The bestselling, landmark work of undercover reportage, now updated Acclaimed as an instant classic upon publication, Nickel and Dimed has sold more than 1.5 million copies and become a staple of classroom reading. Chosen for “one book” initiatives across the country, it has fueled nationwide campaigns for a living wage. Funny, poignant, and passionate, this revelatory firsthand account of life in low-wage America—the story of Barbara Ehrenreich’s attempts to eke out a living while working as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart associate—has become an essential part of the nation’s political discourse. Now, in a new afterword, Ehrenreich shows that the plight of the underpaid has in no way eased: with fewer jobs available, deteriorating work conditions, and no pay increase in sight, Nickel and Dimed is more relevant than ever.

In this bravura follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning #1 New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.As the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: He is "as good as anyone." Abandoned by his parents, but kept on the straight and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South in the early 1960s, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy the future. Elwood is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called The Nickel Academy, whose mission statement says it provides "physical, intellectual and moral training" so the delinquent boys in...

In TunFaire, a city of gorgeous women, powerful sorcerers and dangerous magic, the beautiful, criminally insane daughter of a comatose crime boss has some lascivious designs on private investigator Garrett-who now has to figure out why everyone is suddenly after him.

Mama’s strange behavior jolts accountant Cleopatra Jones from her whirl of late summer activities with her daughters, her pregnant Saint Bernard, and her new boyfriend. When Cleo overhears the heated argument between Mama and her church-lady rival, Erica Hodges, she realizes Mama is out of control. Erica files a police report about Mama’s threats, which adds to Cleo’s growing unease.Two days later Erica is dead, the victim of a hit-and-run at the church. Though Erica’s reputation for arrogance, bossiness, and rudeness is well-deserved, she is descended from the town’s founder, and the mayor pressures the police to obtain justice for the town’s leading citizen.To Cleo’s horror, there’s a person-sized dent in Mama’s gray Olds. Mama denies killing Erica but refuses to account for her whereabouts that night. Mama’s secrets are maddening, but are they deadly?

Sex. High-stakes corruption. Murder. Meet Gideon Rimes, an Iraq-war vet and army detective turned Private Investigator. Returning a kid separated from his family at the border should have been an easy task. Too bad Gideon left his Baby Glock in his gun safe back in New York... (Publisher's Note: This is a short story in the Gideon Rimes mystery series.)

Eleven French scientific romances by Jacques Boucher de Perthes, Pierre Bremond, Léon Daudet, Georges Espitallier, Louis Gallet, Pierre de Nolhac & Ralph Schropp. This is the twelfth in a series of anthologies of exemplary texts in the evolution of the French genre of roman scientifique. The eleven stories collected here were published between 1832 and 1932. They include three remarkable tales about automata and homonculi, including one in which the manufacture of an artificial human being is credited to the 13th century scholar Albertus Magnus. Also included are The Uraniad (1844), a protest against Newton's theory of gravity, The Death of Paris (1892), an account of how Paris was destroyed by a new Ice Age, and The Nickel Man (1897) by military historian and journalist Georges Espitallier, in which an eccentric scientist uses galvanic technology to turn his body into a metal statue in an attempt to preserve it.

Nannerl Mozart's twelfth-birthday wish is to become a famous composer. She's already considered a brilliant musician, touring eighteenth-century Europe with her little brother, Wolfgang, and playing for queens and kings in the great courts. But Papa doesn't take her seriously as a composer because she is a girl, Mama usually has a list of chores for her to do, and Wolfi manages to steal everyone's attention. But Nannerl is not ready to give up her dream. Can she defy expectations and take control of her musical destiny?

John Gardner's most poignant novel of improbable love. At the heart of John Gardner's Nickel Mountain is an uncommon love story: when at 42, the obese, anxious and gentle Henry Soames marries seventeen-year-old Callie Wells—who is pregnant with the child of a local boy—it is much more than years which define the gulf between them. But the beauty of this novel is the gradual revelation of the bond that develops as this unlikely couple experiences courtship and marriage, the birth of a son, isolation, forgiveness, work, and death in a small Catskill community in the 1950s. The plot turns on tragic events—they might be accidents or they might be acts of will—involving a cast of rural eccentrics that includes a lonely amputee veteran, a religious hysteric (thought by some to be the devil himself) and an itinerant "Goat Lady." Questions of guilt, innocence, and even murder are eclipsed by deeds of compassion, humility, and redemption, and ultimately by Henry Soames' quiet discovery of grace. Novelist William H. Gass, a friend and colleague of the author, has written an introduction that shines new light on the work and career of the much praised but often misunderstood John Gardner.

