Brahana Selassie is a product of the African-Caribbean Diaspora from Grenada. As a young man of twenty in 1975, he discovered and then became a convert to the unique ancient multi-layered world of Ethiopia's ancient Nile Valley civilisation. He then immersed himself in studying its origins and continuity into the 20th century. Two out of an unbroken chain of precious pearls he discovered from his studies are: * Ethiopia's possession of the cradle for the scientific study of the origins of the human race in its section of Africa's Great Rift Valley in the Afar Triangle. * Its rich biblical faith and life heritage, associated with the sacred ancestral family unit of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar that gave birth to three of the major living religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Receiving the Ethiopian Orthodox Priesthood in 1980, Brahana Selassie has matured into a multi-skilled communicator involved with various dialogue partners, in which he has shared chosen topical subject areas of Ethiopia's wealthy galaxy of precious and unique mystical treasures, as it relates to Africa's people on the continent, in its diaspora, and with the international community of scholars.

A quest is never what you expect it to be.

Elizabeth Madeline Martin spends her days in a retirement home in Cape Town, watching the pigeons and squirrels on the branch of a tree outside her window. Bedridden, her memory fading, she can recall her early childhood spent in a small wood-and-iron house in Blackridge on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg. Though she remembers the place in detail – dogs, a mango tree, a stream – she has no idea of where exactly it is. ‘My memory is full of blotches,’ she tells her daughter Julia, ‘like ink left about and knocked over.’

Julia resolves to find the Blackridge house: with her mother lonely and confused, would this, perhaps, bring some measure of closure? A journey begins that traverses family history, forgotten documents, old photographs, and the maps that stake out a country’s troubled past – maps whose boundaries nature remains determined to resist. Kind strangers, willing to assist in the search, lead to unexpected discoveries of ancestors and wars and lullabies. Folded into this quest are the tender conversations between a daughter and a mother who does not have long to live.

Taken as one, The Blackridge House is a meditation on belonging, of the stories we tell of home and family, of the precarious footprint of life.

Addressing fundamental questions surrounding the critical changes affecting China's urban landscape, social organization and community governance, Property Rights and Urban Transformation in China thoroughly reviews the reform of property rights in changing political and economic conditions. Zhu Qian presents a comprehensive study highlighting the key theories and practices in urban and social development processes and provides guidance on how to understand both the parallels and differences that these reveal. Utilizing a cross-sectoral and multi-scalar examination of property rights in a property-led urban environment, the book illustrates increasingly complex interactions between state and non-state actors and examines the characteristics and consequences of rural-urban land conversion. It further analyses the impacts of resettled villagers' adaptation to urban society and the role of property rights in China's recent high-profile urban-rural integrated development. This insightful book will ensure a thorough grasp of the pertinent issues for scholars, researchers and practitioners within the fields of urban planning, human geography and land economics. It will also provide a more general systemic understanding for graduate students interested in the recent challenges and strategies in a property rights regime with strong state intervention.

His father, an Irishman, was on the run from the "Brits". He took refuge in Jersey C.I. where Desmond was born. The family left the island when he was four, but retained strong ties and family to this very day. After the tragic deaths of his two young brothers at 17 and 27 he was reminded that you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. From humble beginnings as a butcher in Birmingham, he made himself into a relatively small but successful businessman, with a chain of shops and houses to rent. He took life by the scruff of the neck and lived a playboy life of booze, women and fast cars. He has dived the oceans of the world, travelled to all the places he ever wanted to see and ticked all his boxes. Retiring from business at 49, he turned to a new life of songwriting, TV plays and a successful trilogy of Jack Reec novels. Once asked, "Is there anything you haven't done?" Thoughtfully he replied, "Well if there is, it's because I didn't want to do it". Share the ride with him, on an exciting journey to far flung exotic locations in this hugely readable and amusingly written autobiography.

