{|class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#white; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5" |style="text-align: left;"| "Education in our times must try to find whatever there is in students that might yearn for completion, and to reconstruct the learning that would enable them autonomously to seek that completion." - Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind |} The Closing of the American Mind is a critique of the contemporary university and how Bloom sees it as failing its students. In it, Bloom criticizes the modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy professors involved in ordinary language analysis or logical positivism disregard important "humanizing" ethical and political issues and fail to pique the interest of students. Literature professors involved in deconstructionism promote irrationalism and skepticism of standards of truth and thereby dissolve the moral imperatives which are communicated through genuine philosophy and which elevate and broaden the intellects of those who engage with these imperatives. To a great extent, Bloom''s criticism revolves around his belief that the "great books" of Western thought have been devalued as a source of wisdom. Bloom''s critique extends beyond the university to speak to the general crisis in American society. Closing of the American Mind draws analogies between the United States and the Weimar Republic. The modern liberal philosophy, he says, enshrined in the Enlightenment thought of John Locke—that a just society could be based upon self-interest alone, coupled by the emergence of relativism in American thought—had led to this crisis. For Bloom, this created a void in the souls of Americans, into which demagogic radicals as exemplified by ''60s student leaders could leap. (In the same fashion, Bloom suggests, that the Nazi brownshirts once filled the gap created in German society by the Weimar Republic.) In the second instance, he argued, the higher calling of philosophy and reason understood as freedom of thought, had been eclipsed by a pseudo-philosophy, or an ideology of thought. Relativism was one feature of modern liberal philosophy that had subverted the Platonic–Socratic teaching. Bloom''s critique of contemporary social movements at play in universities or society at large is derived from his classical and philosophical orientation. For Bloom, the failure of contemporary liberal education leads to the sterile social and sexual habits of modern students, and to their inability to fashion a life for themselves beyond the mundane offerings touted as success. Bloom argues that commercial pursuits had become more highly valued than love, the philosophic quest for truth, or the civilized pursuits of honor and glory. In one chapter, in a style of analysis which resembles the work of the Frankfurt School, he examined the philosophical effects of popular music on the lives of students, placing pop music, or as it is generically branded by record companies "rock music", in a historical context from Plato’s Republic to Nietzsche’s Dionysian longings. Treating it for the first time with genuine philosophical interest, he gave fresh attention to the industry, its target-marketing to children and teenagers, its top performers, its place in our late-capitalist bourgeois economy, and its pretensions to liberation and freedom. Some critics, including the popular musician Frank Zappa, argued that Bloom''s view of pop music was based on the same ideas that critics of pop "in 1950s held, ideas about the preservation of ''traditional'' white American society." Bloom, informed by Socrates, Aristotle, Rousseau and Nietzsche, explores music’s power over the human soul. He cites the soldier who throws himself into battle at the urging of the drum corps, the pious believer who prays under the spell of a religious hymn, the lover seduced by the romantic guitar, and points towards the tradition of philosophy that treated musical education as paramount. He names the pop-star Mick Jagger as a cardinal representative of the hypocrisy and erotic-sterility of pop-music. Pop music employs sexual images and language to enthrall the young and to persuade them that their petty rebelliousness is authentic politics, when, in fact, they are being controlled by the money-managers whom successful performers like Jagger quietly serve. Bloom claims that Jagger is a hero to many university students who envy his fame and wealth but are really just bored by the lack of options before them. Along with the absence of literature in the lives of the young and their sexual but often unerotic relationships, the first part of Closing tries to explain the current state of education in a fashion beyond the purview of an economist or psychiatrist—contemporary culture''s leading umpires.

