Search results for ""Author Christopher""

If there is one thing that describes the trajectory of American education, it is this: more high-stakes testing. In the United States, the debates surrounding this trajectory can be so fierce that it feels like we are in uncharted waters. As Christopher Bjork reminds us in this study, however, we are not the first to make testing so central to education: Japan has been doing it for decades. Drawing on Japan's experiences with testing, overtesting, and recent reforms to relax educational pressures, he sheds light on the best path forward for US schools. Bjork asks a variety of important questions related to testing and reform: Does testing overburden students? Does it impede innovation and encourage conformity? Can a system anchored by examination be reshaped to nurture creativity and curiosity? How should any reforms be implemented by teachers? Each chapter explores questions like these with careful attention to the actual effects policies have had on schools in Japan and other Asian settings, and each draws direct parallels to issues that US schools currently face. Offering a wake-up call for American education, Bjork ultimately cautions that the accountability-driven practice of standardized testing might very well exacerbate the precise problems it is trying to solve.

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Variously described as an exchange of gifts, a destruction of property, a system of banking, and a struggle for prestige, the potlatch is one of the founding concepts of anthropology. Some researchers even claim to have discovered traces of the potlatch in all the economies of the world. However, as the author of this text shows in this closely-argued work, the potlatch was in fact invented by the 19th-century Canadian law that sought to destroy it. In addition to giving the world its own potlatch, the law also generated a random collection of "potlatch papers" dating from the 1860s to the 1930s. Bracken analyzes these documents - some canonical, like Franz Boas's ethnographies, others unpublished and little known - to catch a colonialist discourse in the act of constructing fictions about certain "first nations" and then deploying those fictions against them. Rather than referring to objects that already exist, the "potlatch papers" instead gave themselves something to refer to: a mirror in which to observe not "the Indian," but "the European."

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Even in the midst of an economic boom, most Americans would agree that civic institutions are hard pressed and that they are growing ever more cynical and disconnected from one another. In response to this bleak assessment, advocates of "civil society" argue that rejuvenating neighborhoods, churches and community associations will lead to a more moral, civic-minded polity. Christopher Beem argues that while the movement's goals are laudable, simply restoring local institutions will not solve the problem; a civil society also needs politics and government to provide a sense of shared values and ideas. Tracing the concept back to Tocqueville and Hegel, Beem shows that both thinkers faced similar problems and both rejected civil society as the sole solution. He then shows how, in the case of the Civil Rights movement, both political groups and the federal government were necessary to effect a new consensus on race. Taking up the arguments of Robert Putnam, Michael Sandel and others, this book calls for a more developed sense of what the state is for and what American politics ought to be about.

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Christopher Clark's Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Life in Power is a short, fascinating and accessible biography of one of the 20th century's most important figures.King of Prussia, German Emperor, war leader and defeated exile, Kaiser Wilhelm II was one of the most important - and most controversial - figures in the history of twentieth-century Europe. But how much power did he really have?Christopher Clark, winner of the Wolfson prize for his history of Prussia, Iron Kingdom, follows Kaiser Wilhelm's political career from his youth at the Hohenzollern court through the turbulent decades of the Wilhelmine era into global war and the collapse of Germany in 1918, to his last days. He asks: what was his true role in the events that led to the outbreak of the First World War? What was the nature and extent of his control? What were his political goals and his success in achieving them? How did he project authority and exercise influence? And how did his people really view him?Through original research, Clark presents a fresh new interpretation of this contentious figure, focusing on how his thirty-year reign from 1888 to 1918 affected Germany, and the rest of Europe, for years to come. 'Clark's fresh and enlightening history brings the Kaiser's life into critical and illuminating review' German History Christopher Clark is a lecturer in Modern European History at St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge. His book Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600 to 1947 was the winner of the Wolfson Prize for History.

