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The looting machine : warlords, oligarchs, corporations, smugglers, and the theft of Africa's wealth / by Burgis, Tom.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.A curse of riches -- Futungo, Inc. -- "It is forbidden to piss in the park" -- Incubators of poverty -- Guanxi -- when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled -- A bridge to Beijing -- Finance and cyanide -- God has nothing to do with it -- Black gold -- the new money kings -- Complicity.The trade in oil, gas, gems, metals and rare earth minerals wreaks havoc in Africa. During the years when Brazil, India, China and the other "emerging markets" have transformed their economies, Africa's resource states remained tethered to the bottom of the industrial supply chain. While Africa accounts for about 30 per cent of the world's reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals and 14 per cent of the world's population, its share of global manufacturing stood in 2011 exactly where it stood in 2000: at 1 percent. In his first book, The Looting Machine , Tom Burgis exposes the truth about the African development miracle: for the resource states, it's a mirage. The oil, copper, diamonds, gold and coltan deposits attract a global network of traders, bankers, corporate extractors and investors who combine with venal political cabals to loot the states' value. And the vagaries of resource-dependent economies could pitch Africa's new middle class back into destitution just as quickly as they climbed out of it. The ground beneath their feet is as precarious as a Congolese mine shaft; their prosperity could spill away like crude from a busted pipeline. This catastrophic social disintegration is not merely a continuation of Africa's past as a colonial victim. The looting now is accelerating as never before. As global demand for Africa's resources rises, a handful of Africans are becoming legitimately rich but the vast majority, like the continent as a whole, is being fleeced. Outsiders tend to think of Africa as a great drain of philanthropy. But look more closely at the resource industry and the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world looks rather different.LSC
Subjects: Mineral industries; Mines and mineral resources;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Black Shield Maiden [electronic resource] : by Smith, Willow.aut; Hendel, Jess.aut; cloudLibrary;
From Willow Smith and Jess Hendel comes a powerful and groundbreaking historical saga about an African warrior in the world of the Vikings. “Intimate, tender, and fiercely epic.”—Tomi Adeyemi, author of Children of Blood and Bone Lore, legend, and history tell us of the Vikings: warrior kings on epic journeys of conquest and plunder. But the stories we know are not the only stories to tell. There is another story, one that has been lost to the mists of time: the saga of the dark queen. This saga begins with Yafeu, a defiant yet fiercely compassionate young warrior who is stolen from her home in the flourishing Ghānaian empire and taken to a distant kingdom in the North. There she is thrust into a strange, cold world of savage shield maidens, tyrannical rulers, and mysterious gods. And there she also finds something unexpected: a kindred spirit. She comes to serve Freydis, a shy princess who couldn’t be more different from the confident and self-possessed Yafeu. But they both want the same thing: to forge their own fate. Yafeu inspires Freydis to dream of a future greater than the one that the king and queen have forced upon her. And with the princess at her side, Yafeu learns to navigate this new world and grows increasingly determined to become one of the legendary shield maidens—to fight not only for her freedom but for the freedom of others. Yafeu may have lost her home, but she still knows who she is, and she’s not afraid to be the flame that burns a city to the ground so a new world can rise from the ashes. She will alter the course of history—and become the revolutionary heroine of her own myth.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Contemporary Women; Historical; Epic;
© 2024., Random House Worlds,
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Nine lives and counting : a bounty hunter's journey to faith, hope, and redemption / by Chapman, Duane(Duane Lee),author.;
"In his riveting follow up to two New York Times bestsellers, bounty hunter and reality television star Duane "Dog" Chapman reveals the story of how God redeemed his life and gave him renewed purpose and along the way recounts the adventures and exploits that have made him legend"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Chapman, Duane (Duane Lee); Bounty hunters; Bounty hunters; Christian life;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Please please tell me now : the Duran Duran story / by Davis, Stephen,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Lifelong fans and interested newcomers will love this stunning biography of Duran Duran by the bestselling author of Gold Dust Woman and Hammer of the Gods. In Please Please Tell Me Now, bestselling rock biographer Stephen Davis tells the story of Duran Duran, the quintessential band of the 1980s. Their pretty boy looks made them the stars of fledgling MTV, but it was their brilliant musicianship that led to a string of number one hits. By the end of the decade, they had sold 60 million albums; today, they've sold over 100 million albums-and counting. Davis traces their roots to the austere 1970s British malaise that spawned both the Sex Pistols and Duran Duran-two seemingly opposite music extremes. Handsome, British, and young, it was Duran Duran that headlined Live Aid, not Bob Dylan or Led Zeppelin. The band moved in the most glamorous circles: Nick Rhodes became close with Andy Warhol, Simon LeBon with Princess Diana, and John Taylor dated quintessential British bad girl Amanda De Cadanet. With timeless hits like "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Girls on Film," "Rio," "Save a Prayer," and the bestselling James Bond theme in the series' history, "A View to Kill," Duran Duran has cemented its legacy in the pop pantheon-and with a new album and a worldwide tour on the way, they show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Featuring exclusive interviews with the band and never-before-published photos from personal archives, Please Please Tell Me Now offers a definitive account of one of the last untold sagas in rock and roll history-a treat for diehard fans, new admirers, and music lovers of any age"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Duran Duran (Musical group); Musical groups; Composers; Musicians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Romanov sisters : the lost lives of the daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra / by Rappaport, Helen.