New Releases by Michael Johnston

From the New York Times bestselling author of Blue Bloods and Isle of the Lost (a Disney Decendants novel) the first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic. Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows. At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she''s heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light. But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson to take her there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all. “The mix of adventure and fantasy will have you addicted!” —Seventeen.com “A one-sitting read. The world-building in Frozen is absolutely addictive. You''ll really feel like you''re traveling through this frozen, post-apocalyptic country (with) the setting, the realistic characters and the fast pace.” —Romantic Times “Fans of The Hunger Games will no doubt enjoy sinking their teeth into this exciting book.” —SLJ

Romance and the Gentry in Late Medieval England offers a new history of Middle English romance, the most popular genre of secular literature in the English Middle Ages. Michael Johnston argues that many of the romances composed in England from 1350-1500 arose in response to the specific socio-economic concerns of the gentry, the class of English landowners who lacked titles of nobility and hence occupied the lower rungs of the aristocracy. The end of the fourteenth century in England witnessed power devolving to the gentry, who became one of the dominant political and economic forces in provincial society. As Johnston demonstrates, this social change also affected England''s literary culture, particularly the composition and readership of romance. Romance and the Gentry in Late Medieval England identifies a series of new topoi in Middle English that responded to the gentry''s economic interests. But beyond social history and literary criticism, it also speaks to manuscript studies, showing that most of the codices of the "gentry romances" were produced by those in the immediate employ of the gentry. By bringing together literary criticism and manuscript studies, this book speaks to two scholarly communities often insulated from one another: it invites manuscript scholars to pay closer attention to the cultural resonances of the texts within medieval codices; simultaneously, it encourages literary scholars to be more attentive to the cultural resonances of surviving medieval codices.

Explores four types of corruption and the implications for reform, emphasizing practical ways to check abuses of wealth and power.

Ambitious art historian Bill Maguire searches Paris for a subject for his doctoral thesis and follows up faint clues about once-famous abstract painter Alexander Golden. He and Anna Glover find Golden''s farmhouse hideaway and make a discovery that adds love, greed, insanity, academic dishonesty, and very likely murder into the mix before leading to a completely unforeseen outcome.

How to make angels, candleholders, suncatchers, mirrors, picture frames, garden ornaments, and more beautiful projects, from easy to more complex.

The purpose of this essay is to perform a close examination of two of T. S. Eliot''s early, uncollected poems, entitled "The Love Song of St. Sebastian" and "The Death of Saint Narcissus." One of the problems that arises in an appraisal of these poems is that they rest uneasily alongside his more prominent texts. Their psycho-sexual, masochistic fixation clashes with the more austere, detached portrayals of sexuality in his later poetry, and the confessional nature of the poems also conflicts with his declared poetics of impersonality that he describes famously in his essays "Tradition and the Individual Talent" and "The Functions of Criticism." This essay undertakes a psychoanalytic reading of both of these poems, and also explores the persistence of their influence in his later work. The research includes a number of primary, secondary, and tertiary texts. I have drawn heavily from Eliot''s own writings: his poetry, his essays, and also some of his lectures. His discussion of the differences between "classical mysticism" and "romantic mysticism" in The Clark Lectures is an important touchstone in the explorations of the essay. My psychoanalytic reading is also grounded in the works of Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva, as well as the French Surrealist, Georges Bataille. In my second chapter I have made use of the ideas from Lacan''s first and third seminars to explore the symptoms of psychosis and neurosis in Eliot and his early poetic personas, Sebastian and Narcissus. And in my third chapter I use the Kristevan idea of abjection from her work Powers of Horror to accentuate the peculiar blend of "torture and delight," "divine ecstasy and extreme horror" exhibited in Eliot''s sick saints. Also, Laurie MacDiarmid and Donald Childs, are two recent Eliot historians and critics that have figured prominently in triangulating my own reading of Eliot and his writings. My research has revealed that, as much as Eliot created these saints to be examples of "sick spirituality" and a failed "romantic" mysticism, the unmistakable passion and jouissance that arises out of their abjection reveals that Eliot, the doubting neurotic, actually desires their psychotic certainty. He revisits the subject of martyrdom for a final time in his later play The Cocktail Party. It is here that he gives his final saint, Celia Copplestone, a more orthodox martyrdom, stripped of the blasphemy and narcissism of his earlier saints. While in the play she is the scapegoat and intercessor for the other characters that are trapped in banality the Modern world, more importantly she is Eliot''s own scapegoat. And like Saint Narcissus and Sebastian, she achieves in her abjected, macabre, eroticized martyrdom the divine ecstasy that Eliot can only desire after but never personally achieve.

