social change

An entertaining and informative guide to where renewable energy has been, where it is today, and where it's heading.

When the Shanxi Brave Dragons, one of China's worst professional basketball teams, hired former NBA coach Bob Weiss, the team's owner, Boss Wang, promised that Weiss would be allowed to Americanize his players by teaching them "advanced basketball culture." That promise would be broken from the moment Weiss landed in China. Desperate for his team to play like Americans, Wang--a peasant turned steel tycoon--nevertheless refused to allow his players the freedom and individual expression necessary to truly change their games. Former "New York Times" Beijing bureau chief Jim Yardley tells the story of the resulting culture clash with sensitivity and a keen comic sensibility. Readers meet the Brave Dragons, a cast of colorful, sometimes heartbreaking oddballs from around the world: the ambitious Chinese assistant coach, Liu Tie, who believes that Chinese players are genetically inferior and can improve only through the repetitious drilling once advocated by ancient kung fu masters; the moody and selfish American import, Bonzi Wells, a former NBA star so unnerved by China that initially he locks himself in his apartment; the Taiwanese point guard, Little Sun, who is demonized by his mainland Chinese coaches; and the other Chinese players, whose lives sometimes seem little different from those of factory workers.

Traces the history of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, describing each country's climate, plants and animals, ethnic groups, languages, religion, settlement patterns, and demographic trends, and discussing industry, resources, government, and the struggles of the people.

Traces the histories of Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, describing each country's climate, plants and animals, ethnic groups, languages, religion, settlement patterns, and demographic trends, and discussing industry, resources, government, and the development and struggles of the people from antiquity to the early twenty-first century.

An overview of Egypt that provides information on its land, people, economy, government, society, cultural life, and history and examines struggles the country and people have faced.

Traces the histories of Middle Eastern countries, describing each country's climate, plants and animals, ethnic groups, languages, religion, settlement patterns, and demographic trends, and discussing industry, resources, government, and the development and struggles of the peoples from antiquity to the early twenty-first century.

Describes the cultures of certain indigenous peoples, such as the Bushmen of the Kalahari and the forest people of Borneo, and examines how such cultures are threatened and changed by the encroachment of modern civilization.

Rhyming text and color illustrations, inspired by the life of President Barack Obama, encourage children to hope and dream.