Biography: general Books

Book SynopsisThis is a comprehensive study of the life of Nasir-Khusraw, one of the foremost poets of the Persian language and a major Ismaili thinker and writer. Celebrated for a poetry that combines art with philosophy, trusted for the details of his travels throughout the Middle East, revered and criticized for his theological texts, he remains one of the most fascinating figures in Islamic history and literature. This volume also includes sections of his work.Trade Review'Here, at last, is a book that succinctly introduces the Ismaili poet and da'I (missionary) Nasir-I Khusraw to the general reader, to his students, and to academics.' -Edebiyat: Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures '...Hansberger's book maintains the balance between being highly informative and pleasantly readable.' -Middle East Studies

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Book SynopsisBoudica, or Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, led a famous revolt against Roman rule in Britain in AD 60, sacking London, Colchester and St Albans and throwing the province into chaos. Although then defeated by the governor, Suetonius Paulinus, her rebellion sent a shock wave across the empire. Who was this woman who defied Rome? Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen is an account of what we know about the real woman, from classical literature, written for the consumption of readers in Rome, and from the archaeological evidence. It also traces her extraordinary posthumous career as the earliest famous woman in British history. Since the Renaissance she has been seen as harridan, patriot, freedom fighter and feminist, written about in plays and novels, painted and sculpted, and recruited to many causes. She remains a tragic, yet inspirational, figure of unending interest.Trade Review'...This account, by two archaeologists, is a good one, and gives us all that we know for sure about this interesting figure, and all the myths and fantasies which have been built up around her.' -- Paul Johnson * Literary Review *Table of ContentsIllustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part One: Boudica; 1 Iron Age and Roman Britain; 2 The Classical Sources; 3 The Archaeological Evidence; Part Two: Boadicea; 4 Finding Boadicea; 5 Subordination; 6 Imperial Icon; 7 In the Modern World; 8 A Woman of Many Faces; Notes; References; Index.

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Book SynopsisTrouble began in 1963. I'm not blaming it on President Kennedy's assassination or its being the beginning of the sixties or the Vietnam War or The Beatles...The trouble I'm talking about was my first real trouble, the age-old trouble. The getting in trouble as in ' Is she in trouble?' trouble. As in pregnant. As in the girl who got pregnant in high school.'Beverly Ann Donofrio wasn't bad because she hung out with hoods - she was bad because she was a hood. Unable to attend college, she lost interest in everything but riding around in cars, drinking, smoking, and rebelling against authority. After her teenage marriage failed, Bev found herself at an elite New England university, books in one arm, child on the other. Then, furnished with ambition, dreams and five hundred dollars, she took herself and her son to New York to begin a career and a life. An outrageous and touching memoir, this is the story of a teenage mother who, as her son grows up, becomes an adult herself.Trade ReviewA classic. Unless you hate to laugh, read it now * CHICAGO TRIBUNE *What Beverly Donofrio makes you realise is that even very, very B-A-D girls can redeem themselves with pluck, luck, and gallows humour. Every swoop and dive of this roller coaster life presents another off-kilter view of humanity. You're just so glad it * Jacki Lyden, author of DAUGHTER OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA *She writes as though she was born without brakes- it's shrewd, touching, funny and astonishing. * Joanna Lumley *She describes her relucant disastrous marriage at 17 and subsequent battle to educate herself, while brining up her son alone on welfare, with a humour and tenacity that is touching and shockingly funny... This sends her spare, witty prose dancing across t * OBSERVER *

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Book SynopsisSadeq Hedayat is the most famous and the most enigmatic Iranian writer of the 20th century. He was born in 1903 and he lived a troubled life which ended in 1951 with his suicide in Paris. His most celebrated novel, "The Blind Owl" has made an impact far beyond Iranian literary circles and has drawn the attention of Western critics. But Hedayat's impact on the development of modern fiction and on the lives of generations of Iranian intellectuals derives also from his other works and from what was a unique approach to life and art in a rapidly changing society. This book is the first comprehensive study of Hedayat's life and works set against the background of literary and political developments in Iran over the first half of the 20th century. Katouzian discusses Hedayat's life and times and the literary and political circles with which he was associated. But he also emphasises the uniqueness and universality of those ideas that have set Hedayat apart from other Iranian writers of the period and that have given him a mystique that has been instrumental in his posthumous success.Table of ContentsHedayat and modern Persian literature; early years; Hedayat in Europe; life and labour in the golden era; Iranian culture and romantic nationalism; Iranian culture and critical realism; the blind owl - a critical exposition; the origins of the blind owl; hopes and despairs; Hajis and workers; satire and depression; the trial - the message of Hedayat; the execution - Hedayat's suicide; the legend and the man.

