What went wrong after Oslo? How can Israelis and Palestinians make peace? How has the violence changed their lives, and their souls? For the last ten... years, David Grossman, one of Israel’s great fiction writers, has addressed these questions in a series of passionate essays and articles, writing not only as one of his country’s most respected novelists and commentators, but as a husband and father and peace activist bitterly disappointed in the leaders of both sides.

In this National Book Award-winning book, Kozol unflinchingly exposes the disturbing "destruction of hearts and minds in the Boston public school." A... new Epilogue assesses the last 20 years of the educational system.

While an increasingly outspoken American public is quick to endorse the death penalty, the voices of those who experience the chilling reality of... executing another human being are seldom heard. Donald A. Cabana chronicles a personal journey through the nation's prison system that culminated in giving the order to execute two death row inmates. Cabana's compelling account brings the reader inside the "secretive, mysterious world of the execution chamber" to witness the process of an execution and to experience the emotions of the executioner and the man strapped in the chair known as "black death."

These 115 poems introduce readers in English to Sultan Bahu (d. 1691), a Sufi mystical poet who continues to be one of the most beloved writers in... Punjabi. Bahu, whose name translates as "With God," remains highly popular in Pakistan and India today--even illiterate Punjabis can recite his poetry by heart.

Johnny Gunther was only seventeen years old when he died of a brain tumor. During the months of his illness, everyone near him was unforgettably... impressed by his level-headed courage, his wit and quiet friendliness, and, above all, his unfaltering patience through times of despair. This deeply moving book is a father's memoir of a brave, intelligent, and spirited boy.

During the Great Depression, black intellectuals, labor organizers, and artists formed the National Negro Congress (NNC) to demand a "second... emancipation" in America. Over the next decade, the NNC and its offshoot, the Southern Negro Youth Congress, sought to coordinate and catalyze local antiracist activism into a national movement to undermine the Jim Crow system of racial and economic exploitation. In this pioneering study, Erik S. Gellman shows how the NNC agitated for the first-class citizenship of African Americans and all members of the working class, establishing civil rights as necessary for reinvigorating American democracy. Much more than just a precursor to the 1960s civil rights movement, this activism created the most militant interracial freedom movement since Reconstruction, one that sought to empower the American labor movement to make demands on industrialists, white supremacists, and the state as never before. By focusing on the complex alliances between unions, civic groups, and the Communist Party in five geographic regions, Gellman explains how the NNC and its allies developed and implemented creative grassroots strategies to weaken Jim Crow, if not deal it the "death blow" they sought.

This fast-paced book by Yale professors Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro unravels the following mystery: How is it that the estate tax, which has been on... the books continuously since 1916 and is paid by only the wealthiest two percent of Americans, was repealed in 2001 with broad bipartisan support? The mystery is all the more striking because the repeal was not done in the dead of night, like a congressional pay raise. It came at the end of a multiyear populist campaign launched by a few individuals, and was heralded by its supporters as a signal achievement for Americans who are committed to the work ethic and the American Dream. Graetz and Shapiro conducted wide-ranging interviews with the relevant players: members of congress, senators, staffers from the key committees and the Bush White House, civil servants, think tank and interest group representatives, and many others. The result is a unique portrait of American politics as viewed through the lens of the death tax repeal saga. Graetz and Shapiro brilliantly illuminate the repeal campaign's many fascinating and unexpected turns--particularly the odd end result whereby the repeal is slated to self-destruct a decade after its passage. They show that the stakes in this fight are exceedingly high; the very survival of the long standing American consensus on progressive taxation is being threatened. Graetz and Shapiro's rich narrative reads more like a political drama than a conventional work of scholarship. Yet every page is suffused by their intimate knowledge of the history of the tax code, the transformation of American conservatism over the past three decades, and the wider political implications of battles over tax policy.

A vibrant collection of essays on the cosmos from the nation's best-known astrophysicist. “One of today’s best popularizers of science.”—Kirkus ... Reviews.Loyal readers of the monthly "Universe" essays in Natural History magazine have long recognized Neil deGrasse Tyson's talent for guiding them through the mysteries of the cosmos with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. Here, Tyson compiles his favorite essays across a myriad of cosmic topics. The title essay introduces readers to the physics of black holes by explaining the gory details of what would happen to your body if you fell into one. "Holy Wars" examines the needless friction between science and religion in the context of historical conflicts. "The Search for Life in the Universe" explores astral life from the frontiers of astrobiology. And "Hollywood Nights" assails the movie industry's feeble efforts to get its night skies right. Known for his ability to blend content, accessibility, and humor, Tyson is a natural teacher who simplifies some of the most complex concepts in astrophysics while simultaneously sharing his infectious excitement about our universe.

Through a selection of primary and secondary sources, Death by Design examines the uses of technology during the Holocaust and  the specific ways in... which scientists, architects, medical professionals, businessmen, and engineers participated in the planning and operation of the concentration and extermination camps that were the foundation of the “final solution.”  The book discusses the overriding intellectual, ethical, and philosophical implications of the Nazi’s use of science and technology in their killing operations.

