Biography Books

Book SynopsisBoth a gripping tale of adventure and a poetic meditation, Antoine de Saint Exupéry''s Wind, Sand and Stars is the lyrical autobiography of an aviation pioneer, from the author of The Little Prince. This Penguin Modern Classics edition is translated from the French with an introduction by William Rees.In 1926 de Saint-Exupéry began flying for the pioneering airline Latécoère - later known as Aéropostale - opening up the first mail routes across the Sahara and the Andes. Wind, Sand and Stars is drawn from this experience. Interweaving encounters with nomadic Arabs and other adventures into a richly textured autobiographical narrative, it has its climax in the extraordinary story of Saint-Exupéry''s crash in the Libyan Desert in 1936, and his miraculous survival. ''Self-discovery comes when a man measures himself against an obstacle,'' writes Saint-Exupéry. This book explores the transcendent perceptions that arise when life is tested to its limits.

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Book SynopsisSaki is perhaps the most graceful spokesman for England''s ''Golden Afternoon'' - the slow and peaceful years before the First World War. Although, like so many of his generation, he died tragically young, in action on the Western Front, his reputation as a writer continued to grow long after his death. The stories are humorous, satiric, supernatural, and macabre, highly individual, full of eccentric wit and unconventional situations. With his great gift as a social satirist of his contemporaryupper-class Edwardian world, Saki is one of the few undisputed English masters of the short story.

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Book SynopsisAn autobiographical work that describes firsthand the great tectonic shifts in English society following the First World War, Robert Graves''s Goodbye to All That is a matchless evocation of the Great War''s haunting legacy, published in Penguin Modern Classics.In 1929 Robert Graves went to live abroad permanently, vowing ''never to make England my home again''. This is his superb account of his life up until that ''bitter leave-taking'': from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days at Charterhouse, to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War that was to haunt him throughout his life. It also contains memorable encounters with fellow writers and poets, including Siegfried Sassoon and Thomas Hardy, and covers his increasingly unhappy marriage to Nancy Nicholson. Goodbye to All That, with its vivid, harrowing descriptions of the Western Front, is a classic war document, and also has immense value as one of the most candid self-portraitTrade ReviewA remarkable book ... Essential reading for the centenary of the first world war—GuardianOne of the most candid self-portraits of a poet, warts and all, ever painted—The Times Literary SupplementWe see the dark heart of the book even more clearly, and hear it beating even more loudly, in this original edition than we do in the comparatively careful and considered terms of the later one—Andrew Motion

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing: a massive money-making scam and radical political conspiracy that has remade American society.Companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the world?s greatest opportunity: the chance to be your own boss via an enigmatic business model called multilevel marketing, or MLM. They offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and?most precious of all?financial freedom. If, that is, you?re willing to shell out for expensive products and recruit everyone you know to buy them, and if they recruit everyone they know, too, thus creating the ?multiple levels? of MLM.Overwhelming evidence suggests that most people lose money in multilevel marketing, and that many MLM companies are pyramid schemes. Yet the industry?s origins, tied to right-wing ideologues like Ronald Reagan, have escaped public scrutiny. MLM has slithered in the wake of every economic crisis of the last century, from the Depression to the pandemic, ensnaring laid-off workers, stay-at-home moms, and teachers?anyone who has been left behind by rising inequality.In Little Bosses Everywhere, journalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time, winding from sunny postwar California, where a failed salesman started a vitamin business, through the devoutly religious suburbs of Michigan, where the industry built its political influence, to stadium-size conventions where today?s top sellers preach to die-hard recruits. MLM has enriched powerful people, like the DeVos and Van Andel families, Warren Buffett, and President Donald Trump, all while eroding public institutions and the social safety net, then profiting from the chaos. Along the way, Read delves into the stories of those devastated by the majority-female industry: a veteran in Florida searching for healing; a young mom in Texas struggling to feed her children; a waitress scraping by in Brooklyn.A wild trip down an endless rabbit hole of greed and exploitation, Little Bosses Everywhere exposes multilevel marketing as American capitalism?s stealthiest PR campaign, a cunning grift that has shaped nearly everything about how we live, and whose ultimate target is democracy itself.

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Book Synopsis''The best portrait of rural life in England'' Roger Deakin''Exquisite'' John Updike''The finest contemporary writer on the English countryside'' ObserverRonald Blythe''s perceptive and vivid evocation of the rural Suffolk he had known since childhood was acclaimed as an instant classic when it was published in 1969. It reverberates with the voices of the village inhabitants, from the reminiscences of survivors of the Great War evoking days gone by, to the concerns of a younger generation of farm-workers and the fascinating and personal recollections of, among others, the local schoolteacher, doctor, blacksmith, saddler, district nurse and magistrate. Providing insights into the land, education, welfare, class, religion and death, Akenfield forms a unique document of a way of life that has, in many ways, disappeared.Trade ReviewA hundred years from now, anyone wanting to know how things were on the land will turn more profitably to Akenfield than to a sheaf of anaemically professional social surveys. * the Guardian *Blythe lovingly opens the curtains of legend and landscape, revealing the inner, almost clandestine, spirit of the village behind. His book consists of direct-speech monologues, delivered by 49 Suffolk residents, and interpretatively linked by the author. The effect is one of astonishing immediacy: it is as if those country people have looked up for a moment from their plow, lawnmower or kitchen sink, and are talking directly (and disturbingly frankly) to the reader -- Jan Morris * The New York Times *Exquisite -- John Updike