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Fourth in a series of hardcover boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dustjackets. Set 4 contains Morgoth''s Ring, The War of the Jewels, The Peoples of Middle-earth and The History of Middle-earth Index.Morgoth''s Ring is the first of two companion volumes documenting the later writing of The Silmarillion. The text of the Annals of Aman, the Blessed Land' in the far West, is given in full; while further writings reveal the nature of the problems that Tolkien explored in his later years, as new and radical ideas, portending upheaval in the old narratives, emerged at the heart of the mythology.The War of the Jewels continues the account of the later history of The Silmarillion, as the story returns to Middle-earth, and the ruinous conflict of the High Elves and the Men who were their allies with the power of the Dark Lord.The Peoples of Middle-earth is this capstone to Tolkien''s history of Middle-earth, presenting a chronology of

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Second in a series of hardback boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dustjackets. Includes THE LAYS OF BELERIAND, THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH and THE LOST ROAD, which contain the early myths and legends that led to the writings of THE SILMARILLION.The Lays of Beleriand gives us a privileged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien's world those of Túrin and of Beren and Lúthien. Accompanying the poems are commentaries on the evolution of the history of the Elder Days, together with the notable criticism of The Lay of Leithian by C.S. Lewis, who read the poem in 1929.InThe Shaping of Middle-earththe chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor is spread before us. We are introduced to the hitherto unknown Ambarkanta or Shape of the World', the only account ever given of the nature of the imag

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This fun and approachable method introduces young people to the keyboard through enjoyable activities and pieces. Technique is cleverly developed step-by-step with clear guidance and all the supporting resources needed for a smooth and fulfilling learning journey. Suitable for group or individual lessons, and offering performance opportunities right from the start. The teacher’s book features a downloadable eBook with audio and video demonstrations for whiteboard display, standard music notation and teaching tips. The pupil’s book comes with downloadable audio demonstrations for home practice.

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Prompted partly by gastronomic curiosity and partly by sheer greed, Mr H entered the kitchen with Mrs H as his guide. The result is perhaps the most honest food book ever written. It is certainly one of the funniest. While exploring culinary items both famous and obscure, from pizza to pancakes, Seville orange marmalade to blancmange, they made an important discovery - there are several important differences between men and women in the kitchen. Women in the kitchen (according to Mr H) Women are very, very, very bossy. Women are very difficult to get out of kitchen shops. Their favourite reading tends to be the Lakeland catalogue. Women are obsessed with cleanliness to extent that it imperils our natural resistance to bugs and germs. Men in the kitchen (according to Mrs H) Men want a huge amount of praise for anything they do. Men are reluctant to follow recipes in the same way that they are reluctant to ask for directions when they are lost. Men tend to overdo the ingredients in recipes. They think that if a little is good then a lot will be even better. Many dishes in this perilous endeavour were seasoned with salty language and peppery outbursts. In the devastating heat of the kitchen, it was the most perilous of domestic adventures, but the marriage somehow survived. Some couples climb Kilimanjaro, Mr and Mrs H made a pork pie.

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Share in your pupils' success. Watch them excel in English Big English prepares pupils for the challenges they will find in today's world: CLIL: because pupils are learning English and so much more 21st Century Skills: because pupils want to get ahead and need to be prepared for the world around them Assessment for Learning: because confidence leads to success Think BIG! Dream BIG! BIG ENGLISH

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Isherwood's short, poignant novel is a tender and wistful love story Celebrated as a masterpiece from its first publication, A Single Man is the story of George, an English professor in suburban California left heartbroken after the death of his lover, Jim. With devastating clarity and humour, Isherwood shows George's determination to carry on, evoking the unexpected pleasures of life as well as the soul's ability to triumph over loneliness and alienation.'A virtuoso piece of work...courageous...powerful' Sunday Times'This mix of humour and stoicism in the face of pent-up grief is essential Isherwood' Guardian

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An exhaustive investigation of the case of Gef, a “talking mongoose” or “man-weasel,” who appeared to a family living on the Isle of Man.“I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!”During the mid-1930s, British and overseas newspapers were full of incredible stories about Gef, a “talking mongoose” or “man-weasel” who had allegedly appeared in the home of the Irvings, a farming family in a remote district of the Isle of Man. The creature was said to speak in several languages, to sing, to steal objects from nearby farms, and to eavesdrop on local people.Despite written reports, magazine articles and books, several photographs, fur samples and paw prints, voluminous correspondence, and signed eyewitness statements, there is still no consensus as to what was really happening to the Irving family.Was it a hoax? An extreme case of folie à plusieurs? A poltergeist? The p

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The story of a working class boy from Leicestershire who started out restoring cars with his father and went on to produce a low volume car that would shake the establishment: the Noble M12.

