Carter Ross, the sometimes-dashing investigative reporter for the Newark Eagle-Examiner, is back, and reporting on the latest tragedy to befall Newark, New Jersey, a fast-moving house fire that kills two boys. With the help of the paper's newest intern, a bubbly blonde known as "Sweet Thang," Carter finds the victims' mother, Akilah Harris, who spins a tale of woe about a mortgage rate reset that forced her to work two jobs and leave her young boys without child care. Carter turns in a front-page feature, but soon discovers Akilah isn't what she seems. And neither is the fire. When Newark councilman Windy Byers is reported missing, it launches Carter into the sordid world of urban house-flipping and Jersey-style political corruption. With his usual mix of humor, compassion, and street smarts, Carter is soon calling on some of his friends—gay Cuban sidekick Tommy Hernandez, T-shirt-selling buddy Tee Jamison, and on-and-off girlfriend Tina Thompson—for help in tracking down the shadowy figure behind it all. Brad Parks's debut, Faces of the Gone, won the Shamus Award and Nero Award for Best American Mystery. Now Parks solidifies his place as one of the brightest new talents in crime fiction with this authentic, entertaining thriller, Eyes of the Innocent.

"Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media have sources in the works of such radicals as Monet, Kandinsky, and Cornell, who are now part of the official tradition but who continue to catalyze artistic innovation, especially among conceptual and abstract artists"--Provided by publisher.

The National Socialistic upbringing in the League of German Girls uses paramilitary like disciplinary measures to build their loyalty and moral character. Coupled with neo-pagan rituals, songs, and folklore, "Through Innocent Eyes" captures the self-actualization of ten-year-old Gertrude as she progresses from childhood and living in poverty to adolescence and becoming "one" with her country. By age fourteen, Gertrude is chosen for Country Service Camp, called "Landjahr." Here, she will receive the very best rural education, for the Reich only wants the healthiest and strongest girls. In 1941, there are twenty-six thousand girls in Landjahr, and Gertrude Kerschner is one of them. "This is the most authentic book I have read about the girls in the Hitler Youth. You capture the essence in detail." Irmgard M. Nagengast "To be alive today and see a book written about our time in Landjahr Lager Seidorf brings back wonderful memories." Eleanor (Nelly) Mohler Landjahr Madel "What a beautiful tribute to your mother. I will always remember our time together in Landjahr as if it were yesterday." Steffi Pucks Landjahr Madel "Your book gives an intimate accounting of the Hitler Youth girls as seen through a child's eyes. This book takes me right back in time." Ellie Musial Landjahr Madel"

In the Innocent Eyes of a Child, follows the story of a girl, named Brighteyes, who was born into dysfunctional family. She was subjected to years of abuse. At the age of five, she is abandoned by her abusers and ends up in the foster care system. She journeys through the foster care system going from home to home. She tells her story through her eyes, as she grows up never finding the love, care, and family she desired. She experiences the path of the foster child is often filled with challenges that are overwhelming, frustrating, and heartbreaking. She experiences more abuse which was often ignored in the system. Her mistreatment by some of the foster parents causes a great deal of pain, which is evident. She copes by "flying away." She takes the reader through the journey of each place she goes-her feelings, hopes, and dreams. These are often filled with disappointments, betrayal, and tears. Many do not know what happens to foster children as they journey through many homes-- while never finding any love or stability. While on her journey, she dreamed of being rescued by a loving family. This wasn't only her journey, but the journey of a lot of foster children-- forced to grow-up this way. The phrase, "What is in the Best Interest of the Child," is often challenged. Through it all, she still had hope that she would find a place called home.

