Intended to be glorious symbols of Japanese power, the Yamato class suffered from the disadvantage of being designed at a crossroads in naval strategy in which advances in aviation technology began to shift the focus of sea power from the battleship to the aircraft carrier. The story of the Yamato class illustrates the closing of one chapter in the history of naval warfare while at the same time the opening of another.

"Only 300 men would return alive. This is the story of their tragic mission, which shattered a dream of empire and bankrupted a nation."--BOOK JACKET.

While in medical school (which I did not have the privilege of completing), once a week we had a small group discussion class called Focus On Problems. Each group had a leader, a member of the medical school staff or someone closely associated with the school, usually an MD or Ph.D. Our group leader was Dean of the Medical School, H. David Wilson, MD. One class period focused on working with patients of different ethnic backgrounds. Dr. Wilson asked me what were some of the traditions of my tribe in regard to medicine that would be helpful for a doctor to know. My reply was that I had been raised like a white, that I had grown up learning about various herbal and natural remedies, but that I knew nothing about the specific medical traditions, ceremonial or secular, of my people.I had always longed to know of the traditions of my people before that, but circumstances of my family history had not allowed it. That question in the Focus On Problems class caused that longing to intensify into a sharp pang of longing that would not be satisfied until many years later. While in the first two years of medical school as a nontraditional student, I was in an environment that encouraged the development of the knowledge of Native American traditions. We had Native American speakers that came and elaborated on Native American traditions. One area that was lacking was tribal histories, but what academics label prehistory. I commented to her that when white man came, they did all they could to destroy our social and religious fabric, so the old traditions were not passed down to most of the remaining members of the tribes. Now we know nothing of our old history. There is nothing left. The white side of my family history is easy to know, but not my Cherokee and Choctaw side. She replied by saying that, yes, many of our peoples have lost their old traditions, and it is sad.

In the quest fantasy Tides of the Titans, part of Aurealis and Ditmar Award-winning author Thoraiya Dyer's extraordinary Titan's Forest series, trees loom large as skyscrapers, mortals can be reborn as gods, and a young man travels to the far reaches of the land and beyond to unlock the Forest's hidden secrets... Courtier, explorer, thief: Leaper is a man of many skills, but none of his talents satisfy the yearning in his heart for the Queen of Airakland, the ruler of a thunder-clashed kingdom. Their affair is cut too short, however, when she is murdered. But who was the assassin? A political rival? The jealous king? Or, perhaps, the god of thunder who oversees them all? Distraught, Leaper vows revenge, but little does he realize that his mission will lead him away from his forest home, across the vast floodplains, and to the edges of time and myth itself. Praise for Crossroads of Canopy “I am majorly impressed. A unique, gorgeous, and dangerous world!”—Tamora Pierce “Everything you expect from a great epic–quests, fearless warriors, gods born again.”—Brian Staveley, author of The Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne Titan's Forest #1 Crossroads of Canopy #2 Echoes of Understorey #3 Tides of the Titans

In Twilight of the Titans, Paul K. MacDonald and Joseph M. Parent examine great power transitions since 1870 to determine how declining powers choose to behave, identifying the strong incentives to moderate their behavior when the hierarchy of great powers is shifting. Challenging the conventional wisdom that such transitions push declining great powers to extreme measures, this book argues that intimidation, provocation, and preventive war are not the only alternatives to the loss of relative power and prestige. Using numerous case studies, MacDonald and Parent show how declining states tend to behave, the policy options they have, how rising states respond to those in decline, and what conditions reward particular strategic choices.