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Book SynopsisThis is a collection of stories about the life of a bushveld conservationist as it is lived at the ground level by that elite band of men and woman who guard the Kruger National Park - at the cost of much sweat and, not infrequently, quite a bit of blood. Bruce Bryden's tales of 27 years in the service of our most famous park make a gripping and entertaining read, abounding with encounters with elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino, whether darting for research, managing culling operations by helicopter or stalking on foot. In the best tradition of bushveld stories, there is a great deal of shooting, and a fair amount of running away; there are meetings with extraordinary characters among the rangers; memorable gatherings; hilarious mishaps and narrow escapes; and throughout, a great love and respect for both the wilderness and the creatures that inhabit it.

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Book SynopsisAlex Alexandrowicz spent 22 years in custody protesting his innocence. This book explains how something which began with a plea bargain in the belief that he would serve a 'short' sentence turned into a Kafkaesque nightmare. His 'Prison Chronicles' are placed in perspective by Professor David Wilson. The Longest Injustice contains the full story of Anthony Alexandrovich - known universally as 'Alex'. Principally, the book is about his 29-year fight against his conviction as a seventeen-year-old for aggravated burglary, wounding with intent, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Twenty-two of these years were spent in prison where Alex was a discretionary life sentenced prisoner, and where he steadfastly maintained his innocence. He continues to do so after release, and is taking his case through the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which was set up in 1995 to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice. Alex's own recollections are supplemented by analysis of the dilemma facing people in British prisons who are determined to maintain their innocence, and the book highlights the considerable disincentives and disadvantages to them of doing so. Authors Alex Alexandrowicz spent 22 years in some of Britain's most notorious gaols much of this time as a Category A high security prisoner. His Prison Chronicles are a first hand account in which he explains why he believes he was wrongly convicted (a matter currently with the Criminal Cases Review Commission) and vividly recreates his experiences of the early years following his arrest. Institutionalised by the system and apprehensive of the outside world he now lives alone in Milton Keynes where he continues the long fight to clear his name from a flat which has grown to resemble a prison cell. David Wilson is professor of criminology at the Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham. A former prison governor, he is editor of the Howard Journal and a well-known author, broadcaster and presenter for TV and radio, including for the BBC, C4 and Sky Television. He has written three other books for Waterside Press: Prison(er) Education: Stories of Change and Transformation (with Ann Reuss) (2000) , Images of Incarceration: Representations of Prison in Film and Television Drama (with Sean O'Sullivan) (2004), and Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and Their Victims (2007).Table of ContentsPrisoner 789959 Alex Alexandrowicz; after the chronicles end; a descriptive outline; innocence and HMP Grendon; the law and lifers, release and the Criminal Cases Review Commission; cases cited in the text.