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This extraordinary diary is written by the 27th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, who was an eminent MP for 18 years until the death of his father in 1913 when he was ennobled. His sense of duty drove him to join the RAMC as a Private (a commission would have been easily provided) and he served in a humble capacity in field hospitals in France without revealing his identity. His diaries and letters reflect the stark contrast between his privileged home life and the one he volunteered for in France and Flanders. Remarkably he is never heard to complain or regret his decision although he is often critical of his 'seniors'. Lord Crawford's pre- and post- war diaries The Crawford Papers (edited by Prof Vincent) describe his peacetime experiences and this book fills in a needy gap. His self- control must have been incredible as he found himself under the direction of far less intelligent and knowledgeable men holding more senior rank. This is a unique document which throws fascinating new light on what it meant to be a junior rank.

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Focussing on the ways in which cannabis has been demonized, sacralized and normalized, Christopher Partridge analyses the complex and often difficult relationship Western societies have had with the plant since the nineteenth century.After an introduction to cannabis and its uses, the book discusses how and why it was constructed as a profane influence and a marker of deviance. It then examines the emergence of medicinal cannabis, showing how this has contributed to its normalization and even its sacralization. Finally, there is a discussion of sacred cannabis, which looks at its use within modern occultism, Rastafari and several cannabis churches.Overall, the book provides a cultural history of cannabis in the modern world, which exposes the underlying reasons for the various and changing attitudes to this popular psychoactive substance.

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The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame - Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, whose husband was famously murdered by her brother, and that brother, Cesare, who served as the model for Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. Notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder, the dynasty's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale.Erudite, witty, and always insightful, Hibbert removes the layers of myth around the Borgia family and creates a portrait alive with his superb sense of character and place.

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A fabulous collection of ghost hauntings in Suffolk, from the infamous Black Dog of Bungay to the headless Anne Boleyn stalking visitors at Blickling Hall. The serene, low-lying countryside of Suffolk, with its scattered farms, water-meadows and extensive coastline, seems an unlikely area to be associated with ghosts and demons. Yet, a motley array are said to haunt the region. The most famous is the Black Dog, a spectral hound, which in the year 1577 terrorised and killed parishioners in the churches of Bungay and Blythburgh, and continues to exert a strong presence today. Other strange phenomena include phantom coaches, rattling through the countryside at night, drawn by spectral horses and driven by a headless coachman, and the freshwater mermaids who lure young children to their deaths in pools and rivers. Tobias Gill the black drummer haunts the crossroads near Blythburgh where he was hanged for the murder of a servant girl, and Mrs. Short, the 'Queen of Hell', can still raise the hairs on your neck if you wander in the region of Boulge Hall near Woodbridge. Famous characters such as Anne Boleyn, Earl Hugh Bigod, and St. Edmund add an additional lustre to folk tales of the area, and strange happenings occur in many of the churchyards, Suffolk having more churches per acre than almost any other county. This fascinating account of local 'sightings' deals with all the traditional historical legends as well as modern day sightings, and investigates their relevance and significance for the modern age.

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What determines the outcome for rebels in contemporary African civil wars? How are “victory” and “defeat “measured? Is there any connection between a rebel group’s organization and its fate? What implications do the answers to these questions have for policymakers concerned with ongoing armed conflicts? Addressing these issues and more the author explores the relationship between rebel groups and regime politics in Africa.

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The Psalms can be sung, spoken or read – but they were written to be prayed. Until we pray them from the heart we miss their purpose. If you love, or want to love, or think perhaps you ought to love, the Psalms, this first instalment of a two–volume set on the Psalter is for you. Christopher Ash gives us a practical and theological handbook to equip us to pray and to teach the Psalms. He faces the difficulties and shows how praying them in Christ does justice to their original meaning and context as well as their place in the whole bible.

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Bognor Regis...Aberystwyth...Glasgow...Can you place them on a map? Most people can't these days. What kind of countryside do you pass through on your way to the Cairngorms, or the Fens, or Northumberland? What's north of the Pennines? And what's it like when you get there? Most folk wouldn't have a clue. Increasing numbers of us don't have a basic geographical notion of these islands. Blame it on a decline in formal geography teaching, or Sat-Nav and other 'A to Z and nothing in between' devices that make us lazy - we are becoming the best travelled and least well orientated Britons ever seen. Now Christopher Somerville, bestselling author of Coast and many other books of UK exploration, presents the basics of what belongs where, which counties border one another, and what lies beyond the Watford Gap. He reminds us of the watery bits, the lumpy bits and the flat bits, and gets to grips with the smaller islands surrounding Britain - and much more. Never Eat Shredded Wheat is a reminder of all the fascinating British geography once learned at school - geography that brings our islands vividly to life - geography which we have forgotten, or never even knew.

