Biography Books

Book SynopsisFrom much-loved documentary maker Louis Theroux comes a funny, heartfelt and entertaining account of his life and weird times in TV.The Sunday Times Bestseller.'Honest and soul-searching' - Sunday Express______________In 1994 fledgling journalist Louis Theroux was given a one-off gig on Michael Moore’s TV Nation, presenting a segment on apocalyptic religious sects. Gawky, socially awkward and totally unqualified, his first reaction to this exciting opportunity was panic. But he’d always been drawn to off-beat characters, so maybe his enthusiasm would carry the day. Or, you know, maybe it wouldn’t . . .In Gotta Get Theroux This, Louis takes the reader on a joyous journey from his anxiety-prone childhood to his unexpectedly successful career. Nervously accepting the BBC’s offer of his own series, he went on to create an award-winning documentary style that has seen him immersed in the weird worlds of paranoid US militias and secretive pro-wrestlers, get under the skin of celebrities like Max Clifford and Chris Eubank and tackle gang culture in San Quentin prison, all the time wondering whether the same qualities that make him good at documentaries might also make him bad at life.As Louis woos his beautiful wife Nancy and learns how to be a father, he also dares to take on the powerful Church of Scientology. Just as challenging is the revelation that one of his old subjects, Jimmy Savile, was a secret sexual predator, prompting him to question our understanding of how evil takes place. Filled with wry observation and self-deprecating humour, this is Louis at his most insightful and honest best.______________'Funny, engaging' - Sunday Times'Gripping' - Daily Mail'Absorbing and surprisingly candid' - Telegraph MagazineTrade ReviewAn absorbing and surprisingly candid book . . . * Telegraph Magazine *Gripping * Daily Mail *Engaging, funny * Sunday Times *If you are a fan of Louis Theroux's self-deprecating humour and relaxed broadcasting style, you will enjoy this honest and soul-searching account of his life so far. * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisEver been tempted to try a marathon? Maybe you've just started running, perhaps you're gaining confidence, or are you already well on your way to conquering the iconic distance? Whatever stage you're at on your journey, join marathon man Vassos Alexander as he shows us why we shouldn't be afraid of the big 26.2.Every marathon runner's journey is different. You might have caught the bug after experiencing that adrenaline rush of completing your first 5k; it might be a desire to finally cross something off your bucket list; or, perhaps it was a bit of an absentminded afterthought while watching TV, crisps in hand, and a niggling voice saying maybe I could do that' it was for Vassos, at least. However far along you are in your journey, How to Run A Marathon shows us that absolutely anyone can take those first steps to defeating the distance. In fact, you'll probably end up enjoying it a lot more than you think.Including inspiring interviews with runners from all walks of life, delightful tales of remarkable marathons all over the world, crucial training and nutrition tips and so much more, Vassos shares all the lessons he's learnt from start line to finisher's medal.Funny, candid and motivating, this book will not only help you succeed in your marathon quest but empower you to complete the distance any way you want. Whether that's achieving a particular time or simply finishing in one piece, How to Run a Marathon will guide you through.

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Book SynopsisParisian illustrator Simon Frankart began posting his playfully erotic black ink drawings on Petites Luxures, his Instagram account, in 2014. His minimalist, linear style and witty titles have drawn over 1.2 million followers worldwide. For this, his first book, he asked his followers to write in with their favourite amorous memories. From thousands of entries, he has selected the 50 most inspiring stories, and portrays these sensual, poetic, and often amusing anecdotes with illustrations in his refined signature style.

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Book SynopsisIt all started with a Hob Nob. As Dr Matt Morgan, an intensive care consultant, examined a patient who had suffered a cardiac arrest after inhaling some biscuit crumbs, he saw a flock of birds fly past the window. They must inhale objects all the time when flying, how do they survive? he thought to himself. This began an investigation that spanned continents, species and millennia.   For animal science has so much to teach us about human medicine. While some of the overlaps and parallels are obvious – we know how much DNA we share with primates, the first pig heart has been transplanted into a human – there is so much more that we have learnt from the animal world. For example, studying kangaroos, in particular the female’s three vaginas, has improved in-vitro fertilisation success rates. Watching how a giraffe breathes can help save the life of someone struggling with asthma. Investigating why birds that live in the frozen Arctic circle don&rsTrade Review'290 pages of inspiration doctors can either take from animals or already have' * The Times *‘Funny, fascinating and beautifully written. More than that it is moving and awe inspiring… I can’t think of a more important topic for everyone on the planet to engage with right now' -- Dr Xand van Tulleken'Morgan draws on the similarities between humans and animals to show how much we can learn from them by understanding them better' -- Peter Singer'A fun and fascinating dive into the physiology of the animal kingdom and what it means for the medicine we practise' -- Kevin Fong'In humanity's quest to tackle some of our biggest health challenges, the animal kingdom can provide a rich and often surprising source of inspiration. In this dazzling book, full of extraordinary revelations, the reader is transported on an intriguing journey through the natural world and how it is helping to inspire doctors around the world on the frontiers of medicine' -- David Cox'Anyone interested in a One Medicine approach will find this book an interesting introduction. Reciprocity is not just what animals can do for humans, but what humans can do for animals. We are stronger together and that is why Dr Morgan’s book is a wonderful step in that direction' -- Joe Bailey, CEO, Humanimal Trust

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Book SynopsisWinning strategies from the three-time European Championship winner and the only football coach ever to reach the final of five international tournaments.As FIFA''s most decorated female football manager and a former player, Sarina Wiegman has led both the Netherlands and England women''s national teams to historic victories. She stands out as a true pioneer in the game, and her coaching philosophy has earned her a reputation as one of the most successful coaches in football history.This personal account of Sarina''s life journey begins with her early passion for football, and covers her key moments on the pitch as well as her ascension to the top of the coaching world. Join Sarina as she talks us through her rollercoaster ride of victories and challenges, the tough decisions she had to make both on and off the pitch, and the relentless pursuit of excellence that saw her rise to become an indomitable figure in the world of sports.And, it's not just about the game. In a world where football has become more competitive than ever, Sarina''s revolutionary approach to leadership, mentorship, and performance management has garnered global attention. In What It Takes we gain invaluable insight into Sarina's unique philosophy, as she shares how she fostered an environment that values determination, teamwork, and mutual respect. A strong advocate for women in the sport, she outlines a transformative and inclusive future for football where everyone has an equal chance to shine, irrespective of gender.

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Book SynopsisA timeless treatise on the unique power of human emotion, Stendhal''s Love is translated by Gilbert and Suzanne Sale with an introduction by Jean Stewart and B.C.J.G. Knight in Penguin Classics.In 1818, when he was in his mid-thirties, Stendhal met and fell passionately in love with the beautiful Mathilde Dembowski. She, however, was quick to make it clear that she did not return his affections, and in his despair he turned to the written word to exorcise his love and explain his feelings. The result is an intensely personal dissection of the process of falling - and being - in love: a unique blend of poetry, anecdote, philosophy, psychology and social observation. Bringing together the conflicting sides of his nature, the deeply emotional and the coolly analytical, Stendhal created a work that is both acutely personal and universally applicable.This translation retains all the colour and passion of the original and is accompanied buy the author''s original prefaces and appendices. In their introduction, Jean Stewart and B.C.J.G. Knight discuss the relationship between Stendhal and his beloved and explore his views on feminism, education and society.Stendhal (1783-1842) was the pseudonym of Henri Marie Beyle, born and raised in Grenoble. Offered a post in the Ministry of War, from 1800 onwards he followed Napoleon''s campaigns throughout Europe before retiring to Italy. Here, as ''Stendhal'', he began writing on art, music and travel. Though not well-received during his lifetime, his work, including The Red and the Black (1830) and The Charterhouse of Parma (1839), now places him among the pioneers of nineteenth-century literary realism.If you enjoyed Love, you might like Gustave Flaubert''s Sentimental Education, also available in Penguin Classics.''The single most insightful book on the role of imagination on love''John Armstrong, author of Conditions of Love: The Philosophy of Intimacy

