The beloved #1 Essence bestselling authors of Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made now deliver a novel in which you'll meet their most unforgettable... characters yet. Carmen, Jewel, and Regina could not be more different. When they meet as freshmen at Columbia University, they're pretty confident that a friendship among them isn't in the cards. Jewel is Hollywood royalty: as the teenage star of the TV show "Daddy's Girl," her face is instantly recognizable all across America. Now, though, she wants two things-to get a serious education, and to leave her controlling stage mother behind. Regina is the definitive upper-middle-class African-American girl. Her picture-perfect parents are what she calls "black Ward and June Cleavers" and their goals for her are like a stranglehold. No one can see, though, how far Regina's rebellious side will take her (or how treacherous it will become). Carmen is just trying to get by. A child of the projects whose father is dead and whose mother has vanished, Carmen has been raised by her abusive brother. Columbia is the way for her to get a better life-if she can hold down two jobs and keep her GPA up. When the three of them meet, their lives are at a crossroad. And as the years progress, from the 1980s to the present day, they are challenged by drug addiction, fame, secrets from the past, sickness, betrayal, and the darkest things women can face. One of them won't survive. But what will be the lasting legacy of their friendship? Better Than I Know Myself is a novel of heartache, triumph, tears, and the unshakeable bonds among women.

In his acclaimed Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam describes the United States as a nation in which we have become increasingly disconnected from one another... and in which our social structures have disintegrated. But in the final chapter of that book he detects hopeful signs of civic renewal. In Better Together Putnam and coauthor Lewis Feldstein tell the inspiring stories of people who are reweaving the social fabric by bringing their own communities together or building bridges to others. Better Together examines how people across the country are inventing new forms of social activism and community renewal. An arts program in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, brings together shipyard workers and their gentrified neighbors; a deteriorating, crime-ridden neighborhood in Boston is transformed by a determined group of civic organizers; an online "virtual" community in San Francisco allows its members to connect with each other as well as the larger group; in Wisconsin schoolchildren learn how to participate in the political process to benefit their town. As our society grows increasingly diverse, say Putnam and Feldstein, it's more important than ever to grow "social capital," whether by traditional or more innovative means. The people profiled in Better Together are doing just that, and their stories illustrate the extraordinary power of social networks for enabling people to improve their lives and the lives of those around them.

"Better Writing Through Editing" teaches intermediate students how to edit their own writing for correct sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and... expression. Using a systematic approach for studying writing and editing problems, students discover their individual strengths and weaknesses and are encouraged to monitor their own progress. Part 1, Getting Started, begins with a diagnostic self-assessment to determine each students' awareness of typical ESL/EFL editing problems. Students also learn an editing system that they can use to evaluate their own writing. Part 2, Writing Focus, provides practice with a variety of English sentence types and features writing assignments based on a chapter theme and a rhetorical focus. Part 3, Editing Focus, provides clear and simple explanations of typical ESL/EFL editing problems and contains hundreds of practice exercises. The chapters in the Editing Focus section can be done in any order, thus allowing a teacher to customize learning while simultaneously completing the Writing Focus chapters.

America's most trusted cookbook is better than ever!Representing its most thorough revision ever, the Betty Crocker Cookbook, 11th Edition includes... hundreds of new recipes, three new chapters, and icons that showcase how we cook today—faster, healthier, and with many more flavors.New features celebrate the book's expertise and heritage with repertoire-building recipe lessons and fresh twists on American classics. With nearly 1,100 gorgeous new photos and 1,500 recipes, as well as invaluable cooking guidance, The Big Red Cookbook is better and more comprehensive than ever before. The book features:Exclusive content at BettyCrocker.com for Big Red buyers, including 80 videos, 400 additional recipes, and more to complement and enhance the cookbook1,500 recipes, 50 percent new to this editionNearly 1,100 all-new full-color photos—more than three times the number in the previous edition—including 350 step-by-step photosBold, contemporary, and colorful designThree new chapters on Breakfast and Brunch, Do It Yourself (including canning, preserving and pickling) and Entertaining (including cocktails and party treats)New feature: Learn to Make recipes giving visual lessons on preparing essential dishes like Roast Turkey and Apple Pie, with icons directing readers to bonus videos on BettyCrocker.comNew feature: Heirloom Recipe and New Twist showcase classic recipes paired with a fresh twist, with icons directing readers to bonus videos on BettyCrocker.com"Mini" recipes giving quick bursts of inspiration in short paragraph formWith 65 million copies sold and still going strong, the Betty Crocker Cookbook, 11th Edition is the one kitchen companion every home cook needs.

The Best Just Got BetterThe Most Trusted CookbookFrom foolproof, dependable recipes to reliable how-to advice, the Betty Crocker Cookbook has everything... you need for the way you cook today. Whether you're a new or experienced cook, The Betty CrockerCookbook? is the book for you!Comprehensive resource, with more than 1,000 easy-to-follow recipesCreative cooking ideas, including more than 400 recipe variationsBeautiful design, with 300 color photos and 55 illustrationsAll-new chapters: "Casseroles & Slow-Cooker" and "20 Minutes or Less"Fast recipes flagged throughout--130 ready in 20 minutes or less!Great-tasting Low-Fat recipes specially marked--more than 185 in allHelpful Betty's Cures to solve common baking problemsUseful Learn with Betty photos to help get perfect results every timeDetailed nutrition information, plus dietary exchanges and carb choicesThe all-new Tenth Edition--a perfect 10!For more great ideas visit BettyCrocker.com

Drawing on an impressive body of new research - including Friedan's own papers - Horowitz traces the development of Friedan's feminist outlook from her... childhood in Peoria, Illinois, through her wartime years at Smith College and Berkeley, to her decade-long career as a writer for two of the period's most radical labor journals, the Federated Press and the United Electrical Workers' UE News. He further shows that even after she married and began to raise a family, Friedan continued during the 1950s to write and work on behalf of a wide range of progressive social causes. By resituating Friedan within a broader cultural context, and by offering a fresh reading of The Feminine Mystique against that background, Horowitz not only overturns conventional ideas about "second-wave" feminism but also reveals long submerged links to its past.

