Most Popular Books by Robert H. Miller

A comprehensive guide for sea kayakers to the challenging 1,300-mile paddling trip from Olympia, Washington, past Vancouver Island, to Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska provides a definitive guide to the region''s historical background and natural wonders, suggested equipment, recommended proficiency requirements, and more. Original.

The extraordinary success of Orgasme, the first fragrance created by Jean-Pierre Armand, one of the world''s leading fashion designers, attracts the attention of Joe Regalia, a small time player in the import-export business. Joe obtains financial backing from his boyhood friends, Tony Marino, head of the largest crime family in New York, and Sam Risen, outwardly a respectable attorney, but secretly, Tony''s silent partner, to import and distribute Orgasme through the gray market in the United States as a vehicle to launder the Organization''s illicit income. Motivated by greed and envy, and unbeknownst to his partners, Joe decides to also sell counterfeit Orgasme, which brings more attention to this illegal business. Leading the fight against the gray market and counterfeiting is Bryan Thomas, President of Aberdeen, Ltd., Orgasme''s manufacturer. Concerned about the publicity Bryan is generating and its potential impact on the Organization''s money laundering operation, Sam sets out to silence him. Meanwhile, seething with life-long resentment, believing he is the real genius behind Jean-Pierre''s success, Philippe Chaudee, his lover and cunning, driven business manager, is secretly moving ahead with plans to establish a new fashion house under his own name to sponsor young aspiring designers-with or without Jean-Pierre''s concurrence. Paris, New York, Washington, and Zurich provide the principal backdrops for this complex unfolding drama in which murder is the fashion of choice by those driven to let no one stand in their way.

This book is a guidebook/travelogue/memoir of thirty-one exceptional mountain bike (mostly) rides on every continent (bar Antarctica) in the world, entirely across or around the perimeter of the chosen countries or regions, for maximum immersion in the countries'' (or region''s) cultures, environment and people. In the best tradition of travel writing, it explores the routes and countries through their history, art, customs and politics in the liveliest fashion possible: a high bar--certainly-from the slow perspective of a bicycle, but perfect for the armchair or clip-to-the-pedal adventurer. But the book also serves as a guide for each trip, with a Nuts & Bolts section that includes lists of maps, guides, seasons, lodging & eats, special concerns-if any-and, following each account, suggested reading (or movies) to enhance the experience.

Noted Italian fashion designer Giorgio Donati is gunned down in front of his Greenwich Village town house in a professional style hit amid rumors of the designer''s connection to the Mafia. New York City Detective Frank Egan, assigned to investigate the murder, quickly identifies several individuals with strong motives to see the designer dead: his sister, Francesca, and several trusted employees of Donati''s company. Only the designer''s brother, Fabio, appears above suspicion. Working outside formal boundaries with Greg Harris, an FBI agent noted for his break-up of the Gianelli Family''s criminal empire years earlier, Frank learns of a Mafia connection in the initial financing of the Donati business, which might still exist. It is only after the discovery of similar style murders in Los Angeles and another in New York that the puzzle becomes clearer. As the drama unfolds against the background of the fashion business, the intrigues of its participants, and the Mafia''s use of this industry to launder its ill-gotten gains, evidence of guilt becomes apparent. But as the exciting conclusion demonstrates, appearances can be deceiving.

Examines the contributions Black cowboys have made to this country and to the legacy of the West, focusing on the lives of Nat Love "Dead Wood Dick", Mary Fields, Cherokee Bill, Willie Kennard, and Bill Pickett.

Every perfume is a unique work of art, no different than a piece of music or a painting in its ability to evoke feelings in its audience. In 1976, Yves Saint Laurent fell in love with the idea of creating a new perfume that would convey the lush, sensual mood of the name he had already chosen, OPIUM. Working with Yves, his personal and business partner Pierre, and so many others in the world of high fashion and fragrance could be exhilarating, infuriating, and often, a simmering pot-au-feu threatening to boil over. This narrative takes you behind the scenes, providing a glimpse of that fascinating world and the people who kept it spinning. It is a highly personal story, and one I know well. It is my story.

