debra Webb Broken Hallelujah by Toni McGee Causey Holding Mercy by Lori Armstrong Vacation Interrupted by Allison Brennan I Heard a Romantic Story by Lee Child

A man travels to Israel to uncover a diamond’s remarkable past in this vivid historical saga from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Physician. A diamond cutter and seller from a long, respected line of precious-gem dealers, New Yorker Harry Hopeman is intrigued by the story of the so-called “Jerusalem Diamond,” a magnificent yellow jewel rumored to date back to the biblical time of King Solomon. So when he’s asked to broker a deal that will return the legendary gemstone to Israel, he eagerly accepts. Arriving in the volatile Middle East, Hopeman soon discovers that his assignment will be anything but easy. Representatives of the Holy Land’s three major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—are all laying claim to the priceless jewel that once adorned the miter of Pope Gregory, and they will do anything to possess it. Partnering with Israeli government agent Tamar Strauss—a beautiful and courageous Yemenite war widow who inspires the visiting American’s passion as well as his respect—Hopeman is soon entangled in a web of mystery and intrigue that crosses continents and stretches back thousands of years. As the duo follows the twisting travels of the gem and the bloody conflicts it has ignited throughout its extraordinary past—a history that intertwines with Hopeman’s own family saga—the story of a breathtaking land and its people unfolds in all its drama and glory. International-bestselling author Noah Gordon—whose acclaimed historical novel The Physician was the inspiration for the major motion picture of the same name starring Ben Kingsley— “has packed a suspense tale with religious, historical and archeological underpinnings, along with fascinating insights into an industry whose conduct is generally shrouded from outside scrutiny” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).