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Book SynopsisErnst Jünger, one of twentieth-century Germany’s most important and controversial writers, faithfully kept a journal during the Second World War in occupied Paris, on the eastern front, and in Germany until its defeat—writings that are of major historical and literary significance. These wartime journals appear here in English for the first time.Trade ReviewErnst Jünger’s record of German-occupied Paris and the battlefields of the Caucasus is a treasure trove for readers interested in the history of the Second World War. Even more, though, it is a literary accomplishment of the first order, a document of European modernism, in which this master stylist leaves traces of the violence of the age between the lines of his crystalline prose. -- Russell A. Berman, Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University, and senior fellow, Hoover InstitutionThese diaries are not only a remarkable document of the time, but bring us close to a strange but highly original person, always capable of a fresh response to the natural world, the atmosphere of Paris, and the hideous events that force themselves on his knowledge. Many of Jünger’s texts have an inhuman chill; these diaries reveal his humanity. -- Ritchie Robertson * Times Literary Supplement *For English-speaking readers who do not know his work, A German Officer in Occupied Paris shows the many sides of this complex, elusive writer. -- Edmund Fawcett * Financial Times *Through these journals, we see Jünger consorting with resistors and collaborators, intellectuals and artists, drinking champagne, dining in sumptuous restaurants, and accompanying other officers to nightclubs, where naked women perform. Wandering around the city, he combs through antiquarian bookshops, stops in at galleries, discusses literature with friends, and acutely observes plants and flowers change with the seasons. He recounts in detail his dreams, nightmares, and musings on war. . . . A unique historical testimony. * Kirkus Reviews *Once read, these [journals] are never forgotten. They are surely the strangest literary production to come out of the Second World War, stranger by far than anything by Céline or Malaparte. Jünger reduces his war to a sequence of hallucinatory prose poems in which things appear to breathe and people perform like automata or, at best, like insects. -- Bruce Chatwin, New York Review of Books (review of French edition)Politically ambiguous and polymathic, Jünger led a remarkable and long life (he died at the age of 102 in 1998) as a soldier, writer and philosopher. "I suffer from a hyperacute sense of observation," he said, not as a boast, but by way of admitting to a weakness. The foibles of the Nazis, the deathwatch beetles he collected, the facial tics of liars, the flick of a Parisian woman's hair as she bought a hat, the physical contortions of an executed deserter: all these came under the magnifying glass in his war journals, kept from 1941-45. Their publication in English, fluently translated, is a remarkable moment, presenting a model of how to navigate an age of extremism. -- Roger Boyes * The Times of London *Expertly translated into English by Thomas and Abby Hansen . . . with an excellent biographical-critical foreword by Elliot Y. Neaman. -- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post *[Jünger's] writings and insights have long earned him sage status in Germany. This, the first publication in English of his diaries from 1941–45, heightens his complexity but also makes him a more rounded figure. -- Alex Colville * The Spectator *A German Officer in Occupied Paris is a remarkable slice of World War II, and makes for fascinating reading. -- M.A. Orthofer * The Complete Review *Jünger is an eloquent and informative witness to artistic life in occupied France, deportations, the burgeoning French Resistance and the conspirators against Hitler as well as the utter chaos after Stalingrad. This edition also includes extensive notes and a full glossary of all the people mentioned in the text. * Times Higher Education *Jünger’s war diaries, translated here with damning clarity by Thomas and Abby Hansen, are a fascinating, refined and disturbing record of the moral disasters of Nazism and collaboration. -- Dominic Green * Wall Street Journal *With the publication of these extraordinary, sometimes hallucinatory diaries. English speakers have the chance to read one of the great witnesses to 20th-century Europe’s catastrophe. -- Paul Lay * New Statesman *A highly decorated German veteran of the First World War, Jünger (1895-1998) spent much of the Second as an officer stationed in Paris, where his journal is an almost daily record of the views and impressions of a well-read literary figure, entomologist, and cultural critic, now available for the first time in English. . . . Elliot Neaman is to be thanked for a comprehensive Foreword, as are Thomas Hansen and Abby Hansen for their translation of a most enigmatic set of Journals, and Columbia University Press for publishing them. They have made accessible the work of a cultured and literary person in service to a brutal regime. -- Bertram M. Gordon * H-Diplo *In Paris, Jünger tried to confront absolute horror with his chevalieresque idea of style, and the experiment is absorbing to observe, in its short-circuits and moments of illumination and ultimate burnout. -- Adam Thirlwell * New York Review of Books *Named a 2019 book of the year. -- Lucy Beckett * Times Literary Supplement *However uneven or bizarre some of the entries, the overall structure of the journals — free-flowing, chaotic, and kaleidoscopic — works. Together they act as a mirror reflecting a world where the center had not held. * The New Criterion *Table of ContentsForeword, by Eliot NeamanTranslator’s Preface1. First Paris Journal2. Notes from the Caucasus3. Second Paris Journal4. Kirchhorst DiariesNotesGlossary of Personal NamesIndex

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Book SynopsisA raw, intensely personal memoir of spiritual exploration from one of the world's great commentators on religion.After seven years in a convent, which she left, dismayed by its restrictions, an experience recounted in Through the Narrow Gate', Karen Armstrong struggled to establish herself in a new way of life, and became entrapped in a downward spiral, haunted by despair, anorexia and suicidal feelings.Despite her departure from the convent she remained within the Catholic Church until the God she believed in ''died on me'', and she entered a wild and Godless period of crazy parties and numerous lovers'. Her attempts to reach happiness and carve out a career failed repeatedly, in spectacular fashion. She began writing her bestseller A History of God' in a spirit of scepticism, but through studying other religious traditions she found a very different kind of faith which drew from Christianity, Judaism and Islam and, eventually, spiritual and personal calm.In her own words, her story iTrade Review‘An exceptionally impressive autobiography…Karen Armstrong’s account of her spiralling journey provokes thought and inspires respect.’Daily Telegraph ‘The book deserves many readers…Karen Armstrong must be a woman of iron to have survived, made a career and a life.’ Hilary Mantel ‘Admirably lucid…she gives a more exact and vivid account of the pleasures of writing than any I have seen.’ Sunday Times ‘Unputdownable – absorbing, moving.’ Daily Mail ‘A subtle and funny memoir.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Armstrong manages to put into words something that most of us cannot express.’ New Statesman

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Book Synopsis“Really, what other book would anyone ever need?” —Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Honeybee“Elegant and exquisite.” —Deepak Chopra, author of Muhammad, Jesus, and BuddhaThe Big Red Book is a poetic masterpiece from Jalaluddin Rumi, the medieval Sufi mystic whom Time magazine calls “the most popular poet in America.” Readers continue to be awed and inspired by Rumi’s masterfully lyrical, deeply expressive poems, collected in volumes such as The Illustrated Rumi, The Soul of Rumi, and the bestselling The Essential Rumi. With The Big Red Book, acclaimed poet and Rumi interpreter Coleman Barks offers a never-before-published translation of a crucial anthology of poems widely considered to be one of Persian literature’s greatest treasures. Trade Review"Coleman Barks is a pioneer and renown scholar on Rumi, the great Sufi. In his elegant and exquisite way, Coleman has made Rumi as popular as Shakespeare to the world and continues to inspire us with the Rumi's ecstatic poetry." -- Deepak Chopra, author of The Shadow Effect and Jesus "Really, what other book would anyone ever need?" -- Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Honeybee "Coleman Barks found Rumi floating in some Georgia lake and brought him back to life. What a blessing! Rumi says, 'Some nights stay up until dawn, as the moon sometimes does for the sun.' Coleman has stayed up all night, and every reader is grateful." -- Robert Bly, National Book Award-winning poet and translator "Rumi's Big Red Book tells us: 'Compassion builds a door, Restlessness cuts a key.' I am forever grateful to Coleman Barks, restless, yearning to find the bridge from Rumi and Shams to the world we presently inhabit. He is truly to Be Loved for making this 'transaction with beauty'..." -- Debra Winger, Actress "Without question, we can credit Coleman Barks with making Rumi accessible to American readers through his modernized renditions of the best-known poems of the great Islamic mystic... Richly sensual yet never flowery, Barks' language emphasizes Rumi's embodied spirituality in a book to savor." -- Booklist (starred review) "An emeritus English professor at the University of Georgia, Barks has spent 34 years working on Rumi's poetry - you could even say that Rumi has been the secret companion musician Barks has danced to." -- Los Angeles Times "Barks has become internationally renowned for his translations... Rumi: The Big Red Book is the culmination of his work." -- Shambhala Sun

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Book SynopsisLady Hyegyong's memoirs, which recount the chilling murder of her husband by his father, is one of the best known and most popular classics of Korean literature. From 1795 until 1805 Lady Hyegyong composed this masterpiece, which depicts a court life whose drama and pathos is of Shakespearean proportions.Table of ContentsFOREWORD ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION The Author and Autobiographical Discourse Narrating Lives and the Sense of Self The Genres The Individual Memoirs: Themes and Issues Texts TRANSLATOR'S NOTE PRINCIPAL PERSONS THE MEMOIRS OF LADY HYEGYONG The Memoir of 1795 The Memoir of 1801 The Memoir of 1802 The Memoir of 1803 APPENDIX 1: GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE YI ROYAL HOUSE APPENDIX 2: GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE HONG FAMILY APPENDIX 3: GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE KYONGJU KIM FAMILY NOTES GLOSSARY INDEX

