Even a beginner can start right out producing uniquely charming and elegant journals, albums, scrapbooks, and more. Envision handmade books to hold your... writings, poems, photos, and keepsakes. More than 170 photos to inspire, and hundreds of illustrations to guide readers through the basics of an almost infinite variety of imaginative styles.

Praise for Covert Persuasion:"This book is a treasure trove of ideas you can use to turn a 'no' into a 'yes' almost instantly-in any sales... situation."-Brian Tracy, speaker and author of Create Your Own Future and Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life"Hogan is the master of persuasion. I urge you to persuade yourself to buy this book and everything he's ever written and recorded. It will help you understand yourself, understand others, and succeed. This information is bankable."-Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible, Little Red Book of Selling, and Little Red Book of Sales Answers"There's more wisdom in this book than in 500 pages on the same subject. Whether you need to persuade your lover, your spouse, your boss, your clients, your friends, or yourself, this powerhouse collection of mind tricks and secrets will give you the upper hand. In today's competitive world, this is the persuasion wizard's manual you need to control circumstances and get what you want."-Dr. Joe Vitale, author of Life's Missing Instruction Manual and The Attractor Factor"When you read Hogan's writing, it feels like you're getting sage advice from a master. Would you like other people to decide on their own (or so they think) to go along with your every whim? Then this is the book you've been looking for."-David Garfinkel, author of Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich"There is more practical information on the dynamics of selling and communication in these pages than you could ever acquire in a lifetime on your own through trial and error. Take advantage of the authors' wisdom and read this book!"-Todd D. Bramson, Certified Financial Planner and author of Real Life Financial Planning

This is the first and only guidebook that specifically outlines methodologies for diagnosing and dealing with all of the "hidden" or covert factors that... can subtly sabotage even the most meticulously planned change processes.

'Cover Up the Dirty Parts!' takes on directly the questions regarding not only the relationship between government funding for the arts and political... censorship, but also the deeper philosophical questions regarding liberty, the definition of art, the role of vague terms in language and law, and the epistemological role of both free expression and art itself. The issue of arts funding sits in the terrain of overlap between aesthetics and political philosophy and thus elicits aesthetic questions regarding the purpose of art and how art is defined, political questions regarding the nature of freedom and the role of government, and epistemological questions regarding the sources of knowledge and how it is we acquire it. As both an analytic philosopher and a practicing artist, Shottenkirk has incorporated the insights and sensitivities of both worlds in this analysis of why art is important and why freedom of expression within cultural development must be respected if we are to embrace a society able to provide the maximum degree of stimulation and safety for all its members. In this context, art is viewed as valuable both as a tool for knowledge acquisition for the individual and as a source of consensus building for the culture. As a device for consensus building art has the role of practicing respect for differing opinions and balancing competing points of view as well as serving as self-expression for the individual. Interviews with two artists, the first of whom is an American central to the funding debates of the last few decades and the second of whom is a contemporary Iranian writer imprisoned for her writing, combine with both narrative and philosophical analysis to give a complete picture of the issues and what is at stake for all of us who care not only about art but about freedom as well. While the distinction between censorship and non-funding is explored, also analyzed is the need for tolerance in the face of offense as well as respect for others' rights and cultural differences.

Cowan and Steel's Manual has for many years had an essential role in every laboratory of microbiology and bacteriology. This substantially revised new... edition, which is modelled on the successful pattern established in the previous two editions, has been fully updated and is suitable for all bacteriological laboratories using traditional diagnostic methods. It is essentially a practical manual with up-to-date contributions and key references by experts to the diagnostic characteristics of the bacteria likely to be encountered in public health and hospital microbiology laboratories, as well as in medical and veterinary practice. This edition contains new sections on rapid and mechanised test methods, and on the laboratory applications of computer theory and practice to the identification of bacteria. As in previous editions, the importance of laboratory quality control and proficiency procedures are emphasised. The Appendices give details of the laboratory methods and media for all the recommended diagnostic tests and, in addition, provide abstracts of the official guidelines for bacterial nomenclature.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Texas was rocked by a series of political transitions. Despite its century-long heritage of solidly Democratic politics, the... state became a Republican stronghold virtually overnight, and by 1980 it was known as "Reagan Country." Ultimately, Republicans dominated the Texas political landscape, holding all twenty-seven of its elected offices and carrying former governor George W. Bush to his second term as president with more than 61 percent of the Texas vote.Sean P. Cunningham examines the remarkable history of Republican Texas in Cowboy Conservatism: Texas and the Rise of the Modern Right. Utilizing extensive research drawn from the archives of four presidential libraries, gubernatorial papers, local campaign offices, and oral histories, Cunningham presents a compelling narrative of the most notable regional genesis of modern conservatism. Spanning the decades from Kennedy's assassination to Reagan's presidency, Cunningham reveals a vivid portrait of modern conservatism in one of the nation's largest and most politically powerful states. The newest title in the New Directions in Southern History series, Cunningham's Cowboy Conservatism demonstrates Texas's distinctive and vital contributions to the transformation of postwar American politics.

