Charlotte Henwood has always had a little trouble maintaining a perfect reputation. After a lucky happenstance leads her to London, she finds that the city still contains the same inveterate gossips as her small home-town. Under the guidance of a family friend she finds a way to gain her independence, but a nasty rumor threatens to completely ruin her, and Charlotte knows she cannot repair the damage on her own. Michael Skidmore, the newly titled Viscount Averly, knows all about Miss Henwood's first brush with near ruin - in fact, he may have been a touch responsible for it. But now the girl is essentially blackmailing him into helping her fix this latest disaster. Having vowed to himself to always protect the Averly title, Michael is more than a little displeased to pretend to woo this troublemaker - even when he forgets that it's only a pretense. It doesn't take long for the pair to realize that the person behind the gossip dogging Charlotte's every step may have a more sinister motive than just cold-blooded social entertainment. But with such an unwilling accomplice, how will Charlotte ever uncover the real motive? Will they be able to repair Charlotte's reputation before it is too late, or will she and Michael give in to the tension building between them?

A story of today's explosive racial and cultural divide, of strong-minded characters unwilling to compromise that becomes a metaphor for America today. The story reveals that we're all fallen souls but capable of compromise and redemption.

"Whack-a-mole. It's an arcade game. ... Watching moles pop up, the child with the hammer seeks to hit the exposed mole before it retreats back into the safety of its hole. Whack-a-mole is also a metaphor for modern life. ... It's how we set expectations of each other, how we respond when our fellow human being makes a mistake. Whack-a-mole."--Prologue, p. [1].

Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to manipulate our nature—to enhance our genetic traits and those of our children. Although most people find at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it is not easy to articulate why. What is wrong with re-engineering our nature? The Case against Perfection explores these and other moral quandaries connected with the quest to perfect ourselves and our children. Michael Sandel argues that the pursuit of perfection is flawed for reasons that go beyond safety and fairness. The drive to enhance human nature through genetic technologies is objectionable because it represents a bid for mastery and dominion that fails to appreciate the gifted character of human powers and achievements. Carrying us beyond familiar terms of political discourse, this book contends that the genetic revolution will change the way philosophers discuss ethics and will force spiritual questions back onto the political agenda. In order to grapple with the ethics of enhancement, we need to confront questions largely lost from view in the modern world. Since these questions verge on theology, modern philosophers and political theorists tend to shrink from them. But our new powers of biotechnology make these questions unavoidable. Addressing them is the task of this book, by one of America’s preeminent moral and political thinkers.

"How would Socrates and Plato react to a modern world where secularism and religious fundamentalism are growing while the gap between the human mind and animal mind is narrowing? Using some creative license mixed with real history, science, and philosophy, Seeking Perfection addresses that question. Matt J. Rossano uses a narrative/dialogue format to superimpose on modern times ancient Greece's two most eminent philosophers, along with its government and culture.The story begins with Plato's daring escape from Sicily, where he tutored Dionysius II in philosophy. On board his homebound ship, Plato recounts his experiences in Sicily. In this narrative, the intellectual difference between practical rewards and the pursuit of ideals provides the basis for a series of dialogue on science, secularism, religion, and the uniqueness of the human mind.Upon the ship's arrival home, Plato's mentor, Socrates, is arrested and his trial provides the venue for the book's final dialogue. The final dialogue serves as a counterweight to the earlier ones. Rossano begins and ends with a philosopher imprisoned by his views, indicative of one of its main messages: the true philosopher uses a well-disciplined mind and the best knowledge of the day to get as close to the truth as possible. In doing so, he invariably gets into trouble. This imaginatively constructed tale will absorb those interested in what the philosophical masters might say about today's world."

This social history tells the story of America's transformation from a nation of honest appetites into an obedient market for instant mashed potatoes. The author investigates a women reformers at the turn of the twentieth century--including Fannie Farmer of the Boston Cooking School--who were determined to modernize the American diet through a "scientific" approach to cooking. It reveals why we think the way we do about food today.--Publisher's description.