Kobe is a nineteen-year-old man living in a small village in Wareka Hills in Kingston, Jamaicaa training ground for militants, militia members, and rebels. Forced to become the man of the house at age eleven after his father dies during a battle with the national party, now Kobe must do everything he can to keep food on the table for his two sisters and mother who depend on him. As chaos erupts in his country, Kobe fears for not only for his life, but also for the lives of his family members. Without a visa or cash, Kobe knows he must do something fast or he will end up like his father. After he seizes an opportunity to stowaway on a ship to America, Kobe must rely on his wits, courage, luck, and a new friendship with a Cuban refugee in order to survive. Two weeks later as he arrives in a strange country, Kobe sets out on a quest, with help from his Cuban friend, Hector, to create a new life. But as he encounters one obstacle after the other, now only time will tell if he will be successful or ever find his way back home. The Banana Boat Man shares a tale of a young mans challenging journey of Passion, Adventure & A life never --- known!! As he risks everything.......for the most Ancient of Treasures L o v e.
This deluxe eBook edition of Harry Belafonte's remarkable memoir includes nearly eighteen minutes of original video—Mr. Belafonte talking about his first meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr. . . . his friendship with Sidney Poitier . . . the making of “We Are the World” . . . and much more—the bonus song “Jump in the Line” from the companion album Harry Belafonte—Sing Your Song: The Music; and the book's photographs compiled as a slide show. Harry Belafonte is not just one of the greatest entertainers of our time; he has led one of the great American lives of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Now, at last, this extraordinary icon tells us about it all—his poverty-ridden childhood in Harlem and Jamaica; his meteoric rise to become one of the world’s most popular singers, breaking down racial barriers that no one had broken before, achieving equal popularity with white and black audiences; his lifelong, passionate involvement at the heart of the civil rights movement and countless other political and social causes. Along the way he’s befriended many beloved and important figures in both entertainment and politics—Paul Robeson; Eleanor Roosevelt; Sidney Poitier; John F. Kennedy; Marlon Brando; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Robert Kennedy; Nelson Mandela; Fidel Castro—and writes about them with the same exceptional candor and insight with which he reveals himself on every page. As both an artist and an activist, Belafonte has touched the lives of countless men and women. With My Song, he has found yet another way to entertain and inspire us. It is an electrifying memoir from a remarkable man.
"The Man Book" is an essential life-skills handbook--a manual for everything a modern man needs to know, such as Things Never to Say During Sex, Hottest Animated Women, Fly Fishing, and much more.
When Samuel Zemurray arrived in America in 1891, he was gangly and penniless. When he died in New Orleans 69 years later, he was among the richest men in the world. He conquered the United Fruit Company, and is a symbol of the best and worst of the United States.
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE A SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BESTSELLER In AD 70, when the Second Temple was destroyed, a handful of visionaries saved Judaism by reinventing it, taking what had been a national religion and turning it into an idea. Whenever a Jew studied—wherever he was—he would be in the holy city, and his faith preserved. But in our own time, Zionists have turned the book back into a temple, and unlike an idea, a temple can be destroyed. With exuberance, humor, and real scholarship, Rich Cohen's Israel is Real offers "a serious attempt by a gifted storyteller to enliven and elucidate Jewish religious, cultural, and political history . . . A powerful narrative" (Los Angeles Times).
Find out where honey comes from as Grandpa the Beeman teaches the basics of beekeeping to his young grandson. This rhyming story includes 7 pages of educational endnotes full of essential facts about bees, beekeeping, honey, and the vital part that bees play in the natural world. Includes a honey muffin recipe on the final page!
