Search results for ""Author Shin"

The gripping and atmospheric sequel to The Red Knight. Full of breathtaking authentic battle scenes, in a world where anyone might stab you in the backLoyalty costs money.Betrayal, on the other hand, is free.When the Emperor is taken hostage, the Red Knight and his men find their services in high demand - and themselves surrounded by enemies. The country is in revolt, the capital city is besieged and any victory will be hard won. But The Red Knight has a plan.The question is, can he negotiate the political, magical, real and romantic battlefields at the same time - especially when intends to be victorious on them all?Readers can't put down The Fell Sword:'I loved the setting of The Fell Sword and all of it's bright, shiny, polished medieval-doings . . . Cameron has a way of writing battles that makes them feel so authentic' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'An amazingly complex story with plots and subplots that pull you right into the world . . . There were also a few unexpected twists and some very interesting revelations' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'This is a fantasy novel, but much more than that. It comes very close to Medieval Historical Fiction with a twist' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Amazing battle scenes yet again, cinematic and exquisite detail. From maneuvers to arms and armour' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'I have heard the Traitor Son Cycle compared to the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and I clearly see that. It's got the scope, the diverse cast of characters, the many interweaving storylines . . . I can't wait to see where this goes' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Takes the reader into the depths of the politics of the world, a truly dark murky, back stabbing politics, politics fueled by ambition and magic . . . It's exactly what a middle book should be, if not more, many middle books are a pause, this is anything but' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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INCLUDES 276 BIBLICAL TERMS AND DEFINITIONS WITH NEW THOUGHT INTERPRETATIONSThe Bible is the most important book ever published. It has had more influence on history and affected more lives than any other book. It divides nations and unites cultures. Some people read the Bible for its literal meaning while others read it for the implied meaning. To this day, it continues to shape the heart, soul, and minds of individuals, generations, and societies worldwide. How can this controversial and profound book be the answer to the problems of the world? The first step is to look at how we perceive the Bible – is it a history book or guide book? For centuries, people have viewed the Bible as a bridge to the past, describing how humanity lived, survived, and died, while in truth it is actually shining the “Light of Truth” onto our present-day living to help us meet our personal and social problems. New Thought writer Jack Ensign Addington believes that once you discover the hidden meaning of the Bible, an infinite source of wisdom will be illuminated and revealed.This book helps us to understand the parables and things of the spirit as discerned by the spirit. Mr. Addington's goal is to show us that the Bible is a storehouse of inspiration designed to fit every human need, a treasure trove of usable ideas, an infinite souce of wisdom, and most of all, a book of life. It is the compilation of Mr. Addington's years of work in which he uses his extensive knowlege acquired through years of Bible teaching and studies. You follow him through his discovery of a code existing in the Bible in which one is able to follow the 'path of enlightenment'. This path of enlightenment is the same path which the 'mystics' used.

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Exposes the invisible ways in which white Christian privilege disadvantages racial and religious minorities in America The United States is recognized as the most religiously diverse country in the world, and yet its laws and customs, which many have come to see as normal features of American life, actually keep the Constitutional ideal of “religious freedom for all” from becoming a reality. Christian beliefs, norms, and practices infuse our society; they are embedded in our institutions, creating the structures and expectations that define the idea of “Americanness.” Religious minorities still struggle for recognition and for the opportunity to be treated as fully and equally legitimate members of American society. From the courtroom to the classroom, their scriptures and practices are viewed with suspicion, and bias embedded in centuries of Supreme Court rulings create structural disadvantages that endure today. In White Christian Privilege, Khyati Y. Joshi traces Christianity’s influence on the American experiment from before the founding of the Republic to the social movements of today. Mapping the way through centuries of slavery, westward expansion, immigration, and citizenship laws, she also reveals the ways Christian privilege in the United States has always been entangled with notions of White supremacy. Through the voices of Christians and religious minorities, Joshi explores how Christian privilege and White racial norms affect the lives of all Americans, often in subtle ways that society overlooks. By shining a light on the inequalities these privileges create, Joshi points the way forward, urging readers to help remake America as a diverse democracy with a commitment to true religious freedom.

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Understanding LED Illumination elucidates the science of lighting for light emitting diodes. It presents concepts, theory, simulations, and new design techniques that shine the spotlight on illumination, energy efficiency, and reducing electrical power consumption. The text provides an introduction to the fundamentals of LED lamp design, and highlights the principles of large-space and 3D object illumination for developing competitive LED lamps.The first part of the book discusses lamp output metrics and characterization methods, while the second part of the book explores certain retail and prototype lamp comparisons with theory, simulations and experiments It details the light propagation and distribution characteristics of LED light sources for general illumination applications, and presents design and simulation requirements for LED lamps suited for real-world applications. It also addresses light generation, efficiency, theoretical limits, efficiency limiting factors, and LED lamp design elements. Emphasizes the lighting aspects for LED lamps: quality and improvement Describes the basics of junction diode and the intricacies of compound semiconductor optoelectronic properties including the thermal, electrical, optical, and mechanical aspects Explains the challenges of LED lighting in scientific and mathematical terms Includes case studies from Osram Optosemiconductors, Sylvania, and Phillips, GE, and others The book characterizes several LED replacement lamps for household and commercial lighting and discusses a novel design for improving tubular LED replacements. It takes the mysteries out of solid-state lighting for lighting designers, and helps LED scientists and engineers effectively design their products to provide high-quality illumination.

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ASIAN RELIGIONS “A unique introduction to Asian religions, combining the scholarly rigor of an established historian of Asian religions with the willingness to engage empathetically with the traditions and to suggest that readers do the same.”Joseph A. Adler, Kenyon College “Randall L. Nadeau has accomplished what only a few have tried, but which has been much needed in the study of religions. He has written a genuinely novel approach to the religions of Asia… This is a work that should find its way into Asian humanities, history, religion, and civilization courses.”Ronnie Littlejohn, Belmont University This all-embracing introduction to Asian religious practices and beliefs takes a unique approach; not only does it provide a complete overview of the basic tenets of the major Asian religions, but it also demonstrates how Asian spiritualities are lived and practiced, exploring the meaning and significance they hold for believers. In a series of engaging and lively chapters, the book explores the beliefs and practices of Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Japanese religions, including Shintō. Using a comparative approach, it highlights the contrasts between Asian and Western modes of thinking and living, and debates the influence of religion on real-world issues including work, economic growth, the environment, human rights, and gender relations. Nadeau, a leading figure in this field, takes an empathetic approach to Asian religious and cultural traditions, and considers Asian spiritualities to be viable systems of belief for today’s global citizens. Integrating exercises, activities, and an appealing mixture of examples, such as novels and biographies, this refreshing book leads readers to an enhanced understanding of the ideas and practice of Asian religions, and of their continuing relevance today.

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In this vivid ethnography, Jessaca B. Leinaweaver explores “child circulation,” informal arrangements in which indigenous Andean children are sent by their parents to live in other households. At first glance, child circulation appears tantamount to child abandonment. When seen in that light, the practice is a violation of international norms regarding children’s rights, guidelines that the Peruvian state relies on in regulating legal adoptions. Leinaweaver demonstrates that such an understanding of the practice is simplistic and misleading. Her in-depth ethnographic analysis reveals child circulation to be a meaningful, pragmatic social practice for poor and indigenous Peruvians, a flexible system of kinship that has likely been part of Andean lives for centuries. Child circulation may be initiated because parents cannot care for their children, because a childless elder wants company, or because it gives a young person the opportunity to gain needed skills. Leinaweaver provides insight into the emotional and material factors that bring together and separate indigenous Andean families in the highland city of Ayacucho. She describes how child circulation is intimately linked to survival in the city, which has had to withstand colonialism, economic isolation, and the devastating civil war unleashed by the Shining Path. Leinaweaver examines the practice from the perspective of parents who send their children to live in other households, the adults who receive them, and the children themselves. She relates child circulation to international laws and norms regarding children’s rights, adoptions, and orphans, and to Peru’s history of racial conflict and violence. Given that history, Leinaweaver maintains that it is not surprising that child circulation, a practice associated with Peru’s impoverished indigenous community, is alternately ignored, tolerated, or condemned by the state.

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Maryknoll Catholic missionaries from the United States settled in Peru in 1943 believing they could save a "backward" Catholic Church from poverty, a scarcity of clergy, and the threat of communism. Instead, the missionaries found themselves transformed: within twenty-five years, they had become vocal critics of United States foreign policy and key supporters of liberation theology, the preferential option for the poor, and intercultural Catholicism. In The Maryknoll Catholic Mission in Peru, 1943-1989, Susan Fitzpatrick-Behrens explains this transformation and Maryknoll's influence in Peru and the United States by placing it in the context of a transnational encounter Catholics with shared faith but distinct practices and beliefs. Peru received among the greatest number of foreign Catholic missionaries who settled in Latin America during the Cold War. It was at the heart of liberation theology and progressive Catholicism, the center of a radical reformist experiment initiated by a progressive military dictatorship, and the site of a devastating civil war promoted by the Maoist Shining Path. Maryknoll participated in all these developments, making Peru a perfect site for understanding Catholic missions, the role of religion in the modern world, and relations between Latin America and the United States. This book is based on two years of research conducted in Peru, where Fitzpatrick-Behrens examined national and regional archives, conducted extensive interviews with Maryknoll clergy who continued to work in the country, and engaged in participant observation in the Aymara indigenous community of Cutini Capilla. Her findings contest assumptions about secularization and the decline of public religion by demonstrating that religion continues to play a key role in social, political, and economic development.

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The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. With breathtaking imagination and extraordinary storytelling, they have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time . . .Chief Scientist Gad­fium is about to receive the mysterious message she has been awaiting from the Plain of Sliding Stones . . .Bascule the Teller, in search of an ant, is about to enter the chaos of the crypt . . .This is the time of the encroachment and everything is about to change. Although the dimming sun still shines on the vast, towering walls of Serehfa Fastness, the end is close at hand. The King knows it, his closest advisers know it, and the crypt knows it too; so an emissary has been sent - an emissary who holds the key to all their futures.Praise for the novels of Iain M. Banks:'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph Books by Iain M. Banks:Consider PhlebasThe Player of GamesUse of WeaponsExcessionInversionsLook to WindwardMatterSurface DetailThe Hydrogen SonataThe State of the ArtAgainst a Dark BackgroundFeersum EndjinnThe AlgebraistAlso now available: The Culture: The Drawings - an extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail.

