This book tells how the 'golden shore' bought bitter hardships, imprisonment, and family tragedy.

From the first human settlements to the latest marine explorations, The Golden Shore tells the tale of the history, culture, and changing nature of California’s coasts and ocean. David Helvarg takes the reader on both a geographic and literary journey along the state’s 1,100-mile Pacific coastline, from the Oregon border to the San Diego–Tijuana international border fence and out into its whale-, seal-, and shark-rich offshore seamounts, rock isles, and kelp forests. Part history, part travelogue, part love letter, The Golden Shore captures the spirit of the California coast and its mythic place in American culture.

For those who visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE), staying in its the lavish hotels and browsing in the ultra-modern shopping malls of Abu Dhabi or Dubai, the country can be a mystery, a glass and concrete creation that seems to have sprung from the desert overnight. Keepers of the Golden Shore looks behind this glossy façade, illuminating the region’s history, which stretches from the ancient Arabian tribes who controlled a desolate but economically important shoreline to the ostentatious architectural wonders—bankrolled by a massive wealth of oil—that characterize it today. As Michael Quentin Morton recounts, the region now known as the UAE likely began as a trading post between Mesopotamia and Oman, and since that time has been the stage of important economic and cultural exchanges. It has seen the rise and fall of a thriving pearl industry, piracy, invasions and wars, and the arrival of the oil age that would make it one of the richest countries on earth. Since the early 1970s, when seven sheikhs agreed to enter into a union, it has been a sovereign nation, carrying on the resourceful spirit—with resplendent fervor—that the brutally inhospitable landscape has long demanded of the people. Ultimately, Morton shows that the country is not only rich in oil and money but in an extraordinarily deep history and culture.

What happened to the California dream? Was it consumed by fire? Swept away in a mudslide? Or was it just lost in soul-crushing traffic? That Golden Shore is a bittersweet love letter to the Golden State in slow-motion apocalypse, a tragi-comic caravan of aging rock stars and yoga gurus, surf punks and besieged immigrants, washouts from Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and the professional surf tour. It charts the odd collisions of history, culture, and spirituality that have seduced people to California for centuries: its lore and landscapes; its fragile, vanishing, impossible beauty; the mad frustrations of trying live in a place collapsing under the weight of its own mythology. In That Golden Shore, a working musician holed up in an off-the-grid beach town failing into the ocean gives us a stage-eye view of the tribal power of music, the healing power of surfing, and the enduring, redemptive power of landscape.

A classic Little Golden Book—with a summertime theme! Nancy and Timmy hop out of their beds one summer morning and help pack their swimsuits and lunch. And then it's off to the seashore! In a charming rhyme, this Little Golden Book from 1951 (then titled A Day at the Beach) describes what preschoolers will find there: "You can catch little crabs—if you're quick! You can draw great big pictures right on the beach with a piece of a shell or a stick." Oh, what fun! From Kathryn and Byron Jackson, authors of the popular Little Golden Book The Saggy Baggy Elephant, and Corinne Malvern, illustrator of the Little Golden Books Doctor Dan the Bandage Man and Nurse Nancy.

An engaging and in-depth tale of a couple who influenced the birth of American missions, "Bless God and Take Courage" (one of Ann Judson's favorite sayings) provides an intriguing trail of never-before-published discoveries about the missionaries.

Vikings meets Frostblood in this romantic historical fantasy stand-alone from author Jessica Leake. The ancient land of Éirinn is mired in war. Ciara, princess of Mide, has never known a time when Éirinn’s kingdoms were not battling for power, or Northmen were not plundering their shores. The people of Mide have always been safe because of Ciara’s unearthly ability to control her enemies’ minds and actions. But lately a mysterious crow has been appearing to Ciara, whispering warnings of an even darker threat. Although her clansmen dismiss her visions as pagan nonsense, Ciara fears this coming evil will destroy not just Éirinn but the entire world. Then the crow leads Ciara to Leif, a young Northman leader. Leif should be Ciara’s enemy, but when Ciara discovers that he, too, shares her prophetic visions, she knows he’s something more. Leif is mounting an impressive army, and with Ciara’s strength in battle, the two might have a chance to save their world. With evil rising around them, they’ll do what it takes to defend the land they love...even if it means making the greatest sacrifice of all.