Collected biographies Books

Book SynopsisDesperately Young introduces the masterpieces left behind by some of the greatest rising stars in fine art - all of whom died before their thirtieth birthday. Precocious talent seeps from each artist's work, along with a sense of unfulfilled potential. Informative biographies detail their legacies, while their tragic deaths lead us to wonder what heights they might've reached, had their lives not been cut short. Richly illustrated, Desperately Young presents prime examples of each artist's work, demonstrating how our cultural heritage is just a little narrower for their loss. From Europe to America to Japan and the Indian Subcontinent, the mid-14-hundreds to the late 20th century, this book hails the acknowledged greats and introduces those who died before they could leave an indelible mark on history. A compendium of 109 artists who fell prey to sickness, warfare, heartbreak or bad luck, Desperately Young is the only book to provide an in-depth study of artists who died young. Contents: With works from Tommaso Masaccio, Frédéric Bazille, Thomas Girtin, Egon Schiele, Henri Regnault, Ernst Klimt, Jeanne Hébuterne, Kaita Murayama, Hermann Stenner, Maurycy Gottlieb, Fyodor Vasilyev, Marie Bashkirtseff, Richard Parkes Bonington, Luisa Anguissola, Walter Deverell, August Macke, Pauline Boty and Jean-Michel Basquiat - among many others.Trade Review"It’s a testimony to Desperately Young’s worth that I was often engaged by remarkable talents I knew absolutely nothing about. The biographies never glamourise, instead offering insights on several remarkable individuals while historic events (primarily war) weigh heavily on the pages." - Garth Cartwright, The New European"In examining the many artists who died before the age of 30, authors Angela Swanson Jones and Vern G. Swanson examine 109 stories in their book Desperately Young: Artists Who Died in Their Twenties (ACC Art Books, 2020). The authors insist that their work is not born out of some sort of “morbid fascination” but instead out of the impulse to imbue their subjects and the art they created with “abiding honour, recognition, and consolation." - Caroline Goldstein & Eileen Kinsella, artnetTable of ContentsContents: With works from Tommaso Masaccio, Frederic Bazille, Thomas Girtin, Egon Schiele, Henri Regnault, Ernst Klimt, Jeanne Hebuterne, Kaita Murayama, Hermann Stenner, Maurycy Gottlieb, Fyodor Vasilyev, Marie Bashkirtseff, Richard Parkes Bonington, Luisa Anguissola, Walter Deverell, August Macke, Pauline Boty and Jean-Michel Basquiat - among many others.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2014A rich historical biography of those wild Wyndhams' three cultured aristocratic sisters born into great privilege in late Victorian Britain.Mary, Madeline and Pamela the three beautiful Wyndham sisters were born into immense wealth. Cultured bohemian daughters of a maverick politician and an artistic mother, they became entangled with the scandalous and intellectual Souls' set, as well as the most celebrated figures of the day, including Oscar Wilde, Marie Stopes and the iconoclastic poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, lover both of Mary and her mother before her. Two sisters were intimate with great statesmen Prime Minister Arthur Balfour and the Liberal politician Edward Grey and only one of them would marry happily.This first ever biography of the sisters captures their dramatic lives from romantic beginnings through the passions and disappointments of womanhood to the tragedy and devastation of the First World War that broughtTrade Review‘Wonderful … a magnificently skillful biography of this trio of sexy sisters and the politically turbulent context of their lives. Renton demonstrates her scholarship with butterfly-winged elegance as she tells the story of a generation of Imperialist Victorians Suffused with privilege, power, money and sex that eventually ended in tragedy’ Evening Standard ‘Renton never loses sight of the bigger historical picture. She sets the sisters’ fabulously privileged and sometimes troubled lives against the convulsions of home and international politics through which they lived. The result is an impeccably researched, beautifully written and compellingly readable biography’ Daily Mail ‘Magnificent … [It] has the wisdom, excitement and psychological depth of a very good novel. She succeeds in combining the novelist’s art with the historian’s craft, laying the sources and workings before us. The beauty and romance are captured unforgettably’ Observer ‘Impeccably rehearsed and researched … a serious, spellbinding chronicle of the last days of Edwardian England’ The Times ‘A magnificently skilful biography…based on scrupulous research and enriched by hundreds of deliciously indiscreet, charmingly frank, pre-Mitfordian letters… Renton demonstrates her scholarship with butterfly winged elegance … [a] wonderful book’ Evening Standard ‘This elegantly written tableau of a book is much more than a group biography; it is an elegiac account of the horrors of the First World War from a female perspective. Renton is excellent at setting personal events within their larger political or social context’ Literary Review ‘A lucid and superbly researched book’ Spectator ‘Hilarious, heartbreaking and completely absorbing, Renton has captured the last rays of light of a gilded family of remarkable women’ Amanda Foreman ‘Readers who enjoyed reading about the Mitfords and Stella Tillyard's ‘Aristocrats’ will relish Renton's elegant book. [An] enthralling period portrait’ Daily Express

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Book SynopsisWhat do you do next if you have walked on the moon? How do you follow the first perfect 10 in Olympic history? How do you move on after surviving a plane crash? Some people will forever be defined by a single moment.Trade Review‘If someone is renowned for a single moment or achievement, what do they do next? Chris Wright picks out 16 such characters from recent history and asks them this very question. An entertaining portrait of those whose public contribution can be summed up in a one-line epitaph’ Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisYou're about to meet so many incredible humans. Are you ready hun? Celebrate some of the modern-day trailblazers, champions and icons who have shaped, or are shaping our world, from well-known public figures and allies to others you will wish you had heard of earlier.Covering topics including coming out, gender, mental health and activism, this book is packed full of empowering quotes, inspiring life lessons and helpful advice that will encourage you to embrace your story and find your power.Trade Review‘A joy-filled depiction of LGBTQ+ icons from star illustrator’ –Grazia

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Book SynopsisA poignant, evocative, and wonderfully gossipy account of the two sisters who represented style and class above all else-Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill-from the authors of Furious Love.When sixty-four-year-old Jackie Kennedy Onassis died in her Fifth Avenue apartment, her younger sister Lee wept inconsolably.Trade Review“This lavish portrait plumbs the tensions between bookish, regal Jackie and “lady-in-waiting” Lee, who sought the limelight only to be eclipsed by her iconic sister.” — O magazine “Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger paint a lush picture of the complicated relationship between sisters Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill.... Gossipy gems are studded throughout.” — Vanity Fair “Don’t be too put off by the salacious title – though the co-writers definitely don’t avoid gossipy material, their book is no hatchet job, and actually draws from extensive interviews with Radziwill, who’s now 84 years old. The result is a lively and highly entertaining profile of two dynamic and super-stylish sibling-rivals.” — BBC America “[A] taut and fascinating work.” — In Style “The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters is journalism. . . . it is a tale for the curious, with an excellent index allowing readers to retrace their steps as the plot thickens.” — East Hampton Star “To-be-devoured-like-a-box-of-chocolates, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberg’s juicy page-turner, The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters is. . . . a poignant account.” — Wag Mag “A complex portrait of Jackie and Lee Bouvier and how their lives and loves defined them and their relationship as sisters.” — Shelf Awareness “One would think there couldn’t be much more to say about Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, but The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters proves otherwise. So many gossipy stories and recollections fill this breezy and entertaining, yet informative, read.” — Bookreporter.com “Readers drawn to the Kennedy mystique will savor this intricate chronicle rife with romance, tragedy, and surprising details, such as that Jackie may have helped choose JFK’s paramours. The authors provide an intimate view of two sisters, both famous in their own rights.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Suffice it to say, more than 50 years on, explorations of the truths and fictions of Camelot continue to mesmerize.” — Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“In his lively and engaging portrait of the two presidents Bush, Mark Updegrove has painted a compelling picture of political leadership in America. This isn’t just a work of history. It invites us to think about the leadership this country needs and deserves today.” -- William Kristol, Editor at large, The Weekly Standard“With unique access to the only father and son to serve as presidents in almost two hundred years, Mark Updegrove weaves a captivating, intimate portrait of one of the country’s most important political dynasties. The Bushes’ sense of public service as a high calling becomes all the more striking against the backdrop of today’s polarized party politics. This beautifully rendered story could not be more timely.” -- Doris Kearns Goodwin