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In Books 6 and 7 Thucydides' narrative is, as Plutarch puts it, 'at its most emotional, vivid, and varied' as he describes the Sicilian Expedition that ended so catastrophically for Athens (415–413 BCE). Book 7 opens with Athens seemingly on the point of victory, but the arrival of the Spartan commander Gylippus marks a change in fortunes and the Athenian commander Nicias is soon sending home a desperate plea for reinforcements. Three narrative masterpieces follow their arrival, first the eerie confusion of the night battle on the heights, then the naval clash in the Great Harbour, and finally the desperate attempt to escape and the slaughter at the river Assinarus. Following the sister commentary on Book 6, the Commentary offers students considerable help understanding the Greek while the Introduction discusses Thucydides' narrative skill and the part these books play in the architecture of the history.

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In Book Three of this four-volume work, Alexander presents hundreds of his own buildings and those of his contemporaries who have used methods consistent with the theory of living process.Containing nearly seven hundred pages of projects which have been built and planned in a number of countries over a thirty-year period, this book amply illustrates the impact of living process on the world. The book provides the reader with an intuitive feel for the kind of world which is needed to generate living structure in the world and its communities; its style and geometry and its ecological and natural character.The projects include public buildings, neighbourhoods, housing built by people for themselves, public urban space, rooms, gardens, ornament, colours, details of construction and construction innovation. These buildings, and the methods needed to design and build them, define living structure in a practical way that can be re-applied across a range of other projects.

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Christopher Alexander's masterwork, the result of 27 years of research, considers three vital perspectives: a scientific perspective; a perspective based on beauty and grace; a commonsense perspective based on our intuitions and everyday life.

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The complete Milk Street cookbook, featuring each dish from every episode of the hit TV show and more -- over 500 dishes in all, including 70+ new recipes from the 2023-2024 season.Christopher Kimball's James Beard, IACP, and Emmy Award-winning Milk Street TV show and cookbooks give home cooks a simpler, bolder, healthier way to eat and cook.Now featuring more than 500 tried-and-true recipes, including every recipe from every episode of the TV show, this book is the ultimate guide to high-quality, low effort cooking and the perfect kitchen companion for cooks of all skill levels. Every recipe is paired with a photograph.At Milk Street, there are no long lists of hard-to-find ingredients, strange cookware, or all day methods. Instead, every recipe has been adapted and tested for home cooks like you. You'll find simple recipes that deliver big flavours and textures fast, such as:- Colima-Style Shredded Braised Pork- Lebanese Baked Kafta with Potatoes and Tomatoes- Braised Beef with Dried Figs and Quick-Pickled Cabbage- Japanese-Style Chicken and Vegetable Curry- Turkish Flatbreads- Banana Custard Pie with Caramelized Sugar- Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Cream Cheese-Caramel Frosting- Italian Flourless Chocolate TortaOrganized by type of dish--from salads, soups, grains, and vegetable sides to simple dinners and extraordinary desserts--this book is an indispensable reference that will introduce you to extraordinary new flavours and ingenious techniques.

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Traditional thought fused with modern science when Hiroshima's nuclear annihilation on August 6, 1945, proved the interdependence of space and time. Since the war, Japanese architects have probed the relativity of spacetime through critical debates, pivotal theories, and consequential buildings. The Hypospace of Japanese Architecture pushes past clichés of an exotic Japan to confront the modernity of an island nation whose habit of importing foreign ideas is less about assimilation than transformation, less a process of indigenisation than one of cultural invention. The realisation that buildings are dynamic events phenomena of space-in-time, not inert objects outside time continues to inform Japanese architecture and suggests how we can rethink the history, theory, and practice of architecture more generally.

