The culmination of years of fieldwork in southern Malawi, River of Blood reconstructs the beginnings of the Mbona martyr cult, follows its history to the present day, and reveals the fascinating intersections of an indigenous belief system with European Christianity. In the cult of Mbona, the central African mythology of the snake that is beheaded to make the rains come has been combined with a more spiritual interpretation: the snake has been transformed into a human martyr and redeemer. According to the cult, the rainmaker Mbona was tracked down by his enemies; they cut off his head, and his blood formed the River of Blood. Mbona returned as a storm wind and asked that a shrine be dedicated in his name. J. Matthew Schoffeleers recounts how the Portuguese presence in Zambezia in the period 1590-1622 led to more than three decades of internecine warfare and caused the people of southern Malawi tremendous suffering. In response to this political oppression and social upheaval, Schoffeleers shows, the people looked to Mbona, their "black Jesus," for redemption. Beyond reconstructing the cult's genesis, Schoffeleers traces its recent history, particularly in political context. He provides texts of seven cult myths from different historical periods in both Chimang'anja and English. His analysis presents the Mbona myth as a continuous social construction and deconstruction. Emphasizing the impact of political and spiritual oppression on the cult, he distinguishes between the differing versions of the myth preserved by the aristocracy and by the commonalty and demonstrates how these disparate views unite to preserve historical information. In so doing, he shows that cults serve as valuable repositories for historical information.

It Took One Week To Kill Her. . . Restaurant manager Lisa Kimmell had been driving for hours to visit her family in Montana. She never arrived. Eight days later, her body was found floating in the North Platte River. . . .And Fifteen Years To Catch Him. The police knew Lisa had been tortured and raped for a week before she was finally murdered. But they had no suspects, no witnesses, no clues. Just a strange handwritten letter left on her gravestone. . . But The Pain Would Last Forever. . . Lisa's murder was never solved--and her car never found--until new DNA technology led police to Dale Wayne Eaton. Fifteen years had passed since Eaton kidnapped his unlucky victim at a Wyoming rest stop. But now police had forensic evidence, handwriting samples, and most incredibly: Lisa's car buried in the killer's yard. Eaton's capture shed horrifying new light on a series of unsolved disappearances. Were they the work of a serial killer? Dale Wayne Eaton's trial revealed a twisted loner driven by dark appetites--a monster without remorse. With 16 Pages Of Shocking Photos

"A law doesn't exist until you fear it." Sean Tower, reluctant beneficiary of a family tradition in law enforcement, spins headlong into the violent, corrupt world of a metropolitan police force. His anarchist idealism and the culture of the warrior cop prove destined for bloody collision.

Two sisters must fight to the death to win the crown in this first installment of a gripping, action-packed duology set in an ancient North African-inspired fantasy world. Now in paperback. Sixteen-year-old Eva is a princess, born with the magick of blood and marrow--a dark and terrible magick that hasn't been seen for generations in the vibrant but fractured country of Myre. Its last known practitioner was Queen Raina, who toppled the native royalty and massacred thousands, including her own sister, eight generations ago, thus beginning the Rival Heir tradition. Living in Raina's long and dark shadow, Eva must now face her older sister, Isa, in a battle to the death if she hopes to ascend to the Ivory Throne--because in the Queendom of Myre only the strongest, most ruthless rulers survive. A River of Royal Blood is an enthralling debut set in a lush ancient North African inspired fantasy world that subtly but powerfully challenges our notions of power, history, and identity.

From the bestselling authors of The Frontiersman, a young man follows the call of the wild to the Rockies, but killers follow him. Breckenridge Wallace was turning into a true mountain man on the American frontier. As a teenager in Tennessee he killed in self-defense, then left behind the woman he loved. With a gun and trap lines he is learning how to survive in the Rocky Mountains, braving the punishing elements, ruthless outlaws, and forging an uneasy peace with the Indians. But as dangerous as life is, nothing is worse than a powerful man with a murderous grudge. Breck has left two such men in his past—and they both send cold-blooded killers for hire after him. Now the young frontiersman must fight a whole new kind of enemy—armed with his courage, strength, and raw skills with knife and gun...

Twelve-year-old Samuel Collier is a lowly commoner on the streets of London. So when he becomes the page of Captain John Smith and boards the Susan Constant, bound for the New World, he can’t believe his good fortune. He’s heard that gold washes ashore with every tide. But beginning with the stormy journey and his first contact with the native people, he realizes that the New World is nothing like he imagined. The lush Virginia shore where they establish the colony of James Town is both beautiful and forbidding, and it’s hard to know who’s a friend or foe. As he learns the language of the Algonquian Indians and observes Captain Smith’s wise diplomacy, Samuel begins to see that he can be whomever he wants to be in this new land.

In the late 1930s, the federal government embarked on an unusual project. As a part of the Works Progress Administration's efforts to give jobs to unemployed Americans, government workers tracked down 3,000 men and women who had been enslaved before and during the Civil War. The workers asked them probing questions about slave life. What did they think about their slaveholders? What songs did they sing? What games did they play? Did they always think about escaping? The result was a remarkable compilation of interviews known as the Slave Narratives. This book highlights those narratives--condensing tens of thousands of pages into short excerpts from about 100 former slaves and pairs their accounts with their photographs, taken by the workers sent to record their stories. The book documents what slaves saw and remembered, and explains how they lived. It is an eye-opening account that details what it was like to be a slave--from everyday life to the overwhelming fear they harbored for their lives and for the lives of their family and loved ones. Their stories are clear and stirring. For some reason, the 700 photographs taken for the Slave Narrative Collection have been largely overlooked. The negatives are missing and the paperclip impressions used to attach the small prints to the typewritten interviews indicates that the photos were never valued or treated as art. By pairing 100 narratives and photographs, the material takes on a new life. Every word from every former slave comes alive when the reader can see exactly who told these accounts. The photographs--with the stories--are essential in helping us understand the humanity behind these stories. The words take on new meeting paired with the photographs. When you hear Bill Homer explain that he was given as a wedding present at the age of ten in 1860 and look at his photograph as a proud old man, the true meaning of slavery starts to sinks in. This book is designed so that all Americans will better understand this issue that plays such an important role in present day society. The words and the photographs are profound.