The acres and acres of fertile soil, the two-hundred year old antebellum house, all gone. And so is the woman who gave it to him. The foster mother who saved Jack Boucher from a childhood of abandonment now rests in a hospice. Her mind eroded by dementia, the family legacy she entrusted to Jack is now owned by banks and strangers. And Jack's mind is failing too, as concussion after concussion forces him to carry around a notebook of names that separate friend from foe. In a single twisted night Jack is derailed. Losing the money that will clear his debt with the queen of Delta vice, and forcing Jack into the fighting pit one last time. The stakes - nothing less than life or death.

The Chattahoochee Trace in southeast Alabama and west Georgia is steeped in Native, African and early American tradition--stories often deeply rooted in folklore. Unusual beasts such as the Kolowa, the Wampus Cat and even Bigfoot roam the area. Crossroads magic, hoodoo and Huggin' Molly make their homes in the storied region. The Native American trickster rabbit, the Nunnehi Cherokee watchers, the tales of the Indian mounds and the saga of Brookside Drive are forever etched in Chattahoochee lore. From the Creek wars to Indian removal and Sherman's March to the Sea, the legends of "the Hooch" have left an indelible mark on Georgia and Alabama. Join author Michelle Smith as she reveals many of the strange creatures and myths that sing "the Song of the Chattahoochee."

Exploring the rupture between Wittgenstein's early and late phases, Michael Smith provides an original re-assessment of the metaphysical consistencies that exist throughout his divergent texts. Smith shows how Wittgenstein's criticism of metaphysics typically invoked the very thing he was seeking to erase. Taking an alternative approach to the inherent contradiction in his work, the 'problem of metaphysics', as Smith terms it, becomes the organizing principle of Wittgenstein's thought rather than something to overcome. This metaphysical thread enables further reflection on the poetic nature of Wittgenstein's philosophy as well as his preoccupation with ethics and aesthetics as important factors mostly absent from the secondary literature. The turn to aesthetics is crucial to a re-assessment of Wittgenstein's legacy, and is done in conjunction with an innovative analysis of Nietzsche's critique of Kantian aesthetics and Kant's 'judgments of taste'. The result is a unique discussion of the limits and possibilities of metaphysics, aesthetics, ethics and the task of the philosopher more generally.

Six tells the complete story of the service's birth and early years, including the tragic, untold tale of what happened to Britain's extensive networks in Soviet Russia between the wars. It reveals for the first time how the playwright and MI6 agent Harley Granville Barker bribed the Daily News to keep Arthur Ransome in Russia, and the real reason Paul Dukes returned there. It shows development of tradecraftA" and the great personal risk officers and their agents took, far from home and unprotected. In Salonika, for example, Lieutenant Norman Dewhurst realised it was time to leave when he opened his door to find one of his agents hanging dismembered in a sack. This first part of Six takes us up to the eve of the conflict, using hundreds of previously unreleased files and interviews with key players to show how one of the world's most secretive of secret agencies originated and developed into something like the MI6 we know today. The second part, published in Spring 2012, will tell the story from the outbreak of World War Two to the present.

This book provides a critical and updated analysis of the nature of the EU's strategic partnership diplomacy, and of the partnerships themselves, in times of power shift and contestation. It links with key aspects of the EU's Global Strategy; it brings together a strong list of experts who work within a clear framework for analysis; and it deals not only with the substance of the policy but also with the ways in which the policy as a whole has emerged, is conducted and might develop in the future. In offering an inclusive set of case studies and diverse perspectives, this book aims to advance both conceptualization and analysis of the implementation of the established EU partnerships. The book highlights the notion of strategic partnership as a foreign policy instrument to support EU external action in a context of multilevel change and crisis; its policy dimension as a gradually separated, but not separable policy within the Union's external action; the institutional component given the emergence of SPs as a sort of self-preserving institutional platform allowing for denser and deeper cooperation in various policy areas; and the implications for the EU's self-conception as an international actor with a global identity and role.

Critically acclaimed novelist Michael Farris Smith pulls Nick Carraway out of the shadows and into the spotlight in this exhilarating imagination of his life before The Great Gatsby Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby's world, he was at the centre of a very different story - one taking place along the trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I. Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed first-hand, Nick delays his return home, hoping to escape the questions he cannot answer about the horrors of war. Instead, he embarks on a transcontinental redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance - doomed from the very beginning - to the dizzying frenzy of New Orleans, rife with its own flavour of debauchery and violence. An epic portrait of a truly singular era and a sweeping, romantic story of self-discovery, this rich and imaginative novel breathes new life into a character that many know only from the periphery. Charged with enough alcohol, heartbreak, and profound yearning to transfix even the heartiest of golden age scribes, Nick reveals the man behind the narrator who has captivated readers for decades.