Frankie Avicious is a hard-luck fellow with a sordid past. Living in a dreary meatpacking town, stuck in a loveless marriage, and spending his days slaughtering cattle, Frankie has nothing to look forward to but his next swallow of bargain whiskey. His wife is threatening to leave him, and the local sociopath is threatening to kill him. And then there’s Scarlett Acres, a stripper with a heart of fool’s gold. Frankie can’t stop thinking about her… With the encouragement of a mysterious traveling salesman, Frankie sets out to reverse his destiny through a series of bizarre murders. The consequences of his brutality turn out to be far worse than even he could imagine. Praise for THE DISASSEMBLED MAN: “The Disassembled Man is lean and mean—with the emphasis on mean—a true psycho-noir novel that leaves the reader to work out the truth behind events we can only see from the point of view of the protagonist. The twist that comes maybe two thirds of the way through the book ups the stakes even more and those last few pages are a real mindbender. Taken as a whole, The Disassembled Man is a damn fine read; a brilliant and raw example of the Psycho Noir genre.” —Russel D. McLean, Crime Scene Scotland “For the first third of Jon Bassoff’s beautifully ugly first novel The Disassembled Man, I felt the presence of Jim Thompson. Nothing wrong with that, the tone and feel of Thompson are appropriate to the material. But then Bassoff gets going on his own and you realize that while he uses the same kind of Swiftian tone Thompson did, every nuance of ugliness writ large—I always had the feeling that Thompson used it as comic relief, a kind of fabulism if you will. Laughing past the graveyard that would all too soon claim you. I don’t get that feeling at all with the Bassoff novel. The power of this book, and it has considerable power, is that Bassoff never apologies for his people or their story. An impressive and imposing debut.” —Ed Gorman, Ed’s New Improved Blog “Jon Bassoff’s The Disassembled Man is one strictly for the purists, the basement crazies, the inmates that are so fucked up that they don’t even know they’re in the asylum—much less able to run the fucking thing. The story of a nasty fucker who only gets more pit-bull-snarling-fucking mean as the story progresses, this shit ain’t for the casual crime fans. No sir, dear readers, The Disassembled Man is for the folks who want their pulp served rare, as in still pumping steaming hot fucking blood. So yeah, you could say I dug the holy fuck out of Jon Bassoff’s debut.” —Peter Dragovich, Book Central Station Review “Bassoff has written sheer, nasty beautiful prose with this book. The wince factor is high and the characters horridly riveting. The envelope has not just been pushed, but set on fire.” —Jennifer Jordan, Crime Spree Magazine “The Disassembled Man is remarkable for its ugliness. It’s hard to think of a book with a character as despicable as Frankie Avicious. This Jim Thompson on mescaline story is not for the faint of heart.” —Nathan Cain, Independent Crime “Jon Bassoff’s novel The Disassembled Man is a wince-inducing front row seat to a soul shredding. It’s so unrelentingly dark, so hopeless and dank, that when the humor rears its fugly head you’ll want to wretch because you laughed. You will hate yourself for those laughs. But you will laugh. Whatever literary tag it’s given, The Disassembled Man is a hell of a statement.” —Jedidiah Ayers, Hardboiled Wonderland “Bassoff is good, and the things that are at the heart of a good psycho noir—great characters, lurid action and a propellant plot—are all here in abundance.” —John Kenyon, Things I’d Rather be Doing “Jim Thompson’s psychotic hell brutally collides with Bruce Jay Friedman’s absurdist humor in this shotgun blast of a novel.” —Dave Zeltserman, author of Small Crimes “Having read quite a number of psycho noirs, I’d have to say this one’s a bit special. Jon Bassoff really nails it.” —Allan Guthrie, author of Slammer “This is strong stuff, definitely not the kind of thing that you’re going to find from a mainstream publisher. If you have a taste for the off-beat, this might be just what you’re looking for.” —Bill Crider, author of Murder in Four Parts “Flexer’s gritty, nasty tale in the classic dime-novel tradition moves like a bullet from a Beretta.” —Mike Segretto, author of The Bride of Trash “The Disassembled Man is the most horrifyingly funny, perverse and shocking crime book I have ever read–and that’s saying something. It pushes way past Jim Thompson territory. It’s also amazingly well-written with characters who are utterly unique. And like the greatest noir books and films, it’s also a razor-sharp commentary on certain unsavory aspects of contemporary society.” —Ethan Goldman, screenwriter of Warner Brothers’ The Breaks
The six years John Burbidge spent in India as a community development worker changed him in many ways, but one stands out from all the rest. It led him to confront a deeply personal secret—his attraction to his own sex. After taking the plunge with masseurs on a Bombay beach, he found himself on a rollercoaster ride of sexual adventuring. A complicating factor in his journey of self-discovery was the tightly knit community in which he lived and worked, with its highly regimented schedule and minimal privacy that forced him to live a double life. Written with passion, integrity and humour, The Boatman is packed with incident, anecdote, adventure and above all, real and memorable people. Burbidge takes hold of India as few have done before, deftly interweaving the search for selfhood with an intimate exploration of Indian life and society. His story shows us how, when we dare to immerse ourselves in a culture radically different from our own, we may discover parts of ourselves we never knew existed.
While the golden years contain many endearing times, they also seem to be full of modern conveniences that overwhelm many seniors to the point of distraction. These years are also full of frustrations due to our aging minds and bodies. It is only with a good sense of humor, the ability to laugh at ourselves, and a lifetime full of humorous memories that we can hopefully and cheerfully survive.
