From an early age, Vincent Roth kept a detailed account of his experiences, often illustrated with sketches and later by watercolors. It was from these handwritten journals that his son-in-law edited this book. The first volume covers his early years as a child abandoned to relatives in France, Scotland, and London. It also covers his reuniting at the age of 12 with his father and stepmother in Australia, his arrival in British Guyana, and the first 15 years of his work in the interior.

As a single 51-year-old woman, Elizabeth McDonnell had given up hope of ever becoming a mother. When she was approved to adopt ten-year-old Lara, a sweet and caring girl, it was a dream come true. Elizabeth knew that that her new daughter had had a difficult past but when she found out that Lara had been abused, the extent of her emotional damage became clear. By the age of twelve, Lara was often out of control, hanging out with drug dealers in Oxford, disappearing for days. For the next five years Elizabeth put herself in danger to rescue her daughter time and time again, while battling the authorities who failed to give Lara the help she so desperately needed. She had no idea that her daughter was being trafficked by a sex ring. Because she refused to give up on Lara, today Elizabeth and Lara have a close and loving relationship. Deeply moving, You Can't Have My Daughter is the story of a mother determined to keep her promise to her daughter: 'I will always be there for you, whether you want me to or not'.

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors at a psychic reading? Meet 'Selfridges Psychic' Jayne Wallace who reads for over 100 international clients every week - from CID officers to media moguls, housewives to royalty and celebrities. Now she opens her client casebook to share the most shocking, touching and simply amazing readings that will make you laugh and cry - and leave you in no doubt that the spirit lives on. Jayne is renowned for getting straight to the point, with no preamble - she has seen spirits since the age of five and connects quickly to a person's loved ones who have passed, bringing important messages and healing. In My Psychic Casebook, Jayne tells the stories exactly as they happened, and explains the techniques she uses to link with her clients. Just like a good novel, you'll be instantly engrossed - except that all these stories are true. As the only department store medium in the world, in this short story, Jayne offers a unique insight into the work of a top clairvoyant, as well as shining a light on the remarkable truths behind the questions that concern us all.

Perfect Prey relates how author Liz Cole was victimized by an online career con artist and how she turned the tables to expose the con man on national television. Much of this book is written as a real time journal, taking readers inside the world of Liz Cole and her suitor, an ex-convict and predator. About the Author and Perfect Prey: Recently divorced, with low self-esteem, Liz Cole turned to online dating and met a charming Irishman in reality, a Quebec man with a criminal record who preyed on her and vanished. Cole then set out to track him down. She found past victims and learned of the man s lengthy periods of incarceration before finding and publicly humiliating him in a national TV confrontation, also featured on U.S. website www.love fraud.com Every year across North America an average 1.1 million people divorce. Many of these people join countless singles and also children in turning to the Internet for friendship, love and romance. But online con artists are finding fertile ground in attracting unsuspecting prey. The problem is only likely to get worse given the following statistics: 74% of single North Americans have explored online dating (8 million people) 31% of N. American adults (70 million) know someone who used dating websites 26% of N. American adults (58 million) know someone who has dated online 2.2 million of us met their spouse online 2.8 million single N. Americans pay for dating sites; multi-million-dollar industry 30% of 18-24-year-olds worry about being stalked online for good reason. 32% of online teenagers have been contacted by complete strangers online. Liz Cole learned the hard way how easy it can be to be taken in by online fraud artists and she provides valuable advice. This is your opportunity to learn from her experience to protect yourself and your loved ones. Her fascinating story can save you from becoming the next online victim.

Since first learning to handle a Winchester .22 as a kid, Dan Aadland has exulted in hunting-not as a sport but as a calling. In this book he takes readers to Montana's prairies and mountains in search of antelope, whitetail deer, moose, and the occasional upland bird as he vividly describes the rituals and camaraderie of hunting culture. In fifteen essays recounting a lifetime of adventures, Aadland spins tales of a hunter whose years have been enriched by pursuing game under Montana's big sky. He conveys the drama of stalking elk in deep snow, when sometimes just the chance at a shot is enough, and describes the tricks of bowhunting. He tells how hunting with horses was "the real deal" planting one's foot in the stirrup and sensing an affinity with great hunters of the past. Underlying his memoir is a deep respect for wildlife and appreciation for the West. Sometimes nostalgic, often humorous, Aadland's book recounts the highs and lows of the hunt while revealing why the pursuit of game remains so important to so many people. The Best of All Seasons depicts hunting as an essential part of the good life, suggesting that in our civilized age it yet remains a fundamentally natural act. In allowing readers a glimpse into that life, this book simultaneously shows that for Dan Aadland, fine writing comes just as naturally. Dan Aadland's writings about hunting have appeared in such publications as Montana Outdoors and Rifle. A former teacher who now breeds horses in Absarokee, Montana, he is the author of six other books, including Sketches from the Ranch: A Montana Memoir.