Jackie Robinson: A Life in American History provides readers with an understanding of the scope of Robinson's life and explores why no Major League Baseball player will ever again wear number 42 as his regular jersey number. This book captures Robinson's lifetime, from 1919 to 1972, while focusing on his connections to the unresolved promise of the Reconstruction Era and to the civil rights movement of the 20th century. In addition to covering Robinson's athletic career with the UCLA Bruins, the Kansas City Monarchs, the Montreal Royals, and the Brooklyn Dodgers, the book explores sociopolitical elements to situate Robinson's story and impact within the broader context of United States history. The book makes deliberate connections among the failure of Reconstruction, the creation of the Negro Leagues, the rise and decline of legalized segregation in the United States, the progress of the civil rights movement, and Robinson's life. Chronological chapters begin with Robinson's life before he played professional baseball, continue with an exploration of the Negro Leagues and Robinson's career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and conclude with an examination of Robinson's post-retirement life as well as his influence on civil rights. Supplemental materials including document excerpts give readers an opportunity to explore contemporary accounts of Robinson's career and impact. Provides readers with insight into the ways the unfulfilled promise of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras impacted areas of life beyond politics Provides readers with an understanding of how professional baseball reflects American society and vice versa Informs readers that Major League baseball in the 19th century experienced a period of integration before entering a prolonged period of segregation Demonstrates how the effort to reintegrate the Major Leagues was tied to World War II and to efforts to promote integration in other areas of American society Shows Robinson's significance both within and outside of the world of professional baseball

'The authors of this absorbing book have a strong command of detail, context and narrative structure... the results are impressively claustrophobic.' - Times Literary Supplement 'Gripping... The authors skillfully capture the fear and claustrophobia. A riveting real-life drama.' - Kirkus 'Cabin Fever is riveting, taut, and extensively researched. Smith and Franklin have written a page-turning adventure that will keep you reading late into the night.' - Martin Dugard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Taking Paris 'A gripping account of how an invisible stowaway - the Covid-19 virus - transformed a fun-filled luxury cruise into an unimaginable nightmare.' - Sara Gay Forden, bestselling author of House of Gucci 'Extensive first-hand testimony and the authors' brisk, matter-of-fact style enrich this propulsive account of how a holiday cruise turned into a nightmare. Readers will be riveted.' - Publishers Weekly In early 2020, the world was on edge. An ominous virus was spreading and no one knew what the coming weeks would bring. Far from the hotspots, the cruise ship Zaandam was preparing to sail from Buenos Aires loaded with 1,200 passengers - British, American, Australian, European and South American tourists, plus 600 crew. Most passengers were over the age of 65. There was concern about the virus in the news but that was oceans away. Escaping to sea at the ends of the earth for a few weeks seemed like it might be a good option. The cruise line had said the voyage would go ahead as scheduled and it would be safe. Within days, people aboard the Zaandam began to fall sick. The world's ports shut down. Zaandam became a top story on the news and was denied safe harbour everywhere. With only two doctors aboard and few medical supplies to test for or treat Covid-19, and with dwindling food and water, the ship wandered the oceans on an unthinkable journey. Cabin Fever is a riveting narrative thriller, taking readers behind the scenes of the ship's complex workings, and below decks into the personal lives of passengers and crew who were caught unprepared for the deadly ordeal that lay ahead. It is a story layered with moments of peril, perseverance and kindness. A remarkable tale that is filled with individual acts of heroism and the struggles and the tragedies of the crew and passengers.

The acres and acres of fertile soil, the two-hundred year old antebellum house, all gone. And so is the woman who gave it to him. The foster mother who saved Jack Boucher from a childhood of abandonmnet now rests in a hospice. Her mind eroded by dementia, the family legacy she entrusted to Jack is now owned by banks and strangers. And Jack's mind is failing too, as concussion after concussion forces him to carry around a notebook of names that separate friend from foe. In a single twisted night Jack is derailed. Losing the money that will clear his debt with the queen of Delta vice, and forcing Jack into the fighting pit one last time. The stakes - nothing less than life or death.