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Book SynopsisIsaac Mayer Wise (1819–1900), founder of the major institutions of Reform Judaism in America, was a man of his time—a pioneer in a pioneer’s world. When he came to America from his childhood Bohemia in 1846, he found fewer than 50,000 Jews and only two ordained rabbis. With his sense of mission and tireless energy, he set himself to tailoring the vehicle of Reform Judaism to meet the needs of the growing Jewish community. Wise strove for unity among American Jews, and for a college to train rabbis to serve them. The establishment of Hebrew Union College (1875) was the crowning achievement of his life. His quest for unity also led him to draw up an American Jewish prayer-book, Minhag America, to found the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and to edit two weeklies; their editorials, breathing fire and energy, were no less important in his quest for leadership. Here as elsewhere, it was his persistence that won him the war where his impetuosity lost him many battles. Professor Temkin’s writing captures the vigour of Wise’s personality and the politics and concerns of contemporary Jewish life and leadership in America. Based primarily on material in the American Jewish Archives of the Hebrew Union College, this biography is a lively portrait of a rabbi whose singular efforts in many fields made him a pivotal figure in the naturalization of the Jew and Judaism in the New World. The book was first published in hardback in 1992 under the title Isaac Mayer Wise: Shaping American Judaism.Trade Review'Sefton Temkin has provided us with a much-needed critical and balanced portrayal of Wise ... The best scholarly work on Wise to date. It presents an admiring yet critical picture of Wise's achievements and personality ... Temkin's nuanced portrayal is a welcome contribution to our understanding of the man and his times.'- George L. Berlin, AJS Review'Thorough and extremely competent ... Temkin contributes a great deal through his careful use of materials ... The book will be of interest to general readers ... who wish not only to understand Isaac Mayer Wise but, moreover, to comprehend the attitudes and events that led to the formation of a truly American form of Judaism.' - A. J. Avery-Peck, Choice'This new study, which becomes the authoritative work on Wise, is the product of decades of research.'- Geoffrey Wigoder, Jerusalem Post'Sefton Temkin has outdone himself in this excellent critical biography ... Dr Temkin has performed a great service with this highly readable and insightful book.'- Allen Howard Podet, MannaTable of ContentsPrefatory NoteAbbreviationsNote on Transliteration1 Bohemia (1819–1849)Metternich’s Europe • Jewish Life in an Age of Reaction • Early Years • Departure2 New Beginning (1846–1854)Young America • Jewish Life • Rabbi in Albany • Organizing American Jewry • Early Writings • Sortie in Charleston: Backlash in Albany • Anshe Emeth • Formulating his Beliefs • The Asmonean • A Bible History • Heading West3 Cincinnati (1854–1900)Queen City of the West • Congregation B’nai Jeshurun • The Israelite • Zion College • Conference—Union—Synod • David Einhorn • Cleveland Platform: Quick Victory—Lengthy War • Minhag America • The Essence of Judaism • Fighting for Jewish Rights • Political Dimensions • The Civil War • At North College Hill • First Fruits in Cincinnati • Wider Ambitions • Among the Gentiles (1867–1878) • Years of Sorrow and Strife (1869–1874) • Flirting with the Orthodox • Reformers in Conflict: East versus West (1869) • Establishing the Union (1871–1873) • Call to New York (1873) • ‘We Must have “Union in Israel”’ • President of Hebrew Union College • Appendix: The Principal Changes Introduced in Minhag America4 Fulfilment: Years of HarvestDuties Old and New • Remarriage (1876) • Sustaining the College (1875–1883) • Reform Moves On: The Pittsburgh Platform • A New American Jewish World • Seventieth Birthday: Central Conference of American Rabbis • Sunset • The LegacyBibliographical noteGlossaryIndex

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Book SynopsisThe book begins in New York in 1951 where Olney, a struggling artist, waited tables in Greenwich Village, then moves to Paris and weaves a magical description of food that becomes so real -- as if you were actually there with Olney: 'My first meal in Paris was in a glum little dining room for boarders, in the Hôtel de l'Académie, at the corner of rue de l'Université and the rue des Saints-Pères. The plat du jour was 'gibelotte, pommes mousseline' -- rabbit and white wine fricassee with mashed potatoes. The gibelotte was all right, the mashed potatoes the best I had ever eaten, pushed through a sieve, buttered and moistened with enough of their hot cooking water to bring them to a supple, not quite pourable consistency -- no milk, no cream, no beating. I had never dreamt of mashing potatoes without milk and, in Iowa, everyone believed that, the more you beat them, the better they were.' This book is a long-awaited story of the man who brought the simplicity of French cooking to the United States, and a statement about one of the finest and most important food professionals in the world.

