The first book in a new series and a thrilling debut from ER doctor turned novelist Tom Miller, The Philosopher's Flight is an epic historical fantasy set in a World-War-I-era America that "[begins] with rollicking fierceness that grabs readers from its opening lines and doesn't loosen its grip or lessen its hold all the way through. Miller's writing is intoxicating" (Associated Press). HE'S ALWAYS WANTED TO FLY LIKE A GIRL. Eighteen-year-old Robert Weekes is one of the few men who practice empirical philosophy--an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, heal the injured, and even fly. He's always dreamed of being the first man to join the US Sigilry Corps' Rescue and Evacuation Department, an elite team of flying medics, but everyone knows that's impossible: men can barely get off the ground. When a shocking tragedy puts Robert's philosophical abilities to the test, he rises to the occasion and wins a scholarship to study philosophy at Radcliffe College--an all-women's school. At Radcliffe, Robert hones his flying skills and strives to win the respect of his classmates, a host of formidable and unruly women. Robert falls hard for Danielle Hardin, a disillusioned young hero of the Great War turned political radical. But Danielle's activism and Robert's recklessness attract the attention of the same fanatical anti-philosophical group that Robert's mother fought against decades before. With their lives in mounting danger, Robert and Danielle band together with a team of unlikely heroes to fight for Robert's place among the next generation of empirical philosophers--and for philosophy's very survival against the men who would destroy it. "Part thriller, part romance, part coming-of-age fantasy, The Philosopher's Flight...is as fun a read as you'll come across... Miller has already set a high bar for any book vying to be the most entertaining novel of [the year]" (BookPage). Tom Miller writes with unrivaled imagination, ambition, and humor. The Philosopher's Flight is both a fantastical reimagining of American history and a beautifully composed coming-of-age tale for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.

Critically acclaimed author Tom Miller reveals the making and marketing of one Panama hat, from the straw fields of Ecuador's coastal lowland to a hat shop in Southern California. Along the way, the hat becomes a literary device allowing Miller to give us his impressions from the tributaries of the Amazon to the mountainsides of the Andes. The Panama Hat Trail is at once a study in global economics and a lively travelogue.

By 2030, China's cities will be home to 1 billion people - one in every eight people on earth. What kind of lives will China's urban billion lead? And what will China's cities be like? Over the past thirty years, China's urban population expanded by 500 million people, and is on track to swell by a further 300 million by 2030. Hundreds of millions of these new urban residents are rural migrants, who lead second-class lives without access to urban benefits. Even those lucky citizens who live in modern tower blocks must put up with clogged roads, polluted skies and cityscapes of unremitting ugliness. The rapid expansion of urban China is astonishing, but new policies are urgently needed to create healthier cities. Combining on-the-ground reportage and up-to-date research, this pivotal book explains why China has failed to reap many of the economic and social benefits of urbanization, and suggests how these problems can be resolved. If its leaders get urbanization right, China will surpass the United States and cement its position as the world's largest economy. But if they get it wrong, China could spend the next twenty years languishing in middle-income torpor, its cities pockmarked by giant slums.

The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the greatest victory in the history of Rangers Football Club when, on 24 May 1972, Rangers won the European Cup Winners' Cup in dramatic style in Barcelona. That evening in Spain will forever live in the hearts of Rangers fans as their greatest day. Now, in conversation with a roll call of the great and good from that glorious day, Tom Miller looks back on the campaign that culminated in Rangers winning their only major European trophy. Willie Johnston recalls the revolutionary tactics that served them well on their travels, starting against Rennes in France. John Greig revisits the bizarre events of the match in Lisbon when Rangers thought they had been eliminated by Sporting. Alex MacDonald claims he still has the bruises from his exertions in the quarter-final against Torino, and Derek Parlane tells of his shock at being called into the starting line-up against Bayern Munich just before his 19th birthday. And for the final itself, Peter McCloy - who played every competitive game for Rangers in that historic season - evokes that special chemistry which delivered the winning formula against Russian giants FC Dynamo Moscow. For the first time these Rangers legends share their memories together, making Barcelona an essential read on a golden era for Rangers Football Club.