Hospital Babylon is an in-depth, amusing and highly insightful expose of the extraordinary world of modern medicine. It will take the reader on a journey through the various departments and wards where babies are made, thighs are reduced, noses straightened and spare kidneys are flown in from the Indian subcontinent. We will meet doctors who sleep with nurses. Doctors who sleep with patients. Doctors who fiddle their insurance forms. Doctors who suck fat, pump up breasts, plump lips and lengthen penises. The doctor who specialises in flatulence. The doctor who shoots up before he operates. Doctor Feelgood who will give you anything and everything you need. As well as the doctor who makes a fortune doing buttock enlargements in the Caribbean. En route, we will discover what touches them, what amuses them and quite how obsessively insane you have to be to make it to the top. Why does a private room cost over GBP1000 a night? Who are the people changing your bedpan? Holding your hand as you go to sleep? What do they do to you while you're out cold? Why are drugs so expensive? How easy is it for the pharmaceutical companies to grease the good doctor's palm? Who exactly is profiting from your illness, embarrassing affliction or brand new nose? And, of course, what happens when it all goes wrong? Packed with true stories, anecdotes and revelations, Hospital Babylon is a riveting, entertaining and shocking look at 24 hours in the life of a hospital. Both amusing and appalling, it will make you question whether you should sign that consent form after all...

Memoirs of an Albanian emigrant in Australia.

Police spokesperson and former TV journalist McIntosh Polela has been on our screens for many years. But behind his seemingly unfazed demeanour, a troubled past haunts him. His parents disappeared when he was a little boy, leaving him and his sister Zinhle to suffer years of brutal abuse. When the truth of his parents' disappearance is revealed, the teenage McIntosh makes a fully functioning gun from found object which he keeps for the day when he finds his father. He knows that he must come face to face with the man who robbed him of his childhood. McIntosh has to confront his father about his mother's brutal death. How can he possibly forgive, when his father remains a remorseless brutal and heartless monster?

Conjoined twins have long been a subject of fantasy, fascination, and freak shows. In this first collection of its kind, Millie-Christine McKoy, African American twins born in 1851, and Daisy and Violet Hilton, English twins born in 1908, speak for themselves through memoirs that help us understand what it is like to live physically joined to someone else.
" Conjoined Twins in Black and White "provides contemporary readers with the twins' autobiographies, the first two "show histories" to be republished since their original appearance, a previously unpublished novella, and a nineteenth-century medical examination, each of which attempts to define these women and reveal the issues of race, gender, and the body prompted by the twins themselves. The McKoys, born slaves, were kidnapped and taken to Britain, where they worked as entertainers until they were reunited with their mother in an emotional chance encounter. The Hiltons, cast away by their horrified mother at birth, worked the carnival circuit as vaudeville performers until the WWII economy forced them to the burlesque stage. The hardships, along with the triumphs, experienced by these very different sister sets lend insight into our fascination with conjoined twins.

Everyone has secrets. Some you might whisper into a friend s ear, while others may stay locked inside you for years maybe even forever. It s those secrets that you tuck away that eventually control you. You may think you re okay, but really, your secrets can be tearing you apart from the inside out. Secret Survivors tells the compelling, true stories of people who have lived through painful secrets---things that they kept to themselves until they could no longer bear the pain alone. As you read their stories, you ll be drawn into their journeys towards healing, and you ll understand why it s so important to share your secret with someone else in order to start your own healing process. Read the stories of people, who as teens and young adults, dealt with issues like: *Date rape *Physical abuse *Cutting *Pornography addiction *Eating disorders *Incest *Drug and alcohol addiction *Abortion You may find a story that sounds similar to your own secret pain, or you may learn more about secrets that a friend or family member is dealing with. Whether your own story is represented in these pages or not, you ll feel a connection to the people in these stories, because we all have some kind of pain tucked away. But you don t have to feel alone in your pain anymore. After you read the stories of these survivors, you ll find the strength you need to share your own secret and start healing your heart and soul."

