By 2013, Iranians were suffocating, as though the streets had become narrower, the buildings taller, the dirty air thicker. In electing Hassan Rouhani, they chose a new, reformist leader, burying the days when a Holocaust-denying president had pushed Iran to the edge of economic collapse and conflict. But the nation hasn’t quite broken free. Iranians are trying to move on, yet the Islamic Republic remains a prisoner of the past, plagued by US sanctions, a broken economy and the threat of war. After 2016, Donald Trump’s presidency derailed the future of millions of people. How have Iranians met these challenges? What future do they imagine now? Has Iran missed its best chance for real change? Crooked Alleys explores Iran during some of its darkest days, but also its most hopeful.

By the end of the Ahmadinejad era, Iran was suffocating. It was as though the streets of Tehran had become narrower, the buildings taller, the dirty air thicker. In 2013, Iranians chose a new leader representing reform and pragmatism, burying the gloomy days when a Holocaust-denying president had pushed the country to the edge of economic collapse and violent conflict. But the nation hasn't quite broken free. This is the story of Iran today, told through the eyes of its people. Iranians are moving on, yet the Islamic Republic remains a prisoner of the past, plagued by US sanctions, medical shortages and failing planes; internal divisions, a broken economy and the threat of war. Now, the Trump years have destroyed Iran's best chances for real change. The 2010s marked one of the most significant periods in Iran's modern history. Rouhani's election gave voice to millions sick of the hardliner status quo, of Iran's pariah status and its reputation in the West as a country of revolutionary extremists. But how have Iranians met and lived through the latest challenges? What future do they imagine now? Crooked Alleys explores Iran during some of its darkest days, but also its most hopeful.

This is the first book of the famous trilogy of English country life, The Brensham Trilogy, by John Moore. A wonderful and exuberant chronicle of an English market town between the wars, distinguished with a historic abbey, a winding river and bustling pubs with a cast of characters that could have stepped out of Hogarth or Shakespeare...

Fueled with in-depth research and personal recollections, Hooligans Alley presents a historic novel embracing generations of early European immigrants and their amazing struggles. In the style of a novel, author Joanna Kelly tells the true story of Wilhelmina Huebner Metting, an orphaned farm girl who uprooted her life in Germany to search for an aunt living far away in America. Her quest took her to New Yorks infamous Hells Kitchen, an area of overcrowded slums, lumberyards, slaughterhouses, factories, and immigrants troubled by poverty and violence. There, seventeen-year-old Wilhelmina started a seamstress business and kept cows on a vacant city lot. Wilhelmina was, above all things, a passionate social reformer. She encountered American society first during the Civil War, a time of great social unrest. Her involvement with the Colored Orphan Asylum put her in the center of the New York City Draft Riots, the largest uprising in the history of the United States. Wilhelminas story inspired Kelly, who fleshed out the few hard facts she could find with a lovingly researched fictional visit to a long-lost time and place in Americas history. Joanna Kellydraws special strength from her Quaker faith as well as her insatiable thirst for history in writing her first novel, Hooligans Alley. She is a gifted writer who explores her love of music, wildflowers, and passion for family in weaving this remarkable series of adventures that will set your heart to racing, while stretching your own recollections and imagination. Hooligans Alley is a must-read for New Yorkers and history lovers, and everyone who cares about origins and family. E. Barrie Kavasch best-selling author of The Medicine Wheel Garden

José and Rosa meet with the help of the Happy Heart Marriage Agency. Buying a house becomes the focus of their marriage. To get the money for a house, José becomes a robber, sniper, and political subversive, all the while exposing the absurdity of the repressive political regime in which he lives.