Product Description
In BRANDY AND VAL'S SPECIAL STORY, discover how Brandy and Val, real rescue dogs, went from down-on-their-luck pups to being two of the most fortunate pooches around! This rugged board book is designed with the toddler in mind but is fun for the whole family to read. Tabbed pages make it easy for little fingers to turn the pages, and the compact size, 4.5 inch x 6.5 inch, make the book easy to carry. Colorful pages are packed with real, unstaged photographs taken by Brandy and Val's parents as events really happened. Other titles in the Brandy and Val, Real Dogs with Real Tales series include the first book, BRANDY AND VAL, where the pups invite you into their world and discover how they like to play and the things they like to do during their day; and BRANDY AND VAL'S FAVORITE THINGS where you find out what the dogs favorite activities are and who their friends are. 100 percent of the proceeds from BRANDY AND VAL'S SPECIAL STORY go to the rescue the pup's were adopted from. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

great stuff
We bought this book for our autistic son who just loves dogs. He takes it with him wherever we go. The tabs are good so he doesn't get frustrated trying to turn the pages. Great idea with a great story.

Lucky dogs
Two very lucky dogs.Love the story about how they were rescued (especially Val who was from Hurricane Katrina) and that the profits go to charity.Story a little complicated for toddlers so I had to simplify it a little but it works well with the other stories about Brandy and Val. ... Read more

Product Description
Proof of God s grace and restoration, He KEPT HIS PROMISE (How do you stand on the Word of God when your legs of faith are broken?), is the must have inspirational book of the year. This book is in a league of its own; as it challenges you to do one thing...try God. Who is Brandy BrandyWine Rankins? I m glad you asked- erupting past the deep trenches of trial, tribulation, and the impossible, comes the birth and fresh anointing of acclaimed poet and new author Brandy Brandywine Rankins. Her testimony alone spells faith. Within the pages of this book you are not just able to see the depths of Brandy s wombs; you are able to touch them. Just when you thought your own problems couldn t get any worse, comes a woman who s faced with death, robbery, being fired from her job, no money to bury her mom, a new baby with a serious medical diagnosis, and oh did I mention she became a widow at the age of 21? It's true that every book on the market has a story to tell but you haven t heard a life changing testimony until you have read this book written by Brandy BrandyWine Rankins . HE KEPT HIS PROMISE is a hot commodity but like Levar Burton use to say You don t have to take my word for it . Get ready to laugh, cry, and most of all become inspired during these times where the economy is low, violence is at an all time high, yet God is forever faithful. This book is for everyone. ... Read more

Product Description
The Irish traders who settled in the Charente area moved on to the rapidly growing brandy trade by the mid-18 century. The struggles of these families are described when Ireland fleetingly became the central point of the international brandy business. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Florida reporter Brandy O'Bannon is intrigued by a classified ad that asks an unidentified woman, who has been missing for twenty years, to come forward. The young mother and her two-year old daughter disappeared as Hurricane Agnes swept into the historic Gulf coast village of Cedar Key, although no fatalities were reported. When Brandy learns that a woman's skeleton was found a year later in the basement of one of the state's oldest and Cedar Key's most charming hotel, she begins a search for answers. The grisly fate of the private detective who placed the ad is soon discovered by Brandy's golden retriever. While trying to resolve both mysteries, Brandy ferrets out a new friend's true identity and guides her to self-knowledge. In the process, Brandy becomes the victim of attack, kidnapping, and hurricane. She outwits both nature and assailants, helps solve two brutal murders—and gets her front page story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent read
A phenomenal effort by Mrs. Cook.I was intially drawn to this novel after a recent 3-day trip to Cedar Key and I'm so glad I came upon it.I'm an avid reader of Randy White, RBP, John D. MacDonald, Peter Matthiessen, Dennis Lehane, etc., and I'm sure that Mrs. Cook's books will lay next to theirs' in my bookcase for years to come.Brandy O'Bannon can hang with Doc Ford and Travis McGee any day of week.I almost wish I'd had Mrs. Cook as my High School English teacher, too, as maybe I would've turned into the writer I always wanted to be (instead of the 9-5 software professional I ended up being).Highly engrossing, highly suspenseful, highly characterized, highly rich in FLA history, and highly recommended.

