Not In Kansas Anymore

Magic has stepped out of the movies, morphed from the pages of fairy tales, and is more present in America today than you might expect. Soccer moms get voodoo head washings in their backyards, young American soldiers send chants toward pagan gods of war, and a seemingly normal family determines that they are in fact elves. National bestselling author and award-winning religion reporter Christine Wicker leaves no talisman unturned in her hunt to find what's authentic and what's not in America's burgeoning magical reality. From the voodoo temples of New Orleans to the witches' covens of Salem to a graveyard in north Florida, Wicker probes the secrets of an underground society and teaches lessons she never dreamed could be taught. What she learns repels her, challenges her, and changes her in ways she never could have imagined. And if you let it, it might change you, too.

"We have traded tales, my buddies and I; of affairs, encounters, secrets, fears, self-promotion-of fantasies that we make real in the telling." In this, the first volume in Ethan Mordden's acclaimed trilogy on Manhattan gay life, he introduces a small group of friends-Dennis Savage, Little Kiwi, Carlos, and the narrator, Bud-and chronicles their exploration of the new world of gay life and the new people they are in the process of becoming. In a voice at once ironic, wistful, witty, and profound, Mordden investigates his suspicion that all of gay life is stories and that, somehow or other, all these stories are about love.

From 6 to 89, she is better than ever, and still going strong! With legs like Betty Grable, the will of Joan of Arc, the spirit of a dozen younger performers many years her junior, and tapping feet like Eleanor Powell, Dorothy Dale Kloss is truly an inspiration to young and old. From her early childhood days in Depression-era Chicago and the strict ballet tutelage of Madame Ludwig, to The Cummerford School of Dance and teaching Bob Fosse to tap dance, her career, journey, and survival as a multitalented show business performer and a survivor of cancer, Dorothy Dale Kloss has displayed a life that is spirited, inspirational, uplifting and just plain amazing. From her early days as a headliner at 15 in the famed Empire Room of Chicago's Palmer House, touring throughout the U.S. and South America, appearing at The Strand Theatre in New York, with "Ol' Blue Eyes" watching her from The Paramount across the street, to her accolades on TV, in newspapers and magazines, and in a show where she appeared twice daily, she can tap out rhythms that would mystify dancers 60 years her junior. Oh, and as for Fosse? (Bob that is!) Many have claimed intimate and first-hand knowledge of his early years, but none more accurate and real that Dorothy Hunn (her family name). She grew up on Ashland Avenue; he on Palina just two blocks away. They both were eager and willing dance students at The Cummerford School of Dance where Dorothy, being three years older and a dynamic tap dancer even then, was thrust into the position of "teacher" to the insatiable Fosse. They both shared their considerable talents in local theatricals for such outlets as The Knights of Columbus, and The Elks Club appearing as Dorothy Hunn and The Riff Brothers (a double act with Bob Fosse and Charles Grass). Many years later, as Fosse introduced Dorothy to a touring cast about to open a show at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago, he simply said, "Gang, this is Dorothy Dale, one of the greatest tap dancers you'll ever see"! From being a star performer in THE PALM SPRINGS FOLLIES for 15 years to receiving her very own star on THE PALM SPRINGS WALK OF STARS and starring at THE MAGIC CASTLE in Hollywood, Dorothy continues to inspire, entertain, and encourage everyone she touches to be the best and enjoy every moment of every day.

Dorothy Gale Robinson, an aspiring actress, is the daughter of hippie parents with a passion for old movies. When her father is killed suddenly while sipping a non-fat decaf mocha latte at a local coffee shop, Dorothy's life is turned upside down. After an unconventional dispersing of her father's ashes at the Universal Studios' Psycho House, Dorothy's mother decides to sell all her worldly possessions and join a New Age cult headquartered in Banff, Canada. Of course, Dorothy's twin brother, Jude, is too busy with his law firm to help Dorothy save their mother from the clutches of the sinister cult, so she seeks the aid of her new boyfriend, Lahrs, and a cult-buster, Mervyn O'Roy, who just happens to look like Mickey Rooney. The motley trio venture from Florida to Canada, and through a series of mishaps and misadventures, Dorothy and her fellow rescuers recover Dorothy's mother, and everyone finds a little romance in the Canadian Rockies.

Whether you are thirty years from retirement or it’s just around the corner, here is the only book you’ll need about how to get it together and plan a safe, secure, and prosperous retirement. Money magazine senior editor Walter Updegrave has crafted a practical, resourceful guide, showing readers how to cut through the clutter, assess their finances, and become their own personal pension manager. How to Retire Rich in a Totally Changed World gives readers the tools to make retirement something everyone can look forward to.

Studing by the light of a kerosene lamp, miling the cows and feeding the pigs before heading off to his one-room school house, Bob Paulson had a youth straight out ot the history books. Then he become one of Kansas State's first nuclear engineering students, earned a law degree at Georgetown, and moved to New York and success as a patent lawyer and family man. His life took another unlikely turn when he was diagnosed in the mid-1990s with ALS. He was already confined to a wheelchair and unable to move any limb when he woke up in an ICU in December, 2003 to find that henceforth, he would be dependent on a trach, a ventilator, and feeding tube, and round-the-clock care. Today he can only nod slightly and blink. Unable to speak, he writes and communicates with the aid of a computer. Still, he insists, "I am a lucky man," and he shows us why in this charming, detail-filled reminiscence. But what makes Not in Kansas Anymore truly compelling is the resounding "Yes!" it answers to the question of whether it is possible to adapt to change, stay upbeat and reamin productive despite a devastating illness. Bob's story will engange and inspire every reader.

For years, anti-Zionist activists have accused Israel of undermining academic freedom and campus free speech in both Gaza and the West Bank. Not in Kansas Anymore demonstrates conclusively that the major threats to academic freedom come from Palestinians themselves, including from both the Palestinian Authority and from paramilitary and terrorist groups, Hamas most prominent among them. This is the first thoroughly researched and documented study of the status of academic freedom in Gaza and the West Bank.