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Vagabonds: A gripping saga of love, hope and determination (Emma Grady trilogy, Book 3)
by Josephine CoxEmma Grady may have finally found happiness, but the same cannot be said for her long-lost daughter... Vagabonds is the final instalment of Josephine Cox's Emma Grady trilogy, which finds the heroine content, yet still struggling with the ghosts of her past. Perfect for fans of Lindsey Hutchinson and Rosie Goodwin.Twenty-two years ago Emma Grady was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to transportation to Australia where she bore and lost her baby daughter - conceived during a passionate affair with Marlow Tanner. It is now 1885, and Emma has returned to Blackburn. Reunited with Marlow, she has a loving family, yet she is still haunted by the past, unable to forget how her uncle Caleb Crowther ignored her desperate plea to save herself and her tragic first-born.Crowther curses his niece's return and also hounds Molly, Emma's estranged daughter. Molly and her children run away and, contending with hunger, exhaustion and the unwelcome attentions of the men who are drawn to Molly's dark beauty, their life at times is almost unbearable. But Molly has inherited Emma's indomitable spirit... What readers are saying about Vagabonds: 'An excellent finale to the Emma Grady series. This book was so gripping I could not put it down. I was completely lost in the story''A very fitting end to the Emma Grady trilogy, which keeps you in suspense to the end!''Brilliant from start to finish, could not put it down - five stars'
Vagabonds
by Hao JingfangA century after the Martian war of independence, a group of kids are sent to Earth as delegates from Mars, but when they return home, they are caught between the two worlds, unable to reconcile the beauty and culture of Mars with their experiences on Earth in this &“thoughtful debut&” (Kirkus Reviews) from Hugo Award–winning author Hao Jingfang.This &“masterful narrative&” (Booklist, starred review) is set on Earth in the wake of a second civil war…not between two factions in one nation, but two factions in one solar system: Mars and Earth. In an attempt to repair increasing tensions, the colonies of Mars send a group of young people to live on Earth to help reconcile humanity. But the group finds itself with no real home, no friends, and fractured allegiances as they struggle to find a sense of community and identity trapped between two worlds.
Vagina: A Cultural History
by Naomi WolfOne of our bestselling and most respected cultural critics, Naomi Wolf, acclaimed author of The Beauty Myth and The End of America, brings us an astonishing work of cutting-edge science and cultural history that radically reframes how we understand the vagina—and, consequently, how we understand women.A “New Biography,” Vagina is at once serious, provocative, and immensely entertaining—a radical and endlessly fascinating exploration of the gateway to female consciousness from a remarkable writer and thinker at the forefront of the new feminism.
Validating Medical Packaging
by Ronald PilchikAccording to the FDA Quality System Regulations, manufacturers must ensure that "device packaging and shipping containers are designed and constructed to protect the device from alteration or damage during the customary conditions of processing, storage, handling, and distribution." As specific as this statement is, the FDA does not provide instruc
Validity, Reliability, and Significance: Empirical Methods for NLP and Data Science (Synthesis Lectures on Human Language Technologies)
by Stefan Riezler Michael HagmannThis book introduces empirical methods for machine learning with a special focus on applications in natural language processing (NLP) and data science. The authors present problems of validity, reliability, and significance and provide common solutions based on statistical methodology to solve them. The book focuses on model-based empirical methods where data annotations and model predictions are treated as training data for interpretable probabilistic models from the well-understood families of generalized additive models (GAMs) and linear mixed effects models (LMEMs). Based on the interpretable parameters of the trained GAMs or LMEMs, the book presents model-based statistical tests such as a validity test that allows for the detection of circular features that circumvent learning. Furthermore, the book discusses a reliability coefficient using variance decomposition based on random effect parameters of LMEMs. Lastly, a significance test based on the likelihood ratios of nested LMEMs trained on the performance scores of two machine learning models is shown to naturally allow the inclusion of variations in meta-parameter settings into hypothesis testing, and further facilitates a refined system comparison conditional on properties of input data. The book is self-contained with an appendix on the mathematical background of generalized additive models and linear mixed effects models as well as an accompanying webpage with the related R and Python code to replicate the presented experiments. The second edition also features a new hands-on chapter that illustrates how to use the included tools in practical applications.