The world food situation is deteriorating. Grain stocks have dropped to a dangerously low level. The World Food Price Index has doubled in one decade. The ranks of the hungry are expanding; political unrest is spreading. On the demand side of the food equation, there will be 219,000 people at the dinner table tonight who were not there last night. And some 3 billion increasingly affluent people are moving up the food chain, consuming grain-intensive livestock and poultry products. At the same time, water shortages and heat waves are making it more difficult for farmers to keep pace with demand. As grain-exporting countries ban exports to keep their food prices down, importing countries are panicking. In response, they are buying large tracts of land in other countries to grow food for themselves. The land rush is on. Could food become the weak link for us as it was for so many earlier civilizations? Lester Brown, one of the leading environmentalists of our time, explains why world food supplies are tightening and tells what we need to do about it.

This timely Handbook considers the increasing struggles facing international development in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It investigates the role global co-operation must play in resolving the multiple crises of the pandemic, resultant economic devastation and existing climate changes and external-debt concerns. Contributions identify the need to question current assumptions and approaches to international development in the context of how markets are constructed, states reformed and resources distributed. Split across four thematic parts, this thought-provoking Handbook explores the concept and politics of development, development and contested globalization, the politics of development agendas and global actors in the politics of development. Chapters examine the politics of: developmental regionalism, crime, law and development in historical perspective, international monetary relations, food, global health, the global gender agenda, the sustainable development goals, development in the WTO, and private foundations. Engaging and accessible, the Handbook on the Politics of International Development will be a key resource for students and scholars of international politics and relations, public policy, geopolitics and development studies.

As indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most?

Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth―its abundance of sweet, juicy berries―to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

As Elizabeth Gilbert writes, Robin Wall Kimmerer is “a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world.” The Serviceberry is an antidote to the broken relationships and misguided goals of our times, and a reminder that “hoarding won’t save us, all flourishing is mutual.”

Twisted Mountains is a collection of short stories set among the summits of England, Scotland and Wales, from Ben Hope to the South Downs. Each tells the story of someone who has their own reasons to be in the mountains. From a vengeful student to obsessive hostel owner, the wannabe biker to the Wainwright expert with a secret. While the stories are varied in their subjects, all have mountains at their heart and a dark humour running through them. Authored by Tim Woods, Twisted Mountains provides a different take on the characters you find in and around the mountains. Tim tells their stories in the characters' varied voices, in ways that are shocking, dark, funny and sad, sometimes all at once.

The universe of militant groups in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), near the Afghan border, is far more complex and diverse than is commonly understood. While these groups share many ideological and historical characteristics, the militants have very different backgrounds, tribal affiliations, and strategic concepts that are key to understanding the dynamics of this dangerous, war-torn region- the main safe haven of al-Qaeda and the gateway to fighting in Afghanistan. This volume of essays, edited by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann and produced in connection with the New America Foundation, explores the history and current state of the lawless frontier of "Talibanistan," from the groups that occupy its various sub-regions to the effects of counterinsurgency and military intervention (including drone strikes) and the possibility of reconciliation. Contributors include MIT's Sameer Lalwani, NYU's Paul Cruickshank, Afghan journalist Anand Gopal, and Brian Fishman of the New America Foundation.

Groundwater amounts to 97% of available global freshwater resources. Emphasising the crucial importance of this in the context of increasing population, climate change and the overall global water crisis, Francesco Sindico offers a comprehensive study of the emerging body of international law applicable to transboundary aquifers. Adopting a scenario-based approach, this much-needed book analyses a diverse set of transboundary aquifer agreements and arrangements. With just a handful of such agreements and arrangements around the world, it demonstrates how identifying a normative roadmap for countries that want to begin jointly managing a transboundary aquifer is of paramount importance. Offering an in-depth exploration into the ILC Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, it provides insight into how this body of law is evolving, and discusses its relation to customary international law. Academics and researchers interested in international water law, environmental law and public international law more widely will find this a unique and compelling work, whilst the book’s practical approach will also make it a useful tool for transboundary aquifer professionals and wider stakeholders working in governments and public bodies dealing with water management around the world.