My art came to me in 1970. Why it did…that’s the part I can’t figure out. It just popped up. When I was at Junior 5, an art teacher showed me how to do stars and that was that, but by the time I was 19 and trying to learn to read, I started scribbling and scrabbling. I learned to draw just by doing it.

Regarded as one of the most outstanding commanding officers on the Western Front, Wilfrid Abel Smith commanded an elite unit of 1,000 of the finest soldiers in the British Army. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, Smith was a career soldier who led his battalion of Grenadiers with distinction through the First Battle of Ypres and the winter trench warfare of 1914–15. He died of wounds received at the Battle of Festubert in May 1915.The letters and diaries provide a viv...

Based on a decade of first-hand experience and secondary research, this richly detailed study follows daily life in four villages in Tanzania. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, this comprehensive account examines the regional economy, determinants of civil society and implications for democratization, AIDS, population growth, refugees, crops and goods and implications for development. Charles David Smith brings together well over 200 interviews and his own expe...

The biggest society wedding of the year is scheduled for Chicago’s prestigious Church of the Good Shepherd. The famous bride is movie star Lisa Julian; the groom, a prominent physician. The minister is none other than the Reverend ‘Con’ Randollph, former Rams’ quarterback, esteemed Episcopal priest—and amateur detective.The lavish marriage ceremony will be the Reverend’s first formal wedding. But the groom isn’t the first lover in the beautiful Lisa’s colorful life. A whole list of...

This is a first-person account of the LOGCAP contract in Iraq and Afghanistan, written by the civilian who was in charge from 2002 to 2004. The book reveals Defense procurement issues in contracting and logistics that undermined US servicemen and women while needlessly throwing away public funds. It provides facts and analysis to inform the public and to bolster the many loyal and hard-working government officials and employees who seek to do the job right.By providing a first-pers...

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the politics of war crimes trials. It provides a systematic and theoretically rigorous examination of whether these trials are used as tools for political consolidation or whether justice is their primary purpose. The consideration of cases begins with the trial of Charles I of England and goes through the presidency of George W. Bush, including the trials of Saddam Hussein and those arising from the War on Terror. The book concludes that po...

How could one teenage boy’s life elicit other kids’ first experiences — even after he dies? Nine interconnected stories from nine top YA writers.Kev’s the first kid their age to die. And now, even though he’s dead, he’s not really gone. Even now his choices are touching the people he left behind. Ellen Hopkins reveals what two altar boys (and one altar girl) might get up to at the cemetery. Rita Williams-Garcia follows one aimless teen as he finds a new life in his...

Thirty-four years ago, Charles Smith was incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (or 'Injustice,' as he would say) with two life sentences. Now, he shares with us the harrowing and horrific experience of life in a Texas prison. Breaking the Chains of Bondage is his personal memoir that guides us through the fields and down the halls of everyday life, torture, and trauma in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison system. It is a read you won't soon forget.

An exuberant collection of poems about soccer stars around the world crackles with Charles R. Smith’s indomitable wordplay, matched by graphic, dynamic photos of the players in action.Mercurial magician Lionel Messi is on a goal-scoring mission. Erling Haaland earns the nickname Striking Viking (Hat trick! / Off the head / GOAL!). Whether the poems in this book are cheering for the Pennsylvania Pelé, Christian Pulisic; Cristiano Ronaldo, with his record-br...

"Each spread is a celebration of the skill and power displayed on the field...but the book takes care to balance that joy with an acknowledgement of the larger societal context in which the men played and the discrimination they faced." —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)From Charles R. Smith Jr., with striking artwork by Adrian Brandon, comes an exuberant collection of poems honoring a dozen outstanding baseball stars fro...

The Coretta Scott King Award–winning creator of Hoop Kings celebrates the skill and talent of top female soccer professionals—and pays homage to the legendary US World Cup team of 1999.Soccer, fútbol, call it what you will—the sport commands worldwide attention, and Charles R. Smith Jr. pays tribute to the sport’s greatest US athletes in poems that hum with energy and life. Whether the subject is an escape artist like Rose Lavelle, a rocket like Megan Rapi...

Hop on the bike with Bessie Stringfield, the motorcycle queen of Miami, in this powerful picture book from Coretta Scott King medalist Charles R. Smith, Jr. and debut picture book illustrator Charlot Kristensen.The folks they lined up to meet the Motorcycle Queen, seated sidesattle on her motorbike machine.In 1929, 18-year-old Bessie Stringfield hopped on her motorcycle and headed out on an adventure, an unusual choice for a young Black woman at th...