Policy evaluation is an important and well-established part of the policy process, facilitating and feeding back to promote the ongoing effectiveness of policies that have been implemented or anticipating policies in the making. Environmental policy is a special case, presenting new complexities uncommon to other areas, which standard evaluation tools are ill-equipped to grapple with. It is also an area that is experiencing rapid growth throughout the world and knowledge is now needed at a...

Although the fourteenth-century Italian merchant Francesco Datini has received attention from business historians, there has previously been no full study of his wife, Margherita Datini. Drawing on a sizable trove of Margherita’s correspondence held in the Archivio di Stato di Prato, including hundreds of letters she exchanged with Francesco, Ann Crabb investigates the social and economic importance of women’s roles as wives and mothers, early modern European views on honor, and the practi...

In response to a growing interest, among historians as well as literary critics, in women's use of the epistolary genre, Women's Letters Across Europe, 1400-1700: Form and Persuasion analyzes persuasive techniques in the personal correspondence of late medieval and early modern women. It includes studies of well-known women (Isabella d'Este, Teresa of Avila, Marguerite de Navarre, Catherine de Medicis), of those less-known (Alessandra Macigni Strozzi, Louise de Coligny, Glikl of Hameln, Ar...

Are you waiting for the Fat Fairy? Desperate for that magical moment when your wobbly bits disappear in the blink of an eye?Julie Crabbe was. Julie had struggled with her weight since childhood, and when the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes struck, she found comfort in food and her weight ballooned. Finally she took back control of her life and eating, and lost 80kg – with no help from the Fat Fairy.Julie has helped hundreds of people achieve their own weight-loss goals, and i...

A little cute dog that is namee STRIPE. Everyone loves little STRIPE - he is so playful and fluffy. STRIPE is a sweet dog that loves to walk with you and licks your face. STRIPE belongs to these two little boys. Their names are Dezmond, and Marcos. Actually, this is their story that they are telling. This is their first dog, so they are trying their best to make STRIPE more happy. They love him so much. Read how they are going make him happy. STRIPE is having a birthday party by these two ...

English village life and villagers in the east of England in the late 1700’s and early 1800s—is the subject of The Borough. George Crabbe was an English poet, surgeon, and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people. Lord Byron, an avowed admirer of Crabbe's poetry, described him as "nature's sternest painter, yet the best." Crabbe's poetry was predominantly in the form of heroic couplets, an...

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of both the popular 1902 Broadway musical and the well-known 1939 film adaptation.The story chronicles the adventures of a young girl named Dorothy Gale in the Land of Oz, after being swept awa...

Legions of youthful Americans have taken On the Road as a manifesto for rebellion and an inspiration to hit the road. But there is much more to the book than that. In Why Kerouac Matters, John Leland embarks on a wry, insightful, and playful discussion of the novel, arguing that it still matters because it lays out an alternative road map to growing up. Along the way, Leland overturns many misconceptions about On the Road as he examines the lessons that Kerouac's...

Are you in good shape but struggling with those last ten to twenty pounds that stand between looking perfectly okay and looking knock-their-eyes-out great? Do you have an event on the calendar where you’d love to make jaws drop? Or do you just want to see for yourself what it would be like to have the best body you’ve ever had in your life? Then you need this book.Making the Cut is a unique, intense thirty-day program from TV’s toughest fitness guru, Jillian Michaels. It h...

Now a family friendly major motion picture from Fox 2000 Studios—featuring Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried, and Kevin Costner as the voice of Enzo the dog!In this young readers’ edition of the New York Times bestselling adult novel The Art of Racing in the Rain, meet one funny mutt—Enzo, the lovable dog who tells this story.Enzo knows he is different from other dogs. Most dogs love to chase cars, but Enzo longs to race them.He learns about racing and the world aro...

“The government in the past created one American Dream at the expense of almost all others: the dream of a house, a lawn, a picket fence, two children, and a car. But there is no single American Dream anymore.”For nearly 70 years, the suburbs were as American as apple pie. As the middle class ballooned and single-family homes and cars became more affordable, we flocked to pre-fabricated communities in the suburbs, a place where open air and solitude offered a retre...

Renowned worldwide, as novelist and dramatist, Ngugi wa Thiongo's contributions to the body of critical writing on African literature, politics and society have been highly significant. His best known critical work is Decolonising the Mind, which since publication in 1986 has profoundly influenced other writers, critics, scholars and students.These latest essays reflect Ngugi's continuing interests and enthusiasms. His choice of writers is original. He makes us look again a...