This fascinating book recounts the remarkable tale of a career UN official from Indonesia caught in the turmoil of international and domestic politics swirling around Cambodia during the tumultuous period after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. Writing from his experience first as a member of the UN transitional authority and then as a personal envoy to the UN secretary-general, Benny Widyono re-creates the fierce battles for power centering on King Norodom Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge, and Prime Minister Hun Sen. A simultaneous insider and outsider, he also untangles the competing and conflicting agendas of the key international players, especially the United States, China, and Vietnam. He argues that great-power geopolitics throughout the Cold War and post-Cold War eras triggered and sustained a tragedy of enormous proportions in Cambodia for decades, ultimately leading to a flawed peace process. Widyono tells the inside story of the massive UN operation in Cambodia, the largest and most challenging in the organization's history to that time and long considered a model for UN operations elsewhere. He draws not only on his vantage point as part of the UN bureaucracy, but also as a local UN official in the rural Cambodian province of Siem Reap, the site of Angkor Wat. As a fellow Southeast Asian with no geopolitical axe to grind, Widyono was able to win the respect of Cambodians, including the once and future king, Norodom Sihanouk, whose decline after fifty years as his country's leading figure is vividly portrayed. Putting a human face on international operations, this book will be invaluable reading for anyone interested in Southeast Asia, the role of international peacekeeping, and the international response to genocide.

In Not Far Away, a semi-fictional memoir, Lois Beardslee gives a chilling acount of racism, particularly that leveled against Native women, in language that is supple, evocative, often comical, and always incisive. Her fictional heroine, the teacher Ima Pipiig (pronounced 'buh-BEEG'), endures humiliating insults from school administrators, fellow teachers, students, and callous neighbors. For years, she suffers in silence, believing that opposing bigotry would only fuel its caustic flames but then she begins to speak out. Scattered among the chapters chronicling Ima's experiences are essays and speeches written by the author herself, blurring the line between fiction and fact and creating a kind of resounding echo of resistance that is the author's response to racism.

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, taking lives and livelihoods and displacing thousands. Because the hurricane struck at the beginning of the school year, the city's children were among those most affected. Michael Tisserand, former editor of the alternative cultural newspaper Gambit Weekly, evacuated with his family to New Iberia, Louisiana. Then, rather than waiting to find out when--or if--schools in New Orleans would reopen, Tisserand and other parents persuaded one of his children's teachers, Paul Reynaud, to start a school among the sugarcane fields. So was born the Sugarcane Academy--as the children themselves named it--and so also began an experience none of Reynaud's pupils will ever forget. This inspiring book shows how a dedicated teacher made the best out of the worst situation, and how the children of New Orleans, of all backgrounds and races, adjusted to Katrina's consequences.

Culture and Identity: Life Stories for Counselors and Therapists is a collection of autobiographical stories that explores themes of race/ethnicity, immigration/acculturation, religion, and social class. These engaging stories allow readers to understand the significance and influence of culture on identity development, sense of self, family relationships, interpersonal relationships, and life choices. As the storytellers reveal their real life struggles, readers will enhance their understanding of intra-group differences, increase their repertoire of clinical skills, and sharpen their multicultural competency. Each chapter contains a discussion of content themes, along with clinical applications, assessment questions, techniques, and interventions, as well as personal reactions evoked from the stories. Key Features: Offers autobiographical stories that help readers enhance their own clinical skills since the stories depict real clinical situations Includes theoretical content descriptions for each story to provide clinicians with a comprehensive array of themes they are likely to encounter in their clients' own histories Contains a clinical applications section for each chapter that gives readers practical ideas they can apply to clients Includes a valuable countertransference section that provides clinicians with personal reaction scenarios when working with clients Culture and Identity is a unique, easy-to-read book that demonstrates how cultural factors influence identity and life choices. It is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on multicultural counseling focusing on diversity in the fields of Psychology, Counseling, Family Therapy, Social Work, and Human Services. In addition, it is ideal for many practicum and internship courses. A valuable resource for clinicians looking to further their understanding of cultural factors in clinical work, it will also be of interest to any professional in the mental health field who works with a diverse client population.

War, as the general said, is hell. But in a few it also brings out the best. Heroism and horror are the keynotes of this gripping new collection of war writing. From the Siege of Troy to the present day, The Mammoth Book of True War Stories includes battle analyses by celebrated historians, letters home by ordinary Gis, high-adrenaline memoirs by frontline combatants and memorable reportage by master chroniclers such as Ernest Hemingway and John Reed.

In his bestselling book Join Me, Danny Wallace instructs his legions of followers to perform a Random Act of Kindness every Friday. As a result, his thousands of followers (dubbed the Karma Army), without warning, made people happier the length and breadth of the country. Now in Random Acts of Kindness Danny and the gang bring you a hilarious, well-meaning book to encourage you to perform Random Acts of your own...'Now, at last, the secret to a happier world! You have the power to make it a nicer place! All over the planet, thousands of people just like you are performing Random Acts of Kindness for complete strangers...Buy an old lady a hat! Give a policeman a helium balloon! Pat a dog! Hand a stranger your umbrella! Applaud a lady who's clearly made an effort! This book contains 365 real random acts of kindness real people have done for real strangers...so read it, learn it, and start making your world the nicer place, today!'

