Masters of Paradise

Masters of Paradise

Author: Alan A. Block

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-01-30

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1351309382

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the story of organized crime's penetration of the islands and the corruption of its high officials during the time The Bahamas become politically independent of Great Britain. It describes secret U.S. Internal Revenue Service operations aimed at American criminals involved in Bahamian-based tax scams and similar crimes. Block paints a devastating picture of a symbiotic relationship among off-shore tax havens in The Bahamas, sophisticated American criminals, and complacent public officials in the United States. During the 1960s and 1970s, the I.R.S. launched major investigations into American organized crime and the subterranean economy of The Bahamas. Block's access to the private papers of many of the key players in these affairs has given him a unique perspective. He has uncovered details of crime, corruption, and bureaucratic infighting within and among the U.S. Treasury and Justice Departments that have been largely unrecognized by previous researchers. Block shows how important links in the international traffic in cocaine were forged in the Bahamas, in full view of American officials. Masters of Paradise raises major questions about American law enforcement officials' commitment to fighting complex international crime during the 1960s and the 1970s. While there have been other studies of tax havens, money laundering, and offshore investigations, Block's access to information and his grasp of its meaning is unique. Professionals interested in the history and sociology of organized crime and the underground economy will find this book eye-opening. General readers interested in organized crime and political corruption will find it absorbing.


The Captain Lands in Paradise

The Captain Lands in Paradise

Author: Sarah Manguso

Publisher: Alice James Books

Published: 2002-07-01

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 194857988X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Sarah Manguso’s first collection, a combination of verse and prose poems, explores love, nostalgia, remorse, and the joyful and mysterious preparation for the discoveries of new lands, selves, and ideas. The voice is consistently spare, honest, understated, and eccentric.


Paradise Dogs

Paradise Dogs

Author: Man Martin

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2011-06-07

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1429990244

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Adam Newman once had it all. But then he lost it. Now Adam yearns to reunite with his estranged wife, Evelyn, and recapture the Edenic life they once had running Paradise Dogs, the roadside hot-dog restaurant now legendary throughout central Florida. He has a few obstacles along the way. For starters, there's his impending marriage to Lily. There's also the matter of a quarter million dollars' worth of diamonds that he mislaid, along with what appears to be a shadowy conspiracy that is buying up land around the Cross-Florida Canal (and which may or may not be a product of Adam's alcohol-infused imagination). Despite his own troubles---and a brief stay in Chattahoochee---Adam looks to mentor his son, Addison, in the ways of love. Awkward, unsure, and employed as the world's least accurate obituary writer, Addison pines for a beautiful and painfully earnest linguistic student but must compete for her attention with his older and more sophisticated half brother from Evelyn's first marriage. But if anybody can set these worlds in order, it is Adam, who has an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time and allowing others to believe he's someone he's not. Whether it's delivering a baby, rescuing a marriage, or exposing a Communist conspiracy, our protagonist is up for the job. Paradise Dogs, from Georgia Author of the Year Award winner Man Martin, is a farcical tale of paradise lost, the American Dream, and the true measures of love