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Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of Israel's founder by one of Israel's most celebrated historians. As the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion long ago secured his reputation as a leading figure of the twentieth century. Determined from an early age to create a Jewish state, he took control of the Zionist movement, declared Israel's independence, and navigated his country through wars, controversies and remarkable achievements. In this definitive biography, Tom Segev uses previously unreleased archival material to give an original, nuanced account that transcends the myths and legends that have built up around the man. He reveals Ben-Gurion's secret negotiations with the British on the eve of Israel's independence, his willingness to countenance the forced transfer of Arab neighbors, his relative indifference to Jerusalem, and his occasional eccentric moments – from UFO sightings to plans for Israel to acquire territory in South America. The result is a full and startling portrait of a man who sought a state 'at any cost' – at times through risk-taking, violence, and unpredictability, and at other times through compromise, moderation and reason. Segev's Ben-Gurion is neither a saint nor a villain but a twentieth-century leader whose iron will and complex temperament left a contentious legacy, and one of the world's most intractable national conflicts. Praise for A State at Any Cost: 'A must for anybody interested in both the glorious and the dark pages of the history of Zionism and Israel, as reflected throughout the life and times of the Jewish State's most important founding father' SAUL FRIEDLÄNDER 'The story of a hard-headed, pragmatic and ruthless politician, told without sentimentality or nostalgia. It also serves as a key to understanding today's Israel, which is still very much Ben-Gurion's creation' THE TIMES 'Fascinating... A masterly portrait of a titanic yet unfulfilled man... This is a gripping study of power, and the loneliness of power' THE ECONOMISTTrade ReviewTom Segev's meticulously researched and most elegantly written new biography of David Ben-Gurion is a must for anybody interested in both the glorious and the dark pages of the history of Zionism and Israel, as reflected throughout the life and times of the Jewish State's most important founding father -- Saul Friedländer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Nazi Germany and the Jews and Where Memory LeadsIn the course of six years of research, Segev [...] discovered a leader fraught with dramatic contrasts... The author has come up with significant historical revelations' * Ofer Aderet, Haaretz *Fascinating... A masterly portrait of a titanic yet unfulfilled man... This is a gripping study of power, and the loneliness of power' * Economist *[A] carefully researched and nonjudgemental biography... Tom Segev's A State at Any Cost aptly summarizes the lodestar of Ben-Gurion's life' -- Avraham Avi-hai, Jerusalem PostDeserves to be the definitive biography of Ben-Gurion. It is the story of a hard-headed, pragmatic and ruthless politician, told without sentimentality or nostalgia. It also serves as a key to understanding today's Israel, which is still very much Ben-Gurion's creation * The Times *Tom Segev has completed a monumental task. The work includes the research of a true detective -- Avner Cohen, author of Israel and the Bomb[A] body of work that has no equal either for the brilliance of his storytelling or the ironies of his analysis * London Review of Books *Without doubt one of the best biographies to have been written about David Ben-Gurion... Segev manages to hold the reader's attention' * Literary Review *The book offers an appreciation of the life of an extraordinary man and an understanding of the values, political attitudes and the very concept of the Zionist State... For readers with an interest in the subject, the book is worthwhile, informative and rewarding' * Pennant Magazine. *Authoritative... [Segev] gives us a many-sided character, showing Ben-Gurion's strengths and weaknesses, great moments and cruelties, successes and failures. If you want a balanced account of what has long been a controversial state, this is a good place to start, and Segev is already well known for the excellence of his writing on Israel' * Sorted. *

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Book SynopsisDuring World War Two the Special Operation Executive''s French Section sent more than 400 agents into Occupied France -- at least 100 never returned and were reported ''Missing Believed Dead'' after the war. Twelve of these were women who died in German concentration camps -- some were tortured, some were shot, and some died in the gas chambers. Vera Atkins had helped prepare these women for their missions, and when the war was over she went out to Germany to find out what happened to them and the other agents lost behind enemy lines. But while the woman who carried out this extraordinary mission appeared quintessentially English, she was nothing of the sort. Vera Atkins, who never married, covered her life in mystery so that even her closest family knew almost nothing of her past. In A LIFE IN SECRETS Sarah Helm has stripped away Vera''s many veils and -- with unprecedented access to official and private papers, and the cooperation of Vera''s relatives -- vividly reconstructed an extraordinary life.Trade ReviewIt is a testament to Helm's detective skills that she has marshalled evidence to refute the various suppositions about Atkins, presenting a truth more surprising and more compelling than the numerous fictions constructed about this dedicated, if flawed, intelligence officer WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY What makes the book as fascinating as the best of thrillers is that at every stage we know as much as she does, tracking Vera down clue by clue, contact by contact ... It makes compulsive reading Peter Lewis, DAILY MAIL She has now written a truly stunning book - quite the best by a non-veteran of secret warfare ... If any young reader wonders 'why the bunting and the occasional tear this VE Day, I recommend this book' John Crossland, SUNDAY TIMES 'Carefully researched and engaging biography'

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Book Synopsis*#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER *Winner, Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Nonfiction *Winner, Indigenous Voices Awards *Winner, High Plains Book Awards *Finalist, CBC Canada Reads *A Globe and Mail Book of the Year *An Indigo Book of the Year *A CBC Best Canadian Nonfiction Book of the Year In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle, once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is.If I can just make it to the next minute...then I might have a chance to live; I might have a chance to be something more than just a struggling crackhead. From the Ashes is a remarkable memoir about hope and resilience, and a revelatory look into the life of a Métis-Cree man who refused to give up. Abandoned by his parents as a toddler, Jesse Thistle briefly found himself in the foster-care system with his two brothers, cut off from all they had known. Eventually the children landed in the home of their paternal grandparents, whose tough-love attitudes quickly resulted in conflicts. Throughout it all, the ghost of Jesse’s drug-addicted father haunted the halls of the house and the memories of every family member. Struggling with all that had happened, Jesse succumbed to a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and petty crime, spending more than a decade on and off the streets, often homeless. Finally, he realized he would die unless he turned his life around. In this heartwarming and heart-wrenching memoir, Jesse Thistle writes honestly and fearlessly about his painful past, the abuse he endured, and how he uncovered the truth about his parents. Through sheer perseverance and education—and newfound love—he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family. An eloquent exploration of the impact of prejudice and racism, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help us find happiness despite the odds.Trade Review“A heartbreaking and honest debut.” The Globe and Mail“Blown away by [this] eloquent memoir of Métis life and surviving the streets . . . [a] strong contender for #CanadaReads.” — EMMA DONOGHUE, New York Times bestselling author of Room “A memoir of resilience, spirit, and dignity from a gifted storyteller. It is, at heart, also about the many shapes that love can inhabit. When you plan to read this book, clear your schedule. It will hold you in its grasp and won’t let you go, like a great novel. It’s all the more remarkable that this is not fiction. This book will stand out in my reading experience for a long time to come.” — SHELAGH ROGERS, OC, host and a producer of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter, and honorary witness for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada“So fortunate to have the opportunity to read From The Ashes. . . . You’ll be drawn into the life journey of someone who’s struggled so deep yet has risen up to share with us what it means to be human. A deeply moving read.” — CLARA HUGHES, Olympian and author of Open Heart, Open Mind“This memoir haunts, gnawing at the soul as we walk with Jesse through his many incarnations. . . . If you want a glimpse at why some of our brothers and sisters end up on the streets, read this book.” — TANYA TALAGA, The Walrus“In spare and often brutal prose . . . Thistle weaves a narrative punctuated with joy and comedy and ultimately redemption.” — Toronto Star“An illuminating, inside account of homelessness, a study of survival and freedom. Jesse Thistle delivers a painfully lyrical book, a journey through the torrents of addiction and trauma, masterfully sliding in humour and moments of heart-expanding human connection. I found myself gasping out loud at parts, unable to put the book down. Jesse’s story shows us that there is nothing that cannot be transformed.” — AMANDA LINDHOUT, bestselling co-author of A House in the Sky“In this page-turner of a memoir—raw, honest, gripping, wrenching, and inspiring—Jesse Thistle gifts us with an intimate and bracing look into the realities, traumas, and triumphs of Indigenous life in today’s North America.” — GABOR MATÉ, MD, bestselling author of In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction“A gritty memoir recounting the devastating long-term effects of childhood abandonment. . . . The theme of estrangement is powerfully portrayed in what is ultimately a story of courage and resilience certain to strike a chord with readers from many backgrounds.” — Library Journal“Candid and cutting, Jesse Thistle lays down his story with a brutal beauty you’ll never forget. From the Ashes is a guided tour through a broken heart just trying to keep beating, both failing and succeeding spectacularly.” — CHERIE DIMALINE, bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves“Jesse’s story is shocking, intriguing, and compelling. He goes deep into the conflicting forces pulling him in different directions, the pain of knowing how he was letting down his grandmother, the terrifying sickness of addiction, and his own uncertainty about how to break the cycle. All the decks were stacked against him, yet he did learn to make the right choices. He had every right to blame ‘the system,’ but he never resorted to that easy strategy. His unexpected strength is remarkable.” — CHARLOTTE GRAY, award-winning biographer and bestselling author of The Promise of Canada“The best stories are the ones that stay with you. From the Ashes will stay with me for a long time. Maarsii to Jesse for coming through to tell this story. It is an important one. The revolutionary kind. The kind of story that changes how you look at the world, that shows us how amazing human beings can be, so capable, strong, resilient, powerful.” — KATHERENA VERMETTE, bestselling author of The Break“[This] powerful and moving memoir is also a scathing indictment of the treatment of Indigenous people and the myriad ways systems fail them.” — Booklist“This is a work that should not be mistaken for a redemption story—it is a love story. About family. Community. A partner. Most of all: this is a love story about Jesse Thistle. How he came to love himself. Why he is worthy of love. And, importantly, how you will love him when you are done reading. This book signals change: in our understanding of worth, our compassion in the face of harm and self-harm, and the power and possibility that can exist in spaces we try to forget about. Jesse Thistle is amazing. His story is stunning. We will talk about colonial and other violence differently on Turtle Island because Jesse lived them and shared them with us. With an openness, candour, and generosity that is inspiring. Its uglybeautiful/hurtlove will resonate with you long after you finish turning the pages. I am proud to call him nisîmis (my little brother).” — TRACEY LINDBERG, bestselling author of Birdie“Stereotypes and conventional understandings are about to be challenged. . . . In the world Thistle inhabits, poverty, addiction, and homelessness are all one step over a line. Some are pushed, some stumble, and some jump. . . . The places Thistle takes us come together to illustrate a common theme: we look for home wherever we can find it. Over the course of the book, Thistle builds a better world for himself, one day and one decision at a time. It is a remarkable transformation to witness, and the arc of his story will make the reader want to cheer.” ­­ — Quill & Quire, starred review“Hits you like a punch in the gut. It’s an unflinching, heartrending, and beautifully written story of survival against seemingly impossible odds. But it’s also a book that should make you furious. Thistle paints a vivid portrait of a country seemingly incapable of doing right by Indigenous youth or by those struggling with homelessness, addiction, and intergenerational trauma. That he survived to tell this story is truly a miracle. Still, one question haunts me after finishing this powerful and devastating book: How do we ensure that the next generation isn’t forced to navigate a broken system that takes their lives for granted and fails them at every turn? My greatest hope, then, is that From the Ashes will be the wakeup call Canada needs.” — IAN MOSBY, historian and author of Food Will Win the War

