Talsu spends a few months in a Jelgavan jail, and coupled with Skarnu''s adventures, makes it clear that many Valmierans and Jelgavans support Algarve. Algarvians strike at the Naantali Project, killing Siuntio. Gyongyos loses more islands to Kuusamo and Istvan''s unit is moved from Unkerlant to the island of Becsehely. Algarvians try to pinch off Unkerlanters in Durrwangen using everything they have, leading to the Battle of Durrwangen. Most surviving Kaunians in Forthweg now use Vanai''s Forthwegian disguise, and Algarvians are unable to catch nearly as many as before. Algarvian progress in the summer against Durrwangen very slow, and Unkerlanters battle them to a standstill, then force them back into Grelz, ultimately overrunning the capital Herborn. Raniero, the puppet king of Grelz, is boiled in a pot by Swemmel. Sibiu liberated by Lagoas and Kuusamo, and Cornelu is poisoned by his wife, who is sentenced to beheading. Garivald finds his village and family annihilated by the fighting. Vanai ends up caught by the Algarvians.

Rulers of the Darkness

The eponymous paradox of democracy that this collection of essays deals with is the internal conflict within modern democracy that is created by the union of two separate strands of political thought: the tradition of Classical Liberalism and the tradition of Democratic Theory, forming the institution of Liberal Democracy. Mouffe sees Radical Democracy as a means for continuing to sustain the balance between the values of liberalism and democracy. This balance is accomplished through the agonistic practice of valuing and sustaining dissent in the democratic process as a more important goal than consensus. This point is where Radical Democratic theory diverges from both Habermas and Rawls, as it contradicts Habermas''s quest for rational consensus and Rawls''s project for political liberalism. Mouffe describes the importance of the radical democratic alternative in a 2009 interview, saying that "The aim of a pluralist democracy is to provide the institutions that will allow them to take an agonistic form, in which opponents will treat each other not as enemies to be destroyed, but as adversaries who will fight for the victory of their position while recognising the right of their opponents to fight for theirs. An agonistic democracy requires the availability of a choice between real alternatives."

The Democratic Paradox

Julia and her brother, Paul, are spending a day by the beach when they discover a midden heap. They climb to the top, where Julia discovers a rag doll in a ball of feathers hidden in a nest. It turns out to be a powerful and evil witch, and it possesses Julia and spirits her away through a pyramid of fire. Paul manages to follow them and he finds himself in a strange country desperately unprepared for the return of the Ragwitch. At first, he meets the May Dancers, who after questioning him, lead him to the edge of the forest and set him free. The people of the land aid him as he searches for a way to free his sister, action following at every turn, as both Paul and Julia battle the Ragwitch; Julia from within Her, and Paul from outside. Paul collects several mystical objects from the powerful Elementals, before meeting with the Patchwork King, who forges for him a needle spear in order to kill the Ragwitch. There are no strong fighters to help Paul, no saviors for him and he must find his own way. Because Paul is no hero, his war is one of bravery and brains, not brawn. Julia tells her own story from the mind of the Ragwitch. Although she is much more courageous than Paul, her war is one of the mind, resisting the power of the Ragwitch from within the witch''s body.

The Ragwitch

The Animorphs meet survivors of Elfangor''s Dome Ship, the GalaxyTree. One Andalite called Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad suffers from a genetic disease called Soola''s Disease while the other, Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, is crippled, or a vecol, as Ax puts it, missing half of his tail. Gafinilan attacks Marco when he gets too close to the human home he owns, while Ax comes to his defense. Both enter his home and Gafinilan asks to meet Ax''s prince, not realizing his "prince" is human, as Visser Three had captured Mertil and had offered his release only if Gafinilan brought him a healthy adult Andalite (as Mertil was a vecol, and Visser Three discovered through Mertil that Gafinilan had a fatal disease, rendering them both as useless, in the Visser''s perspective). The Animorphs assume that since Soola''s Disease is genetic, and the only ''cure'' is for Gafinilan to acquire and morph another Andalite, this is the reason why Gafinilan wanted to meet Ax''s "prince", not wanting to acquire Ax himself because he would prefer to morph the adult Andalite he believes Jake is, as Ax''s body would take too long to reach physical maturity. Jake agrees to meet with him, with the intention of laying a trap for Gafinilan, and they overpower him by force of numbers. When they tell Gafinilan what they assumed his plan was, he is shocked at the mere thought, as Andalites consider using morphing to escape an illness as an act of cowardice. He confesses his real intentions, justifying his attempt at betraying one of his own kind by saying he cares deeply about his friend Mertil, and he did what he was told to do by the Visser in order to ensure Mertil''s safety. Although still skeptical of Gafinilan''s motives, they join forces with him and help rescue Mertil from Visser Three. Ax, who is so far in the series seen as an honourable character, shows his open disapproval of Mertil and the thought that he should be treated with as much respect as other Andalites, on the grounds that he is disabled, which may have been a trait he picked up from his Andalite upbringing, as Andalites as a whole are shown in this book to not take their handicapped kind seriously. However, when Marco accuses his kind of being unfeeling, Ax points out that humans are similarly flawed, as people with handicaps are often pushed away from the limelight and kept hidden away in hospitals and institutions, instead of being allowed to live the kind of life they would have had, were they not disabled. The softer side of Marco''s personality is also shown in this book, as he shows concern about how Mertil, a morph-incapable Andalite, would survive in a human world once his friend Gafinilan succumbs to his illness and passes away. He visits Mertil at the end of the book and offers his support and company, should Mertil ever feel he needed it. Although he fears that Mertil might regard his offer as impertinent, as Andalites are a proud race that do not like to be seen as vulnerable, Mertil thanks him, and appears to consider his offer.