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Book Synopsis''This is a very personal book, about being alone and lost''. In 1975 Kapuscinski''s employers sent him to Angola to cover the civil war that had broken out after independence. For months he watched as Luanda and then the rest of the country collapsed into a civil war that was in the author''s words ''sloppy, dogged and cruel''. In his account, Kapuscinski demonstrates an extraordinary capacity to describe and to explain the individual meaning of grand political abstractions.

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Book Synopsis''Shooting an Elephant'' is Orwell''s searing and painfully honest account of his experience as a police officer in imperial Burma; killing an escaped elephant in front of a crowd ''solely to avoid looking a fool''. The other masterly essays in this collection include classics such as ''My Country Right or Left'', ''How the Poor Die'' and ''Such, Such were the Joys'', his memoir of the horrors of public school, as well as discussions of Shakespeare, sleeping rough, boys'' weeklies and a spirited defence of English cooking. Opinionated, uncompromising, provocative and hugely entertaining, all show Orwell''s unique ability to get to the heart of any subject.A collection of witty and incisive non-fiction, George Orwell''s Shooting an Elephant includes an introduction by Jeremy Paxman in Penguin Modern Classics.Table of ContentsWhy I write; the spike; a hanging; shooting an elephant; bookshop memories; Charles Dickens; boy's weeklies; my country right or left; looking back on the Spanish War; n defense of English cooking; good bad books; the sporting spirit; nonsense poetry; the prevention of literature; books versus cigarettes; decline of the English murder; some thoughts on the common toad; confessions of a book reviewer; politics versus literature - an examination of "Gulliver's Travels"; how the poor die; such, such were the joys; reflections on Gandhi.

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Book SynopsisMy part of Ireland had a poet at one time, a poor ragged fellow whom no respectable person whom no respectable person would be seen talking to, but he left doors open as he passed. A delightful autobiographical novel from one of Ireland''s best-loved writersTime hardly mattered in the village of Mucker, the birthplace of poet and writer Patrick Kavanagh. Full of wry humour, Kavanagh''s unsentimental and evocative account of his Irish rural upbringing describes a patriarchal society surviving on the edge of poverty, sustained by the land and an insatiable love of gossip. There are tales of schoolboy skirmishes, blackberrying and night-time salmon-poaching; of country-weddings and fairs, of political banditry and religious pilgrimages; and of farm-work in the fields and kicking mares.Kavanagh''s experiences inspired him to write poetry which immortalized a fast-disappearing way of life and brought him recognition as one of Ireland''s great poets.

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Book SynopsisDeals with the underworld of society. In this book, the author documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor - sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses of last resort, working as a dishwasher in Paris' vile 'Hotel X', surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps, a star-gazing pavement artist and more.

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Book Synopsis''In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could do to any person; I create myself''Intimate, vulnerable and unsparing, Reborn bears witness to the evolution of Susan Sontag.With entries dating from 1947-1963, the first instalment from Susan Sontag''s diaries charts her ascension from early adolescence to her early thirties. Unabashed, though thoroughly self-reflective, Sontag''s diaries reveal the inner workings of her mind, her insecurities and her passions. This compelling account of the evolution of America''s greatest post-war intellectual allows us to behold the moral and political awakening of the artist and critic.''An exceptionally vivid, and often moving, account of a young woman''s painful journey towards acceptance of her own nature'' Sunday Telegraph''Moving on several levels . . . thrilling . . . fascinating . . . often reads like a brilliant postmodern bildungsroman'' New YoTrade ReviewFascinating. One can feel Sontag's mind beginning to ripen and bloom, and the full force of the intellectual originality that would be her hallmark emerging * Guardian *Inspirational. Sontag shows us not just the importance, but the exhilaration of being earnest * New Statesman *A fascinating document of her apprenticeship, charting her earnest quest for education, identity, and voice. Reborn is overwhelmingly a record of an inner landscape. * New York Review of Books *

