Search results for ""Author Air"

Impetuous, exasperating Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green returns and unwittingly puts his daughter, a rookie patrol officer, in the line of fire.“For those who like a solid classic mystery with added character, Inspector Green is perfect.” —Globe and MailSidelined to administrative duties, Inspector Michael Green misses the thrill of the chase. So when his daughter Hannah, now a rookie patrol officer, responds to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance in a wealthy suburban neighbourhood, he is intrigued. Both husband and wife deny a problem and, despite Hannah’s doubts, no further police action is taken, but Green encourages her to dig deeper on her own. When the husband disappears and his car is found at the airport, the police conclude he is simply fleeing an unhappy home, a floundering law practice, and a mountain of debt. Until a body is discovered.While Green’s old friend Brian Sullivan investigates the victim’s work and family, Hannah is haunted by fear that her actions precipitated the murder. On her own time, she begins to dig into questions that linger at the periphery of the case. What has happened to the family dog, which disappeared the same night as the husband? And who is the odd, solitary young Ph.D. student who was researching ducks near the murder site? Her relentless search for answers leads her into the countryside, straight into the path of danger. And another body.

Read more less

Readers fell in love with Jeannette Walls' unforgettable family in The Glass Castle. Now discover how it all began for the Walls family... 'I never knew a girl to have such gumption,' [Mom would] say. 'But I'm not too sure that's a good thing.' Meet Lily Casey Smith: horse-trainer, airplane pilot, flapper, mother and teacher. Born in 1901 in the rolling grassland of West Texas, Lily grows up with a passion for horses and an indomitable spirit. At age 15 she leaves home, riding 500 miles across the American West on her beloved pony Patch, her pearl-handled six-shooter by her side. Her goal: a teaching post in a frontier-town school. Lily will handle everything life throws at her - flash-floods, tornadoes, the Great Depression, a swindling husband, love and heartbreak - with courage, determination and a smile as wide as the Texas skies.*~*~* 'With convincing, unprettified narration, Walls weaves her own ancestor into this collective rough-and-tumble heritage... [Walls is] the third generation of a line of indomitable women whose paths she has inscribed on the permanent record, enriching the common legend of our American past' New York Times 'A commendable chronicle of an admirably tough woman on America's western frontier' Washington Post 'Has immense power and readibility... What it does with aplomb is to track the birth of a nation: the conjuring of modern America from a scorched, dusty wasteland' The Times

Read more less

This is the story of D-Day, told through the voices of over 1,000 survivors. 6 June, 1944. 156,000 troops from 12 different countries, 11,000 aircraft, 7,000 naval vessels, 24 hours. D-Day - the beginning of the Allied invasion of Hitler's formidable 'Fortress Europe' - was the largest amphibious invasion in history. There has never been a battle like it, before or since. But beyond the statistics and over sixty years on, what is it about the events of D-Day that remain so compelling? The courage of the men who fought and died on the beaches of France? The sheer boldness of the invasion plan? Or the fact that this, Rommel's 'longest day', heralded the beginning of the end of World War II? One of the defining battles of the war, D-Day is scored into the imagination as the moment when the darkness of the Third Reich began to be swept away. This story is told through the voices of over 1,000 survivors - from high-ranking Allied and German officers, to the paratroopers who landed in Normandy before dawn, the infantry who struggled ashore and the German troops who defended the coast. Cornelius Ryan captures the horror and the glory of D-Day, relating in emotive and compelling detail the years of inspired tactical planning that led up to the invasion, its epic implementation and every stroke of luck and individual act of heroism that would later define the battle.

Read more less

Filled with space-saving storage and decorative details, these unique homes under 1,200 square feet prove that bigger is not always better. In recent years, many have turned our backs on the trend for oversized houses and embraced small-space living. Cosy, compact dwellings have so much to offer; they bring families closer together and make it easier than ever to express personal style. In Small Spaces, Big Appeal, Fifi O'Neill captures the zeitgeist by showcasing homes across a spectrum of styles and locations, and stories of contented homeowners who have created unique, imaginative spaces. Living in a small home doesn’t preclude having an elegant aesthetic. In fact, it allows you to focus on the elements you truly appreciate and the spaces you will use the most. Whether classically furnished or boasting a happy informality, the little gems featured in this book are more infused with a spirit than put together according to a set of rules. Rooms are airy yet intimate, with nooks and alcoves that offer daydreaming spots and built-in storage in spite of their modest footprints. Whatever your preferred look – nostalgic, romantic, modern, country, coastal, urban, minimalist or maximalist – living small has big advantages. It encourage us to live more simply and, best of all, to create spaces with style, grace and versatility that rival homes of many times their size.