Closing the Circle: A Memoir of Cuba, Exile, the Bay of Pigs and a Trans-Island Bike Journey is a family memoir in three parts intricately interwoven with historical events. The book is structured in 3 parts, somewhat akin to John McPhee''s Coming Into the Country, where each part, though quite separate, complements each other in painting a picture of Alaska. Part I is the saga of the author''s immediate family, beginning with his contractor grandfather''s involvement under then-President Machado building first the National Theater, then the Carretera Central, Cuba''s trans-island highway and Cuba''s capitol building, and later the federal prison on the Isle of Youth where both Castro and two of the author''s cousins, grunts in the Bay of Pigs invasion, did time eight years apart during the Cuban Missile Crisis-in the very same cell. His grandmother emigrated from the Canary Islands. His father, founding CFO of AIG, introduced VW to Cuba, and he-by chance-rented their first home in Havana to David Atlee Phillips, the CIA operative most responsible for the success of the overthrow of the Arbenz regime in Guatemala in 1954. Phillips was later put in charge of propaganda for the Bay of Pigs operation. The author''s mom sparred with Hemingway. They lived next door to the mayor of Havana, a big power broker before the Batista coup of 1952. The family went into exile in 1960; and in 1972 the author planted the Cuban flag atop Mt. McKinley, North America''s highest peak. In part II the author broadens the saga to his extended family: It focuses on the story of the Bay of Pigs from the perspective of two cousins, and their subsequent 20 month stint in Cuban prisons, followed by their-and yet another cousin''s-exploits during the Kennedy administration''s infiltration operations after their repatriation by JFK. One cousin was personally interrogated by Che Guevara after his capture at Playa Giron. This account of the Bay of Pigs is "the grunts'' story." Finally, part III is the travelogue of a trans-island bike ride along the road the author''s grandfather built, where he returns and connects with his family''s memories, one of which was finding his grandmother''s grave in the famous Cementerio Colon. The bike route included a detour to the Bay of Pigs area where he was able to physically connect with his cousins'' battleground at Playa Larga. The bike ride took place in 2016 when the author led an educational reconnaissance group to Cuba. They stayed at a distant relative''s home. The bike group included a variety of political perspectives, which made for lively discussions among the participants and with Cubans. Cuba is hot right now, and with the glacial reform process within the island-given a very slight nudge by Fidel''s death-and relations with the US improved but perhaps slowing down, it will remain hot for the foreseeable future. There are many Cuba memoirs and there are many Cuba reportage books in print, this is one of the few that combines both genres. Eire''s Waiting for Snow in Havana, probably the best-known Cuba memoir, is impressionistic verging on the magical realist; while Vidal''s Boxing for Cuba is the Cuba memoir that most closely resembles parts of this book. The style is straightforward, conversational and anecdotal, with sometimes outlandish humor.

Mr Quarter-to-Two: Life and Death with Mother Nature''s Misfits explores, through character sketches, the eccentric personalities of several unique individuals that indulge in a variety of extreme pursuits-mostly outdoor adventure sports such as rock climbing, mountaineering and over-the-edge whitewater boating. In a striking parallel the book also traces a similarity between traditional adventuring and a young man''s fascination with eco-terrorism. The focus is not just what was accomplished by these individuals, but what drove them to "put it on the line" and step out of the normal routine of life.The book''s underlying theme is ultimate human values. Adventurers play with the fine line between Life and Death. In making the choices that define this line, they call upon intensely personal aesthetic values that are then given the ultimate testing. Both authors were protagonists in their stories and while it may seem that their extreme experiences isolate them, their sharing here has the flavor of universal humanistic values.The essays are not all philosophical navel-gazing; on the contrary, they are laced with humor, pathos, drama, old-fashioned, compelling story-telling and unimaginable adventure, fully illustrated with 70 photographs. Though technically an anthology, the essays cohere to a larger whole-a story of how we can step outside ourselves and find a fascinating, transcendent, world.

Community health center (CHC) networks that provide electronic health record (EHR) services are increasingly important within the expanding CHC sector that serves disadvantaged patients. In this issue brief, researchers describe how networks helped CHCs to use EHRs to improve chronic and preventive care and the barriers they faced. Networks made EHR software easier to use for chronic and preventive care and developed reports on provider performance and on patients needing services. However, only one network provided extensive hands-on post-implementation training and leadership support. Key barriers faced by networks included: limited EHR software capabilities, limited funding for network clinical leaders, and CHC organizational autonomy that restricted resource sharing among CHCs. To help networks support CHCs'' quality improvement, policies should increase funding to higher-performing, quality-focused networks and provide incentives for CHCs to share resources with the network and each other.