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Book Synopsis''These sixteen pieces brim over with vitality . . . every one of them opening up fresh lines of thought'' John Gray, New StatesmanAt the Same Time contains sixteen illuminating essays by Susan Sontag with a preface by David Rieff.The sixteen essays represent the last pieces written by Susan Sontag in the years before her death in 2004. Reflecting on literature, photography and art, post 9/11 America and political activism, these essays encompass the themes that dominated Sontag''s life and work, revealing why she remains one of the twentieth century''s preeminent writers and thinkers.''One of America''s greatest public intellectuals'' Observer''Excellent and essential'' Financial Times''Reads like a greatest-hits album - a little politics, something on photography, some lit. crit. - of Sontag''s passions'' Daily Telegraph''Sontag''s clear thinking . . . shines like a spotlight in dark places'' Trade ReviewAt the time [Sontag] died, she was America’s best-known public intellectual. To my mind, she was also the most exemplary. Intellectually and imaginatively gifted to an extraordinary degree, she used her fearless intelligence to illuminate some of the deepest contradictions of contemporary life -- John Gray * New Statesman *Intense and insightful . . . some excellent and essential essays * Financial Times *Sontag’s clear thinking . . . shines like a spotlight in dark places * The Times *A formidable mind . . . America’s foremost intellectual . . . [Sontag’s] willingness to shoulder the responsibility and complicity for acts that most Americans are only too eager to condemn is the sign of a spirit open to examining any idea except compromise * Metro *[A] powerful collection . . . Sontag's brilliance as a literary critic, her keen analytical skill and her genius for the searingly apt phrase are all fiercely displayed here * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisArt critic Martin Gayford, author of The Yellow House, brings the Regency period to life in Constable in Love: Love, Landscape and the Making of a Great Painter his account of the life of English Romantic painter John Constable. Love, not landscape, was the making of Constable. . . John Constable and Maria Bicknell might have been in love but their marriage was a most unlikely prospect. Constable was a penniless painter who would not sacrifice his art for anything, while Maria''s family frowned on such a penurious union. For seven long years the couple were forced to correspond and meet clandestinely. But it was during this period of longing that Constable developed as a painter. And by the time they''d overcome all obstacles to their marriage, he was on the verge of being recognised as a genius.Martin Gayford brings alive the time of Jane Austen in telling the tremendous story of Constable''s formative years, as well as this love affairTrade ReviewBrilliant, wholly fascinating. I can't recommend this delightful book too highly -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *Delightful...a small drama of love, frustration and despair played itself out with massive repercussions for the history of painting * Financial Times *A stunning account of Constable's coming of age as both a man and an artist * Guardian *Gayford's nuanced narrative throws much-needed fresh light, as well as real understanding, on both Constable's painting and his love life * Sunday Telegraph *A scrupulously observed tragical-comical tale * Evening Standard *Engaging, cunning, agreeable and alert to the vagaries of human behaviour * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisIn this revised and expanded edition of his essential volume Dark City Dames, Eddie Muller—Turner Classic Movies host and author of Dark Cityand Noir Bar—offers a uniquely intimate look at the women who defined film noir, now featuring updated text, photos, and 10 new star profiles.   Film noir was the dark side of the movies’ happily-ever-after mythology. Sinister and sexy, it forged a new icon: the tough, independent dame. Determined, desirable, dangerous when cornered, she could handle trouble—or deal out some of her own. If you thought these women were something special onscreen, wait until you meet the genuine articles. In Dark City Dames, acclaimed film historian Eddie Muller takes readers into the world of six women who made a lasting impression in this cinematic terrain—from veteran “bad girls” Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor, and Jane Greer to unexpected genre fixtures Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray, and Ann Savage. The book provides in-depth profiles of these formidable women during the height of their careers, circa 1950, as they balanced love and career, struggled against typecasting, and sought fulfillment in a ruthless business. Their personal stories—teeming with larger-than-life characters like Howard Hughes, Louis B. Mayer, Robert Mitchum, Otto Preminger, and John Huston—offer a fascinating counterpoint to their movies. Then Dark City Dames revisits each woman fifty years later, to witness their hard-won—and triumphant—survival. On every page their own voices ring through, reflecting on their lives with as much passion, pain, intelligence, energy, and humor as any movie script. Muller conducted far-ranging interviews with the original six women profiled in Dark City Dames, in the process becoming a friend and confidante to each. In this revised and expanded edition, he updates their stories and shares illuminating, never-before-told memories of his time with them. This edition also includes compelling new profiles of ten additional women who left an indelible mark on film noir, including Joan Bennett, Gail Russell, Rhonda Fleming, and Claire Trevor—all packaged in a stunning redesign that offers the ultimate look at performers who helped define a still-resonant and inspiring epoch of Hollywood history.