Read more less

BMW Motorcycles: 100 Years celebrates the legendary machines built by Germany’s leading motorcycle manufacturer. BMW’s long history of evolving technology is highlighted in this detailed story beginning with side-valve machines in the 1920s and early overhead-valve performance bikes, then moving to the postwar R-series Airhead and modern Oilhead twins, followed by four-cylinder and six-cylinder K-series touring bikes, the latest parallel twins, and inline-four cylinder sport bikes. From the first R32 that launched BMW’s motorcycle dynasty, to the latest S1000RR superbike and R18 mega-cruiser, BMW Motorcycles captures a century of motorcycling excellence in a combination of historic and contemporary photos sourced from BMW’s archive. The stories behind all the classic and modern BMWs are here: 1920s and 1930s BMWs like the R5 that defined performance in the prewar era The military R12 that supported the Wehrmacht as it battled its way across Europe in World War II The 1960s R69S that offered an excellent platform for both touring and sporting riding The R90S café racer and the R100RS, the latter arguably the world’s first dedicated sports tourer The astounding K1 “flying brick” The GS (Gelände Sport) series that launched the adventure-bike revolution Today’s R18, R nine T, and the world-class S100RR superbike This is a once-in-100-years story captured in a beautiful book sure to be enjoyed by any BMW Fan.

Read more less

‘I was on a train, and a German soldier began shouting at me and poking me in the ribs with his machine gun. I just thought that was it, the game was up . . .’Downed airman Bob Frost faced danger at every turn as he was smuggled out of France and over the Pyrenees. Prisoner of war Len Harley went on the run in Italy, surviving months in hiding and then a hazardous climb over the Abruzzo mountains with German troops hot on his heels. These are just some of the stories told in heart-stopping detail as Monty Halls takes us along the freedom trails out of occupied Europe, from the immense French escape lines to lesser-known routes in Italy and Slovenia. Escaping Hitler features spies and traitors, extraordinary heroism from those who ran the escape routes and offered shelter to escapees, and great feats of endurance. The SAS in Operation Galia fought for forty days behind enemy lines in Italy and then, exhausted and pursued by the enemy, exfiltrated across the Apennine mountains. And in Slovenia Australian POW Ralph Churches and British Les Laws orchestrated the largest successful Allied escape of the entire war.Mixing new research, interviews with survivors and his own experience of walking the trails, Monty brings the past to life in this dramatic and gripping slice of military history.

Read more less

The operation to free Mussolini, who was being held prisoner in a high mountain hotel on the summit of Gran Sasso, Italy in September 1943, is without a doubt one of the most spectacular operations not only of the Second World War, but in all military history. German paratroopers, the Wehrmacht's elite, were responsible for organising the rescue in record time, and executing a daring and perfectly synchronised operation between land and airborne detachments. Surprise and speed were the Fallschirmjager's main weapons, surprising the Italian garrison guarding il Duce. For political reasons Otto Skorzeny, the clever SS officer, also participated in the operation, leading a dozen of his commandos. Propaganda and his connections with Himmler made him into the false hero of the mission, over-emphasising his role in the whole search and rescue operation. Based on the testimony of several protagonists in this incredible operation, as well as analysing major documents (letters, reports by General Kurt Student etc.) and the abundant literature available on the subject, this book dismantles the 'Skorzeny Myth' and reveals the truth of what really happened in a mission that even Churchill called 'one of great daring'.

Read more less

In recent years, the application of composite materials has increased in various areas of science and technology due to their special properties, namely for use in the aircraft, automotive, defence, aerospace and other advanced industries. Machining composite materials is quite a complex task owing to its heterogenity, and to the fact that reinforcements are extremely abrasive. In modern engineering, high demands are placed on components made of composites in relation to their dimensional precision as well as their surface quality. Due to these potential applications, there is a great need to understand the questions associated with machining composite materials. This book aims to provide the fundamentals and the recent advances in the machining of composite materials (polymers, metals and ceramics) for modern manufacturing engineering. The three parts of the book cover the machining of polymeric, metal and ceramic matrix composites. This book can be used as a text book for the final year of an undergraduate engineering course or for those studying machining/composites at the postgraduate level. It can also serve as a useful work of reference for academics, manufacturing and materials researchers, manufacturing and mechanical engineers, and professionals in composite technology and related industries.

