When Nancy is asked to find a professional dancer who disappeared several years before, the young detective becomes involved in a mystery reaching far beyond a missing-person’s case. During Nancy’s investigation at Heath Castle, she and her friends Bess and George realize that its crumbling walls contain a secret, but what is it? And who are their enemies that try to foil their every attempt to unravel the intricate puzzle? Danger lurks in a castle tower and throughout the vine-tangled grounds of the estate. The girls’ gripping adventures culminate in a dramatic climax when Nancy exposes a sinister plot to defraud the dancer of her inheritance.

Audax the hero is a convinced military defender of the Roman Empire. The disasters that he undergoes (serious wound, captivity, loss of wife and children, and conflict with Aetius, his commanding officer) force him to flee to Visigoth territory and the protection of his former captor, King Theodoric. With a new life companion in his new surroundings, Audax becomes a powerful personage among the barbarians, and discovers unanticipated aspects of responsibilities and allegiances. His complicated life brings him into contact with such historic figures as Germanus of Auxerre, Lupus of Troyes, Hilary of Arles, as well as the mysterious Vortigern in Britain. In a stirring finish, Audax accompanies Theodoric to the battle of Mauriac, where Romans and barbarians join in thrusting back the invader, Attila the Hun.

This book presents a corrective to conventional portrayals of East German society, both before and after the opening of the Wall in 1989, based largely upon data obtained through participant observation in the German Democratic Republic and the new German states of the Federal Republic of Germany. This account is coupled with an analytical interpretation of the failure to develop socialism in the GDR and the impact of the unification of 1990 on East German social life. The book also examines the legitimization crisis in the GDR, the factors that contributed to the collapse of the GDR state, life inside the Socialist Unity Party from below, the role of the Protestant and Catholic churches in the GDR, and the existential and financial crises within the Protestant churches following unification. The work assesses the contradictions of the 40-year history of the GDR, not only in terms of its shortcomings but also its achievements.

After losing someone she loved, artist Candy Chang painted the side of an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood with chalkboard paint and stenciled the sentence, "Before I die I want to _____." Within a day of the wall's completion, it was covered in colorful chalk dreams as neighbors stopped and reflected on their lives. Since then, more than four hundred Before I Die walls have been created by people all over the world. This beautiful hardcover book is an inspiring celebration of these walls and the stories behind them. Filled with hope, fear, humor, and heartbreak, Before I Die presents an intimate portrait of the dreams within our communities and a chance to ponder life's ultimate question.