This is the story of two men born six hundred years apart who experience a deep-rooted connection that they use to solve a six-hundred year old mystery.

When 25-year-old Pandora Duncan leaves her Progressive family in Baltimore and moves to North Carolina to pursue a career in journalism at a small town newspaper, little does she know that her life has just shifted onto a four-year fast track to adulthood. Elizabeth James' novel offers a refreshing use of fiction to forward a condemnation of the Bush Administration. At the same time, the deeply moving characters in this coming-of-age piece transcend current politics, making the story timeless. Pandora's journey from indifference to committed activism reveals her to be a sexy, quirky, feisty, conflicted, and finally courageous young woman who is both compelling and unforgettable. The cloying smell of Magnolia on steamy summer nights, the texture of red clay, the lacey fragility of blooming Crape Myrtle, and the rich, often brooding atmosphere elevate the setting to the status of a major character. While the book is built on the skeleton of contemporary politics, the heart, soul, and flesh of the novel are an old-fashioned, well-told story with all the elements of an enduring classic

This story is set in the late seventh and early eighth centuries and focuses on the life of a young Saxon, Alric, born in the year 775 at Wearmouth in Northumbria. He has a twin sister, Hilda. His parents plan for them to take vows. Alric will enter the monastery at Wearmouth, while Hilda will enter the convent to the south, at Whitby. All is well until Wearmouth is the focus of an attack by sea raiders (now known as Vikings) from Scandinavia who appeared out of the morning mists, killing and pillaging without remorse. In Alric's sixteenth year they return to Wearmouth, and Alric is captured. He is taken from his home as a captive bound for a fjord in what is now modern Norway. A severe storm causes the ship to be beached, and the raiders suffer the same fate as their victims, but at the hands of a party of Mesopotamian soldiers. Through the courtesy of the commander, Alric eventually ends up in Baghdad, where Harun al-Rashid (Aaron the Just) is the Caliph and at the time the tales of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights were being told by the Caliph's wife, Scheherazade. Alric is apprenticed to an alchemist with medical knowledge, where his role is to pursue science and develop drugs and other chemicals that help the Caliph's cause. During this time, Alric becomes a valuable member of the Caliph's inner circle and becomes familiar with the inner workings of the House of Light, comprising the royal palace and the Great Library. As a result of his work, he is able to rise from the position of captive to apprentice to a status in which he is able to make contributions to science and medicine. However, he becomes embroiled in the politics of the palace and a plot to assassinate the Caliph. Coupled with this, he discovers a cuneiform tablet that had once been the prized possession of King Nebuchadnezzar and gives him an insight into chemical and medical science. This tablet also contains a prophecy that Alric must fulfill.

A comprehensive bibliography and exhibition chronology of the world's greatest museum of the decorative arts and design. The Victoria and Albert Museum, or South Kensington Museum as it used to be known, was founded by the British Government in 1852, out of the proceeds from the Great Exhibition of 1851. Like the Exhibition, it aimed to improve the expertise of designers, and the taste of the public, by exposing them to examples of good design from all countries and periods.
2,500 publications have to date been produced by, for, or in association with the V&A. The National Art Library, which is part of the Museum, has prepared this detailed catalogue, supplemented by a secondary list of 500 other books closely related to the V&A. The 1,500 exhibitions and displays recorded include those held in the main Museum and at its branches, the Bethnal Green Museum (now the National Museum of Childhood) and the Theatre Museum, Covent Garden, and additionally those it has organized at external venues, in Great Britain and abroad. The exhibitions and publications are fully cross-referenced, and there are name, title and subject indexes to the whole work, as well as an explanatory introduction.

Sea of Troubles has been designed for classroom teachers struggling to address the overwhelming issues facing our world today. By embracing the Common Core's emphasis on the inclusion of more nonfiction, informational texts, the authors have demonstrated how to incorporate meaningful informational texts into their favorite units of literature. Sea of Troubles shows teachers how literature and informational texts can work together, to enhance each other, and, by extension, enhance student's abilities to critically think and respond to the sea of troubles that pervades society.

This book is ideal for the thousands of teachers who entered the profession in the last ten years and taught prescribed curriculum geared toward end of year bubble testing. Its intent is to empower districts and their teachers to create their own (free!) curriculum that will exceed the expectations of Common Core assessments, as well as create life-long learners that are college and career ready. By employing inquiry based units of study that insist on the use of iconic literature at the center, students will be more prepared for what awaits them with Common Core exams.

For the first time, the collected papers in this volume present an introduction to the history of women, of men, and eunuchs--or the third sex--in Byzantium, and to the various theoretical and methodological approaches through which the topic can be examined. The contributors use evidence from both written documents and various artwork to offer a broad picture of the place of women and Byzantine society and the perceptions of women held by that society.
"Women, Men and Eunuchs" offers a unique and valuable exploration of the issue of gender in Byzantium, which will fascinate anyone interested in ancient and medieval history and gender studies.

The collected papers in this volume present a unique introduction both to the history of women, of men and eunuchs, or the third sex, in Byzantium and to the various theoretical and methodological approaches through which the topic can be examined. The contributors use evidence from both texts and images to give a wide-ranging picture of the place of women and Byzantine society and the perceptions of women held by that society.
Women, Men and Eunuchs offers a unique and valuable exploration of the issue of gender in Byzantium, which will fascinate anyone interested in ancient and medieval history and gender studies.

This unique history brings together more than 150 spectacular objects from the National Art Library's collection of literature, prints, drawings and photographs. Housed within the V&A, the library was, from the beginning, an integral part of the Museum, formed by, and for, artists and designers as an essential element of the educational and museological project of Prince Albert and Henry Cole after the Great Exhibition of 1851. Word & Image shows how the distinct character of the NAL was formed, and how its collections created a new kind of bibliographical resource. From a fifteenth-century book of hours to William Morris's specimen pages for Jean Froissart's The Chronicles of Fraunce, Inglande, and Other Places Adjoynynge; from George Cruikshank's studies of Fagin for Oliver Twist to an Yves Saint Laurent design for the House of Dior; and from Bill Brandt's photographs to the Book of Nails by Floating Concrete Octopus, Word & Image explores some of the finest examples of 'book art' in existence.