'China', Napoleon once remarked, 'is a sleeping lion. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.' In 2014, President Xi Jinping triumphantly declared that the lion had awoken. From holding its ground in trade wars with the US, to presenting itself as a world leader in the fight against climate change, a newly confident China is flexing its economic muscles for strategic ends. With the Belt and Road initiative, billed as a new Silk Road for the 21st Century, China is set to extend its influence throughout Eurasia and across the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. But with the Chinese and US militaries also vying over the Pacific, does this newfound confidence put China on a collision course with the US? Combining a geopolitical overview with on-the-ground reportage from a dozen countries, this new edition of China's Asian Dream engages with the most recent developments in the ongoing story of China's ascendency, and offers new insights into what the rise of China means not only for Asia, but for the world.

The Steel Band Game Plan: Strategies for Starting, Building, and Maintaining Your Pan Program, the first comprehensive resource devoted to steel band pedagogy, is a must-have for anyone involved in the steel band idiom today. Written primarily for educators, The Steel Band Game Plan addresses a wide variety of topics, including instrumentation, personnel, basic pan technique, repertoire, and rehearsal strategies. This informative text addresses a sore need among the community of pan: the need for a thorough treatment of topics regarding the successful implementation and development of a steel band program. The style is user-friendly, and anyone who desires to start a steel band program, or who is currently directing one, will find it accessible and enlightening. It's a one-stop resource for a wide variety of information-from guidelines on major decisions such as what instruments to purchase, to helpful tips for getting the most out of your rehearsals. Simply put, The Steel Band Game Plan is a book that no steel band director can afford to be without.

THE YEAR 2022 MARKS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREATEST VICTORY IN THE HISTORY OF RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB - WINNING THE EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS' CUP IN BARCELONA. Now, in conversation with a roll call of the legends from that glorious day in 1972, Tom Miller looks back on the campaign that culminated in Rangers winning their only major European trophy. Willie Johnston recalls the team's revolutionary tactics. John Greig revisits the match in Lisbon when Rangers thought they had been eliminated. Alex MacDonald claims he still has the bruises from the quarter-final, and Derek Parlane tells of his shock at being called into the starting line-up against Bayern Munich just before his 19th birthday. And for the final itself, Peter McCloy evokes the special chemistry that delivered the trophy to Ibrox. Join these legends as they share the inside story of an astonishing achievement from a golden era for Rangers Football Club.

A Collection of Poetry and Prose from America's Greatest Schlock Writer and Performance Artist, Tom Miller.

Tom Miller’s On the Border frames the land between the United States and Mexico as a Third Country, one 2,000 miles long and twenty miles wide. This Third Country has its own laws and its own outlaws. Its music, language, and food are unique. On the Border, a first-person travel narrative, portrays this bi-national culture, “unforgettable to every reader lucky enough to discover this gem of southwestern Americana.� (San Diego Union-Tribune) It’s a “deftly written book,� said the New Times Book Review. “Mr. Miller has drawn a lively sketch of this unruly, unpredictable place.� Traveling from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, Miller offers “cultural history and fine journalism.� (Dallas Times Herald)   Among his stops is Rosa’s Cantina in El Paso, the Arizona site where a rancher sadistically tortured three Mexican campesinos, and the 100,000-watt XERF radio station where Wolfman Jack broadcasts nightly. He interviews children in both countries, all of whom insist that the candy on the other side is superior. On the Border, translated into Spanish, French, and Japanese, was the first book to identify and describe this land as a Third Country. Miller “knows this country,� says Newsday, “feels its joys and sorrows, hears its music and loves its soul.�

Cuba--mysterious, intoxicating, captivating. Whether you're planning to go or have just returned, Cuba, Hot and Cold is essential for your bookshelf. With a keen eye and dry wit, author Tom Miller takes readers on an intimate journey from Havana to the places you seldom find in guidebooks. A brilliant raconteur and expert on Cuba, Miller is full of enthralling behind-the-scenes stories. His subjects include one of the world's most resourceful master instrument makers, the famous photo of Che Guevara, and the explosion of the USS Maine. A veteran of the underground press of the 1960s, Miller describes the day Cuba's State Security detained him for distributing copies of the United Nations Human Rights Declaration of 1948 and explains how the dollar has become the currency of necessity. His warm reminiscences explain the complexities of life in Cuba. Since his first visit to the island thirty years ago, Miller has shown us the real people of Havana and the countryside, the Castros and their government, and the protesters and their rigor. His first book on Cuba, Trading with the Enemy, brought readers into the "Special Period," Fidel's name for the country's period of economic free fall. Cuba, Hot and Cold brings us up to date, providing intimate and authentic glimpses of day-to-day life.