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An interactive touch and feel book for babies with colors, shapes and read-aloud text! Tactile elements and delightful imagery will encourage the development of motor skills and early learning. Baby Touch and Feel: Colors and Shapes is an interactive and fun way to help your child learn not only words but shapes and textures too. Bold, bright pictures and colorful shape-inspired illustrations will be more than enough to keep your baby’s attention. This adorable picture book is a perfect first book for toddlers and makes for an ideal baby gift.Read all about an exciting selection of shapes and textures, from silky butterflies to bumpy oranges! Not too big and not too small, this sturdy, padded sensory book is just the right size for little hands to hold. No need for Mom and Dad to turn the pages! Babies and toddlers can turn the tough board book pages themselves, which helps to develop their fine motor skills while building an early language foundation. This charming board book for babies includes: - An amazing range of different textures to explore.- Cleary labeled pictures and a simple, easy to follow design.- Easy to read text to encourage early vocabulary building.- A texture or eye-catching area on every page.- Rounded edges and chunky pages, protecting babies and their growing teeth.Learning to read should always be this fun. Kids will get hours of play from this sturdy board book for babies and toddlers, from making the noises and reading the names to feeling the different textures, like green peas in a pod, a furry teddy bear and a smooth balloon. This touchy-feely book, with its strong, baby-safe cover, makes for an ideal baby gift. Packed full of shiny objects and some bumps and grooves, this educational book will engage small children and stimulate early childhood development in different ways. Complete the SeriesThis delightful book is part of the Baby Touch and Feel range of board books for babies and toddlers from DK Books and includes titles like Baby Touch and Feel I Love You, Baby Touch and Feel Bedtime, Baby Touch and Feel Mealtime, and more for your little one to enjoy!

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An interactive touch and feel book for babies with creatures, beasts and read-aloud text! Tactile elements and delightful imagery will encourage the development of motor skills and early learning. Baby Touch and Feel: Wild Animals is an interactive and fun way to help your child learn not only words but shapes and textures too. Bold, bright pictures and colourful wild animal-inspired illustrations will be more than enough to keep your baby's attention. This adorable picture book is a perfect first book for toddlers and makes for an ideal baby gift.Read all about an exciting selection of wild animals, from sticky frogs to smooth dolphins! Not too big and not too small, this sturdy, padded sensory book is just the right size for little hands to hold. No need for Mum and Dad to turn the pages! Babies and toddlers can turn the tough board book pages themselves, which helps to develop their fine motor skills while building an early language foundation.This charming board book for babies includes: - An amazing range of different textures to explore.- Cleary labeled pictures and a simple, easy to follow design.- Easy to read text to encourage early vocabulary building.- A texture or eye-catching area on every page.- Rounded edges and chunky pages, protecting babies and their growing teeth.Learning to read should always be this fun. Kids will get hours of play from this sturdy board book for babies and toddlers, from making the noises and reading the names to feeling the different textures, like the lizard's sparkly skin, the lion's hairy mane, and the koala's furry body. This touchy-feely book, with its strong, baby-safe cover, makes for an ideal baby gift. Packed full of shiny objects and some bumps and grooves, this educational book will engage small children and stimulate early childhood development in different ways.Complete the SeriesThis delightful book is part of the Baby Touch and Feel range of board books for babies and toddlers from DK Books and includes titles like Baby Touch and Feel Things That Go, Baby Touch and Feel Bedtime, Baby Touch and Feel Mermaid, and more for your little one to enjoy!

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A pulsatingly tense psychological thriller and a breathtakingly brutal, beautiful and deeply moving story of a good kid in the wrong family, from one of Scotland’s finest crime writers. SHORTLISTED for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year ***BOOK OF THE YEAR in SCOTSMAN*** ‘It’s a lovely, sad tale, beautifully told and full of understanding’ The Times ‘The most powerful and moving book from Johnstone yet – a calling card that no-one can ignore’ Scotsman ‘This may be Doug Johnstone’s best book yet. An unsparing yet sympathetic depiction of Edinburgh’s ignored underclass, with terrific characterisation. Tense, pacey, filmic’ Ian Rankin ____________________ There are two sides to every family… Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh’s most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people’s homes by his bullying older siblings, he’s also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum. On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that’s just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh’s biggest crime lord, Deke Holt. With the police and the Holts closing in, and his shattered family in devastating danger, Tyler meets posh girl Flick in another stranger’s house, and he thinks she may just be his salvation … unless he drags her down too. ____________________ ‘A cracking story, great characters … it’s also about something and really addresses the “whys” of crime’ Mark Billingham ‘It’s as psychologically rich as it is harrowing. I’ve come to expect nothing less from Doug Johnstone, one of the genre’s premiere writers’ Megan Abbott ‘Breakers again shows that Doug Johnstone is a noir heavyweight and a master of gritty realism. This may be his finest novel yet’ Willy Vlautin ‘Doug Johnstone is for me the perfect free-range writer, respectful of conventions but never bound by them, never hemmed-in. Each book is a different world, each book something new in this world’ James Sallis ‘Bloody brilliant … This is premier league crime-writing’ Martyn Waites ‘A tough, gritty and effective ride into the dark side of Edinburgh’ Douglas Skelton ‘Pacy, harrowing and occasionally brutal … it had me in tears at the end…’ Paddy Magrane ‘Both horrifying and uplifting, and one of those books I looked forward to picking up each time I had a moment to read … I hope it does as well as it deserves to’ James Oswald ‘Gripping, dark, fast, but still somehow full of heart’ Louise Beech ‘A brooding, intensely dark thriller with a defiant beating heart. Evocative, heartbreaking and hopeful – the power of the human spirit to shine in the most desperate place … STUNNING’ Miranda Dickinson

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Peter Lindbergh and Azzedine Alaïa, the photographer and the couturier, were united by their love of black, a love that they would cultivate alike in silver print and solid color garments. Lindbergh ceaselessly turned to black and white to signify his search for authenticity in the faces he brought to light. Alaïa drew on the monochrome of timeless clothes to create veritable sculptures for the body. In this book, the unique dialogue between the two artists is immortalized in print. Illustrating their community of spirit, its images are a celebration of their artistic partnership and testament to their history-making achievements in photography and fashion. Despite their geographically opposed origins, Lindbergh and Alaïa pursued similar horizons. At the same time as Lindbergh’s reputation in Germany was growing thanks to his work in Stern magazine, and he set up his studio in Paris in 1978, Alaïa was the couturier shrouded in discretion whose sophisticated techniques were a treasured secret amongst the most important clients of Haute Couture. Alaïa became the architect of bodies, revealing and unveiling them, while Lindbergh distinguished them by shining a light on their soul and personality. Step by step, they became the creators that dominated their respective disciplines. Both rejected any artifice that distracted from their true subject, and it is with great ease that they came together for a number of powerful collaborations. Shared inspirations and aesthetic values are visible throughout their work. A beach in Le Touquet and the streets of old Paris reference a mutual love of black and white cinema and vast panoramas. The backdrop of an engine room illustrates the memory of an industrial German landscape for one and references the inordinate passion for functional design and architecture held by the other. Alaïa’s clothes act as pedestals for the smiles and eyes of the women who wear them: Nadja Auermann, Mariacarla Boscono, Naomi Campbell, Anna Cleveland, Dilone, Lucy Dixon, Vanessa Duve, Helene Fischer, Pia Frithiof, Jade Jagger, Maria Johnson, Milla Jovovich, Lynne Koester, Ariane Koizumi, Yasmin Le Bon, Madonna, Kristen McMenamy, Tatjana Patitz, Linda Spierings, Tina Turner, Marie-Sophie Wilson, Lindsey Wixson. For Lindbergh, who built his notoriety on the images of these supermodels, the authenticity of their traits is all that matters. The result is a potent black and white catalogue that reverberates with truthfulness and beauty.The book accompanies the exhibition Azzedine Alaïa, Peter Lindbergh at the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, 18 rue de la verrerie, Paris, France. With contritutions by Fabrice Hergott, director of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paolo Roversi, photographer, and Olivier Saillard, fashion historian and director of the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, Paris.

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Paris Review contributor Katy Kelleher explores our obsession with gorgeous things, unveiling the fraught histories of makeup, flowers, perfume, silk, and other beautiful objects. April recommended reading by the New York Times Book Review, Vanity Fair, Goodreads, Jezebel, Christian Science Monitor, All Arts, and the Next Big Idea Club One of Curbed’s and Globe and Mail’s (Toronto) best books of the spring A most anticipated book of 2023 by The MillionsKaty Kelleher has spent much of her life chasing beauty. As a child, she uprooted handfuls of purple, fragrant little flowers from the earth, plucked iridescent seashells from the beach, and dug for turquoise stones in her backyard. As a teenager she applied glittery shimmer to her eyelids after religiously dabbing on her signature scent of orange blossoms and jasmine. And as an adult, she coveted gleaming marble countertops and delicate porcelain to beautify her home. This obsession with beauty led her to become a home, garden, and design writer, where she studied how beautiful things are mined, grown, made, and enhanced. In researching these objects, Kelleher concluded that most of us are blind to the true cost of our desires. Because whenever you find something unbearably beautiful, look closer, and you’ll inevitably find a shadow of decay lurking underneath. In these dazzling and deeply researched essays, Katy Kelleher blends science, history, and memoir to uncover the dark underbellies of our favorite goods. She reveals the crushed beetle shells in our lipstick, the musk of rodents in our perfume, and the burnt cow bones baked into our dishware. She untangles the secret history of silk and muses on her problematic prom dress. She tells the story of countless workers dying in their efforts to bring us shiny rocks from unsafe mines that shatter and wound the earth, all because a diamond company created a compelling ad. She examines the enduring appeal of the beautiful dead girl and the sad fate of the ugly mollusk. With prose as stunning as the objects she describes, Kelleher invites readers to examine their own relationships with the beautiful objects that adorn their body and grace their homes. And yet, Kelleher argues that while we have a moral imperative to understand our relationship to desire, we are not evil or weak for desiring beauty. The Ugly History of Beautiful Things opens our eyes to beauty that surrounds us, helps us understand how that beauty came to be, what price was paid and by whom, and how we can most ethically partake in the beauty of the world.