The Other

Abandoned as an infant, ten-year-old Chamdi has spent his entire life in a Bombay orphanage. There he has learned to find solace in his everyday surroundings: the smell of the first rains, the vibrant pinks and reds of the bougainvilleas that blossom in the courtyard, the life-size statue of Jesus, the "beautiful giant," to whom he confides his hopes and fears in the prayer room. Though he rarely ventures outside the orphanage, he entertains an idyllic fantasy of what the city is like – a paradise he calls Kahunsha, "the city of no sadness," where children play cricket in the streets and where people will become one with all the colours known to man. Chamdi’s quiet life takes a sudden turn, however, when he learns that the orphanage will be shut down by land developers. He decides that he must run away in search of his long-lost father, taking nothing with him but the blood-stained white cloth he was left in as a baby. Outside the walls of the orphanage, Chamdi quickly discovers that Bombay is nothing like Kahunsha. The streets are filthy and devoid of colour, and no one shows him an ounce of kindness. Just as he’s about to faint from hunasoned street children offer help: the lovely, sarcastic Guddi and her brother, the charming, scarred, and crippled Sumdi. After their father was crushed by a car before their eyes, the children were left to care for their insane mother and their infant brother. They soon initiate Chamdi into the brutal life of the city’s homeless, begging all day and handing over most of his earnings to Anand Bhai, a vicious underworld don who will happily mutilate or kill whoever dares to defy him. Determined to escape the desperation, filth, and violence of their lives, Guddi and Sumdi recruit Chamdi into their plot to steal from a temple. But when the robbery goes terribly awry, Chamdi finds himself in an even worse situation. The city has erupted in Hindu-Muslim violence and, held in Anand Bhai’s fierce grip, Chamdi is presented with a choice that threatens to rob him of his innocence forever.

The Song of Kahunsha

Pity is Not Enough follows the Trexler''s history after the American Civil War and before World War I. While the main narrative focuses on the Trexler family, the chronology is often disrupted by inter-chapters focusing on Victoria''s childhood. Victoria recalls her mother, Catherine, telling the story of her unfortunate brother Joe Trexler, a man who had left his family''s home in Philadelphia to work as a carpetbagger in Reconstruction-era Georgia. When trouble began to hound him, he escaped first to Canada, where he made acquaintances with the Governor of Georgia, and then returned home for a short while. He manages to escape from the local law by moving again, this time to the west where he joined the gold rush in the Black Hills in Dakota Territory. Future promises of financial success do not become fruitful for Joe or for the majority of his family. His favorite sister Catherine dies relatively young, his two other sisters marry failures who are unable to support them properly, and his younger brother, Aaron, becomes a moderate success but is relatively unhappy. His youngest brother, David, does have some success. Over time Joe slowly falls into dementia. Victoria eventually comes to the conclusion that her Uncle Joe''s failure, like her father''s failure in business, is not due to personal shortcomings, but to capitalist economic forces beyond their control.

