No one said that being a Mercenary was easy, with long stretches in the saddle only interspersed with intense—yet brief—bouts of excitement, not to mention the incessant harassment from every rogue and rake when one is lucky enough to find an inn for the night. Nor had Sasha ever intended her hunt for the thief who killed her twin sister to take more than a decade to track down, but she had discovered the Mainland was much more expansive than her homeland island of Sebastia. But Sasha's ve...

NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHEDSay hello to found family, an unwanted throne, and the disreputable state of falling in love in the final installment of New York Times bestselling author Aurora Ascher’s wickedly funny, totally sexy paranormal Hell Bent series for fans of Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Brynne Weaver, Jenna Levine, and Kimberly Lemming.Heaven hath no rage like a fallen angel formed.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Abraham Ascher offers a skillful blend of engaging narrative and fresh analysis in this concise introduction to Russian history.Newly updated on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, it covers the growing political tensions between Russia and its neighbors, and the mounting divergence between Russian and U.S. foreign policies. This stimulating and beautifully written introduction will prove enlightening for students, scholars, and trave...

In order to design, enact, and protect poverty alleviation policies in developing countries, we must first understand the psychology of how the poor react to their plight, and not just the psychology of the privileged called upon for sacrifice. This book integrates social and psycho-dynamic psychology, economics, policy design, and policy-process theory to explore ways to follow through on successful poverty-alleviation initiatives, while averting destructive conflict. Using eight case stu...

In this deliciously subversive novel the question is asked: Is it possible to live in the future?—and what would it mean to embrace the transformations created by every new thing, and at the same time to escape the depressing discrepancy between events that only happen and those which actually might?For Valeria Florescu, the desirable pathway would lead through "a subtly coherent twining of adventures" in a personal quest for the "extraordinary." But when Valeria quits her job as r...

A hot-headed witch plus a lovable bad-boy demon equals a scorching and hilarious enemies-to-lovers tale from the instant New York Times bestselling author of Sanctuary of the Shadow and My Funny Demon Valentine**. Fans of Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Brynne Weaver, and Kimberly Lemming will be enchanted by this latest installment in the spicy paranormal Hell Bent serie...

The Incas of ancient Peru possessed no writing. Instead, they developed a unique system expressed on spatial arrays of colored knotted cords called quipus to record and transmit information throughout their vast empire. The present book is based on a firsthand study of actual quipus that survived the destruction of the Inca civilization. Written by a mathematician and an anthropologist, this book acquaints the reader with the cultural context of the quipus, the problem of interpreting arti...

Understanding the Policymaking Process in Developing Countries provides a uniquely comprehensive and practical framework for development practitioners, policymakers, activists, and students to diagnose and improve policy processes in developing countries across a wide range of issues. Based on the classic policy sciences approach, the book offers over 100 diagnostic indicators keyed to identify problems of policy processes, policy content, bureaucratic behavior, stakeholder behavior, and n...

This book highlights the attention that policymakers, activists, and the public should pay to internal migration. Although prominent research has analyzed particular types of internal migration, especially urbanization and internally displaced persons (IDPs), the narrow scope of existing studies cannot capture the overlaps of motivation and circumstances that pose serious policy dilemmas. The book is distinctive in examining the full range of modes and motives of internal migration: state-...

This book is about the ways that traditional cultural practices either change or persist in the face of social and economic development, whether the latter proceeds primarily from internal or external forces.

The Doppelgänger – the double, twin, mirror image or alter ego of someone else – is an ancient and universal theme that can be traced at least as far back as Greek and Roman mythology, but is particularly associated with two areas of study: psychology, and German literature and culture since the Romantic movement. Although German language literature has been a nexus for writing on the Doppelgänger, there is a paucity of scholarly work treating a broader selection of cultu...

Internal Migration: Challenges in Governance and Integration focuses on the challenges associated with internal migration across the developing world. While international migration captures significant attention, less attention has been paid to those migrating within recognized national borders. The sources of internal migration are not fundamentally different from international migration, as migrants may be pushed by violence, disasters, state policies, or various opportunities. ...