In 1913 Charlie Birger began his career as a bootlegger, supplying southern Illinois with whiskey and beer. He was charismatic, with an easygoing manner and a cavalier generosity that made him popular. The stuff of legend, he was part monster, part Robin Hood. In the early days, he would emerge from his restaurant/saloon in tiny Ledford in Saline County with a cigar box full of coins and throw handfuls in the air for the children. Echoing the consensus on Birger, an anonymous gang member called him "enigmatic," noting that "he had a wonderful quality, a heart of gold. There in Harrisburg sometimes he'd support twelve or fifteen families, buy coal, groceries. . . . [But] he had cold eyes, a killer's eyes. He would kill you for something somebody else would punch you in the nose for." Drawing from the colorful cast of the living, the dead, and the soon-to-be-dead—a state shared by many associated with Birger and his enemies, the Shelton gang—DeNeal re-creates Prohibition-era southern Illinois. He depicts the fatal shootout between S. Glenn Young and Ora Thomas, the battle on the Herrin Masonic Temple lawn in which six were slain and the Ku Klux Klan crushed, and the wounding of Williamson County state's attorney Arlie O. Boswell. As the gang wars escalated and the roster of corpses lengthened, the gangsters embraced technology. The Sheltons bombed Birger's roadhouse, Shady Rest, from a single-engine airplane. Both Birger and the Sheltons used armored vehicles to intimidate their enemies, and the chatter of machine gun fire grew common. The gang wars ended with massive arrests, trials, and convictions of gangsters who once had seemed invincible. Charlie Birger was convicted of the murder of West City mayor Joe Adams and sentenced to death. On April 19, 1928, he stood on the gallows looking down on the large crowd that had come to see him die. "It's a beautiful world," Birger said softly as he prepared to leave it.

In 1913 Charlie Birger began his career as a bootlegger, supplying southern Illinois with whiskey and beer. He was charismatic, with an easygoing manner and a cavalier generosity that made him popular. The stuff of legend, he was part monster, part Robin Hood. In the early days, he would emerge from his restaurant/saloon in tiny Ledford in Saline County with a cigar box full of coins and throw handfuls in the air for the children. Echoing the consensus on Birger, an anonymous gang member called him "enigmatic," noting that "he had a wonderful quality, a heart of gold. There in Harrisburg sometimes he'd support twelve or fifteen families, buy coal, groceries. . . . [But] he had cold eyes, a killer's eyes. He would kill you for something somebody else would punch you in the nose for." Drawing from the colorful cast of the living, the dead, and the soon-to-be-dead—a state shared by many associated with Birger and his enemies, the Shelton gang—DeNeal re-creates Prohibition-era southern Illinois. He depicts the fatal shootout between S. Glenn Young and Ora Thomas, the battle on the Herrin Masonic Temple lawn in which six were slain and the Ku Klux Klan crushed, and the wounding of Williamson County state's attorney Arlie O. Boswell. As the gang wars escalated and the roster of corpses lengthened, the gangsters embraced technology. The Sheltons bombed Birger's roadhouse, Shady Rest, from a single-engine airplane. Both Birger and the Sheltons used armored vehicles to intimidate their enemies, and the chatter of machine gun fire grew common. The gang wars ended with massive arrests, trials, and convictions of gangsters who once had seemed invincible. Charlie Birger was convicted of the murder of West City mayor Joe Adams and sentenced to death. On April 19, 1928, he stood on the gallows looking down on the large crowd that had come to see him die. "It's a beautiful world," Birger said softly as he prepared to leave it.

Another Sort of Freedom is a funny, moving and honest memoir of a man's struggle to break free from expectations. Gurcharan Das was born in Lyallpur, Punjab, during World War II, when Hitler, Churchill and Hirohito were bashing everyone around. His mother noted in her diary, 'This is a restless baby.' By age two he had become 'a difficult child', and by three she was calling him a 'troublemaker'. He discovered one day that he could run, and he has been running ever since. There are strange twists in his journey, from Partition's chaos to misguided attempts at winning over first loves. Setting out to become an engineer, he ends up with a philosophy degree from Harvard University. He then abandons a promising academic career in ivy-covered halls to become a salesman for Vicks VapoRub in India's dusty bazaars. This leads him to the CEO's position of Procter & Gamble India. One day, at the peak of his professional life, his high-powered corporate mask crumbles, and he walks away to become a celebrated writer and public intellectual. Candid, witty and wry, the memoir is filled with moments of deep introspection at every turn alongside wise observations on the author's encounters with history on four continents. This is Gurcharan Das as you have never seen him before.

Fantasies are made of knights in shining armor. Men whose ferocity in battle was tempered by a code of chivalry…whose passions brought them to their knees before the women they desired…whose loyalty and honor never wavered—and whose vows were never broken. These are the men of our dreams—and now you can find them in four breathtaking Medieval tales by today’s most acclaimed writers of historical romance... In Lynn Kurland's "The Traveller," a bedraggled knight makes a solemn vow to protect, defend, and rescue any and all maidens in distress—even those from Manhattan. A vow to marry for love transforms a marquis into a minstrel who must sing for his supper—and for a woman whose heart is true in Patricia Potter's "The Minstrel." In Deborah Simmons' "The Bachelor Knight," a forgotten vow comes back to haunt the greatest knight in all the land, when a fair maiden asks for his hand in marriage. Trapped underground with his unwilling betrothed, a determined knight vows to free her—body and soul in Glynnis Campbell's "The Siege."

A knight exiled to a frozen wasteland, and the one man who can save him from himself... Andrion Denlas was a knight until he rebelled against the usurper king who poisoned the prince and seized the throne. The sentence for Andrion's rebellion is exile. He's banished through a portal to the frozen wasteland of the Steppe, a land where only the hardiest creatures have any hope of survival. Alone and freezing to death in a blizzard, Andrion is saved by a huge ice bear, a bear that turns out to be a skinshifter named Tauras. The strange man is amazingly strong but surprisingly kind...and handsome as well. Fighting his attraction to Tauras grows increasingly difficult as the man heals him, shelters him, and teaches him how to survive in the wastes. But how can he risk losing his heart when he's vowed to return to his homeland and kill the usurper king...or die trying? Because the more Andrion comes to know him, the more he yearns to stay in the ice and snow with Taurus to keep him warm... Tauras Zarna has lived alone in the icy wastes for nearly all his life, choosing the path of the moon goddess who has given him the ability to skinshift—to change his form into that of any animal, large or small. But when he saves the life of a stranger from a far off land, he finds himself fascinated with the fierce, driven knight. The man has lost touch with his heart and with his desires, but Tauras intends to bring balance and pleasure to his life once more. Yet Andrion is determined to cross the icy plains, kill the false king, and avenge the prince. Nothing, not even love, seems enough to stop him. But Tauras refuses to give up hope. After all, there is magic in the world, and sometimes a kiss can change everything forever... Reader note: contains m/m fantasy romance themes including male male love and a happily ever after

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