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ONE TWIN LIED. ONE TWIN DIED.'Dean handles his plot with skill ... Molly is an intriguing protagonist and Dean has plenty of surprises for the unwary reader' OBSERVER'The talented Mr Ripley would have enjoyed every moment of its tortuous plot. There is no higher praise' DAILY MAILMolly lives a quiet, contained life in London. Naturally risk averse, she gains comfort from security and structure. Every day the same. Her identical twin Katie is her exact opposite: gregarious and spontaneous. They used to be inseparable, until Katie moved to New York a year ago. Molly still speaks to her daily without fail. But when Molly learns that Katie has died suddenly in New York, she is thrown into unfamiliar territory. Katie is part of her DNA. As terrifying as it is, she must go there and find out what happened. As she tracks her twin's last movements, cracks begin to emerge. Nothing is what it seems. And a web of deceit is closing around her.Delivering the same intensity of pace and storytelling that made THE LAST THING TO BURN a word-of-mouth sensation, FIRST BORN will surprise, shock and enthral.'Highly accomplished, dark and dazzling. First Born twists and deceives, and cements Will Dean's status as a truly rare talent. Pure brilliance' CHRIS WHITAKER'Powerful ... Dean takes on issues of personal identity and familial responsibility' FINANCIAL TIMES'Tiptoes into Highsmith territory here. Pacy, exhilarating and jaw-dropping, it's a meditation on identity and loneliness as well as a bloody good page-turner. New York buffets the characters about its ruthless streets, just as the reader is propelled from one twist to the next' ERIN KELLY'A superb page-turner' STEVE CAVANAGH'Will Dean writes a mean thriller, with a keen ear for what scares us. The streets of New York shine off the page, and the action rarely lets up. Highly recommended' SARAH HILARY'Will Dean manages to accomplish the rare blend of excellent writing and intriguing, ingenious plotting' LIZ NUGENT'Taut, suspenseful, chilling and surprising' GILLY MACMILLAN'Equal parts murder mystery and psychological thriller, Will Dean dazzles with FIRST BORN. A tense, taut plot that blows through unexpected twists and turns, you won't be able to look away until the final, shattering page' JULIE CLARK'Great pace, great twists, a perfect psychological thriller' B.A. PARIS'A clever and sophisticated construction...A jolly good read' SHOTS'Rather special' Sunday Times Crime Club *Star pick*'The storyline is truly original, with one of those brilliant endings only a great thriller writer can dream up' The Press Association'Spine-chilling' Irish Independent'This psychological thriller is a masterpiece' Crime Review

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The Times Book of the YearBBC History Magazine Book of the YearDaily Telegraph Book of the Year BOOK OF THE WEEK - The Times ‘The strength of this book lies in the cold realities it delivers. “The thirteen months of 1947-48,” writes Fenby, “provide trenchant examples of how realpolitik can serve a wider purpose if those in power know how to use it.” Crucible captures perfectly the urgency of the time…Read this book for the light it shines on a turbulent time; cherish it for the lessons it provides’ - Gerard DeGroot 'Looking back 70 years Jonathan Fenby argues convincingly that the period from 1947 to 1948 “really did change the world”. His book is an assured gallop across the terrain of contemporary history in this fateful year. The global devastation of the second world war had smashed longstanding institutions and bankrupted empires, leaving behind the kind of power vacuums that were major openings for change and chaos. Crucible swings from one region to the next in a fast-moving account of how local actors filled those vacuums, often with violence.’Mary Sarote, Financial TimesOne year shaped the world we know today. This is the page-turning story of the pivotal changes which were forged in the space of thirteen months of 1947-48 Two years after the end of the second conflict to engulf the world in twenty years, and the defeat of the Axis forces of Germany, Italy and Japan, this momentous time saw the unrolling of the Cold War between Joseph Stalin's Soviet Russia and the Western powers under the untried leadership of Harry Truman as America came to play a global role for the first time.The British Empire began its demise with the birth of the Indian and Pakistan republics with the flight of millions and wholesale slaughter as Vietnam, Indonesia and other colonies around the globe vied for freedom. 1948 also marked the creation of the state of Israel, the refugee flight of Palestinians and the first Arab-Israeli war as well as the victories of Communist armies that led to their final triumph in China, the coming of apartheid to South Africa, the division of Korea, major technological change and the rolling out of the welfare state against a backdrop of events that ensured the global order would never be the same again. This dynamic narrative spans the planet with overlapping epic episodes featuring such historic figures as Truman and Marshall, Stalin and Molotov, Attlee and Bevin, De Gaulle and Adenauer, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek, Nehru and Jinnah, Ben Gurion and the Arab leaders. Between them, they forged the path to our modern world.

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TV presenter Graham Hancock's multi-million bestseller Fingerprints of the Gods remains an astonishing, deeply controversial, wide-ranging investigation of the mysteries of our past and the evidence for Earth's lost civilization. Twenty years on, Hancock returns with a book filled with completely new, scientific and archaeological evidence, which has only recently come to light...The evidence revealed in this book shows beyond reasonable doubt that an advanced civilization that flourished during the Ice Age was destroyed in the global cataclysms between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago.Near the end of the last Ice Age 12,800 years ago, a giant comet that had entered the solar system from deep space thousands of years earlier, broke into multiple fragments. Some of these struck the Earth causing a global cataclysm on a scale unseen since the extinction of the dinosaurs. At least eight of the fragments hit the North American ice cap, while further fragments hit the northern European ice cap. The impacts, from comet fragments a mile wide approaching at more than 60,000 miles an hour, generated huge amounts of heat which instantly liquidized millions of square kilometres of ice, destabilizing the Earth's crust and causing the global Deluge that is remembered in myths all around the world.A second series of impacts, equally devastating, causing further cataclysmic flooding, occurred 11,600 years ago, the exact date that Plato gives for the destruction and submergence of Atlantis. But there were survivors - known to later cultures by names such as 'the Sages', 'the Magicians', 'the Shining Ones', and 'the Mystery Teachers of Heaven'. They travelled the world in their great ships doing all in their power to keep the spark of civilization burning. They settled at key locations - Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, Baalbek in the Lebanon, Giza in Egypt, ancient Sumer, Mexico, Peru and across the Pacific where a huge pyramid has recently been discovered in Indonesia. Everywhere they went these 'Magicians of the Gods' brought with them the memory of a time when mankind had fallen out of harmony with the universe and paid a heavy price.A memory and a warning to the future... For the comet that wrought such destruction between 12,800 and 11,600 years may not be done with us yet. Astronomers believe that a 20-mile wide 'dark' fragment of the original giant comet remains hidden within its debris stream and threatens the Earth. An astronomical message encoded at Gobekli Tepe, and in the Sphinx and the pyramids of Egypt,warns that the 'Great Return' will occur in our time...

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Ninety-nine years ago, a new form of storytelling emerged from the ruins of World War I. Different in scope and power from theater or literature, and unlike any film that had come before, F. W. Murnau’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari addressed a direct challenge to its audience, demanding to be viewed as something other than what was immediately presented. Unfortunately, criticism has not risen to the challenge. Relegating the film condescendingly to the horror genre, or treating it merely as a case study in style, critics have failed to look at it with due seriousness. On the other hand, the film’s ambiguity, structural devices, and psychological depth gave cinema a number of tools that other filmmakers were quick to start using. This book examines a spectrum of narrative films that can be seen in new ways with methods derived and evolved from the techniques of Caligari. The intention is not only to offer new interpretations of classic and neglected films, but to open further discussion and exploration. It is written with optimism that movie lovers will see more in the movies they love, that critics will find new paths of investigation, and that filmmakers will benefit from greater awareness of what movies can do.Secrets of Cinema began in 1994, in discussions among friends after weekly movie nights hosted by the late Lawrence N. Fox on the 73rd floor of the John Hancock Center in Chicago. The movies selected are not necessarily the greatest ever made (although some of them surely are), but rather movies that offer new and useful lessons in how movies work.Among the secrets of cinema revealed in this book are at least three movies that are stealth remakes of The Wizard of Oz, hidden meanings behind films made under political repression, and why Hitchcock’s Psycho is a remake of his Vertigo. Persistent enigmas are clarified, including the logic of Persona, the riddle of Last Year at Marienbad, and the endings of Blow-Up and The Shining. More importantly, by showing how much there is to discover in movies, the book encourages its readers to continue in their own ways the quest to see movies whole.

