Cuba, an island 750 miles long, with a population of about 11 million, lies less than 100 miles off the U.S. coast. Yet the island's influences on America's cultural imagination are extensive & deeply ingrained. In the engaging & wide-ranging Havana Habit, writer & scholar Gustavo Perez Firmat probes the importance of Havana, & of greater Cuba, in the cultural history of the United States. Through books, advertisements, travel guides, films, & music, he demonstrates the influence of the island on almost two centuries of American life. From John Quincy Adams' comparison of Cuba to an apple ready to drop into America's lap, to the latest episodes in the lives of the 'comic comandantes & exotic exiles', & to such notable Cuban exports as the rumba & the mambo, cigars & mojitos, the Cuba that emerges from these pages is a locale that Cubans & Americans have jointly imagined & inhabited. The Havana Habit deftly illustrates what makes Cuba, as Perez Firmat writes, 'so near & yet so foreign'. ...

Throughout the 1950s, as the Cuban people laboured under a violently repressive regime, the Mob-financed revelry in Havana never stopped. Tourists from around the world flooded in to gamble, go to the racetrack, see an elaborate floorshow at the Tropicana, hear some of the hottest music around & perhaps partake in the kinky sexual activities that flourished on the fringe of the most colourful & exciting nightlife scene of the twentieth century. It may have seemed like fun & games, but for the Havana Mob it was a deadly serious business. Led by Meyer Lansky & Lucky Luciano
- & with the full compliance of President Fulgencio Batista
- the Mob set out to create a financial empire that would rival the 'glory days' of Prohibition in the US. For a time, the plan seemed to be succeeding beyond their wildest dreams, but they were sowing the seeds of their own demise. Behind the scenes, Fidel Castro was building opposition to what he portrayed as the debauchery & corruption of capitalism run amok in Havana
- the result was revolution. The Havana Mob captures a unique & exotic chapter not only in the history of organised crime but also in the history of the United States, & for the first time the story is told through interviews & the first-hand accounts of those who were actually there.


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Throughout the 1950s, as the Cuban people laboured under a violently repressive regime, the mob-financed revelry in Havana never stopped. Tourists from around the world flooded in to gamble, go to the racetrack, see an elaborate floorshow at the Tropicana & perhaps partake in the sexual activities that flourished on the fringe of the most colourful nightlife scene of the twentieth century. It may have seemed like fun & games, but for the Havana Mob it was a serious business. Led by Meyer Lansky & Lucky Luciano
- & with the full compliance of President Fulgencio Batista
- the Mob set out to create a financial empire that would rival the `glory days` of Prohibition in the US. For a time, the plan seemed to be a runaway success, but they were sowing the seeds of their own demise. Behind the scenes, Fidel Castro was building opposition to what he portrayed as the debauchery & corruption of capitalism run amok in Havana
- the result was revolution. ” The Havana Mob” captures a unique & exotic chapter not only in the history of organised crime but also in the history of the United States, & the story is told through interviews & the first-hand accounts.


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The Hawthorns in 1888 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. In this title: two versions have been published for this area. The maps cover the eastern part of West Bromwich & western part of Handsworth, with the area known as The Hawthorns in the centre. Coverage stretches from Roebuck Lane eastward to Booth Street. Features on the 1886 map include GWR railway with Handsworth Junction, Handsworth & Smethwick station & portion of Stourbridge extension line; tramway, Railway Carriage Works, Sandwell Place, Phoenix Bolt Works, St James church Handsworth, Sandwell Park Colliery, Galton Junction, St Stephen's Mission Room, Belle Vue Brewery, etc. The 1913 version shows a more built-up scene, with many more terraced streets running south of the Holyhead Road. It

Includes:: extracts from a 1907 directory for Booth Street, Downing Street, Holyhead Road & Wattville Road, Handsworth. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25