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Book SynopsisPatrick Hennessey''s The Junior Officers'' Reading Club is a lucid, witty account of all the horror, boredom and exhilaration of war. Patrick Hennessey is pretty much like any other member of Generation X: he spent the first half of the noughties reading books at university, going out, listening to house music and watching war films. He also, as an officer in the Grenadier guards, fought in some of the most violent combat the British army has seen in decades. Telling the story of how a modern soldier is made, from the testosterone-heavy breeding ground of Sandhurst to the nightmare of Iraq and Afghanistan, The Junior Officers'' Reading Club is already being hailed as a modern classic. ''Soldiers who can write are as rare as writers who can strip down a machinegun in 40 seconds'' Christopher Hart, Sunday Times ''An extraordinary memoir ... Hennessey has a reporter''s eye for detail and a soldier''s nose for bullshit'' JoTrade ReviewSoldiers who can write are as rare as writers who can strip down a machinegun in 40 seconds, but Patrick Hennessey is one of the few * Sunday Times *High-tempo, full-on . . . honest and revealing . . . a memoir brimming with vinegar and testosterone * Evening Standard *The military memoir of the moment * Times *A very fine book, a powerful dispatch from the front line ... what impresses is the sheer candour and immediacy * Spectator *An extraordinary memoir . . . Hennessey has a reporter's eye for detail and a soldier's nose for bullshit * Guardian *Outstanding . . . A classic of its kind * William Boyd, Sunday Herald, Books of the Year *Harrowing and frequently funny . . . sparkles with wit, wisdom and boyish glee . . . His generation owns the war * Times *Must rank as the most accomplished work of military witness to emerge from British war-fighting since 1945 * Independent *Remarkable . . . conveys vividly what it's like to experience combat * Jeremy Paxman, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year *An engaging mix of war reporting, stream of consciousness and reflections on the nature of conflict in the twenty-first century * Caroline Moorehead, Spectator, Books of the Year *All politicians need to read honest accounts of war - at no time more than now - and Patrick Hennessey's The Junior Officers' Reading Club is one of the very best * David Cameron, Observer, Books of the Year *A vivid account of a rollercoaster tour of duty . . . testosterone-charged, expletive-splattered * Phil Jacobson, Daily Mail *A compelling read . . . Hennessey's book ought to be read by all officers that have yet to experience combat . . . He has written an important portrait of contemporary warfare and the nature of battle - a portrait that can claim a line of descent from Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer * Will Pike, British Army Review *An honest acknowledgment of the darkness within us, of the unwelcome emotions that combat can bring about ... Smart and funny ... The Junior Officers' Reading Club is a humdinger -- Jonathan Yardley * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisKuki Gallmann was born near Venice and moved to Kenya in 1972 with her husband and young son. Following their deaths, she set up the Gallmann Memorial Foundation to promote new ways of combining development and conservation, and to provide sponsorship for the education of Kenyans. I Dreamed of Africa was first published in 1991 to international acclaim and it became a world-wide bestseller. Her subsequent books, African Nights and Night of the Lions, were also published by Penguin. She lives in Kenya with her daughter and her dogs.Trade ReviewPowerful, poetic, unbearably moving: I wept * Clare Francis *'This is a book that belongs on a shelf with the memoirs of Olive Schreiner, Elspeth Huxley, Beryl Markham – and with Out of Africa Judith ThurmanMs Gallmann captures perfectly the magic of Kenya, creating an almost overwhelming picture of beauty and drama, pain and joy, death and resurrection . . . Vividly reminiscent of Isak Dinesen * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisMarshall McLuhan was a Canadian educator, philosopher and scholar - a professor of English Literature, a literary critic and a communications theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. McLuhan is known for coining the expressions 'the medium is the message' and the 'global village'.

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Book SynopsisOriginally published anonymously, Nature was the first modern essay to recommend the appreciation of the outdoors as an all-encompassing positive force. Emerson's writings were recognized as uniquely American in style and content, and launched the idea of going for a walk as a new way of looking at the world. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

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Book Synopsis''This is the account we''ve been starved of: an insight into Ukraine from an authoritative British writer who has skin in the country's game.Odesa is my discovered heart,' confesses Julian Evans, who fell in love with a woman from this constantly beguiling Black Sea port andstarted a family there,the place that''s given me what I need for more than twenty-five years.' An outsider turned insider, his deep personalinvolvement compelled him to the front line of an unprovoked war without precedent in Europe for nearly eighty years. His vivid, first-handreportage shows how Odesa's story is inseparable from Ukraine's and more than that, how it has become our story too.'' Nicholas Shakespeare

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Book SynopsisIn thismovingstory, the New York Times bestselling author of The Greatest Generation chronicles the values and lessons he absorbed from his parents and other people who worked hard to build lives on the prairie during the first half of the twentieth century. ?A spare, elegant masterpiece.??Ken BurnsTom?s father, Red, left school in the second grade to work in the family hotel?the Brokaw House, established in Bristol, South Dakota, by R. P. Brokaw in 1883. Eventually, through work on construction jobs, Red developed an exceptional talent for machines. Tom?s mother, Jean, was the daughter of a farmer who lost everything during the Great Depression. They met after a high school play, when Jean played the lead and Red fell in love with her from the audience. Although they didn?t have much money early in their marriage, especially once they had three boys at home, Red?s philosophy of ?Never give up? served them well. His big break came after World War II, when he went to work for the Army Corps of Engineers building great dams across the Missouri River, magnificent structures like the Fort Randall and the Gavins Point dams. Late in life, Red surprised his family by recording his memories of the hard times of his early life, reflections that inspired this book.Tom Brokaw is known as one of the most successful people in broadcast journalism. Throughout his legendary career, Brokaw has always asked what we can learn from world events and from our history. Within Never Give Up is one answer, a portrait of the resilience and respect for others at the heart of one American family?s story.

