How debates over secrecy and transparency in politics during the eighteenth century shaped modern democracy   Does democracy die in darkness, as the saying suggests? This book reveals that modern democracy was born in secrecy, despite the widespread conviction that transparency was its very essence.   In the years preceding the American and French revolutions, state secrecy came to be seen as despotic—an instrument of monarchy. But as revolutionaries sought to fashion representative government, they faced a dilemma. In a context where gaining public trust seemed to demand transparency, was secrecy ever legitimate? Whether in Philadelphia or Paris, establishing popular sovereignty required navigating between an ideological imperative to eradicate secrets from the state and a practical need to limit transparency in government. The fight over this—dividing revolutionaries and vexing founders—would determine the nature of the world’s first representative democracies.   Unveiling modern democracy’s surprisingly shadowy origins, Carter reshapes our understanding of how government by and for the people emerged during the Age of Revolutions.

Over 400 of the best hometown recipes from America's Hometown Magazine.

"American Profile" magazine celebrates hometown life in America. Over the years, "American Profile" has invited readers to send in their favorite recipes for publication, including the stories behind them―tales of recipes passed from generation to generation, traded among dear friends, or created to meet the needs of a family on a budget.

In this extraordinary cookbook, you'll find traditional American favorites with a unique twist alongside ethnic creations from around the world, such as:

• Apple-Sausage Pancakes
• Prairie-Fire Chicken Strips
• Holiday Spiced Tea
• Aunt Lillian's Pumpkin Bread
• Tamale Soup
• Pistachio and Pasta Salad
• Grandma's Swiss Steak
• Chicken Dumplings
• Snapper Tropical
• Lazy Pierogi
• Apple Cake
• Tiramisu Torte

Also included are helpful tips from "American Profile's" test kitchen as well as 30 articles on hometown festivals and fairs across the nation that give you a sneak peek into the lives of the ordinary citizens that make up hometown America.

Whether it's a simple soup for the family or a full meal for visitors, the "American Profile Hometown Cookbook" has just the right recipe to make any gathering a special occasion.

Psychic Clair Ivars has a flair for reading tarot cards, yet a total blind spot when it comes to predicting her own future - especially matters of the heart. Which might explain why she's surprised to find herself accidentally engaged to vodka magnate Jack Heron after knowing him for only a few hours. What it doesn't explain, however, is an increasingly strange series of events... and it definitely doesn't explain the peculiar way Clair keeps thinking about Jack's business partner, the tall, dark, mysterious and infuriatingly sexy Mike...

Ava Wilder s home in small-town Iowa is her sanctuary. A talented sketch artist with severe agoraphobia, Ava spends her days drawing a far more adventurous life than her invisible disability allows. Until she receives a package from London, explaining that she has inherited her Aunt Beverly s entire estate on condition that she lives in Bev s West End flat for a year. Once overseas, Ava wonders if she s simply swapped one prison for another. The streets and shops are intimidating, and Bev s home appears to be a drop-in center for local eccentrics. Worst of all, Bev left a list of impossible provisos to be overseen by her quirky, attractive solicitor. Ava is expected to go out to experience clubs, pubs, and culture; to visit Big Ben, Hyde Park, and the London Eye. After years of viewing the world through a pane of glass, she s at the messy, complicated center of it. As exhilarated as she is terrified, will she be able to step up, step out, and claim the life she was meant for? In an insightful, poignant novel, Mary Carter delves deep into self-discovery and the meaning of courage, exploring the fears that serve to protect us until life calls us to connect at last."