Valkyrie Concealed: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (Valkyrie's Legacy #3)
by Allyson Lindt Nixie JadeTheir choices. Their battle. Their lives. Hel has flipped the kill switch, and the race is on for Kirby to stop the countdown before it hits zero.Kirby swore she’d never return to the TOM academy. With the lives of all the students at risk, she has to push aside her personal demons and confront her past.Having her former lovers—those who swore they’d let her go her own way—back in her life isn’t so great for her mental stability either.Kirby’s caught in a web of lies and murder. Will saving TOM’s latest victims destroy her sanity and the life she’s finally building for herself and those she loves? Other Books By Allyson LindtValkyrie's Legacy Series (Urban Fantasy)Valkyrie RebornValkyrie HuntedValkyrie ConcealedValkyrie CrownedThree Player Co-op (Ménage Romance)Looking For ItWaiting For ItAsking For ItRunning For ItFighting For ItGame for Cookies Series (Ménage Romance)Seduction GamesControl GamesTwo Plus One (Ménage Romance)Their NerdTheir Matchmaker3d20 Series (Ménage Romance)Roll Against TrustRoll Against RegretRoll Against DiscoveryRoll Against BetrayalSubscribe, Live, Love Series (Ménage Romance)Red HuntedRed ConsumedBeauty ClaimedBeauty AwakenedUbiquity Series (Urban Fantasy Reverse Harem)Seductive SoulSoul ReaperSoul BetrayerTruth's Harem Series (Urban Fantasy Reverse Harem)Fate's IllusionInnovation's MuseApathy's HeroRidden Hard (M/F Contemporary Romance)Hard FlipHard PackRiding the WaveDrive Me WildLove Equation (Contemporary Romance)RivalCharmed by the GeeksRegretRestraintLove Games (M/F Contemporary Romance)His ReputationHer AirmanHis CosplayerLove Hack (M/F Contemporary Romance)His HackerHis InfatuationHer SurrenderHacking Wonderland (Suspense)Reagan through the Looking GlassThe Hatter and the HarePainting the Roses RedReigning HeartsNull Equation (Dystopian Romance)Over ExposedOver StimulatedOver SharedStand Alone TitlesSeeking More (M/F New Adult Romance)Destined for Temptation (Paranormal Romance)
Valkyrie Crowned (Valkyrie's Legacy #4)
by Allyson Lindt Nixie JadeHer Lives. Her Loves. Her Forever.The gut-wrenching, heart-stopping, awww-inspiring conclusion to Allyson Lindt's Valkyrie's Legacy series.Other Books By Allyson LindtValkyrie's Legacy Series (Urban Fantasy)Valkyrie RebornValkyrie HuntedValkyrie ConcealedValkyrie CrownedThree Player Co-op (Ménage Romance)Looking For ItWaiting For ItAsking For ItRunning For ItFighting For ItGame for Cookies Series (Ménage Romance)Seduction GamesControl GamesTwo Plus One (Ménage Romance)Their NerdTheir Matchmaker3d20 Series (Ménage Romance)Roll Against TrustRoll Against RegretRoll Against DiscoveryRoll Against BetrayalSubscribe, Live, Love Series (Ménage Romance)Red HuntedRed ConsumedBeauty ClaimedBeauty AwakenedUbiquity Series (Urban Fantasy Reverse Harem)Seductive SoulSoul ReaperSoul BetrayerTruth's Harem Series (Urban Fantasy Reverse Harem)Fate's IllusionInnovation's MuseApathy's HeroRidden Hard (M/F Contemporary Romance)Hard FlipHard PackRiding the WaveDrive Me WildLove Equation (Contemporary Romance)RivalCharmed by the GeeksRegretRestraintLove Games (M/F Contemporary Romance)His ReputationHer AirmanHis CosplayerLove Hack (M/F Contemporary Romance)His HackerHis InfatuationHer SurrenderHacking Wonderland (Suspense)Reagan through the Looking GlassThe Hatter and the HarePainting the Roses RedReigning HeartsNull Equation (Dystopian Romance)Over ExposedOver StimulatedOver SharedStand Alone TitlesSeeking More (M/F New Adult Romance)Destined for Temptation (Paranormal Romance)
Valkyrie Hunted: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (Valkyrie's Legacy #2)
