2022 WHA W. Turrentine Jackson Award for best first book on the history of the American West 2022 WHA David J. Weber Prize for the best book on Southwestern History In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Texas--a hotly contested land where states wielded little to no real power--local alliances and controversies, face-to-face relationships, and kin ties structured personal dynamics and cross-communal concerns alike. Country of the Cursed and the Driven brings readers into this world through a sweeping analysis of Hispanic, Comanche, and Anglo-American slaving regimes, illuminating how slaving violence, in its capacity to bolster and shatter families and entire communities, became both the foundation and the scourge, the panacea and the curse, of life in the borderlands. As scholars have begun to assert more forcefully over the past two decades, slavery was much more diverse and widespread in North America than previously recognized, engulfing the lives of Native, European, and African descended people across the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico. Paul Barba details the rise of Texas's slaving regimes, spotlighting the ubiquitous, if uneven and evolving, influences of colonialism and anti-Blackness. By weaving together and reframing traditionally disparate historical narratives, Country of the Cursed and the Driven challenges the common assumption that slavery was insignificant to the history of Texas prior to Anglo American colonization, arguing instead that the slavery imported by Stephen F. Austin and his colonial followers in the 1820s found a comfortable home in the slavery-stained borderlands, where for decades Spanish colonists and their Comanche neighbors had already unleashed waves of slaving devastation.

A sweeping, comparative analysis of the slaving regimes of Hispanic, Comanche, and Anglo American communities in the Texas borderlands during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Published through the Early American Places initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Conquering Sickness presents a comprehensive analysis of race, health, and colonization in a specific cross-cultural contact zone in the Texas borderlands between 1780 and 1861. Throughout this eighty-year period, ordinary health concerns shaped cross-cultural interactions during Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo colonization. Historians have shown us that Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo American settlers in the contested borderlands read the environment to determine how to live healthy, productive lives. Colonizers similarly outlined a culture of healthy living by observing local Native and Mexican populations. For colonists, Texas residents' so-called immorality--evidenced by their "indolence," "uncleanliness," and "sexual impropriety"--made them unhealthy. In the Spanish and Anglo cases, the state made efforts to reform Indians into healthy subjects by confining them in missions or on reservations. Colonists' views of health were taken as proof of their own racial superiority, on the one hand, and of Native and Mexican inferiority, on the other, and justified the various waves of conquest. As in other colonial settings, however, the medical story of Texas colonization reveals colonial contradictions. Mark Allan Goldberg analyzes how colonizing powers evaluated, incorporated, and discussed local remedies. Conquering Sickness reveals how health concerns influenced cross-cultural relations, negotiations, and different forms of state formation. Focusing on Texas, Goldberg examines the racialist thinking of the region in order to understand evolving concepts of health, race, and place in the nineteenth century borderlands.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist describes how Cambodia emerged from the harrowing years when a quarter of its population perished under the Khmer Rouge. A generation after genocide, Cambodia seemed on the surface to have overcome its history -- the streets of Phnom Penh were paved; skyscrapers dotted the skyline. But under this façe lies a country still haunted by its years of terror. Although the international community tried to rebuild Cambodia and introduce democracy in the 1990s, in the country remained in the grip of a venal government. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joel Brinkley learned that almost a half of Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge era suffered from P.T.S.D. -- and had passed their trauma to the next generation. His extensive close-up reporting in Cambodia's Curse illuminates the country, its people, and the deep historical roots of its modern-day behavior.

Battered ex-soldier Lupe dy Cazaril returns home only to be swept up in court and theological intrigue as tutor to the Royesse Iselle of Chalion. Cazaril's honor and courage in the face of not only his former adversaries but the demands of Chalion's five gods shine through in this spellbinding tale of hard-won triumph. "Fresh, intriguing, and as always from Lois McMaster Bujold, superb" - Robert Jordan, author of The Wheel of Time series "Buy this book! I don't care if you have to steal Junior's lunch money -- buy this book! THE CURSE OF CHALION is Lois McMaster Bujold at the very top of her form, which says a great deal indeed. She proves she's at least as good at writing fantasy as she is at science fiction: among the best in the business, in other words. Here she's created a fascinating world full of interesting people, all of whom feel real and convincing. And, in meeting Cazaril, her hero, even Miles Vorkosigan might acknowledge there are some problems he's been lucky enough never, ever to imagine." - Harry Turtledove author of THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH and TWO FRONTS "In here are magic and mystery, prophecy and peril, treachery and treason. In here is a splendid tale marvelously told. In here is writing as good as it gets." - Dennis McKiernan, author of AT THE EDGE OF THE FOREST and The Mithgar series "A finely balanced mixture of adventure, swordplay, court intrigue, romance, magic, and religion makes this book a delightful read." - School Library Journal "Compelling characters and richly detailed world building make this a strong addition to fantasy collections." - Library Journal “Bujold continues to prove what marvels genius can create out of basic space operatics.” - Library Journal “Bujold is not just a master of plot, she is a master of emotion.” - SF Site “Bujold is one of the best writers of SF adventure to come along in years.” - Locus Magazine “A superb craftsman and stylist, Ms. Bujold is well on her way to becoming one of the great voices of speculative fiction.” - Rave Reviews "Boy, can she write!" - Anne McCaffrey “Bujold has a gift, nearly unique in science fiction, for the comedy of manners.” - Chicago Sun Times Bujold's "work remains among the most enjoyable and rewarding in contemporary SF." - Publishers Weekly "Bujold is also head and shoulders above the ruck of current fantasists as well as science-fictionists." - Booklist

This devotional paraphrase brings the thoughts expressed in the Bible into clear focus.The result is that you find not only more understanding in reading the Bible, but more joy. Perfect for devotional reading, this edition features an easier-to-use format.

"Country Girl is Edna O'Brien's exquisite account of her dashing, barrier-busting, up-and-down life."-National Public Radio When Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960, it so scandalized the O'Briens' local parish that the book was burned by its priest. O'Brien was undeterred and has since created a body of work that bears comparison with the best writing of the twentieth century. Country Girl brings us face-to-face with a life of high drama and contemplation. Starting with O'Brien's birth in a grand but deteriorating house in Ireland, her story moves through convent school to elopement, divorce, single-motherhood, the wild parties of the '60s in London, and encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars, and literary titans. There is love and unrequited love, and the glamour of trips to America as a celebrated writer and the guest of Jackie Onassis and Hillary Clinton. Country Girl is a rich and heady accounting of the events, people, emotions, and landscape that have imprinted upon and enhanced one lifetime.