As a five-year-old boy, Pao Lor joined thousands of Hmong who fled for their lives through the jungles of Laos in the aftermath of war. After a difficult and perilous journey that neither of his parents survived, he reached the safety of Thailand, but the young refugee boy’s challenges were only just beginning. Born in a small farming village, Pao was destined to be a Hmong clan leader, wedding negotiator, or shaman. But the course of his life changed dramatically in the 1970s, when the Hmong faced persecution for their role in helping US forces fighting communism in the region. After more than two years in Thai refugee camps, Pao and his surviving family members boarded the belly of an “iron eagle” bound for the United States, where he pictured a new life of comfort and happiness. Instead, Pao found himself navigating a frightening and unfamiliar world, adjusting to a string of new schools and living situations while struggling to fulfill the hopes his parents had once held for his future. Now in Modern Jungles, Pao Lor shares his inspiring coming-of-age tale about perseverance, grit, and hope. Included are discussion questions for use by book clubs, in classrooms, or around the dinner table.

As a five-year-old boy, Pao Lor joined thousands of Hmong who fled for their lives through the jungles of Laos in the aftermath of war. After a difficult and perilous journey that neither of his parents survived, he reached the safety of Thailand, but the young refugee boy’s challenges were only just beginning. Born in a small farming village, Pao was destined to be a Hmong clan leader, wedding negotiator, or shaman. But the course of his life changed dramatically in the 1970s, when the Hmong faced persecution for their role in helping US forces fighting communism in the region. After more than two years in Thai refugee camps, Pao and his surviving family members boarded the belly of an “iron eagle” bound for the United States, where he pictured a new life of comfort and happiness. Instead, Pao found himself navigating a frightening and unfamiliar world, adjusting to a string of new schools and living situations while struggling to fulfill the hopes his parents had once held for his future. Now in Modern Jungles, Pao Lor shares his inspiring coming-of-age tale about perseverance, grit, and hope. Included are discussion questions for use by book clubs, in classrooms, or around the dinner table.

The term 'relocation cost' has been coined by Philip Curtin to refer to the increased mortality associated with the migration of people from their childhood disease environments to new ones. He and others have quantified this cost for a number of migrant populations, notably Africans in the transatlantic slave trade and European tropps posted overseas. The papers in this volume, extend this research agenda by quantifying and analyzing the mortality suffered by other migrant groups, both on their voyage and after their arrival at their destination. The first three studies deal with free and convict European migration to Australia; the following ones with movements of indentured labour, from the mid 19th to the present century: Chinese, African, Pacific Islander, and above all the migration of Indian labour across half of the globe. The collection is introduced by a new essay, setting out the historical context and significance of this research.

Though still a relatively young field, the study of Latin American environmental history is blossoming, as the contributions to this definitive volume demonstrate. Bringing together thirteen leading experts on the region, A Living Past synthesizes a wide range of scholarship to offer new perspectives on environmental change in Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean since the nineteenth century. Each chapter provides insightful, up-to-date syntheses of current scholarship on critical countries and ecosystems (including Brazil, Mexico, the Caribbean, the tropical Andes, and tropical forests) and such cross-cutting themes as agriculture, conservation, mining, ranching, science, and urbanization. Together, these studies provide valuable historical contexts for making sense of contemporary environmental challenges facing the region.

His book tells not only how victory was gained through a combination of technology, tactics, and army-navy cooperation but also how the New Guinea campaign exemplified the strategic differences that plagued the Pacific War, since many high-ranking officers considered it a diversionary tactic rather than a key offensive.

A long-awaited second book from the Miami-based landscape architect lauded by the Wall Street Journal for “dreaming up dense, thickly forested canopies that give way to modern high rises and million-dollar residences.” Color and texture burst forth at every turn in gardens by landscape architect Raymond Jungles. Sculptural bromeliads, swaying palms, delicate epiphytes, and vibrant orchids combine to immerse visitors in rich, lush environments that captivate the eye with layer upon layer of interest. Taking cues first from a site’s topography and conditions, Jungles combines tapestries of plants with unique water elements that enhance what nature has offered—swaths of grasses and succulents direct the eye toward unspeakably romantic Caribbean vistas, intriguingly pitted and mossy oolitic limestone monoliths create trickling waterfalls and hidden grottoes, and innovative combinations of native trees surround sinuous and calming infinity pools. The Cultivated Wild shows Jungles expanding to such diverse locales as Big Timber, Montana; Monterrey, Mexico; St. Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies; Abacos, Bahamas; and even the temporary Brazilian Modern Orchid Show for the New York Botanical Garden—as well as responding creatively to sites unique to his adopted hometown: rooftop gardens and pools including the penthouse Sky Garden atop the now-iconic Herzog & de Meuron–designed parking garage at 1111 Lincoln Road, along with its famous pedestrian promenade. Jungles presents 21 gardens here in glorious full color, many accompanied by highly personal hand-drawn plans, general and thumbnail plans, sections, sketches, and design details that reveal the creative process. Packed with inspiration for gardeners in warm zones and those interested in creating subtropical gardens of their own, The Cultivated Wild reveals a firm working at the height of its talents.