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When Andrew gets hold of a pencil, anything can—and does—happen in this innovative and artistic book. The story literally unfolds step-by-step as readers are invited to follow Andrew through flaps and gatefolds. After sharpening his drawing implement on the first page, Andrew challenges the boundaries of each spread by beginning with a line that leads . . . and leads . . . to unexpected finishes. Staircases become dinosaurs, kites become rockets, and even the most unassuming squiggle morphs into a giant chicken! This lighthearted depiction of artistic inspiration is sure to engage doodlers of all ages. Praise for Andrew Drew and Drew "Any question of reality versus representation is the gentlest kind, utterly unobtrusive...Joyful imagination, plain and simple." —Kirkus Reviews "The magic comes from the accompanying artwork, which follows the eponymous boy and his adventures in drawing... Like a certain boy with a purple crayon, Andrew knows that drawing offers limitless possibilities, and readers will, too." —Publishers Weekly "In this humorous and heartfelt portrait of a young artist, Andrew models by example the ebb and flow of the creative process." —Shelf-Awareness "Each page in this cleverly-designed book is filled with a line, a loop, even a stair step that Andrew has doodled on the paper, and the beginnings of his drawings often lead to something that even the artist himself doesn’t expect." —Reading Today Online "The text is spare, with only a few words per page, letting the products of the boy’s imagination and readers’ anticipation of them shine as the focus of the book. Never has white space seemed so inviting." —School Library Journal "Children of all ages—especially those with an interest in drawing—will love exploring the pages of Andrew Drew and Drew. Along the way, they just might absorb some of the book’s message about the power of art and the joy of creating it." —BookPage AWARDS: GOLD - 2012 National Parenting Publications Book Awards RECOMMENDED - 2012 Parents' Choice Awards, Picture Books Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens - 2013 Capitol Choices

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’…an essential and fascinating manual for every woman who wants to understand equality within an ever-changing, modern world.’ Scarlett Curtis ‘…[this book] taught me more than any book has ever taught me about AI.’ Chris Evans, Virgin Radio How To Talk To Robots, is your girls guide to Artificial Intelligence. Entrepreneur Tabitha Goldstaub welcomes you into the AI world with a warm embrace. She brilliantly breaks down the tech-bro barriers offering a straightforward introduction and makes clear the enormous benefits of understanding AI.. If your social feed defines your spending habits or you’ve downloaded the latest filter to see what you’ll look like when you are old or now connect with your doctor using an app, have applied for a job online or used your phone to arrive at work in record time, AI is playing a part in how you live, work and play. We live in an era where machines are taught to learn and act without human intervention and there are infinite possibilities to their applications. The risk of these technologies biasing against you is real, and this book will give you tools to navigate the current and future developments consciously. As well as explaining the risks Tabitha lays out the awesome benefits AI can offer. From spotting disease to tailoring education and tackling climate change the potential rewards are life-changing. Starting with a potted history, Tabitha shines a light on the many unsung heroines since the rise of AI in the 1960s. In conversation with Karen Hao she simply demonstrates how the technology works (and sometimes doesn’t work!) and interviews a cross-section of women who use AI in their work today including Jeanette Winterson, Sharmadean Reid, Martha Lane Fox and Hannah Fry. This book doesn’t just present the challenge; Tabitha offers supportive practical advice and shares an extensive list of books, films, courses and more for further exploration. However it is that you identify with womanhood, wherever you are in life, and whatever you do, this technology is inescapable and now is your time to make sure AI works for you – and not you for it!

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mahogany is about the passing of time and unimaginable loss, strength, humor, and love/>/>mahogany takes its name from the dark wood prized for its durability, workability, and elegant look, and from the Diana Ross movie, whose theme song asks if what lies ahead is what you really want. This book is the third in a trilogy, and like the first two books it is steeped in pop music. Each poem here takes its title from a line of a Diana Ross and The Supremes song, as well as songs from Diana Ross' solo career. Short lines flow down the page like postmodern psalms, connecting dailyness to timelessness, merging the historical and the beloved through reverence for family, music, and the life we actually live. mahogany is a lament for the passing of time and unimaginable loss, and at the same time it models the daily search for joy, and the deep shine that can arise from the darkest times./>/>[sample poem]/>/>i'm like a woman who once knew splendor*/>/>/>sometimes i feel like the pink panther/>all naked and pink/>lost in the morass of/>do the best you can today/>and nigga heal thy self/>our end of winter/>spirits break/>like old tibetan snow/>i remember/>you was conflicted/>and i found myself alone/>here on my ancient hurt/>the disquieting hum/>of living history/>dear god, please/>put my head above my heart/>we can only be together/>if the stories are told/>plain face/>same instrument/>just a couple of coke bottles/>full of gasoline/>like god and rain/>is a waste of time/>my mother used to clean houses/>as a child/>some days i can barely/>get out of bed/>in my mind/>she's like diana ross/>scrubbing the white lady's stairs/>in lady sings the blues/>except prettier/>and with green eyes/>i've just been living/>off of cough drops/>and water and anger/>just sitting in the whole foods/>parking lot eating pineapple/>i am literally/>the definition of "hot mess"/>pain changes everything/>somebody come/>and pick up/>my limp body/>off the ground/>i am dying/>a slow ohio death/>we miss you starman/>it's our first sunrise of the burn

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Text in English and German. The church rises to the challenge of providing a spiritual centre for Donau City, the new residential and commercial centre on the opposite bank of the Danube -- not as an act of coronation for the city in the sense of Taut's urban crown, as a temple or cathedral, but as miniature, as a demonstration of the power of the quiet as opposed to the loud, as an 'oasis in the diaspora', to use Karl Rahner's formulation about the parishes of the future. The building gives an impression of starkness: a hard cube, cut off at the corners, clad with sheets of black chromium steel. But it is only stark at first glance. A second glance shows that the hardness is a friendly hardness: because of the reflections that the material admits; because of the grid of the large-format sheets, to which the brightly gleaming drill-holes that cover the walls like fine gossamer respond; because of circular apertures that allow light to shine outwards after dark; because of large, rectangular windows in the receding corners that create a contrast with the closed quality of the building. Inside the starkness gives way altogether: a light space, which one comes into through an art-fully designed entrance. Originally a sparse covering for the space, which thrives mainly because of the light material -- birch wood -, because of the arrangement of the pews, which is as lively as it is peaceful -- segments of circles of different sizes, surrounding the dark syenite altar block in the form of an open circle -- and especially because of the wide range of circular light sources that render the introverted interior transparent, the large windows that create islands of light, the free-form aperture in the ceiling, which sends light gliding down on to the altar. Heinz Tesar's church continues a tradition of forward-looking modern church building, from Rudolf Schwarz's Fronleichnamskirche in Aachen via Egon Eiermann's Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche in Berlin, Franz Fueg's Piuskirche in Meggen on Lake Lucerne to the new Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Munich by Allmann, Sattler and Wappner; and alongside all this there is also the tradition of a genuinely Viennese development of this theme, from Otto Wagner's Kirche am Steinhof to Ottokar Uhl's parish church Katharina von Siena.

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A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKA TIMES SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEARA SUNDAY TIMES SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR'Powerfully argued... Fascinating and pacy' Sunday Times, Book of the Week'Superbly written... sure to please readers of Yuval Noah Harari or Rutger Bregman' The Times'Full of amazing facts' Observer'The book shines when it brings cutting-edge science to bear' Financial Times'A dizzying range of material' The Economist'A humbling story for humankind' SpectatorChallenges some of the greatest cliches about colonialism... A revelation' SATHNAM SANGHERA'Thrilling and eye-opening' LEWIS DARTNELL'Science and history at its best' MARK HONIGSBAUM'Unpicks everything we thought we knew... Mind blowing' CAL FLYNIn this revelatory book, Dr Jonathan Kennedy argues that germs have shaped humanity at every stage, from the first success of Homo sapiens over the equally intelligent Neanderthals to the fall of Rome and the rise of Islam.How did an Indonesian volcano help cause the Black Death, setting Europe on the road to capitalism? How could 168 men extract the largest ransom in history from an opposing army of eighty thousand? And why did the Industrial Revolution lead to the birth of the modern welfare state?The latest science reveals that infectious diseases are not just something that happens to us, but a fundamental part of who we are. Indeed, the only reason humans don't lay eggs is that a virus long ago inserted itself into our DNA, and there are as many bacteria in your body as there are human cells. We have been thinking about the survival of the fittest all wrong: evolution is not simply about human strength and intelligence, but about how we live and thrive in a world dominated by microbes.By exploring the startling intimacy of our relationship with infectious diseases, Kennedy shows how they have been responsible for some of the seismic revolutions of the past 50,000 years. Provocative and brimming with insight, Pathogenesis transforms our understanding of the human story, revealing how the crisis of a pandemic can offer vital opportunities for change.

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THE UPLIFTING AND HEARTWARMING LOVE LETTER TO FAMILY AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS'Cox is a natural storyteller... she brings that authentic voice to bear in her memoir. The tone is so intimate, chatty and friendly, so you feel as though she could be sitting next to you' Hannah Beckerman, Daily Express'endearing, engaging and very funny' Mirror'Coxy's memoir about growing up on a farm is as funny as you'd expect, genuinely touching and has some excellent 80s and 90s details. Her love of animals is infectious' Alexandra Heminsley, Grazia'The book is like a big warm hug, full of local characters and misadventures' Sophie Heawood, Observer'Made me laugh out loud...I loved it!' Lynda La Plante'Glorious springtime, haystacks and a herd of cows can all be found in this' Sunday Times Bestseller 'Warm and witty' - ExpressA funny and heart-warming love letter to childhood, family and growing up.Till the Cows Come Home is DJ and TV presenter Sara Cox's wonderfully written, funny coming of age memoir of growing up in 1980s Lancashire. The youngest of five siblings, Sara grew up on her father's cattle farm surrounded by dogs, cows, horses, fields and lots of 'cack'. The lanky kid sister - half girl, half forehead - a nuisance to the older kids, the farm was her very own dangerous adventure playground, 'a Bolton version of Narnia'. Her writing conjures up a time of wagon rides and haymaking and agricultural shows, alongside chain smoking pensioners, cabaret nights at the Conservative club and benign parenting. Sara's love of family, of the animals and the people around them shines through on every page. Unforgettable characters are lovingly and expertly drawn bringing to life a time and place. Sara later divided her childhood days between the beloved farm and the pub she lived above with her mother, these early experiences of freedom and adventure came to be the perfect training ground for later life.This funny, big-hearted and often moving telling of Sara Cox's semi rural upbringing is not what you'd expect from the original ladette, and one of radio's most enduring and well loved presenters.