Read more less

In May 1945 with the war in Europe at an end, Britain had to play her part in the occupation of the defeated Germany. The near-bankrupt country was hard-pressed to maintain such a military presence on the continent and still manage our other out commitments across the Mediterranean, Middle and Far East. As the immediate post-war years came to pass, Britain and other western powers found themselves reviewing their relationship with the key victor in the east: the USSR. A defining moment came in 1948 when the Soviet Union attempted to starve the people of West Berlin to the point of being relinquished to their fate by the Western allies. Following a sterling and stubborn effort to keep the city supplied with the minimum materials and food the Soviet exercise ended in 1949. But the parameters were now set, the Iron Curtain had descended across the continent, and the RAF were to maintain a constant vigil with nuclear-armed aircraft on station ready to respond to Soviet aggression for the next four decades while politicians tried desperately to preserve the peace.

Read more less

A revolutionary commercial propeller transport, the Lockheed Constellation burst on the aviation scene in the early 1940s. Unheralded for the most part, due to wartime secrecy, it finally entered commercial service in 1946, and promptly set new standards for speed, range, reliability, and passenger comfort. The Connie, as it was affectionately known, pioneered new flight paths in many parts of the globe. Connies ultimately flew commercially for more than thirty years, and underwent countless modifications and upgrades during that time. They continued to be utilized by the military as well; in fact, Connies were involved in a number of endeavors that remain shrouded in secrecy to this day. This, then, is the story of a remarkable and distinctive airplane. It is also the story of the people who made the Constellation great, including aviation legends like Howard Hughes and Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. Most importantly, however, it is a story that sheds light on the dynamics of technology, politics, and society in the years 1940 to 1980. This revised edition contains an additional chapter on Constellations that are still flying today, as well as an additional appendix of the Constellation's operations manual.

Read more less

An engaging account of ambition, the forces that drive and constrain it, and whether it serves our deepest needs. Ambition is a dominant force in for human civilization, driving its greatest achievements and most horrific abuses. Our striving has brought art, airplanes, and antibiotics, as well as wars, genocide, and despotism. This mixed record raises obvious concerns about how we can channel ambition in the most productive directions. In Ambition, Deborah L. Rhode offers a comprehensive and engaging survey of the topic that focuses in particular on the nature of ambition in contemporary American life. To do this, she first explores three central focuses of ambition-recognition, power, and money-and argues that an excessive preoccupation with these external markers for success can be self-defeating for individuals and toxic for society. She then shifts to discussing the obstacles to constructive ambition and the consequences when ambitions are skewed or blocked by inequality and identity-related characteristics such as gender, race, class, and national origin. Rhode further addresses the ways that families, schools, and colleges might play a more effective role in developing positive ambition. Finally, she examines what sorts of ambitions contribute to sustained well-being, such as building relationships and contributing to society, rather than chasing extrinsic rewards such as wealth, power, and fame. Drawing upon leading thinkers on the topic and contemporary social science research while laying out an agenda for how ambition can be better developed, Ambition will force us reconsider the factors that shape our ambitions, and whether those ambitions meet our deepest needs and highest aspirations.

Read more less

Rory Newman's company is going through big changes—the kind no one likes—having been bought by a global competitor that is now shaking things up. His new boss's first order of business is to demand that Rory come up with a new process for strategic planning to guide the company as it struggles to reinvent itself in the marketplace. Up until now, the company's "strategic plans" were made up of visions in the former CEO's mind. Now, Rory's got five short days to develop, formalize, and deliver a winning strategic planning process. Rory planned to use a leisurely drive down the 101, en route to his wife's family reunion, to gather his thoughts, but things change when he halfheartedly agrees to pick up his wife's second cousin Sydney Wise from the airport. To his astonishment, Sydney turns out to be—instead of another maddening relative—a strategic planning guru, entrepreneur—and Rory's rescuer. Discover, along with Rory and Sydney, what strategic planning is really about, why it is important, and how to develop a simple yet powerful strategy your company can use to set it on the course to success. Through Rory's experience, you will find out why strategic planning is not something left to the "higher ups," but something in which everyone in an organization needs to be invested. Roadmaps and Revelations: Finding the Road to Business Success on Route 101 uses an entertaining storyline to walk you through the daunting process of creating a successful strategy. Sprinkled with practical examples and workable solutions for business executives, managers, and consultants, this motivating fable will put you on track toward creating a strategy for sustainable success.

