Love is the biggest prize of all. For over a decade, world-champion figure skaters Katie Nowacki and Brendan Reid have been partners in every way but one. But now that their electric on-ice chemistry has led them to Olympic gold, they're retiring from competition. As they cross America on an exhibition tour with their fellow athletes, Katie and Brendan's always volatile relationship becomes more turbulent than ever as they face down the media, their fans, and their increasingly nosy teammates. When Katie realizes she wants to go back to the farm she grew up on, leaving Brendan behind in the city where they trained, their fairy tale seems destined to end. But will Brendan be able to convince her to trust him with the off-ice intimacy that only spelled disaster in their past?

Their dramatic story exposes the underside of the American dream and the haunting consequences of trying to strike it rich.--Kevin Starr, University of Southern California, author of California: A History "Agricultural History"

A Stanford University Press classic.

After the Gold Rush begins in January 1926, when the ship carrying Robert Dahl steams into the harbor in Skagway, Alaska. The ten-year-old boy has been traveling for over a week with his mother and two brothers from the tiny town in northwest Iowa where he was born. As the ship’s crew prepares to dock, the brothers eagerly scan the wharf for a glimpse of their father, who arrived a few weeks earlier to become the town’s only physician. Driven by hopes of finding Yukon gold, thousands had once passed through Skagway. By the time of the Dahl family’s arrival in 1926, the population had shrunk to five hundred. Although some buildings remaining from the Gold Rush days made sections of Skagway look like a ghost town, the young boy from the plains of Iowa was entranced by the wild beauty of the surrounding mountains, which he would explore in the years to come. In this highly personal tale of Robert Dahl ́s years in Skagway, we meet the people of the town—at school, at work, at play, hunting and fishing. We meet town "characters," a few remaining from the Gold Rush days, others whose drifting had ended in Skagway. We meet Tlingit Indians, who were made "outcasts in their own land" by the visible and invisible barriers of small-town life. The author concludes with the hope that "this lovely piece of our world will be preserved as long as human beings, and our fellow creatures who inhabit those splendid mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, streams, and, yes, even the glaciers, continue to live on this earth."

Richard Rose was an unlikely Zen master: A rugged, plainspoken, ornery West Virginian, he scraped out a living raising goats, planting crops and painting houses. But Richard Rose had a secret: Having once vowed to "find the Truth or die trying," Rose experienced a cataclysmic spiritual awakening at age 30 that thrust him into "Everything-ness and Nothing-ness," or what he called "the Absolute." The experience left him with only one earthly desire: to do anything, for anyone, on a similar quest for Truth. David Gold was an unlikely student: An arrogant, ambitious and egotistical law-student, David Gold only agreed to meet the "enlightened hillbilly" in the hopes of showing him up. But when Rose turned the tables by seeing right through Gold and painting a devastatingly accurate picture of the fears and obsessions that ruled his life, a humbled Gold found himself hungry to know more. Thus began a remarkable 15-year adventure part spiritual odyssey, part legal thriller in which death threats, corrupt politicians, and life-threatening cancer run parallel to glimpses of the divine and extraordinary manifestations of timeless wisdom.

Lively and highly readable introspections on the software development industry appeals to both insiders and non-technical readers alike with candid reflections takes a look at the future of software engineering as a profession. McConnell, a best-selling and award-winning author, describes software development practices and trends, provides valuable insight, and gives the non-technical public an understanding of software engineering.

Sequel to the author's 'Old Melbourne Town Before the Gold Rush', this history describes the dynamic effects of the gold discoveries of the 1850s on the development of Melbourne. Discusses a range of aspects associated with the sudden influx of wealth and dramatic increase in population. Includes 110 colour plates taken mainly from contemporary paintings. Includes a bibliography and an index. The author's other publications include the bestselling 'The Land Boomers'.