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'Timely, necessary and important' J.K. Rowling'[This book is] guaranteed to remind us what we have still to fight for. I can't think of a single person who wouldn't benefit from reading it' Observer'Bindel is a rock star of second-wave feminism . . . an important, courageous book' The Times'Bindel delivers a robust call to arms in every chapter . . . this book could not be timelier . . . As a young feminist who has finally seen the light, I consider it essential reading' The CriticFeminism is a quest for the liberation of women from patriarchy. Feminism strives for a world in which women are not oppressed. Feminism prioritises exposing and ending male violence towards women and girls.This is Julie Bindel's feminism, a definition born of 40 years at the front line of the feminist movement. Why then, she asks, is feminism the only social justice movement in the world that is expected to prioritise every other issue before pursuing its own objective of women's liberation? Why does the movement appear to be moving backwards, accommodating the rights and feelings of men and leaving women in the cold? Women make up half the global population yet why is feminism still treated as a minority movement?In this searing and ground-breaking book, Bindel deconstructs the many pervasive myths about feminism - Do women really want what men have? Can men be feminists? Are women liberated by sexual violation? - assessing whether feminism has achieved its goals and debunking theories that second wave feminism is irrelevant and one-dimensional. Bindel shines a light on the most important issues, including pornography, sexual violence and prostitution. Drawing on Bindel's own experiences, as well as countless interviews with women and girls of all ages and backgrounds (as well as contributions from commentators such as Gloria Steinem and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), Feminism for Women presents a clear-sighted view of why feminism is a proud social movement that every woman on the planet benefits from.The invisible forces of misogyny affect us all. This book is a call to arms to reclaim feminism for all women. Only together can we resist and overcome.

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Color your way through the cultural icons of the USA—from sea to shining sea—with The Americana Coloring Book. What is Americana? As the name implies, it encompasses things associated with the culture, history, and people of America, specifically the United States. It conjures a retro vibe of family-friendly pastimes, with no shortage of red, white, and blue. And just as there is no right or wrong way to express admiration for the Land of Opportunity, there is no right or wrong way to use this book. You can color in these beautiful illustrations however you wish and in whatever way feels right to you. This is about relaxing and getting in touch with what “Americana” means to you, whether that’s famous landmarks and national parks or rodeos and rock & roll, so if one coloring page doesn’t appeal to you, simply move on to one that does. The coloring book features: More than 120 nostalgic coloring pages, featuring iconic American scenery and monuments such as the Arizona dessert and the California surf, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty Beautiful line-drawn art reminiscent of baseball games, diners, and Route 66 An intricate meditative pattern to color on the back of each page One of the great things about coloring is that it’s accessible to anyone, regardless of artistic capabilities. Being able to add your own colors helps make it more personal, and there’s no pressure to make these drawings perfect. So sit back, relax, and get coloring your own particular slice of Americana.Chartwell Coloring Books is the ultimate coloring book series, encompassing designs of every kind. From intriguing abstract patterns to beautiful pictures from the natural, technological, and fantasy worlds, each of these coloring books will soothe the mind and inspire the inner creative in anyone. With so many variations of complex, beautiful designs in each book, you’ll have plenty of pages to bring to life. Whether young or old, creative or not, this series has something for you.

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This volume covers the two hundreds of Armingford and Thriplow in south-west Cam-bridgeshire. They comprise 23 ancient parishes, lying between the Gogmagog Hills south-east of Cambridge, where an Iron Age hill fort partly survives, and the clay-covered West Cambridge-shire upland. To the north-west they are largely bounded by the Cam or Rhee, to the south by heathlend along the Icknield Way. The land has long been used mainly for arable farming. Some of the villages, which are mostly nucleated, may stand near the sites of Roman or earlier settlement. Those in the far west had some dependent hamlets, mostly vanished long ago. In that area several villages, after the early inclosureof their poor, heavy soils for pasturage, shrank greatly or, as at Clopton and Shingay, became. entirely deserted. Elsewhere open fields survived until the early 19th century. Later in that century coprolites were widely dug; in the 20th com-mercial fruit growing was introduced; the chalk has been dug to make cement and whiting; and some of the larger villages, such as Melbourn, have attracted light industry. During the Second World War much level ground was taken over for airfields. The churches of the area range from the humble early Norman work at Hauxton, through cruciform 13th-century buildings, as at Fowlrnere, to the stately Decorated of Trumpington and Bassingbourn. The Igth century saw much rebuilding and refurnishing, sometimes financed by local religious plays. Several villages retain much timber framed vernacular building. The only aristocratic mansion, Gogmagog House of the dukes of Leeds at Wandlebury, has been demolished, but lesser houses include some well preserved late medieval manor houses and much good, plain Georgian work, as at Trumpington Hall, seat of the Pembertons. The villages near Cambridge have been greatly affected in the 20th century by the spread of population.

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For Christians, a thorough study of the practice of Bible study in the prison context can help deepen understandings of what constitutes effective ministry. For people outside of the Christian faith, a study of this practice could increase understandings about the complex relationships between faith, prison and personal growth in America. Many American Christians believe that Bible study is an emancipative practice that can help those forces seeking to resolve America's enormous incarceration problem. Participants in penitentiary bible study (teachers and students) seek ways of showing that the light of God continues to shine even in the darkest places on earth like prisons. Belief in this theological perspective has led many Christians (as volunteers or as chaplains) to fight against the problem of mass incarceration by establishing religious practices in prisons. The American prison system sees religion not only as a right to be preserved but also as one of the programs that help rehabilitate the prisoner before his or her return to society. Garden State Youth Correctional Facility (GSYCF) houses about 1200 young men between the ages of 17 and 27. Like most American prisons, GSYCF is required to offer opportunities for religious practice to prisoners. Through the approach of Pastoral Praxeology, this research observes the practice and the effects of Bible study on the lives of several incarcerated practitioners. The particular Bible study practice that this research project engages in is the Logos Bible Study (LBS) which is distinguished from other programs by its focus on the prayerful study of the Holy Scriptures and the promotion of critical self-reflection over time. After analyzing the interviews and surveys of a group of incarcerated participants in LBS, this study has found methods for creating a terrain of positive transformation within a territory of incarceration. These methods lead to Anakainosis-Desmios-a state of spiritual renewal only possible within prison that promotes the creation and expression of emancipatory and hospitable attitudes within an oppressive and hostile prison culture.

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This extraordinary adventure of three brothers at the center of the most dramatic turning points of World War II is “liable to break the hearts of Unbroken fans, and it’s all true” (The New York Times).They are three brothers, all Navy men, who end up coincidentally and extraordinarily at the epicenter of three of the war’s most crucial moments. Bill, a naval intelligence officer, is tapped by FDR to set up and run his secret map room in the White House basement. Benny is the gunnery and antiaircraft officer on USS Enterprise, one of the few ships to escape Pearl Harbor and, by the end of 1942, the only aircraft carrier left in the Pacific to defend against the Japanese. Barton, the youngest, gets a plum commission in the Navy Supply Corps because his mother wants him out of harm’s way. But this protection plan backfires when Barton is sent to Manila and listed as wounded and missing after a Japanese attack. Now it is up to Bill and Benny to find and rescue him… Based on a decade of research drawn from archives around the world, interviews with fellow shipmates and POWs, and half-forgotten letters stashed away in attics, The Jersey Brothers is “a captivating tour-de-force” (San Antonio Express-News) that whisks readers from America’s front porches to Roosevelt’s White House to the battlefronts of the Pacific. But at its heart The Jersey Brothers is a family story, written by one of its own in intimate, novelistic detail. It is a remarkable tale of agony and triumph; of an ordinary young man who shows extraordinary courage as the enemy does everything short of killing him; and of brotherly love tested under the tortures of war. “The Jersey Brothers shines in singularity. A blend of history, family saga and family questions, Freeman’s book [is] a winning and moving success, and adds an authoritative entry to the… vast canon of war literature” (Richmond Times Dispatch).

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Peering through the windows of private homes and Assembly Rooms alike, this book shines a new light on the middle classes during the long eighteenth century. Enlightenment thinking - the drive for order, organisation and rationality - was an underlying motive force in England's eighteenth century, influencing middle class thinking with regard to the running and improvement of business.In the same way, it shaped their choice of leisure activities. As many turned their backs on blood sports, they found that music, conversation and cards embodied rational enjoyment and exercise of human intellect and ability. For the middle classes, card play made use of skills they had in hand and could be justified on the basis of teaching the young their numbers and the importance of accounting for money lost and won. The careful score-keeping, the accounting for sums won and lost, and the order and discipline of these players' favourite card games echoed and suited their tidy lives. As important participants in polite society on the strength of their new wealth and theirincreasing social prominence, the middle classes embraced the agreeable pastimes of gentility while rejecting its dangerous extremes. Card play became a means of forming and reinforcing social and commercial bonds within complex webs of family and business circles. As they tugged the fashionable activity of gaming onto their own playing-field from the high-risk arena of the aristocracy, the middle classes were imposing order on disorder, subjecting a reckless activity to new restraints. Drawing on the personal papers of the commercial and professional classes of eighteenth-century England, A Sixpence at Whist tells the stories of these men and women at play. JANETE. MULLIN is Lecturer in History at St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick, both in Fredericton, N.B., Canada.

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“Rapp-Hooper takes on directly and convincingly the Trumpian critique that alliances are not worth the investment and have led the nation to fight other people’s battles for them…Her deep erudition, crisp prose style, and innate brilliance shine through on most every page.”—Boston Review“The threat of COVID-19 has bolstered her argument, making plain both the importance of the alliance system and the imperative to adapt alliances to new ends.”—Foreign Policy“Musters rock-solid evidence to demonstrate what policymakers have long believed: that America’s alliances are a remarkably effective foreign policy tool.”—Stephen Hadley, former National Security Advisor“Argues persuasively that the complex alliance system instituted after the devastation of World War II has proven remarkably successful.”—Kirkus ReviewsFor the first 150 years of its existence, heeding George Washington’s warning about the dangers of “entangling alliances,” the United States had just one alliance—a valuable but highly controversial military arrangement with France. That changed dramatically with the Second World War. Between 1948 and 1955, the United States extended defensive security guarantees to twenty-three countries in Europe and Asia. Seventy years later, it is allied with thirty-seven countries.Today the alliance system is threatened from without and within. China and Russia seek to break America’s alliances through conflict and non-military erosion, while US politicians and voters, skeptical of costs, believe we may be better off without them. But what if the alliance system is a victim of its own quiet success? Mira Rapp-Hooper argues that a grand strategy focused on allied defense, deterrence, and assurance helped to keep the peace throughout the Cold War and that the alliance system remains critical to America’s safety and prosperity in the twenty-first century.

