The Medici are famous as the rulers of Florence at the high point of the Renaissance. Their power derived from the family bank, and this book tells the fascinating, frequently bloody story of the family and the dramatic development and collapse of their bank (from Cosimo who took it over in 1419 to his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent who presided over its precipitous decline). The Medici faced two apparently insuperable problems: how did a banker deal with the fact that the Church regarded interest as a sin and had made it illegal? How in a small republic like Florence could he avoid having his wealth taken away by taxation? But the bank became indispensable to the Church. And the family completely subverted Florence's claims to being democratic. They ran the city. Medici Money explores a crucial moment in the passage from the Middle Ages to the Modern world, a moment when our own attitudes to money and morals were being formed.To read this book is to understand how much the...

This is a true story of growing up, breaking down, and coming to grips with a psychological disorder. When Samantha Schutz first left home for college, she was excited by the possibilities -- freedom from parents, freedom from a boyfriend who was reckless with her affections, freedom from the person she was supposed to be. At first, she revelled in the independence ... but as pressures increased , she began to suffer anxiety attacks that would leave her mentally shaken and physically incapacitated. Thus began a hard road of discovery and coping, powerfully rendered in this poetry memoir.From School Library JournalGrade 9 Up—In this "memoir in verse," Schutz comes to terms with an anxiety disorder that surfaced and plagued her throughout and after her college years. Readers accompany the author from the summer after high school, through college, on a semester abroad in Paris, and into her first job after graduation. Typical early-adulthood issues such as boyfriends, sex, drinking, grades, and family are woven throughout her struggle with physically and mentally debilitating panic attacks. The author had the courage and wisdom to seek professional help and embarked on a long and often bumpy road to treating her disorder. The decision to write in verse proves fitting; in the scenes in which a panic attack is approaching, for example, the short lines of text echo the breathless terror described within. Though the book begins to feel repetitive toward its conclusion, the repetition simultaneously reflects the cyclical nature of Schutz's disorder and one's college years. Aptly, the book ends without absolute closure, and while luckily not all teens will find themselves in identical situations, many young people transitioning to adulthood will find a part of themselves in this overwhelming, and seemingly never-ending, search for self-identity.—Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ReviewPraise for *I Don't Want to Be Crazy*"Versifying a novel takes craft and dedication. Versifying a memoir takes courage. Samantha Schutz must be commended for allowing readers such a personal glimpse of this frightening piece of her life experience." — Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank and Tricks"Once readers pick up this insightful debut, they will not be able to put it down." — Voice of Youth Advocates"Intense, intimate and heartbreaking. I had to remind myself to breathe." — Deb Caletti, author of The Queen of Everything

P.I. SIERRA MARTINDALE COULD HAVE BEEN THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS. BUT LIFE THREW HER ONE HELL OF A CURVE. Her fearless pursuit of the truth made P.I. Sierra Martindale unstoppable -- right up to the day she collapsed in the midst of a dangerous case. After a lifesaving transplant, Sierra found herself with another woman's heart beating in her chest -- and an eerie presence telling Sierra her donor's death was no accident. She owed it to this stranger to solve the dark mystery of what had happened to her. Even if it led Sierra into greater danger than she had ever known -- and into the arms of the haunted stranger who had loved her donor, and lost her.

John Egan has a gift. He can tell when people are lying. Hoping that his talent will bring him fame, he has written to the Guinness Book of Records. But while he waits for a letter in return, his obsession with uncovering the truth begins to threaten his already fragile family.

Dante Rivers just lost the rodeo by two one hundredths of a point: he's frustrated as hell, needs to get laid, and he knows just where to go. That night he meets Ryan Abbott and catches his eye—Ryan watched the rodeo and is still riding high on the rush. The chemistry between them ignites, but Dante, unable to deal with complications, leaves while Ryan's asleep.Ryan figures he'll never see Dante again, but they're fatefully reunited when Dante's grandfather, Hy, hires Ryan to help straighten out some old investments. The attraction between Ryan and Dante still sizzles. Sex slowly turns to more, but obstacles abound: Hy's failing health, Dante's homophobic sponsor, an attack on Ryan, and Dante's own struggle with his identity. Any one thing would be enough to separate them permanently... unless they both decide to hang on for the wild ride.

In the bestselling tradition of The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Jane Austen Book Club, three women find unexpected answers, happiness, and one another, with Meryl Streep movies as their inspiration. Two sisters and the cousin they grew up with after a tragedy are summoned home to their family matriarchs inn on the coast of Maine for a shocking announcement. Suddenly, Isabel, June, and Kat are sharing the attic bedroomand barely speaking. But when innkeeper Lolly asks them to join her and the guests in the parlor for weekly Movie Nightits Meryl Streep monththey find themselves sharing secrets, talking long into the night . . . and questioning everything they thought they knew about life, love, and one another. Each woman sees her complicated life reflected through the magic of cinema: Isabels husband is having an affair, and an old pact may keep her from what she wants most . . . June has promised her seven-year-old son that she will...

A provocative and lively deep dive into the meaning of America's first black presidency, from "one of the most graceful and lucid intellectuals writing on race and politics today" (Vanity Fair). Michael Eric Dyson explores the powerful, surprising way the politics of race have shaped Barack Obama's identity and groundbreaking presidency. How has President Obama dealt publicly with race—as the national traumas of Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and Walter Scott have played out during his tenure? What can we learn from Obama's major race speeches about his approach to racial conflict and the black criticism it provokes? Dyson explores whether Obama's use of his own biracialism as a radiant symbol has been driven by the president's desire to avoid a painful moral reckoning on race. And he sheds light on identity issues within the black power structure, telling the fascinating story of how Obama has spurned traditional...

We have lost the ability to deal with death. Most of our friends and beloved relations will die in a busy hospital in the care of strangers, doctors and nurses they have known at best for a couple of weeks. They may not even know they are dying, victims of the kindly lie that there is still hope. They are unlikely to see even their family doctor in their final hours, robbed of their dignity and fed through a tube after a long series of excessive and hopeless medical interventions. This is the starting point of Seamus O'Mahony's thoughtful, moving and unforgettable book on the western way of death. Dying has never been more public, with celebrities writing detailed memoirs of their illness, but in private we have done our best to banish all thought of dying and made a good death increasingly difficult to achieve.

Owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth, Betsy Devonshire must help clear Jan Henderson's name when her wealthy aunt is found dead, courtesy of a double-zero knitting needle. Just like the kind Jan knits with. And an embroidered map of Lake Minnetonka, found among the aunt's effects, could lead Betsy to a buried treasure-or to a secret that someone would kill to keep buried.