Marvel Entertainment was a struggling toymaker not even twenty years ago. Today, Marvel Studios is the dominant player both in Hollywood and in global pop culture. But what accounts for its stunning rise?

In MCU, beloved culture writers Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards draw on more than a hundred interviews with actors, producers, directors, and writers to present the definitive chronicle of Marvel Studios and its sole, ongoing production, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As they delve into the studio’s key moments – from the contentious hiring of Robert Downey Jr. for Iron Man to the negotiations over Disney’s acquisition of Marvel to studio head Kevin Feige’s embrace of streaming TV – the authors demonstrate that the genius of Marvel was its resurrection and modification of Hollywood’s old studio system.

Dishy and authoritative, MCU is the first book to tell the Marvel Studios story in full – and an essential, effervescent account of popular culture.

What was it like to fly a MiG or Mirage in combat over Angola? Most books on the Angolan Bush War, especially those in English, present the South African perspective of events. Now a former MiG-23 Squadron Commander of the Cuban Air Force has collaborated with an ex-SAAF pilot to paint a remarkable new picture of the aerial conflict over Angola in the 1980s.

In The MiG Diaries the recollections of Lt-Col Eduardo González Sarría are blended by Lionel Reid with those of air combatants from the Angolan, Cuban and South African air forces. Many are being published for the first time.

Using their own aviation knowledge and experience of the conflict, Sarría and Reid combine the accounts of these diverse combatants – former comrades and foe – to provide original insights into, and a more holistic description of, what happened in the skies over Angola. The results, often quite different to what the opposing sides had believed, reveal a surprising, and more complete, picture of events.

The wonderful sketching pencil of Sean Thackwray, himself a former fighter pilot, helps to bring this unique story to life, along with select images, including many not seen in print in South Africa.

Addressing the problem of how weight is regulated, how obesity is acquired, and how it is cured, Weight Regulation and Curing Acquired Obesity provides the mathematical basis of control system theory as applied to weight regulation. Unlike the majority of weight control literature which focuses on biochemistry, this innovative title discusses the biomechanical aspects of a dual closed loop system which mechanically senses meal volume and accumulated intraabdominal fat, where accurate sensation depends on the mechanical strength of the anterior abdominal wall. Presents a unified theory of weight regulation, explains the pathology of acquired obesity, and offers therapy directed to correct the underlying pathophysiology. Discusses surgical therapy directed to re-establish the strength of the anterior abdominal wall, reverse the pathology, and cure acquired obesity. Contains a chapter on future animal and human studies to support the neuromechanical hypothesis.

Private Philanthropic Trends in Academic Libraries is written with the senior library administrator and the development officers of academic institutions in mind. Chapters provide a historical perspective of the funding trends of the private philanthropic foundations and corporate giving programs towards academic libraries during the first decade of the 21st century. Library fundraisers and library administrators are presented with the information needed to start the process of selecting which grant maker agencies to approach. Chapters discuss which grantmaking philanthropic foundations and corporate-giving programs will be more receptive to grant monies to library projects, which types of library projects they will be more likely to fund, and how to approach these agencies in order to increase the possibilities of receiving grant awards from them.
The work provides starting points for library development and fundraising effortsCovers the basics of fundraisingPresents the historical funding trends of private philanthropic foundations giving to academic libraries

When Paloma goes to visit her family in Trinidad, she doesn't feel that she fits in. But Tante Janet has a story to tell her: An ancient story of warrior queens and talking drums, of treasures and tales that span thousands of years... a story that Paloma shares in, because her story starts in Africa, too. Join Tante and her inquisitive niece as they share the story of how her family came to the Caribbean, through the dark days of colonization and slavery, to the emergence of a thriving, contemporary community of many faces, places and successes.

Placed within the context of the past decade's war on terror and emergent and countervailing Latino rights movement, Reform without Justice addresses the issue of state violence against migrants in the United States. It questions why it is that, despite its success in mobilizing millions, the Latino immigrant rights movement has not been able to effectively secure sustainable social justice victories for itself or more successfully defend the human rights of migrants. Gonzales argues that the contemporary Latino rights movement faces a dynamic form of political power that he terms "anti-migrant hegemony". This anti-migrant hegemony, found in sites of power from Congress, to think tanks, talk shows and the prison system, is a force through which a rhetorically race neutral and common sense public policy discourse, consistent with the rules of post-civil rights racism, is deployed to criminalize migrants. Critically, large sectors of "pro-immigrant" groups, including the Hispanic Congressional Caucus and the National Council of La Raza, have conceded to coercive immigration enforcement measures such as a militarized border wall and the expansion of immigration policing in local communities in exchange for so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Gonzales says that it is precisely when immigration reformers actively adopt the discourse and policies of the leading anti-immigrant forces that the power of anti-migrant hegemony can best be observed.