An entertaining read from a talented and insightful author
Ann Turner Cook is the individual behind the famous Gerber baby picture we all grew up with. She is a retired English teacher and member of the Mystery Writers of America. She resides in Tampa Florida with her husband, who assists her in her research.

Brandy O'Bannon is trying to make a name for herself in the newspaper business, and to do that she needs the elusive "big story." When her editor sends her out to investigate the story of a woman from New York who has been missing for twenty years, she springs into action. The woman had a two and a half year old daughter, and they simply vanished in the Cedar Key area. When O'Bannon arrives in Cedar Key, she quickly meets a woman named Cara Waters who may be the missing child, and learns of a skeleton found in the cistern in the basement of a local hotel which could be the mother. But what events transpired and how to track them down is the big challenge for Brandy. Her husband, John, is being actively pursued by his architectural intern, Tiffany Moore. The folk of Cedar Key are tight-lipped, and Brandy thinks they know much more than they admit. A fellow investigator is murdered, and Brandy begins to worry for her own safety:

"She had started across the narrow sidewalk toward a street lamp when she heard the scuffle of footsteps behind her. She whirled. A thick figure was rising from the basement entry, its face grotesque, a blur of mashed lips and flattened nose. Brandy dropped her suitcase. Her heart thudded and her fingers tightened around the straps of her bag. A stocking mask, of course."

Ann Turner Cook writes quite a colorful story for someone with such an angelic face. Her writing is of a high caliber, clear and full of action. She allows the reader to savor the story, yet become totally enmeshed in the action. Shadow Over Cedar Key is a high action, suspenseful, and yet tragic tale that is sure to pull at the reader's heartstrings. Brandy O'Bannon is a wonderful example of a young person trying to find her place in the world and yet keep her marriage from crumbling. Her own tale is a love story most haunting, as Poirot would say. An excellent and entertaining read from a talented and insightful author.

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer ... Read more

Product Description
Historical memoir about a living WWII human intelligenceofficer and war hero. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Excellent Life Story
I purchased this book for my husband for a Father's Day gift.I met my husband in 1960.He was an employee of Las Brisas Hilton in Acapulco.He worked as a waiter and behind the buffet table at La Concha Beach Club.His boss was Frank M. Brandstetter.He used to bring coffee and sweet rolls up to Mr. Brandstetter's casita in the morning.His name is Victor Manuel Pedraza.He knew and loved Mr. Brandstetter and knew very little of his life, but he did hear that he had been a war hero. I knew he would be so very interested in this book.
We were talking about our times at Las Brisas and his name came up in the conversation about a month before I ordered the book.I googled his name and was amazed to see that there was a book written on his life.We are so curious to know if he is still alive.I was from Chicago, and I spent a vacation in Mexico in 1960, and stayed at Las Brisas.That is where we met and fell in love.I had also met Mr. Brandstetter on many occasions. My husband was transferred to the Acapulco Hilton when it opened. Anyhow, my husband and I corresponded for 3 years and eventually he was able to come to the United States.We were married in Los Angeles in 1963. We have 4 children.I was thrilled to give him this book for Father's Day.He loves it and is so proud to have worked under this great man in his late teens and early twenties.

Hotelier and Spy
A great read about a remarkable man. I knew Brandy personally and this book doesn't give him true justice but does tell the story of his amazing life. A must read for those in the hotel industry or those that have ever stayed at Las Brisas. The book covers his military days thru to his retirement ,as a spy and hotelier extrodinaire ,in the hills above Acapulco. Buy it and you won't have a regret only perhaps your life could have been as fullfilling and adventurous.

Amazing encounter
I met Colonel Frank Brandstetter in Omaha beach, Normandy-France, late 70's. Fantastic personality, true humanity, a great lesson of life at a time when the Cold War was not over yet.

I was assigned to Ste.Mere Eglise by the Commander of the 32nd Company Division, during my national service after finishing the military academy (reserved officers). Mission was to be the "ordonnance" of this VIP for the D-Day ceremonies. There were also exhausted officers just back from Vietnam. We tried our best to take care of all these great people, and shared a lot of good and intense moments during the ceremonies.

I was early 20, he was soon 70 and Frank told me a lot about the war and the peace, about the life and death, about mission and respect, and how to be able to "carry on" day after day.

