This stunning collection of essays illuminates the lives and legacies of the most famous and powerful individuals, groups, and institutions in African American history. • 100 alphabetically arranged profiles, each accompanied by a photograph

Grasses Offer so Much More than the flat, green lawns beneath our feet. In the garden, spikelets of Briza media flutter in the slightest breeze, tall-stemmed Stipa gigantea makes a beguiling divider, and pennisetums glow like fireworks with the sun at their backs. When chosen wisely and used with care, grasses can endow the garden with showstopping appeal---requiring remarkably little work in return. Neil Lucas explains how to bring the magic of grasses to even the smallest of gardens. Inspired by the great American prairies, African savannah and other wild spaces, he shows how to perfect the balance between grasses and other plants, choose sustainable lawn alternatives that virtually care for themselves, and showcase the elegant lines and intriguing textures of grasses to glorious effect. Planting grasses in the right place is critical, and Lucas lists top performers for drought, waterside, containers, shade and more. Along the way, he explains how grasses contribute to a greener world through their use in rain gardens, green roofs and for erosion control. With an extensive directory profiling more than 450 gardenworthy grasses, rushes and sedges, this lavishly illustrated volume offers gardeners a world of possibilities.

Provides solutions for frustrated gardeners by examining problem spots, listing resilient low-maintenance plants, and presenting twenty-five garden designs

How can we increase the number of exceptional leaders in our organizations? Why is it that, despite having the best minds and hands at work, organizations aren’t seeing a significant increase in their financial numbers? How can the maximum number of people continuously generate fabulous results for themselves and for their organizations? These are some of the most pressing questions currently in organizations and form the basis for Achieving Unstoppable Success in Any Economy. This book presents the seven divine mantras for business leaders, corporate heads, entrepreneurs, and professionals to maximize leadership potential. With masterful insight and brilliant simplicity, Payal Nanjiani has distilled some of the most powerful leadership and success wisdom available for both professional and personal leadership into seven practical lessons that leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs can immediately apply to send morale and productivity soaring in these challenging and uncertain business times. Known for her coaching and consulting work with many of the world’s leading CEOs and organizations, Payal helps business professionals understand the significance of the I-Power in leadership. It highlights with certainty that for anyone to achieve unstoppable success in their job and business, and for any organization to be successful, it’s the leader who must be unstoppable first. This book serves as a wake-up call—it’s time individuals and organizations change the way they approach the human side of business, of leadership, and of success. Our society and the world at large cannot continue to withstand the increasing shortage of exceptional leaders and the widening gap between the successful few and the unsuccessful many. The challenge must be addressed in new ways to develop exceptional leaders who can deal with the immense complexities and business challenges of today. This book serves as a guide to an organic growth of people who lead and succeed regardless of the economy. The book is designed to help you become a highly inner-self-directed individual and take your leadership and business to new levels. It offers seven divine mantras that will enable you and your colleagues to move through hardship and achieve unstoppable success regardless of the economy. You will discover how to strategically direct your inner leader to leverage your potential. Ultimately, this deeply inspiring book reveals a remarkable step-by-step system that will restore trust, commitment, and spirit within your organization while transforming the way you think, act, and behave in the process. For more than 21 years, Payal Nanjiani has been sharing with Fortune 500 companies and many of the most successful entrepreneurs her success formulas that has made her one of the most sought-after leadership advisors in the world. Now, for the first time, through this book Payal makes her proprietary process available to you, so that you can deliver your best while helping your organization break through to a new level of success regardless of the economy. "In a world where burn out is becoming more common, it is imperative for leaders to constantly undergo self-reflection and assess their inner well-being and take stock of their emotions and encourage their team to do so as well. Emotional pain, if not tackled, could take a toll on innovation and productivity leading to a trickle-down negative effect. This book by Payal Nanjiani helps leaders undergo that much-needed self-reflection and solve the critical problem of productivity." Senthil Radhakrishnan, Administrative Chief and Clinical Neurosurgical PA at Duke "Payal gives practical tips to show that a positive attitude and small incremental changes can give you the ability to stand out and lead with or without authority. A must-read for a natural leader at any level!" Michelle Proctor, Principal Business Operations Officer "In Payal’s latest book, she shares profoundly deep insights and amazing motivation for everyone to develop the mindset of leadership." Swami Mukundanda, renowned spiritual Guru "While there is no perfect formula for success as a leader, author Payal provides us with some intriguing insights on how working with our inner self can set us up on the track to be a successful leader." Shankari Rajangam, Ph.D., Neuroscientist, Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke

The first biography of the eccentric pitcher, rookie All-Star starter, 70s pop icon, and first athlete on the cover of Rolling Stone For those who remember him, Mark Fidrych is still that player who brings a smile to your face, the irresistibly likable pitcher whose sudden rise brightened the star-spangled season of 1976 and reminded us of the pure joy of the game. Lanky, mop-topped, and nicknamed for his resemblance to Big Bird on Sesame Street, Fidrych exploded onto the national stage during the Bicentennial summer as a rookie with the Detroit Tigers. He won over fans nationwide with his wildly endearing antics such as talking to the ball---and throwing back the ones that "had hits in them"; getting down on his knees to "manicure" the mound of any cleat marks; and shaking hands with just about everyone from teammates to groundskeepers to cops during and after games. Female fans tried to obtain locks of his hair from his barber and even named babies after him. But The Bird was no mere sideshow. The non-roster invitee to spring training that year quickly emerged as one of the best pitchers in the game. Meanwhile, his boyish enthusiasm, his famously modest lifestyle, and his refusal to sign with an agent during the days of labor disputes and free agency made him such a breath of fresh air for fans that not only did attendance in Detroit increase---by tens of thousands---for games he pitched, opposing teams would specifically ask the Tigers to shuffle their rotation so Fidrych would pitch in their cities, too. A rare player who transcended pop culture, Fidrych was named starting pitcher in the All-Star Game as a rookie (the first of his two All-Star nods) and became the first athlete to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Baseball researcher Doug Wilson delivers the first biography of this once-in-a-lifetime player. Through extensive interviews and meticulous research, the author recounts Fidrych's meteoric rise from Northborough, Massachusetts, to the big leagues, his heartbreaking fall after a torn knee ligament and then rotator cuff, his comeback attempts with the Tigers and in the Red Sox system, and one unforgettable night when The Bird pitched a swan song for the Pawtucket Red Sox against future star Dave Righetti in a game that remains part of local folklore. Finally, Wilson captures Fidrych's post-baseball life and his roles in the community, tragically culminating with his death in a freak accident in 2009. The Bird gives readers a long-overdue look into the life of a player whom baseball had never seen before---and has never seen since.

Every year, nearly two million tourists visit Alaska, and at least half of them spend time exploring the state’s waterways. For families that want to do so in a more independent fashion than a cruise ship or guided tour would allow, Erin Kirkland has written the perfect guide to navigating the state’s unique ferry system. A staple of coastal transportation since the 1950s, the Alaska Marine Highway System is a vital link to cities that are often inaccessible except by air. Alaska on the Go offers fascinating accounts of both the small coastal towns and the larger population centers serviced by the highway along with easy-to-navigate route descriptions, helpful packing lists, and tips for inland and onboard adventures. Portable and personable, and covering all thirty routes that make up the Alaska Marine Highway System, Alaska on the Go is the perfect companion for the intrepid traveler.

Contains advice on the proper selection, installation, and maintenance of landscape plants in Texas.