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Jean Etienne Liotard (1702-1789) was one of the most accomplished, idiosyncratic and witty artists of 18th-century Europe. Born in Geneva, he pursued a remarkable career, travelling across the continent and the Near East, portraying a riveting cross-section of society. Liotard worked in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Venice, Constantinople and Vienna and excelled as a specialist in the delicate art of pastel. He became renowned for the uncanny realism of his portraits as well as the beauty of his drawings, while also experimenting with watercolour, oil painting, printmaking and enamels. In Britain he enjoyed notoriety because of his exotic persona, and received commissions from royalty, aristocrats, grand tourists and celebrities. LIOTARD: A Portrait of Eighteenth-Century Europe plots the career and practice and reputation of an extraordinary artist who deserves to be better known. This new study throws light on the wider cultural environment he navigated, illuminating connected themes, including fashion history, orientalism and the promotion and display of portraits in the public and private spheres of Enlightenment Europe.

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Proverbs, those sage sayings and goblets of wisdom, invariably injected with gentle humour, are common to virtually all peoples and cultures on Earth. The Chinese are no exception.

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Christopher Walter, in his research on Byzantine art, has been particularly concerned by the significative value of iconography. The Byzantines, perhaps more than other cultural groups, were aware that pictures could "speak". The form and content of their "message" is explored here in a series of twenty-six articles, together with the use to which this "message" could be put. The first group of six articles is concerned with manuscript illustration. The second group of six articles shows how pictures could be used for ecclesiological purposes, not only to set out the universal mission of the Church. and its relations with political authorities, but also the relations of a local Church with the ensemble. A third group of three articles is concerned with the use of pictures in order to instruct the faithful on the raison d'être of the liturgy. The fourth group of seven articles studies the use of pictures to make better known to the populace the role of saints in the life of terrestrial men. Finally two articles document the use of iconography on apotropaic objects like amulets. In an epilogue the author brings up to date the bibliography of the subjects studied in these articles.

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A vastly entertaining and unique history of spying and showbiz, from the Elizabethan age to the Cold War and beyond.''Perfect...read as you settle into James Bond on Christmas afternoon'' Daily Telegraph Books of the Year 2021Throughout history, there has been a lively crossover between show business and espionage. While one relies on publicity and the other on secrecy both require high levels of creative thinking, improvisation, disguise and role-play. This crossover has produced some of the most extraordinary undercover agents and, occasionally, disastrous and dangerous failures.Stars and Spies is the first history of the interplay between the two worlds, written by two experts in their fields. We travel back to the golden age of theatre and intelligence in the reign of Elizabeth I and onwards into the Restoration. We visit Civil War America, Tsarist Russia and fin de siècle Paris where some writers, actors and entertainers become vit

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Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley Dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching neck, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realises the decision has been made for her. Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an eternity of nocturnal prowlings is going to take some doing, however, and that''s where C. Thomas Flood fits in. A would-be Kerouac from Incontinence, Indiana, Tommy (to his friends) is biding his time night-clerking and frozen turkey bowling in a San Francisco Safeway. But all that changes when a beautiful, undead redhead walks through the door ... and proceeds to rock Tommy''s life - and afterlife - in ways he never imagined possible.

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Christopher Fowler was the multiple award-winning author of almost fifty novels and short story collections, including the celebrated Bryant & May mysteries. His other novels include Roofworld, Spanky, The Sand Men and Hot Water. He has also written two acclaimed memoirs, Paperboy (winner of the Green Carnation Prize) and Film Freak, plus The Book of Forgotten Authors and Peculiar London, Bryant and May's singular and eccentric guide to the city. In 2015 Chris was awarded the Crime Writers Association's coveted 'Dagger in the Library' for his body of work. He lived in London and Barcelona. Diagnosed with cancer just as the UK went into lockdown in 2020, Chris died on 2nd March 2023.

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Christopher Somerville is the walking correspondent of The Times. He is one of Britain's most respected and prolific travel writers, with forty-two books, hundreds of newspaper articles and many TV and radio appearances to his name.He lives in Bristol.

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Using Bourdieu to plan an activist path to victory. Anti-globalization activists have done little to slow capitalism’s global march. Many of the gains made by decades of identity-based movements have been limited to privileged subgroups. The lesson of these movements is clear: struggle for change is essential, but the direction of change matters

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Provides readers with an engaging introduction to magnetism. With colorful spreads, clear text, helpful diagrams, and a "Science in Action" activity, this book offers an exciting look at physics in the real world.

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