No president today is more controversial than Venezuela's Hugo ChAvez FrA-as. Elected in a landslide in 1998, he promised a peaceful revolution. That... peaceful dream became a nightmare when ChAvez was overthrown in a coup d'A(c)tat in 2002. Surprisingly, he was brought back to power by his supporters, mostly barrio dwellers, within forty-eight hours. Although ChAvez continues to be dogged by controversy, he stays in power because of these supporters who see themselves as active participants in a democratic revolution. As a former Catholic priest who has lived in Venezuela for the past twenty years and spent eight of those years in a cardboard-and-tin shack in one of Caracas' barrios, Charles Hardy is in a unique position to explain what is taking place. Cowboy in Caracas: A North American's Memoir of Venezuela's Democratic Revolution gives the reader insight into the Venezuelan reality, using an anecdotal presentation drawn from the writer's personal experiences. Charles Hardy has been writing and speaking about the political and social reality of Latin America for over forty years. He has visited almost every Central and South American country. James Russell is the author of five books, including After the Fifth Sun: Class and Race in North America (Prentice Hall). Currently, he teaches sociology and directs the Latin American Studies Program at Eastern Connecticut State University.

For many of us, the image of the cowboy hero facing off against the villain dominates our memories of the movies. Peter French examines the world of the... western, one in which death is annihilation, the culmination of life, and there is nothing else. In that world he finds alternatives to Judeo-Christian traditions that dominate our ethical theories, alternatives that also attack the views of the most prominent ethicists of the past three centuries. More than just a meditation on the portrayal of the good, the bad, and the ugly on the big screen, French's work identifies an attitude toward life that he claims is one of the most distinctive and enduring elements of American culture.

Marjorie Cohn offers a penetrating analysis of the six most important ways in which the Bush administration weakened the rule of law. Cohn, a respected... legal scholar, details the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, the policy of torture, war crimes, Guantanamo's kangaroo courts, unconstitutional laws, and the unlawful surveillance of American citizens. She concludes with practical ways to strengthen the rule of law domestically and internationally, including both political and legal remedies.

Winner of the 2010 T.R. Fehrenbach Book Award Cowboys are an American legend, but despite their ubiquity in history and popular culture, misperceptions... abound. Jacqueline M. Moore casts aside romantic and one-dimensional images of cowboys by analyzing the class, gender, and labor histories of ranching in Texas during the second half of the nineteenth century. As working-class men, cowboys showed their masculinity through their skills at work as well as public displays in town. But what cowboys thought was manly behavior did not always match those ideas of the business-minded cattlemen, who largely absorbed middle-class masculine ideals of restraint. Moore explores how, in contrast to the mythic image, from the late 1870s on, as the Texas frontier became more settled and the open range disappeared, the real cowboys faced increasing demands from the people around them to rein in the very traits that Americans considered the most masculine.Published in Cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University.

"I've always had this thing for cowboys, maybe because I was born in New Jersey. But a real cowboy is hard to find these days, even in the West," says... the narrator in the title story of Pam Houston's critically acclaimed collection. In these strong, shrewd, and very funny stories, we meet smart women who are looking for the love of a good man, and men who are wild and hard to pin down. Our heroines are part daredevil, part philosopher, all acute observers of the nuances of modern romance. They go where their cowboys go, they meet cowboys who don't look the part -- and they have staunch friends who give them advice when the going gets rough. Cowboys Are My Weakness is a refreshing and realistic look at men and women -- together and apart.

"Exhilarating, like a swift ride through river rapids with a spunky, sexy gal handling the oars."—Washington Post Book WorldIn Pam Houston's... critically acclaimed collection of strong, shrewd, and very funny stories, we meet smart women who are looking for the love of a good man, and men who are wild and hard to pin down. "I've always had this thing for cowboys, maybe because I was born in New Jersey,” says the narrator in the collection’s title story. “But a real cowboy is hard to find these days, even in the West.” Our heroines are part daredevil, part philosopher, all acute observers of the nuances of modern romance. They go where their cowboys go, they meet cowboys who don't look the part – and they have staunch friends who give them advice when the going gets rough. Cowboys Are My Weakness is a refreshing and realistic look at men and women – together and apart.