Pity is Not Enough

The Diamond brothers are horney as usual. They have just moved into a cheap apartment when suddenly a mysterious man (Jake McGuffin), bursts into their office, tells Tim someone is trying to kill him, an assassin who is trying to murder a Russian diplomat, offers Tim a wad of cash for his coat and disappears as quickly as he came, leaving his own coat behind. When Nick bends down to pick up the coat, something falls out of one of the pockets: a key. There is a plastic tag attached to it and in bright red letters: Room 605, London International Hotel. When Tim and Nick go outside, they find the man lying in a telephone box, dying from a gunshot wound. His last words, drowned out by a train, sounded like "suff bee suff iss", or was it "south by southeast"? Suddenly, the Diamond Brothers are thrown into an extremely hazardous and risky adventure involving MI6 and their chase for Charon. Charon is the code name of an assassin, the head of a gigantic murder organization. Nobody knows who Charon is as he can disguise himself extremely rapidly. There is only one way of recognizing Charon - he has lost a finger, therefore he only has nine. Charon''s men are responsible for the murder of Jake McGuffin, who was aware of Charon''s plan to murder a Russian diplomat, Boris Kusenov. The Diamond brothers become wanted by the Police after Charon gives Tim a suitcase containing a bomb when he is going for an interview at the bank and it goes off. The boys'' later find out what Jake McGuffin said was ''Sotheby''s, Tsar''s Feast.'' They race over to Sotheby''s (a famous art auction house in London), where they know that TNT is under the seat. They get into a wrestle which gets the two police officers involved, and the painting gets destroyed. The police officers get credited, and they refer to Nick as ''an unknown boy.'' Charlotte Van Dam, a woman they meet in Holland, invites Tim to the tunnel of love at a fair, where she plans to kill him. Nick finds out that Charlotte is Charon, and goes to stop her. Nick''s clever thinking makes Charon fall into the river, and she gets electrocuted.

South By South East

Remy is an eighteen year old girl who is about to leave for college. Her father, a musician, had died before she was born. Before he died, he left a short song called "This Lullaby," which is now extremely popular. Remy''s mother is getting married for the fifth time, with a car salesman. Consequently, love is something that Remy doesn''t believe exists. In the past, she''s been in many relationships with people she doesn''t really care about, and they never last long. One day, she randomly meets Dexter. He claims to feel a connection with her the second he saw her. He is messy and a musician, two of her least favorite traits. But he is persistent. She slowly finds herself falling for him. She doesn''t want to care about him, but somehow she just can''t bring herself to get rid of him. Eventually they start dating and she is surprised by how open and honest and caring he is. When Dexter overhears Remy saying that she only wants him to be a summer fling, they break up. Remy begins to date another guy, but she finds herself always thinking about Dexter. Meanwhile, her brother is getting engaged, her mother''s new husband is cheating, and her friends are all having problems of their own. But in the end, Remy realizes that she truly does love Dexter, and they get back together.

This Lullaby

The setting of the book is Gordon High School in 1969. Even though this book has changed some names, etc., it still has the same meaning. The plot of the book revolves around a history teacher Mr. Ben Ross, his high school students, and an experiment he conducts in an attempt to teach them about how it may have been living in Nazi Germany. Unsatisfied with his own inability to answer his students'' earnest questions of how and why, Mr Ross initiates the experiment in hopes that it answers the question of why the Germans allowed Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to rise to power, acting in a manner inconsistent with their own pre-existing moral values. At Gordon High School, history teacher Ben Ross is teaching his class about World War II and the Holocaust. His students are upset by the footage of concentration camps and question why the German people allowed this to happen, insisting they wouldn''t be so easily duped. Ben Ross considers this and plans an experiment: the next day, he starts to indoctrinate the class using the slogan STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE. The class reacts well to this, embracing the sense of empowerment it gives them, and they continue their newly disciplined behavior into a second day of class, surprising Ross. He decides to take the experiment further and create a group, The Wave, adding two more slogans --STRENGTH THROUGH COMMUNITY and STRENGTH THROUGH ACTION - which leads to further rules of conduct and an organizational structure. Laurie, a student in Mr. Ross'' class, starts to think that The Wave is having too much of an impact. Laurie receives a letter for the paper detailing how members try to recruit others with bullying. That weekend, the football team is unable to win against Clarkstown, as their newfound drive does not compensate for a lack of proper training and planning. David is confused by this turn of events, while Laurie and her staff on The Grapevine plan a special issue of the paper devoted exclusively to The Wave and the negative impact it has had on the school. While some thank her, especially the teachers and the principal, others do not. Laurie''s boyfriend David, who has been in The Wave since the beginning, tries to get her to stop bad-mouthing The Wave. He eventually shoves her to the ground and this makes him realize how dangerous The Wave really is. Now united in the belief that The Wave must be stopped, Laurie and David go to the home of the Rosses in order to convince Ben Ross to terminate the program. He tells them he will do exactly that, but that they must trust his moves the next day. He calls a Wave meeting in the auditorium and requests that only Wave members be present. They gather in a similar fashion to the Nazi rallies, even equipped with banners and armbands emblazoned with the Wave. Ben tells The Wave members that they are only one in many schools across the nation that is involved in the Wave, and that they are about to see the leader of the whole organization and that he is going to speak to all of them on television to create a National Wave Party for Youths. Everyone is shocked when Mr. Ross projects the image of Adolf Hitler. He explains that there is no leader, and that there is no National Wave Party. If there were a leader, it would be the man on the projection screen. He explains how their obedience led them to act like Nazis. The shocked students drop all their Wave-branded trinkets and items, and slowly leave the room. As Ben turns to leave, the one person who really flourished in the Wave, Robert, is standing alone, upset that The Wave ended. During The Wave, he was finally accepted as an equal, no one picked on him, he had friends, but his new-found social status is now worthless without The Wave. Mr. Ross tries to cheer him up by commenting on his tie and suit, and they walk out together to grab "a bite to eat".

