The legends of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades that poets, priests, prophets, shamans, storytellers, artists, singers, and historians have told throughout time are retold in this compilation of the stories that have found their inspiration in nine beautiful stars clustered together in the night sky. While particular attention in this cross-cultural study is paid to the influence of the Pleiades cluster on the living traditions of indigenous people in North America, Australia, Japan, and the Pacific, much ancient mythology passed down through written and visual sources from ancient Egypt, India, Greece, and South America is also explored. Appearances of the myths in the modern world are also mentioned, including American presidential elections, Halloween, Atlantis, the Titanic, and Subaru automobiles. Serious astronomical research complements the variety of mythological explanations for the stars' existence by providing the modern world's scientific understanding of them.

Despite the industry being shutdown by two world wars, having its martial arts films dismissively labeled as "chopsocky," and operating on shoestring budgets, the films of Hong Kong have been praised and imitated all over the world. From its beginning in 1909 with the silent short Stealing the Roast Duck to the martial arts classic Enter the Dragon (1973) to Peter Chan's Perhaps Love (2005), a reinvention of Chinese musicals via Hollywood, the vast cinema of Hong Kong has continually reinvented itself. Stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li have become household names, and actors like Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Stephen Chiau, Michelle Yeoh, and Chow Yun-fat continue to gain fame throughout the world.

Tony Mendez led two lives. To his friends, he was a soft-spoken, nondescript bureaucrat working for the Department of Defense. To the leaders of the CIA, he was their master of disguise--an undisputed genius who could create an entirely new identity for anybody, anywhere, anytime. Combining the cunning tricks of a magician with the analytical insight of a psychologist, Mendez shows us how he helped hundreds of people escape potentially fatal situations.

From "Wild West" adventures in East Asia to Cold War intrigue in Moscow, Mendez was there. He earned the CIA's Intelligence Star of Valor for his role in engineering the escape of six Americans from Tehran in 1980. On the fiftieth anniversary of the CIA, he was named one of the fifty all-time stars of the spy trade, honored with the Trailblazer Award, and granted exclusive permission to tell his fascinating story--all of it. Here he gives us a privileged look at what really happens in the field and behind closed doors at the highest level of international espionage: some of it shocking, frightening, and wildly inventive--all of it unforgettable.

Far in the future, 60,000 light-years from Earth, a loose confederacy of Terran exiles is locked in battle with the enigmatic Protoss and the ruthless Zerg Swarm. Each species struggles to ensure its own survival among the stars in a war that will herald the beginning of mankind's greatest chapter -- or foretell its violent, bloody end.

Far in the future, 60,000 light-years from Earth, a loose confederacy of Terran exiles is locked in battle with the enigmatic Protoss and the ruthless Zerg Swarm, as each species struggles to ensure its own survival among the stars -- war that will herald the beginning of mankind's greatest chapter or foretell its violent, bloody end.