This book examines the phenomenon of kidnap-for-ransom, a crime that has been described as a ‘modern scourge.’ It draws on a large body of data from across the world and utilizes a range of theories and concepts from the social sciences and business disciplines to analyse and explain its widespread use by criminals and pirates. Case studies are extensively utilized to illustrate general observations on kidnap-for-ransom. The book provides comprehensive coverage, including the latest manife...

A generation counted. A people tested. A promise that refuses to fail.The book of Numbers is far more than a record of censuses, camps, and wilderness journeys. It is the story of a people learning what it means to live in the presence of a holy God, and of a faithful God who continues to lead even when His people complain, rebel, and lose their way.This verse-by-verse study follows Israel from Sinai to the plains of Moab, tracing the organisation of the ca...

Exodus is more than the story of Israel leaving Egypt. It is the account of a people redeemed from slavery, brought into covenant with Yahweh, and taught how to live in His presence.This verse-by-verse study follows the book closely from Pharaoh's oppression and the calling of Moses through the plagues, Passover, the crossing of the sea, Sinai, the covenant crisis of the golden calf, and the construction of the tabernacle. Historical background, cultural detail, li...

An intimate, deeply moving queer coming-of-age novel that evokes '50s small-town life and the surprisingly wild pre-Stonewall '60sIn 1956, lonely teenager Teddy is drawn to the water and woods surrounding his small town, where he meets bad boy Wade and becomes overwhelmed by his attraction to him. During the rapturous early period of their friendship, the two range over the area’s mountains and waterways before falling out after high school over Teddy’s sexuality. ...

How Walt Whitman’s philosophy of death prepares the soul for freedom and equalityHumans fantasize about immortality. Billionaires dabble in cryonics, politicians build monuments to themselves, and writers donate their papers to libraries. In Die Your Own Death, Jack Turner argues that the quest for immortality—literal or symbolic—is politically destructive. He does so through a meditation on the work of Walt Whitman. Whitman held that democracy prepares in...

Historic preservation law sits at the intersection of property, land use, environmental, constitutional, tax, and administrative law, yet it remains one of the most specialized and frequently misunderstood areas of legal practice. Historic Preservation Law provides practitioners, scholars, and students with a comprehensive introduction to the legal frameworks that protect the nation’s historic and cultural resources. From the evolution of preservation policy to the practical appli...

War doesn't wait for the heart to heal.Still haunted by betrayal, Ashten Desai struggles to trust herself, let alone anyone else. Unfortunately, hesitancy is not a luxury she can afford in the face of an imposter king threatening to destroy everything she knows.But she isn't the only one fighting a battleReyland is finding that the quietest acts of love are often the hardest.Lyra is learning what life can be after devastating loss.Finn is forced to f...

The handsome cowboy is completely off-limits, but he’s not willing to let her go.Five years ago, a desperate Pilar Lopez accepted a job from billionaire rancher Benedict Merril. Becoming his secretary was the only way to keep her and her brother afloat. Now, with her brother graduating, Pilar is ready to spread her wings and leave behind her forbidden crush on her cowboy boss.But Benedict’s angry refusal of her resignation reveals a fire she never expected. She’s a...

This soldier’s wounds go deep…Newly returned home from combat, Hank is battered, but not quite broken. Now it’s his job to keep a hundred-year-old house from falling down around his ears. He’s all alone—just like he wants… until one irrepressible woman invades his sanctuary, hunting the secrets hidden within.A determined scholar searching for a legend…Graduate student Lale is investigating a century-old mystery. Unraveling it is her ticket to tenur...

She rose from the ashes of her past.Now someone wants to throw her back into the fire.In the small town of Silverton, Ohio, crime runs big. Court advocate, Elizabeth Strong, knows this all too well and doing everything she can to stop it. She has devoted her life to helping women escape dangerous, narcissistic men. She did it herself years ago sending a man to prison. And he’s had plenty of time to plot his revenge.While helping a p...

Discover and rediscover the world of the Queen's Thief, from the acclaimed novel The Thief to the thrilling, twenty-years-in-the-making conclusion, The Return of the Thief. The epic novels set in the world of the Queen’s Thief can be read in any order.New York Times-bestselling author Megan Whalen Turner’s entrancing and award-winning Queen’s Thief novels bring to life the world of the epics. This first book in ser...

She has one last chance to turn her luck around—but a smoking hot cowboy is standing in her way!Pippa Crivelli is homeless, jobless, and dead broke. With nowhere else to go, she flees to her great-aunt’s abandoned farm in the small town of Cabrillo. But she finds a grumbly, bear-headed cowboy trying to take her only chance at a home from her.Bear Westfall has waited a long time to own the Crivelli place. It’s his last hope to reunite his fractured family and save t...