In this action-packed tale, two friends are trapped in an Amazonian adventure novel and must find a golden idol if they wish to get home. Cleo and Evan have a secret. A collection of books so dangerous they are locked up tight. And only they can find the keys to release the magic inside! SURVIVING THE WILDERNESS IS ONLY HALF THE BATTLE! A plane crash in the Amazon lands Cleo and Evan on the hunt for a valuable golden statue. They must find it—and their next key—to make it home alive. But the jungle is full of deadly creatures, raging rapids, and an all-too-familiar villain who wants nothing more than to trap them forever! Praise for Key Hunters “Luper’s delectable humor is appropriate for the intended age group, and the plot will keep readers’ attention to the end . . . [t]his is a satisfying read for beginning independent readers.” —School Library Journal

From USA Today Bestselling Author Laura Scott Walking the line between danger and love! Undercover Memory Loss… Coast Guard Lieutenant Quinn Finnegan is shocked when he rescues his believed-to-be-dead former fiancée, Sami Lopez, from the middle of Lake Michigan. But even more stunning is the fact that Sami doesn’t remember who she is or why she was crossing the lake in a storm. Sami was a cop, so he believes she may have been working undercover in a case that had gone terribly wrong. The boat explosion was no accident. And when the threats against Sami escalate, it’s difficult to know who they can trust. Sami can’t ignore the desperate sense of urgency plaguing her. There is something critically important she needs to do. But what? Thanks to Quinn and his family, she is alive but blindly stumbling in the middle of danger. Given the attraction between her and Quinn, it doesn’t make sense that she would’ve left him two years earlier. Will they survive long enough for her memory to return? And once that happens, is there even a remote possibility for a second chance at love?

America repeatedly finds itself mired in military interventions long after public buy-in to the national interest has waned. Why is the timely disengagement of military forces so difficult to achieve? Traditional international relations theories diminish the role of the individual leader in favor of the state or international institutions. Behavioral science theories have in recent years experienced a resurgence. However, the dominant behavioral explanation of foreign policy decision-making, prospect theory, while it focuses on how people tend to make decisions under risk, still minimizes the influence of the individual president. Decisions to disengage military forces are presidential decisions, just like the decisions to commit forces to foreign interventions. If we accept this, then it is important to understand if, and if so why, some presidents inherently are more or less acceptant of the risks disengagement presents. This book operationalizes a competing personality-based model of decision-making under risk. Referred to here as the trait-based model, it is assessed using disengagement opportunities in three varied levels of military intervention across four presidencies: humanitarian relief turned nation-building under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton in Somalia, compellent air campaigns turned peace-making/keeping in Bosnia and Kosovo under Clinton, and major combat operations turned irregular warfare in Iraq under George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Data for the model predominantly comes from existing presidential personality profiles based on the dominant model of personality theory, the five-factor model, augmented by Myers-Briggs Type Inventory data from public sources. This study aims to explain the roughly 30 percent of cases which defy prospect theory's predictions and to better explain those cases where prospect theory might heretofore have sufficed. The results suggest specific personality traits do in fact point to presidents' predispositions toward risk, which in turn help explain their disengagement decisions. This work may be only the second to apply the five-factor model to presidential foreign policy decision-making and is the first to do so in the context of disengagement decisions. Hopefully it will foster further work in both areas.

The Dead Sea Squirrels are back with another fun-filled adventure! The Gomez family and friends continue the search for Merle through the Holy Land. But instead of finding Merle, they uncover Dr. Simon’s master plan to create the BabbleLand Animal Park: “the only zoo where cuddly creatures talk to you” and where you can engage in “small talk with the livestock.” Meanwhile, Merle meets Dave, a talking blue Lizard of Judah. The two of them escape Ruben’s clutches and take off along the Jordan River toward Galilee. The Gomezes capture Ruben, but they just miss Merle and Dave. Themes: Choosing to follow God’s will Pleasing God by obeying him

Natural and man-made risks have long been recognised as vital conditioning factors in the formation of social institutions and the conduct of social life. In this volume internationally recognised experts examine in detail the implications in practice of the modern concept of risk in particular legal fields. The chapters explore the ways in which the law in its many branches can accommodate, manage and reduce the extent of risk in the modern "Risk Society", matters of pressing importance for the development of all branches of law in all jurisdictions. The fields of activity affected by the issues discussed include law, medicine, insurance, state security and public health. The collection also contributes to comparative legal studies in respect of risk and the law, presenting a perspective which has largely been neglected outside the works of general theory. Thus the topics considered range from the civil law of injuries in Germany and the food law of the European Union, through sales of goods, including international sales, in English, German and French law, to the English law of torts. Risk and the Law, written by specialists who are authorities in their fields, will be of interest to academics and students who are interested in new developments and ideas regarding the relationship between risk, law and social change in many different fields.

The incredible story of denial, deceit, and deception that ultimately cost Navy pilot Captain Michael Scott Speicher his life is exposed in this military tell-all. Asserting that years of information has been intentionally kept from an American public, the book reveals that, contrary to reports, Speicher survived after he ejected from his stricken F/A-18 Hornet on the first night of the Persian Gulf War. Protected by a Bedouin tribal group, he evaded Saddam’s capture for nearly four years. In that time he was repeatedly promised by an American intelligence asset that a deal for his repatriation would be worked out but it never was. Speicher was left behind. After Saddam Hussein captured him, Speicher spent the next eight years in a secret Baghdad prison and being moved around in secret to avoid an American task force looking for him, and before he was killed after the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003. Author Amy Waters Yarsinske, a former naval intelligence officer and a veteran investigator and author, presents her fascinating case after years of research.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.