Read more less

Throughout the 1930s the Zippo Company in Pennsylvania prospered on the growing success of its stylish, charismatic little cigarette lighter. The lighter was made mostly of brass, but with the Second World War that metal was declared a 'strategic material' in the U.S. where huge amounts of it were needed for shell and cartridge casings. Zippo replaced the brass with steel, which can corrode, and wartime Zippos were given a new baked-on black 'crackle' finish to protect them. That non-reflective characteristic helped save the lives of many American soldiers in combat zones. The demand of the Armed Forces for the lighter led to the company to earmark its entire production for military. The big wartime market for the Zippo resulted in a rise of imitations.After the war, through subsequent conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere, thousands of such phoneys appeared in boot sales and swap meets across the world. Movie stars added sophistication and glamour when someone lit up a cigarette with a Zippo and the distinctive 'clink-clop' sound the lighter made when opened and closed was unmatchable. Legend has it that the great star Bette Davis was once asked by an interviewer if she smoked after sex. Her supposed response: "To tell you the truth, I've never looked." In later years- and a dark medical reality- the cigarette began losing its allure, but in wartime the soldier, sailor, marine and airman was frequently nervous in the service and found solace and a brief time-out-of-war in the relaxation of a quick smoke. Zippo was ready in such moments. Today many examples survive with a special history and cache. WHEN ZIPPO WENT TO WAR is illustrated with more than 140 unpublished photos those unique little lighters of old. Like the remarkable Zippo itself, the book works well and sheds some new light on its subject.

Read more less

Advances and Trends in Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation features over 300 papers classified into 21 sections, which were presented at the Fourth International Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation (SEMC 2010, Cape Town, South Africa, 6-8 September 2010). The SEMC conferences have been held every 3 years in Cape Town, and since then brought together academics, researchers and practitioners active in structural mechanics, associated computation and structural engineering. The main purpose of the conferences was to review recent achievements in the advancement of knowledge and understanding in these areas, share the latest developments, and address the challenges that the present and the future pose. All major aspects of structural mechanics, associated computation and structural engineering are addressed in the present volume, including: structural mechanics (dynamics, vibration, impact, buckling, seismic response, fluid-structure interaction, soil-structure interaction); mechanics of materials (plasticity, fracture, fatigue, creep, shrinkage, damage, deterioration); numerical/computational modelling (numerical methods, formulations, finite-element modelling, structural modelling, material modelling, simulations); structural engineering and construction in the various materials (steel, concrete, timber, masonry, glass, steel-concrete composite, fibre-reinforced composite, laminated composite); design, construction and operational considerations (fire resistance, seismic resistance, loading, safety and reliability, codification, design optimisation, construction, assembly, monitoring, maintenance, repair, retrofitting). The structures dealt with include all sorts of buildings, sports facilities, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, underground structures, foundation structures, coastal structures, dams, industrial towers and masts, containment structures (silos, tanks and pressure vessels), ship and aircraft structures, motor-vehicle structures, mechanical components and biological structures. Advances and Trends in Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation is published as a book of extended abstracts, and an accompanying CD-ROM with the full papers, and will be much of interest to engineers, academics and researchers in civil, structural, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and to those concerned with the analysis, design, construction and maintenance of engineering structures.

Read more less

**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**'A Gen-X This Boy's Life...Music and his fierce brilliance boost Jollett; a visceral urge to leave his background behind propels him to excel... In the end, Jollett shakes off the past to become the captain of his own soul. Hollywood Park is a triumph.' -O, The Oprah Magazine'This moving and profound memoir is for anyone who loves a good redemption story.'- Good Morning America, 20 Books We're Excited for in 2020HOLLYWOOD PARK is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country's most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.Mikel Jollett was born in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country's most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader's mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult's 'School'. After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic. In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician, forming the band The Airborne Toxic Event.

Read more less

Text in English and German. The basic features of Deutsche Lufthansa's present corporate image emerged almost 45 years ago. It was created by Otl Aicher, one of the principal figures at the now legendary Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm. Another work by Aicher that spoke to the whole of Germany, as it were (and still does, in rudiments), is the 1972 corporate image for the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen. The corporate image he created for the Olympic Games in Munich, which made an essential contribution to the ambience of the event, has also remained memorable. Since the ideas developed by Aicher and his colleagues were implemented in the early sixties, the airline has been seen world-wide as a perfect example of a consistently developed corporate image. Aicher based himself on ideas from the Deutscher Werkbund and took the company's entire inventory into consideration: "house colours, pictorial and typographic logos, typeface, graphic and typographic rules and standards, photographic style, quality of support materials, packaging, exhibition systems, architectural characteristics, forms (design) of interior furnishings and equipment, style of work and service clothes". As well as Otl Aicher, numerous other product and graphic designers, fashion designers and advertising and marketing agencies have worked for Lufthansa. They include Otto Firle, whose ideas led to the crane logo, Hartmut Esslinger and his company frog design, Priestman & Goode, Müller Romca Industriedesign, Don Wallance, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Hans Theo Baumann, Nick Roericht, Wolfgang Karnagel, Topel & Pauser and the bhar design practice, fashion designers Uli Richter, Ursula Tautz and Werner Machnick, Jürgen Weiss, Gabriele Strehle and the Jobis company as well as the agencies Zintzmeyer & Lux, the Peter Schmidt Group, Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam, Spiess/Ermisch/Abel, Springer & Jacoby, McCann & Erickson and Fanghänel & Lohmann. An exhibition of the same name at the Museum for Applied Arts in Frankfurt deals with the same subject as the book.

