Showing results by author "Brian Taylor" in All Categories

This Very Short Introduction provides a guide to understanding Russian Politics that goes beyond the headlines, offering a vivid account of the key forces driving Russian politics. It places Russia in a global context while explaining its internal political development. Several major themes run through the book, including the primacy of the state over society, the role of the so-called "West," which has represented a source of inspiration, of threat, and of competition for generations of Russians, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

From October 1944 to April 1945 the Red Army fought a bloody campaign to destroy the German Army in East Prussia, and capture the capital of the province, Königsberg. This book follows the course of one of history’s forgotten battles, the fall of the city of Königsberg. It covers in detail the desperate battles the Germans fought to hold off the Red Army, from the Soviet Memel and Gumbinnen Offensives of October 1944, which saw Russian soldiers break into the frontier districts of East Prussia, to the final stand of the German defenders of Königsberg in April 1945. The German generals,...

What is Vladimir Putin up to? This book examines how the mentality of Putin and his team - the code of Putinism - has shaped Russian politics over the past two decades. It explains not only the thoughts and ideas that motivate Putin's decisions, but also the set of emotions and habits that influence how Putin and his close allies view the world. While some observers portray Putin as either a cold-blooded pragmatist or a strident Russian nationalist, Taylor provides a more nuanced and compelling interpretation of Putin's motives and actions.

Booker Johnson, an Emmy-winning TV reporter on the brink of losing everything, stumbles upon a horrific crime scene in South Florida. Teaming up with no-nonsense police detective Brielle Jensen, they dive into the case, unraveling a web of deception, manipulation, and murder that reaches the highest echelons of power. As Booker uncovers the sinister truth behind a mysterious group pulling the strings, he finds his own life in jeopardy. With personal troubles brewing and powerful forces trying to silence him, he must risk it all to expose the truth.

A chronological account of the formation, battles and campaigns of the Roman state and democracy, from the foundation and growth of the city, to the epic struggles with Carthage during the Punic Wars and the resultant expansion throughout the Mediterranean. Each year is detailed in turn, showing how events unfolded throughout this fascinating period of history: the development of the Empire, its external struggles and outstanding generals and politicians who shaped it. Each conflict is dealt with as a separate entry, be it the Punic Wars, Hannibal crossing the Alps with his elephants, or a ...

American cities are distinct from almost all others in the degree to which freeways and freeway travel dominate urban landscapes. In The Drive for Dollars, Brian D. Taylor, Eric A. Morris, and Jeffrey R. Brown tell the largely misunderstood story of how freeways became the centerpiece of US urban transportation systems, and the crucial, though usually overlooked, role of fiscal politics in bringing freeways about.

Ranked Top 10 "Best Lit Mags of 2023" by Chill Subs Synopsis: Carefully curated stories from After Dinner Conversation magazine to create a themed short story book about the philosophy and ethics of family relationships. Perfect for classrooms and book clubs, each story is 1,500-7,000 words and comes with five suggested discussion questions. Edition Editor - C.S. Griffel Eleven Things I Have Left Now That My Daughter Is Gone: Promise leaves her drug-addicted prostitute mother behind so she can go to college. The Davidson Method: A couple heads to the clinic to discuss options for ...

The Shropshire Hills, summer 1990. The gardens of an old house, Moorecroft House, which had stood there amongst the hills for so long, it seemed to almost be a part of them. If the man in Elizabethan costume who had appeared out of the mist that lay across the gardens that morning was a ghost, how come no one had ever heard of any ghosts and hauntings connected to them before? And if he wasn't a ghost, why did no one who worked in the gardens seem ever to have heard of him, or the horrific double murder he said had happened back in the 1960s,involving a man and a woman who'd worked in the ...

TV reporter Booker Johnson doesn't know when to back down. Fresh off his fourth Emmy win and back in the classroom, he teaches the primacy of truth in journalism. But there is danger in pursuing the truth at all costs. And despite being told by his superiors to move on from the scene of a suspicious accident, Booker just can't leave well enough alone. Booker's investigation soon plunges him into the gritty world of crime boss Parson Manor, where corruption reigns supreme and where Gibby Manor is being trained to follow in his father's criminal footsteps.

A secret way into another world in another dimension. A land called Madragora by those who lived there, where elves, sprites and fairies live alongside mortals. And where a war between two sorcerers battling for control of the fire ice jewels mined in the depths of the mountains there, jewels which can control the minds of anyone who comes into contact with them, simmered for centuries. It went on for more than five hundred years, always involving that same stretch of road with a cottage at the end of it where three sisters, local people believe to be witches, lived. The latest of these ...

