A collection of six crime novelettes that take you on a trip through the more off-beat regions of law enforcement. Follow Prospect, Tennessee's Police Chief Sam Jenkins as he meets Gypsy conmen and a beautiful fortune teller in GYPSIES, TRAMPS & THIEVES, a gun show hustler and his right-wing militia cronies in HEAVEN'S GATE and a collection of pool hustlers competing for enough prize money they'd kill for in ALVIS IS IN THE BUILDING. A Chinese restaurant owner loses a little finger and feels the grip of vicious thugs from a Malaysian triad in THE SWAN TATTOO. The murder of an Elvis impersonator for a few bits of gold takes you on board GRACELAND ON WHEELS, and in NOTHING FITZ, an unlikely coalition of crooks on a National Guard air base are responsible for a brutal murder.

A collection of wisdom, humor, and tasteless remarks from Vanderbilt University's House Organ magazine: . Every morning when I would leave for work, he would give me the saddest look he could muster. If you know anything about beagles, you know that this is the canine equivalent of the death scene from Camille. When a beagle wants to look sad, he can roll his big brown droopy eyes up at you and pull his ears back, and you will do anything to make him happier. In fact, many beagles earn top commissions in the sales field by giving customers that sad look until they crack and buy whatever the beagle is selling. "I'll buy anything," the customers cry, throwing money at the beagle, "just stop looking at me like that!" . The voice-mail mantra, "Your call is very important to us" is always a lie. If my call were actually important to you, you would answer the phone instead of putting me on hold and playing an orchestral version of the old Buoys hit "Timothy." A portion of all profits from the sale of this book goes to the Jade Pasley Patient and Family Assistance Fund of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

Exploring the redneck culture in all its in-your-face glory, this richly illustrated book is a cross between Studs Terkel and White Trash Cooking. From Velveeta Fudge to values (virtually all expressed in the lyrics of country music songs) to snake-handling ministers and gun mania, Redneck Heaven captures the redneck spirit in all its exuberance. 80 photos.

Examines the impact of the automobile on American society since the end of World War Two in the areas of mass transit, development of the United Auto Workers, rise of suburbia, auto racing, and the automobile's relationship to the youth culture.

Politicians and pundits can rage against free trade and globalization, but much of what they convey is myth says the author. He argues that free trade is good for the American family. Among the benefits he discusses are import competition that provides lower prices, greater variety, and better quality, especially for poor and middle class families. Driven in part by trade, most new jobs are well-paying service jobs. Foreign investment here has created well-paying jobs, and investment abroad has given United States companies access to millions of new customers. Trade helped expand the global middle class, reducing poverty and child labor while fueling demand for U.S. products. The author also looks at how the past three decades of an open global economy have created a more prosperous, democratic, and peaceful world.