Scholar, journalist, activist, and noted author, Betty Friedan led a public campaign for equality in American society that stretched from 1950’s... suburbia to the close of the 20th century.   Friedan’s personal experiences motivated her to rally against anti-Semitism at Smith College, reveal wage discrimination as a reporter for labor unions, define domestic dissatisfaction in The Feminine Mystique, and organize women for equality with the founding of the National Organization for Women.  That public persona also affected her private life in marriage, motherhood, and eventual divorce.  This newest addition to Longman’s Library of American Biography Series follows Friedan through nearly 50 years of championing equality, mapping the successes and shortfalls of her agenda.   The titles in the Library of American Biography Series make ideal supplements for American History Survey courses or other courses in American history where figures in history are explored. Paperback, brief, and inexpensive, each interpretative biography in this series focuses on a figure whose actions and ideas significantly influenced the course of American history and national life. At the same time, each biography relates the life of its subject to the broader themes and developments of the times.

Neuman's Systems Model is a comprehensive conceptual framework, used extensively in nursing education; it reflects nursing's interest in holism and the... influence of the environment on health. This volume provides a clear and concise overview of the model and includes a brief biography of the theorist and a succinct discussion of the theory itself.

Looking for a little rest and time by herself, Betty rents a summer share at the beach. But Betty's luck turns to delicious lunacy when this sensible... Everywoman gets drawn into the chaotic world of some very unsavory housemates - her friend Trudy, who talks too much; the lewd, seminaked Buck, who tries to have sex with everyone; and Keith, a serial killer who hides in his room with a mysterious hatbox. With sand between her toes, walking a thin line between sanity and survival, poor Betty will leave her summer vacation more terrorized than tan.

What would happen if Christians and a Muslim at a university talked and disagreed, but really tried to understand each other? What would they learn? ... That is the intriguing question Peter Kreeft seeks to answer in these imaginative conversations at Boston College. An articulate and engaging Muslim student named 'Isa challenges the Christian students and professors he meets on issues ranging from prayer and worship to evolution and abortion, from war and politics to the nature of spiritual struggle and spiritual submission. While Kreeft believes Christians should not learn extremism or unitarian theology from Muslims, he does believe that if we really listened we could learn much about devoted religious practice and ethics. Here is a book to open your understanding of one of the key forces shaping our world today. It's a book that just could make you a better Christian.

The Essentials of Comparative Politics family—including a core textbook, reader, and casebook of country studies—is the most comprehensive, ... flexible, and affordable package for introductory courses.For this Second Edition, each book has been revised to best complement the others and updated to reflect recent developments. This accessible introduction presents the core concepts that political scientists use to study and compare political systems, illustrating these concepts with concrete examples from specific political systems.

This multifaceted study of Syrian immigration to the United States places Syrians-- and Arabs more generally--at the center of discussions about race... and racial formation from which they have long been marginalized. Between Arab and White focuses on the first wave of Arab immigration and settlement in the United States in the years before World War II, but also continues the story up to the present. It presents an original analysis of the ways in which people mainly from current day Lebanon and Syria--the largest group of Arabic-speaking immigrants before World War II--came to view themselves in racial terms and position themselves within racial hierarchies as part of a broader process of ethnic identity formation.

Like all verse, ASL poetry opens the mind to the richness of language, inspiring an appreciation of expressiveness, nuance, and cultural significance.... ASL Poetry: Selected Works of Clayton Valli, gives teachers an exciting way to awaken students to the splendor of ASL. New on DVD! Read Valli's personal account of becoming an ASL poet-"Valli's Story," an excerpt from Valli's unfinished manuscript accompanied by a video clip of the ASL phrase that opened Valli's eyes to the creative use of ASL. Organized to allow easier access to each poem! The video material is presented with a new interface perfect for studying individual poems.
Native signers of all ages performing Valli's works; Clips of Valli in a Video Letter, explaining terms that apply to ASL poetry like stanza, meter, initialized handshapes, and numerical handshapes; Poetic features, highlighting parts of poems and demonstrating what makes them uniquely poetic. Use ASL Poetry in ways you never thought of before-for practice, inspiration, insight, sheer joy in language beautifully expressed, and hours of viewing pleasure! Clayton Valli (1951-2003) was one of his generation's foremost innovators of ASL poetics. A professor of Linguistics and Interpreting at Gallaudet University, Valli's seminal research uncovered the principles of ASL poetry - principles common to all forms of poetry. This DVD stands as a tribute to Valli's pride in his signed language and his love of its creative possibilities.

The International Bestseller Between a Rock and a Hard Place--Now the Major Motion Picture 127 HoursHiking into the remote Utah canyonlands, Aron... Ralston felt perfectly at home in the beauty of the natural world. Then, at 2:41 P.M., eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, an eight-hundred-pound boulder tumbled loose, pinning Aron's right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. Through six days of hell, with scant water, food, or warm clothing, and the terrible knowledge that no one knew where he was, Aron eliminated his escape option one by one. Then a moment of stark clarity helped him to solve the riddle of the boulder--and commit one of the most extreme and desperate acts imaginable.     Honest, inspiring, and undeniably astonishing, 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place has taken its place in the annals of classic adventure stories.