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Book Synopsis''It covers three centuries of high living, high politics and high drama [...] it is so fascinating'' MEL SYKES_____________________________A Sunday Times bestsellerFive women. One house. One extraordinary history.Even today, Cliveden retains its royal mystique - it is where Meghan Markle and her mother spent the night before the royal wedding - but from its construction in the 1660s to its heyday in the 1960s, Cliveden has played host to a dynasty of remarkable and powerful women.Anna Maria, Elizabeth, Augusta, Harriet, and Nancy were five ladies who, over the course of three centuries, shaped British society through their beauty, personalities, and political influence.Restoration and revolution, aristocratic rise and fall, world war and cold war form the extraordinary backdrop against which their stories unfold. An addictive history of the period and an intimate exploration of the timeless relatiTrade ReviewNarratively enthralling … chronicled with scholarship, readability, wit and a fine eye for telling detail. -- Andrew Roberts * Evening Standard *Her scholarship is considerable and yet she wears it lightly, producing a book which is always lively, entertaining and immensely readable. * Daily Express *Natalie Livingstone has written an utterly fascinating and completely beguiling account of three centuries of high living, high politics, and high drama at one of Britain's most famous stately homes. A page turner from start to finish, The Mistresses of Cliveden perfectly illustrates why social history rules the shelves; it's history with all the good stuff left in. -- Amanda Foreman, author of GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIREA wonderful voyage through the fascinating history of Cliveden - this is a brilliant book full of gripping personalities and beautiful detail. -- Kate Williams, author of BECOMING QUEEN and JOSEPHINEWide-ranging and deliciously enjoyable... -- Juliet Nicholson * The Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisJuliet Nicolson is the bestselling author of three works of social history, The Perfect Summer: Dancing into Shadow in 1911; The Great Silence: 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War; and Frostquake: The frozen winter of 1962 and how Britain emerged a different country; as well as a family memoir, A House Full of Daughters. She is a mother and a grandmother and lives with her husband in East Sussex.Trade ReviewShocking and brave... Nicolson's anger, tenderness and insight have resulted in an exceptionally moving book -- Miranda Seymour * Daily Telegraph *I couldn't put it down... Enthralling, touching and beautifully written -- Joanna LumleyOriginal and illuminating… A House Full of Daughters gallops through seven generations with confidence and ease: it is funny in parts, painful in others but always honest. -- Andrea Wulf * Guardian *Tense, highly personal and beautifully written... A powerful and moving family portrait -- Christena Appleyard * Literary Review *Candid, poignant, well-written and wonderfully life-affirming -- Sebastian Shakespeare * Tatler *

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsForewordIntroductionSection I: 22 ConversationsSection II: Issues and Challenges identified with advice on how to deal with theseConclusionReferencesGlossary/Appendix

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Book SynopsisBringing together nine biographies from Plutarch's Parallel Lives series, this edition examines the lives of major figures in Roman history, from Lucullus (118-57 BC), an aristocratic politician and conqueror of Eastern kingdoms, to Otho (32-69 AD), a reckless young noble who consorted with the tyrannical, debauched emperor Nero before briefly becoming a dignified and gracious emperor himself. Ian Scott-Kilvert's and Christopher Pelling's translations are accompanied by a new introduction, and also includes a separate introduction for each biography, comparative essays of the major figures, suggested further reading, notes and maps.Rome in Crisis joins Penguin Classics' complete revised Plutarch in six volumes. Other titles include On Sparta, Fall of the Roman Republic, The Rise of Rome, and The Rise and Fall of Athens.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking wo

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Book SynopsisLucy Moore is the author of The Thieves' Opera and Amphibious Thing and edited Con Men and Cutpurses. She writes often for the Observer, Telegraph, regularly appears on TV and is considered one of Britain most exciting historians.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA masterpiece of clear-eyed humility. . . Alexievich is the most inspired and inspiring of all Nobel prize winners, a genuine bearer of witness -- Tim Adams * Observer *Astonishing. . . Like the great Russian novels, these testimonials ring with emotional truth. . . Few people have ever conjured better the pain of loss -- Caroline Moorehead * Guardian *An antidote to nostalgic World War II narratives. . . Breathtaking, occasionally unbearably sad. Svetlana Alexievich is in a class of her own -- Paula HawkinsA major work by one of our greatest living historians. . . a profound, revelatory book. Through an artfully crafted and sincerely empathetic technique of enticing, soothing, and teasing out - gentle, unobtrusive, knowing when to encourage and when to let a pause run its course - Alexievich uncovers some of the most evocative war stories ever published -- Jane Graham * Big Issue *These stories demand to be read -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *If God existed, or had an ear, she might listen the way Svetlana Alexievich does to the stories of her fellow ex-Soviets. . . These stories have a hallucinatory clarity, like visions or nightmares-except they are made simply from the stuff of life -- John Freeman * Lit Hub *The experience of reading these thousands of human confessions has an astonishingly powerful impact -- Gaby Wood * Daily Telegraph *A masterly and potent reminder that the memory of loss belongs to individuals and communities, and not to the states that turn its psychic energy to other ends -- Kevin Platt * TLS *An important historical document. . . offers a harrowing picture of the lives of Russian children caught up in Hitler's invasion on the Eastern Front -- Ian Thomson * Evening Standard *Svetlana Alexievich's books go as deep as the soul of woman can go. And now she investigates the soul in the agonized process of historical formation -- Geoff DyerThis new translation will no doubt leave another huge impression on this new generation of readers * Bustle *

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Book Synopsis''With originality and subtlety, Diarmuid Hester examines how the gay imagination deals with place and with displacement, allowing for mystery and a kind of magic'' Colm Toibin''Hester is a fizzingly brilliant writer'' Robert Macfarlane''Haunted and haunting - totally riveting'' Chris KrausAt the turn of the century, in the shade of Cambridge''s cloisters, a young E. M. Forster conceals his passion for other men, even as he daydreams about the sun-warmed bodies of ancient Greece. Under the dazzling lights of interwar Paris, Josephine Baker dances her way to fame and fortune and discovers sexual freedom backstage at the Folies Bergère. And on Jersey, in the darkest days of Nazi occupation, the transgressive surrealist Claude Cahun mounts an extraordinary resistance to save the island she loves, scattering hundreds of dissident artworks along its streets and shorelines.Nothing Ever Just Disappears brings to life the stories of seven remarkable figures and illuminates the connections between where they lived, who they loved, and the art they created. It shows that a queer sense of place is central to the history of the twentieth century, and powerfully evokes how much is lost when queer spaces are forgotten. From the lesbian London of the suffragettes to James Baldwin''s home in Provence, to Jack Smith''s New York, Kevin Killian''s San Francisco and the Dungeness cottage of Derek Jarman, this is a thrilling new history and a celebration of freedom, survival and the hidden places of the imagination.

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Book SynopsisThe lives of the outstanding scholars celebrated in the volume often reveal unexpected personal and professional backgrounds. Taken together they build up a picture of the development of Britain''s intellectual life.

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Book SynopsisThis is the ultimate anthology of theatrical anecdotes, edited by lifelong theatre-lover Gyles Brandreth in the Oxford tradition, and covering every kind of theatrical story and experience from the age of Shakespeare and Marlowe to the age of Stoppard and Mamet, from Richard Burbage to Richard Briers, from Nell Gwynn to Daniel Day-Lewis, from Sarah Bernhardt to Judi Dench.Players, playwrights, prompters, producers--they all feature. The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes provides a comprehensive, revealing, and hugely entertaining portrait of the world of theatre across four hundred years. Many of the anecdotes are humorous: all have something pertinent and illuminating to say about an aspect of theatrical life--whether it is the art of playwriting, the craft of covering up missed cues, the drama of the First Night, the nightmare of touring, or the secret ingredients of star quality. Edmund Kean, Henry Irving, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Ellen Terry, Edith Evans, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren--the great ''names'' are all here, of course, but there are tales of the unexpected, too--and the unknown. This is a book--presented in five acts, with a suitably anecdotal and personal prologue from Gyles Brandreth--where, once in a while, the understudy takes centre-stage and Gyles Brandreth treats triumph and disaster just the same, including stories from the tattiest touring companies as well as from Broadway, the West End and theatres, large and small, in Australia, India, and across Europe.Trade ReviewIt is impossible to do justice here to the fullness of Brandreth's bran tub. It's a hamper of a book, overflowing with delights and the odd occasion for serious reflection... * Simon Callow, The Sunday Times *... cracker of a book... with theatres closed because of coronavirus, The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes is about as close to a play we can get at the moment and it is well worth the admission price. * Sunday Express *The mix of solemnity and humour is perhaps a suitable homage to a great industry now in danger of dying, leaving in its wake only anecdotes about old times. * Lindsay Duguid, Times Literary Supplement *... a chunky tome of a book containing scrupulously researched snippets of amusing theatrical chat... The prologue to the book is a mini masterpiece in itself and demonstrates with a quiet strenth and a familiar humour, the depth of Brandreth's love for the theatre and his remarkable insight into it... makes you smile, wonder and sympathise... * Sandra Callard, ON-Yorkshire Magazine *Brandreth is always reliably funny... * Literary Review *... a sheer delight... this meaty volume will transport the reader into the world of make-believe and recount the very real exploits of the wizards who create it. * John Badenhorst, Press and Journal *This, of course, is not a book to read from cover to cover - it's one to dip into as and when the mood takes you. I heartily recommend you take the plunge. * Stephen Griffin, Camden New Journal *Funny, cringe-worthy, witty and wise, it's the perfect book for theatre-goers. * Surrey Life *...provides a fascinating perspective on the history of British (and sometimes American or Australian) theatre... there's so much to enjoy here: it really is a book that keeps on giving, and will keep the reader happily dipping in and out for many weeks... * Shiny New Books *The ever wonderful Gyles Brandreth edits this joyous and hugely entertaining new anthology of theatrical anecdotes... a comprehensive, revealing, and hugely entertaining portrait of the world of theatre across four hundred years. * The Arts Shelf *Completely brilliant. Gyles knows all the best theatre stories and he has collected them just for us. What a treat! * Dame Judi Dench *Table of ContentsPrologue Act One: Players from WIlliam Shakespeare to Henry Irving Act Two: Players from Sarah Bernhardt to Tallulah Bankhead Act Three: Players from Ralph Richardson to Naeem Hyat Interval: Audiences and Critics Act Four: Playwrights, Producers, and Directors Act Five: Unforeseen Circumstances Epilogue

