Inches Away Worlds Apart

Two teenage girls separated by 88 years meet in1964 and forge a life long friendship. They share their lives and experiences and have the most profound and lasting effect on each other.

How is it that, half a century after Brown v. Board of Education, educational opportunities remain so unequal for black and white students, not to mention poor and wealthy ones? In his important new book, Five Miles Away, A World Apart, James E. Ryan answers this question by tracing the fortunes of two schools in Richmond, Virginia--one in the city and the other in the suburbs. Ryan shows how court rulings in the 1970s, limiting the scope of desegregation, laid the groundwork for the sharp disparities between urban and suburban public schools that persist to this day. The Supreme Court, in accord with the wishes of the Nixon administration, allowed the suburbs to lock nonresidents out of their school systems. City schools, whose student bodies were becoming increasingly poor and black, simply received more funding, a measure that has proven largely ineffective, while the independence (and superiority) of suburban schools remained sacrosanct. Weaving together court opinions, social science research, and compelling interviews with students, teachers, and principals, Ryan explains why all the major education reforms since the 1970s--including school finance litigation, school choice, and the No Child Left Behind Act--have failed to bridge the gap between urban and suburban schools and have unintentionally entrenched segregation by race and class. As long as that segregation continues, Ryan forcefully argues, so too will educational inequality. Ryan closes by suggesting innovative ways to promote school integration, which would take advantage of unprecedented demographic shifts and an embrace of diversity among young adults. Exhaustively researched and elegantly written by one of the nation's leading education law scholars, Five Miles Away, A World Apart ties together, like no other book, a half-century's worth of education law and politics into a coherent, if disturbing, whole. It will be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered why our schools are so unequal and whether there is anything to be done about it.

Alan Sakowitz, a whistleblower of a Madoff-like Ponzi scheme masterminded by Scott Rothstein, fraudster extraordinaire, tells of the story of his decision to turn in Rothstein regardless of the possible dangerous ramifications of such a decision. The saga of Rothstein's rise and fall which included a Warren Yacht, two Bugattis, Governor Crist, the former Versace mansion, The Eagles, and even the murder of a law partner, is the stuff that Hollywood movies are made from. Instead of the mere accounting of such a scandal, Sakowitz uses the Rothstein scheme as a cautionary tale in stark contrast to the stories of humble, ethical individuals living within Sakowitz's neighborhood in North Miami Beach, Florida, Sakowitz's neighbors are people who have spent their lives trying to assist others, not line their pockets, and through these stories Sakowitz creates a sharp dichotomy between the greed, of a Rothstein and its mainstream culture of consumption and the charity, kindness and selflessness of a principle-oriented community. Indeed, Sakowitz speaks to the symptoms of a culture that could create a Scott Rothstein, and, though acknowledging that the easy way out is not simple to dismiss, offers remedies to the growing ills of our entitlement society. The answer, Sakowitz says, lies in thinking first of others, and how one's actions should benefit the lives of friends, not one's short-term gratifications.

Dr Carol Puhl-Snyman fell in love with the people of South Africa and with the country’s potential when she first arrived in 1985 on a South African-American lecturing exchange in Applied Linguistics. During that trip she met the man who would become her husband and she left America for him. They managed to buy a small wine farm in Stellenbosch, the setting for this novel. In her academic career she has taught communication and language-related courses, mostly at tertiary level, and has authored several academic articles. This is her first novel.

"In pursuit of stardom, a talented underground boxer named Marcus Slaibron, stumbles into a chain of events that leave him unwillingly transported to another world. Determined to return to his wife and the place he calls home, Slaibron is challenged at every turn as he encounters the oddities of the primitive world known as Bleshand. Day and night transition in a matter of seconds, creatures and species of both violent and peaceful nature are commonplace, magic is considered a reasonable tool for those able to utilize it, and a tyrant ruler by the name of Rathmus, objectifies and oppresses his people at will, apathetic to those victimized by the corruption within his land. Slaibron's love, loyalty, mind, will, and conscience are tested as he struggles to maintain a balance between selfish desires and that of those turning to him in the hopes of change. Can he ever reunite with his lost love? Or is this where he was meant to shine all along?"--P. [4] of cover.

Returning to Earth was no honeymoon The exciting THREE WORLDS superhero romance saga continues! After the interstellar chaos of the past few weeks, Lina Starhart thinks she now has time to catch her breath and get used to the idea of not only being a bride but of being married to the galaxy’s most powerful man. But she has yet to learn what the job fully entails. Her Cinderella happily-ever-after is all too brief. ˃˃˃ Enemies all around Not only does her famous husband Valiant have to bear the constant scrutiny of celebrity-watching networks, but he has enemies whose attention now turns toward Lina, whom they see as the hero’s primary weakness. Can Lina step up to her new responsibilities and show herself to be a mega-level champion?

By the age of twelve, Azi Ahmed had been fully trained in all the skills her mother thought necessary to become the perfect housewife: knitting, sewing and sitting pretty. Little did she know that a rather different sort of training lay in her future. With no military experience, physically slight and, before entering Chelsea Barracks, socially isolated, Azi suddenly finds herself in selection training with eleven other girls and 200 men, all hoping to become part of the British Army's most elite fighting force - the SAS. She soon realises the physical challenge is the least of her worries. Deep-rooted ethnic and gender prejudices abound and Azi is faced with trying to defend her religion and culture within a regimented and hostile environment, a situation that is not helped by the events of 9/11. While Azi deals with non-halal ration packs, squaddie drinking culture and the most rigorous tests of mental and physical strength, her parents, completely unaware of her double life, are still trying to find her a suitable boy to marry. With the two most important institutions in her life at loggerheads, Azi is forced to choose - but will either be enough? Worlds Apart is the incredible true story of the most violent of culture clashes, of one woman's fight not only to be 'the best of the best', but to remain true to herself in the process.