by Allyson Lindt Nixie JadeEvery lover. Every betrayal. Every death. Kirby remembers it all. The gods will pay for the suffering they’ve caused in this life and those she's lived before. The only questions are where and how?She has new allies and lovers, but with a lifetime of betrayal guiding her, she doesn’t know who to turn to. The trickster god who makes it easy to throw caution to the wind? The god of passion who sparks delight, terror, and desire with a single look?Kirby desperately wants one of those people she trusts to be the berserker who set her on this path both then and now, but lifetimes of playing both sides changes a person.Time is running out for her to find answers. Both about her lovers, and the gods she seeks to destroy before they can act on the prophecies that will allow them to topple modern empires.Failure means not just her destruction, but the death of thousands.Author's Note: Valkyrie Hunted was previously titled Death in the Night, and is a dark urban fantasy that contains mention of self-harm, thoughts of suicide, and physical assaultOther Books By Allyson LindtValkyrie's Legacy Series (Urban Fantasy)Valkyrie RebornValkyrie HuntedValkyrie ConcealedValkyrie CrownedThree Player Co-op (Ménage Romance)Looking For ItWaiting For ItAsking For ItRunning For ItFighting For ItGame for Cookies Series (Ménage Romance)Seduction GamesControl GamesTwo Plus One (Ménage Romance)Their NerdTheir Matchmaker3d20 Series (Ménage Romance)Roll Against TrustRoll Against RegretRoll Against DiscoveryRoll Against BetrayalSubscribe, Live, Love Series (Ménage Romance)Red HuntedRed ConsumedBeauty ClaimedBeauty AwakenedUbiquity Series (Urban Fantasy Reverse Harem)Seductive SoulSoul ReaperSoul BetrayerTruth's Harem Series (Urban Fantasy Reverse Harem)Fate's IllusionInnovation's MuseApathy's HeroRidden Hard (M/F Contemporary Romance)Hard FlipHard PackRiding the WaveDrive Me WildLove Equation (Contemporary Romance)RivalCharmed by the GeeksRegretRestraintLove Games (M/F Contemporary Romance)His ReputationHer AirmanHis CosplayerLove Hack (M/F Contemporary Romance)His HackerHis InfatuationHer SurrenderHacking Wonderland (Suspense)Reagan through the Looking GlassThe Hatter and the HarePainting the Roses RedReigning HeartsNull Equation (Dystopian Romance)Over ExposedOver StimulatedOver SharedStand Alone TitlesSeeking More (M/F New Adult Romance)Destined for Temptation (Paranormal Romance)
Valkyrie Reborn: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (Valkyrie's Legacy #1)
by Allyson Lindt Nixie JadeShe’s the last Valkyrie, cursed by Odin to die and be reborn again and again. The immortal men she’s been fated to love throughout history are searching for her in this life to keep her alive.Kirby’s an elite sniper, trained by the gods to execute their enemies. When those same deities turn on her, she turns to the only person left she can trust. Her handler helps her plan her vengeance. He’s her partner and protector, but she wants the one thing from him he refuses to give—his affection.Starkad would go to war with the gods to protect Kirby, but there’s one thing he can’t do for her—tell her the truth about their past. That his wolf has never stopped searching for her, his mate. That she’s cursed because she surrendered her immortality for him in her first life. If he tells her too soon, he risks her destruction.When fate tosses Kirby’s other mates from her past back in her path—a Celtic Trickster god and an Egyptian God of Fertility—memories of her previous lives begin to emerge. She needs to recall everything to become a Valkyrie again and regain her immortality. If the gods she’s hunting get to her first, she’ll be ripped from her shifter, from her gods, one more time. But this time, there may be no returning from death.Start reading this reverse harem paranormal suspense today, and see why readers say Valkyrie Reborn is a “story where nothing is quite what it appears to be”, “an addictive fast read”, and “PHENOMENAL!!!”Author's Note: Please visit my website for trigger warnings associated with this book.
