The "Simple" stories, Langston Hughes's satirical pieces featuring Harlem's Jesse B. Semple, have been lauded as Hughes's greatest contribution to American fiction. In Not So Simple, Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper provides the first full historical analysis of the Simple stories. Harper traces the evolution and development of Simple from his 1943 appearance in Hughes's weekly Chicago Defender column through his 1965 farewell in the New York Post. Drawing on correspondence and manuscripts of the stories, Harper explores the development of the Simple collections, from Simple Speaks His Mind (1950) to Simple's Uncle Sam (1965), providing fresh and provocative perspectives on both Hughes and the characters who populate his stories. Harper discusses the nature of Simple, Harlem's "everyman", and the way in which Hughes used his character both to teach fellow Harlem residents about their connection to world events and to give black literature a hero whose "day-after-day heroism" would exemplify greatness. She explores the psychological, sociological, and literary meanings behind the Simple stories, and suggests ways in which the stories illustrate lessons of American history and political science. She also examines the roles played by women in these humorously ironic fictions. Ultimately, Hughes's attitudes as an author are measured against the views of other prominent African American writers. Demonstrating the richness and complexity of this Langston Hughes character and the Harlem he inhabited. Not So Simple makes an important contribution to the study of American literature.

Fifteen-year-old Maya Stark seems to have it all–fame, fortune, a Beverly Hills lifestyle, and an eighties pop star dad who’s making a comeback. But looks can be deceiving, and on the inside, Maya is miserable. Her parents are divorced, her dad is away on tour, and being biracial, she struggles with her identity. Then, to make matters worse, her mother has returned to using drugs and is quickly depleting their finances. In a plan to become emancipated from her messed-up mom, Maya takes a job on Rodeo Drive. Selling designer clothes compromises Maya’s earth-friendly “green girl” values, but she is desperate. Just when Maya thinks she’s got it all worked out, her life caves in. Her mom “embezzles” Maya’s savings and is later arrested on DUI and cocaine possession charges and is facing jail time. With nowhere to live, Maya is sent to spend the summer with her relatives. In the collision of two very different worlds, Maya must figure out where she fits in–or does she fit in at all?

At the time of my retirement on March 31, 2006, I challenged myself with a handful of goals. With this publication, all have now been accomplished. Initially, I did not plan to publish. I did plan to write a manuscript or a story . . . or just write something about the universe. I felt compelled to give my fascination with the universe some sort of order, something that would punctuate my life. Upon completion, I wondered if it might have some merit to others and scoped out the thought of publication. I found the manuscript very readable and relatively elementary. It should prove interesting to science students of all levels as well as all people interested in the universe.

This collection of more than one hundred original and highly sophisticated puzzles presents challenges that require creative,outside of the box thinking. Many different types of puzzles are included, such as word, number, logical, visual, spatial, dissection, dividing, dot-connecting, matchstick, coin, and more. Each aesthetically appealing puzz

A story about a man who lost everything. His wife, his child, and his self respect. A story of abuse, a story of love, and a story about the ultimate loss of a heart, spirit and soul.

This book focuses on understanding the stellar populations of massive star clusters and aims to investigate the origin, evolution and properties of binary systems, their collision products, as well as the general characteristics (e.g. ages, metal content) of stellar population(s) in star clusters. It introduces the basic background knowledge of various stellar populations in star clusters as well as their formation, interaction and evolution and offers high impact observational results on our understanding of the formation and evolution mode of star clusters. Based on these discoveries, this book proposes a series of future projects that can shed light on these topics. The research introduced in this book reveals key features of star clusters formation and by extension how all stars formed in our universe.