The Closing of the American Mind

==Reception and history== The reception by critics varied between lukewarm and hostile. The use of slang was condemned as "vulgar" and the book was derided as written to appeal to " ''Arrys and ''Arriets" - then common sneering terms for working-class Londoners who dropped their Hs when speaking. Punch magazine dubbed Jerome " ''Arry K. ''Arry". Modern commentators have praised the humour, but criticized the book''s unevenness as the humorous sections are interspersed with more serious passages written in a sentimental, sometimes purple, style. Yet the book sold in huge numbers. "I pay Jerome so much in royalties," the publisher told a friend, "I cannot imagine what becomes of all the copies of that book I issue. I often think the public must eat them." The first edition was published in August 1889 and serialised in the popular magazine Home Chimes in the same year. The first edition remained in print from 1889 until March 1909, when the second edition was issued. During that time, 202,000 copies were sold. Jerome states in the author''s introduction to the 1909 second edition, he''d been told another million copies had been sold in America by pirate printers. The book was translated into many languages. The Russian edition was particularly successful and became a standard school textbook. Jerome later complained in a letter to The Times of Russian books not written by him, published under his name in order to benefit from his success. Since its publication, Three Men in a Boat has never been out of print. It continues to be popular to the current day, with The Guardian ranking it #33 on The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time in 2003, and Esquire ranking it #2 in the 50 Funniest Books Ever in 2009. The river trip is easy to re-create, following the detailed description, and this is sometimes done by fans of the book. Much of the route remains unchanged. For example, all the pubs and inns named are still open.The Blue Posts, 81 Newman Street, London;The Royal Stag and the Manor House at Datchet; The Crown at Marlow; The George and Dragon at Wargrave; The Bull at Sonning; The Swan at Pangbourne; The Bull at Streatley; and The Barley Mow at Clifton Hampden. The Bells of Ousley at Old Windsor still exists, but the building was demolished and rebuilt in 1936. It is now part of the Harvester chain. A re-creation in 1993 by poet Kim Taplin and companions resulted in the travelogue Three Women in a Boat The book was also referenced in the 1956 parody novel on mountaineering, The Ascent of Rum Doodle, where the head porter Bing is said to spend "much of his leisure immersed in a Yogistani translation of Three men in a boat". In Have Space Suit—Will Travel, by Robert A. Heinlein, the main character''s father is an obsessive fan of the book, and spends much of his spare time repeatedly re-reading it. Science-fiction author Connie Willis paid tribute to Jerome''s novel in her own 1997 Hugo Award-winning book To Say Nothing of the Dog. Her time-travelling protagonist also takes an ill-fated voyage on the Thames with two humans and a dog as companions, and encounters George, Harris, ''J'' and Montmorency. The title of Willis'' novel refers to the full title of the original book, "Three Men in a Boat - To Say Nothing of the Dog!". This story ends telling that one should be witty as well as should have a sense of humour where necessary

Three Men in a Boat

In December 2002, Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of the Swedish political magazine Millennium, loses a libel case involving allegations about billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. He is sentenced to three months (deferred) in prison, and ordered to pay hefty damages and costs. He is invited to meet Henrik Vanger, the retired CEO of the Vanger Corporation, unaware that Vanger has checked into his personal and professional history; the investigation of Blomkvist''s circumstances has been carried out by Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant but deeply troubled young woman who works as a surveillance agent with Milton Security. Vanger promises Blomkvist considerable financial reward and solid evidence against Wennerström, ostensibly for writing the Vanger family history, but really for discovering what happened to Harriet. Vanger believes that his great-niece Harriet, who disappeared 36 years earlier, was murdered by a member of the family. He has been trying to find out what happened to her ever since. Harriet disappeared during a family gathering at the Vanger estate on Hedeby Island, when the island was temporarily cut off from the mainland by a traffic accident. Blomkvist moves to the island and begins his research into the history of the Vanger family and Harriet''s disappearance. Lisbeth Salander is under the care of a legal guardian, Holger Palmgren, the only person she trusts. When he suffers a stroke, he is replaced by lawyer Nils Bjurman, who takes advantage of his position to sexually abuse her. After using a hidden camera to record Bjurman raping her, she takes her revenge, torturing him and threatening to ruin him unless he gives her full control of her life and finances. She also brands him with a tattoo identifying him as a rapist to make sure he never harms anyone again. While searching through the evidence, Blomkvist decides that he needs a research assistant, and Vanger''s lawyer mentions Salander. When he sees the report she prepared for Vanger, Blomkvist realises that Salander has hacked into his computer. Salander agrees to assist in the investigation, and eventually becomes his lover. Blomkvist and Salander soon realise that they are on the trail of a serial killer who has been preying on women for decades. When looking through old photographs, Blomkvist realises that they contain a clue to the murderer''s identity. After an unseen assailant tries to kill him, Blomkvist becomes suspicious of Harriet''s brother, Martin, and goes to his house. Martin has expected him, however, and takes him prisoner. Martin reveals that he was initiated as a teenager into rape and murder by his late father, Gottfried, who had also molested him. Martin brags about murdering dozens of women, but denies killing his sister. Martin tries to kill Blomkvist, but Salander arrives just in time and saves Blomkvist''s life. Martin flees in his car, pursued by Salander on her motorbike. He collides head-on into a truck and dies. By following a trail of clues, Blomkvist and Salander discover that Harriet is still alive and living in Australia. Blomkvist flies there and meets Harriet, who tells him that her father had repeatedly raped her until she killed him in self-defense; Martin saw her do it, and began sexually abusing her until he was sent away to boarding school. She saw him on the day of the accident on the Hedeby Island bridge, and asked her cousin Anita to smuggle her out of Sweden in order to get away from him. Blomkvist persuades Harriet to return to Sweden, where she reunites with her great-uncle, who makes plans for her to take the position of CEO of the Vanger Corporation. Blomkvist accompanies Salander at the funeral of her mother, who has just died. Salander also tells him that, as a child, she had tried to kill her father by setting him on fire. Henrik Vanger gives Blomkvist the promised evidence against Wennerström, which turns out to be useless. However, Salander has already hacked Wennerström''s computer and has discovered that his crimes go far beyond what Blomkvist documented. Using her evidence, Blomkvist prints an exposé and book which ruins Wennerström and catapults Millennium to national prominence. Meanwhile, Salander steals more than 2.4 billion Euros from Wennerström''s secret bank account. Blomkvist and Salander spend Christmas together in his holiday retreat, and Salander admits to herself that she is in love. She goes to Blomkvist''s house with a present for him, but retreats on seeing Blomkvist with his longtime lover and business partner, Erika Berger. Heartbroken, she throws the gift into a skip and leaves the country. As a postscript, Salander continues to monitor Wennerström, and after six months anonymously informs a lawyer in Miami of his whereabouts. He is found in Marbella, dead, shot three times in the head.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

