Ancient legends tell of an almost forgotten civilization possessing flying fighting machines, vast armies, and a source of limitless free energy called Vril. In the middle of the twentieth century two rival submarines from warring nations in our world raced to find the lost continent of Atlantis and the source of Vril. One nation aimed to secure world domination, the other sought to preserve world freedom. Neither submarine was seen again until the present day when one of them is discovered in a secret subterranean dock and caught suddenly in the world's energy-hungry gaze. In a bid to stop the secrets of Atlantis from destroying mankind in the present day, the sub escapes its secret moorings for a perilous return voyage to Atlantis. Here in "Austin and the Lost Kingdom of Atlantis" - the sequel to "Austin and the Secret of Karnak House" - school friends Bill Young and Toby Wishman, Bill's heartthrob Lulabell Singer (Lu), and their arch enemy Stu Briggs, find themselves trapped together aboard the Professor's ancient and leaky submarine on a perilous undersea adventure to try to find and rescue the Professor's long-lost son, Rudi, and destroy the deadly secrets of Atlantis once and for all.

Austin is a wreck He's overgrown with weeds and brambles and lives at the back of Farmer Oats' old barn behind the rickety stone wall. Vole, Hedgehog and the Blackbird family shelter inside him and when the old stone wall collapses and Austin is sent by the greedy farmer to Butcher's scrapyard, the animals are all made homeless and put in terrible danger of being eaten alive by Marmaduke the evil farmyard tomcat. If this wasn't bad enough, when Austin is towed away to be thrown into the Giant Steam Crusher, the baby Blackbird Twins are trapped inside him Will the farmyard animals find the man in the village who does up old cars to rescue Austin before Marmaduke makes a meal of them? Will Austin and the Blackbird babies be squished inside the crusher's greedy jaws? The rollercoaster twists and turns and humour of this thrilling adventure story make 'Austin' a non-stop, page turner for both kids and grown-ups alike

This book is the sequel to "Austin" and the foundation stone for "Austin and the Lost Kingdom of Atlantis." Intended for readers over nine to adult, this classic adventure story is set in the present day and the Second World War. The gripping plot deals with spies, secret codes, and Austin's career in the Secret Service as part of a mysterious expedition to Atlantis to harness an awesome mystic force, known only to the ancients of Atlantis, which can both heal and destroy. The story glimpses a time when computer development was in its infancy, where mechanical computers look set to prevail, and where the horrific consequences of racial persecution are made real to young readers.

The debate over affirmative action has raged for over four decades, with little give on either side. Most agree that it began as noble effort to jump-start racial integration many believe it devolved into a patently unfair system of quotas and concealment. Now, with the Supreme Court set to rule on a case that could sharply curtail the use of racial preferences in American universities, law professor Richard Sander and legal journalist Stuart Taylor offer a definitive account of what affirmative action has become, showing that while the objective is laudable, the effects have been anything but.Sander and Taylor have long admired affirmative action's original goals, but after many years of studying racial preferences, they have reached a controversial but undeniable conclusion: that preferences hurt underrepresented minorities far more than they help them. At the heart of affirmative action's failure is a simple phenomenon called mismatch. Using dramatic new data and numerous interviews with affected former students and university officials of colour, the authors show how racial preferences often put students in competition with far better-prepared classmates, dooming many to fall so far behind that they can never catch up. Mismatch largely explains why, even though black applicants are more likely to enter college than whites with similar backgrounds, they are far less likely to finish why there are so few black and Hispanic professionals with science and engineering degrees and doctorates why black law graduates fail bar exams at four times the rate of whites and why universities accept relatively affluent minorities over working class and poor people of all races.Sander and Taylor believe it is possible to achieve the goal of racial equality in higher education, but they argue that alternative policies,such as full public disclosure of all preferential admission policies, a focused commitment to improving socioeconomic diversity on campuses, outreach to minority communities, and a renewed focus on K-12 schooling ,will go farther in achieving that goal than preferences, while also allowing applicants to make informed decisions. Bold, controversial, and deeply researched, Mismatch calls for a renewed examination of this most divisive of social programs,and for reforms that will help realize the ultimate goal of racial equality.

"A masterful examination of the pathetic rush to judgment in the Duke rape case." --John Grisham
The full story of the Duke Lacrosse case, by the authors who broke it
In this American tragedy, Stuart Taylor, Jr., and KC Johnson argue, law enforcement, a campaigning prosecutor, biased journalists, and left-leaning academics repeatedly refused to pursue the truth while scapegoats were made of these young men, recklessly tarnishing their lives.
"Until Proven Innocent "is the only book that covers all five aspects of the case (personal, legal, academic, political, and media) in a comprehensive fashion. It is also the only book to include interviews with all three of the defendants, their families, and their legal teams. And now it includes an up-to-date epilogue detailing the aftershocks and conclusion of the case.
Taylor and Johnson's coverage of the Duke case was the earliest, most honest, and most comprehensive in the country, and here they take on the idiocies and dishonesty of right- and left-wingers alike, shedding new light on the danger of a cultural tendency toward media-fueled travesties of justice. The context of the Duke case has vast import, and in its full telling, it is captivating nonfiction with broad political, racial, and cultural relevance to our times.
"Taylor and Johnson have made a gripping contribution to the literature of the wrongly accused." --"The New York Times Book Review
"""Until Proven Innocent" is a stunning book." --"The Wall Street Journal
""Vivid, at times chilling . . . their most biting scorn is aimed at the 'academic McCarthyism' that they say has infected top-rate American universities like Duke." --"Newsweek
""A superb new book . . . a book that not only reads like a legal thriller, but also exposes deep problems with America's legal system and academic culture." --"The Economist"