Three years after its establishment the CEFL presents its first Principles of European Family Law in the field of divorce and maintenance between former spouses. The Principles aim to bestow the most suitable means for the harmonisation of family laws in Europe. In this respect they may serve as a frame of reference for national, European and international legislatures alike. The Principles could considerably facilitate their task not only by virtue of the fact that the CEFL's in-depth and comprehensive comparative research is easily accesible but also because most of the rules have been drafted in a way legislatures normally consider to be appropriate.

What happens when the fictional 'perfect guy' comes to life and is convinced you're his soulmate? While her parents are away for the week, sixteen-year-old Ivy McIntosh plans on binge-watching her favourite TV show and hanging out with her best friend, Henry. But things quickly go downhill on the very first morning, when Ivy wakes up to find Weston, the gorgeous lead character of her favourite show, in her bedroom. And, oh yeah, he thinks that she's his soulmate. Ivy realizes that her writing has somehow brought Weston as she's imagined him to life, and now he's living out her fanfiction dreams. But those fairytale dreams soon turn into disasters. Mack, Ivy's best-friend-turned-enemy who lives next door, and Henry get involved and the three of them need to figure out why Weston is here and how to get rid of him. As Ivy and Mack grow closer again, old feelings resurface and they finally face the fallout of their broken friendship, and question if they've both secretly always wanted something more . . . The new sapphic YA friends-to-enemies-to-lovers novel from bestselling author Sophie Gonzales, with her trademark humour and heart.

Miami Marriage Pact by Nadine Gonzalez Love has nothing to do with this proposal… Film producer Gigi Garcia needs her inheritance to save her company, but it requires a husband – fast! So she must convince rising Miami chef Myles Paris to marry her. On top of their unexpected passion, Gigi and Myles face off against professional rivals, erupting scandal and an enemy’s revenge. And now a secret could take their short-term marriage merger off the table… Overnight Inheritance by Rachel Bailey A fortune isn’t the only thing she inherited… Mae Dunstan just inherited billions…along with a seductive business rival. CEO and single dad Sebastian Newport wants to buy Mae out. But when the boardroom leads to the bedroom, their passionate affair reignites a long-standing feud between their families. Amid divided loyalties and open questions, will Mae risk more than the bottom line for a future with Sebastian?

This Research Handbook is an insightful overview of the key rules, concepts and tensions in privacy and data protection law. It highlights the increasing global significance of this area of law, illustrating the many complexities in the field through a blend of theoretical and empirical perspectives. Providing an excellent in-depth analysis of global privacy and data protection law, it explores multiple regional and national jurisdictions, bringing together interdisciplinary international contributions from Europe and beyond. Chapters cover critical topics in the field, including key features of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), border surveillance, big data, artificial intelligence, and biometrics. It also investigates the relationship between privacy and data protection law and other fields of law, such as consumer law and competition law. With its detailed exploration and insights into privacy and data protection, this Research Handbook will prove a useful resource for information and media law students as well as academics researching fields such as data protection and privacy law and surveillance or security studies.

This manual and the free downloadable costing tool is the outcome of a project identified by the Water, Sanitation and Health Programme (WSH) of the World Health Organization (WHO) faced with the challenge of costing options for improved access, both to safe drinking water and to adequate sanitation. Although limited in scope to the process of costing safe water supply technologies, a proper use of this material lies within a larger setting considering the cultural, environmental, institutional, political and social conditions that should be used by policy decision makers in developing countries to promote sustainable development strategies. Costing Improved Water Supply Systems for Low-income Communities provides practical guidance to facilitate and standardize the implementation of social life-cycle costing to "improved" drinking-water supply technologies. These technologies have been defined by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, as those that, by the nature of its construction, adequately protect the source of water from outside contamination, in particular with faecal matter. The conceptual framework used has also been conceived to be applied to costing improved sanitation options. To facilitate the application of the costing method to actual projects, a basic tool was developed using Microsoft Excel, which is called a water supply costing processor. It enables a user-friendly implementation of all the tasks involved in a social life-cycle costing process and provides both the detailed and the consolidated cost figures that are needed by decision-makers. The scope and the limits of the costing method in a real setting was assessed through field tests designed and performed by local practitioners in selected countries. These tests were carried out in Peru and in six countries in the WHO regions of South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. They identified practical issues in using the manual and the water supply costing processor and provided practical recommendations. References and Glossary Author(s): Fabrizio Carlevaro, Geneva School of Economics and Management, Switzerland and Cristian Gonzalez, International Road Federation, Geneva, Switzerland

It's not always easy to understand the experiences of people who are different from us. But we have to work at it to build better communities. In this book, you'll learn about practising empathy, communicating respectfully and building meaningful communities with other people. With child-friendly explanations of key ideas and relevant scenarios, this text will help young readers to be engaged, respectful members of their community.