Ollies New Beginning

PART ONE ---New York City Without a word, Nathan handed the cablegram to his son. Roy took it and walked away a few steps. He opened the envelope as he walked, dreading with every step, what he believed the cable would say; the Baron had died. The others watched quietly as he read, hardly breathing. The cable fell to the ground; Roys shoulders sagged, and he began to sob mightily. After a few minutes, he straightened his shoulders, shook himself like a wet dog, then turned to the others. All right gentlemen, I assume you all read what grandfather said; Tell Roy to stay the course, and that is exactly what were going to do. Michael, where do we go from here? Offhand, Roy, Id say Kentucky, but its your decision; except I dont think you ought to be the one to go. How about you, Uncle Nathan? I think youre right; Roy needs to stay right here and look after MacTavish Enterprises like hes supposed to. I had planned to go wherever we went, if Roy did, but since hell staying here, I reckon Ill go on to Virginia and rest a while. I guess that leaves you, Oliver. Uncle Robert felt I owed him something, Oliver said, if I intended to take my rightful place in the clan; so he asked me to be the head of this new MacTavish division in this country. Hed been told there was a lot of open land and few settlers out west, and thats where I should go. Also, Id be able to pay for land with gold without too many questions. I agreed with that, and said Id do it. David is all eager to go, so I guess thats what well do. PART TWO --- THE OLSENS It was late in the day, August Twenty-first, eighteen fifty-six, and a perfect evening for fishing. A nice cool breeze barely ruffled the leaves on the trees providing shade for a man sitting beneath them in a strange looking chair; ostensibly, trying to catch his supper. Oliver Olsen, once a sailor, now an adventurer; a banker; a farmer; a trader of livestock; a buyer of land; a builder; an entrepreneur extraordinaire; a man who wore many hats; was a man lost in retrospect. He found this happening more often lately, and if someone asked him why, would most likely answer, Im trying to figure out how it all came about. Suddenly, he was aware someone was jerking on his arm. He looked around and saw it was his two year old grandson, David Junior. His mother, Penny, was standing right behind the boy. Grandpa, Penny said. I dont see any fish; youve been sleeping again, havent you? I suppose you could say that, he replied, either that, or someones been standing beside me telling that same old story again. It dont get any better with the telling. Id sure like to hear something from David, wouldnt you? Its been three months since we heard from him and the boys.

This is a spin-off from the Eternal Flames and Eternal Flames Maddox series. You don't have to have read any of them to read this series. When Ezra finds out the truth of why his mate has kept him at a distance, he promises to make changes to ensure his mates safety and prove to Jewel how much he loves him. Jewel is thrilled that Ezra sticks to his word and let’s the walls around his heart shatter, allowing Ezra in completely. But just as he finds out about a special gift that will bring them closer together, someone kidnaps Jewel.

Becoming Enemies brings the unique methods of critical oral history, developed to study flashpoints from the Cold War such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, to understand U.S. and Iranian relations from the fall of the Shah in 1978 through the Iranian hostage crisis and the Iran-Iraq war. Scholars and former officials involved with U.S. and UN policy take a fresh look at U.S and Iranian relations during this time, with special emphasis on the U.S. role in the Iran-Iraq War. With its remarkable declassified documentation and oral testimony that bear directly on questions of U.S. policymaking with regard to the Iran-Iraq War, Becoming Enemies reveals much that was previously unknown about U.S. policy before, during, and after the war. They go beyond mere reportage to offer lessons regarding fundamental foreign policy challenges to the U.S. that transcend time and place.

The account of one radically new school year for a Teacher of the Year and for his nonbinary, art-obsessed, brilliant child Seven-year-old Ollie was researching local advanced school programs—because every second grader does that, right? Ollie, who used to hate weekends because they meant no school, was crying on the way to school almost every day. Sure, there were the slings and arrows of bullies and bad teachers, but, maybe worse, Ollie, a funny, anxious, smart kid with a thing for choir and an eye for graphic art, was gravely underchallenged and also struggling with identity and how to live totally as themselves. Ollie begged to switch to a new school with “kids like me,” where they wouldn’t feel so alone, or so bored, and so they made the change. Raising Ollie is dad Tom Rademacher’s story (really, many stories) of that eventful and sometimes painful school year, parenting Ollie and relearning every day what it means to be a father and teacher. As Ollie—who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, and prefers art to athletics, vegetables to cake, and animals to most humans—flourishes in their new school, Rademacher is making an eye-opening adjustment to a new school of his own, one that’s whiter and more suburban than anywhere he has previously taught, with a history of racial tension that he tries to address and navigate. While Ollie is learning to code, 3D model, animate, speak Japanese, and finally feel comfortable at school, Rademacher increasingly sees how his own educational struggles, anxieties, and childhood upbringing are reflected in his teaching, writing, and parenting, as well as in Ollie’s experience. And with this story of one anything-but-academic year of inquiry and wonder, doubt and revelation, he shows us how raising a kid changes everything—and how much raising a kid like Ollie can teach us about who we are and what we’re doing in the world.

Fans of the Gossie & Friends books will enjoy little Ollie and his big personality as he finds his way in the barnyard. Irresistible characters and delightful text make these board books perfect for springtime reading and sharing.

Six year old Angeline's career as a gospel singer begins in a 1950's coal mining town in Alabama, ending in an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. The college freshman drops out of school, changes her name from Lily Angeline to Crystal Angel and seeks anonymity in New Orleans as a cabaret singer where she gives up her baby for adoption. After two years enduring the fragile bistro circuit, Angel returns to racially-torn Birmingham to face the ghosts that haunt her. She falls in love and is soon engaged to marry Chad, a church choir director landing her in the midst of the church's struggle with integration of the races. But Angel must face her own struggle--does she have the courage to confront the man she allowed to drive her away two years ago?

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have remained, from 1927 to the present day, the screen's most famous and popular comedy double act, celebrated by legions of fans. But despite many books about their films and individual lives, there has never been a fully researched, definitive narrative biography of the duo, from birth to death. Louvish traces the early lives of Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy and the surrounding minstrel and variety theatre, which influenced all of their later work. Louvish examines the rarely seen solo films of both our heroes, prior to their serendipitous pairing in 1927, in the long-lost short "Duck Soup." The inspired casting teamed them until their last days. Both often married, they found balancing their personal and professional lives a nearly impossible feat. Between 1927 and 1938, they were able to successfully bridge the gap between silent and sound films, which tripped up most of their prominent colleagues. Their Hal Roach and MGM films were brilliant, but their move in 1941, to Twentieth Century Fox proved disastrous, with the nine films made there ranking as some of the most embarrassing moments of cinematic history. In spite of this, Laurel and Hardy survived as exemplars of lasting genius, and their influence is seen to this day. The clowns were elusive behind their masks, but now Simon Louvish can finally reveal their full and complex humanity, and their passionate devotion to their art. In Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy, Louvish has seamlessly woven tireless and thorough research into an authoritative biography of these two important and influential Hollywood pioneers.