The Wave

In Clade, the Ecocaust, an environmental disaster, causes major problems such as rising sea levels and additional strains on human resources. Although civilization recovers from this disaster, they do so at the expense of their previous freedoms. "Polycorps" develop from governments and corporations. The wonders of biotech introduce a new class system where human beings have been socially engineered at the molecular level through a process called "clading." This "clading" process places entire socioeconomic or ethnic groups made to be biologically predisposed to live in particular communities. If a person enters a community that they have not been claded to, the consequences could be devastating, resulting in sickness or death. Although it is not intentionally racist, businesses and retail outlets using this clading process to keep away the riffraff, will simply screen out clientele below a certain prosperity level. Therefore, a black market exists enabling people to buy the right biotech to inhibit the "pherions" in their systems to be placed in a certain clade. The protagonist is a man named Rigo, a Latino from the San Jose clade who wants to move up in society. Rigo accepts a job at a biotech firm that develops special vegetation for a planned orbital colony. Although his friends look down on him with contempt for selling out, he still maintains a close relationship with his mother, lawless brother, and Anthea, his troubled girlfriend. At work, after Rigo fears being exposed to some dangerous pherions, he finds to his surprise that the company he works for eagerly wants to send some of the plants they''ve been working on into space; and they want Rigo to supervise the transfer. Something about the haste of the company leaves Rigo feeling fishy. The secrets of this story unravel one after another, leading to holes in the plot.

Clade

When four Druids arrive in town everyone knows that something is going on. Three of the Druids are brothers and the other is their uncle. They''re in town to try a spell on a certain night to close the gateway in the Hellmouth so that demons would not be allowed to pass through. They''d done it a year before with their father but the spell was not completed and the brothers lost their father in the midst of the spell. Giles is a little put off by the uncle and feels that he''s not being told everything that he should know. Also gathering is a large community of vampires run by Eric and his apprentice Naomi, who has been playing nasty tricks with Cordelia''s mind by hypnotizing her. Things start to go wrong; magic appears everywhere and the brothers turn against their uncle. On the night of the spell Buffy must manage to fix the spell or deter the uncle from his task as well as figure out what is going on with Eric and his gang. Characters include: Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Xander, Cordelia, Willow, Oz and Angel. Drusilla is found to be a user of a spell that would explain her ease in killing Kendra.

Return to Chaos

Set in Britain in the early to mid-1980s, the story surrounds the young gay protagonist, Nick Guest, who has come down from Oxford with a first in English and is to begin graduate studies at University College London. The novel begins in the summer of 1983, shortly after Thatcher''s landslide victory in the Parliamentary election of that year. Nick moves into the luxurious London home of the wealthy Fedden family. The son of the house, Toby, is his Oxford University classmate and best friend, and Nick''s stay is meant to last for a short time while Toby and his parents - Rachel, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family, and Gerald, a successful businessman and just-elected Tory MP - are on holiday in France. Left at home with Nick is the Feddens'' daughter, Cat, who is bipolar and whom the Feddens are reluctant to leave on her own. Nick helps Cat through a minor crisis, and when her parents return they suggest he stay on indefinitely, since Cat has become attached to him and Toby is getting a place of his own. As a permanent member of the Feddens'' household, Nick experiences for the first time the world of the British upper class, observing them from his own middle-class background. Nick remains a guest in the Fedden home until he is expelled at the end of the novel. Nick has his first romance with a black council worker, Leo, but a later relationship with Wani, the son of a rich Lebanese businessman, illuminates the materialism and ruthlessness of 1980s Thatcherite Britain. The book explores the tension between Nick''s intimate relationship with the Feddens, in whose parties and holidays he participates, and the realities of his sexuality and gay life, which the Feddens accept only to the extent of never mentioning it. It explores themes of hypocrisy, homosexuality, madness and wealth, with the emerging AIDS crisis forming a backdrop to the book''s conclusion.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

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Rulers of the Darkness

By Harry Turtledove

The Democratic Paradox

By Chantal Mouffe

The Ragwitch

By Garth Nix

The Other

By K. A. Applegate

The Song of Kahunsha

By Anosh Irani

Pity is Not Enough

By Josephine Herbst

South By South East

By Anthony Horowitz

This Lullaby

By Sarah Dessen

The Wave

By Todd Strasser

Clade

By Mark Budz

Return to Chaos

By Craig Shaw Gardner

The Line of Beauty

By Alan Hollinghurst