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Book SynopsisEusebius, Bishop of Caesarea from about AD 314, was the most important writer in the age of Constantine. His history of the Christian church from the ministry of Jesus to AD 324 is a treasury of information, especially on the Eastern centers.

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Book Synopsis250TH BIRTHDAY EDITIONAlmost as good as finding an unpublished novel' The LadyIs there any sex in Jane Austen? Why do her plots rely on blunders? Which important characters never actually speak?Jane Austen's novels have been a staple of the British canon since the nineteenth century. Yet critics of the time did not appreciate the true complexity of her work. Neither Austen's literary innovations nor the cunning intracacy of her novels were understood much less the fascinating patterns and puzzles thrown up by some of the most famous works of English literature. Nothing, John Mullan argues, is accidental or coincidental in Austen. As she herself said, she wrote for readers who have a great deal of ingenuity themselves'.What Matters in Jane Austen? gets to the heart of what it is that makes Austen's work so singular. In twenty chapters, answering questions her novels have posed for over two centuries, Mullan uncovers the hidden truth of an extraordinary fictional world and reveals the true brilliance and underappreciated complexity of Austen's oeuvre. Sends the reader back to the originals with fresh pleasure' Tessa Hadley, Guardian

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Book SynopsisOn the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook's successful navigation to the coast of Australia, this is Alistair MacLean's absorbing story of one of Britain's great national heroes, from his obscure beginnings to his sudden and violent death at the age of fifty-one.When James Cook was hacked to death by Hawaiian islanders on 14 February 1779, he was already considered the greatest explorer of his age. Born in obscurity but gripped by a boundless passion for new horizons, he became the greatest combination of seaman, explorer, navigator, and cartographer that the world had ever known. He still is. He had driven himself mercilessly, and his men likewise, and yet the surgeon's mate on the Resolution was able to write: In every situation he stood unrivalled and alone; on him all eyes were turned; he was our leading star, which at its setting left us involved in darkness and despair'.Between 1768 and 1779, Captain Cook circumnavigated the globe three times in voyages of discovery that broke recTrade Review‘The words on Palliser’s monument to Cook – “the ablest and greatest navigator this or any country has produced” – will not seem extravagant after reading Mr MacLean’s book.’Times Educational Supplement

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Book SynopsisThis book is a must read for anyone interested in Bomber Command''s war against the Third Reich. It is one of the best personal accounts ever written by someone who served in Bomber Command during World War II.Don Charlwood was a navigator with the Royal Australian Air Force based at RAF Elsham Wolds in north Lincolnshire. He presents a moving, sympathetic and vivid description of what life was like in Bomber Command, focusing on the human cost of war and the feelings of the bomber crews as they were tasked with attacking heavily defended targets again and again as squadron losses mounted. This is a true classic of war literature with the narrative allowing readers to share the hopes and fears of the crews involved in a way that few other books have done.A review in the Daily Telegraph summed up the essence of the book succinctly; ''the tension is so sustained and vivid that the book hangs together emotionally like a piece of music.''

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Book Synopsis'Honest and moving' Independent on Sunday Freddie Mercury was a rock superstar like no other. Recently the focus of the Academy Award-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody, he generated over £1 billion worth of sales in a career spanning two decades. But for all his riches, Mercury could not buy the thing he sought most: the love of one particular man. Jim Hutton was a modest gentleman’s barber when the two met in 1983. After many fiery false starts, they became lasting lovers. From the moment they lived together, wherever Mercury went, Hutton went too. And whoever Mercury met, Hutton met too – from Phil Collins to Elton John, David Bowie to the other members of Queen. They laughed together, fought together and, in Mercury’s final years, they often cried together. Freddie Mercury was forty-five when he died from AIDS in Hutton’s arms. No one can tell the story of the last few years of Mercury’s private life - the ecstasies and the agonies - more accurately or honestly than Jim Hutton.

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Book SynopsisOn Wings of Eagles is the thrilling novel based on the incredible real-life rescue of two Americans by a Green Beret colonel and a group of corporate executives from revolutionary Iran, from number one bestseller Ken Follett.A Terrifying PrisonAs Iran descends into revolution, two Americans get caught up in the upheaval. They are captured and held in a heavily guarded fortress. Their situation is desperate, with the US government refusing to get them out. But all hope is not lost . . .A Daring RescueThis is the fictionalised real-life story of a Green Beret colonel, who came out of retirement to lead a secret raid; the computer executives, shaped into a crack commando team; and the Texas industrialist, Ross Perot, who would not abandon two Americans in an Iranian jail.A Dangerous EscapeBreaking the prisoners out is only the beginning of the mission. In order to get to the safety of the Turkish border, they must m

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Book Synopsis'An outstanding insight into the life and career of one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys. The bad days, the good days, the passion - it's all there' - Rachael Blackmore'Davy Russell's story has been the most fascinating of racing journeys, Donn McClean its classiest chronicler. It makes a National winning combination' - Brough Scott'Davy Russell is one of the most interesting characters in racing and one of the most successful National Hunt riders of our time. This is a superb book, one of the best sports books I've read' - Eamon DunphyFrom Davy Russell's early life in Youghal to his winning ride on Tiger Roll in the 2018 Grand National, this book has it all. Capturing the highs of an incredible career as a top jockey, from the adrenaline rush of winning the Grand National twice, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, it also dwells on the devastating blows that Davy experienced through injury and shows his huge resilience and strength of character.In the book, Davy tells of his years on the point-to-point scene, his big move to England and his first Cheltenham victory in 2006, his experiences at Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown Stud as the number one rider, working with Gordon Elliot, his charity work with Hurling for Cancer Research, and his retirement. It is a truly remarkable journey written by the most entertaining jockey in the business.

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and A New York Times Notable Book of 2018.Our understanding of the tree of life', with powerful implications for human genetics, human health and our own human nature, has recently completely changed.This book is about a new method of telling the story of life on earth through molecular phylogenetics. It involves a fairly simple method the reading of the deep history of life by looking at the variation in protein molecules found in living organisms. For instance, we now know that roughly eight per cent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection.In The Tangled Tree, acclaimed science writer David Quammen chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them such as Carl Woese, the most important little-known biologist of the twentieth century; Lynn Margulis, the notorious maverick whose wild ideas about mosaic' creatures pTrade ReviewPraise for Tangled Tree: ‘[Quammen] is our greatest living chronicler of the natural world … There are vivacious descriptions on almost every page.’ New York Times ‘In The Tangled Tree, celebrated science writer David Quammen tells perhaps the grandest tale in biology … He presents the science – and the scientists involved – with patience, candour and flair.’ Nature ‘Quammen adds some intriguing new discoveries’ New Scientist Praise for David Quammen: ‘One of that rare breed of science journalists who blends exploration with a talent for synthesis and storytelling’ Nature ‘Mr. Quammen is, by trade, neither professional environmentalist nor scientist. He is a writer. And the book he has worked on for 10 years is intelligent, playful and refreshingly free of cant … In Mr. Quammen’s hands, the bad news of species extinction unaccountably uplifts. For it reminds us of nature’s sheer, ornery diversity, and why it needs to be preserved. We share in the excitement of a new scientific discipline aborning. By book’s end, we glean hints of hope that the future may not be entirely bleak … Here is what a book can be’The New York Times Book Review ‘Quammen is no ordinary writer. He is simply astonishing, one of that rare class of writer gifted with verve, ingenuity, humour, guts, and great heart’ Elle

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Book SynopsisA stunning visual biography of one of Japan's most famous historical artists, this book beautifully illustrates the story of Katsushika Hokusai.Enter the world of Katsushika Hokusai - the enigmatic creator of Japanese art's all-time most iconic image. This vivid graphic biography tells the story of Hokusai's intriguing life and pioneering works, details the fascinating historical context of Edo-era Japan, and explains how Hokusai forged an image of his country that still resonates across the world today.Telling the story of both his eccentric (and incredibly productive) life - while simultaneously painting a fascination picture of his wider cultural legacy, this book is ideal for both those new to Hokusai's work - and his biggest fans. Those who enjoyed Basquiat: A Graphic Novel by Paolo Parisi or Pollock Confidential: A Graphic Novel by Onofrio Catacchio should look at this too.

