Bill Smith slid unobtrusively into Cairns, North Queensland sometime in the early 1940's. He arrived with several packhorses, a pony that he rode and very little else. Bill fitted the category of the post-depression drifter perfectly. Nobody knew or cared where he came from. He gradually insinuated his small presence into the Cairns horse racing fraternity and began to earn a bit of money from riding trackwork and shoeing horses, but still nobody thought it necessary to get to know him wel...

Annie Ferdinand is believed to have been born into a noble family in Prussia in 1851. Her mother died when she was very young, a loss that affected both her and her father significantly. She travelled to London, England with him to support him while he sought to regain control of his estates after the Franco-Prussian war. Annie was devoted to her father but yearned for the company of someone who would love her and care for her as her father had loved and cherished the memory of her mother....

Felix Reitano arrived in Sydney, Australia from Naples, Italy in 1896 as a young teenager. He quickly learned to speak English after a chance meeting with an equally young aristocrat from England. Felix travelled to Queensland, first to the sugar cane town of Mossman and then to Halifax, a small cane farming settlement about 100km north of Townsville. In Halifax he met and fell in love with a Scottish lass, Sarah Livingstone.Sarah's journey to Australia at the age of nineteen, havi...

We are entities capable of creativity, beauty, choice, courage, and intelligence, as well as entities capable of almost unimaginable capacity for self- destruction, both individually and collectively. Which side of our nature will define us turns on the edge of the axis. Like a coin spinning in the air, not knowing whether it will land on heads or tails, in our search for ourselves in time, we are mystical travelers whose destiny may turn on the edge of a dime. The challenge and choices we...

A bewitchingly brilliant collection of never-before-published letters from the renowned author of “The Lottery” and The Haunting of Hill HouseNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS • “This biography-through-letters gives an intimate and warm voice to the imagination behind the treasury of uncanny tales that is Shirley Jackson’s legacy.”—Joyce Carol OatesShirley Jackson is one of the most important Americ...

The National Audit Office has played an important role in the checks and balances of the UK parliamentary and political system over the last 40 years. This new book, more than just a history of the UK’s supreme audit institution, examines the very definition of accountability through both an historic and an academic lens, critically exploring questions about the role of audit in a democracy and how well it is working.Holding Government to Account draws on several unique so...

This book features five peer-reviewed reviews on best practices for improving the sustainability of dairy production. The first chapter reviews the main, internationally accepted methods available to evaluate the environmental impact of dairy farming, identify levers of action and set environmental targets.The second chapter considers how dairy farms can manage both energy consumption and water in order to minimise their environmental impacts. The chapter also addresses the issue o...

Summarises current research on pathogenic risks affecting milk and ways they can be controlled on the farm;Reviews ways of measuring and reducing the environmental impact of dairy farming such as better grassland management;Assesses the wider role of dairy farming and how it can be improved in the developing world

The barque Peruvian was lost in a gale off the east coast of Australia in February 1846. When it was found wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef several months later there was evidence that some of the passengers and crew may have constructed a raft and abandoned ship. Nothing further was heard, however, and it was assumed all on board had perished. Seventeen years later a man claiming to be a sailor from the Peruvian made contact with shepherds at an outstation on the Burdek...

A bewitchingly brilliant collection of never-before-published letters from the renowned author of “The Lottery” and The Haunting of Hill Housei must stop writing letters and get to writing a novel.Shirley Jackson is one of the most important American authors of the last hundred years and among our greatest chroniclers of the female experience. This extraordinary compilation of personal correspondence has all the hallmarks of Jackson’s belo...

The Saving Power of the Plant-Based DietA revolution in food-politics. When John Robbins released an early version of this book in 1987, he took the first steps in launching the food revolution. His viewpoint and insight on the harms of America’s eating habits was a wake-up call for many. By bringing to our attention fundamental issues in our eating habits, such as our dependence on animal products, Robbins provokes our awareness and promotes cha...

Stop Being Manipulated by the Animal Foods IndustryStop the meat industry from eating into your wallet. Few Americans are aware of the realities of the economic system that supports our country's supply of animal foods. Yet these forces affect us in ways we can hardly imagine. Though we only fork over a few dollars per pound of meat products at the grocery store, we end up paying much more than that in tax dollar-fueled government subsidies—$38 b...