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Book SynopsisA survey of one of the giants of Renaissance thought, The Essays: A Selection collects some of Michel de Montaigne's most startling and original works, translated from the French and edited with an introduction and notes by M.A. Screech in Penguin Classics. To overcome a crisis of melancholy after the death of his father, Montaigne withdrew to his country estates and began to write, and in the highly original essays that resulted he discussed themes such as fathers and children, conscience and cowardice, coaches and cannibals, and, above all, himself. On Some Lines of Virgil opens out into a frank discussion of sexuality and makes a revolutionary case for the equality of the sexes. In On Experience he superbly propounds his thoughts on the right way to live, while other essays touch on issues of an age struggling with religious and intellectual strife, with France torn apart by civil war. These diverse subjects are united by Montaigne's distinctive voice - that of a tolerant man, sceTable of ContentsBook 1: we reach the same end by discrepant means; on idleness; on punishing cowardice; on fear; to philosophize is to learn how to die; on educating children; that it is madness to judge the true and the false from our own capacities; on the cannibals; judgements on God's ordinances must be embarked upon with prudence; on solitude; on prayer; on the length of life. Book 2: on the inconstancy of our actions; on drunkenness; on conscience; on the affection of fathers for their children; on cruelty; in defence of Seneca and Plutarch; on three good wives; on the resemblance of children to their fathers. Book 3: on repenting; on three kinds of social intercourse; on some lines of Virgil; on coaches; on the lame; on experience.

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Book SynopsisDuring his decades of world fame as a novelist, Tolstoy also wrote prolifically in a series of essays and polemics on issues of morality, social justice and religion. These works culminated in What is Art?, published in 1898. Impassioned and iconoclastic, this powerfully influential work both criticizes the elitist nature of art in nineteenth-century Western society, and rejects the idea that its sole purpose should be the creation of beauty. The works of Dante, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Baudelaire and Wagner are all vigorously condemned, as Tolstoy explores what he believes to be the spiritual role of the artist - arguing that true art must work with religion and science as a force for the advancement of mankind.Table of ContentsWhat Is Art? - Leo Tolstoy Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky with a Preface by Richard PevearPrefaceBibliographical NoteA Note on the TextWHAT IS ART?Appendix IAppendix IINotes

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Book SynopsisThroughout his long, hectic and astonishingly varied life, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832) would jot down his passing thoughts on theatre programmes, visiting cards, draft manuscripts and even bills Goethe was probably the last true Renaissance Man'. Although employed as a Privy Councillor at the Duke of Weimar's court, where he helped oversee major mining, road-building and irrigation projects, he also painted, directed plays, carried out research in anatomy, botany and optics and still found time to produce masterpieces in every literary genre. His fourteen hundred Maxims and Reflections reveal some of his deepest thought on art, ethics, literature and natural science, but also his immediate reactions to books, chance encounters or his administrative work. Although variable in quality, the vast majority have a freshness and immediacy which vividly conjure up Goethe the man. They make an ideal introduction to one of the greatest of European writers.Table of ContentsMaxims and ReflectionsPrefaceIntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on the TextFROM ELECTIVE AFFINITIES (1809)From Ottilie's DiaryFROM ART AND ANTIQUITYVol. I, issue 3: Naïvety and Humour (1818)Vol. II, issue 3: Matters of Serious Moment (1820)Vol. III, issue 1: Own and Adopted Ideas in Proverbial Formulation (1821)Vol. IV, issue 2: Own and Assimilated Material (1823)Vol. V, issue 1: Individual Points (1824)Vol. V, issue 2: Individual Points (1825)Vol. V, issue 3: Individual Points (1826)Vol. VI, issue 1: [untitled] (1827)FROM THE PERIODICAL ISSUES ON MORPHOLOGYVol. I, issue 4: [untitled] (1822)FROM THE PERIODICAL ISSUES ON THE NATURAL SCIENCESVol. II, issue 1: Old Ideas, Almost out of Date (1823)FROM WILHELM MEISTER'S JOURNEYMAN YEARS (1829)Thoughs about Art, Ethics and Nature in the Spirit of the TravellersFrom Makarie's ArchivePOSTHUMOUSOn Literature and LifeOn Art and Art History: Aphorisms for the Attention of Friends and OpponentsOn Nature and Natural ScienceSketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete JottingsAddenda from the Posthumous PapersNotes