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Prologue : the room of the first and last door -- Mother love -- La petite duchesse -- My god! "what a disappointment! ... a fourth girl -- The hope of Russia -- The Big Pair and The Little Pair -- The Shtandart -- Our friend -- Royal cousins -- In St Petersburg we work, but at Livadia we live -- Cupid by the thrones -- The Little One will not die -- Lord send happiness to him, my beloved one -- God Save the Tsar -- Sisters of mercy -- We cannot drop our work in the hospitals -- The outside life -- Terrible things are going on in St Petersburg -- Good-bye : don't forget me -- On Freedom Street -- Thank god we are still in Russia and still together -- They knew it was the end when I was with them -- Prisoners of the Ural Regional Soviet -- Epilogue : victims of repression."They were the Princess Dianas of their day--perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century. The four captivating Russian Grand Duchesses--Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov--were much admired for their happy dispositions, their looks, the clothes they wore and their privileged lifestyle. Over the years, the story of the four Romanov sisters and their tragic end in a basement at Ekaterinburg in 1918 has clouded our view of them, leading to a mass of sentimental and idealized hagiography. With this treasure trove of diaries and letters from the grand duchesses to their friends and family, we learn that they were intelligent, sensitive and perceptive witnesses to the dark turmoil within their immediate family and the ominous approach of the Russian Revolution, the nightmare that would sweep their world away, and them along with it. The Romanov Sisters sets out to capture the joy as well as the insecurities and poignancy of those young lives against the backdrop of the dying days of late Imperial Russia, World War I and the Russian Revolution. Rappaort aims to present a new and challenging take on the story, drawing extensively on previously unseen or unpublished letters, diaries and archival sources, as well as private collections. It is a book that will surprise people, even aficionados"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, 1868-1918; Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, 1868-1918; Romanov, House of; Princesses; Sisters.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Seize the day : living on purpose and making every day count / by Meyer, Joyce,1943-author.;
Includes bibliographical references.
Subjects: Christian life.; Older persons;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The widely unknown myth of Apple & Dorothy / by Haydu, Corey Ann.;
If you could choose to be a god forever, would you do it? Every winter solstice, today's Earthly descendants of Greek gods, nymphs, and muses must visit Mount Olympus to preserve their near-godly status. Until Dorothy's mother refuses to go, sealing her fate and dying a human death shortly after. In retaliation, the gods release an ultimatum: return to the heavens as gods or live as humans on Earth. Everyone must now make a choice. Dorothy is already at the bottom of the godly chain as the descendant of the infamous Pandora. Without her mother, the rest of Dorothy's world becomes quieter, stiller--and her grief threatens to consume her. Apple, on the other hand, is the beloved descendant of Zeus and Hera. She is the most popular girl in school, and knows she must maintain a perfect facade, or risk ruining the family name. The two girls couldn't be more different, but their mothers were best friends, and now they finally grow closer, too. Yet as the solstice nears, Apple's fear of losing Dorothy causes her to make a choice for herself and Dorothy that changes everything--and the consequences are great. Will the Apple and Dorothy be able to fix their friendship? Will they even choose the same path? Olympus or Earth?
Subjects: Mythological fiction.; Mythology, Greek; Friendship; Self-esteem;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Lore / by Bracken, Alexandra.;
Every seven years there is a hunt offering mortal descendants of gods the opportunity to claim their divinity by killing any of nine immortals made mortal for one night. Lore Perseous has no desire to participate in the Agon, embittered because her family was killed by a rival who then ascended to godhood. When a childhood friend asks her to help, and a wounded god offers an alliance, Lore overlooks the steep cost of this decision in exchange for vengeance.LSC
Subjects: Fantasy fiction.; Adventure fiction.; Mythology, Greek; Clans; Vendetta; Revenge;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The almost sisters / by Jackson, Joshilyn,author.;
"With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of gods in Alabama pens a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between perception and reality---the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and who we really are. Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs' weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman. It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She's having a baby boy--an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old's life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel's marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she's been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood. Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother's affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she's pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she's got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie's been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family's freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Bagels from Benny / by Davis, Aubrey; Petricic, Dusan;
Benny, who loves to help out at his grandpa's bakery, decides to thank God for the wonderful bagels by leaving a bagful in the synagogue each week, but when the bagels disappear Benny finds he has more questions than answers. Loosely based on an ancient Jewish folk tale from Spain.
Subjects: Bagels;
© c2003., Kids Can Press,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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