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Book SynopsisThis is the ultimate anthology of theatrical anecdotes, edited by lifelong theatre-lover Gyles Brandreth in the Oxford tradition, and covering every kind of theatrical story and experience from the age of Shakespeare and Marlowe to the age of Stoppard and Mamet, from Richard Burbage to Richard Briers, from Nell Gwynn to Daniel Day-Lewis, from Sarah Bernhardt to Judi Dench.Players, playwrights, prompters, producers--they all feature. The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes provides a comprehensive, revealing, and hugely entertaining portrait of the world of theatre across four hundred years.Many of the anecdotes are humorous: all have something pertinent and illuminating to say about an aspect of theatrical life--whether it is the art of playwriting, the craft of covering up missed cues, the drama of the First Night, the nightmare of touring, or the secret ingredients of star quality.Edmund Kean, Henry Irving, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Ellen Terry, Edith Evans, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren--the great ''names'' are all here, of course, but there are tales of the unexpected, too--and the unknown. This is a book--presented in five acts, with a suitably anecdotal and personal prologue from Gyles Brandreth--where, once in a while, the understudy takes centre-stage and Gyles Brandreth treats triumph and disaster just the same, including stories from the tattiest touring companies as well as from Broadway, the West End and theatres, large and small, in Australia, India, and across Europe.Trade ReviewIt is impossible to do justice here to the fullness of Brandreth's bran tub. It's a hamper of a book, overflowing with delights and the odd occasion for serious reflection... * Simon Callow, The Sunday Times *... cracker of a book... with theatres closed because of coronavirus, The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes is about as close to a play we can get at the moment and it is well worth the admission price. * Sunday Express *The mix of solemnity and humour is perhaps a suitable homage to a great industry now in danger of dying, leaving in its wake only anecdotes about old times. * Lindsay Duguid, Times Literary Supplement *Brilliantly wide-ranging collection of showbiz tales with an anecdote-packed introduction from the man himself. * James Walton, Readers Digest *... a chunky tome of a book containing scrupulously researched snippets of amusing theatrical chat... The prologue to the book is a mini masterpiece in itself and demonstrates with a quiet strenth and a familiar humour, the depth of Brandreth's love for the theatre and his remarkable insight into it... makes you smile, wonder and sympathise... * Sandra Callard, ON-Yorkshire Magazine *Brandreth is always reliably funny... * Literary Review *... a sheer delight... this meaty volume will transport the reader into the world of make-believe and recount the very real exploits of the wizards who create it. * John Badenhorst, Press and Journal *This, of course, is not a book to read from cover to cover - it's one to dip into as and when the mood takes you. I heartily recommend you take the plunge. * Stephen Griffin, Camden New Journal *Funny, cringe-worthy, witty and wise, it's the perfect book for theatre-goers. * Surrey Life *...provides a fascinating perspective on the history of British (and sometimes American or Australian) theatre... there's so much to enjoy here: it really is a book that keeps on giving, and will keep the reader happily dipping in and out for many weeks... * Shiny New Books *The ever wonderful Gyles Brandreth edits this joyous and hugely entertaining new anthology of theatrical anecdotes... a comprehensive, revealing, and hugely entertaining portrait of the world of theatre across four hundred years. * The Arts Shelf *Completely brilliant. Gyles knows all the best theatre stories and he has collected them just for us. What a treat! * Dame Judi Dench *Table of ContentsPrologue Act One: Players from WIlliam Shakespeare to Henry Irving Act Two: Players from Sarah Bernhardt to Tallulah Bankhead Act Three: Players from Ralph Richardson to Naeem Hyat Interval: Audiences and Critics Act Four: Playwrights, Producers, and Directors Act Five: Unforeseen Circumstances Epilogue

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Book SynopsisThe third in a series of collections of brief lives of prominent scientists, this one focuses on the life sciences and thus features some major names, from Darwin to Crick to Goodall.

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Book SynopsisIn the early modern period, hundreds of thousands of Europeans, both men and women, were abducted by pirates, sold on the slave market, and enslaved in North Africa. Barbary Captives brings together a selection of early modern slave narratives in English translation for the first time.Trade ReviewBarbary Captives is a singularly inventive anthology of captivity narratives that charts the experience of Mediterranean captivity and enslavement in the early modern era. These narratives of enslaved Europeans in North Africa provide a remarkably nuanced perspective on religious tensions and political conflicts within Europe and across the Mediterranean region. The experience of captured Europeans enhances our historical knowledge of the experience of Black slavery across the Atlantic. Mario Klarer’s anthology traces a wide interdisciplinary and intertextual arc that bridges historical archives with literary genres. Klarer’s careful editorial eye opens up a world of scholarly inquiry that was hitherto hidden and obscured. -- Homi K. Bhabha, author of The Location of CultureThe published and manuscript narratives compiled by Europeans seized and enslaved by Muslim corsairs are rich but complex and controversial sources. Mario Klarer has done readers interested in the varieties of early modern captivity a great service by combining and editing examples of this genre from nine different European regions and over a span of three centuries. -- Linda Colley, author of The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern WorldAn important and deeply revealing collection of texts. Shedding light on the rise of the novel, the modern autobiography, and the reception of African American slave narratives, this book maps uncharted territory in literature and history alike. -- Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became ModernBarbary Captives is an immensely valuable resource both for the cultural history of Old World slavery represented in the memoirs of Europeans from Iceland to Spain held captive in Muslim lands and for the history of genre, the literary history of the novel and of later narratives of Black slavery with which the memoirs in this collection are intimately entwined. It is a work of global history in granular detail. -- Thomas W. Laqueur, author of Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to FreudTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Balthasar Sturmer, Account of the Travels of Mister Balthasar Sturmer (1558 German manuscript; captivity in Tunis 1534–1535; complete text)2. Antonio de Sosa, Topography of Algiers: Attempted Escape of Miguel de Cervantes (1612 Spanish print edition; captivity in Algiers 1577; selection)3. Ólafur Egilsson, The Travels of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson (undated Icelandic manuscripts; Icelandic raid and captivity in Algiers 1627–1628; selection)4. Emanuel d’Aranda, Short Story of My Unfortunate Journey (undated Dutch manuscript; captivity in Algiers 1640–1641; complete captivity narrative)5. Antoine Quartier, The Religious Slave and His Adventures (1690 French print edition; captivity in Tripoli 1660–1668; selection)6. Andreas Matthäus and Johann Georg Wolffgang, Travels and Wonderful Fortunes of Two Brothers in Algerian Bondage (1767 German print edition; captivity in Algiers 1684–1688; complete text)7. Isaac Brassard, The Tale of Mr. Brassard’s Captivity in Algiers (1878 French print edition; captivity in Algiers 1687–1688; complete captivity narrative)8. Thomas Pellow, The History of the Long Captivity and Adventures of Thomas Pellow ([1740?] British print edition; captivity in Morocco 1715–1738; selection)9. Hark Olufs, The Remarkable Adventures of Hark Olufs (1747 Danish print edition; captivity in Constantine 1724–1735; complete text)10. Maria ter Meetelen, Miraculous and Remarkable Events of Twelve Years of Slavery (1748 Dutch print edition; captivity in Morocco 1731–1743; selection)11. Marcus Berg, Description of the Barbaric Slavery in the Kingdom of Fez and Morocco (1757 Swedish print edition; captivity in Morocco 1754–1756; selection)12. Elizabeth Marsh, Narrative of Elizabeth Marsh’s Captivity in Barbary (undated British manuscript; captivity in Morocco 1756; complete captivity narrative)13. Felice Caronni, The Account of an Amateur Antiquarian’s Short Journey (1805 Italian print edition; captivity in Tunis 1804; selection)Appendix: Selection of European and American Barbary Captivity NarrativesList of Works Cited and General Works on North African Piracy and CaptivityIndex of Persons and Locations

