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The year 1982 was a desperate time for the U.S. defense community. The United States had no effective system to protect itself completely from a Soviet attack with nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles, which the Soviet Union possessed in large quantity, and the doomsday philosophy of mutually assured destruction seemed inescapable. But people in the Reagan administration, including Reagan himself, were not content with what they viewed as a morally unacceptable status quo. Then Adm. James Watkins, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked, "Wouldn't it be better if we could develop a system that would protect, rather than avenge, our people?" With that, the president's commitment to the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) became certain. Ultimately, SDI reflected Western political idealism, a powerful ingredient in the struggle to finally conquer the terrors of the Cold War and to allay the threat of nuclear holocaust. The Star Wars Enigma tells this dramatic story.

Nigel Hey’s sixth book, Wonderment: A Love Affair with Adventure, Writing, Travel, Philosophy, and Family Life, is more than an autobiography about an English-American science writer ­– it is a trip around the world and around the mind. The heart of this fast-paced story lies in its varied, thoughtful, and sometimes hilarious collection of memoirs about writing, printing, publishing, media, Native Americans, the American mountain states, world travel, and amateur theatre. These are linked with the author’s philosophical thoughts and observations on the trials and triumphs of a family life shared between London and New Mexico. Hey considers that his life has been both enriched and at times endangered by an apparently insatiable curiosity that has filled his world with adventures of mind and body. In his boyhood his parents take him to a new home, touching off a semi-nomadic five years that eventually take him to the American West, torn between a love of his native Lancashire and the unknowns of future life. Small-town realities in an all-Mormon community teach him the lessons of being an outsider and awake a spirit of independent thought and action. With his university years complete, he heads for his first fulltime job, in Bermuda, then a second in England. These mark the start of an exhilarating rollercoaster life in which he achieves professional success while fulfilling the responsibilities of parenthood and enduring the heartaches of two failed marriages. Throughout, he lives the life of a genuinely curious man, exploring the vestiges of colonial Spain that survive in the mountains of the American Southwest, driving a tunnel in the remote mountains of Greece, dancing with native Americans, uncovering the history of high-tech Soviet weapon science, exploring his Yorkshire and Lancashire roots, traveling the world. The story is laced with scores of real-life anecdotes as Nigel Hey explores his personal philosophy and tackles the biggest question of all – where does he really belong?

Spanning 35 years and 40 albums, this book digs into the music and lyrics of Neil Young, one of rock's most restless spirits. 160 color photos.

When Chester Farlowe's father is killed, Chester is forced to leave the vast cattle ranches of New Zealand's central volcanic plateau for the badlands of urban Auckland. Henry Stroud, proprietor of the I Fry takeaway wagon, takes him under his wing and rechristens him "Mr. Dog." Still full of anger six years later, Chester sets out to plot revenge on his father's killer and finds that he must contend with Boss Lennox, the Sultation Kid, and the seductive and inscrutable Miss Peet before he gets to the showdown. This mythical story reconfigures the New Zealand experience with an absorbing coming-of-age tale.

Examines the methods used in the war against hunger such as development of high yield wheat, replacements for pesticides and herbicides, food preservation, irrigation of desert areas, and farming of the sea.

Spanning 35 years and 40 albums, this book digs into the music and lyrics of Neil Young, one of rock's most restless spirits. 160 color photos.

A “profound, sometimes hilarious, often heartbreaking” (The New York Times) view of prison life, as told by currently and formerly incarcerated people, from the co-creators and co-hosts of the Peabody- and Pulitzer-nominated podcast Ear Hustle “A must-read for fans of the legendary podcast and all those who seek to understand crime, punishment, and mass incarceration in America.”—Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black When Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods met, Nigel was a photography professor volunteering with the Prison University Project and Earlonne was serving thirty-one years to life at California’s San Quentin State Prison. Initially drawn to each other by their shared interest in storytelling, neither had podcast production experience when they decided to enter Radiotopia’s contest for new shows . . . and won. Using the prize for seed money, Nigel and Earlonne launched Ear Hustle, named after the prison term for “eavesdropping.” It was the first podcast created and produced entirely within prison and would go on to be heard millions of times worldwide, garner Peabody and Pulitzer award nominations, and help earn Earlonne his freedom when his sentence was commuted in 2018. In This Is Ear Hustle, Nigel and Earlonne share their own stories of how they came to San Quentin, how they created their phenomenally popular podcast amid extreme limitations, and what has kept them collaborating season after season. They present new stories, all with the same insight, balance, and rapport that distinguish the podcast. In an era when more than two million people are incarcerated across the United States—a number that grows by 600,000 annually—Nigel and Earlonne explore the full and often surprising realities of prison life. With characteristic candor and humor, their moving portrayals include unexpected moments of self-discovery, unlikely alliances, inspirational resilience, and ingenious work-arounds. One personal narrative at a time, framed by Nigel’s and Earlonne’s distinct perspectives, This Is Ear Hustle reveals the complexity of life for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people while illuminating the shared experiences of humanity that unite us all.

Each year, the captain’s games test the mettle of the would-be leaders of an all-girls school in the verdant Eastern Highlands. This year a heavy cerulean mist enshrouds the rugged, lofty peaks where the games are held. Only cruel fate could have brought Isobel here. As thick fog swirls down the mountain side, contestants begin to disappear. Will Isobel embrace her newfound gift in time to save the cold, frightened girls or are all the unworldly apparitions emerging from the shadows only figments of her unconsented intoxication?