Read more less

Visit your dark side with 60 frightfully delicious plant-based comfort-foods, baked goods, and cocktails inspired by your favorite horror movies and TV shows. From the mad mind of acclaimed chef Zach Neil comes this killer plant-based cookbook inspired by your favorite horror movies and TV shows. The follow-up to his best-selling cookbook, Nightmare Before Dinner, the Death for Dinner Cookbook delivers gruesome goodness in 60 stick-to-your guts comfort-food recipes, from startling starters and monstrous mains to depraved desserts and cursed cocktails, including: Crystal Lake BBQ Sliders, inspired by Friday the 13th – The only thing better than warm sunshine, campfires, and working up an appetite after escaping the clutches of Jason Vorhees are these pulled mushroom sliders. Children of the Hominy, inspired by Children of the Corn – An ancient recipe from Gatlin, Nebraska, this pozole will make anyone rise up from the stalks. The Hills Have Fries, inspired by The Hills Have Eyes – This hill of hand-cut french fries smothered in a béchamel and chili sauce and topped with fresh scallions, red onion, fakon, and cilantro and lime sour cream will have everyone watching you. Blood Orange Cheesecake Trifle, inspired by Dexter – Complete with blood orange, vegan cream cheese, and hints of lemon, this dessert is the right amount of sweet and airy—no gloves or plastic wrap are required to make. Never Sleep Again, inspired by Nightmare on Elm Street – Stay awake (and alive!) with this alternative take on an old-fashioned cocktail made with a shot of espresso. Though the recipes may look terrifying, they are easy to make and will impress even the most stubborn carnivores. So, get ready to throw the ultimate Halloween party or some epic movie nights. Let’s just hope Freddy, Michael, and Jason stay on the screen and off the guest list. [cue the beet-juice splatter]

Read more less

Born in 1916, after learning to fly as a civilian, Ian Richard Gleed was granted a RAF commission in 1936. He completed training on Christmas Day that year, being posted to 46 Squadron which was equipped with the Gloster Gauntlet. Through much of his RAF service the diminutive Gleed was known as Widge', short for Wizard Midget' on account of his excessive use of the word wizard' to describe something topper', and his short stature. Rising from Flight to Squadron Commander in short order, and later taking over the Ibsley Spitfire Wing in 1941, Gleed was enormously popular with his peers. Indeed, Wing Commander Bunny' Currant once described Gleed as a pocket-sized man with care for others and courage beyond compare'. Having been decorated with the coveted double' of both DSO and DFC, Wing Commander Gleed went out to lead a wing in Tunisia. It was there that he was shot down and killed on 16 April 1943. By this time, he had achieved the status of being a fighter Ace, having been credited with the destruction of thirteen enemy aircraft. The previous year, Gleed's wartime memoir, Arise to Conquer, was published by Victor Gollancz. Eloquently written and detailed, this book is a superb first-hand account of one man's life and times as a fighter pilot - mainly flying the Hawker Hurricane - during the Fall of France, the Battle of Britain and beyond into the night Blitz. Reprinted here in its entirety, and extensively introduced by the renowned aviation historian Dilip Sarkar MBE, FRHistS, this edition of Arise to Conquer is supported by a remarkable set of wartime images. Among Gleed's Hurricane pilots on 87 Squadron during the Battle of Britain and beyond was Sergeant Laurence Rubber' Thorogood, a keen photographer who is often mentioned in this book. Along with his Commanding Officer's words, Rubber's unique personal photograph album, containing as it does a number of images of Gleed, provides a rare glimpse of a fighter squadron at war during our Darkest - yet Finest - Hour.