Why does the world look to us as it does? Generally speaking, this question has received two types of answers in the cognitive sciences in the past fifty or so years. According to the first, the world looks to us the way it does because we construct it to look as it does. According to the second, the world looks as it does primarily because of how the world is. In The Innocent Eye, Nico Orlandi defends a position that aligns with this second, world-centered tradition, but that also respects some of the insights of constructivism. Orlandi develops an embedded understanding of visual processing according to which, while visual percepts are representational states, the states and structures that precede the production of percepts are not representations. If we study the environmental contingencies in which vision occurs, and we properly distinguish functional states and features of the visual apparatus from representational states and features, we obtain an empirically more plausible, world-centered account. Orlandi shows that this account accords well with models of vision in perceptual psychology -- such as Natural Scene Statistics and Bayesian approaches to perception -- and outlines some of the ways in which it differs from recent 'enactive' approaches to vision. The main difference is that, although the embedded account recognizes the importance of movement for perception, it does not appeal to action to uncover the richness of visual stimulation. The upshot is that constructive models of vision ascribe mental representations too liberally, ultimately misunderstanding the notion. Orlandi offers a proposal for what mental representations are that, following insights from Brentano, James and a number of contemporary cognitive scientists, appeals to the notions of de-coupleability and absence to distinguish representations from mere tracking states.

Have you ever thought of how children really feel while they are trapped in a war zone, surrounded by nothing but chaos? Did you ever stop and consider what goes through their minds and what is felt in the hearts while their childhood is ruined, lives interrupted, and dreams shattered in the most heartless way? Ever wondered what it might feel like drifting to sleep under the echoes of grenade explosions or walking to school dodging bullets?

Readers of Sue Grafton's fiction know she never writes the same book twice, and "I" Is For Innocent is no exception. Her most intricately plotted novel to date, it is layered in enough complexity to baffle even the cleverest among us. Lonnie Kingman is in a bind. He's smack in the middle of assembling a civil suit, and the private investigator who was doing his pretrial legwork has just dropped dead of a heart attack. In a matter of weeks the court's statute of limitations will put paid to his case. Five years ago David Barney walked when a jury acquitted him of the murder of his rich wife, Isabelle. Now Kingman, acting as attorney for the dead woman's ex-husband and their child (and sure that the jury made a serious mistake), is trying to divest David Barney of the profits of that murder. But time is running out, and David Barney still swears he's innocent. Patterned along the lines of a legal case, "I" Is For Innocent is seamlessly divided into thirds: one-third of the novel is devoted to the prosecution, one-third to the defense, and a final third to cross-examination and rebuttal. The result is a trial novel without a trial and a crime novel that resists solution right to the end. When Kinsey Millhone agrees to take over Morley Shine's investigation, she thinks it is a simple matter of tying up the loose ends. Morley might have been careless about his health, but he was an old pro at the business. So it comes as a real shock when she finds his files in disarray, his key informant less than credible, and his witnesses denying ever having spoken with him. It comes as a bigger shock when she finds that every claim David Barney has made checks out. But if Barney didn't murder his wife, who did? It would seem the list of candidates is a long one. In life, Isabelle Barney had stepped on a lot of toes. In "I" Is For Innocent, Sue Grafton once again demonstrates her mastery of those telling details that reveal our most intimate and conflicted relationships. As Kinsey comments on the give-and-take by which we humans deal with each other, for better and sometimes for worse, the reader is struck yet again by how acute a social observer Ms. Grafton can be. Frequently funny and sometimes caustic, she is also surprisingly compassionate-- understanding how little in life is purely black and white. Except for murder. Somewhere out there, a killer waits to see just what Kinsey will find out. Somewhere out there, someone's been getting away with murder, and this time it just might turn out to be Kinsey's. "I" Is For Innocent is Sue Grafton in peak form. Fast-paced. Funny. And very, very devious. "A" Is for Alibi "B" Is for Burglar "C" Is for Corpse "D" Is for Deadbeat "E" Is for Evidence "F" Is for Fugitive "G" Is for Gumshoe "H" Is for Homicide "I" Is for Innocent "J" Is for Judgment "K" Is for Killer "L" is for Lawless "M" Is for Malice "N" Is for Noose "O" Is for Outlaw "P" Is for Peril "Q" Is for Quarry "R" Is for Ricochet "S" Is for Silence "T" Is for Trespass "U" Is for Undertow "V" Is for Vengeance "W" Is for Wasted "X"