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Book SynopsisA lost inheritance, a rags-to-riches journey from vagabondage in the mountains of central Asia to an imperial throne in India, warrior-poet Babur's life was one of adventure and endurance against the odds. Descended from both Genghis Khan and Timur, Babur came to the throne of a small principality at the age of eleven; ten years of warfare later, he would lose it for ever to Uzbek invaders. A lucky break led to the capture of Kabul, from which he carved out a new state for himself in Afghanistan. Just over twenty years later, he was ready for the biggest throw of all - no less than an invasion of India. He recorded his own story pretty much as it happened with startling immediacy and a winning frankness: it was the crowning achievement of a rich tradition of Islamic autobiography.There is history and politics here aplenty, but what is most striking about Babur's memoirs is the man they reveal - ambitious but modest and self-critical, deeply attached to friends and family, homesick amongst the treasures of India, sensitive to the beauties of nature and extremely fond of a party. He paints a fascinating portrait of a sophisticated and cultured Persian-Turkic society. As violent for political ends as many a European Renaissance ruler, Babur could order a massacre and return home to write a ghazal. Everywhere he went he created beautiful gardens. There are insights into the role of women in such a society; of Babur's several wives, but particularly the older women of his family, who commanded respect and exercised considerable influence. Four years after his Indian conquest, Babur swore to give his own life if his eldest son recovered from a dangerous illness. Humayun pulled through, and in a few months Babur was dead. But he had laid the foundations of the greatest, wealthiest and most populous of the world's Muslim-ruled empires.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing a host of quotations displaying Austen’s sharp - and indeed, often wicked - social observation and satirical wit, this funny and wise book will strike a chord with fans of the author as well as readers new to her writing.Lauded for her eloquence, observation and wry humour, Jane Austen was a novelist who was highly regarded and greatly celebrated in her own time. However, her appeal is as great as ever, and her insights remain as fresh and relevant today as when they were first published.Beautifully packaged and published to tie-in with the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, this delightful and absorbing collection of thematic extracts from her beloved novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion, as well as extracts from Austen’s letters, compiles the author’s sharpest, most profound and amusing observations on human nature, money, marriage, life and society, and more. The Wicked Wit of Jane Austen is a charming tribute to a writer whose work will resonate for centuries to come.

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Book SynopsisThis essential authorized biography of Eugene Peterson offers unique insights into the experiences and spiritual convictions of the iconic American pastor and beloved translator of The Message. Encounter the multifaceted life of one of the most influential and creative pastors of the past half century with unforgettable stories of his lifelong devotion to his craft and love of language, the influences and experiences that shaped his unquenchable faith, the inspiration for his decision to translate The Message, and his success and struggles as a pastor, husband, and father. Author Winn Collier was given exclusive access to Eugene and his materials for the production of this landmark work. Drawing from his friendship and expansive view of Peterson's life, Collier offers an intimate look into a rare, remarkable life that is at once artful, sacred, and earthy. For Eugene, the gifts of life were inexhaustible: the glint of fading light over the lake, a kiss from Jan, a good joke, a bowl of butter pecan ice cream. As you enter into his story, you'll find yourself doing the same - noticing how the most ordinary things shimmer with a new and unexpected beauty. Content Benefits: Warm, fascinating, and uniquely inspirational, this authoritative and comprehensive story of Eugene Peterson will help you discover the man behind The Message. Authorized biography of Eugene Peterson Draws on exclusive access to many years of private correspondence as well as hours and hours of exclusive interviews with Eugene Reveals Eugene's rich theology, love of language and pastoral insights Photo insert included Perfect reading for anyone who loves The Message Ideal for anyone who loves biographies Binding - Hardback Pages - 368 Publisher - Authentic Media

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Book Synopsis'Claire's honest, raw, authentic diaries will be a source of comfort to many'- Miranda Hart At the age of 54 Claire Gilbert was diagnosed with myeloma, an incurable cancer of the blood. The prognoses ranged from surviving only a few months to living for several decades, with no guarantee of which outcome was to be hers. It was a shocking diagnosis into uncertainty, or rather, into only one certainty: death. But Claire discovered that facing her own mortality was liberating. She discovered this through writing letters. Claire asked her siblings and a small group of friends if they would let her write to them with total honesty about what she was going through, as she was going through it. These letters turned out to be a great solace, and gradually her group of 'dear readers' has grown; what she had to say wasn't just of value to herself, but to others, too. The letters chart Claire's journey through diagnosis, chemotherapy and a brutal round of stem cell treatment, and end with the rest of the UK joining her in her immuno-compromised isolation in March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Unflinchingly honest and wide-ranging, Claire writes about the restorative role of nature, politics, poetry, humour - and a restless exploration of the spiritual dimension of death and dying. This is an honest, luminous account of what Claire has gone through and what keeps her going, a deeply spiritual meditation on life and suffering, and an exploration of how faith is no simple solace but provides a whole new plane of meaning during these liminal moments.'Claire Gilbert's account of the progress of her fatal illness, from diagnosis through various traumatic treatments, is in turn candid, painful, funny, tender, fierce and philosophical. But most of all it is a marvellously enjoyable read depicting the human spirit at its finest: defiant, exuberant, joyous. An example to us all that we can triumph over the cruellest adversity'- Salley VickersTrade ReviewDiagnosed with myeloma aged 54, and 'given' maybe months, maybe decades to live, Gilbert began writing to people dear to her, charting the course of her diagnosis and treatment, with honesty, gratitude, humour, even elation. Shining through the darkness of her letters there are moments of epiphany, comfort and inspiration; there are poems and pedicures, art and acupuncture, lipstick and Larkin, her faith and her partner, Sean. 'Walk with me,' she invites, and we are honoured to do so. * Saga *intense, evocative and moving * Irish Times Weekend *The story that Gilbert tells is an honest one, full of pain, fear and bitter truth * Irish Examiner *If you are interested in reflections on life and death from someone who has stood in the wrinkle of time where the two almost touch, it's a great read ... a warm, witty, harrowing, captivating contemplation of disease, weakness, mortality and life ... The writing is literary, elegant and very beautiful, the book well-paced and finely balanced ... leavened with humorous observations and joyful delight. * Christianity Magazine *Claire Gilbert's Miles to go Before I Sleep is a wonderful book...I was moved. -- JOHN DEMPSTER * The Inverness Courier *'This is not a book about dying, but, rather, a book about how facing death enables us truly to live.' * The Church Times *'Gilbert holds nothing back...[and] has an eye for small detail...What fills the book is the undoubted need for human companionship, love, support and prayers from her 'community of kindness'.' * The Pastoral Review *

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Book SynopsisFlora Thompson's classic evocation of a vanished world of agricultural customs and rural culture is reissued in a handsome hardback edition including the original wood-engravings by Julie Neild and a new introduction that looks at the background to the trilogy and its enduring popularity.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Further Reading A Chronology of Flora Thompson Lark Rise Over to Candleford Candleford Green

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Book SynopsisThe first in a groundbreaking two-volume history of Henry III’s rule, from when he first assumed the crown to the moment his personal rule endedTrade Review“[A] monumental, awesome yet highly readable book…Carpenter is the foremost scholar of England’s 13th century, and his spectacular erudition shines on every page. . . . Above all, he has narrative gifts that root this history of our medieval country in reality rather than in romance, and makes the lives of our distant forebears feel as comprehensible as our own.”—Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph“Professor Carpenter is one of Britain’s foremost medievalists. . . . No one knows more about Henry, and a lifetime of scholarship is here poured out, elegantly and often humorously. This is a fine, judicious, illuminating work that should be the standard study of the reign for generations to come.”—Dan Jones, Sunday Times“You are in for a colourful ride. . . . Yale University Press is to be congratulated on allowing Carpenter to explore so many aspects of 13th-century English government at such length. The glorious details—lamprey cooking included—are what make it a pleasure.”—Dominic Selwood, Spectator“[A] major new biography.”—BBC History Magazine“Carpenter’s view of Henry is essentially a benign one: he sees him as a generous and well-meaning man. . . . It is a persuasive view. This is a magisterial biography, authoritative and yet accessible.”—Nigel Saul, History Today“[F]ull of good judgment in good prose.”—Christopher Howse, Spectator, “Books of the Year”“A monumental biography . . . written in a blithe and energetic style, its narrative thread tracing the intrigues and intricacies of England’s first Plantagenet king.”—E. Andrew Darden, Aspects of History“Carpenter’s ability to grapple with something so enigmatic as a monarch’s character, particularly that of a medieval monarch, is convincing and compelling. . . . Carpenter has crafted something that very many of us can delight in.”—Benjamin Linley Wild, Royal Studies Journal“Few biographers of a medieval individual, however, can have got closer to their subject than Professor David Carpenter. . . . Carpenter infuses what will surely become the standard biography of England’s longest reigning medieval king with personal insights that add richness, colour and humour to a monumental 763-page study. Indeed, the author’s own personality drips from every page as much as that of his subject.”—Paul Dryburgh, Mortimer History Society Journal“Carpenter has created a valuable resource for those who wish to advance the scholarship of the period, illuminating new avenues in the study of kingship and thirteenth-century England, through his enduring passion for the topic and considerable expertise. It stands as the most significant modern addition to scholarship on Henry III and to the broader corpus of royal biographies, which will surely inspire others to explore his reign.”—Louis Pulford, Journal of Ecclesiastical History of Books“The whole period covering Henry’s minority and his emergence into personal rule is fascinating in its own right and deserves the close-focus treatment that Carpenter gives it.” —Ferdinand Mount, London Review of Books “Outstanding. Through sustained scholarship Carpenter provides the reader with all sorts of insights into the decisions and daily experience of this ambitious and complex medieval king.”—Michael Clanchy, author of England and its Rulers“This brilliant study by a leading historian of medieval England brings together a lifetime of research in a masterly way. Henry III is treated with humane understanding while his political failings and absence of a proper sense of priorities are emphasised with admirable clarity. Vivid and highly readable, this is a book of major significance.”—Michael Prestwich, author of Edward I “Rooted in his unrivalled understanding of the primary sources, Carpenter has created a sparkling and compelling narrative of this little-known English king.”—Stephen Church, author of Henry III“A monumental achievement. Never before has England’s place in the wider history of medieval Europe been revealed on quite this epic scope, and with so sharp an eye for personalities. Revisiting fifty years of history, Carpenter reveals Henry III—a supposedly ‘non-descript king’—as one of the more fascinating failures ever to have sat on the English throne.”—Nicholas Vincent, author of A Brief History of Britain 1066–1485