Read more less

GOING PUBLIC is a character-driven narrative centered on the last five years of unparalleled change in how technology startups sell shares to the public. Initial public offerings, or IPOs, are typically the first time retail investors can own a piece of the New Economy companies promising to rewire economic rules. Selling IPOs is also one of the most profitable businesses for Wall Street investment banks, who have spent the last 40 years protecting their profits. In an era when algorithms and software have made the financial markets more efficient, the pricing of IPOs still relies on human judgment.In 2016, executives at music-streaming service Spotify sought to upend the status quo. Led by a trim and understated CFO, Barry McCarthy, and a shy but brilliant founder, Daniel Ek, they took a wild idea and forged something new. GOING PUBLIC explores how they got comfortable with the risk, and how they lobbied securities watchdogs and exchange staff to rewrite the regulations. Readers will meet executives at disruptive companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, and data miner Palantir, venture capitalists, and even some bankers who seized on Spotify's labor and used it to knock Wall Street bankers off the piles of fees they'd been stacking for so long.GOING PUBLIC weaves in earlier attempts to rethink the IPO process, introducing readers to one of Silicon Valley's earliest bankers, Bill Hambrecht, whose invention for selling shares online was embraced by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they auctioned their shares in 2004. And it examines the recent boom in blank-check companies, those Wall Street insider deals that have suddenly become the hottest way to enter the public markets. GOING PUBLIC tells stories from inside the room, and more.

Read more less

Business Without Boundary was first published in 1954. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.The firm of General Mills is probably best known to millions of people as the maker of Gold Medal Flour and as the progenitor of that first lady of the kitchen and the airwaves, Betty Crocker. But, although its greatest fame is as a flour miller, the company engages in a host of other activities that attest to the foresight and creative thinking of its executives. In fact, the sky seems to be the only limit as the company extends its sights upward in Operation Skyhook, a United States navy research project for which General Mills makes and launches into the stratosphere giant plastic balloons.James Gray relates not only the history of General Mills since its founding in 1928 but also the background of the major companies that merged to form the larger corporation: the Washburn Crosby Company of Minneapolis, the Sperry Company of San Francisco, the Kell group of Texas and Oklahoma mills, and the Larrowe Milling Company of Detroit.Anyone interested in advertising and promotion will find fascinating the accounts of the early successes in radio advertising, including the first use of singing commercials and the phenomenal rise of Betty Crocker (voted the second best-known woman in America!) The scientific and technical research that is a cornerstone of the modern corporation is described in detail, as is the development of the products control method, a General Mills innovation now widely adopted in industry.For those curious to understand how business expands, for those interested in a close-up of industrial leaders, for anyone who wants to sharpen his view of America at work, this is an important book.

Read more less

This volume contains the histories of the hundreds of Ramsbury and Selkley and of the borough of Marlborough. The area is mostly on the Marlborough Downs in the north-east quarter of Wiltshire. The Kennet flows east through both hundreds and skirts the town of Marlborough to the south. Its valley and those of its tributaries have provided settlement sites, including those of Avebury, probably an important cult centre in the Neolithic Period, and the Romantown of Cunetio, and determined many lines of communication from earliest times. The area has always been predominantly agricultural. Tracts of rough downland, some the site of warrens from the Middle Ages, are still used for sport. In the 19th and 20th centuries racehorses have been trained on the downs notably at Beckhampton in Avebury and at Manton in Preshute. At Aldbourne Fustians were manufactured and bells were founded. Ramsbury hundred, which comprised Bishopstone in the Cole valley and the large parish of Ramsbury, belonged to the bishops of Ramsbury and contained a pre-Conquest see. It passed to the bishops of Salisbury, the site of whose medieval palace is marked by Ramsbury Manor. Littlecote House, once the home of the Darrells, dates mainly from the 14th and 16th centuries and is open to the public. An airfield was established in Ramsbury during the Second World War. The village is chiefly known as the home of the Ramsbury Building Society formed in 1846. Marlborough was a borough from the 11th century until 1974. It was represented in parliament from 1275 to 1885 and from the 18th century was a pocket borough of theBruces. Its medieval castle was a favourite residence of Henry III and its site is now occupied by Marlborough College. Marlborough has long been important as a market town where main routes converge rather than as a manufacturing centre.

