In the kingdom of Milford Sound, Prince Victor braces himself to live without Virtuous, his one true love. Trying to win the King’s trust and favor, Virtuous enters a series of dangerous trials. In one of the epic battles, Virtuous loses and gets lost in the darkness, leaving a devastated Prince behind. Prince Victor must fight a battle within his own home, with his father, and begin on a quest to avenge his love. What he doesn’t know is that there are more nefarious forces at play. A new beautiful princess enters his kingdom, expressing her love for him and making no secret of her desire to marry him. Princess Sarah has only one dream—to rule Milford Sound and win Victor. Join Prince Victor on a fast-paced and tortuous journey as he unravels the mysteries of Virtuous’ disappearance and Princess Sarah’s real identity. In Wrath of Chaos and Confusion, you will be immersed in Prince Victor’s magical journey. In the ultimate fight of good and evil, who will win and at what cost?

Cuisine and Culture presents a multicultural and multiethnic approach that draws connections between major historical events and how and why these events affected and defined the culinary traditions of different societies. Witty and engaging, Civitello shows how history has shaped our diet--and how food has affected history. Prehistoric societies are explored all the way to present day issues such as genetically modified foods and the rise of celebrity chefs. Civitello's humorous tone and deep knowledge are the perfect antidote to the usual scholarly and academic treatment of this universally important subject.

"Soldier Extraordinaire explores the colorful life and varied accomplishments of Brig. Gen. Frank "Pinkie" Dorn, an unusual player on the world stage during the 1920s and beyond World War II. Over the course of his 30-year Army career, Dorn manifested probing observations and analyses especially of Asia. He produced writings on subjects ranging from Philippine native tribes to Peking's Forbidden City and the origins of the Sino-Japanese War that began in 1937. Following the end of World War II, he was closely involved in Gen. Douglas MacArthur's brilliant occupation and pacification of Japan. Beyond his military successes, Dorn created world-class art, enjoyed cooking and writing cookbooks, was renowned for his cartography skills, and relished opportunities to comment on the frequent maelstroms and interplay of relevant personalities on social and military scenes."--Provided by publisher.

Two men played a crucial role in the creation and early history of the National Park Service: Stephen T. Mather, a public relations genius of sweeping vision, and Horace M. Albright, an able lawyer and administrator who helped transform that vision into reality. In Creating the National Park Service, Albright and his daughter, Marian Albright Schenck, reveal the previously untold story of the critical "missing years" in the history of the service. During this period, 1917 and 1918, Mather's problems with manic depression were kept hidden from public view, and Albright, his able and devoted assistant, served as acting director and assumed Mather's responsibilities. Albright played a decisive part in the passage of the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916; the formulation of principles and policies for management of the parks; the defense of the parks against exploitation by ranchers, lumber companies, and mining interests during World War I; and other issues crucial to the future of the fledgling park system. This authoritative behind-the-scenes history sheds light on the early days of the most popular of all federal agencies while painting a vivid picture of American life in the early twentieth century.

Considered by many to be a founder of Afrofuturism, Sun Ra—aka Herman Blount—was a composer, keyboardist, bandleader, philosopher, entrepreneur, poet, and self-proclaimed extraterrestrial from Saturn. He recorded over 200 albums with his Arkestra, which, dressed in Egypto-space costumes, played everything from boogie-woogie and swing to fusion and free jazz. John Szwed's Space is the Place is the definitive biography of this musical polymath, who was one of the twentieth century's greatest avant-garde artists and intellectuals. Charting the whole of Sun Ra's life and career, Szwed outlines how after years in Chicago as a blues and swing band pianist, Sun Ra set out in the 1950s to impart his views about the galaxy, black people, and spiritual matters by performing music with the Arkestra that was as vital and innovative as it was mercurial and confounding. Szwed's readers—whether they are just discovering Sun Ra or are among the legion of poets, artists, intellectuals, and musicians who consider him a spiritual godfather—will find that, indeed, space is the place.

Yoshinobu Hakutani traces the development of African American modernism, which initially gathered momentum with Richard Wright's literary manifesto "Blueprint for Negro Writing" in 1937. Hakutani dissects and discusses the cross-cultural influences on the then-burgeoning discipline in three stages: American dialogues, European and African cultural visions, and Asian and African American cross-cultural visions. In writing Black Boy, the centerpiece of the Chicago Renaissance, Wright was inspired by Theodore Dreiser. Because the European and African cultural visions that Wright, Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison acquired were buttressed by the universal humanism that is common to all cultures, this ideology is shown to transcend the problems of society. Fascinated by Eastern thought and art, Wright, Walker, Sonia Sanchez, and James Emanuel wrote highly accomplished poetry and prose. Like Ezra Pound, Wright was drawn to classic haiku, as reflected in the 4,000 haiku he wrote at the end of his life. As W. B. Yeats's symbolism was influenced by his cross-cultural visions of noh theatre and Irish folklore, so is James Emanuel's jazz haiku energized by his cross-cultural rhythms of Japanese poetry and African American music. The book demonstrates some of the most visible cultural exchanges in modern and postmodern African American literature. Such a study can be extended to other contemporary African American writers whose works also thrive on their cross-cultural visions, such as Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Charles Johnson, and haiku poet Lenard Moore.