Criminal Paradise

Criminal Paradise

Author: Steven M. Thomas

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2008-02-26

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0345504909

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The literature of larceny welcomes a newcomer with some serious chops, as Steven M. Thomas muscles his way to a place at the table–elbow-to-elbow with Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen–courtesy of a harrowing, hilarious, two-fisted, hard-boiled thriller that’s pure heaven for anyone who loves a hell of a crime novel. Robert Rivers is a crook. No excuses, no apologies. Breaking the law is his calling, crime is his rush, capers his reason for getting up in the morning and staying up late at night. But he’s a thief with honor, plotting and pulling off carefully choreographed heists where no shots are fired, no blood is spilled, and nobody gets hurt . . . except in the wallet. After a brief stint behind bars back in the day, he’s managed to carve out a comfortable existence, cheerfully plundering the sunny Southern California community whose streets he tools in the tweaked-out Cadillac DeVille that’s his pride and joy. But now Rob (whose name has become ironic) is pushing forty, and–like his trusty partner, Switch, who’s got a pregnant girlfriend and a hefty stash of loot–he’s thinking about quitting the game. But then he and Switch, pulling their latest Butch and Sundance, score a payday that could end up costing them plenty. Inside a strongbox packed with greenbacks rests a disturbing black-and-white photo of a beautiful young girl, eyes full of fear as naked as she is. It’s an image that Rob can’t shake, and a wake-up call: There are rules even he won’t break. It’s also his one-way ticket into the underbelly of the underworld–a lethal landscape of sex slaves, sadistic psychopaths, and sawed-off shotguns, where honor is for fools, and trust is for suckers, where very bad people do even worse things and nice guys don’t finish at all. They just get finished off. With its alluring setting, quirky characters, and restrained and subtle prose, Criminal Paradise has something for every thriller fan. And with sharp natural instincts and writing skills as serious as his humor is sly, Steven M. Thomas shows as much promise as any author on the suspense scene.


Paradise Alley

Paradise Alley

Author: Kevin Baker

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-03-17

Total Pages: 708

ISBN-13: 0061748986

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

They came by boat from a starving land—and by the Underground Railroad from Southern chains—seeking refuge in a crowded, filthy corner of hell at the bottom of a great metropolis. But in the terrible July of 1863, the poor and desperate of Paradise Alley would face a new catastrophe—as flames from the war that was tearing America in two reached out to set their city on fire.


Afro-Paradise

Afro-Paradise

Author: Christen A Smith

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2016-03-15

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0252098099

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Tourists exult in Bahia, Brazil, as a tropical paradise infused with the black population's one-of-a-kind vitality. But the alluring images of smiling black faces and dancing black bodies masks an ugly reality of anti-black authoritarian violence. Christen A. Smith argues that the dialectic of glorified representations of black bodies and subsequent state repression reinforces Brazil's racially hierarchal society. Interpreting the violence as both institutional and performative, Smith follows a grassroots movement and social protest theater troupe in their campaigns against racial violence. As Smith reveals, economies of black pain and suffering form the backdrop for the staged, scripted, and choreographed afro-paradise that dazzles visitors. The work of grassroots organizers exposes this relationship, exploding illusions and asking unwelcome questions about the impact of state violence performed against the still-marginalized mass of Afro-Brazilians. Based on years of field work, Afro-Paradise is a passionate account of a long-overlooked struggle for life and dignity in contemporary Brazil.


Sampler Spree

Sampler Spree

Author: Susan Ache

Publisher: Martingale

Published: 2021-03-19

Total Pages: 83

ISBN-13: 1683561384

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Indulge your passion for color and fabric with a smorgasbord of blocks to use in a quilt that's a visual feast. The fun begins with more than 100 beautiful quilt blocks that all finish at 6" square, making them perfect for using scraps and for easy mixing and matching. Whether you prefer traditional or modern, you'll find so much to love in the varied assortment of block designs. Susan Ache (you may know her as @yardgrl60 on Instagram) shares 50 expert tips throughout, plus step-by-step instructions for making half-square triangles, flying geese, stitch-and-flip corners, and more. Once your tantalizing blocks are stitched, arranging them in the stunning sampler quilt is sheer pleasure!


Paradise Alley

Paradise Alley

Author: Sylvester Stallone

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Published: 1978

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9780425038116

DOWNLOAD EBOOK


Birds of Paradise: A Novel

Birds of Paradise: A Novel

Author: Diana Abu-Jaber

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2011-09-06

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 0393082946

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“A full-course meal, a rich, complex and memorable story that will leave you lingering gratefully at [Abu-Jaber’s] table.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post At thirteen, Felice Muir ran away from home to punish herself for some horrible thing she had done—leaving a hole in the hearts of her pastry-chef mother, her real estate attorney father, and her foodie-entrepreneurial brother. After five years of scrounging for food, drugs, and shelter on Miami Beach, Felice is now turning eighteen, and she and the family she left behind must reckon with the consequences of her actions—and make life-affirming choices about what matters to them most, now and in the future.