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Book SynopsisSt Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the central figures in the history of Christianity, and City of God is one of his greatest theological works. Written as an eloquent defence of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, it examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends the best political experiences of the world and offers citizenship that will last for eternity, City of God is one of the most influential documents in the development of Christianity.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introducTable of ContentsCity of GodChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingTranslator's NoteArrangements and Contents of the City of GodAbbreviations Used in ReferencesConcerning the City of God, Against the PagansPart IBook IBook IIBook IIIBook IVBook VBook VIBook VIIBook VIIIBook IXBook XPart IIBook XIBook XIIBook XIIIBook XIVBook XVBook XVIBook XVIIBook XVIIIBook XIXBook XXBook XXIBook XXIIIndex

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Book Synopsis''I was filled with apprehension about crossing the front line, but I would have risked my life to save just one child. Ivan was giving me a chance to save them all''This is the extraordinary work of Sally Becker, a humanitarian aid worker who for over three decades has risked it all in order to help the children of war.Where Angels Fear to Tread is a reminder that with determination, unrelenting passion and drive one person can change the lives of so many.In May 1993, Sally Becker went to Bosnia to help the innocent victims of war. She started by delivering humanitarian aid to the region, and was soon hailed as the ''Angel of Mostar'' for rescuing wounded children and their families from the besieged city. Sally continued her work throughout the conflict and is credited with saving many lives.When President Milosevic ordered his troops into Kosovo, her missions continued, this time on foot across the mountains. While attempting to bring sick and wounded children and their families to safety, she was captured by Serb paramilitaries, but neither this nor being shot by masked gunmen in Northern Albania could make her abandon her task.Bosnia was Sally''s first mission and the beginning of her lifelong commitment to help rescue children caught up in some of the most horrific wars around the world, including missions to help children in Iraq, Ukraine and most recently Gaza.Her account provides a rare and invaluable insight into the complexities of international aid work, the shocking reality of life on the front lines and the desperate race to save innocent children trapped in war zones.This is her extraordinary story.

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Book SynopsisAn essential primary source on Roman history and a fascinating achievement of scholarship covering a critical period in the EmpireAs private secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, the scholar Suetonius had access to the imperial archives and used them (along with eyewitness accounts) to produce one of the most colourful biographical works in history. The Twelve Caesars chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus, to the decline into depravity and civil war under Nero and the recovery that came with his successors. A masterpiece of observation, anecdote and detailed physical description, The Twelve Caesars presents us with a gallery of vividly drawn—and all too human—individuals. James B. Rives has sensitively updated Robert Graves's now classic translation, reinstating Latin terms and updating vocabulary while retaining the

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Book SynopsisA book about finding home amidst the ancient mountains and lakes of northern Greece. A story of people, pelicans, borders and bears. A story of shelter, generosity and welcome. A story of a shared world.

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Book SynopsisNo philosopher has held a higher opinion of art than Hegel, yet nor was any so profoundly pessimistic about its prospects - despite living in the German golden age of Goethe, Mozart and Schiller. For if the artists of classical Greece could find the perfect fusion of content and form, modernity faced complicating - and ultimately disabling - questions. Christianity, with its code of unworldliness, had compromised the immediacy of man''s relationship with reality, and ironic detachment had alienated him from his deepest feelings. Hegel''s Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics were delivered in Berlin in the 1820s and stand today as a passionately argued work that challenged the ability of art to respond to the modern world.Table of ContentsThe range of aesthetic defined, and some objections against the philosophy of art refuted; methods of science applicable to beauty and art; the conception of artisitc beauty; historical deduction of the true idea of art in modern philosophy; division of the subject.

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Book SynopsisJEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU was born in Geneva in 1712. His remarkable novel La nouvelle Héloise (1761), met with immediate and enormous success. In this and in Émile, which followed a year later, Rousseau invoked the inviolability of personal ideals against the power of the state and the pressures of society. The crowning achievement of his political philosophy was The Social Contract, published in 1762. That same year he wrote an attack on revealed religion, the Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard. He was driven from Switzerland and fled to England where he only succeeded in making an enemy of Hume and returned to his continental peregrinations. In 1770 Rousseau completed his Confessions. His last years were spent largely in France where he died in 1778.

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Book SynopsisMost know Marvelous Marvin Hagler from his epic battles against Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran, and his controversial split-decision loss to Sugar Ray Leonard. But it is his escape from riot-torn Newark in the late 1960s, the unbreakable bond he built with the Petronelli brothers, and his 1980 title fight against Britain’s Alan Minter—with its deep racial overtones—that tells the real story of Hagler.In Blood & Hate, New York Times bestselling author Dave Wedge tells the riveting and inspirational tale of how Hagler overcame incredible odds, joined with Goody and Pat Petronelli to rise through the rigged ranks, and morphed from a fatherless teenager in Brockton, Massachusetts, into Marvelous Marvin Hagler, one of the top boxers ever and the longest-reigning undisputed middleweight champ in history.Through exclusive interviews with Bob Arum, the Petronelli and Hagler families, and a who''s who of the boxing world, Blood & Hate reveals fascinating details about Hagler''s early life as well as the legendary Minter fight, and once and for all delivers the definitive chronicle of Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