This is R. J. Rummel's fourth book in a series devoted to genocide and government mass murder, or what he calls democide. He presents the primary... results, in tables and figures, as well as a historical sketch of the major cases of democide, those in which one million or more people were killed by a regime. In Death by Government, Rummel does not aim to describe democide itself, but to determine its nature and scope in order to test the theory that democracies are inherently nonviolent. Rummel discusses genocide in China, Nazi Germany, Japan, Cambodia, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and Pakistan. He also writes about areas of suspected genocide: North Korea, Mexico, and feudal Russia. His results clearly and decisively show that democracies commit less democide than other regimes. The underlying principle is that the less freedom people have, the greater the violence; the more freedom, the less the violence. Thus, as Rummel says, “The problem is power. The solution is democracy. The course of action is to foster freedom.” Death by Government is a compelling look at the horrors that occur in modern societies. It depicts how democide has been very much a part of human history. Among other examples, the book includes the massacre of Europeans during the Thirty Years' War, the relatively unknown genocide of the French Revolution, and the slaughtering of American Indians by colonists in the New World. This riveting account is an essential tool for historians, political scientists, and scholars interested in the study of genocide.

Real people. Real sin. Transformed lives. A compilation of heartfelt letters written from a pastor to his people that explains Jesus' work on the cross.... Death by Love is a unique book on the cross of Jesus Christ. While many books debate the finer points of the doctrine of the atonement, what is often lost are the real-life implications of Jesus' death on the cross for those who have sinned and have been sinned against. Written in the form of pastoral letters, Death by Love outlines the twelve primary effects of Jesus' death on the cross and connects each to the life of a different individual. Driscoll, one of America's most influential pastors, and Breshears, a respected theologian, help readers understand, appreciate, and trust in Jesus' work on the cross in a way that will transform their lives. Both deeply theological and intensely practical, this book shows how everyone can find hope through the death of Jesus Christ. "This book is brutally honest about sin and suffering, and wonderfully hopeful as it points us to our true Savior." Timothy S. Lane, Executive Director, Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation "The stories portrayed in the chapters of this book are all too real, but more importantly, the pastoral responses offer riveting applications of the cross for true and lasting transformation."Bruce A. Ware, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary "Practical and powerful. It applies the sufficiency of Jesus to the real-life challenges we face in the church every day. If you work with hurting people you need Death by Love."Dan Jarrell, Teaching Pastor, ChangePoint Church, Anchorage, Alaska "A key reason for my confidence in this book is its brilliant presentation of the historic theology of the cross and how it defends reprehensible attacks against it."Gregg R. Allison, Associate Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary "The authors connect squarely with our ever-changing culture, declaring the central doctrine of Jesus' death and why it is important."Bill Mounce, President, BiblicalTraining.org

Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life.In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin.  Casey had every... reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch.“How could my life have unraveled so quickly?” he wondered.In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings.  And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn’t know how to solve.  And he doesn’t know where or who to turn to for advice.  His staff can’t help him; they’re as dumbfounded as he is by their tortuous meetings.Then an unlikely advisor, Will Peterson, enters Casey’s world.  When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world.  Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.

A European Neolithic burial. A large stone Venus. Nothing unusual except that it was found on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Archaeologist Hannah... Green and her shovelbum nephew find themselves in a tangled web of competing interests - avaricious land owners, hungry media, and a cult of goddess worshippers - while investigating one of the finds of the century. In untangling the mystery of the Washington Venus, Hannah and Sean have to confront questions of archaeological evidence, conflicting interpretation of data, and the very nature of archaeological truths. This thoroughly updated version of an archaeological classic allows you to learn the basics of archaeological theory while puzzling out a mysterious turn of events.

The San Francisco Chronicle called Micky Knight, `one of the most hard-boiled and complex female detectives in print today.` Kirkus Reviews claims,... `Redmann has the makings of a landmark series.` Death By The Riverside is where it all began. Long out of print, the first adventure of Micky Knight introduces this sardonic and steamy New Orleans private detective and leads us into her world. `I suppose I should have known that tasteful blondes like her didn`t traipse down to my part of town and hire me to find their missing fiances. And I did have a feeling that she was going to lead me astray. I just thought that it was a direction I`d like to stray in. Now two very bad things have happened to me -- a lot of not nice men are pointing guns in my direction and I think I`ve fallen in love.`

What is death and why does it matter to us? How should the knowledge of our finitude affect the living of our lives and what are the virtues suitable to... mortal beings? Does death destroy the meaningfulness of lives, or would lives that never ended be eternally and absurdly tedious? Should we reconcile ourselves to the fact of our forthcoming death, or refuse to "go gently into that good night"? Can death really be an evil if, after death, we no longer exist as subjects of goods or evils? How should we respond to the deaths of others and do we have any duties towards the dead? These, and many other, questions are addressed in Geoffrey Scarre's book, which draws upon a wide variety of philosophical and literary sources to offer an up-to-date and highly readable study of some major ethical and metaphysical riddles concerning death and dying.