It began with a promise of love and marriage given and a pledge made between people from different dimensions sealed with dragons gold, which had to be taken back by any means possible when that pledge was broken by promises which had formed an important part of it being broken too. Mary Lockyear and Tom Threshold knew nothing of any of this the time they visited Greenaway Cottage on their sunday off, to see if the tales told about the inhabitants of the cottage that they met with elves and fairies, witches and goblins in the dead of night, which Mary believed in and Tom didn’t, were true...

"From the land beyond the Endless Sea, from the land beyond eternity, in a dream there came to me, strangers one and two and three. I saw a stone before my eyes, hot as fire, yet cold as ice, it promised me a paradise, beware the stone, beware it lies! But in my dreams I then perceived, fools and wise men all deceived, and of their senses taken leave. Then the sound of fighting filled my head, my stomach rose at the stench of the dead, armies rose and armies bled, because of the words that the stone had said. Beware the strangers when they come, beware the mother who seeks her son, Beware ...

A secret way into another world in another dimension. A world where elves, sprites and fairies live alongside mortals. And where a war between the sorceress who controls the fire ice jewels mined in the depths of the mountains there, jewels which can control the minds of anyone who comes into contact with them, and those trying to free themselves from her subjugation, has flared up again. It was hard enough for Aurora Bradley, known as Rory to her friends, to escape from that world the first time she stumbled into it accidently through the time portal at the end of her great aunt’s garden...

A man missing since an urban activist group set up a camp outside his egg farm to protest about its continued expansion in the face of unswerving local opposition. Another man who really believes murder can’t be murder unless there’s a body to show for it, and you’ve got to prove him wrong. Chief Inspector Macdonald reckons that this will all turn out to be a Chinese puzzle in the end, but will he be able to solve it if it is?

The wreckage of a millionaire’s plane found crashed onto the side of a Welsh mountain. A burned out holiday cottage deep in the Welsh Marches, with the remains of a body still smouldering amongst the ashes. A mysterious package missing, first from the plane, and then from the cottage, that everyone is looking for, but no one can find. Too busy looking over their shoulders trying to see what the next guy is doing, no one is watching Chief Inspector Macdonald, but he’s the one pulling the strings.

The girl in the bar had been very pretty. And had the sort of body Howarth knew would interfere with his sleeping if he thought about it too much in the night. And once he’d set eyes on her he knew that he was going to think about her a lot in the night, because there had been an unspoken promise in the way she’d looked back at him when she’d caught him watching her surreptitiously, covetously, and he’d felt he had to get to know her better. Howarth was still young enough to have his head turned that quickly by a pretty girl and feel he was able to do something about it. That was ...

Grumbolt is majoring in action! He's finally getting to follow his dreams at Toy Academy, from learning daring maneuvers, to getting paired up with a sidekick! Grumbolt can't wait to find out who his sidekick is...until it turns out that he's the sidekick. And to school bully Rex Everything, no less. This duo will never work. But when a toy named Tempest Boomcloud kidnaps a classmate and steals Rex's van, it looks like Grumbolt and Rex will have to work together to stop Tempest's evildoing and figure out why she's terrorizing them.

Welcome to Toy Academy: Where toys learn to play. This is where action figures train to battle, stuffed animals study the art of the hug, and collectibles practice standing very, very still. Though Grumbolt isn't really any of those things, he's determined to fit in. But when the Evil Toy Academy threatens to bring down his school, it's up to Grumbolt to go where no good toy has gone before and prove he's truly a great toy after all.

The final tumultuous century of the Roman Republic began with a war against the tribes of the Spanish interior and the struggle in Rome between the newly emerging Optimates and Populares factions, embodied int he rivalry between the Gracchi and the Senate. Bloodshed between these factions increased the pace of decline and led to the civil war which erupted between Sulla and Marius. This cycle of civil war, which was continued years later by Pompeius and Caesar, would ensure the eventual rise to power of the ruthless political genius Octavian, the originator of the Principate and Imperial ...

After surviving an abusive home life, Sam has started a new life in the city in an attempt to transform into a better person. However, everything goes wrong when he attempts to make some fast cash with his cat burglar of a friend. Their adventure into an ominous cavern beneath the city to steal a flower turns deadly and leaves the pair with bullets in their heads. The flower they stole is beyond ordinary and brings Sam back to life, making him tremendously powerful. This sudden resurrection releases Malice, a demon that takes over Sam’s body each time he resurrects.