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Book SynopsisMy Brilliant Friends is an innovative group biography of three friendships forged in second-wave feminism. Poignant and politically charged, the book is a captivating personal account of the complexities of women’s bonds.Trade ReviewIn this astute, passionate, rigorously honest book about her friendships with three extraordinary women, Miller delineates the mysterious geography of those attachments we are not born into, but choose freely. The longing, pain, confusion, envy, and joy that inhabit the often unarticulated distance between "me” and “you” are so alive on these pages, they are still resonating inside me. I loved reading this book. -- Siri Hustvedt, author of A Woman Looking at Men Looking at WomenIn My Brilliant Friends, Nancy K. Miller depicts the life-altering importance of deep and nourishing friendships between and among women. Through vivid details and Miller’s singular point of view, we witness her transformative relationships with Carolyn Heilbrun, Naomi Schor, and Diane Middlebrook and their enduring love, growth, and collective power. -- Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book AwardOf Nancy K. Miller's many illuminating books, My Brilliant Friends may be my favorite—for its sculpted lucidity, its lancing details, its interlocking plots, and its virtuoso attention to emotional ambivalence. Like Hilton Als's The Women, Miller's book is a classic triple-decker account of entanglement and rupture. She reminds us, with a witty yet mournful gracefulness, that every friendship is a complex work of art, demanding fastidious analysis and enraptured recounting. -- Wayne Koestenbaum, author of My 1980s & Other EssaysA new book by Nancy K. Miller is always a treat. This compulsively readable triptych of her friendships with Carolyn Heilbrun, Naomi Schor, and Diane Middlebrook will touch, delight, and enlighten anyone who has grown up under the influence of feminism. -- Susan Gubar, author of The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary ImaginationNancy K. Miller writes with shimmering intelligence, grace, courage, and hard-won candor about her friendships with three other significant writers, all feminists, now all dead: Carolyn Heilbrun, Naomi Schor, and Diane Middlebrook. Miller herself is surviving cancer. Both heartbreaking and life-sustaining, My Brilliant Friends proves that death can be the mother of beauty. -- Catharine R. Stimpson, University Professor and Dean Emerita, Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York UniversityNancy K. Miller has a gift for friendship and a mind for memoir. Reflecting on feminism, ambition, competition, and loss in these candid, tender stories of three passionate women intellectuals who died too soon, she has given a gift to readers who know the importance and complexity of female friendship. -- Elaine Showalter, professor emerita of English, Princeton UniversityI loved reading My Brilliant Friends. It’s a fascinating and revealing look at the texture—good and bad—of feminist friendships, and, crucially, academic life for women. It is also an inspiring testament to three remarkable feminists, each operating in her own style. An important book for generations of feminists—those established, and those to come. -- Hillary Chute, author of Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary ComicsA stunning elegy to the intimacy of friendships among women, and a book in which closeness is felt through the act of thinking. -- Maggie Taft * Booklist (starred review) *The result is a compassionate homage to the book’s three extraordinary subjects. My Brilliant Friends is not memoir as therapy, but memoir as monument....Unlike so many confessional documents, My Brilliant Friends is written in a genuinely exceptional circumstance by a genuinely exceptional person. * Times Literary Supplement *A pellucid and absorbing study on the ambivalent and less frequently explored facets of friendship – the painful coexistence, for instance, of envy, competitiveness, and resentment, on the one hand, and love and admiration, on the other. * Contemporary Women's Writing *Miller is a nimble writer, more than capable of exploring a larger world. And the world of women's friendships contain multitudes. * Women's Review of Books *It really doesn't get much better than this for me. -- Nina Collins * What Would Virginia Woolf Do? *Miller’s book, a brave and beautiful act of storytelling, is itself a gift — to her brilliant friends, to feminism, to friendship, to the literary endeavor, and to all of her readers. -- Jenny McPhee * Los Angeles Review of Books *The book offers contemporary feminist literary scholars an evocative, resonant chance to consider the nature of scholarly friendship, as well as how much has (and has not) changed for women in academe. * Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature *It is a conversation, not only with lost friends, but with the reader. . . Recommended. * Choice *The retrospective look at the fabric of her life as interwoven with the lives of other women is as much an homage to her friends as it is an elegy to friendship itself. * Literature Salon *Valuable to students of literary criticism and feminism as well as history and even psychology. It is such a specific evocation of a particular time and place, and it simultaneously engages the emotions in its reflection on love and loss. * RGWS *Miller recognizes the transformative power and centrality of the nitty-gritty in women’s outer and inner lives, and the vital, enduring friendships they form. * a/b: Auto/Biography Studies *Miller characterizes these friendships as collaborative, competitive, nurturing, and occasionally confounding. * Public Books *Table of ContentsPrelude: The Art of Losing1. Carolyn Heilbrun2. Naomi Schor3. Diane MiddlebrookEndpiecesElegy : Ann Patchett and Lucy GrealyDialogue in a Garden: Patricia YaegerNotes on LossNotesAcknowledgments

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Book SynopsisPeter Wortsman offers a selection of profiles of Columbia-educated doctors who have made a fundamental difference in the lives of others. The physicians profiled in this book represent the complete spectrum of MDs.Trade ReviewIn these profiles of some of America’s most notable, influential, and fascinating MDs, Peter Wortsman merges social history, theory of the professions, and an intimate local cultural anthropology of Columbia University’s medical center. Our Columbian history provides a microcosm of the history of medicine writ large, showing the obligatory interweaving of clinical practice and basic science breakthroughs. The Caring Heirs of Doctor Samuel Bard will be an inestimable resource for all interested in medicine and its interface with society, as well as a source of inspiration to medical students and applicants to medical school. -- Rita Charon, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair of Medical Humanities and Ethics and Executive Director of Columbia Narrative MedicineTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsTaking Doctors’ Histories, a Preface1. A New Dean Digs in at Boston University School of Medicine, by Karen Antman ʼ742. A Champion of Health Equality at the Helm of the NYC Department of Health, by Mary T. Bassett ʼ793. New Jersey’s Health Care Crusader, by Stanley S. Bergen, Jr. ʼ554. A Nobel Laureate’s Lifelong Commitment to Curiosity, by Baruch Blumberg ʼ515. Babies’ Best Friend, by T. Berry Brazelton ʼ43D6. Musings of a University President Emeritus, by Keith Brodie ʼ657. Promoting Respect for “Our Future Selves,” by Robert N. Butler ʼ538. A Neurosurgeon at the Helm of the AMA, by Peter Carmel MSD ʼ709. A Vitreoretinal Visionary, by Stanley Chang ʼ7410. Protecting Imperiled Populations, by Davida Coady ʼ6511. How Three P&S Alumni Bucked the Odds and Made It Big in Biotech, by Ron Cohen ʼ81, Paul Maddon MD ʼ88 MD PhD, and George Yancopoulos MD ʼ86, PhD ʼ8712. An American Odyssey, by Robert Coles ʼ5413. Medicine by the Book, by Robin B. Cook ʼ6614. A Shared Life in Medicine, Canadian Style, by Richard ʼ55 and Sylvia Cruess ʼ5515. Surgeon-Scientist Takes Knowledge to the Cutting Edge, by Patricia Donahoe ʼ6416. Tuning-up the Engine of Public Health in the Motor City, by Abdul El-Sayed ʼ1417. The Un-Retiring Dean of American Rheumatologists, by Ephraim P. Engleman ʼ3718. From Student to Surgeon to University Trustee—a Columbia Journey, by Kenneth Forde ʼ5919. From Endocrinology to Admissions, a Life in Medicine, by Andrew G. Frantz ʼ5520. Practicing the “Art of the Possible,” by The Outgoing Director of the CDC Reflects on His Time at the Helm, by Thomas R. Frieden MD/MPH ʼ8621. Medicine by Bench, Bedside, and Book, by Jerome Groopman ʼ7622. A Pioneer in Adolescent Medicine Committed to Health and Well-being for All, by Karen Hein ʼ7023. At Home in High Places, by Charles S. Houston ʼ3924. An All-Star on the Team Against TB, by Michael Iseman ʼ6525. Championing Intellectual Rigor and Risk at the American University of Beirut, by Fadlo R. Khuri ʼ8926. Making Health Care Happen, a Committed Primary Care Practitioner in the Deep South, by Karen Kinsell ʼ9327. Urologist, Historian, Collector, Sleuth, by John K. Lattimer ʼ3828. Yes, There Is Balm in Gilead, by Margaret Morgan Lawrence ʼ4029. A Doctor in the House—the White House, That Is, by Burton J. Lee, III ʼ5630. Receptive to Receptors, by Robert J. Lefkowitz ʼ6631. Adventures in Virology, by Jay Levy ʼ6532. A Digital Pioneer at the National Library of Medicine, by Donald A.B. Lindberg ʼ5833. Out of Anguish into Africa, by Martha M. MacGuffie ʼ4934. Battling Invisibility—a Primary Care Clinician and Spokesperson for the Care of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender People, by Harvey J. Makadon ʼ7735. At the Cancer Command, by Paul Marks ʼ4936. A Pivotal Player at P&S and Presbyterian Hospital Throws in the White Coat37. A Surgeon in Space, by F. Story Musgrave ʼ6438. A Military Neurologist on the Front Against Chemical Attack, by Col. Jonathan Newmark, MC, USAR ʼ7839. It Takes Heart, by Suzanne Oparil ʼ6540. An Educator Not Afraid to Stick His Neck Out, by Calvin H. Plimpton MSD ʼ51 41. Notes of a Pioneering Neurosurgeon, by J. Lawrence Pool MD ʼ32, MSD ʼ4042. First Woman of Medicine, by Helen Ranney ʼ4743. Medicine by Blue Pencil, by Arnold Relman ʼ4644. A Doctor to the World, by Allan Rosenfield ʼ5945. Kidneys are Color-blind, by Velma Scantlebury ʼ8146. The Hands-On Surgeon-in-Chief of the Hospital for Special Surgery, by Thomas P. Sculco ʼ6947. The Assistant Secretary for Health is a Doctor First and Foremost, by Eve Slater ʼ7148. Rebel Doctor with a Cause, by Benjamin Spock ʼ2949. A Veteran NIH Investigator Takes on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, by Stephen E. Straus ʼ7250. A Pioneering African American Perinatologist Looks Back with Pride, by Yvonne Thornton MD ʼ73, MPH ʼ9651. Merck’s MD at the Top, by P. Roy Vagelos ʼ5452. Nobel Laureate at the NIH, by Harold Varmus ʼ6653. for Women’s Health, by Lila Wallis ʼ5154. A Matter of Heart, by Clyde Y. C. Wu ʼ5655. The Scientific Wunderkind of Biotech Makes Proteins Do the Right Thing, by George D. Yancopoulos PhD ʼ86, MD’87Author’s BioPhoto Credits