I remember his comments about General Ridgway, about Europe and USA, about horrors of war and hate but he mostly talked, free, about peace and how to maintain the peace and build the future. It was really an experience! God, he spoke so many languages in the same time. The whole crowd around was impressed, so was I. Well, I saw him with my eyes and heard with my own ears how he had managed and practice the talents he had during WW2 and after that, in Europe.

If one of the most important thing in life, for all of us, is to know what are the good things we leave behind us; well, i guess that Frank could teach a young man and a few other guys at an important time in their lives, how to manage and forecast the rest of their lives; and he did it well. I have not met Frank again, and I often thought about Accapulco and "Brandy" in his colourful Jeep riding in the jungle around the resort, opened to the astronauts back on earth, all of them firmly standing on the world again.

I never forgot his fascinating character. He achieved a hell of a job as an Officer who had a tough life, as a man, and as a friend.

Later on, my work drove me and my wife to work in the Far-East, very closed from a place where General Ridgway took over the work of an other historical icone, Doug. Mc Arthur. And I often remembered, on assigments for my media, a couple of lessons Frank Brandstetter tought to me.

I really think the writers did an extraordinary and fascinating book, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for that amazing encounter, now presented and shared with people. Bravo ! Joel Legendre

A Living Hero
As a baby boomer, the only personal connection I had with WWII, was that my father worked as a chemist on the Manhattan Project in Washington State.

So when a friend sent me a copy of Brandy: Our Man in Acapulco: The Life and Times of Colonel Frank M. Brandstetter, I thought what doesthis book have to do with my life?

The answer is everything.The authorsof this compelling historical memoir, Dominic Monetta and Rodney Carlisle,brought WWII and the Cold War to life for me.

Colonel Brandstetter's lifereads like a Hollywood screenplay.this book has everything fiction has: espionage, movie stars, strong American values, heroic rescues and escapes.It is refreshing to know, in a world where sports figures are amongst thefew heroes our young people admire, that there is a living war hero whosaved hundreds and hundreds of lives as a human intelligence officer - ahumble man with the courage and passion to make a difference.

I wouldurge teachers to request Brandy: Our Man in Acapulco as required reading inhigh schools around the country.

Brandy's Life Would Make a Wonderful Novel
Colonel Frank Brandstetter obviously led a fascinating life.The words, "officer, gentleman and scholar," come to mind as he seems to embody all those qualities.He was also a visionary in the world of hotelmanagment--many of the practices Brandy instituted are now standardoperating procedures in the hotel business.

Brandy was obviously arisk-taker--but risk-takers also make mistakes, learn from those mistakes,and come up with better ideas.I wish the author had mentioned which ideashad failed--it would have presented a more in-depth and complex portrait ofCol. Brandstetter.There was also very little personal information aboutBrandstetter in the book. A man is more than the sum total of hisaccomplisments.

In the long-run, I think a novel based on Col.Brandstetter's life would make a fascinating read. He led a life ofintrigue, daring, and heroic and accomplished endeavors and seems to haveremained a gentleman throughout--the kind of hero we like to see in anovel. ... Read more

Product Description
A brief biography of the award-winning young singer who is also the star of the television series, "Moesha." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This book is the bomb!
I realy like this book I bought it for me and my freind who is a crazy brandy fan she said she loved it and i agree.I like Brandy too I realy recomend this book to everyvbody who loves Brandy and those don't youshould realy get this book GET IT NOW!!!!!!!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
A brief biography of the award-winning young singer who is also the star of the television series, "Moesha." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This book is the bomb!
I realy like this book I bought it for me and my freind who is a crazy brandy fan she said she loved it and i agree.I like Brandy too I realy recomend this book to everyvbody who loves Brandy and those don't youshould realy get this book GET IT NOW!!!!!!!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
What do you get when Star Wars meets Sherwood Forest? Mix in a little Pirates of the Caribbean, Fanny Hill and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and you get Brandi Whyne… And Her Incredibly Erotic Adventures with Robin Manhood and His Totally Sexed-Out Space Pirates. In Chapter Two: Lashed at the Mast! strong-willed, hot-blooded Brandi Whyne finds herself tied up for a bout of “discipline” with ship’s disciplinarian Zelda. After her experience, Captain Ro ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Disappointing Account
I purchased this book as it is supposed to be better than Fairfax Downey's "Clash of Cavalry" which appeared in 1959.In short: this is an awful book. The author is an elderly Virginia lawyer who specializes in the southern cavalry who fought in War Between the States, or War for Southern Independence (page 7), and although he promises a fair interpretation of the actions of the troops on both sides his valiant Southern Horsemen manage to stymie the "Yankee Invaders" by the end of the battle and send them off across the Rappahannock. The Federals are generally labled Yankees, but his Southern Horsemen are never Rebels.This orientation also shows in his sources.Crouch generally has mastered primary and secondary Confederate accounts, but he overlooks many Federal regimental histories and personal accounts even though they are in print and readily available. Don't bother to look for unpublished sources: the author goes so far as to list an address where readers can send more to him.He certainly seems to never to have crossed the Potomac to discover what might lurk in Yankee repositories. Further, he is a poor writer, his chapters are choppy and disjointed and he often takes a "shotgun" approach--blast away until you hit someting, no matter if it is related to the paragraph in front or behind. This is a book by an amateur published by amateurs: there are no modern maps to help the narrative, there are typos and words run together.The overall effect is poor. Save your money. ... Read more

