Punk rock culture in a preeminently average town Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria punks, performers, and scenesters in the 1980s and 1990s. From fanzines to indie record shops to renting the VFW hall for an all-ages show, Peoria's punk culture reflected the movement elsewhere, but the city's conservatism and industrial decline offered a richer-than-usual target environment for rebellion. Eyewitness accounts take readers into hangouts and long-lost venues, while interviews with the people who were there trace the ever-changing scene and varied fortunes of local legends like Caustic Defiance, Dollface, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. What emerges is a sympathetic portrait of a youth culture in search of entertainment but just as hungry for community—the shared sense of otherness that, even for one night only, could unite outsiders and discontents under the banner of music. A raucous look at a small-city underground, Punks in Peoria takes readers off the beaten track to reveal the punk rock life as lived in Anytown, U.S.A.

Organisations around the world are in crisis! The principles and approaches on which success is built are no longer clear. Success in the future will require challenging many of the concepts and practices which underpin most organisations today. David Jackson provides practical advice, supported by case studies, for managers seeking to build 'dynamic organisations' where customers drive continuous improvement and people are challenged by clear and incisive leadership.

From Ken Zurski, author of "The Wreck of the Columbia, " comes a collection of stories about people and events which helped shape a city and region. Included are profiles of Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Lindbergh and many other famous and not so famous figures who played a part in the rich history of Peoria and Central Illinois. Incorporating important historical milestones like the first flights, the rise of the automobile, and radio's early days, Zurski skillfully intertwines local and national perspectives into each story for a captivating trip back to the past. "Peoria Stories" will both enlighten and entertain.

What can be tamer than spending time with a bunch of sheep? When Bailey and Alexis visit a cousin’s sheep ranch, they expect a low-key, relaxing hiatus from every day life. Instead, they’re thrust into the throes of a missing millionaire, code-infested animals, and hapless cries for help. It’s "shear" adventure as the Camp Club Girls furrow into the fields and plow the plot on these prairies!

Born to parents who were enthusiastic naturalists, and linked through his wider family to a clutch of accomplished scientists, Richard Dawkins was bound to have biology in his genes. But what were the influences that shaped his life? And who inspired him to become the pioneering scientist and public thinker now famous (and infamous to some) around the world? In An Appetite for Wonder we join him on a personal journey from an enchanting childhood in colonial Africa, through the eccentricities of boarding school in England, to his studies at the University of Oxford’s dynamic Zoology Department, which sparked his radical new vision of Darwinism, The Selfish Gene. Through Dawkins’s honest self-reflection, touching reminiscences and witty anecdotes, we are finally able to understand the private influences that shaped the public man who, more than anyone else in his generation, explained our own origins.