The Albino Album

Emerging author Chavisa Woods has been noted for capturing a "strange, troubling vision of domestic life in the rural U.S." (Go Magazine). Here she presents a technicolored vision of rural adolescence, the story of a girl with an unpronounceable name—a fiery, unhinged, growling, big-hearted country girl in a dirty black tutu and combat boots who travels along all the bizarre yet familiar byways of human desire from the cornfields of Louisiana and the big brass sound of Mardi Gras to the heights of the Empire State Building. Turning the tradition of the southern gothic novel on its head, Woods presents a new land of contemporary misfits including fire-dancers, pseudo-Nazis who breed albino animals, Catholic workers, horse thieves, and the archangel Gabrielle.

The average contemporary English speaker knows 50,000 words. Yet stripped down to its origins, this apparently huge vocabulary is in reality much smaller, derived from Latin, French and the Germanic languages. It is estimated that every year, 800 neologisms are added to the English language: acronyms (nimby), blended words (motel), and those taken from foreign languages (savoir-faire). Laid out in an A-Z format with detailed cross references, and written in a style that is both authoritative and accessible, Word Origins is a valuable historical guide to the English language.

A bitter stepson reveals the nazi past of his stepfather to force him to leave town, and give up the farm one promised the son. Antique steam tractors at Pioneer Village become the focal point of investigation. Multiple conspiracies compete, confusing the local sheriff. Jack Traid, ex Dallas detective, retired to teaching math is asked to solve the murder.

In one convenient and illustrated source, this volume of the Proceedings of the 14th World Orchid Conference records the lectures, the social events and the awards list of trophies, medals and ribbons. Coverage of the lectures ranges from historical trends to future breeding patterns, from orchid floras and monographs to the world's botanic gardens, from the newest developments in orchid science to specialist forums and poster sessions.

What led to the expression "let the cat out of the bag"? Why do we call blondes "towheads"? For Pete's sake, what is a fangle? In this humorous and engaging collection of word origins and histories, the famed host of the Chrysti the Wordsmith series (heard on Yellowstone Public Radio, Montana Public Radio, Montana State University's KGLT-FM, and Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) shares the stories behind the words. This irresistible medley is a must for word lovers everywhere.

From the Pharaohs to Fanon, Dictionary of African Biography provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of the men and women who shaped Africa's history. Unprecedented in scale, DAB covers the whole continent from Tunisia to South Africa, from Sierra Leone to Somalia. It also encompasses the full scope of history from Queen Hatsheput of Egypt (1490-1468 BC) and Hannibal, the military commander and strategist of Carthage (243-183 BC), to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1909-1972), Miriam Makeba and Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1918 -).

The Nordic countries, a group of countries spanning a large area of northern Europe and the North Atlantic, present unique natural and cultural environments in which popular music has come to play a significant role. Research on the region's music has largely followed national narratives and ignored more complex geographies and transcultural issues. This first handbook of music in the Nordic countries explores the significance of popular music in the history of the region, with implications for broader debates about the region's uniqueness and its future. The chapters highlight music's place in media and tourism industries, in sustaining exotic images of the North, but also in more serious issues such as racism and environmentalism.