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Since the end of World War 2 the primary role of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm has been airborne power projection; the ability rapidly to respond to any trouble spot across the globe and to protect the interests of the United Kingdom and its partner nations. The principal tools in that response were the strike aircraft which took the offensive to the aggressor. Although from 2010 to 2020 fixed-wing carrier aviation was not part of the Fleet Air Arm, with the advent of the navy’s two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, that capability has been restored. This renewed focus has not only seen the return of flying high performance aircraft from a carrier, but also the regeneration of the necessary skills, and courage, needed to cope with the extremes of weather and the nature of air operations in a very high-risk environment. However the lessons of the past have not been forgotten, and so many of those previous experiences are related within these pages – true stories of the last 76 years from aircrew, maintainers, aircraft handlers and many other supporting staff both men and women. Following on from the success of volume one, this second volume covers every fixed-wing aircraft type flown from carriers in the strike, anti-submarine warfare and the vital airborne early warning roles; from Scimitars to Hunters, Buccaneers to Skyraiders and many more, plus an extensive fleet of land-based aircraft. As with the first volume, involvement in operations such as Suez, the Beira Patrol, the Falklands, Belize, Bosnia and elsewhere is included. Despite the intensity and all-to-frequent tragedy of operations, the esprit de corps, and the ability to find the necessary release through laughter, shine through. Here are the words of the men and women themselves, profusely illustrated in black and white and colour.

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The son of one of the greatest writers of our time—Nobel Prize winner and internationally best-selling icon Gabriel García Márquez—remembers his beloved father and mother in this tender memoir about love and loss. ‘It enthralled and moved me.’ Salman Rushdie In March 2014, Gabriel García Márquez, one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century, came down with a cold. The woman who had been beside him for more than fifty years, his wife Mercedes Barcha, was not hopeful; her husband, affectionately known as “Gabo,” was then nearly 87 and battling dementia. I don't think we'll get out of this one, she told their son Rodrigo. Hearing his mother’s words, Rodrigo wondered, “Is this how the end begins?” To make sense of events as they unfolded, he began to write the story of García Márquez’s final days. The result is this intimate and honest account that not only contemplates his father’s mortality but reveals his remarkable humanity. Both an illuminating memoir and a heartbreaking work of reportage, A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes transforms this towering genius from literary creator to protagonist, and paints a rich and revelatory portrait of a family coping with loss. At its centre is a man at his most vulnerable, whose wry humour shines even as his lucidity wanes. Gabo savours affection and attention from those in his orbit, but wrestles with what he will lose—and what is already lost. Throughout his final journey is the charismatic Mercedes, his constant companion and the creative muse who was one of the foremost influences on Gabo’s life and his art. Bittersweet and insightful, surprising and powerful, A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes celebrates the formidable legacy of Rodrigo’s parents, offering an unprecedented look at the private family life of a literary giant. It is at once a gift to Gabriel García Márquez’s readers worldwide, and a grand tribute from a writer who knew him well.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE 2020 'Reads like a thriller, or even a spy novel...Walsh keeps you gripped' Rosamund Urwin, Sunday Times'A turbulent but ultimately inspiring tale. The candour...is rare and gripping' Matt Dickinson, The TimesIt was the story that shocked the world: Russian athletics was revealed to be corrupt from top to bottom, with institutionalised doping used to help the nation's athletes win medals they did not deserve. But the full story of the couple who blew the whistle has never been told - until now. When Russian anti-doping official Vitaly Stepanov met the young 800m athlete Yuliya Rusanova, for him it was love at first sight. Within two months, they were married. But there was a problem – in fact, there were lots of problems. She admitted she was doping and that everyone else was doping, and she let him know that she came from a dark place … It could all have brought a very swift end to a very hasty marriage, but gradually the Stepanovs began to realise that whatever you did, the system in Russia was stacked against you. In the end, the only ones they could rely upon were each other. Fully aware of the risks they were taking, they decided to turn the tables on those who had manipulated them and cheated the sporting world. The result of their investigative work sent shockwaves around the planet and led to Russia’s athletes being banned from world sport, while the Stepanovs themselves had to go into hiding. The Russian Affair is a gripping true-life drama that at times reads like a spy novel and at others like an epic love story. But, at the centre of it all, is a quietly determined couple who knew that if they stood together they could shine a light on a corrupt system and bring it crashing to the ground.

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In 1948, Hawker Aircraft, faced with new jet projects that could not use their existing airfield at Langley, began the process of searching for alternative accommodation for their flight-testing requirements. It would, however, take three hard years before Dunsfold Aerodrome would be made available by a reluctant Air Ministry and the company was able to launch its first jet aircraft design - the Sea Hawk - into series production for the Royal Navy, closely followed by the superlative Hunter. Hawker Aircraft would go on to produce nearly 2,000 Hunters before other projects came to the fore. As Hunter production continued in the late 1950s, the company looked to its successor - the Mach 2 capable air superiority fighter designated P.1121, though this would stall before flight in the wake of serious national financial short-falls. With the loss of its premier project, the company came upon a radical new engine proposal and schemed an aircraft around it capable of vertical take-off and landing. While many decried the proposal, claiming it would never amount to anything, the Harrier would go on to prove the nay-sayers wrong as it came into its own during the Falklands War. Following the Harrier, Hawker Siddeley stepped into the competitive trainer aircraft market with the Hawk for the RAF. After completion of the RAF requirement, Hawk was sold into air arms across the world, including the US Navy, an incredible achievement for a UK design. British Aerospace then brought forth the Harrier GR.5, the UK version of the US AV-8B, a completely upgraded and improved Harrier. One might expect that this prolific output was the result of some massive industrial plant in the Midlands rather than an isolated aerodrome tucked in the rural hinterland of south Surrey. Surrounded for most of its existence by secrecy, due to the nature of its work, Dunsfold has largely escaped the notice of the general public. This work shines a light on the remarkable work carried out there.

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A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST ECONOMICS BOOK OF 2022 'A landmark book... The Blue Commons is at once a brilliant synthesis, a searing analysis, and an inspiring call to action.' - David Bollier'With remarkable erudition, passion and lyricism, Guy Standing commands the reader to wake up to the threat posed by rentier capitalism's violent policies for extraction, exploitation and depletion of that which is both common to us all, but also vital to our survival: the sea and all within it.' - Ann Pettifor 'Shines a bright light on the economy of the oceans, directing us brilliantly towards where a sustainable future lies.' - Danny Dorling'This is a powerful, visionary book - essential reading for all who yearn for a better world.' - Jason HickelThe sea provides more than half the oxygen we breathe, food for billions of people and livelihoods for hundreds of millions. But giant corporations are plundering the world's oceans, aided by global finance and complicit states, following the neoliberal maxim of Blue Growth. The situation is dire: rampant exploitation and corruption now drive all aspects of the ocean economy, destroying communities, intensifying inequalities, and driving fish populations and other ocean life towards extinction.The Blue Commons is an urgent call for change, from a campaigning economist responsible for some of the most innovative solutions to inequality of recent times. From large nations bullying smaller nations into giving up eco-friendly fishing policies to the profiteering by the Crown Estate in commandeering much of the British seabed, the scale of the global problem is synthesised here for the first time, as well as a toolkit for all of us to rise up and tackle it.The oceans have been left out of calls for a Green New Deal but must be at the centre of the fight against climate change. How do we do it? By building a Blue Commons alternative: a transformative worldview and new set of proposals that prioritise the historic rights of local communities, the wellbeing of all people and, with it, the health of our oceans.

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'Borman approaches her topic with huge enthusiasm and a keen eye for entertaining...this is a very human story of a remarkable family, full of vignettes that sit long in the mind.' Dan Jones, The Sunday Times'Tracy Borman's eye for detail is impressive; the book is packed with fascinating courtly minutiae... this is a wonderful book.' The Times'Borman is an authoritative and engaging writer, good at prising out those humanising details that make the past alive to us.' The Observer'Fascinating, detailed account of the everyday reality of the royals... This is a book of rich scholarship.' Daily Mail'Tracy Borman's passion for the Tudor period shines forth from the pages of this fascinatingly detailed book, which vividly illuminates what went on behind the scenes at the Tudor court.' Alison Weir'I do not live in a corner. A thousand eyes see all I do.' Elizabeth IThe Tudor monarchs were constantly surrounded by an army of attendants, courtiers and ministers. Even in their most private moments, they were accompanied by a servant specifically appointed for the task. A groom of the stool would stand patiently by as Henry VIII performed his daily purges, and when Elizabeth I retired for the evening, one of her female servants would sleep at the end of her bed. These attendants knew the truth behind the glamorous exterior. They saw the tears shed by Henry VII upon the death of his son Arthur. They knew the tragic secret behind 'Bloody' Mary's phantom pregnancies. And they saw the 'crooked carcass' beneath Elizabeth I's carefully applied makeup, gowns and accessories. It is the accounts of these eyewitnesses, as well as a rich array of other contemporary sources that historian Tracy Borman has examined more closely than ever before. With new insights and discoveries, and in the same way that she brilliantly illuminated the real Thomas Cromwell - The Private Life of the Tudors will reveal previously unexamined details about the characters we think we know so well.

