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HORRIBLE WOMEN, WONDERFUL GIRLS

Forty-year-old Jaycee Grayson, fresh from a stint in the Betty Ford rehab center after having been fired from her job at a big-name Hollywood studio, is about to embark on a new adventure. Her older sister Meredith Grayson-O’Cochlain, a high-powered attorney, has negotiated a contract for Jaycee to be the new executive producer and vice […]

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MOONSET ON DESERT SANDS

Trying to forget a violent encounter with a serial killer, Arista settles into her new home in Sedona, Arizona. The New-Agey town seems like a good fit. Interested in magic, she works at a shop called Cosmic Prisms that sells items like crystals and candles. Living with her Aunt Bethie, the co-leader of a coven, […]

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KING OF THE NORTH

For decades, biographers have focused on Martin Luther King Jr.’s successful leadership in the South while suggesting that his Northern activism failed because it lacked direction and local support. Theoharis, a professor of political science at Brooklyn College, upends this narrative by painstakingly documenting King’s relentless and impassioned battles against Northern discrimination and police brutality, […]

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THE TALES OF CHARLIE WAGS

Although Charlie Wags may seem like an ordinary little dog, he has an extraordinary secret: By wagging his tail, he can take flight and explore different places all over the globe. In his latest adventure, he’s off to explore the capital of the United Kingdom. Beginning at Buckingham Palace and ending atop the London Eye, […]

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THE MAGDALENA GAMBIT

At the turn of the 21st century, three United States Navy nuclear submarines vanished, and only two were recovered by Naval Intelligence. The third, a massive Ohio-class sub, finally turned up in Barranquilla, Colombia, stashed inside a grotto in the Magdalena River. It appeared that some Navy admirals, possibly with Russian collusion, planned to sell […]

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MAMA WEARS A HIJAB

Hijabs are as different as the women who wear them, and the young people in this story praise their mothers for what makes them remarkable. As one mama prepares a nourishing meal, her child notes that her headscarf is a symbol of her devotion and care for her family. Another mother’s hijab represents her deep […]

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ALBERTO SALAS PLAYS PAKA PAKA CON LA PAPA

Alberto Salas is on a mission: to discover and document all the potatoes he can “before they’re lost for good.” The renowned Peruvian agronomist—affectionately portrayed as a rosy-cheeked, wiry-haired, squat man clad in a yellow coat—plays the game of potato paka paka (or hide-and-seek), scouring the Andes to support the development and proliferation of potatoes […]

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THE SUMMER GUESTS

In 1972, a Purity policeman watches a driver mow down and kill three innocent people on Main Street. Then the madman shoots the officer, and soon they are all dead. Investigators never learn why such an ordinary, apparently law-abiding citizen suddenly committed such a ghastly act, and the sad story gradually fades. Jump a half-century […]

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CHINA’S QUEST FOR MILITARY SUPREMACY

Wuthnow and Saunders, of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, emphasize that just as the 2008 Olympics marked China’s emergence as a global heavyweight, the recent military demonstrations against Taiwan symbolize a new era for the People’s Liberation Army. It’s stronger, more modern, and more confident today, yet there remain intrinsic flaws that neither technology […]

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THE GOLDBERG MUTILATIONS

Glenn Gould wakes up in a hotel room he has no memory of checking into, alarmingly separated from the potpourri of pills that permit him to navigate life. The scene he discovers in his room is as bizarre as it is macabre—a woman has been hacked to death with a hatchet, and a record player […]