The Valley of Bones: A Dance Ot The Music Of Time (A Dance of Music and Time)
by Anthony PowellAnthony Powell’s universally acclaimed epic A Dance to the Music of Time offers a matchless panorama of twentieth-century London. Now, for the first time in decades, readers in the United States can read the books of Dance as they were originally published—as twelve individual novels—but with a twenty-first-century twist: they’re available only as e-books. World War II has finally broken out, and The Valley of Bones (1964) finds Nick Jenkins learning the military arts. A stint at a training academy in Wales introduces him to the many unusual characters the army has thrown together, from the ambitious bank clerk-turned-martinet, Gwatkin, to the hopelessly slovenly yet endearing washout, Bithel. Even during wartime, however, domestic life proceeds, as a pregnant Isobel nears her term and her siblings’ romantic lives take unexpected turns—their affairs of the heart lent additional urgency by the ever-darkening shadow of war. "Anthony Powell is the best living English novelist by far. His admirers are addicts, let us face it, held in thrall by a magician."--ChicagoTribune "A book which creates a world and explores it in depth, which ponders changing relationships and values, which creates brilliantly living and diverse characters and then watches them grow and change in their milieu. . . . Powell's world is as large and as complex as Proust's."--Elizabeth Janeway, New YorkTimes "One of the most important works of fiction since the Second World War. . . . The novel looked, as it began, something like a comedy of manners; then, for a while, like a tragedy of manners; now like a vastly entertaining, deeply melancholy, yet somehow courageous statement about human experience."--Naomi Bliven, New Yorker “The most brilliant and penetrating novelist we have.”--Kingsley Amis
Valley of Refuge: A Novel
by John TeschnerIn this high-stakes, character-driven thriller, a Hawaiian family must decide the future of their ancestral land when a tech billionaire decides he wants it for himself, and won't take no for an answer.What would you do if you. . .. . .were offered an obscene amount of money for your family's ancestral land? For Nalani and her mother, the money that could change their lives—at the sacrifice of everything they believe—is a double edged blade, and they're not sure they can trust the secretive tech billionaire holding it out to them as if it were an olive branch. But what happens when a man with unlimited wealth is given an answer he doesn't want to hear? . . .woke up on a plane en route to a tiny Hawaiian island, with no memory of who you are or why you're there? Janice, whose only clues are the passport in her pocket, and a locked phone with increasingly alarming text alerts about a situation she may or may not be part of, barely knows where to start. Navigating an unfamiliar place, and her own unfamiliar mind, Janice seeks to discover who she is, and answer the question of why she is here, and exactly whose side is she on? As plans are set in motion that carry them down dangerous and unexpected paths, all involved must decide just how far they are willing to go to reach their goals, before turning back is no longer an option.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Valorization of Biomass Wastes for Environmental Sustainability: Green Practices for the Rural Circular Economy
by Mukesh Kumar Arun Lal Srivastav Abhishek Kumar BhardwajThis volume discusses the reduction, recycling, and reuse of industrial and agricultural biomass wastes to develop value-added products using environmentally sustainable practices and technologies. Through these waste valorization approaches, biomass waste materials can be converted into useful bio-chemical products, sustainable construction materials, polymers, bio-energy, and bio-fuel as sustainable alternatives to products and materials with negative environmental and health consequences. The chapters highlight the development and implementation of eco-friendly solutions to biomass waste production with the aim of reducing natural resource deterioration, bolstering rural and small-scale business systems in communities impacted by pollution and climate change, and providing power from residual biomass to broadly reduce environmental impacts through improved waste management practices. The book is intended to be a useful resource for researchers, policymakers, NGOs, government agencies, and local community authorities working in waste management and environmental sustainability.
Value Added Products From Bioalgae Based Biorefineries: Opportunities and Challenges
by Shailendra Kumar Arya Madhu Khatri Gursharan SinghThis book covers wide aspects of algal technology and algae-based biorefinery aspects. Algae are the most prevalent, primitive, and abundant microbes on Earth, however, the commercialization of algal-based value-added products is still low due to the negligible dissemination of knowledge flow among the stakeholders and researchers.This book provides up-to-date information on the cultivation of microalgae, their harvesting, downstream processing, and diverse applications. It further discusses the macromolecules existing in microalgae, such as proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids, poly-unsaturated fatty acids, peptides, exo-polysaccharides, flavonoids and antioxidants. This book also highlights the advantages and some real-time challenges before the establishment of sustainable algal-based biorefineries. Further, it includes clear flow charts and figures in each chapter to aid in interpretation of every technical concept. This book motivates readers, entrepreneurs, and young farmers to exploit easily growing microalgae through cottage to large-scale biorefineries and start their own businesses for the production of value-added products.