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Book SynopsisFriedrich Nietzsche''s most accessible and influential philosophical work, misquoted, misrepresented, brilliantly original and enormously influentialNietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor. Nietzsche''s utterance ''God is dead'', his insistence that the meaning of life is to be found in purely human terms, and his doctrine of the Superman and the will to power were all later seized upon and unrecognisably twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission to authority, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic and free.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsPart 1 Zarathustra's discourses: of the three metamorphoses; of the chairs of virtue; of the afterworldsmen; of the despisers of the body; of joys and passions; of the pale criminal; of reading and writing; of the tree on the mountainside; of the preachers of death; of war and warriors; of the new idol; of the flies of the market-place; of chastity; of the friend; of the thousand and one goals; of love of one's neighbour; of the way of the creator; of old and young women; of the Adder's bite; of marriage and children; of voluntary death; of the bestowing virtue. Part 2: the child with the mirror; on the blissful islands; of the compassionate; of the priests; of the virtuous; of the rabble; of the tarantulas; of the famous philosophers; of the night song; the dance song; the funeral song; of self-overcoming; of the sublime men; of the land of culture; of immaculate perception; of scholars; of poets; of great events; the prophet; of redemption; of manly prudence; the stillest hour. Part 3: the wanderer; of the vision and the riddle; of involuntary bliss; before sunrise; of the virtue that makes small; on the mount of olives; of passing by; of the apostates; the home-coming; of the three evil things; of the spirit of gravity; of old and new law-tables; the convalescent; of the great longing; the second dance song; the seven seals (or - the song of Yes and Amen). Part 4: the honey offering; the cry of distress; conversation with the kings; the leech; the sorcerer; retired from service; the ugliest man; the voluntary beggar; the shadow; at noontide; the greeting; the last supper; of the higher man; the song of melancholy; of science; among the daughters of the desert; the awakening; the ass festival; the intoxicated song; the sign.

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Book SynopsisXenophon''s History recounts nearly fifty turbulent years of warfare in Greece between 411 and 362 BC. Continuing the story of the Peloponnesian War at the point where Thucydides finished his magisterial history, this is a fascinating chronicle of the conflicts that ultimately led to the decline of Greece, and the wars with both Thebes and the might of Persia. An Athenian by birth, Xenophon became a firm supporter of the Spartan cause, and fought against the Athenians in the battle of Coronea. Combining history and memoir, this is a brilliant account of the triumphs and failures of city-states, and a portrait of Greece at a time of crisis.Table of ContentsA History of My TimesIntroductionSelect BibliographyA Note on the NotesA History of My TimesBook OneBook TwoBook ThreeBook FourBook SixBook SevenAppendixMaps:1. The Aegean2. Asia Minor3. Northern Peloponnese and North West Greece4. Central Greece5. Area of the Isthmus and the Saronic Gulf6. Central and Southern Peloponnese7. ChalcidiceIndex

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Book SynopsisWritten following the collapse of Rome''s secular control over western Europe, the History of Gregory (c. AD 539-594) is a fascinating exploration of the events that shaped sixth-century France. This volume contains all ten books from the work, the last seven of which provide an in-depth description of Gregory''s own era, in which he played an important role as Bishop of Tours. With skill and eloquence, Gregory brings the age vividly to life, as he relates the exploits of missionaries, martyrs, kings and queens - including the quarrelling sons of Lothar I, and the ruthless Queen Fredegund, third wife of Chilperic. Portraying an age of staggering cruelty and rapid change, this is a powerful depiction of the turbulent progression of faith at a time of political and social chaos.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPerry's detailed research brings to life a transformative figure who has been little recognized for his contributions to progressive race and class politics. Booklist Perry's clear prose allows access to a three-dimensional picture of Harrison's life. Library Journal An excellent work and a great contribution to scholarship... Perry must be applauded. -- Bill Fletcher, Jr. Z Magazine [Hubert Harrison] offers profound insights on race, class, religion, immigration, war, democracy, and social change in America. Industrial Worker Through Perry's prodigious research Harrison's brilliance can once more engage a generation eager to find inspiration and renewed political spirit. -- Herb Boyd The Neworld Review [A] brilliant masterpiece. -- Wilson J. Moses American Historical Review This critically important book will do for Harrison what David Levering Lewis did for Du Bois... Essential. Choice This meticulously-researched book fills and enormous gap in the knowledge of black activist intellectuals in the US. -- Carole Boyce Davies Working USA Rich and exhaustively researched. -- Clarence Lang Against the Current Scholars and students... are indeed indebted to Jeffrey Perry for this magisterial study of Hubert Harrison. -- Larry A. Greene New Politics Perry offer(s) new and provocative analyses of African American leadership during the early twentieth century. -- LaShawn Harris Journal of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era Hubert Harrison is more than a work of scholarship. It is a timely act of generous recognition and restitution of a Black Caribbean scholar who played a significant role in the story of Harlem Radicalism. Black Theology: An International Journal Perry's biography gives an illuminating account not only of Harrison's strengths and weaknesses but also of the larger historical contraditions informing Black radicalism and Marxism during Harrison's lifetime. Science & Society Perry's rich biography of Harrison is filled with examples of leadership that would eventually be followed nationwide and result in black political power in Harlem. -- Sterling Johnson Journal of American Ethnic HistoryTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments A Note on Usage Introduction Part I. Intellectual Growth and Development 1. Crucian Roots (1883-1900) 2. Self-Education, Early Writings, and the Lyceums (1900-1907) 3. In Full-Touch with the Life of My People (1907-1909) 4. Secular Thought, Radical Critiques, and Criticism of Booker T. Washington (1905-1911) Part II. Socialist Radical 5. Hope in Socialism (1911) 6. Socialist Writer and Speaker (1912) 7. Dissatisfaction with the Party (1913-1914) 8. Toward Independence (1914-1915) Part III. The "New Negro Movement" 9. Focus on Harlem: The Birth of the "New Negro Movement" (1915-1917) 10. Founding the Liberty League and The Voice (April-September 1917) 11. Race-Conscious Activism and Organizational Difficulties (August-December 1917) 12. The Liberty Congress and the Resurrection of The Voice (January-July 1918) Appendix: Harrison on His Character Abbreviations Notes Select Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisRenowned scholar Burton Watson's translation exactingly depicts the life and teachings of the great ninth-century Chinese Zen master Lin-chi, one of the most highly regarded of the T'ang period masters.