70 years after the events of Rendezvous with Rama, a second Raman vessel enters our solar system. Its arrival is expected and an expedition is sent to unlock more of Rama''s mysteries, but the crew are unprepared both for what they find and for the conflicts that arise between them. Rama II brings new characters into a new story and is mostly unrelated to the original and largely serves to set up its own sequels. It ends with three of the twelve astronauts stranded inside Rama as it travels out of the solar system, Nicole des Jardins Wakefield, Richard Wakefield and Michael O''Toole. Unlike Rendezvous with Rama, which depicted a utopian future and focused almost entirely on the hard science fiction elements regarding the scientific wonders of the alien spacecraft, Rama II and its sequels deconstruct Clarke''s vision of human colonies throughout the solar system through a global economic crisis that forced their almost total deactivation. Then follows a very different storytelling that brings forward contemporary issues like abortion, racism, drug abuse and organized crime.

Rama II

At the beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced to Halfdan, who is cutting wood and squaring timber. Halfdan is a slave, despite being the son of an Irish princess, and a great chieftain. Derdriu (his mother) arrives to watch her son work and to look out at the bay near their estate. Not too soon, Gunhild arrives to send Derdriu back to her chores, for she is a slave, too. As soon as she has finished speaking, a longship enters the bay, carrying Hrorik, who has been in England raiding. The reader soon discovers that their raid has been met with failure, and many died or are wounded. Harald is unharmed, but Hrorik is on the verge of death. Quickly, Harald recounts the lengthy story of their raid, and how Hrorik was injured. Soon after, he, Sigrid, Derdriu, and Halfdan gather around Hrorik as he is dying. With one of his final breaths, he asks Derdriu to accompany him to Valhalla (the hall of warriors) which is an honor in the society described. To do this, she must die with him. She agrees, only if Halfdan is freed from enslavement, and is acknowledged as Hrorik’s son. Hrorik agrees, and soon he is dead. Hrorik and Derdriu are laid in the death ship, upon which dead warriors are sent off to Valhalla, and burned to ash. That night, Harald is made the chieftain of the estate, and Halfdan is officially freed, so he dines with the carls of the household, like a normal free man. He wakes up the following morning, hungover from the previous night''s festivities, and Harald begins Hafldan’s training into becoming a warrior. He discovers quickly that Halfdan has a knack for fighting, and begins training with him day and night for months. The two of them go hunting one day, since Halfdan has a great talent with the bow, and Halfdan makes an amazing shot, showing off his skill. That night, Sigrid and Gunhild prepare a feast. Their feast is interrupted though. Toke arrives, after hearing of Hrorik’s death. Toke comes to claim his inheritance (he has received none) and the reader infers that Toke is a disturbed, a war-crazed man. The reader learns of Toke''s backstory: it is this attitude of rage that led Hrorik to kick Toke out of the estate where he had been living. While Gunhild informs Toke that he received no inheritance, Harald reveals to Halfdan that Hrorik left him an estate called Limfjord, which Hrorik used to rule. Toke is furious that a former slave gets an estate while he himself gets nothing, and demands that they give him something in return. Harald denies Toke, but lets him stay for the night and enjoy in their feast. During the feast, a fight almost breaks out, but Harald quells it, and ejects Toke, like Hrorik had done long ago. Toke leaves the following morning, and soon Halfdan and Harald, among other carls, set out for Limfjord, the newly-inherited estate. While at Limfjord, Halfdan meets Abbot Aidan, who used to be one of his mother’s friends. Soon after arriving, a band of raiders attack their estate. They are trapped inside the longhouse and attempt to get the slaves, women, and children out. The leader of the raiders seems to heed this request, but as soon as they leave the