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Book SynopsisA Sunday Times bestsellerChristopher Hitchens was an unparalleled, prolific writer, who raised the polemical essay to a new art form, over a lifetime of thinking and debating the defining issues of our times. As an essayist he contributed to the New Statesman, Atlantic Monthly, London Review of Books, TLS and Vanity Fair. Any publication of a volume of Hitchens' essays was a major event on both sides of the Atlantic. Now comes a volume of Hitchens' previously uncollected essays, covering the themes that define Hitchens the thinker: literature, religion and politics. These essays remind us, once more, of the fierce, brilliant and trenchant voice of Christopher Hitchens.Trade ReviewThe range is remarkable... Literary criticism is often where he shines - the pieces on Orwell and Chesterton, in particular, are alert, nuanced and witty. * Financial Times *And yet... there are few journalists who can match the verve and panache of Hitchens's prose. He mixes the loquaciousness of the barfly with the fluency of the literary artist, and could not pen a dull sentence if he tried. * Guardian *What you will find in And Yet..., is a body of work that offers some of the most various, nutritious and amusing prose you are likely to encounter, and that stands as a testament to the consolations of a phrase he cherished: litera scripta manet - the written word remains. * Daily Telegraph *This final collection displays his startling ability to write so well about so much... The sense of loss at the subjects he will not write about is more than outweighed by the pleasure at those that he did. * New Statesman *Table of Contents1: Che Guevara: Goodbye to All That 2: Orwell's List 3: Orhan Pamuk: Mind the Gap 4: Bring on the Mud 5: Ohio's Odd Numbers 6: On Becoming American 7: Mikhail Lermontov: A Doomed Young Man 8: Salman Rushdie: Hobbes in the Himalayas 9: My Red-State Odyssey 10: The Turkey Has Landed 11: Bah, Humbug 12: A. N. Wilson: Downhill All the Way 13: Ian Fleming: Bottoms Up 14: Power Suits 15: Blood for No Oil! 16: How Uninviting 17: Look Who's Cutting and Running Now 18: Oriana Fallaci and the Art of the Interview 19: Imperial Follies 20: Clive James: The Omnivore 21: Gertrude Bell: The Woman Who Made Iraq 22: Physician, Heal Thyself 23: Edmund Wilson: Literary Companion On the Limits of Self-improvement, Part I: Of Vice and Men 24: On the Limits of Self-improvement, Part II: Vice and Versa 25: On the Limits of Self-improvement, Part III: Mission Accomplished 26: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Price of Freedom 27: Arthur Schlesinger: The Courtier 28: Paul Scott: Victoria's Secret 29: The Case against Hillary Clinton 30: The Tall Tale of Tuzla 31: V. S. Naipaul: Cruel and Unusual 32: No Regrets 33: Barack Obama: Cool Cat 34: The Lovely Stones 35: Edward M. Kennedy: Redemption Song 36: Engaging with Iran Is Like Having Sex with Someone Who Hates You 37: Colin Powell: Powell Valediction 38: Shut Up about Armenians or We'll Hurt Them Again 39: Hezbollah's Progress 40: The Politicians We Deserve 41: Rosa Luxemburg: Red Rosa 42: Joan Didion: Blue Nights 43: The True Spirit of Christmas 44: Charles Dickens's Inner Child 45: G. K. Chesterton: The Reactionary 46: The Importance of Being Orwell 47: What Is Patriotism?

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Book Synopsis'Transports the reader to another world' Sunday Express Adventurer and TV presenter Alice Morrison takes the reader on three remarkable and inspirational journeys across Morocco, from the Sahara to the Atlas mountains, to reveal the growing challenges faced by our planet.  Accompanied only by three Amazigh Muslim men and their camels, Scottish explorer Alice Morrison set off to find a hidden world. During her journey along the Draa river, she encountered dinosaur footprints and discovereda lost city, as well as what looked like a map of an ancient spaceship, all the while trying to avoid landmines, quicksand and the deadly horned viper.  Few places better illustrate the reality of climate change and the encroachment of the desert than a dried-out riverbed, but this also means a constant search for the next source of water. Meeting other nomads as they travel, Alice also gets to hear Trade Review'With lush descriptions of her surroundings, she transports the reader to another world while also warning of the shifts that could be brought about by climate change.' * Sunday Express *'There is something refreshingly straightforward about Morrison's latest adventure. The Scottish-born Morocco-based writer leaves a copy of her will with her parents, rents some camels and sets out on an expedition across the deserts and dunes, from the Atlas mountains to the Sahara.' -- Tom Robbins * Financial Times Best Summer Reads *‘In an effort to raise awareness about climate change and the growing issues faced by Earth’s desert environments, adventurer and TV presenter Alice Morrison charts three inspirational journeys she embarked on across Morocco.’ * Wildflower magazine *

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Book SynopsisGeorge Washington spent most of his time farming, often employing experimental methods. Washington saw slave-powered scientific agriculture as the key to the nation's prosperity. Bruce Ragsdale argues that it was slave labor's inefficiency as much as its inhumanity that finally convinced Washington to emancipate the men and women bonded to him.Trade ReviewDelightfully instructive…In this reliable and thorough rendering of ‘the most celebrated farmer of the age,’ Ragsdale undeniably casts new light on Washington on the question of slavery. By bringing to life Washington’s farming world, he does more than that. Washington at the Plow reminds us of the importance of agriculture and its enlightened improvement to America’s founding. In doing so, it illuminates much for early-American specialists and general readers alike. -- Mark G. Spencer * Washington Post *George Washington is typically known as the first U.S. president and a general. But for most of his life he was a farmer, and the implications of this agrarian background are, Ragsdale argues, far-reaching. Washington’s understanding of nation-building was inextricably linked to the concept of land cultivation, and his attempt to modernize farming techniques led him to reconsider, and ultimately reject, slave labor. * Bloomberg *Ragsdale does a masterful job presenting the quandary that slavery created for the first president…[This book] adeptly uses the lenses of agricultural development and slavery to present a multidimensional representation of America’s first—and arguably most revered—president. Both scholars and lay readers will find Ragsdale’s account a strong contribution to the historiography of Washington as a landowner, a public leader, and a private citizen. -- Camille Davis * H-Net Reviews *Bruce Ragsdale’s excellent work advances the scholarship of Washington and slavery using the rich resources Washington left behind…The flowing prose and readability make this book accessible to scholars and a general audience looking for a unique perspective on George Washington the farmer. -- Lynn Price Robbins * North Carolina Historical Review *Washington played a cautious, often contradictory role with respect to slavery. Why he did so is the subject of [this] timely new book…A portrait of Washington deeply rooted in the culture and politics of his era. -- Nicolaus Mills * Daily Beast *A fascinating and richly informative portrait of George Washington focused on how ‘agricultural improvement and the work of nation building were firmly joined in [his] mind.’…Ragsdale’s lucid explanations of agricultural and financial matters and excellent usage of underexamined primary sources make this a must-read for fans of early American history. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *A landmark work that both deepens and complicates our understanding of George Washington. Ragsdale’s focus on farming—the subject the general and president cared most about—casts new light on nearly every other aspect of his life, not least the vexed issue of slavery. This fascinating book has done more to change my views on Washington than anything I have read in a long time. -- François Furstenberg, author of In the Name of the Father: Washington’s Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a NationRagsdale depicts a wealthy white man in a slave society aspiring to be an enlightened farmer and a republican icon. Washington at the Plow is detailed, discerning, judicious. -- Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George WashingtonThis absorbing study of Washington as citizen farmer makes for compelling reading. Ragsdale is an authoritative guide to the famed Virginian’s embrace of agricultural innovations, then being pioneered in Britain, and to his attempts to make the enslaved workforce at Mount Vernon more productive, leading to his subsequent disillusionment with forced labor. He sheds new light on the African American communities on the Washington farms and the former president’s decision to emancipate his slaves after his death. -- Flora Fraser, author of The WashingtonsIn his engagingly written study of Washington as the ‘founding farmer,’ Bruce A. Ragsdale reveals that although the American Revolutionary War and the presidency would take Washington away from Virginia, the cultivation of the plantations at Mount Vernon were never far from his mind. Ragsdale convincingly argues that the ‘story of Washington’s life as a farmer fundamentally reshapes the familiar biography of the general and president.’ -- James MacKay * Agricultural History Review *An excellent book, clearly written and argued. What is most impressive is how far-reaching it is: Ragsdale helps us realize that agriculture tells us so much about Washington’s thought and character, from his plans for the political economy of the new nation to his view of slavery. Washington tried every device he could to make slavery work before eventually deciding the slave system was hopelessly flawed and must be abandoned. Better than anyone, Ragsdale explains Washington’s complicated decision to free his slaves in his will. -- Richard L. Bushman, author of The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century

