They are outsiders who seek to redefine fields from mental health to diplomacy to music. They push boundaries and transform ideas. They include filmmakers crowdsourcing their work, transgender and autistic activists, and Occupy Wall Street's "alternative bankers." These people create and package themselves in a practice cultural critic Alissa Quart dubs "identity innovation." In this book, Quart introduces us to individuals who have created new...

South Dakota is famous for being the home of Mount Rushmore, but there is plenty more to explore in this state! This fact-filled title introduces readers to South Dakota's history, landscape, industry, and culture through informative text and vibrant photographs. Along the way, special features highlight Native American tribes, call out wildlife, introduce South Dakotan inventions, and even teach readers how to make a favorite food!

Los delfínes son conocidos por ser juguetónes intelligentes-que más podemos aprender sobre ellos? Ahora en español, este título involucra a lectores jóvenes a medida que aprenden todo acerca estes mamiferoes del mar. Fotos de color agregan interés visual, y preguntas de consideración ayudan animar lectores durante su desarrollo de leer libros de no ficción. Dolphins are known for being playful and intelligent-what else can we learn about...

War has a way of annihilating not just individual combatants and civilians caught in the maelstrom, but also the cultural memories of the defeated. Forgotten are what cities and provinces were like after being ravaged and occupied by new regimes. Saigon of the 1960s and early 1970s is one such place. After the Republic of Vietnam was defeated in 1975, many of the city's accomplished and notable citizens fled, were imprisoned, or, necessarily but reluctantly,...

Creative people have a certain spark: a brightness in their eyes, an inquisitive way of looking at the world, a desire to make things. But that spark doesn't reside solely in people you may view as creators. It's in all of us. The Creative Spark is a collection of interviews with some of the most creative people of our time: musicians, authors, visual artists and chefs. These makers speak about what drives them, what helps them to see the world in...

Cold War nadir: January 1968 and in Czechoslovakia the new Communist Party leader Alexander Dubcek has made it clear that this is the opportunity to loosen the Soviet stranglehold on the country. As the Prague winter slowly eases into a Prague spring, it really does seem as if Dubcek has judged it right. Reforms in oppressive censorship laws, improved housing, a lessening of totalitarian oppression, Dubcek promises and delivers on it all. The new...

Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend, has been a source of enduring fascination for centuries. In this authoritative, entertaining, and generously illustrated book, Stephen Knight traces the myth of Merlin back to its earliest roots in the early Welsh figure of Myrddin. He then follows Merlin as he is imagined and reimagined through centuries of literature and art, beginning with Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose immensely popular History of the Kings...

The victory of Richard Nixon in the US presidential election of 1968 swung on an "October Surprise"- a treasonous plot engineered by key figures in the Republican Party to keep the South Vietnamese government away from peace talks in Paris, costing thousands of American lives. There is growing evidence that the CIA was deeply involved in illegal domestic operations targeting Daniel Ellsberg, and in the Watergate break-ins during Nixon's 1972 campaign,...

Part 1 of 3 A heartbreaking true story of a broken family and the foster carer who wants to keep them together… The Watsons are no strangers to sibling placements but when Casey takes the call from her supervising social worker one frosty January morning, she can instantly tell from the tone of her colleague’s voice that there’s a complicated case ahead. And she’s right. A four-day-old baby boy called Tommy – born in prison – plus his...

"A rare gift: an inspiring tale about trees, trauma and the very purpose of life." -Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Empire of the Beetle   Diana Beresford-Kroeger-a world-recognized botanist and medical biochemist-has revolutionized our understanding of the natural world with her startling insights into the hidden life of trees. In this riveting memoir, she uncovers the roots of her discoveries in her extraordinary childhood in Ireland. Soon after,...