house, he has them killed. Harald and Halfdan decide that they need to escape, so they hide in between two oxen and leave. Their escape doesn’t last long, however, because the raiders kill the oxen, and leave Halfdan, Harald, and the other carls exposed. In the following battle, Halfdan manages to escape without injury, at the cost of Harald’s death. Halfdan escapes to a forest, where he is being hunted by raiders. At this point he learns that the raiders were Toke and his crew. He manages to stay one step ahead of Toke’s men, and swears an oath to kill every man of Toke’s crew. He kills the two men following him, and heads to the town Hedeby where he begins his journey of revenge.

Viking Warrior

After the events of Across the Sea of Suns small groups of humans have settled on other star systems. However there is a constant threat from the Mechs, a civilization of machines leftover from other civilizations and evolved to see all biological civilization as unstable and dangerous. Great Sky River tells the story of the Bishop family, who fight for their very existence on the planet Snowglade, which has been taken over by the Mechs. The Bishops are one of a number of families on Snowglade, all named for chess pieces. These "families" are more like clans or tribes. All use cybernetic implants and mechanical aids to enhance their perceptions and physical abilities. Personalities of dead members of the Family can be stored in memory tabs and accessed by plugging them into ports implanted in the neck. Bodily functions, such as the sexual drive, can be turned off to remove distractions. The Families seem to be equipped for long conflicts and periods of privation, migrating to avoid the Mechs. The novel takes place during a period when the Mechs have invaded Snowglade and are slowly altering its climate to suit themselves, drying it out. This adversely affects the humans, who otherwise seem to exist in a wary truce with the Mechs. Then the Mechs begin destroying human settlements. For some reason they are interested in Killeen Bishop, leader of the family. As the series progresses, it is revealed that the Bishops and related colonists are post-humans, or as the text describes them, a "fourth species of chimpanzee". (This may be a reference to Jared Diamond''s book The Third Chimpanzee.) The adults are actually 3 meters in height and have a better skeletal structure than humans. They are the survivors of thousands of years of conflict with the Mechs on Earth, the beginnings of which were described in the previous novels. Having defeated the Mechs in the Solar System, they have traveled to near the galactic center using slower-than-light space vessels, meaning that the setting is tens of thousands of years in the future. The remainder of the series describes the Bishops'' progress to the center of Mech power, and the great secret they carry, which the Mechs fear.

Great Sky River

Set in 1939, the early days of World War II in Siam, to Angsumalin meeting one last time with her childhood friend, a young Thai man named Vanus. He is leaving for England for his studies and hopes that Angsumalin will wait for him and marry him when he returns. Shortly thereafter, Thailand is invaded by Japanese military forces. In Thonburi, opposite Bangkok on the Chaophraya River, the Imperial Japanese Navy establishes itself at a base. The forces there are led by Kobori, an idealistic young captain. One day he sees Angsumalin swimming in the river and falls for her. She, being a proudly nationalistic Thai woman, despises him because he is a foreigner. Nonetheless, Kobori persists at seeing her and a courtship develops. Angsumalin found that Kobori is a real nice gentleman and start falling for him but she kept her feelings in secret because of the war. Then, for political reasons, Angsumalin''s father - who is the Leader of Free Thai resistance, insists that she marry Kobori. Understanding that Angsumalin is not marrying him out of love, Kobori promises not to touch her, but he breaks that vow after the wedding. Despite this, Angsumalin develops tender feelings for Kobori, but is still torn by her feelings for her nation and feel quilty to Vanus, who returns to set in motion a conflict between the two men.