Read more less

Between 1964 and 1975, 2.6 million American personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, of whom an estimated 1-1.6 million actually fought in combat. At the tip of the spear were the infantry, the "grunts" who entered an extraordinary tropical combat zone completely alien to the world they had left behind in the United States. In South Vietnam, and occasionally spilling over into neighboring Laos and Cambodia, they fought a relentless counterinsurgency and conventional war against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC). The terrain was as challenging as the enemy - soaring mountains or jungle-choked valleys; bleached, sandy coastal zones; major urban centers; riverine districts. Their opponents fought them with relentless and terrible ingenuity, on a daily basis with ambushes, booby traps, and mines, then occasionally with full-force offensives on a scale to rival the campaigns of World War II.This pocket manual draws its content not only from essential U.S. military field manuals of the Vietnam era, but also a vast collection of declassified primary documents, including rare after-action reports, intelligence analysis, first-hand accounts, and combat studies. Through these documents the pocket manual provides a deep insight into what it was like for infantry to live, survive, and fight in Vietnam, whether conducting a major airmobile search-and-destroy operation or conducting endless hot and humid small-unit patrols from jungle firebases. The book includes infantry intelligence documents about the NVA and VC threats, plus chapters explaining hard-won lessons about using weaponry, surviving and moving through the jungle, tactical maneuvers, and applications of the ubiquitous helicopter for combat and support.

Read more less

The book "The Fundamentals of Hypersensitivity and Allergy" comprises of seven chapters and describes the historical perspective, causes and classification of hypersensitivities, which are important in understanding the current issues regarding conditions in which the immune system which normally serves a protective role has a harmful effect. This book describes the original concept of hypersensitivity and allergy and how sensitive individuals respond to different allergens, drugs and other agents, where the body reacts with an exaggerated immune response that ultimately results in tissue damage. The classification of hypersensitive reactions given by Gell and Coombs with the modifications made to the previous classification are described in detail. Different types of hypersensitivities, their process, the contribution of various cells and molecules to normal immune responses and to hypersensitive reactions are discussed separately. The examples for different types of immune responses are described thoroughly to get a proper understanding of the topic. The clinical manifestations of different types of hypersensitivities and their means of prevention, evaluation and management are also depicted in separate chapters with clear insight. Lastly, the airborne allergens responsible for the allergy, different types of aeroallergens, their effects and allergies caused by them are described. The effect of climate change on aeroallergen production, various diagnostic tests for detection of aero-allergy with their prevention and control are discussed in detail separately. The book contains a reasonable number of diagrams, flowcharts and tables. Besides this, various interesting and self-explanatory illustrations are incorporated to make the book useful to the students for whom it is written. The question bank, which includes long answer type, short answer type and multiple choice questions with their answers at the very end of each chapter, is developed to get a full grasp of the topic.

Read more less

A moving tribute to the sacrifice and bravery of the fliers of RAF Bomber Command. ****************************** The Crew, based on interviews with Ken Cook, the crew's sole surviving member, recounts the wartime exploits of the members of an Avro Lancaster crew between 1942 and the war's end. Gloucestershire-born bomb aimer Ken Cook, hard-bitten Australian pilot Jim Comans, Navigator Don Bowes, Upper Gunner George Widdis, Tail Gunner 'Jock' Bolland, Flight Engineer Ken Randle and Radio Operator Roy Woollford were seven ordinary young men living in extraordinary times, risking their lives in freedom's cause in the dark skies above Hitler's Reich. From their earliest beginnings – in places as far apart as a Cotswold village and the suburbs of Sydney – through the adventure of training in North America and the dread and danger of the forty-five bombing raids they flew with 97 Squadron, David Price describes the crew's wartime experiences with human sympathy allied to a secure technical understanding of one of the RAF's most iconic aircraft. The drama and anxiety of individual missions – to Kassel, Munich and Augsburg as well as Berlin – is evoked with thrilling immediacy; while the military events and strategic decisions that drove the RAF's area bombing campaign against Nazi Germany are interwoven deftly with the narrative of the crew's operational careers. ****************************** Reviews: 'A sensitive account of the bomber's life... Price has given the bomber offensive a human face. This book [...] has a heart and soul' The Times. 'A fascinating and fast-paced account of the exploits of an Avro Lancaster bomber crew from 97 Squadron RAF' The Herald. 'A remarkable insight into the bravery, determination and skill of British Bomber Command crews during WWII' Waterstones.

