Getting married should be one of the pinnacles of our lives, and developing a lasting relationship should be the main goal. Marriage is more than merely living together--it is living as one. But to live as one, every marriage needs the necessary tools such as: having the right person, being in the right position, using the right language, and developing the right relationship in order for us to stay together for a lifetime.

Marriage: Until Death Do Us Part begins with the story of a marriage in crisis and a wife who has reached her breaking point. De'Borah Sarrmon should have celebrated fifteen years of marital bliss, but instead, she found herself saying the one thing she vowed never to say, "Isaia I want a divorce."

In a small North Texas town a family is devastated when their son is diagnosed with a life-threatening heart disease. In the lowest time of their lives, God works through Michael Jordan, Derek Harper, Coach Grant Teaff, Dino, Joe Montana, J. D. Hill, a camel, and the local community to give strength and support to the Martin family. Dancing with Death illustrates the power of faith, hope, love, Christian friends, and family. The authors' details are gripping. Readers will feel a bond with the authors through reading about their inner feelings. The Martin's bravely make themselves vulnerable to their audience, even including such questions as, "God, don't you think we've been through enough?" It's a question we all ask in our minds but are usually too intimidated to say aloud. Things like this make the book unique, touching and very valuable reading for everyone. The authors give God credit, glory and praise throughout the book, terrifically conveying how God was with them every step of the way. Michael and Donna Martin have 3 children, 2 daughters-in-law and 6 grandchildren. Donna has a BS in Elementary Education and taught for 32 years. She is a freelance writer and has written pre-school curriculum for LifeWay. Michael has a BA in Psychology, M.Ed. in College Counseling, and M.Ed. in Secondary Counseling. He counseled high school and college students for 32 years. Michael is an ordained minister and has served in youth, music and education ministry. They traveled with their family group, "The Joyful Sound" presenting concerts. They are members of The Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX. The Martin's present "Happy Together" Seminars sharing information they have learned during 14610 days of marriage. The sessions include stories and activities that help couples build stronger marriages. For information, contact Michael at [email protected] or their website: www.happytogethermarriage.com.

A gritty collection of 35 stories, written with raw emotion and cool melancholy, told in a compelling narrative voice that will make you smile as it breaks your heart, FUNERALS FOR FRIENDS explores the extraordinary details of ordinary lives. A sobering downhill ride through love and loss, these exciting stories take place in the home, in the office, on the street corner, and within the often disturbing relationships between men and women. But more important, these stories come from a place within the heart that is familiar to all.

Libertines seeks to understand why public figures sometimes take extraordinary risks, sullying their good names, humiliating their families, placing themselves in legal jeopardy, and potentially destroying their political careers as they seek to gratify their sexual desires. From Hamilton to Trump and the many in between, each case of sexual misconduct in this book shows the seamy side of political lives, with calculations about covering discretions or portraying them favorably occurring only after the fact.

This book is a collection of 366 serious and humorous tidbits about relationships that the Martins have learned in 14610 days of marriage. The information is intended to help couples build stronger marriages. The book is a "must read" for couples of all ages married or soon to be married. As former educators, they believe that this book should be "assigned reading" for all couples. Michael and Donna have been married 40 years. They have 1 daughter, 2 sons, 2 daughter-in-laws and 6 grandchildren. Donna has a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and taught for 32 years. She is a freelance writer and has written pre-school curriculum for LifeWay. Michael has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Master of Education in College Counseling, and Master of Education degree in Secondary Counseling. He counseled high school and college students for 32 years. Michael is also a licensed, ordained minister and has served in youth, music and education ministry. In the early days of their marriage, they traveled throughout the country with their family in a group called The Joyful Sound presenting concerts. After retiring from education, they started their own company and developed their "Happy Together" Marriage Seminar. They present "Happy Together" Seminars that include sessions filled with information that they have learned during 14610 days (40 years) of marriage and counting. The fun filled sessions include stories, and activities that help couples build a stronger relationship with their spouse. They are members of The Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Tx For more information about "Happy Together" Seminars, contact Michael at [email protected] or 940-735-1515 or visit their website: www.happytogethermarriage.com.