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Book SynopsisThis and being kept out of 'the loop' left her anxious, stressed, mistrusting and suspicious of people. This extended to the actions of certain police officers, paramedics and doctors, her 'supporter' from Victim Support (who took too much for granted and at one point went off to watch 'a more interesting case' in the court next door), the coroner's officer who prevented her husband from kissing William goodbye, the detective who implied that her son was better off dead than alive and the funeral director who told her 'You can't afford flowers'.The plight of Wendy Crompton and other secondary victims who have suffered comparable torment was the subject of a feature in the "Daily Mirror" on 4 December 2006 and Justice For William was eagerly awaited by a media critical of Government withdrawal of financial support for 'lifeline' conferences between people affected by some of the worst crimes in Britain, the critical importance of which is emphasised in the book. "Justice For William" is a hard-hitting, challenging and at times raw account: a cautionary tale enhanced by new author Helen P Simpson's vivid writing. Helen met Wendy through Helen's work with the "Reducing Burglary Initiative" in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire after her curiosity was aroused by the words 'No Contact' on Wendy's case file. The story of their friendship is an object lesson for anyone coming into contact with secondary victims of homicide and other serious offences - as are the more enlightening illustrations of decent people who lent Wendy support.Trade Review'Looks unflinchingly at a system that is at best thoughtless and at worst downright disrespectful. It's essential reading for victims of crime and those who work with them'.Carol Anne Davis.'I confess that I did not find the book comfortable reading and almost put it to one side after the first couple of chapters. I'm glad that I continued with it as it taught me to be even more understanding in relating to those who suffer. Both Wendy and Helen have made a valuable contribution to my understanding of the problems faced by the victims of crime and those who work with them. They are living proof of what I said earlier [in the Foreword]. Suffering need not destroy. Their book is a testimony to that fact'.Terry Waite CBE'As I progressed through Justice For William, I was compelled to severely disrupt my normal daily routines, in the vain hope of being able to race to the last gripping page in a single session ... I strongly commend this story of extreme horror to those naive members of the largely law-abiding populace who, in their innocent naivety, are unaware that most incidents dramatised and portrayed on their television screens nightly, in action-packed soaps and screen dramas are in fact "borrowed" from real life events, which brought sheer disbelief and utter misery to the surviving relatives of actual victims. Most of all I would recommend it to Government Ministers, Members of Parliament, Consultant Psychiatrists, Criminologists, Senior Police Officers, Prison Governors, Coroners, members of the legal profession, Crown Prosecution Service, Senior Judiciary, Magistracy, the Sentencing Advisory Council and Human Rights protagonists'.Michael Hughes, Internet Law Book Reviews, February 2007Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ivAbout those involved: A note viForeword Terry Waite CBE viiChapter 1. Tea and Coincidence 11 2. Coming to Huddersfield 19 3. Knock on the Door 23 4. Carry the Flowers 32 5. A Date for the Trial 37 6. Prosecution 42 7. More Questions than Answers 48 8. A Killer's Statement 56 9. Photo of a Murdered Son 6210. Take Him Down 6811. Let Battle Commence 7312. A Goodbye Kiss 7713. Making Amends 8114. Sharing Success 8715. Green of Grass and Blue of Sky 9316. Taking the Stage 9617. Tea and Transcripts 10118. Stress 10619. An Ovation For Wendy 10920. Flashbacks 11321. Conferences and Challenges 11722. Colours in the Garden 12123. The Plot Thins 126

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Book SynopsisBlackness and the Dreaming Soul is an account of a long journey of self-discovery involving an ever deepening awareness of the causes of our current alienation from each other and the natural primordial world. It is an alchemical venture, exploring the darkness of the human psyche: being black and trapped in a white culture, as well as being white and caught in an ambush of denial. Written without bitterness and recrimination, Blackness & the Dreaming Soul is neither pure biography nor philosophical manifesto, but grows out of the author's childhood as the great grandson of a slave in British Guiana. The book chronicles his career during a long sojourn in Britain, as a World War II RAF officer (two years spent as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany), qualifying as a barrister at law, to a career in show business spanning stage, film, radio and TV. In the late 50s, Cy's was the first black face to appear regularly on television, singing the news in calypso. Blackness & the Dreaming Soul transcends attempts at categorization.It is a reconstruction of the way we make our reality, a journey leading the author to a holistic outlook beyond the frustrations that have dogged his life, beyond anger, beyond division and polarity, to a vision of unity in diversity in which all things are connected; man and nature, earth and cosmos. In the 1970s, Cy Grant was chairman and co-founder of DRUM, the first black arts centre in Britain. In the 80s, he was Director of CONCORD multicultural Festivals, celebrating British cultural diversity when the idea of multiculturalism was not so popular. Cy is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Roehampton, a member of the Scientific & Medical Network and author of Ring of Steel, pan sound & symbol, the story of the evolution of the Trinidad Steelpan. "Blackness & the Dreaming Soul does not pull its punches - it has its finger smack on the pulse of what is eating away at the very heart of civil society in Britain" Professor Gus John

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