Photographer Poul Beckmann's first collection of larger-than-life beetles was hailed across the globe. The Houston Chronicle called it "one of the season's happiest marriages of science and art." The Wall Street Journal declared it an "original and beautiful book," while American Photo praised its "dazzling colour and sumptuous production values." Now Beckmann has compiled an entirely new collection of gorgeous beetles that are ready for their close-up. Magnified multiple times their normal size and photographed in rich colour, their true magnificence is revealed: page after page of luminescent golds, electrifying greens, fiery reds, and unearthly blues. There are beetles with leopard spots and zebra stripes, beetles shaped like rhinos and dragons, beetles with long horns and shining armour. While Beckmann's images represent the finest examples of nature photography, the presentation of his subjects takes these pictures to another level. Graphic designers, painters, architects, fashionistas, and entomologists will be amazed and inspired by the natural beauty of these tiny jewels.

In the backwoods of Mississippi, a land of honeysuckle and grapevine, Jewel and her husband, Leston, are truly blessed; they have five fine children. When Brenda Kay is born in 1943, Jewel gives thanks for a healthy baby, last-born and most welcome. Jewel is the story of how quickly a life can change; how, like lightning, an unforeseen event can set us on a course without reason or compass. In this story of a woman's devotion to the child who is both her burden and God's singular way of smiling on her, Bret Lott has created a mother-daughter relationship of matchless intensity and beauty, and one of the finest, most indomitable heroines in contemporary American fiction.

Inspired by memories of her beloved grandmother, photographer and author Alysia Burton Steele -- picture editor on a Pulitzer Prize-winning team -- combines heart-wrenching narrative with poignant photographs of more than 50 female church elders in the Mississippi Delta. These ordinary women lived extraordinary lives under the harshest conditions of the Jim Crow era and during the courageous changes of the Civil Rights Movement. With the help of local pastors, Steele recorded these living witnesses to history and folk ways, and shares the significance of being a Black woman -- child, daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother in Mississippi -- a Jewel of the Delta. From the stand Mrs. Tennie Self took for her marriage to be acknowledged in the phone book, to the life-threatening sacrifice required to vote for the first time, these 50 inspiring portraits are the faces of love and triumph that will teach readers faith and courage in difficult times.

face2face Second edition is the flexible, easy-to-teach, 6-level course (A1 to C1) for busy teachers who want to get their adult and young adult learners to communicate with confidence. face2face Second edition is informed by the Cambridge English Corpus and its vocabulary syllabus is mapped to the English Vocabulary Profile, meaning students learn the language they really need at each CEFR level. The free DVD-ROM in the Intermediate Student's Book includes consolidation activities and an electronic portfolio for learners to track their progress, with customisable tests and grammar and vocabulary reference sections. The Class Audio CDs (available separately) contains the complete recordings for the listening activities in the Student's Book.

Peter F. Murphy's purpose in this book is not to shock but rather to educate, provoke discussion, and engender change. Looking at the sexual metaphors that are so pervasive in American culture—jock, tool, shooting blanks, gang bang, and others even more explicit—he argues that men are trapped and damaged by language that constantly intertwines sexuality and friendship with images of war, machinery, sports, and work. These metaphors men live by, Murphy contends, reinforce the view that relationships are tactical encounters that must be won, because the alternative is the loss of manhood. The macho language with which men cover their fear of weakness is a way of bonding with other men. The implicit or explicit attacks on women and gay men that underlie this language translate, in their most extreme forms, into actual violence. Murphy also believes, however, that awareness of these metaphorical power plays is the basis for behavioral change: "How we talk about ourselves as men can alter the way we live as men."

In the second book of the Jannah Jewels Series, the girls are caught and thrown aboard the ship of Zheng He, the famous Chinese Muslim Admiral. Caught in a lightning thunderstorm, they must sail in raging waters to retrieve a rare medicine plant. Can the Jannah Jewels escape the fiery arrows of pirates and make it safely back home?

Beautiful jewelry made from natural materials fill the pages of this sumptuous book. Organized by material--pearls, shells, coral, horn, wood, and much more--with an emphasis on important motifs of the jeweler's art, the book features more than 300 brooches, necklaces, rings, earrings, and bracelets from the collections of the Duchess of Windsor, Diana Vreeland, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace of Monaco, and Ellen Barkin, as well as from the design archives of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Verdura, Bulgari, Tiffany, and many other important jewelry designers. Every major period of jewelry of the past 200 years is covered--Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Retro, and Contemporary. Many of the objects appear here for the first time. The chapters include a variety of entertaining profiles on subjects such as David Webb; the changing fashions of the 1960s and 70s; Chanel; Orchids and Art Nouveau; the Grand Tour; Cartier and Art Deco; Ivory and the Nude; the Baroda pearls (the most expensive pearls to sell at auction); Paul Poiret; Boivin; A Mania for Motifs; JAR; Andrew Grima; and the Duchess of Windsor ("Small Woman, Big Stones"). Helpful sidebars cover various types of wood, famous pearls, and a lexicon of imaginary beasts in jewelry. "For those of us who consider jewelry part of enduring style, Living Jewels is a must. Here's a book that is welcoming and inspiring, and a tribute to the artists who have made these exquisite pieces. Living Jewels is a book I'll treasure." ~ Kate Spade "Living Jewels sends a message, loud and clear: there's more to fine jewelry than gemstones. A lot more, as it turns out. Ruth Peltason has assembled two centuries' worth of spectacular examples, showcasing materials and techniques long considered peripheral or inferior to the big rocks that have dominated the category and its history. The result makes an expert, irrefutable case for coral, wood, pearls, amber, shell, horn, and any number of nature's other sublime inventions as inspiration for exquisite artistry and design. As stylish, witty, and glamorous as the treasures it celebrates, Living Jewels is destined to become an instant, indispensable reference for connoisseurs and an irresistible delight for any woman who loves jewelry and wears it." ~ Holly Brubach