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The Hawthorns in 1913 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. Two versions have been published for this area. The maps cover the eastern part of West Bromwich & western part of Handsworth, with the area known as The Hawthorns in the centre. Coverage stretches from Roebuck Lane eastward to Booth Street. Features on the 1886 map include GWR railway with Handsworth Junction, Handsworth & Smethwick station & portion of Stourbridge extension line; tramway, Railway Carriage Works, Sandwell Place, Phoenix Bolt Works, St James church Handsworth, Sandwell Park Colliery, Galton Junction, St Stephen`s Mission Room, Belle Vue Brewery, etc. The 1913 version shows a more built-up scene, with many more terraced streets running south of the Holyhead Road. It

Includes:: extracts from a 1907 directory for Booth Street, Downing Street, Holyhead Road & Wattville Road, Handsworth. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK.

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Seventeen-year-old Alice & her mother have spent most of Alice`s life on the road, always a step ahead of the strange bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice`s grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate
- the Hazel Wood
- Alice learns how bad her luck can really get. Her mother is stolen away
- by a figure who claims to come from the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother`s stories are set. Alice`s only lead is the message her mother left behind: STAY AWAY FROM THE HAZEL WOOD. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother`s tales began...


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From internationally acclaimed & bestselling author Vincent Lam comes a superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, & deeply affecting novel set against the turmoil of the Vietnam War. Percival Chen is headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon, a patriot, fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage. He is also a compulsive gambler & an incorrigible womanizer. He devotedly ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him, content to pay the requisite bribes to the ever-changing government officials & to spend his nights at the casino tables. When his only son gets in trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival has no choice but to send him away. In the loneliness that follows, Percival finds solace with Jacqueline, a beautiful woman of mixed French & Vietnamese heritage. But as the conflict intensifies, the time will come when the headmaster must confront the truths he once refused to see. Blessed with intriguingly flawed characters moving through a landscape ravaged by war, ` The Headmaster`s Wager` is an almost unbearably tense story of love, betrayal & sacrifice. ...

It's two days before Christmas & Helsinki is battling ruthless climate catastrophe: subway tunnels are flooded; abandoned vehicles are burning in the streets. People are fleeing to the far north where conditions are still tolerable. Social order is crumbling & private security firms have undermined the police force. Tapani Lehtinen, a struggling poet, is among the few still willing to live in the city. When Tapani's wife Johanna, a journalist, goes missing, he embarks on a frantic hunt for her. Johanna's disappearance seems to be connected to a story she was researching about a serial killer known as ' The Healer'. Determined to find Johanna, Tapani's search leads him to uncover secrets from her past: secrets that connect her to the very murders she was investigating... Atmospheric & moving, The Healer is a story of survival, loyalty & determination. Even when the world is coming to an end, love & hope endure. ...

There are dramatic differences in health between countries & within countries. But this is not a simple matter of rich & poor. A poor man in Glasgow is rich compared to the average Indian, but the Glaswegian`s life expectancy is 8 years shorter. The Indian is dying of infectious disease linked to his poverty; the Glaswegian of violent death, suicide, heart disease linked to a rich country`s version of disadvantage. In all countries, people at relative social disadvantage suffer health disadvantage, dramatically so. Within countries, the higher the social status of individuals the better is their health. These health inequalities defy usual explanations. Conventional approaches to improving health have emphasised access to technical solutions
- enhanced medical care, sanitation, & control of disease vectors; or behaviours
- smoking, drinking
- obesity, linked to diabetes, heart disease & cancer. These approaches only go so far. Creating the conditions for people to lead flourishing lives, & thus empowering individuals & communities, is key to reduction of health inequalities. In addition to the scale of material success, your position in the social hierarchy also directly affects your health, the higher you are on the social scale, the longer you will live & the better your health will be. As people change rank, so their health risk changes. What makes these health inequalities unjust is that evidence from round the world shows we know what to do to make them smaller. This new evidence is compelling. It has the potential to change radically the way we think about health, & indeed society.


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` Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, & in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.`
- Jonas Salk, inventor
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