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Book Synopsis'Where are you from?' was the question hounding Hazel Carby as a girl in post-World War II London. One of the so-called brown babies of the Windrush generation, born to a Jamaican father and Welsh mother, Carby's place in her home, her neighbourhood, and her country of birth was always in doubt. Emerging from this setting, Carby untangles the threads connecting members of her family to each other in a web woven by the British Empire across the Atlantic. We meet Carby's working-class grandmother Beatrice, a seamstress challenged by poverty and disease. In England, she was thrilled by the cosmopolitan fantasies of empire, by cities built with slave-trade profits, and by street peddlers selling fashionable Jamaican delicacies. In Jamaica, we follow the lives of both the 'white Carbys' and the 'black Carbys', as Mary Ivey, a free woman of colour, whose children are fathered by Lilly Carby, a British soldier who arrived in Jamaica in 1789 to be absorbed into the plantation aristocracy. And we discover the hidden stories of Bridget and Nancy, two women owned by Lilly who survived the Middle Passage from Africa to the Caribbean.Moving between the Jamaican plantations, the hills of Devon, the port cities of Bristol, Cardiff, and Kingston, and the working-class estates of South London, Carby's family story is at once an intimate personal history and a sweeping summation of the violent entanglement of two islands. In charting British empire's interweaving of capital and bodies, public language and private feeling, Carby will find herself reckoning with what she can tell, what she can remember, and what she can bear to know.Trade ReviewAn elegant memoir which pivots beautifully around those twin imposters, 'belonging' and 'home'. Richly suffused with a love of people and place, Carby's familiar intellectual rigor never lets us drift off course towards nostalgia. -- Caryl Phillips, author of A View of the Empire at SunsetA heartbreaking and beautiful account of growing-up in the impossible space between mutually exclusive terms-Black and British. The history of empire, slavery and colonialism unfolds in the exquisite and painful details of this unflinching auto-portrait. Carby deftly captures the ways that relations of power are lived, intimately, quietly, destructively, and profoundly. What an achievement. -- Saidiya Hartman, author of Wayward Lives, Beautiful ExperimentsThis beautifully written book raises the bar for political life-writing. Hazel Carby invites readers to follow a reconstructive quest propelled by memory, archive and imagination. It is a journey of discovery that forcefully contextualises the injustice dished out by British governments to the 'Windrush generation' and their rebel offspring. Carby disrupts fixed notions of racial identity that contort our understanding of Britain's colonial and postcolonial history. -- Paul Gilroy, author of Darker Than Blue and The Black AtlanticHazel Carby is a foundational scholar of race, class, and empire as critical lenses for understanding culture. In Imperial Intimacies she shares the way that stories-often difficult to mine and face-are at the core of how her indispensable world view was formed. Imperial Intimacies is an epic, generous book that illuminates black Britain as never before and shows us how a great thinker and educator was formed. It is beautifully told, a treasured look into how a girl came to believe that reading and critical thinking could help mend a broken world and give us tools not only for living in it, but for understanding it. I'll treasure this book forever. * Elizabeth Alexander, author of The Light of the World and American Sublime *Hazel Carby assembles a sprawling account of how imperialism--a web of social relations, labor markets, and trade networks-conditions private feeling. The resulting narrative is something like an affective history of the British Empire. -- Maya Binyam * New Yorker *Carby's book lies somewhere between what is recorded in official archives, what is remembered in family lore, and what is considered an affective draw to intellectual questions. The spiny precision of the historical...allows the reader to feel erudite, but Carby's most captivating writing is when she feels on the page. -- Tiana Reid * Bookforum *Captivating. . . offers interesting perspectives on the personal impact of capitalism and colonialism. -- Bernardine Evaristo * TLS Books of the Year, 2019 *Exceptional...By using examples from her own background, she brilliantly demonstrates that 'the personal' is indeed political. -- LSE Review of Books * Manuela Latchoumaya *At every turn, Carby refuses to tell a tidy or convenient story and instead produces an account of empire that is as expansive as it is heartbreaking. -- Saidiya Hartman * Paris Review *While the minotaur of the British imperial past is very far from dead and buried, Carby's memoir offers a course, a set of clues; it brings us a bit closer to the mouth of the maze. -- Phoebe Braithwaite * Dissent *An arresting, courageous, and urgently needed memoir that doubles as social, cultural, and political history. -- Gaiutra Bahadur * The Nation *The poignancy in this moving and patient memoir-Carby writes with equal eloquence about work on the Great Western Railway, lichen and the neglected materiality of black British life-centres on her dedication to discovering (to paraphrase James Baldwin) from whence she came. -- Paul Mendez * Times Literary Supplement *Imperial Intimacies is part of a well-established and growing body of literature that explores the margins and gaps in the historical record. ... For those interested in imperialism, postcolonialism, black studies, black British history, and archival studies, this is an essential book to consider. -- Gabriella Rodriguez * Ethnic and Third World Literatures *In Imperial Intimacies, Carby delicately balances the critical distance of the scholar with the profound subjectivity of the memoirist. ... By exploring the relations between working class Welsh life and the Jamaican colony, Bristol's industrial center and the transatlantic slave economy, and the racial transgressions in the intimacies between her own parents, Carby's critical project illuminates the histories of the British empire that are embedded in the spaces of our everyday lives. -- Sabrina Alli * Guernica *[Carby] poignantly portrays how her father, a man of great dignity, had believed in the promises and ideals proclaimed by the British. Carby moves the reader through every possible response to the complex patterns of family lineage under empire. -- Madeleine Bunting * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe devastating and powerful memoir from a French publisher who was abused by a famous writer from the age of thirteenDazzling' New York TimesA gut-punch of a memoir with prose that cuts like a knife' Kate Elizabeth Russell, author of My Dark VanessaThirty years ago, Vanessa Springora was the teenage muse of one of France's most celebrated writers, a footnote in the narrative of an influential man. At the end of 2019, as women around the world began to speak out, Springora, now in her forties and the director of one of France's leading publishing houses, decided to reclaim her own story.Consent recalls her stolen adolescence. Devastating in its honesty, Springora's painstaking memoir lays bare the cultural attitudes and circumstances that made it possible for a fourteen-year-old girl to become involved with a fifty-year-old man.Trade Review‘A Molotov cocktail flung at the face of the French establishment, a work of dazzling, highly controlled fury. A triumph’ New York Times ‘A memoir of lost adolescence … elegant, focused, fluidly translated’ Guardian ‘Rapier-sharp, written with restraint, elegance and brevity – and beautifully translated’ The Times ‘A gut-punch of a memoir with prose that cuts like a knife. Springora never loses sight of the teenage girl at the centre of her story even as she lays bare a culture’s hypocrisies and failures. Painful and powerful, Consent reads like a reckoning’ Kate Elizabeth Russell, author of My Dark Vanessa ‘Incisive and brave, Consent examines how society often fails to protect young women in the most dangerous of ways’ Louise O’Neill ‘[Vanessa Springova’s] account makes one of the strongest points yet in the French #MeToo debate’ Los Angeles Review of Books ‘Fierce and controlled … a searing indictment of an overly permissive era that has triggered a national reckoning in France’ Daily Mail ‘Her sentences gleam like metal; each chapter snaps shut with the clean brutality of a latch’ The New Yorker ‘[Consent] has something steely in its heart, and it departs from the typical American memoir of childhood abuse in exhilarating ways’ Slate

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Book SynopsisMichael Phelps is one of the greatest competitors the world has ever seen. From teen sensation in Sydney, to bona fide phenomenon in Athens, he is now - after the Beijing Games - a living Olympic legend. With an unprecedented eight gold medals and seven world-record times, his performance at the 2008 Games set a new standard for success. He ranks among the most elite athletes in the world, and is both an inspiration and a role model to millions. In No Limits, Phelps reveals the secrets to his remarkable success, from his training regimen to his mental preparation and, finally, to his performance in the pool. Having been raised by a single mother and diagnosed with ADHD, Phelps's success is imbued with defeating obstacles and earning one's way and No Limits explores the hard work, commitment, and sacrifice that go into reaching any goal. Filled with anecdotes from family members, friends, team mates, and his coach, No Limits gives a behind-the-scenes look at the makings of a real champion, and reveals a step-by-step guide to realizing one's dream.