Koo Kam

A discussion between two men on the nature of evil leads one of them to reveal a mysterious Green Book he possesses. It is a young girl''s diary, in which she describes in ingenuous yet evocative prose her strange impressions of the countryside in which she lives, as well as conversations with her nurse, who initiates her into a secret world of folklore and ritual magic. Throughout, she makes cryptic allusions to such topics as "nymphs", "Dôls", "voolas," "white, green, and scarlet ceremonies", "Aklo letters", the "Xu" and "Chian" languages, "Mao games", and a game called "Troy Town" (the last of which is a reference to actual practices involving labyrinths or labyrinthine dances). The girl''s tale gradually develops a mounting atmosphere of suspense, with suggestions of witchcraft, only to break off abruptly just at the point where a supreme revelation seems imminent. In a return to the frame story, the custodian of the diary reveals that the girl had "poisoned herself—in time", making the analogy of a child finding the key to a locked medicine cabinet.

The White People

Moomintroll and his friend Sniff go into the forest and find a mysterious path. They follow it and meet the Silk Monkey. They go pearl fishing, and then discover a cave. However, they get scared when they visit the cave later and see a comet drawn with the pearls, which the Muskrat tells Moomintroll may destroy the valley. So they sail to the observatory in the Lonely Mountains to ask the Professors if the comet will destroy the Earth. They are attacked by crocodiles who are distracted by their trousers. They then meet Snufkin, who joins them, and Sniff has a run-in with a giant lizard after he tries to steal its garnets. The boat gets stuck in a cave and they almost fall into a dark hole when they are rescued by a Hemulen with butterfly net. They find the observatory, and the scientists tell them the exact time that the comet will arrive. Moomintroll saves the Snork Maiden from a deadly bush, then she and her brother Snork join them on their way back to Moominvalley. They buy gifts in a store, then attend a dance in the forest. The comet heat dries up the sea, and the group has to cross on stilts. On the way they meet another Hemulen, who follows them home. Moominmamma has baked a welcome home cake. The family flees to a cave, along with the Muskrat, Silk Monkey, and the Hemulen. However, the comet misses Moominvalley. The friends rejoice.

Comet in Moominland

Crafts''s novel focuses on the experience of Hannah, a house slave, beginning with her explanation of being taught to read and write as a child by a kind old couple, who were subsequently discovered and reprimanded. Years later, Hannah''s master hosts a large wedding. During the party, Hannah notices an unattractive old man subtly following her new mistress. Hannah concludes that “each one was conscious of some great and important secret on the part of the other.” Indeed, in the coming weeks, after observing her new mistress lock herself away most of the day, Hannah comes to learn that the old man is Mr. Trappe, a crooked lawyer who has discovered that the mistress is a fair-skinned mulatto who is passing for white. Hannah and the mistress flee the plantation in the middle of the night, become lost, and stay the night in a gloomy shack in the forest. The shack was recently the scene of a murder, and strewn with bloodstained weapons and clothes. Under these conditions, Hannah''s mistress starts to go insane. Months later, the women are found by a group of hunters who escort them to prison. One of them, Horace, informs Hannah that her master slit his throat after their escape. The women are taken to prison, where they meet Mrs. Wright, a senile woman imprisoned for trying to help a slave girl escape. The mistress’ insanity worsens. After several months, the women are moved to a house, where conditions are much better, but they are unable to leave or know the identity of their captor. After a lengthy imprisonment, it is revealed that their captor is Mr. Trappe. The mistress, upon learning this, suffers a brain aneurysm and dies. Hannah is sold to a slave trader. As she is being transported, the cart horse bolts and runs the cart off a ledge. The slave trader is killed instantly. Hannah wakes up in the home of Mrs. Henry, a kindly woman who treats her well. As Hannah recuperates, Mrs. Henry is told that Hannah’s previous owner wishes to claim her. Despite Hannah’s pleas, the young woman is returned to the status of house slave, this time for Mrs. Wheeler, a vain, self-centered woman. When sent to town for facial powder, Hannah hears news of Mr. Trappe’s death. After she returns with the powder, Mrs. Wheeler discovers that it reacts with her perfume, causing a blackening effect on her skin. Mrs. Wheeler has temporary blackface, causing her much discomfort. After the family moves to North Carolina and another house slave replaces Hannah, Mrs. Wheeler suspects her of telling others about the blackface incident. As punishment, Hannah is ordered to the fields to be raped. Before being forced to join the field slaves, she flees again. Hannah comes under the care of Mrs. Hetty, the kind woman who originally taught her to read and write. Mrs. Hetty facilitates Hannah’s escape to the North, where the young woman rejoins her mother.