The stories told in this collection, though tragic for many, also illustrate the steadfast determination and courage of people in the face of misfortune and extreme distress. From the lesser-known weed outbreaks and tornadoes to the world-wide influenza outbreak in 1918 that devastated many Calgary families, these stories focus on the human side of these disasters. It may be a heroic individual or the collective response of a community, but what is truly remarkable in these stories is the human response to the world being turned upside down by famine and disease, by flood, fire, or rock slide, by wind and cold, by dynamite or gas explosions, or even by the seemingly mundane threat of weeds upon crops. It is the resolution to continue to fight and the persistence of the human spirit and its adaptability to challenges that is the true story of a century of development in western Canada.

How far will a father go to get back his only daughter? And how will he survive in a legal system that crushes those who can't afford to fight back? Mark Gillen has the storybook life other men dream of, complete with a beautiful wife and an adoring five-year-old daughter. Then his wife announces she s leaving him. And taking their daughter with her. The other man is a famous film director with unlimited funds and the keys to stardom and wealth for Paula. How can Mark begin to compete? But the most bitter blow comes when he is kept from seeing his daughter because of false charges . . . and a legal system ill-suited for finding the truth. Forged in the darkest valley Mark has ever walked through, his faith in God may ultimately cost him everything in the eyes of the family law system. But it is the one thing that can keep him sane---and give him the strength to fight against all odds for what matters most."

These stories from the classroom show us what powerful teaching and learning really looks like. The story-tellers are highly qualified teachers, all of whom have achieved or are candidates for National Board Certification, and their tales have been woven into a compelling and moving narrative by expert teacher, trainer, and NBCT support provider Adrienne Mack-Kirschner. The stories invite us into our nation's classrooms, allowing us to witness essential learning moments in the lives of individual students and offering us examples of teaching and learning activities that are real, student centered, meaningful, and important. Bringing thematic unity to the stories are their links to the Five Core Propositions of accomplished teaching as defined by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The best of these stories transcend category, reaching all readers who think about and care about accomplished teaching and learning in today's classrooms.

In Feels Like Far, award-winning author Linda Hasselstrom paints an intimate portrait of family, love, work, nature, and survival against the backdrop of the far-flung South Dakota prairie. Sixteen linked stories tell of the joy of training a first horse, the heartbreak of finding a fatally injured cow, the beauty of cavorting nighthawks, the stubbornness of her father, a rigid old rancher who bucks at old age, the deep, almost spiritual bond she shares with a friend who is diagnosed with AIDS. “In deliciously direct and unsentimental style” (Kathleen Norris), Hasselstrom maps the landscape of her life, demarcating the same beauties and brutalities that intermingle on the Great Plains she calls home.

If burying a child has a special poignancy, the tragedy at a Catholic elementary school in Chicago almost forty years ago was an extraordinary moment of grief. One of the deadliest fires in American history, it took the lives of ninety-two children and three nuns at Our Lady of the Angels School, left many families physically and psychologically scarred for life, and destroyed a close-knit working-class neighborhood. This is the moving story of that fire and its consequences written by two journalists who have been obsessed with the events of that terrible day in December 1958. It is a story of ordinary people caught up in a disaster that shocked the nation. In gripping detail, those who were there-children, teachers, firefighters-describe the fear, desperation, and panic that prevailed in and around the stricken school building on that cold Monday afternoon. But beyond the flames, the story of the fire at Our Lady of the Angels became an enigma whose mystery has deepened with time: its cause was never officially explained despite evidence that it had been intentionally set by a troubled student at the school. The fire led to a complete overhaul of fire safety standards for American schools, but it left a community torn apart by grief and anger, and accusations that the Catholic church and city fathers had shielded the truth. Messrs. Cowan and Kuenster have recreated this tragedy in a powerful narrative with all the elements of a first-rate detective story.

As seen on ITV's Britain's Got Talent, where they captured the hearts of the nation, this is Amanda and Miracle's incredible story of survival, love and hope Snatched from the streets of Thailand, loaded onto a truck with hundreds of other stolen dogs and destined for the restaurants of Hanoi, Miracle the dog shouldn't be alive today. But an incredible rescue led to a fateful meeting with Amanda Leask, a dog lover from Scotland. Devastated by Miracle's plight and the hopelessness of his situation, she knew she had to do everything in her power to save him. But Amanda could never have imagined that in doing so she was really saving herself... Amanda's six year-old son Kyle, who was born with cerebral palsy and autism, built a deep and lasting connection with Miracle and their special bond has transformed not only Kyle's life but that of the entire family. Heartbreaking, inspirational and ultimately life-affirming, this incredible tale is proof that miracles really can happen...