Radiating strength and confidence, she seems impervious to the stress and pressures of life. Her problems appear insignificant, even if they are the same issues that tear others to pieces. No matter what life throws at her—career setbacks, failed romances, family conflicts, you name it—they all roll off her like water off a duck's back. But little do people know, that's exactly the image she meticulously crafts for the world. Behind her carefully constructed facade lies a heart burdened with a darkness she is determined to conceal. Beneath the exterior of unshakeable resilience, she carries silent battles and unseen scars, harbouring a depth of pain she dares not reveal.

ONE OF IRELAND'S GREATEST UNSUNG HEROINES In the late nineteenth century, before women even had the vote, a group of respectable ladies operated outside the law to fight for the rights of the poor in Ireland. They were feared by both the British government and the Irish nationalist movement because of their radicalism, and the authorities were reluctant to confront them because they were women. They were the Ladies' Land League, led by Anna Parnell. When Anna and her colleagues started questioning her brother Charles Stewart Parnell's political strategies, they challenged the authority of the Irish Parliamentary Party and the male-run Land League, forcing Charles to reassert control and disband the Ladies' League. In this new study of an often unheralded heroine, Patricia Groves explores the life of Anna Parnell, her relationship with her brother and the forces that drove her to such remarkable feats.

Familiar landmarks in hundreds of American towns, Carnegie libraries have shaped the public library experience of generations of Americans and today seen far from controversial. In Free to All, however, Abigail Van Slyck shows that the classical facades and symmetrical plans of these buildings often mask the complex and contentious circumstances of their construction and use.

The most recent state to join the union, Hawaii is the only one to have once been a royal kingdom. After its "discovery" by Captain Cook in the late 18th Century, Hawaii was fought over by European powers determined to take advantage of its position as the crossroads of the Pacific. The arrival of the first missionaries marked the beginning of the struggle between a native culture with its ancient gods, sexual libertinism and rites of human sacrifice, and the rigid values of the Calvinists. While Hawaii's royal rulers adopted Christianity, they also fought to preserve their ancient ways. But the success of the ruthless American sugar barons sealed their fate and in 1893, the American Marines overthrew Lili'uokalani, the last queen of Hawaii. James L. Haley's Captive Paradise is the story of King Kamehameha I, The Conqueror, who unified the islands through terror and bloodshed, but whose dynasty succumbed to inbreeding; of Gilded Age tycoons like Claus Spreckels who brilliantly outmaneuvered his competitors; of firebrand Lorrin Thurston, who was determined that Hawaii be ruled by whites; of President McKinley, who presided over the eventual annexation of the islands. Not for decades has there been such a vibrant and compelling portrait of an extraordinary place and its people.

The first book on Rebecca Riots since 1989 The book looks at the Rebecca riots protest movement in Victorian Wales, in a context informed by not only British and European historiography but also other disciplines including literature and anthropology. The book is informed by recent work in cultural and gender history, which it applies for the first time to the symbolic and ritual content of the protests. The book’s epilogue discusses historical protest in the context of the contemporary resurgence of leaderless extra-parliamentary protest around the world including Occupy, Anonymous, and anti-austerity movements.