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Book SynopsisFollowing on from the author's autobiography, The Life of My Choice, this book provides a record of Thesiger's 30 years in Kenya. Since his first visit to Kenya in 1960, Thesiger has made a series of long journeys on foot with camels to Lake Turkana, Marsabit and other remote areas.

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Book Synopsis14 YEARS 5 PRIME MINISTERS THE PARTY IS OVER

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Book Synopsis'Jefferson's eye for details yields some devastatingly honest and painful insights' The Times'Captivating... Charm is this book's watchword' Colin Grant, Guardian The daughter of a successful paediatrician and a fashionable socialite, Margo Jefferson spent her childhood among Chicago's black elite. She calls this society 'Negroland': 'a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty'. With privilege came expectation. Reckoning with the limits and demands of Negroland at crucial historical moments - the civil rights movement, the dawn of feminism, the fallacy of post-racial America - Jefferson brilliantly charts the twists and turns of a life informed by psychological and moral contradictions. Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. 'Negroland is a sharp-eyed cultural commentary on an era of America that has often been too simply told' Aminatta Forna, Guardian 'Jefferson writes with piercing clarity of a childhood which was full of love and opportunity at home, but also saturated by contradictions, confusions and a racism which corrodes, like rust, to the heart's core' Observer 'Utterly compelling... a remarkable achievement' Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisA genre-bending story about breaking - both of the heart and literary form itself - from the critically-acclaimed author of Biography of X.

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Book SynopsisA biography of Ann Hathaway and a social history of Shakespeare's time by the redoubtable Germaine GreerTrade Review‘Greer dares to think the unthinkable ... this is a bold and imaginative book' * Independent *‘Excellent ... a marvellous imagining of the life of Shakespeare's wife and a devastating exposure of the misogyny of the male biographers who have disparaged her' * Sunday Telegraph *‘This is a spirited, voluble, scholarly book which gives some depth and some dignity to the marginalised Mrs Shakespeare' * Guardian *‘A refreshing corrective to the usual portrait ... Greer is impressive when it comes to detailing their Stratford life and times ... It's robust, lively stuff' * The Times *

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Book SynopsisThe Search documents Paul Besley's experiences of volunteering on a Mountain Rescue team where he is soon joined by Scout, his very own search dog. Paul's demons threaten to derail their training, until his past finally catches up with him and his life inescapably unravels.

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Book SynopsisThe quirky and profound international bestseller - at once a life-affirming memoir on how to live well in a world governed by chaos, and a darkly astonishing scientific biography

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Book SynopsisIn this fully updated paperback edition of the Sunday Times bestseller, Jonny Wilkinson opens up to reveal what it is like to be the world''s most famous rugby player and an international sporting superstar. MY WORLD is a fascinating insight into his motivations, thoughts, hopes and fears as he discusses topics as far ranging as playing for England, his all-time heroes, becoming a celebrity, what it is like to be on the pitch with the hopes of a nation resting on your shoulders and in your feet and the positives that could be taken from the 2005 Lions Tour.For the first time, Jonny Wilkinson talks openly about the England World Cup campaign and the pressure he was under in those dramatic final moments when he won the cup for his country. Two years on he also reveals the battles he has had to face to bring himself back to full fitness as England build their team round him in preparation for the 2007 World Cup.

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