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Book SynopsisChallenging persistent gender biases in the sciences, the Bearded Lady Project puts the spotlight on underrepresented geoscientists in the field and in the lab. This book pairs portraits of these scientists after donning fake beards with personal essays in which they tell their stories.Trade ReviewThe portraits in The Bearded Lady Project intentionally cause double takes, forcing the viewer to look, then look again. But their real power lies in how they require us to look inward and see that antediluvian ideas about who can and cannot do science still linger. The accompanying stories of remarkable women in paleontology make one hopeful that soon these old stereotypes will finally go extinct. -- Marcia Bjornerud, professor of geosciences at Lawrence University, author of Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the WorldThe Bearded Lady Project is a necessary novelty. It’s snarky, beautiful, and increasingly powerful in the evolution of its message: Don’t ever assume you know what a scientist looks like. These essays—critical, poignant examinations of societal and historical perceptions of genius—remind us how much scientists have to say about the world in which their research takes place. -- Emily Graslie, chief curiosity correspondent at the Field Museum of Natural HistoryThe Bearded Lady Project invites us all think more critically about the role of gender and gender bias in the sciences. This project shows the true depths of diversity that exist within the fields of paleontology and geology and highlights the profound challenges that still exist for those who do not fit in with stereotypical ideal of who a scientist is.For some, viewing the images in this book will feel uncomfortable. Take that discomfort, examine it closely, and then read every single essay in this volume. The diverse perspectives and stories from so many voices in paleontology and geology, paired with critical essays by scholars of gender and performance studies, provides a depth and context to the Bearded Lady Project which elevate this work beyond a compendium of personal narratives and turn it into a deeply insightful and necessary contribution to our understanding of what it means to be a scientist. -- Phoebe A. Cohen, associate professor of geosciences, Williams College“The stories within are compelling, and I wish I had been able to read them before I embarked on my own career as a scientist. The contributors’ and editors’ voices emanate clearly from the pages. The writing is an impressive combination of approachable yet sophisticated, powerful yet playful, meticulously researched and fact-based, yet balanced with personal, often painful narratives. -- Lindsay Zanno, head of paleontology, North Carolina Museum of Natural SciencesA weirdly compelling collaboration. * Nature *They declare that more voices bring better solutions. Science faculty may not assign this book as course reading - but they should...Recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsForeword, by Lexi Jamieson MarshPart I: Why Challenge the Face of Science1. “Pictures in Our Heads”: Challenging Stereotypes of Scientists and Science, by Amanda Diekman2. What’s in a Name?, by Amy K. Guenther3. Sex, Science, and Beards, by Kimberly A. Hamlin4. What Is Paleontology?, by Ellen Currano5. Spaces Paleontologists Inhabit, by Ellen Currano6. The Lost Legacy, by Ellen Currano7. The Power of Contradiction, by Catherine BadgleyPart II: Women in PaleontologyStereotypes8. “Fitting In”: Freedom in the Field, by Carole S. Hickman9. A Female Paleontologist in the 1970s and 1980s, by Anna K. (“Kay”) Behrensmeyer10. From Microfossils to Museums: Reflections on My Journey as an Earth Scientist, by Lisa White11. Can You Be a Paleontologist Without a Ph.D.? (The Answer Is Yes) , by Ashley Hall12. The Path Is Not Always Straight, by ReBecca Hunt-Foster13. A Less Traveled and More Meandering Path, by Karen ChinWomen14. Definition: Woman, by Amy K. Guenther15. The Moments When I Am Not a Woman, by Leslea J. Hlusko16. My Love-Hate Relationship with Waders, by Andrea D. Hawkes17. The Balancing Act, by Patricia H. Kelley18. Being Brave, by Bonnie JacobsGender19. Definition: Gender, by Amy K. Guenther20. Just a Paleontologist, by Denise F. Su21. Performing Gender in Paleontology, by Amy K. Guenther22. Taking Off the Beard for Good, by Sara B. PrussPart III: Behind the Lens23. Behind the Lens: Filming a Documentary, by Lexi Jamieson Marsh24. Being with Artists in the Field, by Ellen Currano25. Creating Portraits for The Bearded Lady Project, by Kelsey Vance26. Field Notes, by Lexi Jamieson MarshWhy Diversify SciencePledge for Equality in the Sciences BibliographyAcknowledgmentsThe PhotographersPortraitsMarieke Dechesne Kristine ZellmanDr. Ellen Currano Dr. Carole S. Hickman Dr. Anna K. (“Kay”) BehrensmeyerJenna Kaempfer Dr. Penny Higgins Dr. Lisa WhiteDr. Emily Orzechow and Dr. Caitlin BoasTripti BhattacharyaCamilla Souto and Lucy Chang

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Book SynopsisMasters of the Battlefield examines the lives and tactics of 28 of the world's greatest military leaders, from Julius Caesar to Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf.Table of ContentsIntroduction • General Key to Maps • Alexander the Great • Hannibal • Julius Caesar • Saladin • Maurice of Nassau • Gustavus Adolphus • Oliver Cromwell • Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne • Duke of Marlborough • Maurice Comte de Saxe • Frederick the Great • Alexander Suvorov • Duke of Wellington • Napoleon Bonaparte • Ulysses S. Grant • Robert E. Lee • Paul von Hindenburg • Mustafa Kemal • Arthur Currie • Sir John Monash • Heinz Guderian • Erwin Rommel • Alphonse Juin • Bernard Montgomery • Georgi Zhukov • Douglas MacArthur • Vo Nguyen Giap • Norman Schwarzkopf • Index • Credits.

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Book SynopsisFrom the very first mouthful, ''Lunch with the FT'' was destined to become a permanent fixture in the Financial Times.One thousand lunches later, the FT''s weekly interview has become an institution. From film stars to politicians, tycoons to writers, dissidents to lifestyle gurus, the list reads like an international Who''s Who of our times. Lunch with the FT is a selection of the best: 52 classic interviews conducted in the unforgiving proximity of a restaurant table. From Angela Merkel to Sean ''P. Diddy'' Combs, Martin Amis to one of the Arab world''s most notorious sons, this book brings you right to the table to decide what you think of or world''s most powerful players.

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Book SynopsisRe-examining history from a female perspective, this book celebrates the numerous important roles women have played in culture and society that are less often told.Packed full of evocative images, this gloriously illustrated book reveals the key events in women''s history - from early matriarchal societies through women''s suffrage, the Suffragette movement, 20th-century feminism and gender politics, to recent movements such as #MeToo and International Women''s Day - and the key role women have had in shaping our past.Learn about the everyday lives of women through the ages as well as the big ?names of women''s history - powerful, inspirational, and trailblazing women such as Cleopatra, Florence Nightingale, Emmeline Pankhurst, Eva Peron, and Rosa Parks - and discover the unsung contributions of lesser-known women who have changed the world, and the forgotten events of women''s history.Placing women firmly centre stage, Women - Our History shows women where they have come from, and, in celebrating the achievements of women of the past offers positive role models for women of today

