The question of whether dogs should be allowed off the leash in public places has become a major political issue in cities and suburbs across the United States. In the last two decades, “leash-law disputes” have burst upon the political scene and have been debated with an intensity usually reserved for such hot-button issues as abortion and gun rights. This book investigates what has changed in American community life, social mores, and the relationship between humans and dogs to provoke such passionate responses. At its heart, the book details and evaluates the handling of three leash-law disputes, all of which were exceedingly divisive and emotionally intense. Two of the cases took place in San Francisco, a city with a reputation as one of the most dog-friendly in the United States until 2001–2002, when officials curtailed off-leash walking. The other case study occurred in 1998 in Avon—a wealthy suburb of Hartford, Connecticut,—when town officials unilaterally imposed a leash law at a popular off-leash park. This book is not only a revealing study of Americans’ conflicted attitudes toward animals and the difficult balance between individual rights and the public good in our communities. It is also a useful source of information for both dog owners and local government officials who are faced with leash-law disagreements.

During the time of the Massacre the Dark King reigned, declaring himself a god and securing his leadership with fear and blood-magic. Overthrown in a bloody revolt and the knowledge of the forbidden arts lost in the book burnings of the ensuing chaos, Gelendan has risen above its gruesome history. Now, hundreds of years later, its dark past forgotten, Layna is a simple maid. But as mysterious events begin to unfold, she comes to realize that nothing is ever as simple as it seems. She finds herself caught up in a whirlwind of deception, romance, espionage, and secret societies that soon has her life spiraling wildly out of control. Whilst fleeing the fury of her mistress - whose rage is fueled by Layna's budding relationship with the woman's former consort - and attempting to evade detection by the priests who want to control her new-found magical talent, Layna's problems are further compounded when she discovers a strange marking on her neck. A mark that is growing darker by the day. Who or what has marked her, and for what purpose she doesn't know. But it soon becomes apparent that whatever it is, it's after her...

Maccus Fury, a fallen angel, is trying hard to keep his sanity. Seems being an assassin might be catching up with him. Now, Heaven, or Hell, has sent a beautiful assassin to kill him. Lovely. She’s pretending to seduce him, and he’s okay with that. She’s smart and snarky—but she has no idea what she’s walked into. And he’s more than peeved that they only sent one person. They’re going to need an army if they want him dead. Morrigan Quill is one of Hell’s bounty hunters. She sold her soul to keep her sister safe, and now she’s working off her contract by catching bad guys and dragging them back to hell. When Lucifer makes her a new offer––that’s definitely too good to be true—she can’t say no. All she has to do is kill a powerful and crazy-hot fallen angel, who will totally kick her ass in battle. Good thing he won’t see what’s coming next. Each book in the Forgotten Brotherhood series is STANDALONE: * Fury Unleashed * Arctic Bite * Burning Ash * Bjorn Cursed * Ancient Desire * Hunter Avenged

The great romance and fear of bloody revolution--strange blend of idealism and terror--have been superseded by blind faith in the bloodless expansion of human rights and global capitalism. Flying in the face of history, violence is dismissed as rare, immoral, and counterproductive. Arguing against this pervasive wishful thinking, the distinguished historian Arno J. Mayer revisits the two most tumultuous and influential revolutions of modern times: the French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Although these two upheavals arose in different environments, they followed similar courses. The thought and language of Enlightenment France were the glories of western civilization; those of tsarist Russia's intelligentsia were on its margins. Both revolutions began as revolts vowed to fight unreason, injustice, and inequality; both swept away old regimes and defied established religions in societies that were 85% peasant and illiterate; both entailed the terrifying return of repressed vengeance. Contrary to prevalent belief, Mayer argues, ideologies and personalities did not control events. Rather, the tide of violence overwhelmed the political actors who assumed power and were rudderless. Even the best plans could not stem the chaos that at once benefited and swallowed them. Mayer argues that we have ignored an essential part of all revolutions: the resistances to revolution, both domestic and foreign, which help fuel the spiral of terror. In his sweeping yet close comparison of the world's two transnational revolutions, Mayer follows their unfolding--from the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Bolshevik Declaration of the Rights of the Toiling and Exploited Masses; the escalation of the initial violence into the reign of terror of 1793-95 and of 1918-21; the dismemberment of the hegemonic churches and religion of both societies; the "externalization" of the terror through the Napoleonic wars; and its "internalization" in Soviet Russia in the form of Stalin's "Terror in One Country." Making critical use of theory, old and new, Mayer breaks through unexamined assumptions and prevailing debates about the attributes of these particular revolutions to raise broader and more disturbing questions about the nature of revolutionary violence attending new foundations.

College student Sandra Neuermann is abducted and brutally assaulted. She escapes her captors, but cannot escape the depression that follows. An alert counselor figures out what she needs: revenge! He refers her to Nemesis, a secret organization that targets rapists and sex traffickers. The field operatives of Nemesis are called "Furies" and they are formidable...and successful! Neuermann dismantles a cruel trafficking mob in New York City while Nemesis manages to keep below the government's radar. When Neuermann begins a relationship with a handsome and gentle elementary school teacher, the straight line of her life is disrupted. She struggles to find a balance between the two very different worlds of being a Fury and being in love. "Neuermann is a well-established protagonist...The ending may shock more than a few readers, but it definitely packs a dramatic punch...An assassin story that delivers action while shrewdly examining the consequences." -Kirkus Reviews

Adopted at birth, fifteen year old Felicia Murphy has no idea she’s the offspring of a Fury and a god of Mercy. The discovery will soon shatter her world... Felicia’s reputation as stable and trustworthy means everything if she’s to win the grant for the troubled kids she mentors. Snakes emerging from her head, massive mood swings, and a strong thirst for vengeance do not fit into her plans. She has no time to worry about her adoptive parent’s separation and the unwanted discovery that her biological parents are supernatural freaks. She can’t confide in her friends; who would believe her? As her life spins out of control, she allows herself to be distracted by the two new guys who are suddenly showering her with attention, pulling her in different directions. Felicia has choices to make. Embrace the Fury and risk everything, or find a way to tame the beast.

In June 1941, breaking the controversial Nazi-Soviet non-aggression treaty and catching Stalin by surprise, the armies of the Third Reich invaded Russia in a devastating Blitzkrieg, that saw them destroy the Soviet airforce on the ground, reach the gates of Leningrad in 6 weeks and fix their sights on Moscow. Hitler's intention was to rase both cities to the ground and cultivate the rich Russian countryside for the benefit of the German people. The Soviet Peoples were fighting for their lives. The Furies Unleashedsets out to tell the military, diplomatic and social story of Russia in the Second World War on a scale that has never been attempted before - to connect the history of the fighting with the saga of human suffering - and to reassess its far-reaching impact. Making use of collections of previously top-secret documents released in post-Soviet Russia and consulting a mass of new memoirs published after the collapse of the USSR, Steven Merritt Miner brings to bear his huge knowledge and experience of the conflict in the creation of an updated narrative of this monumental clash. Taking account of the tangled ethnic, national and regional realities and also the cultural, social and economic factors that both devastated and made possible the bloody triumph of the Russian people, The Furies Unleashedwill present a 'civic history' of what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War.