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...

Navigating the Mortgage Modification Mess A Cautionary Tale takes the reader on a serious, yet sarcastically humorous, trip through Federal and internal bank programs for modifying home mortgages. It represents a 3-year timeline of the authors attempt to save part of the American Dream of home ownership. The process involved submitting, and often resubmitting, a large amount of paperwork to answer underwriter questions and justify a hardship request for mortgage modification. During the pr...

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...

Reveals the underexplored politics and activism of non-traditional sexual minoritiesOver the past four decades, there has been significant research focused on the political and social lives of lesbian, gay, and transgender (LGT) individuals, exploring how these sexual communities interact with politicians and voters who identify as straight. However, due to society’s binary view of sexuality, this research has overlooked non-traditional sexual minorities.To...

"Nine all-stars in the field of YA lit contribute stories. . . . An anthology of stand-alone stories that invite — no, demand — a straight read-through." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)Nine of YA literature’s top writers, including Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, Adam Rapp, Joseph Bruchac, and Sharon Flake reveal how it all goes down in a searing collection of short stories, in which each one picks up where the previ...

Practical Deer Management offers candid and comprehensive advice for anyone who has to deal with deer and the issues they present, be they gardeners suffering attacks on their flower beds, foresters looking to prevent damage to newly planted trees, or landowners with larger scale problems. While a wealth of information on deer exists already, a career in teaching countryside managers quickly made it apparent that there was a need for a straightforward and comprehensive volume that is acces...

"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...

Jimi Hendrix's talent was epic, and so is this lyrical account of his life, with spectacular artwork by Edel Rodriguez-- including a poster underneath the jacket!From his turbulent childhood through his epical appearance at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals, Charles R. Smith Jr. covers it all in this rich and rhythmic account of a singular life, accompanied by the psychedelic splendor of Edel Rodriguez's acid-tinged artwork.Let me tell you a story,

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...