"Havana knew me by my shoes," begins Tom Miller's lively and entertaining account of his sojourn for more than eight months traveling through Cuba, mixing with its literati and black marketers, its cane cutters and cigar rollers. Granted unprecedented access to travel throughout the country, the author presents us with a rare insight into one of the world's only Communist countries. Its best-known personalities and ordinary citizens talk to him about the U.S. embargo and tell their favorite Fidel jokes as they stand in line for bread at the Socialism or Death Bakery. Miller provides a running commentary on Cuba's food shortages, exotic sensuality, and baseball addiction as he follows the scents of Graham Greene, Jose Marti, Ernest Hemingway, and the Mambo Kings. The result of this informed and adventurous journey is a vibrant, rhythmic portrait of a land and people too long shielded from American eyes.

"China", Napoleon once remarked, "is a sleeping lion. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world." In 2014, President Xi Jinping triumphantly declared the lion had awakened. Under his leadership, China is pursuing a dream to restore its historical position as the dominant power in Asia. From the Mekong River Basin to the Central Asian steppe, China is flexing its economic muscles for strategic ends. By setting up new regional financial institutions, Beijing is challenging the post-World War II order established under the watchful eye of Washington. And by funding and building roads, railways, ports and power lines-a New Silk Road across Eurasia and through the South China Sea and Indian Ocean-China aims to draw its neighbours ever tighter into its embrace. Combining a geopolitical overview with on-the-ground reportage from a dozen countries, China's Asian Dream offers a fresh perspective on the rise of China' and asks: what does it means for the future of Asia?

Jim Baxter - the legendary 'Slim Jim' - was arguably Scotland's greatest-ever footballer, a left-footed genius who became a Rangers icon and helped Scotland humiliate world champions England at Wembley in 1967 - with some famous keepie-uppie along the way. And although much has been written about Slim Jim over the years, the real story behind his life is now revealed for the first time. When Jim Baxter joined Rangers in 1960 for a record fee of GBP17,500, he quickly proved his worth, helping the team to ten trophies over the next five years. It was the start of a glittering career and a hard-drinking, hard-living lifestyle in the big city, where he fully enjoyed the fruits of his success. But behind the glamour on and off the park, Jim Baxter hid a secret that would torment him for most of his life, a secret he only discovered the full truth about when he was fifty years old. What is beyond doubt is that Slim Jim Baxter will forever be revered for his unbelievable footballing talent. He will also be remembered for his ability to live life to the full and beyond. But had he uncovered the truth earlier about the family secret that left him shattered, the life of this footballing genius might have been very different both on and off the pitch.

The Steel Band Game Plan: Strategies for Starting, Building, and Maintaining Your Pan Program, the first comprehensive resource devoted to steel band pedagogy, is a must-have for anyone involved in the steel band idiom today. Written primarily for educators, The Steel Band Game Plan addresses a wide variety of topics, including instrumentation, personnel, basic pan technique, repertoire, and rehearsal strategies. This informative text addresses a sore need among the community of pan: the need for a thorough treatment of topics regarding the successful implementation and development of a steel band program. The style is user-friendly, and anyone who desires to start a steel band program, or who is currently directing one, will find it accessible and enlightening. It's a one-stop resource for a wide variety of information-from guidelines on major decisions such as what instruments to purchase, to helpful tips for getting the most out of your rehearsals. Simply put, The Steel Band Game Plan is a book that no steel band director can afford to be without.

By 2030, China's cities will be home to 1 billion people one in every eight people on earth. What kind of lives will China's urban billion lead? And what will China's cities be like?
Over the past thirty years, China's urban population expanded by 500 million people, and is on track to swell by a further 300 million by 2030. Hundreds of millions of these new urban residents are rural migrants, who lead second-class lives without access to urban benefits. Even those lucky citizens who live in modern tower blocks must put up with clogged roads, polluted skies and cityscapes of unremitting ugliness. The rapid expansion of urban China is astonishing, but new policies are urgently needed to create healthier cities.
Combining on-the-ground reportage and up-to-date research, this pivotal book explains why China has failed to reap many of the economic and social benefits of urbanization, and suggests how these problems can be resolved. If its leaders get urbanization right, China will surpass the United States and cement its position as the world's largest economy. But if they get it wrong, China could spend the next twenty years languishing in middle-income torpor, its cities pockmarked by giant slums.

In March of 1993, the Army pronounced Gulf War veteran Sgt. Jose Zuniga the 1992 Soldier of the Year. Six weeks later, Zuniga's military career ended when he revealed that he was gay. This is an intensely personal account of the homophobia and hypocrisy that pervades the American military.