American ruins have become increasingly prominent, whether in discussions of “urban blight” and home foreclosures, in commemorations of 9/11, or in postapocalyptic movies. In this highly original book, Nick Yablon argues that the association between American cities and ruins dates back to a much earlier period in the nation’s history. Recovering numerous scenes of urban desolation—from failed banks, abandoned towns, and dilapidated tenements to the crumbling skyscrapers and bridges envisioned in science fiction and cartoons—Untimely Ruins challenges the myth that ruins were absent or insignificant objects in nineteenth-century America. The first book to document an American cult of the ruin, Untimely Ruins traces its deviations as well as derivations from European conventions. Unlike classical and Gothic ruins, which decayed gracefully over centuries and inspired philosophical meditations about the fate of civilizations, America’s ruins were often “untimely,” appearing unpredictably and disappearing before they could accrue an aura of age. As modern ruins of steel and iron, they stimulated critical reflections about contemporary cities, and the unfamiliar kinds of experience they enabled. Unearthing evocative sources everywhere from the archives of amateur photographers to the contents of time-capsules, Untimely Ruins exposes crucial debates about the economic, technological, and cultural transformations known as urban modernity. The result is a fascinating cultural history that uncovers fresh perspectives on the American city.

Some secrets were meant to be hidden under lock and key...until now. Nineteen year old Alison Millard isn't your typical teenager. In the past she loved to party and go out with friends, but after the tragic untimely death of her twin sister, Alison fell into the shadowy depths of depression. She wasn't eating. She wasn't sleeping. She wasn't living.When Alison and her family move into her late grandfather's house in Tennessee they thought this could be the chance to start over, but Alison had no idea of the challenges she would have to face.Things begin to slowly change when Alison meets her neighbor, Josh Anderson. He shows her how to see the world through different eyes, but just as Alison begins to feel alive again, someone from her past would soon slither their way up to the surface, a deadly game of Cat and Mouse soon to be played. Will true love defeat the danger their lives would soon encounter? Or is their love nothing more than just a dream?

John Alexander MacNeil is eighty years old. Sharp-tongued and quick-witted, he lives alone in rural Cape Breton, but he still cooks breakfast for his wife, who’s been dead for thirty years. He silently starts to question his own mind after stopping to pick up a hitchhiker — a hitchhiker who turns out to be his neighbour’s mailbox. Everything shifts, though, when Emily, a pregnant teenager, shows up at his house with no place else to go. Determined to help Emily as best as he can, John must also keep the wolves from his door and maintain some semblance of sanity. The Unlikely Redemption of John Alexander MacNeil is a compelling, witty and heartwarming novel by renowned Nova Scotia author Lesley Choyce.

"Little Back Room" begins with the sojourn of country teacher Cinderella Marvelous Green. "Teacher Green has arrived in one piece, praise God and God Save the Queen." The book continues with the short story, "Shape of a Stone," in which the local constable asks young Elah, "So you here fe see baby killah?" In the entertaining Zainesville Dot Com, Selma doesn't let her mother know she is sending her-and her young daughter's-photo to a man she met in a chat room. As soon as she meets the man, she thinks, "When he smiled, I knew right away why they called him Bucky." In "Confessions," Leopold is armed with his father's pistol and hoping to make peace with his ex-wife. Young Elah makes a re-appearance in "Breakfast Time," when she confesses as many sins as she can remember, writes them down, then destroys the note when she finds out she is not dying, but simply menstruating. In "Roommates," we discover the book's namesake, as an older Elah moves into her own independence-and into her own independence, and her cousin, Nell, moves into the little back room. Elah's newfound independence, however, comes with a price. Her newfound independence, however, comes with a price.

The White Paper is a compelling tale of neglect and deprivation. The play revolves around a group of secondary school teachers and their families. Through the playwright, the characters are able to voice their pain, their joy, and their hope. Interwoven in the main plot are other important themes like corruption, indiscipline, poverty, marital discord, betrayal, and love. The white paper is Ozowuba Goldlyn's fourth book. Her debut Beyond Imagination won the award for women writing in 2009.

A new novel in the popular DS Gil Mayo series. When the murdered body of a woman is found floating in flooded uplands near an isolated farm and nearby cottage, it poses problems of identification, prompting the press to dub her the 'Mystery Woman.' Who is she? As time goes by, Detective Superintendent Gil Mayo and his assistant Inspector Abigail Moon, begin to fear that question is destined to remain unanswered, until the bursar of a public school, currently involved in controversy over a proposed new entrance to the school, is murdered at his desk. Though the murders are seemingly unrelated, events begin to show that this is not so. As a temporarily unemployed ex-student, Cleo Atkins will do anything rather than take the safe secretarial position her mother has lined up for her, even to taking a job with Maid to Order, a firm of cleaning contractors, something her mother feels she is singularly unfitted for. The firm is much in demand following the trail of destruction left by the floods, and working with the team Cleo comes across evidence from a totally unexpected source, and ultimately finds herself involved in the investigation. With her cooperation, Mayo and Moon are able to follow a chain of events that eventually lead to the identity of the Mystery Woman being revealed, and to the unexpected solution of both murders.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls his followers to a new lifestyle that affects all our relationships. The author¿s insights from the original Greek give illumination and depth that help the reader rediscover truth in this classic sermon.