A powerful exploration of the human capacity for renewal, as seen through Shakespeare and Freud In this fresh investigation, Stephen Greenblatt and Adam Phillips explore how the second chance has been an essential feature of the literary imagination and a promise so central to our existence that we try to reproduce it again and again. Innumerable stories, from the Homeric epics to the New Testament, and from Oedipus Rex to Hamlet, explore the realization or failure of second chances--outcomes that depend on accident, acts of will, or fate. Such stories let us repeatedly rehearse the experience of loss and recovery: to know the joy that comes with a renewal of love and pleasure and to face the pain that comes with realizing that some damage can never be undone. Through a series of illuminating readings, the authors show how Shakespeare was the supreme virtuoso of the second chance and Freud was its supreme interpreter. Both Shakespeare and Freud believed that we can narrate our life stories as tales of transformation, of momentous shifts, constrained by time and place but often still possible. Ranging from The Comedy of Errors to The Winter's Tale, and from D. W. Winnicott to Marcel Proust, the authors challenge readers to imagine how, as Phillips writes, "it is the mending that matters."

If you've ever been lucky enough to experience the Public School System in suburban America, then you will empathize with Marty Mason and delight at his teenage experiences in the sleepy town of Kappaqua Falls. While most people never have the opportunity to use what they learned in High School, Marty leverages the teachings from his classes in real-time to outwit and defeat several abusive bullies. His victory celebration is short lived as he is brought before the ruthless Principal of the school and subjected to a ground breaking behavior modification treatment. Military high technology has invaded the high school, and Marty is the unsuspecting and unlucky first test subject of a strange new supercomputer-driven brain stimulation system. FIRST CHANCE provides exciting, page-turning entertainment from the beginning to the end. His FIRST CHANCE Could Be His LAST From the sleepy city of Merida, Mexico to the Castle of Kukulcan at the Mayan ruins of Chichen-Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula, to the quaint town of Kappaqua Falls, New York, FIRST CHANCE provides an entertaining and suspenseful ride. Author Mark Owen paints a visually compelling tale of an American teenager caught in the gears of th American Public School system, struggling against his oppressors: Man and Machine.

Eighteen-year-old River Lang struggles after the death of his best friend and reluctantly joins a research study for struggling teens where he confronts his complex relationship with Dylan's ex, develops feelings for a charismatic jock, and uncovers unsettling truths about the study.

"Striking a perfect balance between drama and romance, this is sure to please."—Publishers Weekly The Second First Chance is a big, wonderful, messy love story about family, heartbreak, strength and courage. It shows us that sometimes what we want is what we least expect, and that everything we need is often right in front of us. Strength comes in many different forms. Riya Desai and Dhillon Vora grew up together. Sharing secrets, hiding in their tree house, they were playmates, best friends and later—as teenagers—almost something more. Until the devastating house fire that ripped them apart, claiming the life of Dhillon’s father and Riya’s big brother, Samir. Riya and Dhillon have barely spoken since that terrible night, but they both made big decisions based on that fire. Riya has chosen to fight fire with everything she’s got, but it’s not easy. As the only female firefighter and one of the only people of color at her fire hall, she has to prove herself over and over. Plus, she’s hidden her career from her family. Dhillon wanted to heal things, so he became a veterinarian. When a chance encounter with a rescue dog throws Riya and Dhillon together again, he’s furious at her career choice. After what happened to them, how can she run into fires on purpose? For Riya, Dhillon’s anger is unacceptable: How can he not see that she’s protecting others from the very losses they both experienced?

Warning: This is meant for mature audiences only 18+ College student Natalie Wright hasn't had it easy for years emotionally. Her one safe haven is music. Soul breaking, body quaking lyrics sung in such a voice that the emotions are conveyed onto you. Enter Ryan "Steele" Hurst a lead singer in a chart topping rock band "Steele's Army". They project the bad boy sex-symbol image and their songs are degrading to woman and cheapen love.Can these two make it throughout a summer tour unscathed?

Locations of service: Camp Claiborne, Louisiana; North Africa; France; Philippines.