Climate change is recognised as agriculture’s biggest challenge to date.* With increasing temperatures and an escalation in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, agricultural productivity remains at risk of being compromised. With the food security of millions threatened, there remains a need to develop alternative, sustainable production models which can thrive in the face of climate change. Advances in plant factories: New technologies in indoor vertical farming reviews the wealth of research on optimising plant factories with artificial lighting (PFALs) as one potential solution to achieving a more sustainable agriculture. The book addresses developments in process monitoring, optimizing energy use, as well as adjusting lighting conditions to improve the sensory and nutritional quality of a range of horticultural crops. It also includes case studies of successful plant factory operations. Through its exploration of the development and application of PFALs in agriculture, the book highlights the growing importance of controlled environment agriculture technologies as a solution to maintaining global crop production in a time where our climate remains as unpredictable as ever.

“Scandal,” defined as an action or event causing public outrage and regarded as morally or legally reprehensible by the standards and mores of the time, has been a part of the US political landscape since the founding of the republic. Americans prefer to think that their public officials’ misbehavior as the exception rather than the rule, but the record of political corruption and coverups, spanning the entire history of the United States, is too lengthy to suggest that these actions are uncommon occurrences, merely freakish outliers to be discounted as “black swan” events. Strongly associated with the concept of scandal is a “scoundrel,” defined as a dishonest or disreputable person. According to this definition, a scoundrel is someone who engages in dishonest behavior, eventually leading to the loss of a good reputation. Scoundrels: Political Scandals in American History is about scoundrels who were caught in scandals, specifically political scandals. Often the original behavior was outrageous, but the subsequent cover-up is worse. The 1972 Watergate break-in, for example, may have been a “third-rate burglary”—although that point is debatable—but the Nixon administration’s attempted coverup led to impeachment proceedings and the president’s resignation. Political corruption almost always stems from calculations of self-interest before, during, and after the fact. The calculations may be legally and ethically misguided, factually inaccurate, and/or blind to political realities, but nonetheless they are almost always deliberate and premeditated. Political corruption can involve lone individuals acting on their own accord or they can implicate systemic corruption with a large group, sometimes within a presidential administration. Scoundrels: Political Scandals in American History examines 13 of the most famous (or infamous) and not-so-famous scandals in American history, including the Teapot Dome case from the 1920s, the Watergate break-in and cover-up in the 1970s, the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s, and Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

This volume establishes a foundation for a uniform code of professional ethics for public administrators in the United States. Public Administration Ethics for the 21st Century lays the ethical foundations for a uniform professional code of ethics for public administrators, civil servants, and non-profit administrators in the US. Martinez synthesizes five disparate schools of ethical thought as to how public administrators can come to know the good and behave in ways that advance the values of citizenship, equity, and public interest within their respective organizations. Using case studies, he teaches American administrators how to combine the approaches of all five schools to evaluate and resolve complex ethical dilemmas within the constraints of the U.S. democratic values set. Martinez enunciates the common ethical principles that guide public administrators in their practice within the specific ethical parameters and organizational cultures of a myriad entities at the federal, state, and local levels of government in the United States, as well as in non-profit organizations. Along the way, Martinez addresses a number of crucial issues, including personal gain, conflict of interest, transparency, democratic impartiality, hiring, hierarchical discipline, media relations, partisan pressure, appointments by elected officials, and whistle-blowing. The striking, high-profile case studies—Nathan Bedford Forrest, Adolph Eichmann, Lieutenant William Calley, and Mary Ann Wright—illustrate ethical dilemmas where, for better or worse, the individual was at odds with the organization.

