In this exciting new book, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) past-president Dave DiBetta (Special Agent, retired) remembers the hundreds of cases, personalities, and experiences from his nearly 22 years with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Anyone who has worked in law enforcement will appreciate the real life, behind-the-scenes stories...the hard work, long hours, humor, and frustrations associated with a career of federal service. In addition, Dave provides an inside look at when the warrant was served to the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas.

If you're going to read one book about Hollywood, this is the one. As the co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, Michael Ovitz earned a reputation for ruthless negotiation, brilliant strategy, and fierce loyalty to his clients. He reinvented the role of the agent and helped shape the careers of hundreds of A-list entertainers, directors, and writers, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Sean Connery, Bill Murray, Robin Williams, and David Letterman. But this personal history is much more than a fascinating account of celebrity friendships and bare-knuckled dealmaking. It's also an underdog's story: How did a middle-class kid from Encino work his way into the William Morris mailroom, and eventually become the most powerful person in Hollywood? How did an agent (even a superagent) also become a power in producing, advertising, mergers & acquisitions, and modern art? And what were the personal consequences of all those deals? After decades of near-silence in the face of controversy, Ovitz is finally telling his whole story, with remarkable candor and insight.

The new edition of the clearest and most readable introduction to the questions, problems, and great thinkers of Western analytic philosophy Philosophy invented systematic ethics, formal logic, and the scientific method. It created the Enlightenment and laid the foundations for constitutional governments. Philosophy has given birth to economics, psychology, and cognitive science. We are the oldest, most central discipline in the academy, and we are responsible for modernity. This is Philosophy: An Introduction expertly guides the student into this powerhouse of thought, giving them a solid grounding across a wide variety of key topics in philosophy. Assuming no prior knowledge of the subject, this volume brings philosophical concepts to life with clear, informal language, relatable examples, and easy-to-understand explanations of classic themes and arguments. The second edition of this popular textbook features updated examples, improved narrative, new hyperlinks and references, enhanced bibliographies, and more. A brand-new chapter on political philosophy explores the state of nature, anarchy, contractarianism, libertarianism, and the liberal state. With a topical structure allowing each self-contained chapter to be tackled independently, the book gives students both the tools of an analytic philosopher, and a sense of which fields of philosophy they could pursue further, aided by detailed bibliographies and further reading. Each chapter is complemented by a wealth of online resources for instructors on the This is Philosophy series site that encourage further reading and strengthen student comprehension of key concepts. Building on the popular first edition, and part of an innovative and acclaimed series, This is Philosophy: An Introduction, Second Edition is the perfect primary textbook for beginning philosophy students as well as general readers with interest in learning the fundamentals of the subject.

The Norwood Nanny Chronicles begin . . . When American orphan, Bree, arrives at Norwood College—the elite English training ground of nannies to the world’s rich and powerful—she knows that making it through the first year to land a spot in the coveted certificate program is the key to her future. She also knows she can’t go it alone, bonding quickly with her groupmates: an errant (and broke) nobleman, son of one of England’s oldest families; the ambitious and whip-smart daughter of a self-made immigrant; and the ditzy, husband-hunting daughter of a disgraced playboy aristocrat. What none of them realize is that there is more to Norwood than meets the eye: the school itself may unlock the secrets of Bree’s own shadowy past, and the classmates’ very lives will depend on their ability to work together to meet the dangers ahead.

Stories told within institutions play a powerful role, helping to define not only the institution itself, but also its individual members. How do institutions use stories? How do those stories both preserve the past and shape the future? To what extent does narrative construct both collective and individual identity? Charlotte Linde's unique and far-reaching study addresses these questions by looking at the interplay of narratives, memory, and identity in a large insurance company. Her detailed ethnography looks at the role of stories within the institution and how they are employed by its members in both private and group settings. Analyzing the re-telling of certain key stories, she shows how the formation of "core" stories and their multiple re-tellings and modifications provide a means of formulating and promoting a cohesive group identity - which in turn shapes the stories and identities of the individuals within the collective. Linde also looks at silences, and how stories not told also convey their version of the past. Working the Past shows how stories that might otherwise be seen as part of mundane daily life are in fact utterly essential to the formation and maintenance of individual and group identity. Her original research will appeal to those interested in narrative studies, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and institutional memory.

A keenly observed and irresistibly funny memoir about literary New York in the late nineties, a pre-digital world on the cusp of vanishing. Now a major motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley After leaving graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a poet, Joanna Rakoff takes a job as assistant to the storied literary agent for J. D. Salinger. Precariously balanced between poverty and glamour, she spends her days in a plush, wood-paneled office—where Dictaphones and typewriters still reign and agents doze after three-martini lunches—and then goes home to her threadbare Brooklyn apartment and her socialist boyfriend. Rakoff is tasked with processing Salinger’s voluminous fan mail, but as she reads the heart-wrenching letters from around the world, she becomes reluctant to send the agency’s form response and impulsively begins writing back. The results are both humorous and moving, as Rakoff, while acting as the great writer’s voice, begins to discover her own.