Product Description
This report was created for global strategic planners who cannot be content with traditional methods of segmenting world markets. With the advent of a "borderless world", cities become a more important criteria in prioritizing markets, as opposed to regions, continents, or countries. This report covers the top 2000 cities in over 200 countries. It does so by reporting the estimated market size (in terms of latent demand) for each major city of the world. It then ranks these cities and reports them in terms of their size as a percent of the country where they are located, their geographic region (e.g. Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, North America, Latin America), and the total world market.

In performing various economic analyses for its clients, I have been occasionally asked to investigate the market potential for various products and services across cities. The purpose of the studies is to understand the density of demand within a country and the extent to which a city might be used as a point of distribution within its region. From an economic perspective, however, a city does not represent a population within rigid geographical boundaries. To an economist or strategic planner, a city represents an area of dominant influence over markets in adjacent areas. This influence varies from one industry to another, but also from one period of time to another.

In what follows, I summarize the economic potential for the world's major cities for "distilled liquor excluding brandy" for the year 2009. The goal of this report is to report my findings on the real economic potential, or what an economist calls the latent demand, represented by a city when defined as an area of dominant influence. The reader needs to realize that latent demand may or may not represent real sales. ... Read more

Product Description
This econometric study covers the outlook for brown spirits (whisky, dark rum, and brandy) in Asia. For each year reported, estimates are given for the latent demand, or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.), for the country in question (in millions of U.S. dollars), the percent share the country is of the region and of the globe. These comparative benchmarks allow the reader to quickly gauge a country vis-a-vis others. Using econometric models which project fundamental economic dynamics within each country and across countries, latent demand estimates are created. This report does not discuss the specific players in the market serving the latent demand, nor specific details at the product level. The study also does not consider short-term cyclicalities that might affect realized sales. The study, therefore, is strategic in nature, taking an aggregate and long-run view, irrespective of the players or products involved.

This study does not report actual sales data (which are simply unavailable, in a comparable or consistent manner in virtually all of the countries in Asia). This study gives, however, my estimates for the latent demand, or the P.I.E. for brown spirits (whisky, dark rum, and brandy) in Asia. It also shows how the P.I.E. is divided across the national markets of Asia. For each country, I also show my estimates of how the P.I.E. grows over time (positive or negative growth). In order to make these estimates, a multi-stage methodology was employed that is often taught in courses on international strategic planning at graduate schools of business. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Samson is a 1961 film made by Academy Award-winning Polish director Andrzej Wajda that uses art house aesthetics to tell a story about the Holocaust. Wajda's World War II film alludes to the Old Testament story of Samson, who had supernatural physical strength. But unlike the Biblical character, Wajda's Samson has great emotional strength. A dark coming-of-age film, Samson follows its Jewish protagonist from an anti-Semitic private school to a prison, then into a Jewish ghetto, and finally over the ghetto wall to the outside world. Wajda uses this journey as a means to explore expressionist cinematography and the weighty issues facing the Jewish people. The construction of the Jewish ghetto is communicated through a single, stationary shot. A shabbily dressed mass is clustered in front of the camera, and a pair of hands with a hammer and nails secures one board at a time, until the shot of people has been replaced with a shot of a wall. ... Read more