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How do authoritarian regimes deal with pressure from the international community? China's leaders have been subject to decades of international attention, condemnation, resolutions, boycotts, and sanctions over their treatment of human rights. We assume that hearing about all this pressure will make the public more concerned about human rights, and so regimes like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should do what they can to prevent this from happening. In Hostile Forces, Jamie Gruffydd-Jones argues that while international pressure may indeed embarrass authoritarian leaders on the international stage, it may, in fact, benefit them at home. The targets of human rights pressure, regimes like the Communist Party, are not merely passive recipients, but actors who can proactively shape and deploy that pressure for their own advantage. Taking us through an exploration of the history of the Communist Party's reactions to foreign pressure, from condemnation of Mao's crackdowns in Tibet to outrage at the outbreak of COVID-19, analysis of a novel database drawn from state media archives, as well as multiple survey experiments and hundreds of interviews, Gruffydd-Jones shows that the CCP uses the most 'hostile' pressure strategically - and successfully - to push citizens to view human rights in terms of international geopolitics rather than domestic injustice, and reduce their support for change. The book shines a light on how regimes have learnt to manage, manipulate, and resist foreign pressure on their human rights, and illustrates how support for authoritarian and nationalist policies might grow in the face of a liberal international system.

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To those of us who are not mathematicians or physicists, Einstein's theory of relativity often seems incomprehensible, exotic, and of little real-world use. None of this is true. Daniel F. Styer's introduction to the topic not only shows us why these beliefs are mistaken but also shines a bright light on the subject so that any curious-minded person with an understanding of algebra and geometry can both grasp and apply the theory. Styer starts off slowly and proceeds carefully, explaining the concepts undergirding relativity in language comprehensible to nonscientists yet precise and accurate enough to satisfy the most demanding professional. He demonstrates how the theory applies to various real-life situations with easy equations and simple, clear diagrams. Styer's classroom-tested method of conveying the core ideas of relativity-the relationship among and between time, space, and motion and the behavior of light-encourages questions and shows the way to finding the answers. Each of the book's four parts builds on the sections that come before, leading the reader by turn through an overview of foundational ideas such as frames of reference, revelatory examples of time dilation and its attendant principles, an example-based exploration of relativity, and explanations of how and why gravity and spacetime are linked. By demonstrating relativity with practical applications, Styer teaches us to truly understand and appreciate its importance, beauty, and usefulness. Featuring worked and end-of-chapter problems and illustrated, nontechnical explanations of core concepts, while dotted throughout with questions and answers, puzzles, and paradoxes, Relativity for the Questioning Mind is an enjoyable-to-read, complete, concise introduction to one of the most important scientific theories yet discovered. The appendixes provide helpful hints, basic answers to the sample problems, and materials to stimulate further exploration.

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During the 1920s and 1930s, American minority artists and writers collaborated extensively with the Soviet avant-garde, seeking to build a revolutionary society that would end racial discrimination and advance progressive art. Making what Claude McKay called "the magic pilgrimage" to the Soviet Union, these intellectuals placed themselves at the forefront of modernism, using radical cultural and political experiments to reimagine identity and decenter the West. Shining rare light on these efforts, The Ethnic Avant-Garde makes a unique contribution to interwar literary, political, and art history, drawing extensively on Russian archives, travel narratives, and artistic exchanges to establish the parameters of an undervalued "ethnic avant-garde." These writers and artists cohered around distinct forms that mirrored Soviet techniques of montage, fragment, and interruption. They orbited interwar Moscow, where the international avant-garde converged with the Communist International. The book explores Vladimir Mayakovsky's 1925 visit to New York City via Cuba and Mexico, during which he wrote Russian-language poetry in an "Afro-Cuban" voice; Langston Hughes's translations of these poems while in Moscow, which he visited to assist on a Soviet film about African American life; a futurist play condemning Western imperialism in China, which became Broadway's first major production to feature a predominantly Asian American cast; and efforts to imagine the Bolshevik Revolution as Jewish messianic arrest, followed by the slow political disenchantment of the New York Intellectuals. Through an absorbing collage of cross-ethnic encounters that also include Herbert Biberman, Sergei Eisenstein, Paul Robeson, and Vladimir Tatlin, this work remaps global modernism along minority and Soviet-centered lines, further advancing the avant-garde project of seeing the world anew.

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In a culture of profit-driven media, demagoguery is a savvy short-term rhetorical strategy. Once it becomes the norm, individuals are more likely to employ it and, in that way, increase its power by making it seem the only way of disagreeing with or about others. When that happens, arguments about policy are replaced by arguments about identity—and criticism is met with accusations that the critic has the wrong identity (weak, treacherous, membership in an out-group) or the wrong feelings (uncaring, heartless).Patricia Roberts-Miller proposes a definition of demagoguery based on her study of groups and cultures that have talked themselves into disastrously bad decisions. She argues for seeing demagoguery as a way for people to participate in public discourse, and not necessarily as populist or heavily emotional. Demagoguery, she contends, depoliticizes political argument by making all issues into questions of identity. She broaches complicated questions about its effectiveness at persuasion, proposes a new set of criteria, and shows how demagoguery plays out in regard to individuals not conventionally seen as demagogues.Roberts-Miller looks at the discursive similarities among the Holocaust in early twentieth-century Germany, the justification of slavery in the antebellum South, the internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II, and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, among others. She examines demagoguery among powerful politicians and jurists (Earl Warren, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court) as well as more conventional populists (Theodore Bilbo, two-time governor of Mississippi; E. S. Cox, cofounder of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America). She also looks at notorious demagogues (Athenian rhetor Cleon, Ann Coulter) and lesser-known public figures (William Hak-Shing Tam, Gene Simmons).

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Big Bible Science 2 helps children and those who teach them to explore God’s World and God’s Word through real world science experiments. There are twenty–one different units taking students through scientific concepts such as Potential and Kinetic energy, Levers, Pulleys, Chemical Reactions, Condensation and Symbiosis. God creates young minds to ask questions and seek answers. This book is designed to stir the imaginations of students and develop a lasting love for Christ. The units are fun, interesting, and affirm the biblical worldview of creation. Big Bible Science is written to appeal to various ages and learning styles. This material is ideal for homeschoolers or classroom–based activities. It is for the head and the heart: a good mix of solid science and inspirational devotions. Each unit has: Objectives: These are the science learning goals. Materials: What you need before each lesson The Big Idea: A scientific explanation of the lesson that also ties in a biblical perspective. Activities: Demonstrations, games and experiments. Apply it: Ideas about how to find examples of the lesson in your world. Go Beyond: For more advanced students this will challenge them to think and experiment further. Units in Big Bible Science 2: Potential & Kinetic Energy Simple Machines in a playground Mechanical Advantage of a Lever Fixed Pulley: Changing the Direction of Force Angular Momentum & Centripetal Motion Buoyancy of Boats Law of Conservation of Matter Indicators of a Chemical Reaction Heat Capacity & Specific Heart Condensation Colligative Properties Symmetry of Nature Deciduous and Evergreen Trees Plant a Bean Parts of a Plant at the Dinner Table Symbiosis Bird Population Study Endoskeleton versus Exoskeleton Carnivores, Herbivores & Omnivores: The Food Chain How the Moon Shines Weathering & Erosion

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An interactive touch and feel book for babies with creatures, beasts and read-aloud text! Tactile elements and delightful imagery will encourage the development of motor skills and early learning. Baby Touch and Feel: Wild Animals is an interactive and fun way to help your child learn not only words but shapes and textures too. Bold, bright pictures and colorful wild animal-inspired illustrations will be more than enough to keep your baby’s attention. This adorable picture book is a perfect first book for toddlers and makes for an ideal baby gift.Read all about an exciting selection of wild animals, from sticky frogs to smooth dolphins! Not too big and not too small, this sturdy, padded sensory book is just the right size for little hands to hold. No need for Mom and Dad to turn the pages! Babies and toddlers can turn the tough board book pages themselves, which helps to develop their fine motor skills while building an early language foundation. This charming board book for babies includes: - An amazing range of different textures to explore.- Cleary labeled pictures and a simple, easy to follow design.- Easy to read text to encourage early vocabulary building.- A texture or eye-catching area on every page.- Rounded edges and chunky pages, protecting babies and their growing teeth.Learning to read should always be this fun. Kids will get hours of play from this sturdy board book for babies and toddlers, from making the noises and reading the names to feeling the different textures, like the lizard’s bumpy skin, the lion’s hairy mane and the koala’s furry body. This touchy-feely book, with its strong, baby-safe cover, makes for an ideal baby gift. Packed full of shiny objects and some bumps and grooves, this educational book will engage small children and stimulate early childhood development in different ways. Complete the SeriesThis delightful book is part of the Baby Touch and Feel range of board books for babies and toddlers from DK Books and includes titles like Baby Touch and Feel Things That Go, Baby Touch and Feel Bedtime, Baby Touch and Feel Mermaid, and more for your little one to enjoy!

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Packed with stunning photography, Eyewitness Soccer is the perfect guide for any soccer fan who wants to know everything about the “beautiful game”. Become an eyewitness to world cup winners and champions past and present in this picture-led reference guide that will take you on a tour of the beautiful game. Children will love reading about tricky tactics, freshening up on soccer skills knowledge, and getting to grips with the science and technology behind the game.This fact-packed soccer guide for children aged 9+ includes bite-sized biographies of well-known players – from Lionel Messi to Zinedine Zidane – to fill you in on those important details needed to impress, as well as club shirts and memorabilia pictured from years gone by and the shining trophies you still see today. Action-packed photographs help you relive moments of glory, while record breakers and national team profiles are listed for quick-fire mastery of famous soccer history.Throughout the pages of this soccer guide, you can expect to find: - A fresh new look, new photographs, updated information, and a new “eyewitness” feature.- Amazing facts, updated diagrams, statistics, and timelines.- Brand new eyewitness accounts from experts in the field.Eyewitness Soccer introduces the ultimate guide for soccer fans everywhere. Stay up to date with results from recent tournaments, including the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 and the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2022, bringing you up to speed with impressive soccer facts. This all-encompassing guide to soccer is a must-have for curious children aged 9+ with a thirst for learning, as well as teachers, parents and librarians.So, what’s new? Part of DK’s best-selling Eyewitness series, this popular title has been reinvigorated for the next generation of information-seekers and stay-at-home explorers, with a fresh new look, up to 20 percent new images, including photography and updated diagrams, updated information, and a new “eyewitness” feature with fascinating first-hand accounts from experts in the field.Explore the series!Globally, the Eyewitness series has sold more than 50 million copies over 30 years. Learn about one of the most important events in US history with Eyewitness American Civil War, understand the incredible systems that keep your body functioning with Eyewitness Human Body or take a trip aboard the most famous ship in history with Eyewitness Titanic.