Value Analysis and Engineering Reengineered: The Blueprint for Achieving Operational Excellence and Developing Problem Solvers and Innovators
by Abate O. KassaBy mastering the re-engineered value analysis & value engineering (VA/VE) problem-solving value methodology outlined in this book, any organization will be able to self-diagnose problems and self-discover solutions. The book is the product of Abate Kassa's dual lenses of experience and research over four decades. The book updates and upgrades VA/VE by integrating popular improvement methodologies, including Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, Total Quality Management, Kaizen, Business Process Reengineering, and Project Management, into the scientific method of the value methodology he dubbed PISERIA.
Value Engineering: Analysis And Methodology
by Del YounkerThis invaluable reference teaches effective and practical techniques to improve the overall performance and outcome of design projects in various industries. Value Engineering highlights the application of value methodology to streamline current day operations, strategic planning in company or business segments, and everyday business decisions in the private sector. The book shows how to maximize budgets, reduce life cycle costs, improve project understanding, and create better working relationships. It explains how to gather information for the creation, evaluation, development, and presentation of new project ideas and shows how to design an appropriate task agenda and timeline.
Value in Art: Manet and the Slave Trade
by Henry M. SayreArt historian Henry M. Sayre traces the origins of the term “value” in art criticism, revealing the politics that define Manet’s art. How did art critics come to speak of light and dark as, respectively, “high in value” and “low in value”? Henry M. Sayre traces the origin of this usage to one of art history’s most famous and racially charged paintings, Édouard Manet’s Olympia. Art critics once described light and dark in painting in terms of musical metaphor—higher and lower tones, notes, and scales. Sayre shows that it was Émile Zola who introduced the new “law of values” in an 1867 essay on Manet. Unpacking the intricate contexts of Zola’s essay and of several related paintings by Manet, Sayre argues that Zola’s usage of value was intentionally double coded—an economic metaphor for the political economy of slavery. In Manet’s painting, Olympia and her maid represent objects of exchange, a commentary on the French Empire’s complicity in the ongoing slave trade in the Americas. Expertly researched and argued, this bold study reveals the extraordinary weight of history and politics that Manet’s painting bears. Locating the presence of slavery at modernism’s roots, Value in Art is a surprising and necessary intervention in our understanding of art history.
The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy
by Raj Patel"A deeply though-provoking book about the dramatic changes we must make to save the planet from financial madness."--Naomi Klein, author of The Shock DoctrineOpening with Oscar Wilde's observation that "nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing," Patel shows how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. He reveals the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger (as much as $200), and asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our democratically bankrupt political system.If part one asks how we can rebalance society and limit markets, part two answers by showing how social organizations, in America and around the globe, are finding new ways to describe the world's worth. If we don't want the market to price every aspect of our lives, we need to learn how such organizations have discovered democratic ways in which people, and not simply governments, can play a crucial role in deciding how we might share our world and its resources in common.This short, timely and inspiring book reveals that our current crisis is not simply the result of too much of the wrong kind of economics. While we need to rethink our economic model, Patel argues that the larger failure beneath the food, climate and economic crises is a political one. If economics is about choices, Patel writes, it isn't often said who gets to make them. The Value of Nothing offers a fresh and accessible way to think about economics and the choices we will all need to make in order to create a sustainable economy and society.