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Book SynopsisWhether titans of industry, influential business leaders, or creators of history''s most recognizable brands, these entrepreneurs had the vision, innovation, and ruthless determination to make their marks on our society in indelible ways. Boldly illustrated and comprehensive in its scope and depth, Entrepreneurs Who Changed History profiles more than 90 leaders of industry across the world and throughout the ages - from the enterprising bankers of the medieval world and the merchants of empire, to the titans of industry and the geniuses of Silicon Valley. Combining accessible text with specially-commissioned illustrated portraits in a range of bold artwork styles, photographs, and infographics, entries showcase each individual in a fresh, visual way. The towering personalities behind some of history''s most recognisable brands and companies - their ruthlessness, tenacity, creativity, and sheer grit - are all brought to vivid life.Profiling the kings and queens of commerce and trade, Entrepreneurs Who Changed History features the familiar faces of Vanderbilt and Rockefeller, Ford and Ferrari, Gates and Zuckerberg, alongside lesser-known figures such as the enterprising women of colonial America, the emancipated enslaved people who became millionaires against all odds, and the individuals powering today''s emerging economies.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis''An inspirational manifesto for change'' Caroline Lucas, former leader of The Green Party ''A remarkable and important book'' Steve Backshall, Naturalist, Broadcaster, and Author''Astute, erudite and crystalline, Bella writes with visionary clarity and passion [...] It''s a wonderful book'' Dara McAnulty, award-winning author of Diary of a Young Naturalist____________________________Across the planet, the futures of young people hang in the balance as they face the harsh realities of the environmental crisis. Isn''t it time we made their voices heard?The Children of the Anthropocene, by conservationist and activist Bella Lack, chronicles the lives of the diverse young people on the frontlines of the environmental crisis around the world, amplifying the voices of those living at the heart of the crisis.Advocating for the protection of both people and the planet, Bella restores the beating heart to global environmental issues, from air pollution to deforestation and overconsumption, by telling the stories of those most directly affected. Transporting us from the humming bounty of Ecuador''s Choco Rainforest and the graceful arcs of the Himalayan Mountains, to the windswept plains and vibrant vistas of life in Altiplano, Bella speaks to young activists from around the world including Dara McAnulty, Afroz Shah and Artemisa Xakriabá, and brings the crisis vividly to life.It''s time we passed the mic and listened to different perspectives. Bella''s manifestos for change will inspire and mobilize you to rediscover the wonders and wilds of nature and, ultimately, change the way you think about our planet in crisis. This is your chance to hear the urgent stories of an endangered species too often overlooked: the children of the Anthropocene. ____________________________''Extraordinarily moving, wild and engaging - the book of the moment'' Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland and author of Climate Justice''A visionary statement for the future [...] Pragmatic, positive & beautifully written'' Ben Macdonald, Award-Winning Conservation Writer, Wildlife TV Producer and NaturalistTrade Review'Bella is one of the most inspiring people I've ever met. She has an eloquence and lucidity that is timeless, partnered with a powerful combination of positivity and belief. Bella and her fellow young voices are the best chance our planet has. I've seen Bella bring a theatre full of academics and conservationists to tears, and then to their feet. This young woman has an oratory gift that any storyteller would kill for, and a passion and energy that is infectious and dazzling. Bella believes she can change the world, and I believe her. The Children of the Anthropocene is a remarkable and important book' -- Steve Backshall, naturalist, broadcaster, and author'From the Amazon rainforests to the beaches of Mumbai, the city streets of the US and the farms of Europe, Bella Lack hears from young people at the sharp end of the environmental crisis who are challenging the economic and political system that has led us to where we are now, with a deeply damaged world and facing a climate and ecological catastrophe. This book is so much more than a record of what's gone wrong, it's an inspirational manifesto for change. As a passionate campaigner herself, Bella is the perfect guide' -- Caroline Lucas, former leader of The Green Party'A visionary statement for the future, from a brilliant young person who hopes the planet will be there to enjoy it. Pragmatic, positive & beautifully written' -- Ben Macdonald, award-winning conservation writer, wildlife TV producer and naturalist'Astute, erudite and crystalline, Bella writes with visionary clarity and passion. It was a pleasure to be interviewed by Bella for The Children of the Anthropocene, she questions everything with intelligence, grace and humour. It's a wonderful book' -- Dara McAnulty, award-winning author of Diary of a Young Naturalist'An urgent, thought-provoking, and beautifully written book from a brilliant young conservationist. Bella vividly brings the wonders of nature to life on the page, showcasing the importance of diverse human stories in the collective fight to protect our planet in the face of the environmental crisis. We must stop and listen to these inspiring young people from around the globe. Extraordinarily moving, wild and engaging - the book of the moment' -- Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and author of Climate Justice'A passionate call for change. Hope-filled and fascinating, this book has inspired me to do more' -- Dave Goulson, author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Garden Jungle and A Sting in the Tale'A remarkably lucid and insightful account of the problem with our relationship with the natural world, and how we can save it and ourselves' -- Liz Bonnin, natural history and environmental broadcaster'Profound wisdom from a brilliant young mind - Bella's view of our troubled planet is enthralling and shocking, inspiring, and enchanting. She articulates the exhilarating and fresh perspectives of a rising generation determined to turn things round. Clear-headed about the evidence and passionate about the answers, this book offers something remarkable: real hope' -- David Shukman, environmental journalist and writer'Bella Lack has woven a beautiful offering to the world in her book The Children of the Anthropocene. A tapestry of stories and facts, encouragement and holding to account; she brings to life both the possibility of change and the longing of the generation made to face the consequences of our diseased way of living' -- Dr. Gail Bradbrook, Extinction Rebellion Co-Founder'Thought-provoking without being preachy this is a really serious and helpful book cleverly using the personal stories of people directly affected by some part of climate change. All from a young person who is positive about finding a better way for us all to live in the future' -- David Lindo, The Urban Birder'Not only a book of pain and defiance, resilience and love as Bella Lack writes, it is by and for courageous, compassionate and dedicated young people on the frontlines of the climate emergency. Their too often ignored stories offer hope, power and inspiration that we will realise a fairer, greener and healthier world for all' -- Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director, Greenpeace International'Vibrant with stories, leaping with intelligence, a vivid and beautifully crafted book' -- Jay Griffiths, author of 'Why Rebel'

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Book Synopsis''With originality and subtlety, Diarmuid Hester examines how the gay imagination deals with place and with displacement, allowing for mystery and a kind of magic'' Colm Toibin''Hester is a fizzingly brilliant writer'' Robert Macfarlane''Haunted and haunting - totally riveting'' Chris KrausAt the turn of the century, in the shade of Cambridge''s cloisters, a young E. M. Forster conceals his passion for other men, even as he daydreams about the sun-warmed bodies of ancient Greece. Under the dazzling lights of interwar Paris, Josephine Baker dances her way to fame and fortune and discovers sexual freedom backstage at the Folies Bergère. And on Jersey, in the darkest days of Nazi occupation, the transgressive surrealist Claude Cahun mounts an extraordinary resistance to save the island she loves, scattering hundreds of dissident artworks along its streets and shorelines.Nothing Ever Just Disappears brings to life the stories of seven remarkable figures and illuminates the connections between where they lived, who they loved, and the art they created. It shows that a queer sense of place is central to the history of the twentieth century, and powerfully evokes how much is lost when queer spaces are forgotten. From the lesbian London of the suffragettes to James Baldwin''s home in Provence, to Jack Smith''s New York, Kevin Killian''s San Francisco and the Dungeness cottage of Derek Jarman, this is a thrilling new history and a celebration of freedom, survival and the hidden places of the imagination. Trade ReviewNothing Ever Just Disappears is about what happens to a house or a room, or a whole town or city, when it is transformed by a powerful sensibility. With originality and subtlety, Diarmuid Hester examines how the gay imagination deals with place and with displacement, allowing for mystery and a kind of magic -- Colm ToibinFascinating journeys into LGBTQ+ courage… Hester is attentive to atmosphere, as influenced by both culture and community, and how it acts on individual lives, sometimes expanding horizons and sometimes restricting them… Throughout, Nothing Ever Just Disappears celebrates the courage it took for these queer people merely to exist, and exist honestly, in a hostile world -- Sarah Watling * Observer *Remarkable and expansive… Intrinsic to the power and beauty of this book are Hester’s own voice, story and powers of imagination… tremendously absorbing… The great gift of this book is to offer access to optimism, in these late and shadowed days. It provides a glimpse, a possibility for transformation, and an escape from the closed and shuttered spaces of late capitalism; and it suggests that we may be able to save ourselves by rethinking our lives and imaginations, our societies and systems – by queering our world -- Neil Hegarty * The Irish Times *A revelatory look at queer culture… imaginative and engrossing… fresh, spry… a resolutely unpretentious prose style – sometimes animatedly conversational, sometimes wonderfully camp – goes hand in hand with scholarliness -- Michael Donkor * i News *Intriguing and idiosyncratic… a very lively and readable book that shows the ways in which outsiders have created interfaces, of variable permeability, with the society in which they lived -- Peter Parker * Spectator *Riveting and evocative… Written with infectious drive, Nothing Ever Just Disappears is considered, fascinating and sparkles with insight * Attitude Magazine *Diarmuid Hester has written a book I have always wanted to read. An exploration, celebration and reclamation of queer lives within their spaces and landscapes, it roams from the cloisters and locked gates of Cambridge to the hilly streets of San Francisco, the apartments of New York City and the nuclear desert of Dungeness's shingle-shore, where Derek Jarman created a world on the margins and of the margins. Hester is a fizzingly brilliant writer, and with its fusion of personal testimony, reportage, cultural history and literary criticism, this book will surely find a wide readership -- Robert MacfarlaneA moving, erudite book. Writing against the tide of erasure, Hester takes us on a journey through time, over land and sea, and casts an empathetic and sharply humorous eye on this pantheon of queer figures. A hymn to the importance of community and place, this is a vital public history of queer life that is both intimate and wondrously radical -- Seán Hewitt, author of All Down Darkness WideDiarmuid Hester's beautifully written psycho-biography explores obscure corners of places as sites of hidden queer histories. His portraits of writers and activists from E.M. Forster to Josephine Baker, London's queer suffragettes and Kevin Killian are haunted and haunting - totally riveting -- Chris KrausA charming, playfully challenging companion on a dreamy quest through lost landscapes of defiance, imagination and desire -- Jeremy Atherton LinHester's book takes the reader on a beguiling journey from country to country. Full of extraordinary details, it delves deep into queer creative minds from the past, offering up a refreshingly original perspective on the human connection to sense of place -- Luke Edward HallFrom Dungeness to San Francisco, the motley wildness of these gay pioneers is told with fitting zest by Hester. I loved it -- Martin LathamHester's book is insightful, delightful, and enlightening: an essential entrant into the queer canon -- Isabel WaidnerLightly, yet seriously, Hester's immersive prose takes us on a journey that colourfully loops together the transgressive with the political. Heady descriptions of varied queer lives are rooted in the materiality of vividly conjured places. A ‘flummox of friends’ comes to life as their stories mix, mingle and collide. Stirring, thoughtful and gorgeously fun to read -- Kiare LadnerNothing Ever Just Disappears is a book I have longed for without knowing I was missing, much like the vanished or vanishing queer spaces Hester evokes so vividly in its pages. Deftly, beautifully, it performs an enchanting queering of literary tourism and artists' house studies, from failures of epiphany we all experience in places that we expect to move us, to awkwardness about how best to honour our creative forebears in all their human complexity. It is both a much needed and engaging history of queer creative lives and their places, complicating notions of sites of production and dwelling as ’secular shrines’, and a moving memoir of Hester’s own creative geographies: the places and people that matter to him and have informed his own thinking. This book, as Hester writes, ‘is ritual’ - both pilgrimage in its writing and its reading. Once you have gazed into the convex mirror, you can’t unsee the resplendent queer world you encounter there -- Polly Atkin