The Bondwoman''s Narrative

One of the most quoted parts of the book deals with the distinction which Bonhoeffer makes between "cheap" and "costly" grace. But what is "cheap" grace? In Bonhoeffer''s words: :"cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ." Or, even more clearly, it is to hear the gospel preached as follows: "Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness." The main defect of such a proclamation is that it contains no demand for discipleship. In contrast to this is costly grace: :"costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." " Bonhoeffer argues that as Christianity spread, the Church became more "secularised", accommodating the demands of obedience to Jesus to the requirements of society. In this way, "the world was Christianised, and grace became its common property." But the hazard of this was that the gospel was cheapened, and obedience to the living Christ was gradually lost beneath formula and ritual, so that in the end, grace could literally be sold for monetary gain. But all the time, within the church, there had been a living protest against this process: the monastic movement. This served as a "place where the older vision was kept alive." Unfortunately, "monasticism was represented as an individual achievement which the mass of the laity could not be expected to emulate"; the commandments of Jesus were limited to "a restricted group of specialists" and a double standard arose: "a maximum and a minimum standard of church obedience." Why was this dangerous? Bonhoeffer points out that whenever the church was accused of being too worldly, it could always point to monasticism as "the opportunity of a higher standard within the fold - and thus justify the other possibility of a lower standard for others." So the monastic movement, instead of serving as a pointer for all Christians, became a justification for the status quo. Bonhoeffer remarks how this was rectified by Luther at the Reformation, when he brought Christianity "out of the cloister". However, he thinks that subsequent generations have again cheapened the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, and this has seriously weakened the church: "The price we are having to pay today in the shape of the collapse of the organised church is only the inevitable consequence of our policy of making grace available to all at too low a cost. We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale, we baptised, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation without condition. Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving... But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard."

The Cost of Discipleship

The book begins when Phule and his "Omega Mob" receive orders to report to the space station Lorelei, a resort space station home of many casinos. The "Omega Mob" is contracted to defend the Fat Chance Casino from take over by organized Crime. Phule splits 50 of the troops from the company, giving them permission to operate under cover in order to gain intelligence on the crime syndicate. He supplements the lost legionnaires with actors and trains the whole unit, actors and legionnaires, in Casino security. Upon their arrival they learn that the Crime boss, Maxine, has partial ownership in the Casino and plans to bankrupt the Casino in order to gain a controlling interest. With this intelligence, Phule is able to thwart all of the schemes developed by Maxine thanks to his prior knowledge. In retaliation, Maxine''s thugs attack two of the actors. However, upon noticing the thug''s leader''s possession of the company''s distinctive wrist communicators, Chocolate Harry, the company''s supply sergeant, retrieves the communicators and beats up the leader. Frustrated with all the failed actions, Maxine results to her backup plan: kidnap Phule and ransom him. The resourceful Omega mob foils the kidnapping, rescuing Phule and forcing Maxine to hand over her share of the Casino to the company.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Closing of the American Mind

By Allan Bloom

Three Men in a Boat

By Jerome K. Jerome

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson

Rama II

By Gentry Lee

Viking Warrior

By Judson Roberts

Great Sky River

By Gregory Benford

Koo Kam

No Author Listed

The White People

By Arthur Machen

Comet in Moominland

By Tove Jansson

The Bondwoman's Narrative

No Author Listed

The Cost of Discipleship

By Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Phule's Paradise

By Robert Asprin