The conceptual divide between "hard power" and "soft power," and the resources that constitute the basis of each, remain hotly debated topics among International Relations theorists as well as foreign policy advisors and analysts. Two developments in the last decade that have greatly influenced the study of the hard-power/soft-power dichotomy are: (1) the pursuit by many single-state actors of foreign policy strategies identifying and actively incorporating soft-power instruments, and (2) the realization by political theorists that individual policy instruments often exhibit unexpected hard and soft-power characteristics and effects, sometimes resulting in hard power acting soft and soft power acting hard. Exploring this dichotomy further, I examine the Russian Federation''s use of its hard and soft power with respect to the de facto independent Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia from 1999-2009 by identifying specific Russian foreign policy instruments employed in the bilateral relationship and analyzing how these instruments draw upon and project Russian hard and soft power. My findings support research addressing instances when traditionally defined hard-power instruments display soft-power effects, and vice versa, and highlight examples of individual policy instruments producing both hard and soft-power effects simultaneously; coercing a subject while they co-opt its interests. In addition, I find that the Russian Federation is actively employing soft-power methods of engagement in its contemporary foreign policy strategy, having substantially increased this employment between 1999-2009 -- particularly with respect to Abkhazia. Concerning the Russia-Abkhazia relationship specifically, I conclude that, based on Russia''s engagement of the region from 1999- 2009, ties between the country and the de facto state will continue to strengthen, however, with Abkhazia in an increasingly supplicant position.

Illustrated, step-by-step instructions. Two methods of building a panel: lead and copper foil. Contains ten full-size patterns and includes a chapter on how to repair stained glass.

Relates Philippine corruption to expanding political and economic opportunities in a setting of very weak institutions, limiting the state''s ability to perform basic functions and putting strain on the national economy.

Step-by-step photos illustrate the entire lamp-making process. Includes full-size, fold-out patterns to make 12 beautiful shades. Features "Pro Tips" from a master glass artist.

Illustrated step-by-step instruction on techniques to make a variety of beautiful and practical stained glass boxes Photos show exactly how to assemble corners, attach hinges and lids, work with mirrored glass, create shelves and compartments, and add feet and lips Detailed information for the beginner or more experienced glass artist Using the wide variety of stained glass available to create one-of-a-kind tabletop boxes is explained and illustrated in an easy-to-follow format. It''s like looking over the shoulder of a master glass artist at work.