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Book SynopsisBrought to you by Penguin.Discover who we are and how we got here by pre-ordering comedian and student of history David Mitchell''s UNRULY: A History of England''s Kings and Queens - a thoughtful, funny exploration of the founding fathers and mothers of England, and subsequently Britain.Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.In UNRULY, David Mitchell explores how England''s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects'' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn''t exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It''s a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the population evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history - and won''t let it off the hook for the mess it''s made.A funny book about a serious subject, UNRULY is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.Read by David Mitchell.2023 David Mitchell (P)2023 Penguin AudioTrade ReviewUnruly is part Horrible Histories part jolly romp guided by Alan Bennett. Perhaps this is how history should be done: not by patient scholars, but by free-swearing actor-comedians cramming more ideas and jokes into their pages than many professionals have committed to print in their careers. * Guardian *Full of jokes and canny insights, 100 per cent sparkier and more revernt than your school textbooks * I *An enjoyable, rollicking read, definitely not a conventional history book * Sunday Times *I don’t think anyone other than David Mitchell could have written this book. It’s clever, funny and makes you think quite differently about history we thought we knew * DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER *By turns fascinating and funny - there is a jewel of an insight or a refreshing blast of clarifying wit on every page. David brings a delightfully contrary and hilariously cantankerous eye to the history of the English Monarchy. Informative, illuminating and very very funny * JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW *Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama * Andrew Marr *A Peep Show history of England * Sunday Times *Clever, amusing, gloriously bizarre and razor sharp. Mitchell - a funny man and a skilled historian - tells stories that are interesting and fun. His rants alone are worth the price of the book. And amid all the jokes and delightful nonsense, Mitchell sneaks in a serious message about English identity. Here is Horrible Histories for grownups - stripped of their finery, devoid of reverence, UNRULY's monarchs emerge as mortals with ordinary flaws. I learnt a lot and laughed a lot, and people who have never before picked up a history book will read and enjoy this one. That's an accomplishment * Gerard DeGroot, The Times *Chatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with gags and opinions. Horrible Histories with added swearing. * Guardian *I can’t recommend this book enough. Very funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history * Charlie Higson *A Punch-and-Judy show of awful people doing terrible things to one another. There is refreshing candour in how it calls out the bastards, bullies and brats who have donned England’s highest-carat hats. Above all, it’s a funny read, playful and well-meaning . . . told in a fizzing and indignant style, rammed with entertaining tangents. A sleek rod of Mitchell, fired from a rail gun, passing straight through the reader’s skull * Daily Telegraph *Who knew a history of England's rulers could be this hilarious? A brilliantly entertaining romp through monarchs. * i *Provocative, energeticlly comical, unortodox. Stuffed full of comical scenes and anecdotes, which only an author with a fine sense of the absurd could give us. * Mail on Sunday *A riotously funny romp through one thousand or so years of English history. I cannot remember the last time I laughed as much as I did listening to Unruly. Mitchell’s take on history is unremittingly funny as well as insightful. There are so many exquisite turns of phrase. I had to stop listening whilst cooking for fear I’d drop red-hot pans, I was shaking with laughter so much. * Entertainment Focus *I relished a crash course in English history with comedian David Mitchell’s ambitious Unruly. * Daily Express, Books of the Year *A historical tour of English rulers in a book that is like no history lesson you've had to endure before. A semi-serious book full of weird and wonderful spectacle, scandal, and brutality. * Luxury London *He brings his typically wry style to an exploration of England's monarchy * History Revealed *

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Book Synopsis''I came away from this book enraged, enlightened and with a sense of urgency to do something'' Annie Mac''Lays down a transformative path to peace'' David Lammy MP''Compelling'' The Sunday Times; ''Assured'' Observer; ''Brilliantly written'' Nikesh Shukla_________________________Demetri wants to study criminology at university to understand why people around him carry knives.Jhemar is determined to advocate for his community following the murder of a loved one.Carl''s exclusion leaves him vulnerable to the sinister school-to-prison pipeline, but he is resolute to defy expectations.Tony, the tireless manager of a community centre, is fighting not only for the lives of local young people, but to keep the centre''s doors open.Drawing on the latest research and interviews with experts, this refreshingly nuanced and beautifully written book inteTrade ReviewA very inspiring and important piece of work and I'd encourage people to buy it, to read it and to act on it -- Ed MilibandCiaran is the rarest thing: a writer of heart and clarity, who has spent thousands of hours absorbing the rules, codes and heartbreaks of life in some of London's most vulnerable communities . . . I read everything that Ciaran writes because it feels necessary to understand the city that I live in -- Sam Knight, New Yorker staff writerHonest, authentic and raw, this book confronts our deepest assumptions about violence, and lays down a transformative path to peace -- David Lammy MP, author of TribesPays poignant tribute to the victims of youth violence who so often become statistics . . . A compelling read that covers a difficult subject with nuance and authority . . . more urgent than ever -- Shanti Das * The Sunday Times *Cut Short is an assured debut that leaves you in no doubt of Thapar's talents as a writer. His depictions of the characters he gets to know during his years as a youth worker are full of respect, even love . . . These character studies are complemented by an analytical rigour that means Thapar's powerful narrative kicks against the state - against the austerity and demonisation that keep so many young black men trapped in cycles of poverty and marginalisation while a discourse of knife crime draws attention away from its root causes -- Ashish Ghadiali * Observer *Makes you stop and think -- Nick Robinson, BBC R4’s Today programmeAn incredibly important look at the plight of Britain's youth, delivered with clarity, honesty and an open heart -- Nikesh Shukla, editor of The Good ImmigrantCiaran's work is informed by lived experience at the frontline of social change. It takes a sensitive and respectful look at the truths less often told -- George the PoetA devastating and beautifully drawn tribute to the young boys that the media turns into statistics of knife crime. In telling their stories, Ciaran Thapar brings to the page their dreams, their imaginations and their hearts -- Candice Carty-Williams, author of QueenieA powerful account of teenage lives blighted by violence -- Robert Wright * Financial Times *Angry, impassioned, informed, accurate - the story behind the cutting short of public health and young lives -- Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1%Gripping and dramatic yet also poignant and reflective, Cut Short is essential for our times -- Dan Hancox, author of Inner City PressureNo bullshit, no filter, just facts from the trenches of the most neglected in society, and the power of music, mentorship and education to change lives. Everyone must read this -- Toddla T, DJLooks at the knife crime phenomenon from street level, rather than top down . . . Given the subject matter, the book is surprisingly hopeful -- Max Daly * UnHerd *In a potent mix of personal anecdote, social history and politics, he interweaves the stories of people caught up in the violence, to show how society is fracturing along lines of race, class and postcodes. The result is a trenchant, page-turning and sometimes challenging reading, but also a blueprint for positive change -- Caroline Sanderson * Bookseller, Editor's Choice *A crucial contribution and a compelling read. Thapar combines captivating narratives with a sophisticated understanding of the policy landscape - a must-read book for anyone interested in, or working to improve, the safety and well-being of children and young people -- Keir Irwin-Rogers, Lecturer in Criminology, The Open University; lead criminologist to the Youth Violence CommissionCut Short is at once a compelling memoir, a biting critique of Britain's hideous inequality, and a beautiful tribute to the remarkable strength and spark of London's youth - and those who work with them. Weaving together reflective autobiography, expert interviews and the stories of young people he works with, Ciaran Thapar paints a portrait of London's greatest assets and deepest injustices. Everyone - from teenagers to government ministers - can learn a lot about contemporary Britain from Cut Short -- Luke Billingham, youth & community worker, co-author of the Youth Violence Commission Final ReportBig up Ciaran x10 on the new book. Ciaran was basically there from where we really started to take off and it's good to see him doing big things and always tryna encourage and give back to the youth 'cause they need that -- Skengdo, rapperShout out Ciaran on the new book, everyone go cop that and take in the gems - real life issues being addressed. It's important to know that even though the book's called Cut Short your life don't have to be cut short, as long as you're breathing you got opportunities if you just focus and stay consistent -- AM, rapperThis book strongly gives a voice to the voiceless . . . essential reading -- Kenny Allstar, DJTakes us to the heart of London's street culture . . . more necessary than ever -- Alistair Fraser * TLS *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A significant contribution to the field. While this book includes some well-known women, many of those described are not widely recognized and the book does a good job of demonstrating the variety of roles that women engineers at Illinois have played."--Margaret E. Layne, editor of Women in Engineering: Pioneers and Trailblazers "Mixes stories by/about women in STEM that go beyond the 'great names' whose biographies have multiplied. It is also good to have accounts of women from different decades, from different fields. The first chapter, detailing the history of women in engineering at Illinois, is particularly significant [and] adds to our knowledge about the early entry of women into these fields."--Amy Sue Bix, author of Girls Coming to Tech! A History of American Engineering Education for Women"Women and Ideas in Engineering is a signpost pointing us in the direction of a more enlightened and informed future, one where equal representation in STEM fields is more than just a given, it is a boon to all." --BTN LiveBIG Book Club