Congressional Pathfinders: "First" Members of Congress and How They Shaped American History discusses those men and women whose service in the United States Congress, as improbable as it was, marked a turning point in history. To be the first black American or the first woman to serve in a largely white, male-dominated institution requires a level of moral courage seldom found in ordinary people. To be openly gay, to subscribe to the Muslim faith in a nation often fearful and ignorant of Islam, or to navigate the hallways of power with physical disabilities is to be cognizant of one's separateness. To be an "other" is to feel the stigma of that difference, and yet to persevere is to forge a path for later generations of others to follow. The service of these courageous men and women forever changed Congress and, by extension, the nation: they truly were congressional pathfinders. Nancy Pelosi, Daniel Inouye, Margaret Chase Smith, Shirley Chisholm, Ilhan Omar, and Hillary Clinton are among the many figures profiled in Congressional Pathfinders.

Within hours of the sinking of RMS Lusitania by a German submarine off the Cork coast in May 1915, a narrative was created which over time became the accepted truth of the incident. Many people today still believe the sinking of the Lusitania was a savage attack on an innocent vessel that brought America into the war. In this book, author and historian Michael Martin raises a series of disturbing questions that challenge this longheld perspective. Examining a raft of old and new evidence suggesting a more sinister function of RMS Lusitania, this book explores the widespread use of civilian vessels within the war effort; it shines a light on the operational response of the Royal Navy in the immediate aftermath of the incident; and it looks at the nature of the response of the United States at this crucial juncture. And, above all, this book questions the narrative that has grown up around one of the most pivotal junctures in the war to end all wars.

In some periods of American history, members of the legislative branch have been as influential, and sometimes more influential, than a particular president in crafting public policy and reacting to world events. Congressional Lions examines twelve influential members of Congress throughout American history to understand their role in shaping the life of the nation. The book does not focus exclusively on the biographical details of these lawmakers, although biography invariably plays a role in recalling their triumphs and tragedies. Instead, the book highlights members' legislative accomplishments as well as the circumstances surrounding their congressional service.

In some places, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a social fraternity whose members enjoyed sophomoric hijinks and homemade liquor. In other areas, the KKK was a paramilitary group intent on keeping former slaves away from white women and Republicans away from ballot boxes. South Carolina saw the worst Klan violence and, in 1871, President Grant sent federal troops under the command of Major Lewis Merrill to restore law and order. Merrill did not eradicate the Klan, but they arguably did more than any other person or entity to expose the identity of the Invisible Empire as a group of hooded, brutish, homegrown terrorists. In compiling evidence to prosecute the leading Klansmen and by restoring at least a semblance of order to South Carolina, Merrill and his men demonstrated that the portrayal of the KKK as a chivalric organization was at best a myth, and at worst a lie. This is the story of the rise and fall of the Reconstruction-era Klan, focusing especially on Major Merrill and the Seventh Cavalry's efforts to expose the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan to the light of day.

This fascinating book recounts the compelling stories behind 14 of the most important criminal procedure cases in American legal history. Many constitutional protections that Americans take for granted today-the right to exclude illegally obtained evidence, the right to government-financed counsel, and the right to remain silent, among others-were not part of the original Bill of Rights, but were the result of criminal trials and judicial interpretations. The untold stories behind these cases reveal circumstances far more interesting than any legal dossier can evoke. Author J. Michael Martinez provides a brief introduction to the drama and intrigue behind 14 leading court cases in American law. This engaging text presents a short summary of high-profile legal proceedings from the late 19th century through recent times and includes key landmark cases in which the court established the parameters of probable cause for searches, the features of due process, and the legality of electronic surveillance. The work offers concise explanations and analysis of the facts as well as the lasting significance of the cases to criminal procedure. Includes 20 photographs of key participants and scenes Explains legal principles through engaging, jargon-free prose Connects the importance of the cases to constitutional criminal procedure Explores the impact of Supreme Court decisions