Search

Los Angeles was founded in 1781 as one of the two original Spanish pueblos in California. At the time of statehood in 1851, Los Angeles began to reconsider its "cow town" condition, and gradually transformed an American city into the magnificent metropolis we know today. Drawn from the collections of the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Public Library, and the Los Angeles City Archives, Jeffrey Samudio and Portia Lee record the history of a community that established itself culturally as it grew exponentially. By 1945, the small town that had begun with 28 square miles in the late 19th century had grown to 450 square miles through almost 100 annexations. Businessmen constructed a downtown streetscape whose architecture elicited envy in other cities, hotels catered to visitors with such enthusiasm that guests eventually returned with ambitious schemes of their own, and the construction of an elaborate freeway system suddenly made Los Angeles a drive-in city.

Los Angeles, the heart of Southern California culture, boasts a rich and fascinating history. Known for its independence and diversity, the city played a vital role in the development of the American west coast.

Spectres from the Past: The "History" of Slavery in West African and African-American Narratives examines the merit of the claim that West African writers, in comparison to African-Americans authors, deliberately expunge the history of slavery from literary narratives. The book explores slavery in contemporary West African and African-American literature by looking at the politics of history and memory. It interrogates notions of History and memory by considering the possibility that shared traumas, such as West African and African-American experiences of slavery, can be remembered and historicised differently, according to critical factors such as socio-economic realities, cultural beliefs and familial traditions. At the heart of the book are compelling and new readings of slavery in six literary narratives that draws on cultural philosophies, musicology and linguistics to demonstrate diverse and unusual ways that Black writers in West Africa and North America write about slavery in literature.

Drawing on original fieldwork in Nigeria, Portia Roelofs argues for an innovative re-conceptualisation of good governance. Contributing to debates around technocracy, populism and the survival of democracy amidst conditions of inequality and mistrust, Roelofs offers a new account of what it means for leaders to be accountable and transparent. Centred on the rise of the 'Lagos Model' in the Yoruba south-west, this book places the voices of roadside traders and small-time market leaders alongside those of local government officials, political godfathers and technocrats. In doing so, it theorises 'socially-embedded' good governance. Roelofs demonstrates the value of fieldwork for political theory and the associated possibilities for decolonising the study of politics. Challenging the long-held assumptions of the World Bank and other international institutions that African political systems are pathologically dysfunctional, Roelofs demonstrates that politics in Nigeria has much to teach us about good governance.

Durch die von Ferdinand I. testamentarisch verfugte Teilung der habsburgischen Erblander entstand 1564 das Landerkonglomerat "Innerosterreich" mit der landesfurstlichen Residenzstadt Graz, bestehend aus der Steiermark, Karnten, Krain, Gorz und Gradiska, Triest, Teile Istrien mit Rijeka sowie Habsburgisch-Friaul. Von aussen durch die Turken bedroht, gefahrdete im Inneren die sich immer weiter verbreitende Reformation, die vom deutsch-, slowenisch- und italienischsprachigen Innerosterreich nach Italien und in die slawische Welt vordrang, den politischen und konfessionellen Zusammenhalt des Landes. Zur Unterstutzung des katholischen Landesfursten Erzherzog Karl wurde daher von Papst Gregor XIII. 1580 eine standige Nuntiatur in Graz errichtet. Wie in den bisher publizierten Banden des diplomatischen Schriftverkehrs zwischen Rom und Graz stehen auch in diesem vierten Band, der die Jahre 1595-1598 umfasst, Turkenabwehr, Bekampfung des Protestantismus und beginnende katholische Reform im Mittelpunkt. Dazu kommt die vom Papst befurwortete und geforderte Heiratspolitik des Grazer Hofes: innerosterreichische Prinzessinnen wurden nach Polen und Siebenburgen, einem wichtigen Vorposten der christlichen Front gegen die Turken, sowie in einer von Klemens VIII. in Ferrara personlich zelebrierten Hochzeit (1598) nach Spanien vermahlt. Nuntius Girolamo Portia begleitete 1598 auch den jungen Erzherzog Ferdinand auf dessen Italienreise, von der wichtige Impulse fur die Konfessions- und Kulturpolitik des nachmaligen Kaisers Ferdinand II. ausgingen.

What if there really is no such thing as happily ever after? Til death do us part. My wedding day to Vincent Jamison feels like exactly that—a death sentence. An imprisonment in a gilded cage, from which there’s no escape. No salvation. Only a lifetime of pain. Of knowing what I’ve lost. Everything. But when the threat to his family and business upends our wedding celebrations, I’m given a chance I’d never thought I’d have again. A month in a safe house with the man who was once the love of my life, with no one else but my bodyguard and Sonya, who’s in no condition to do anything about what Zach and I both want. A second chance. It’s supposed to be a reprieve. One last glimmer of happiness before I go back to the hell that I consigned myself to. Something to hold onto when things get truly dark. After all, Vincent is my only future. Or is he? There’s secrets I still don’t know. A twist of fate that I hadn’t seen coming. And when the dust settles, a chance that I’m afraid to believe in. A chance that I could be freed. The Claimed series comes to its heartstopping conclusion in the final book of the series, Freed. This book is not a standalone and is meant to be read in order.

The Chance of a Lifetime. . . Again. It's been a long time since Maud Piper has had a lover, particularly one who can give her what she really wants: the masterful hand of a strong, powerful man. The sting of pain that turns into pleasure.