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A radical explication of the ways anti-Black racial oppression has infused the US government’s anti-communist repression. In the early twentieth century, two panics emerged in the United States. The Black Scare was rooted in white Americans’ fear of Black Nationalism and dread at what social, economic, and political equality of Black people might entail. The Red Scare, sparked by communist uprisings abroad and subversion at home, established anticapitalism as a force capable of infiltrating and disrupting the American order. In Black Scare / Red Scare, Charisse Burden-Stelly meticulously outlines the conjoined nature of these state-sanctioned panics, revealing how they unfolded together as the United States pursued capitalist domination. Antiradical repression, she shows, is inseparable from anti-Black oppression, and vice versa. Beginning her account in 1917—the year of the Bolshevik Revolution, the East St. Louis Race Riot, and the Espionage Act—Burden-Stelly traces the long duration of these intertwined and mutually reinforcing phenomena. She theorizes two bases of the Black Scare / Red Scare: US Capitalist Racist Society, a racially hierarchical political economy built on exploitative labor relationships, and Wall Street Imperialism, the violent processes by which businesses and the US government structured domestic and foreign policies to consolidate capital and racial domination. In opposition, Radical Blackness embodied the government’s fear of both Black insurrection and Red instigation. The state’s actions and rhetoric therefore characterized Black anticapitalists as foreign, alien, and undesirable. This reactionary response led to an ideology that Burden-Stelly calls True Americanism, the belief that the best things about America were absolutely not Red and not Black, which were interchangeable threats. Black Scare / Red Scare illuminates the anticommunist nature of the US and its governance, but also shines a light on a misunderstood tradition of struggle for Black liberation. Burden-Stelly highlights the Black anticapitalist organizers working within and alongside the international communist movement and analyzes the ways the Black Scare/Red Scare reverberates through ongoing suppression of Black radical activism today. Drawing on a range of administrative, legal, and archival sources, Burden-Stelly incorporates emancipatory ideas from several disciplines to uncover novel insights into Black political minorities and their legacy.

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Sci-Fi and sex on a trip to die for...__"IT'S DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN__ When Milla Carter is taken on holiday by her boyfriend Franklyn, their 'dream break' turns into the kind of nightmare that makes the Titanic's last voyage look like a collision between a toy boat and an ice cube. Maybe they were too easily taken in by the glossy brochure and oily sales patter, but their trip to die for looks in danger of becoming just that. Their ill-fated vacation is the focal point of Body Holiday, the debut science-fiction novel of Wallington's Derek E Pearson. This imaginative, sexually explicit book has more swear words in it than a Gordon Ramsay show, yet its edgy, 'in your face' writing and tightly structured plot are so addictive that it's damn near impossible to put down. It grips from the first to the last page as Pearson skillfully draws the reader into a future that's dysfunctional, cold and frighteningly voyeuristic. This is a world that has no respect for privacy, where corporate power wields a big, ugly fist and which is so saturated with hard core pornography that it's lost the power to even be offended. A refusal to condone murder is one of its few saving graces!No wonder Milla and Franklyn need a break, although they're not the ones looking to re-charge their batteries. Ex-glamour model Ruth (who is 62 but looks 30) and her rich 86-year-old husband Pearce (who's just as ageless) also want some time out. Swapping bodies and lifestyles with Milla and Franklyn through a process called 'Transition' should be a breeze; after all, there's no better way of getting reacquainted with a partner than through the body of a younger stranger. Unfortunately, though, something goes horribly wrong. The dream vacation descends into a brutal game of survival in which the couples are pitched against a malevolent force that has the knack of always being one step ahead. Can Milla/Franklyn/Ruth/Pearce escape the nightmare, or are they destined to spend the rest of their lives on the run trapped in each other's bodies.__Grand Theft Auto__ The car chases, small but chilling amounts of gore and explosions of Armageddon proportions give the story the adrenalin-coated rush of a Grand Theft Auto game. Yet there's also a quasi gallows humour running through the narrative, neatly alleviating the underlying tension.Pearson's characters are convincingly drawn - warts and all - but it's Milla who really stands out.She's a woman of action, the shining light in the darkness, which is why her anger is palpable when a shocking plot twist exposes a terrible betrayal. Yet Milla's integrity is a contradiction. By rights, it shouldn't exist in a world that disparages decency, yet somehow it stays intact. Body Holiday is a novel that entertains and raises questions: could an out-of-hand relationship with technology fray our moral compass? How much privacy should we surrender to a constantly changing world and what guarantees are there that what's thrown into cyberspace will be used responsibly? Pearson doesn't provide the answers, but then why should he? Good science fiction is as much about encouraging readers to discover the truth themselves as it is about providing the answers." SURREY LIFE magazine (UK) Jan 2015 (p. 62), Juliette Foster

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An in-depth look at the key advisers to Woodrow Wilson during the course of his tumultuous presidency.Nearly 100 years after Woodrow Wilson's death, historians continue to be divided over the impact of his presidency and his political leadership. The collapse of Wilson's health in 1919 and his failure to win Senate approval of the Versailles Treaty have tainted his legacy, as have the racism of his administration and its disregard for civil liberties after American entry into World War I. In The Wilson Circle, Charles E. Neu takes a new look at the Wilson presidency through the lens of his inner circle, a group of ten advisers. Some of these advisers, like his wife Ellen, were by his side at the start of his term, while others joined him as the challenges facing Wilson's presidency mounted. All of these advisers believed that, whatever Wilson's flaws as a leader, they had served a great man whose legacy would endure. Struck by his magnetism, his oratorical gifts, and the power and precision of his mind, they each became, to one extent or another, friends of the president. Looking back, they acknowledged that their relationship with Woodrow Wilson had transformed their lives.Challenging the publicly held assumption that Wilson was a remote, harsh president by exploring the intense emotional connection he developed with this tight-knit group, Neu argues that we can partially credit Wilson's remarkable journey in American politics to his ability to bring together such an impressive group of advisers. Wilson realized that, given his limited energy and experience, he had to rely on advisers to help him maintain his physical and emotional equilibrium and to achieve his far-reaching political goals. And as the demands on his presidency changed, changes also occurred in his group of presidential confidants. Informing vivid biographical sketches with a wide range of recent scholarship, The Wilson Circle shines a light on the exceptional people whose advice impacted the course of a presidency.

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_______________ The magical world of J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts meets the real-world experts of the world-famous Natural History Museum, in an awe-inspiring exhibition devoted to the wonders of nature, science and adventure – and their fictional counterparts from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. A perfect present! Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature is the official book inspired by the spectacular exhibition, shining a light on beasts in all their fantastic forms. Taking inspiration from Newt Scamander, this gorgeous colour gift book invites the whole family to explore the inspiration and links between the magic of J.K. Rowling’s creatures and the astonishing real-world wildlife that has roamed the earth, seas and skies of our planet throughout history. Prepare to pore over ancient maps of sea monsters; naturalists’ field notes crammed with intricately painted chameleons and caterpillars; and dinosaurs such as the mighty Dracorex Hogwartsia, the ‘Dragon King of Hogwarts’. The Natural History Museum boasts one of the finest collections in the world – some 80 million animals, plants, minerals, rocks and fossils. These scientific specimens sit beside breathtaking artwork of J.K. Rowling’s magical creatures; fascinating props and artefacts from the Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter films; and stunning wildlife photography. Readers are invited to meet unicorns and merpeople, Nifflers and Bowtruckles, pythons and tigers, and observe their amazing and endlessly surprising behaviours. Each chapter begins with an original essay by a well-known writer, environmental expert or natural history scientist, offering their own unique insight into the exhibition. Uplifting and absorbing, this is a book that evokes the true magic and majesty of nature in all its myriad forms. Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature inspires us to protect our precious planet – a must-have for Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts fans of all ages, budding explorers and readers who aren’t able to visit the exhibition in person.

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Each pilot and bombardier/navigator sat side by side in an all-weather jet built for low-level bombing runs, precision targeting, and night strikes. Their success—and their very lives—depended on teamwork in flying their versatile A-6 Intruders. And when the North Vietnamese mounted a major offensive in 1972, they answered the call.Carol Reardon chronicles the operations of Attack Squadron 75, the "Sunday Punchers," and their high-risk bombing runs launched off the U.S.S. Saratoga during the famous LINEBACKER campaigns. Based on unparalleled access to crew members and their families, her book blends military and social history to offer a unique look at the air war in Southeast Asia, as well as a moving testament to the close-knit world of naval aviators.Theirs was one of the toughest jobs in the military: launching off the carrier in rough seas as well as calm, flying solo and in formation, dodging dense flak and surface-to-air missiles, delivering ordnance on target, and recovering aboard safely. Celebrating the men who climbed into the cockpits as well as those who kept them flying, Reardon takes readers inside the squadron's ready room and onto the flight decks to await the call, "Launch the Intruders!" Readers share the adrenaline-pumping excitement of each mission—as well as those heart-stopping moments when a downed aircraft brought home to all, in flight and on board, that every aspect of their lives was constantly shadowed by danger and potential death.More than a mere combat narrative, Launch the Intruders interweaves human drama with familial concerns, domestic politics, and international diplomacy. Fliers share personal feelings about killing strangers from a distance while navy wives tell what it's like to feel like a stranger at home. And as the war rages on, headlines like Jane Fonda's visit to Hanoi and the Paris Peace Accords are all viewed through the lens of this heavily tasked, hard-hitting attack squadron.A rousing tale of men and machines, of stoic determination in the face of daunting odds, Reardon's tale shines a much-deserved light on group of men whose daring exploits richly deserve to be much better known.

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