Five short stories about growing up and growing old and what happens along the way. What would you do? How would you react? Do you know enough now to make the decision? Have a read and see how you feel when you are finished. You just might be surprised.This is a tale of life inside a home computer, as seen from the viewpoint of one of its tiny components - Billy the Bit. He and the other inhabitants of the computer do the actual work of making things happen for its human user.If you have ever wanted to understand how a computer operates - without studying electronics and microcircuits - this story explains how, by telling the story of how one tiny element nearly brings the system to a halt.A painless way to learn the workings of a PC, which will enable readers to understand the basics of what is going on under the covers whilst enjoying an amusing tale. Although originally aimed at children, adult experts in the field may enjoy the author's visualisation of the functions of a computer's elements.

**Western Fictioneers Peacemaker's Award Winner for Best Novel**In the wake of disaster, would you leave your family to fulfill an old promise to a stranger?Born with a permanent grin and natural charm, young Ryder Wheeler wanted to be a Pony Express rider just like his dime novel hero. In a coastal Texas town in the 1870s, it isn't easy to turn cowboy, so Ryder relies on what he has—a strong will, a nickel's worth of luck, and an inclination to take on any dare. Adored by all, he gains notoriety as the "luck child" of Indianola.When Ryder's abusive father goes too far, a hard-fisted cowboy intervenes, offering him a deal with one condition: He must leave his beloved town of Indianola behind. After peddling his luck for so long, will he make it as a cowboy at the Middle C Ranch?As Ryder faces the consequences of his decision, the Mistress—the ocean Ryder loves to hate—tries once more to claim him. Can young Ryder best the...

Skinny and suffering from diabetes, Ralph Moody is ordered by a Boston doctor to seek a more healthful climate. Going west again is a delightful prospect. His childhood adventures on a Colorado ranch were described in Little Britches and Man of the Family, also Bison Books. Now nineteen years old, he strikes out into new territory hustling odd jobs, facing the problem of getting fresh milk and leafy green vegetables. He scrapes around to survive, risking his neck as a stunt rider for a movie company. With an improvident buddy named Lonnie, he camps out in an Arizona canyon and "shakes the nickel bush" by sculpting plaster of paris busts of lawyers and bankers. This is 1918, and the young men travel through the Southwest not on horses but in a Ford aptly named Shiftless. New readers and old will enjoy this entry in the continuing saga of Ralph Moody.

Tiffany was a Trophy Wife. My Dad had left my mother, sister and me for this hot bodied stuck up bitch. Jack's dad left her almost everyting when he died. Jack decided to get even by turning her into his sex slave.

Perfect for fans of Jerry Spinelli and Gary D. Schmidt, this heartfelt coming-of-age story will make you believe in the power of second chances. Eleven-year-old Sam Brattle is already having the worst Christmas ever – his dad's bakery is going bankrupt and his mom is spending the holidays with her new family. To make things worse, Nickel Bay Nick, the anonymous Good Samaritan who leaves hundred-dollar bills around Nickel Bay at Christmastime, is a no-show, so this year the rest of the town is as miserable as Sam. When he stumbles upon the secret identity of this mysterious do-gooder, Sam is stunned to learn that he might now be his town's only hope. But before he can rescue Nickel Bay, Sam has to learn the skills of a spy and unravel some even darker secrets that will change his life forever.

Piper and Addie, looking for another horse, find the perfect one in Nickel, but discover the owner is part of a gang of criminals. Nickel's life is in danger. Can the girls save him from the slaughterhouse? Will they be able to save their friends and family as the vicious criminals take revenge?

A Roy Ballard Mystery

Billy's step mom and step sister are always on his ass. Billy finds Hypnosis is a great way to get on (and get in) their ass. His power of suggestions to them leads to very erotic encounters.

Lucky Lunt is a third generation lobsterman who works the same Maine waters as his ancestors. But his world is changing too fast for him. His wife has begun work, his daughter is college bound and his son has turned angry and lawless. This is the story of a man raging against a changing world.

Our sharpest and most original social critic goes "undercover" as an unskilled worker to reveal the dark side of American prosperity.Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that a job -- any job -- can be the ticket to a better life. But how does anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing-home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk. She lived in trailer parks and crumbling residential motels. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly "unskilled," that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is...

Private Investigator Jack Liffey has been confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk or speak, for more than a month, due to a freak accident that may have damaged his spine.So when an old friend calls asking for help in finding his missing sixteen-year-old son, Jack's teenage daughter, Maeve, intercepts the call and decides to take on the case. But it's not long before she finds herself in deep trouble, and soon many lives are hanging in the balance...

Coping with being poor during the Depression is hard enough, but Sally also has to contend with anti-Jewish sentiment when she ventures outside her familiar neighbourhood near Toronto's Kensington Market. Her cousin Benny is always getting into scrapes or dragging Sally into his hare-brained schemes. But it's also Benny who tries to open Sally's eyes to the wider world, telling her about Hitler's rise in Europe and urging her to stand up for herself when she comes across anti-Semitism.A historical note gives readers the background of the Depression, which hit Canada harder than most other countries. It also describes the way Jews were treated in Canada. Today's readers might be surprised to know that there were people in Toronto who prided themselves on being part of The Swastika Club. A map, photographs and documents provide a visual context for the story.