VALUE STREAM MAPPING: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation
by Karen Martin Mike OsterlingToo many organizations today suffer from silo-centric behavior and intra-organizational conflict. Yet most don't understand what's holding them back from achieving outstanding performance. Value stream mapping--an essential but underusedmethodology--is a proven approach to help you visualize and resolve disconnects, redundancies, and gaps in your value delivery system. More than merely a tool to eliminateoperational waste, value stream mapping is a highly effective means to transform leadership thinking, define strategy and priorities, and create customer-centric work flow. In this detailed guide, business performance improvement experts Karen Martin and Mike Osterling present a practical way to deeply understand how work gets done--in any environment--and how to design improvedwork systems. You'll learn how to: Prepare and engage your leadership team in the transformation process Gain a deep understanding about your current work systems and the related barriers to delivering value Design a future state that enables outstanding performance on all fronts Adopt the new design and lay the foundation for continued improvement Whether you are a novice, an experienced improvement practitioner, or a leader, Value Stream Mapping will help you design and operate your business more effectively. And if your organization already uses value stream mapping, this book will help you improve yourtransformation efforts. In today's rapid-fire business environment, there are too many problems to be solved and too many opportunities to be leveraged to operate without a highly effective means for accomplishing the important work to be done.Value stream mapping is the missing link in business management and, properly executed, has the power to address many business woes.
Values and Music Education (Counterpoints: Music and Education)
by Estelle R. JorgensenWhat values should form the foundation of music education? And once we decide on those values, how do we ensure we are acting on them?In Values and Music Education, esteemed author Estelle R. Jorgensen explores how values apply to the practice of music education. We may declare values, but they can be hard to see in action. Jorgensen examines nine quartets of related values and offers readers a roadmap for thinking constructively and critically about the values they hold. In doing so, she takes a broad view of both music and education while drawing on a wide sweep of multidisciplinary literature. Not only does Jorgensen demonstrate an analytical and dialectical philosophical approach to examining values, but she also seeks to show how theoretical and practical issues are interconnected.An important addition to the field of music education, Values and Music Education highlights values that have been forgotten or marginalized, underscores those that seem perennial, and illustrates how values can be double-edged swords.
Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite (Untold Legends #1)
by Zoraida Córdova Natalie C. ParkerEleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices fill this bestselling anthology—including V.E. Schwab's First Kill, now a major Netflix adaptation! "Boundary-pushing... Stories that stake a new claim on old tropes." —Publishers Weekly, starred review In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out—and going out for their first kill—and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night.Welcome to the evolution of the vampire—and a revolution on the page.Vampires Never Get Old includes stories by authors both bestselling and acclaimed, including Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley.An Imprint Book"Vampire fans, sink your teeth into this satisfying collection." —Kirkus Reviews
Vanilla (ISSN)
by Eric Odoux Michel GrisoniCultivated in an increasing number of countries, vanilla is a universally appreciated flavor that is consumed worldwide. However, most users are unaware of the plant from which the product comes. This book presents up-to-date reviews on the cultivation, curing, and uses of vanilla. The latest scientific data provides information on genetic status, resources, pests, diseases, cultural practices, biosynthesis of aromatic compounds, and aroma development. Leading contributors from around the world examine emergent countries for vanilla production, including China, India and Uganda. The text also explores the relationship between fruit development anatomy and flavor quality.
Vanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age
by Anthony J. StuartFeaturing numerous illustrations, this book explores the many lessons to be learned from Pleistocene megafauna, including the role of humans in their extinction, their disappearance at the start of the Sixth Extinction, and what they might teach us about contemporary conservation crises. Long after the extinction of dinosaurs, when humans were still in the Stone Age, woolly rhinos, mammoths, mastodons, sabertooth cats, giant ground sloths, and many other spectacular large animals that are no longer with us roamed the Earth. These animals are regarded as “Pleistocene megafauna,” named for the geological era in which they lived—also known as the Ice Age. In Vanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age, paleontologist Anthony J. Stuart explores the lives and environments of these animals, moving between six continents and several key islands. Stuart examines the animals themselves via what we’ve learned from fossil remains, and he describes the landscapes, climates, vegetation, ecological interactions, and other aspects of the animals’ existence. Illustrated throughout, Vanished Giants also offers a picture of the world as it was tens of thousands of years ago when these giants still existed. Unlike the case of the dinosaurs, there was no asteroid strike to blame for the end of their world. Instead, it appears that the giants of the Ice Age were driven to extinction by climate change, human activities—especially hunting—or both. Drawing on the latest evidence provided by radiocarbon dating, Stuart discusses these possibilities. The extinction of Ice Age megafauna can be seen as the beginning of the so-called Sixth Extinction, which is happening right now. This has important implications for understanding the likely fate of present-day animals in the face of contemporary climate change and vastly increasing human populations.
