"Good luck, my soldier! You Americans are an extraordinary people. You are complex. We have thought we understood you—but, we do not. We never know what you will do next." I asked my French landlady, who thus responded to the news that I had joined the Foreign Legion, for an explanation. She said: "In the early days of the war, when the Germans advanced upon Paris at the rate of thirty kilometers a day, driving our French people before them, pillaging the country, dealing death and destruc...

“An engaging, humorous, revealing, and refreshingly human look at the bizarre, life-threatening, and delightfully humdrum exploits of everyone from sports heroes to sex workers.”-- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Coercion, Ecstasy Club, and Media VirusThis wide-ranging survey of the American economy at the turn of the millennium is stunning, surprising, and always entertaining. It gives us an unflinching view of the fa...

From Sainsbury's to Cadbury's, the Fair Trade campaign made sustainability a cornerstone for food conglomerates. Built around the experiences and perspectives the key individuals who kick-started the social movement, this book examines the challenges ahead now that Fair Trade has 'gone mainstream'.Fair Trade has come a long way in the last 20 years, celebrating one of the most successful social movements; the authors set their sights on their next goals. Emphasising the importance ...

Richard Brathwait was a businessman his neighbours would have been wise to treat with sensible caution. He was devout in his faith but worldly in his ambition. His wild and promiscuous behaviour did not cease at the end of his adolescence or with his marriage vows. The author of 'Drunken Barnaby' had more than a passing resemblance to the riotous hero of his most famous poem.

Most Americans would be shocked to discover that slavery still exists in the United States. Yet most of us buy goods made by people who aren’t paid for their labor–people who are trapped financially, and often physically. In Nobodies, award-winning journalist John Bowe exposes the outsourcing, corporate chicanery, immigration fraud, and sleights of hand that allow forced labor to continue in the United States while the rest of us notice nothing but the everyday low price at the ch...

A veteran journalist discovers an ancient system of speech techniques for overcoming the fear of public speaking—and reveals how they can profoundly change our lives.In 2010, award-winning journalist John Bowe learned that his cousin Bill, a longtime extreme recluse living in his parents’ basement, had, at the age of fifty-nine, overcome a lifetime of shyness and isolation—and gotten happily married. Bill credited his turnaround to Toastmasters, the world's largest...

A veteran journalist discovers an ancient system of speech techniques for overcoming the fear of public speaking—and reveals how they can profoundly change our lives.In 2010, award-winning journalist John Bowe learned that his cousin Bill, a longtime extreme recluse living in his parents’ basement, had, at the age of fifty-nine, overcome a lifetime of shyness and isolation—and gotten happily married. Bill credited his turnaround to Toastmasters, the world's largest...

This is your year of self-discovery, a journey to create a life filled with grace, meaning, zest, peace, and joy.ONE OF HEALTHLINE’S 8BEST MEDITATION BOOKS OF THE YEARWith warmth and wisdom from a lifetime of spiritual seeking, inspirational force Agapi Stassinopoulos guides you through fifty-two weeks of letting go of what doesn’t work for you and finding what does. You’ll cultivate the building blocks of self-care (meditation, he...

Discover a more lighthearted side of the funeral industry in this collection of real-life stories from the authors of Mortuary Confidential.Not knowing what to do, I sat on the church steps and waited. As the gravity of my failure began to well up in me, I began to cry . . . I Had Lost The Hearse!Funerals and the all the things that accompany them are traditionally somber, contemplative events in which the bereaved look to their undertaker...

Blogger Marcia Kester Doyle tells it like it is and nothing is off limits. Who Stole My Spandex? is a witty selection of stories from Doyle's madcap world of menopausal pitfalls, wardrobe malfunctions, and a family full of pranksters. This clever compilation includes laugh-out-loud pieces like "Queen of Klutz," "One Size Fits None," and "Hands off my Egg Roll!" From couples' colonoscopies to nightmare holidays to disappearing spandex, no topic—no matter how crazy or unimaginable—is too tab...

A remarkable guide to the quests that give our lives meaning—and how to find your own—from the New York Times bestselling author of The $100 Startup and 100 Side Hustles“If you like complacency and mediocrity, do not read this book. It’s dangerously inspiring.”—A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-AllWhen he set out to visit all of the planet’s countries by age thirty-five, compulsive goal-seeker ...

Is There a Doctor in the House?Say you’re at a party. You’ve had a martini or three, and you mingle through the crowd, wondering how long you need to stay before going out for pizza. Suddenly you’re introduced to someone new, Dr. Nice Tomeetya. You forget the pizza. Now is the perfect time to bring up all those strange questions you’d like to ask during an office visit with your own doctor but haven’t had the guts (or more likely the time) to do so. You’re filled with liquid courag...