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  Becoming Autism Friendly - A...

  Rosalyn Roy

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  In an obscure town on the edge of the North Atlantic, two women formed a community group that developed simple, practical changes to make sports, education and medical care more inclusive and accessible for children with autism and other sensory disorders. Initially envisioned as a small support group for families and caregivers, Autism Involves Me (AIM) slowly transformed the entire Southwest coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Its volunteers raised autism awareness, launched Canada's first autism-friendly hotel, developed strategic small business partnerships, and taught schools and even a local hospital how to better meet the every day needs of people on the autism spectrum or living with other sensory issues. 
  Because of their pioneering efforts, AIM has become a world leader in adaption and inclusion, and prompted media recognition of Channel-Port aux Basques as the most autism-friendly town in Canada. AIM's work is not only inspiring, it also serves as a practical community model for others to follow. 
  This guidebook recounts the experiences of volunteers and families, and also offers practical advice and key insights that prove including people with disabilities does not have to be difficult or expensive.

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  Coxsackie - The Life and Death...

  Joseph F. Spillane

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  Should prisons attempt reform and uplift inmates or, by means of principled punishment, deter them from further wrongdoing? This debate has raged in Western Europe and in the United States at least since the late eighteenth century. Joseph F. Spillane examines the failure of progressive reform in New York State by focusing on Coxsackie, a New Deal reformatory built for young male offenders. Opened in 1935 to serve "adolescents adrift," Coxsackie instead became an unstable and brutalizing prison. From the start, the liberal impulse underpinning the prison's mission was overwhelmed by challenges it was unequipped or unwilling to face—drugs, gangs, and racial conflict.Spillane draws on detailed prison records to reconstruct a life behind bars in which "ungovernable" young men posed constant challenges to racial and cultural order. The New Deal order of the prison was unstable from the start; the politics of punishment quickly became the politics of race and social exclusion, and efforts to save liberal reform in postwar New York only deepened its failures. In 1977, inmates took hostages to focus attention on their grievances. The result was stricter discipline and an end to any pretense that Coxsackie was a reform institution.Why did the prison fail? For answers, Spillane immerses readers in the changing culture and racial makeup of the U.S. prison system and borrows from studies of colonial prisons, which emblematized efforts by an exploitative regime to impose cultural and racial restraint on others.In today's era of mass incarceration, prisons have become conflict-ridden warehouses and powerful symbols of racism and inequality. This account challenges the conventional wisdom that America's prison crisis is of comparatively recent vintage, showing instead how a racial and punitive system of control emerged from the ashes of a progressive ideal.

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  A Rare Recording of Queen...

  Queen Elizabeth I

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  Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime, and was head of state of 15 realms at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history. 
   
  The following recording includes two of Queen (then Princess) Elizabeth' most important speeches: In 1940, Princess Elizabeth was tasked with an important job by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to give a morale-boosting radio speech to her weary subjects during WWII from historic Windsor Castle; and Princess Elizabeth's powerful 21st birthday message delivered on April 21, 1947.

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  Hardy Women: Mother Sisters...

  Paula Byrne

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  A Book of the Year in The Times, Guardian, Independent, New Statesman, Bookseller and at Waterstones 
  'He understands only the women he invents – the others not at all' 
  Thomas Hardy is one of the most beloved and most-read British authors. His influence on literature and the minds of his readers is singular. But how is it that the novelist who created some of the most memorable and modern female characters in literature had such troubled relationships with real women? 
  In this highly innovative book, acclaimed biographer Paula Byrne re-examines Hardy’s life through the eyes of the women who made him – mother, sisters, girlfriends, wives, muses. The story veers from shocking scenes such as his obsession with the sight of a woman hanged, to poignant vignettes of unfulfilled passion, to fascinating details of working women’s lives in the nineteenth century. 
  Hardy Women is the story of how the magnificent fictional women he invented would not have been possible without the hardship and hardiness of the real ones who shaped his passions and his imagination. It is only through understanding and witnessing these hardy women that we can truly enter the heart of this great novelist and poet. 
  Byrne, the Sunday Times bestselling author, delves into the social history of Britain, exploring the lives of the hardy women who shaped Hardy's life and work. She presents a literary criticism of Hardy's work, focusing on his portrayal of women, and how his real-life relationships influenced his writing. 
  For fans of Devoney Looser (The Making of Jane Austen), Lucy Worsley (Jane Austen at Home), Anne De Courcy (Snowdon), Olivia Laing (The Lonely City), and Colm Tóibín (The Master). 
  HarperCollins 2024

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  Medieval Ukraine: The History of...

  Phaistos Publishers

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  Shortly before invading Ukraine in February 2022, President Vladimir Putin of Russia claimed that Russia and Ukraine were one nation artificially divided. In the previous year, he wrote an essay entitled On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, in which claims that modern Ukraine is an “anti-Russian project,” a monstrosity turning its back on its heritage and borrowing culture for the corrupt West. This assessment may ring true to many Westerners, many of whom are unaware of the aspirations to Ukrainian nationhood until it declared its independence from the dying Soviet Union on August 24, 1991. 
  The Russian Federation and Ukraine do indeed share a common heritage, but their history and culture led them along divergent paths. Many readers might be surprised to learn that the historical center of Russia was not Moscow, but Kiev, the capital of modern Ukraine. In the 9th century, Norse traders and warriors, known as Varangians, settled along the Dnieper, Volga and other rivers between the Baltic and Black Seas. They imposed themselves – or, according to Russian folklore – were invited – upon the Slav inhabitants. According to The Primary Chronicle, a history written by the Varangians themselves, they brought order to a troubled land: “They said to themselves, ‘Let us seek a prince who may rule over us, and judge us according to the Law.” They accordingly went overseas to the Varangian Rus'. … The Chuds, the Slavs, the Krivichs and the Ves then said to the Rus', “Our land is great and rich, but there is no order in it. Come to rule and reign over us.’ They thus selected three brothers with their kinfolk, who took with them all the Rus' and migrated.”

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  Nahj al-Asra Vol 1 - The Path of...

  Syed Ghulam Hussain Raza

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  Nahj al-Asrar (The Path of Divine Secrets) is a profound spiritual work centered on the teachings and sermons attributed to Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), a central figure in Islamic history known for his wisdom, knowledge, and deep understanding of divine truths. His words have inspired seekers of knowledge and spirituality for centuries. 
  This book presents a carefully compiled collection of sermons and sayings that explore themes such as the oneness of God (Tawhid), the mysteries of creation, spiritual ethics, and the inner realities of faith. The compiler has gathered these teachings from respected classical sources including Kitab Sulaym ibn Qays, Basair al-Darajat, and Usul al-Kafi. 
  Nahj al-Asrar invites listeners to reflect on the deeper meanings of existence and divine wisdom. This audiobook offers a powerful spiritual experience for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Islamic spirituality and the timeless legacy of Imam Ali.

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