Known as the greatest traveler of premodern times, Abu Abdallah ibn Battuta was born in Morocco in 1304 and educated in Islamic law. At the age of twenty-one, he left home to make the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. This was only the first of a series of extraordinary journeys that spanned nearly three decades and took him not only eastward to India and China but also north to the Volga River valley and south to Tanzania. The narrative of these travels has been known to specialists in Islamic and medieval history for years. Ross E. Dunn's 1986 retelling of these tales, however, was the first work of scholarship to make the legendary traveler's story accessible to a general audience. Now updated with revisions, a new preface, and an updated bibliography, Dunn's classic interprets Ibn Battuta's adventures and places them within the rich, trans-hemispheric cultural setting of medieval Islam.Review"It is not surprising that this book was required reading."--Pragati: the Indian National Interest ReviewAbout the AuthorRoss E. Dunn is Professor of History, San Diego State University, and the editor of The New World History: A Teacher's Companion (2000).

SHE RAN AWAY FROM THE ALTAR -- INTO THE ARMS OF A HOT-BLOODED GYPSY His name was Mateo. Magnificently sexy. Totally charming. Bursting with life in a way that set Charlotte's blood on fire. From the first moment she saw him, performing in a dazzling Gypsy show in the small circus town where she was alone and penniless, Charlotte knew she had found the one roan for her. But fate tore them apart before they could even come together, as Charlotte was kidnapped by another Gypsy man and told that tradition decreed they must marry! How could Charlotte marry anyone but Mateo? He surely returned her ardor, but he was no more free than Charlotte. The victim of an ancient curse that caused him to go mad beneath the fiery light of the Gypsy moon, Mateo could only break that spell by marrying a Gypsy woman....

CAFÉ NEVO is a Tel Aviv gathering place for artists, politicians, lovers, and Bohemians—both Arabs and Jews, young and old, conservative and radical. Nevo is presided over by Emmanual Sternholz, the waiter whose unblinking gaze takes in the tangled web of destinies and desires spun out around him. In this comic, tragic, and compelling mosaic of intertwined lives, Barbara Rogan has created a dazzling work of fiction—and a marvelously illuminating mirror of Israel in its pioneering heyday.

The hit series returns to charm and inspire another generation of baby-sitters!As the newest member of the BSC, Dawn is eager to prove herself. So when a big job comes along, she jumps at the chance to show everyone what she's made of.The Barretts are even more challenging than Dawn expected. The house is a mess, Mrs. Barrett is unreliable, and the kids are out of control. Dawn knows she's a great baby-sitter, but this is impossible! She only knows one thing for sure—a member of the BSC never gives up!The best friends you'll ever have—with classic BSC covers and a letter from Ann M. Martin!

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Delinsky captivates with a magnificent story of loving friendship and desperate acts, first published in 1992.The lovely vacation house on the Maine coast was meant to be a glorious retreat for Danica Lindsay and her husband Blake, a place where they could mend the wounds of a damaged and tired marriage. Instead, she finds herself mostly there alone while Blake's political star is rapidly rising back in Boston. Were it not for the cherished companionship of her new neighbor, gentle and caring Michael Buchanan, Danica would surely be overcome by loneliness and despair.But a friendship that is strong, uplifting, and real is slowly transforming into something less innocent, more passionate -- something that could easily be called "love." For the first time in her life, a chance for true happiness may be in Danica's reach. But how can she grab onto it when she remains another man's wife, bound by her marriage vows to a union plagued by doubt and pain ... and by secrets so shocking an entire nation will take notice?About the AuthorBarbara Delinsky, a lifelong New Englander, was a sociologist and photographer before she began to write. There are more than 30 million copies of her books in print.

Silhouette Special Edition #320Being the daughter of celebrity Claire Drummond was not easy. Everyone expected a shallow display of glamour when they first met Joanna. And thought Joanna as just an assistant to a U.S. Senator, she wanted to be taken seriously. So when her boss gave her a special assignment, she rolled up her sleeves and set out to prove herself in her own right. If only the task wouldn't involve Sean Fleming, an old friend of the family. Joanna had always had a crush on the powerfully handsome Mr. Fleming. How would she ever get him to take Joanna - the woman - seriously.

Stephen Coonts flew A-6's in Vietnam. He has the credentials to write this story, which helps explain its long stay on the best seller list. A-6's were called Intruders. Their pilots tackled assignments of dazzling complexity and flew them with daring and dispatch. But they paid a price...in lost lives, disillusion, incredible tension. They had one reward — exhilaration — worth the whole candle. You share the airmen's special brand of comradery, the one stabilizing force in an otherwise precarious life, that only an insider knows. "Documentary and dramatic, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER is to the novel what TOP GUN was to film." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

Here is Judith Krantz's greatest triumph--*I'll Take Manhattan*.  In the high-stakes world of magazine publishing, she weaves a dazzling tale of love and betrayal, and creates her most joyous character--sensational Maxi, an uninhibited woman who unexpectedly discovers that her talent for life is matched by a hunger to succeed. Gorgeous, flamboyant Maxi Amberville is twenty-nine and has already discarded three husbands on two continents.  Life is a stream of endless pleasure in her lavish Trump Tower apartment--until her widowed mother married a man who plots to sell her father's magazine empire.  And Maxi turns her incredible lust for living into a passionate quest for power. Maxi takes over the small weekly *Buttons And Bows*. She gathers her hot-blooded ex-husband, sassy daughter and a coterie of the powerful elite.  Then, risking all, Maxi creates B&B --the glitziest, ritziest, most successful fashion magazine in the country.  Here is a dramatic, sizzling story of love, family, ambition and one unforgettable woman who gives life and love everything she has. *From the Paperback edition.*

It was worse than winning the lottery—much worse. This bequest might mean more money, but the strings attached had Pandora McVie tied up in knots. Respecting Uncle Jolley's last wishes meant spending time isolated in the Catskills with Michael Donahue, her least favourite—though best looking—distant relative and co-beneficiary. Living with a carrot-topped termagant wasn't Michael's idea of a good time, either, but he realised they were stuck. Jolley was a matchmaker to the end—and apparently for some time beyond. What could happen in six months? Michael answered that one himself: almost anything.

While too many soldiers are fighting for the brass in the midst of the sanguineous Vietnam battles, Lt. Paul Bourne is compelled to fight the enemy for his country's freedom. But when he comes up against his captain - a man driven by selfishness and a desire for recognition and glory, Bourne is even more determined to destroy the enemy ? even if this means sacrificing his life.

Richard Hoysden’s body is discovered in his country flat, a revolver beside him, and a bullet through the head, apparently a suicide. Missing from the room is a tape of Hoysden’s last moments on which he confesses ti the murder of a young woman. Lady Drombone, a member of Parliament and the dead man’s aunt, hires Carolus Deene to help suppress the evidence. He must reconstruct the confusing circumstances in order to solve this baffling crime.

The place: a remote shelter on the promenade at Selby-on-Sea; the occasion: a stormy evening in late November; the victim: somebody ready-made for a crack-of-doom from a coal hammer.

SUMMARY:Gordon Sunday, an unemployed ex-football player, enters a strange fantasy world where he must help the Lady Glorian, her brother, Tag, and the telepathic lorra, Red, defeat the evil Tide of Blood.