There was no rising from the dead and there was no hand to calm the storms and there was no peace in no valley. In the hurricane-ravaged bottomlands of South Mississippi, where stores are closing and jobs are few, a fierce zealot has gained a foothold, capitalizing on the vulnerability of a dwindling population and a burning need for hope. As she preaches and promises salvation from the light of the pulpit, in the shadows she sows the seeds of violence. Elsewhere, Jessie and her toddler, Jace, are on the run across the Mississippi/Louisiana line, in a resentful return to her childhood home and her desolate father. Holt, Jace's father, is missing and hunted by a brutish crowd, and an old man witnesses the wrong thing in the depths of night. In only a matter of days, all of their lives will collide, and be altered, in the maelstrom of the changing world. At once elegiac and profound, Salvage This World journeys into the heart of a region growing darker and less forgiving, and asks how we keep going - what do we hold onto - in a land where God has fled.

This volume explores the relationship between representation, affect, and emotion in texts for children and young adults. It demonstrates how texts for young people function as tools for emotional socialisation, enculturation, and political persuasion. The collection provides an introduction to this emerging field and engages with the representation of emotions, ranging from shame, grief, and anguish to compassion and happiness, as psychological and embodied states and cultural constructs with ideological significance. It also explores the role of narrative empathy in relation to emotional socialisation and to the ethics of representation in relation to politics, social justice, and identity categories including gender, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality. Addressing a range of genres, including advice literature, novels, picture books, and film, this collection examines contemporary, historical, and canonical children's and young adult literature to highlight the variety of approaches to emotion and affect in these texts and to consider the ways in which these approaches offer new perspectives on these texts. The individual chapters apply a variety of theoretical approaches and perspectives, including cognitive poetics, narratology, and poststructuralism, to the analysis of affect and emotion in children's and young adult literature.

In his bestselling Station X, Michael Smith brought us the astonishing true story of the breaking of the Enigma Code. In The Emperor's Codes, he continues the tale as he examines how Japan's codes were broken and explores the consequences for the Second World War. The Emperor's Codes tells the stories of John Tiltman, the eccentric British soldier turned codebreaker who made many of the early breaks into Japanese diplomatic and military codes; Eric Nave, the Australian sailor recruited to work for the British who pioneered breakthroughs in Japanese naval codes; and Hiroshi Oshima, the hard-drinking Japanese ambassador to Berlin whose candid reports to Tokyo of his conversations with Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis were a major source of intelligence in the war against Germany. Many of these revelations have been made possible only thanks to recently declassified British files, privileged access to Australian secret official histories and interviews with an unprecedented number of British, American and Australian codebreakers.

'Fascinating analysis' Nigel West; 'Grippingly told, authoritative' Mail on Sunday; 'Meticulously researched...a remarkably good read' John Brennan, former CIA Director; 'Excellent...a detailed, highly professional account' Sir John Scarlett, former MI6 Chief ​ The Special Relationship between America and Britain is feted by politicians on both sides of the Atlantic when it suits their purpose and just as frequently dismissed as a myth, not least by the media, which announces its supposed death on a regular basis. Yet the simple truth is that the two countries are bound together more closely than either is to any other ally. In The Real Special Relationship, Michael Smith reveals how it all began, when a top-secret visit by four American codebreakers to Bletchley Park in February 1941 - ten months before the US entered the Second World War - marked the start of a close collaboration between the two nations that endures to this day. Once the war was over, and the Cold War began, both sides recognised that the way they had worked together to decode German and Japanese ciphers could now be used to counter the Soviet threat. Despite occasional political conflict and public disputes between the two nations, such as during the Suez crisis, behind the scenes intelligence sharing continued uninterrupted, right up to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Smith, the bestselling author of Station X and having himself served in British military intelligence, brings together a fascinating range of characters, from Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming to Kim Philby and Edward Snowden, who have helped shape the security of our two nations. Supported by in-depth interviews and an excellent range of personal contacts, he takes the reader into the mysterious workings of MI6, the CIA and all those who work to keep us safe.   

For Winston Churchill the men and women at Bletchley Park were ' the geese the laid the golden eggs' , providing important intelligence that led to the Allied victory in the Second World War. At the peak of Bletchley' s success, a total of twelve thousand people worked there of whom more than eight thousand were women. These included a former ballerina who helped to crack the Enigma Code; a debutante working for the Admiralty with a direct line to Churchill; the convent girl who operated the Bombes, the top secret machines that tested Enigma settings; and the German literature student whose codebreaking saved countless lives at D-Day. All these women were essential cogs in a very large machine, yet their stories have been kept secret. In The Debs of Bletchley Park author Michael Smith, trustee of Bletchley Park and chair of the Trust' s Historical Advisory Committee, tells their tale. Through interviews with the women themselves and unique access to the Bletchley Park archives, Smith reveals how they came to be there, the lives they gave up to do ' their bit' for the war effort, and the part they played in the vital work of ' Station X' . They are an incredible set of women, and this is their story.