A "thoroughly researched, stranger-than-fiction" history of the world's tiniest rebel nation, filled with intrigue, armed battles, and radio pirates (Robert Jobson, author of Prince Philip's Century).In 1967, a retired army major and self-made millionaire named Paddy Roy Bates cemented his family's place in history when he inaugurated himself ruler of the Principality of Sealand, a tiny dominion of the high seas. And so began the peculiar story of the worl...

Playing every angle for a shot at the big time Chicagoans venture to area pool halls to perfect their games and navigate league play for a shot at the APA World Pool Championships in Las Vegas. Dylan Taylor-Lehman joins a lively cast of characters under the lights and inside a subculture as old as Chicago itself. Whether running the table or waiting their turn, everyone has a story to tell and opinions to share on position play, billiards’s unwritten code, and life itself....

Being Sociological considers the lived experience of sociology, stressing the active nature of social life and highlighting the role that students can play in enacting social change. Fully reworked in this third edition, with five brand new chapter topics and a diverse roster of new contributors, this textbook presents a fresh take on society today.The book encourages readers to examine both enduring challenges and their potential solutions. Dynamic learning features help ...

On September 9, 2015, in the quirky village of Yellow Springs, Ohio, the Miami Township Board of Trustees arbitrated a dispute concerning an area bed and breakfast that was apparently causing problems in the neighborhood where it was located. People were irate: the B&B was considered too loud by some but unfairly under attack by others, while township officials were called incompetent by both sides for not ruling in their favor. The trustees were amused, concerned, and baffled at the situa...

This bookcontends that the impasse of the Left today is in part, a result of an anarchist ‘common sense’ among activists. The author argues that the vital dynamics of anarchism and social movements need to be combined with a reappraisal of the Communist party and state. While cynicism towards capitalism and existing political institutions is plentiful, this book argues that the Left appears mired in a reactive politics of resistance, unable to formulate programmes for substantive social ch...

In 1967, a retired army major and self-made millionaire named Paddy Roy Bates cemented his family’s place in history when he inaugurated himself ruler of the Principality of Sealand, a tiny dominion of the high seas. And so began the peculiar story of the world’s most stubborn micronation on a World War II anti-aircraft gun platform off the British coast. Sealand is the raucous tale of how a rogue adventurer seized the disused Maunsell Sea Fort from pirate radio broadcasters, settled his e...

A lively and controversial overview by the nation’s most celebrated First Amendment lawyer of the unique protections for freedom of speech in AmericaThe right of Americans to voice their beliefs without government approval or oversight is protected under what may well be the most honored and least understood addendum to the US Constitution—the First Amendment. Floyd Abrams, a noted lawyer and award-winning legal scholar specializing in First Amendment issues, exami...

How could he save Earth, when Earth no longer cared? In this sci-fi classic, distant archaic Earth has been occupied by aliens for several decades, while Earth's government-in-exile has resided in the advanced Centaurian system. Finally, this aging, tired group find they are about to receive help - financial aid and weaponry to recover their lost planet. But do they want to give up their lives for a world long left behind? Michael Wireman, the son of the exiled President, is the only one w...

In "The Robot Who Looked Like Me," a busy man and a busy woman find a way to carve out time to romance each other—by having look-alike robots made to do the job—who then run away together.The twelve other stories in this collection are "Slaves of Time," "Voices," "A Supplicant in Space," "Sneak Previews," "Zirn Left Unguarded, the Jenghik Palace in Flames, John Westerly Dead," "Welcome to the Standard Nightmare," "The Never-Ending Western Movie," "What Is Life?", "I See a Man Sitti...

Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet there is another tale to tell. Dotted throughout this remote land are pianos―grand instruments created during the boom years of the nineteenth century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like...

A 1950s amnesiac and hard-boiled detective sets out for revenge in this blend of mystery, supernatural horror, and metaphysical fiction.Private investigator Harry Angel is in a jam. Handcuffed in his apartment along with the cops and a corpse, he stands accused of violently murdering three people. The good news is he knows who did it. But in order to exonerate himself, Harry must first make his escape—and figure out his own identity.With the authorities hot...

"The Russia that Satter depicts in this brave, engaging book cannot be ignored . . . Required reading for anyone interested in the post-Soviet state" (Newsweek).Anticipating a new dawn of freedom after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russians could hardly have foreseen the reality of their future a decade later: a country impoverished and controlled at every level by organized crime. This riveting book views the 1990s reform period through the expe...