يشكل الفساد تهديداً للديمقراطية والتنمية الاقتصادية في العديد من المجتمعات. وهو ينشأ من الطرق التي يسعى من خلالها الناس إلى الحصول على الثروة والسلطة والطرق التي يستعملونهما بها، ومن قوة أو ضعف الدولة والمؤسسات السياسية والاجتماعية التي تعزز هذه العمليات أو تقيّدها. ويجادل مايكل جونستون بأن الاختلافات في هذه العوامل تؤدي إلى ظهور أربعة متلازمات للفساد: أسواق النفوذ، ومنظمات النخبة، وحكم العائلات، والمسؤولون الحكوميون. ويستعمل جونستون الإجراءات الإحصائية لتحديد المجتمعات التي تنتمي إلى كل فئة، كما يستعمل حالات درسية؛ ليظهر أن المتلازمات المتوقعة تظهر دائماً. وتتضمن البلدان موضع الدراسة كلاً من الولايات المتحدة، واليابان، وألمانيا (أسواق النفوذ)؛ وإيطاليا، وكوريا، وبوتسوانا (منظمات النخبة)؛ وروسيا والفلبين، والمكسيك (العائلات)، والصين، وكينيا، وأندونيسيا (المسؤولون الحكوميون). ثم يستكشف الفصل الختامي الإصلاح، مؤكداً على كيفية تطبيق الإجراءات المألوفة ـــ أو الإحجام عن تطبيقها؛ خشية أن تحدث ضرراً ـــ مع التأكيد على قيمة «التحولات الديمقراطية العميقة». «يشكّل كتاب مايكل جونستون إسهاماً مهماً في دراسات الفساد. إنه يَعِد بدفع عملية البحث والتفكير الجارية حالياً إلى أبعد من التركيز على النماذج الاقتصادية للفساد وإفساح المجال للنظر بجدية أكبر للوقائع السياسية. إن الحالات التي يستعملها جونستون لتوضيح تصنيفه الرباعي حالات حية ومثيرة للاهتمام وتتناول جوهر الأوضاع في كل بلد. ويقدم الوزن التراكمي لهذه الحالات خلفية مقنعة لأجندة الإصلاح الحكيمة والاستفزازية التي يطرحها». سوزان روز ـــ أكرمان كلية الحقوق في جامعة ييل العبيكان للنشر

Recipes drawn from The Age''s food and wine section, Epicure.

In compiling this guide the author has used some of the material contained in the Fairfax Style Guide. The author is a Sydney Morning Herald subeditor, who has worked on newspapers in Africa, Britain and Australia for 30 years.

Corruption is a threat to democracy and economic development in many societies. It arises in the ways people pursue, use and exchange wealth and power, and in the strength or weakness of the state, political and social institutions that sustain and restrain those processes. Differences in these factors, Michael Johnston argues, give rise to four major syndromes of corruption: Influence Markets, Elite Cartels, Oligarchs and Clans, and Official Moguls. In this 2005 book, Johnston uses statistical measures to identify societies in each group, and case studies to show that the expected syndromes do arise. Countries studied include the United States, Japan and Germany (Influence Markets); Italy, Korea and Botswana (Elite Cartels); Russia, the Philippines and Mexico (Oligarchs and Clans); and China, Kenya, and Indonesia (Offical Moguls). A concluding chapter explores reform, emphasising the ways familiar measures should be applied - or withheld, lest they do harm - with an emphasis upon the value of ''deep democratisation''.

Nonprofit Internet Strategies offers every charitable organization the opportunity to analyze their options and select the appropriate strategy to integrate traditional marketing, communications, and fundraising practices with their online efforts. It is an excellent how-to guide--a practical manual for nonprofit staff written in non-technical language--prepared by experts in the field based on real-life experiences and case studies.

How can one man be a decorated veteran, donate his medical skills to thousands, and work tirelessly for the Los Angeles School Board? That is the Doc Newman story.

Fremstilling af blyindfattet glas

Michael Johnston discusses how he reached out to inspire his teenage students at a rural school in the Mississippi Delta.

Focusing on the Great Plains states of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota between 1929 and 1945, Down and Out on the Family Farm examines small familyøfarmers and the Rural Rehabilitation Program designed to help them. Historian Michael Johnston Grant reveals the tension between economic forces that favored large-scale agriculture and political pressure that championed family farms, and the results of that clash. ø The Great Depression and the drought of the 1930s lay bare the long-term economic instability of the rural Plains. The New Deal introduced the Rural Rehabilitation Program to assist lower- to middle-income farmers throughout the country. This program combined low-interest loans with managerial advice. However, these efforts were not enough to compete with the growing scale of agriculture or to counter the recurring drought of the era. Regional conservatism, environmental factors, and fiscal constraints limited the federal aid offered to thousands of families. ø Grant provides extensive primary source research from government documents, as well as letters, newspaper editorials, and case studies that focus on individual lives and fortunes. He examines who these families were and what their farms looked like, and he sheds light on the health problems and other personal concerns that interfered with the economic viability of many farms. The result is a provocative study that gives a human face to the hardships and triumphs of modern agriculture.