Vanishing Act: The Enduring Mystery Behind the Legendary Doolittle Raid over Tokyo
by Dan HamptonFrom New York Times bestselling author Dan Hampton comes the gripping, untold story of a vital secret mission set during the darkest days of the Second World War.In the dark days after the devastating Pearl Harbor attacks during the spring of 1942, the United States was determined to show the world that the Axis was not invincible. Their bold plan? Bomb Tokyo. On April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25s, known as the Doolittle Raiders, hit targets across Japan before escaping to China.The eighth plane, however, did not follow the other raiders. Instead, Plane 8’s pilots, Captain Edward “Ski” York and Lieutenant Bob Emmens, never attacked Tokyo, but headed across Japan to the Soviet Union, supposedly due to low fuel. Yet, this bomber was the only plane on the mission with maps of the Soviet Union aboard. And why did Plane 8’s route, recently discovered in the Japanese Imperial Archives, show them nowhere near their target? Uncovered facts reveal that bombing Tokyo was merely a cover for Plane 8’s real mission, but what was their secret objective? No one, aside from the two pilots and whomever sent them on this mission, truly knew why they were there, nor has the reason ever been revealed.Until now.In Vanishing Act, for the first time, New York Times bestselling author and former fighter pilot Dan Hampton definitively solves the final mystery of the Doolittle Raid with never-before-published documents and photographs in exclusive collaboration with Japanese researchers and the Raiders’ descendants.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox: A Novel
by Maggie O'FarrellThe "actually unputdownable" (Ali Smith) fourth novel from the award-winning author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait: the shocking, breathtaking story of a woman&’s life stolen, and reclaimed.Edinburgh in the 1930s. The Lennox family is having trouble with its youngest daughter. Esme is outspoken, unconventional, and repeatedly embarrasses them in polite society. Something will have to be done.Years later, a young woman named Iris Lockhart receives a letter informing her that she has a great-aunt in a psychiatric unit who is about to be released.Iris has never heard of Esme Lennox and the one person who should know more, her grandmother Kitty, seems unable to answer Iris&’s questions. What could Esme have done to warrant a lifetime in an institution? And how is it possible for a person to be so completely erased from a family&’s history?
Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City (Jewish Culture and Contexts)
by Frances TanzerIn Vanishing Vienna historian Frances Tanzer traces the reconstruction of Viennese culture from the 1938 German annexation through the early 1960s. The book reveals continuity in Vienna’s cultural history across this period and a framework for interpreting Viennese culture that relies on antisemitism, philosemitism, and a related discourse of Jewish presence and absence. This observation demands a new chronology of cultural reconstruction that links the Nazi and postwar years, and a new geography that includes the history of refugees from Nazi Vienna.Rather than presenting the Nazi, exile, and postwar periods as discrete chapters of Vienna’s history, Tanzer argues that they are part of a continuous spectrum of cultural evolution—the result of which was the creation of a coherent Austrian identity and culture that emerged by the 1950s. As she shows, antisemitism and philosemitism were not contradictory forces in post-Nazi Austrian culture. They were deeply interconnected aspirations in a city where nostalgia for the past dominated cultural reconstruction efforts and supported seemingly contradictory impulses. Viennese nostalgia at times concealed the perpetuation of antisemitic fantasies of the city without Jews. At the same time, the postwar desire to return to a pre-Nazi past relied upon notions of Austrian culture that Austrian Jews perfected in exile, as well as on the symbolic remigration of a mostly imagined “Jewish” culture now taxed with redeeming Austria in the aftermath of the Holocaust. From this perspective, philosemitism is much more than a simple inversion of antisemitism—instead, Tanzer argues, philosemitism, problematic as it may be, defines Vienna in the era of postwar reconstruction.In this way, Vanishing Vienna uncovers a rarely discussed phenomenon of the aftermath of the Holocaust—a society that consumes, redefines, and bestows symbolic meaning on the victims in their absence.