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This volume is a significant contribution to the study of subaltern traditions in the history of anthropology." --Transforming Anthropology"Presents the next generation of scholars who continued to 'keep on keeping on' in departments, among fellow students, and with faculty who thought the natives should be located in the field and not in their midst. Essential for the still lonely Black, Brown, Asian, or Latinx graduate student who is trying to make their way in the discipline."--A. Lynn Bolles, professor emerita, University of Maryland, College Park

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This volume is a significant contribution to the study of subaltern traditions in the history of anthropology." --Transforming Anthropology"Presents the next generation of scholars who continued to 'keep on keeping on' in departments, among fellow students, and with faculty who thought the natives should be located in the field and not in their midst. Essential for the still lonely Black, Brown, Asian, or Latinx graduate student who is trying to make their way in the discipline."--A. Lynn Bolles, professor emerita, University of Maryland, College Park

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Book SynopsisFeaturing profiles of 49 athletes who attended IU, Indiana University Olympians celebrates over a century of Indiana University Olympic competitors.Table of ContentsTable of contentsPreface1. BasketballSteve Alford, 1984Quinn Buckner and Scott May, 1976Walt Bellamy, 19602. Track and fieldDerek Drouin, 2012, 2016David Neville, 2008DeDee Nathan, 2000Bob Kennedy, 1992, 1996Jim Spivey, 1984, 1992, 1996Dave Volz, 1992Sunder Nix, 1984Willie May, 1960Milt Campbell, 1952, 1956Greg Bell, 1956Fred Wilt, 1948, 1952Roy Cochran, 1948Charles Hornbostel, 1932, 1936Don Lash, 1936Ivan Fuqua, 1932LeRoy Samse, 19043. SwimmingLilly King, 2016Cody Miller, 2016Blake Pieroni, 2016Gary Hall, 1968, 1972, 1976Jim Montgomery, 1976Mark Spitz, 1968, 1972Mike Stamm, 1972John Kinsella, 1968, 1972Charlie Hickcox, 1968Don McKenzie, 1968Chet Jastremski, 1964, 1968Kathy Ellis, 1964Fred Schmidt, 1964Frank McKinney, 1956, 1960Mike Troy, 1960Bill Woolsey, 1952, 19564. DivingMichael Hixon, 2016Mark Lenzi, 1992, 1996Cynthia Potter, 1972, 1976Lesley Bush, 1964, 1968Ken Sitzberger, 19645. SoccerBrian Maissoneuve, 1996Steve Snow, 1992John Stollmeyer, 1988Angelo DiBernardo, 1984Greg Thompson, 19846. Other sportsMichelle Venturella, 2000, softballMickey Morandini, 1988, baseballDick Voliva, 1936, wrestlingIndiana University OlympiansSourcesPhoto captions and credits

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Book SynopsisFeaturing profiles of 49 athletes who attended IU, Indiana University Olympians celebrates over a century of Indiana University Olympic competitors.Table of ContentsTable of contentsPreface1. BasketballSteve Alford, 1984Quinn Buckner and Scott May, 1976Walt Bellamy, 19602. Track and fieldDerek Drouin, 2012, 2016David Neville, 2008DeDee Nathan, 2000Bob Kennedy, 1992, 1996Jim Spivey, 1984, 1992, 1996Dave Volz, 1992Sunder Nix, 1984Willie May, 1960Milt Campbell, 1952, 1956Greg Bell, 1956Fred Wilt, 1948, 1952Roy Cochran, 1948Charles Hornbostel, 1932, 1936Don Lash, 1936Ivan Fuqua, 1932LeRoy Samse, 19043. SwimmingLilly King, 2016Cody Miller, 2016Blake Pieroni, 2016Gary Hall, 1968, 1972, 1976Jim Montgomery, 1976Mark Spitz, 1968, 1972Mike Stamm, 1972John Kinsella, 1968, 1972Charlie Hickcox, 1968Don McKenzie, 1968Chet Jastremski, 1964, 1968Kathy Ellis, 1964Fred Schmidt, 1964Frank McKinney, 1956, 1960Mike Troy, 1960Bill Woolsey, 1952, 19564. DivingMichael Hixon, 2016Mark Lenzi, 1992, 1996Cynthia Potter, 1972, 1976Lesley Bush, 1964, 1968Ken Sitzberger, 19645. SoccerBrian Maissoneuve, 1996Steve Snow, 1992John Stollmeyer, 1988Angelo DiBernardo, 1984Greg Thompson, 19846. Other sportsMichelle Venturella, 2000, softballMickey Morandini, 1988, baseballDick Voliva, 1936, wrestlingIndiana University OlympiansSourcesPhoto captions and credits

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Book SynopsisA unique, colorful view of Victorian London when residents both famous and now-forgotten endured the Great Stink across one hot summer? While 1858 in London may have been noteworthy for its broiling summer months and the related stench of the sewage-filled Thames River, the year is otherwise little remembered. And yet, historian Rosemary Ashton reveals in this compelling microhistory, 1858 was marked by significant, if unrecognized, turning points. For ordinary people, and also for the rich, famous, and powerful, the months from May to August turned out to be a summer of consequence. Ashton mines Victorian letters and gossip, diaries, court records, newspapers, and other contemporary sources to uncover historically crucial moments in the lives of three protagonistsCharles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Disraeli. She also introduces others who gained renown in the headlines of the day, among them George Eliot, Karl Marx, William Thackeray, and Edward Bulwer Lytton. Ashton reveals invisible threads of connection among Londoners at every social level in 1858, bringing the celebrated city and its citizens vibrantly to life.Trade Review“Superbly researched . . . argues that the year was a crucial one in the lives of the three great Victorians: Dickens, Disreali and Darwin.”—Paula Byrne, Times“Rosemary Ashton’s new book charts four boiling hot months in 1858 when the sewage of London went awry and . . . can often feel much closer to how people actually lived and breathed than grander, more panoramic narratives.”—Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday“England was changing in that smelliest of summers, and Ashton gives us a finely scented snapshot of it all.”—Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph“[The Great Stink] is a terrific subject for Ms. Ashton . . . She excels at unearthing and explaining the daily distractions of the nose-holding populace over the course of the summer: horse races, art shows, murder and divorce trials . . . Her detailed atomic record produces thought-provoking coincidences and reminds us of figures who deserve to be better known . . . In short: This book does not stink. Far from it.”—Alexandra Mullen, Wall Street Journal“A wide-ranging narrative, written with [Ashton’s] customary flair.”—John Bugg, TLS“Not just another book about the Victorians, but one that could just as easily have been written by them. Turning its pages is like opening a window on to their world.”—Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Guardian“The book’s real strength is its description of London quivering between modernity and the dark ages . . . There is plenty to enjoy in this panorama of Victorians in their heyday.”—The Economist “Finding space for clubland quarrels alongside state affairs and scientific advances, her lively study is elegantly executed, informative and entertaining.”—Anne Somerset, Literary Review “A wondrous, illuminating and evocative saga . . . Ashton has delved with comprehensive skill into the now-digitised copies of the newspapers of the day to discover the far from fake facts.”—Gerald Isaaman, Islington Tribune“[Ashton] is the best at navigating the hidden rapids of life, politics, art and popular culture.” —Judith Flanders, "Best History Books 2017", History Today"The new celebrity cult developed by the popular press collided with the revolting state of the Thames, in that hot summer. Rosemary Ashton's brilliant description of the result is a 'must-read', whatever this summer brings."—Liza Picard, author of Victorian London"Rosemary Ashton's evocative and intriguing portrait of public, private and political tensions in the long hot summer of 1858 delivers fascinating insights into the interconnected lives of her subjects."—Lee Jackson, author of Dirty Old London"History-writing too often confines itself to great events set in motion by great people. In One Hot Summer Rosemary Ashton has produced history-writing of the most important kind, as she explores what happens in between those great events, and great people, and connects previously unconnected subjects and ideas. It reads as easily as fiction, as excitingly as a thriller. It is history as it should be written, but so rarely is."—Judith Flanders, author of The Victorian City

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Book SynopsisBefore the Civil War, America had undergone a technological revolution that made large-scale industry possible, yet, except for the expanding reach of railroads and telegraph lines, the country remained largely rural, with only pockets of small manufacturing. Then the war came and woke the sleeping giant. The Civil War created a wave of unprecedented industrial growth and development, producing a revolution in new structures, ideas, and inventions that sustained the struggle and reshaped America.Energized by the country''s dormant potential and wealth of natural resources, individuals of vision, organizational talent, and capital took advantage of the opportunity war provided. Their innovations sustained Union troops, affected military strategy and tactics, and made the killing fields even deadlier. Individually, these men came to dominate industry and amass great wealth and power; collectively, they helped save the Union and refashion the economic fabric of a nation.

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Book SynopsisThe author of the magisterial A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers now approaches the great singers and their greatest work in an innovative and revelatory way: through considering their finest albums, which is the format in which this music was most resonantly organized and presented to its public from the 1940s until the very recent decline of the CD. It is through their albums that Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, and the rest of the glorious honor roll of jazz and pop singers have been most tellingly and lastingly appreciated, and the history of the album itself, as Will Friedwald sketches it, can now be seen as a crucial part of musical history. We come to understand that, at their finest, albums have not been mere collections of individual songs strung together arbitrarily but organic phenomena in their own right. A Sinatra album, a Fitzgerald album, was planned and structured to show these arti

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