Claiming Camille

Camille Robbins is determined to stay on the partnership track at the prestigious San Francisco law firm of Walker and Jenkins—and that’s meant putting love on the back burner for the past seven years. But now Camille is back in her hometown of Washington, DC to care for her ailing father, and back at the DC branch of the law firm where she worked years ago. Returning to the office means returning to face her former boss and lover, the incomparable Mia Shannon. To complicate matters, Camille begins a wild journey with the daughter of the firm’s biggest client—the fiery redhead Hannah Richards—even though she knows that Hannah is strictly off-limits. With Mia determined to throw a wrench in the works, will the hurt feelings of a spurned lover ruin any chance they might have? Or will Hannah see beyond the chaos and lies to finally claim Camille’s heart…

In the United States, it is quite common to lay claim to the benefits of society by appealing to "taxpayer citizenship--the idea that, as taxpayers, we deserve access to certain social services like a public education. Tracing the genealogy of this concept, Camille Walsh shows how tax policy and taxpayer identity were built on the foundations of white supremacy and intertwined with ideas of whiteness. From the origins of unequal public school funding after the Civil War through school desegregation cases from Brown v. Board of Education to San Antonio v. Rodriguez in the 1970s, this study spans over a century of racial injustice, dramatic courtroom clashes, and white supremacist backlash to collective justice claims. Incorporating letters from everyday individuals as well as the private notes of Supreme Court justices as they deliberated, Walsh reveals how the idea of a "taxpayer" identity contributed to the contemporary crises of public education, racial disparity, and income inequality.

After breaking her nose apprehending a shoplifter, nature blogger Astrid Dibello finds her world turned upside down when plastic surgery fixes the break but makes her look nearly identical to her older sister, Claire. Claire has always been the pretty one, while Astrid is the “smart” sister with the infamous Dibello nose. But who is the woman in the mirror now? Not even Astrid’s family seem sure. When Astrid’s girlfriend accuses her of joining the “plastic culture” and dumps her, Astrid escapes to the solitude of the woods where she runs into former high school enigma, Simone. In the quiet beauty of nature, Astrid and Simone connect and their easy friendship turns to a tender romance. But when high school love letters Simone wrote to Claire resurface, Astrid wonders if Simone loves Astrid for who she is, or just because she now looks like her older sister? If Astrid wants the truth, she’ll need to closely examine who she is—both inside and out. Astrid Inside/Out tells the story of a woman’s journey to find her true self on the way to her happily ever after.

PSYCHOPATHS ARE SPECIAL PEOPLE THEY ARE TALL, CHARMING AND HANDSOME JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE MAKING OTHERS SHORT, BORING AND WORTHLESS. THE BEST WAY TO BECAME A PSYCHOPATH IS TO BE RAISED BY ONE.

Thirty-six years before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Mississippi Gulf, the region was hit by Camille, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded. Smith offers stories of survival and experience, of the tenacity of social justice in the face of a natural disaster, and of how recovery from Camille worked for some but not others.

America’s most provocative intellectual brings her blazing powers of analysis to the most famous poems of the Western tradition—and unearths some previously obscure verses worthy of a place in our canon. Combining close reading with a panoramic breadth of learning, Camille Paglia sharpens our understanding of poems we thought we knew, from Shakespeare to Dickinson to Plath, and makes a case for including in the canon works by Paul Blackburn, Wanda Coleman, Chuck Wachtel, Rochelle Kraut—and even Joni Mitchell. Daring, riveting, and beautifully written, Break, Blow, Burn is a modern classic that excites even seasoned poetry lovers—and continues to create generations of new ones.