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Book SynopsisThis definitive biography of Anne Boleyn establishes her as a figure of considerable importance and influence in her own right. A full biography of Anne Boleyn, based on the latest scholarly research. Focuses on Anne's life and legacy and establishes Anne as a figure of considerable importance and influence in her own right.Trade Review"[Ives is] splendidly successful... Ives's Boleyn, a portrait at all points supported by the evidence he gives, is clever, independent-minded and politically astute. Ives has gone as far as anyone can... in solving the enigma of Boleyn in a narrative at once profoundly researched and lively." Antonia Fraser, The Sunday Times "Eric Ives has made it unnecessary for anyone else to even make the attempt [to write a biography of Anne Boleyn]. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn is a stunning portrait of the most controversial woman ever to have been queen consort of England." The Independent on Sunday "Eric Ives, a scholar utterly at home in early Tudor politics, has been writing about the Boleyns for more than two decades. His book represents a triumphant culmination of all that research, presented with clarity, wit and human sympathy." Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Telegraph "Ives has written an excellent book on Anne Boleyn. Its great strength is its sophisticated understanding of aristocratic women's involvement in 16th-century politics, and precisely how this worked in practice. ...Ives rises effectively to the human drama of Anne Boleyn's life and in the process illuminates both the inner workings of the Tudor court and its relationship to the larger dramas of the Reformation and European politics." Jane Stevenson, Scotland on Sunday "The best full-length life of Anne Boleyn and a monument to investigative scholarship." David Starkey "Magnificently researched. Eric Ives has written the finest, most accurate study of Anne Boleyn we are ever likely to possess. He leaves no stone unturned in his quest to discover the truth. Never has the historical Anne been so satisfyingly portrayed." John Guy "What is most exciting about The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn is not just that it has confirmed and solidified Ives's earlier work and presented it in a more accessible format. (Like John Guy, Ives has discovered that the Starkey model really does work and that popularisation -- 'to place among the people' -- should not be a term of opprobrium.) Rather, it is the development in methodology, the indication that cultural studies and the history of the book have provided us with new ways to evaluate evidence, to interpret the past." The Spectator "Eric Ives achieves the notable feat of combining magisterial historical authority with a gripping style, and sets the reader's mind buzzing with debate about the complex reasons behind the astounding events of Anne's life." Times Literary Supplement "[Ives] delicately pieces together a believable identity ... [and] gives, too, a lucid and coherent exposition of the circumstances that led to Anne's death." The Guardian "What Ives doesn't know ... about the high politics and court life of Henry VIII's England will either never be known or is not worth knowing. If there is a truth about Anne Boleyn's rise and fall, he will tell it to us." London Review of Books "There is no questioning the impact of Professor Eric Ives on the historiography of Tudor England. There is a keen sense of the evidence, of diplomatic affairs, of the minutiae of the record and its context. The writing is fluent and well-paced, drawing the reader along." The Tyndale Society Journal "This is a moving and compelling account by an author who is the absolute master of his subject. I read it with great excitement and admiration." Susan Brigden, Lincoln College, Oxford "Ives demonstrates triumphantly the potential of the biographical approach in a pre-modern setting. He evinces a deep empathy for his subject without ever becoming an apologist for her, and ... he provides a narrative which is genuinely moving. He has also given us a fully rounded and persuasive account of Anne’s life as a whole, and its significance for understanding the politics and political culture of the early Tudor decades." Reviews in History "The best book on Anne Boleyn ever written. This is a must for all lovers of Tudor history, academics and general readers alike." Alison Weir, BBC History Magazine Books of the Year "Eric Ives has cut through the myths and misconceptions. The result surpasses all previous work.When Ives describes Anne herself. he is utterly convincing." Renaissance QuarterlyTable of ContentsPreface. List of Illustrations. Part I: Background and Beginnings. 1. A Courtier’s Daughter. 2. A European Education. 3. Debut at the English Court. 4. The Sources. 5. Passion and Courtly Love. 6. A Royal Suitor. Part II: A Difficult Engagement. 7. A Marriage Arranged. 8. Anne Boleyn and the Fall of Wolsey. 9. Stalemate, 1529–1532. 10. The Turning-point, 1532–1533. 11. Wedding Nerves. 12. A Coronation and a Christening. Part III: Anne the Queen. 13. A Royal Marriage. 14. Anne the Queen: Influence, Power and Wealth. 15. Anne Boleyn: Image. 16. Anne Boleyn: Art and Taste. 17. Anne Boleyn: Life at Court. 18. Anne Boleyn and the Advent of Reform. 19. Personal Religion. Part IV: A Marriage Destroyed. 20. The Rival, 1535–1536. 21. The Coup, April–May 1536. 22. The Response, January–April 1536. 23. Judgment. 24. Finale. Epilogue. Bibliographical Abbreviations.

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Book SynopsisOur incredible story under a supreme manager shared in all its glory.' Jordan HendersonThe definitive account of Jürgen Klopp's astonishing revival of Liverpool Football ClubFULLY UPDATED FOR THE 2020-2021 SEASONLiverpool Football Club's stunning Premier League title victory deserves a place in the official record of great sporting achievements. Talismanic manager Jürgen Klopp delivered a first title in 30 years as the Reds became the only team in British history to hold the European Cup, Super Cup, World Club Cup and domestic league title simultaneously.A difficult title defence followed, derailed by an unrivalled injury crisis during a thankless, Covid-shaped season. Still Klopp's Liverpool weathered this storm to secure Champions League football again, surmounting personal tragedy and endless professional setbacks. But what makes the club tick? Can the lessons of its success be replicated by others?Melissa Reddy reveals the inside story of Jürgen Klopp's astonishing revival of the LTrade Review‘Our incredible story under a supreme manager shared in all its glory.’ Jordan Henderson ‘The tale of a watershed season wonderfully told by a great writer I have huge respect for.’ Ian Wright ‘Remarkable storytelling of a remarkable season.’Gérard Houllier ‘I’ve been reading, keeping busy in the bubble. Believe Us, which is the story of Liverpool.’ Eddie Jones, England Rugby coach

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Book SynopsisAlready winning acclaim as one of the best accounts of combat ever written, Black Hawk Down is a minute-by-minute, heart-stopping account of the 1993 raid on Mogadishu, Somalia. Late in the afternoon of Sunday, October 3 1993, 140 elite US Soldiers abseiled from helicopters into a teeming market neighbourhood in the heart of the city. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take them about an hour.Instead, they were pinned down through a long and terrible night in a hostile city, fighting for their lives against thousands of heavily armed Somalis. Two of their high-tech helicopters were shot out of the sky. When the unit was rescued the following morning, eighteen American soldiers were dead and more than seventy badly injured. The Somali toll was far worse - more than five hundred killed and over a thousand injured.Authoritative, gripping, and insightful, Black Hawk Down is destined to become a classTrade Review'Rip-roaring stuff, with one of the most gruesome battlefield wound treatments ever committed to paper' * Maxim *A thrilling and visceral no-holds-barred classic of modern war'One of the most electrifying, immediate and detailed accounts of a single battle ever told...the whole 24-hour nightmare seems like it's happening to you' * Later *

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Book SynopsisThe Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for EveryoneMicrosoft's CEO tells the inside story of the company's continuing transformation, while tracing his own journey from a childhood in India to leading some of the most significant changes of the digital era.LONGLISTED FOR THE FT & MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDSatya Nadella grew up in India, studied in the US and went on to become Microsoft's third CEO after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. In Hit Refresh he offers a unique view of the transformation happening inside one of the world's most iconic tech companies, and the arrival of the most exciting and disruptive wave of technology humankind has experienced including artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing.Nadella examines how people, organisations and societies can and must transform hit refresh' in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal. Yet at its core, this book is about humTrade Review‘Satya has charted a course for making the most of the opportunities created by technology while also facing up to the hard questions. He offers his own fascinating personal story, more literary quotations than you might expect, and even a few lessons from his beloved game of cricket’ Bill Gates

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Book SynopsisWith his sharp wit and poet's eye, Tim Heath writes of a forty-year career, mostly in New Zealand but also in Samoa. He's worked in small country schools, in big city schools, at the Correspondence School, in primary schools and in secondary schools. He's been a principal and a deputy principal.Teaching wasn't his first choice, but once in the classroom he found his calling.Tim is a passionate advocate for children and their learning, and his educational philosophy is illustrated through touching anecdotes of children and their struggles and successes.Written against the backdrop of changing times in New Zealand, this memoir is a deep dive into education and its place in our world.

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Book SynopsisSarah Forsyth has spent most of her life in fear. After overcoming the hurt and heartbreak of a horrific childhood, Sarah managed to build a new life for herself as a nursery nurse.Then, one day, she spotted a newspaper advert for a job in a crèche in Amsterdam. Excited by the prospect of a fresh start abroad, she eagerly signed up. But within minutes of stepping off the plane in Amsterdam her life began to fall apart...There was no crèche and no job. That night, at just nineteen years of age, her life - her real life, her life as Sarah Forsyth - ended. Fed cocaine and cannabis, and forced at gunpoint to work as a prostitute in the Red Light District of Amsterdam: Sarah was a victim of sex-trafficking.Sarah Forsyth is a survivor. This is her heartbreaking story.

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