Read more less

Black Tulip is the dramatic story of history's top fighter ace, Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann. It's also the story of how his service under Hitler was simplified and elevated to Western mythology during the Cold War.Over 1,404 wartime missions, Hartmann claimed a staggering 352 airborne kills, and his career contains all the dramas you would expect. There were the frostbitten fighter sweeps over the Eastern Front, drunken forays to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, a decade of imprisonment in the wretched Soviet POW camps, and further military service during the Cold War that ended with conflict and angst.Just when Hartmann’s second career was faltering, he was adopted by a network of writers and commentators personally invested in his welfare and reputation. These men, mostly Americans, published elaborate, celebratory stories about Hartmann and his elite fraternity of Luftwaffe pilots. With each dogfight tale put into print, Hartmann’s legacy became loftier and more secure, and his complicated service in support of Nazism faded away. A simplified, one-dimensional account of his life - devoid of the harder questions about allegiance and service under Hitler - has gone unchallenged for almost a generation.Black Tulip locates the ambiguous truth about Hartmann and so much of the German Wehrmacht in general: that many of these men were neither full-blown Nazis nor impeccable knights. They were complex, contradictory, and elusive. This book portrays a complex human rather than the heroic caricature we’re used to, and it argues that the tidy, polished hero stories we’ve inherited about men like Hartmann say as much about those who've crafted them as they do about the heroes themselves.

Read more less

Fly, Zeppelin! Help us in the war. Fly to England, England shall be destroyed by fire. Zeppelin, fly!' Such was the hymn which the children sang; such the refrain which greeted the aged inventor, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, wherever he went. Why was there this reaction across Germany? How did a handful of aircraft giving pleasure cruises become a fearsome fleet of rapacious giants encouraged to punish Germany's enemies? What were the images that became part of the public's wartime consciousness? Books on the Zeppelin raids during the First World War have, traditionally, focused on the direct impact of Britain, from the devastating effects on undefended towns and cities, the psychological impact of this first weapon of total war to the technological and strategic advances that eventually defeated the Baby Killers'. Now, drawing on the largest postcard collection of its kind and other period memorabilia, David Marks tells the story of the Zeppelin during the First World War from a viewpoint that has rarely been considered: Germany itself. From its maiden flight in July 1900, the Zeppelin evolved into a symbol of technology and national pride that, once war was declared, was at the forefront of German's propaganda campaign. The Zeppelin links the rampant xenophobia at the outbreak of the conflict against England (it almost never called Britain), France, Russia and their allies to the political doctrines of the day. The postcards that profusely illustrate this book show the wide-ranging types of propaganda from strident Teutonic imagery, myths and legends, biting satire and a surprising amount of humour. This book is a unique contribution to our understanding of the place of the Zeppelin in Germany's culture and society during the First World War.

Read more less

Besides being the right thing to do for Mother Earth, recycling can also make money-particularly when it comes to upcycling, a zero waste practice where discarded materials are fashioned into goods of greater economic or cultural value. In Upcycling Aluminum, Carl A. Zimring explores how the metal's abundance after World War II-coupled with the significant economic and environmental costs of smelting it from bauxite ore-led to the industrial production of valuable durable goods from salvaged aluminum. Beginning in 1886 with the discovery of how to mass produce aluminum, the book examines the essential part the metal played in early aviation and the world wars, as well as the troubling expansion of aluminum as a material of mass disposal. Recognizing that scrap aluminum was as good as virgin material and much more affordable than newly engineered metal, designers in the postwar era used aluminum to manufacture highly prized artifacts. Zimring takes us on a tour of post-1940s design, examining the use of aluminum in cars, trucks, airplanes, furniture, and musical instruments from 1945 to 2015. By viewing upcycling through the lens of one material, Zimring deepens our understanding of the history of recycling in industrial society. He also provides a historical perspective on contemporary sustainable design practices. Along the way, he challenges common assumptions about upcycling's merits and adds a new dimension to recycling as a form of environmental absolution for the waste-related sins of the modern world. Raising fascinating questions of consumption, environment, and desire, Upcycling Aluminum is for anyone interested in industrial and environmental history, discard studies, engineering, product design, music history, or antiques.

Read more less

Build the knowledge and skills you need to provide emergency cardiovascular care! ACLS Study Guide, 6th Edition provides a comprehensive, easy-to-understand overview of advanced cardiovascular life support. With case studies and hundreds of full-color photos and illustrations, this guide covers everything from airway management to cardiac arrest rhythms and electrophysiology, tachycardias and bradycardias, acute coronary syndromes, and acute ischemic stroke. Discussions of the newest ECC guidelines and ACLS treatment algorithms help you manage common cardiac conditions. Written by noted EMS educator Barbara Aehlert, ACLS Study Guide is ideal for use with the American Safety & Health Institute ACLS certification course. Easy-to-understand approach simplifies your study of advanced cardiac life support, thanks to Barbara Aehlert's unique, conversational writing style. Case studies describe real-world examples of common clinical situations, helping you master skills in cardiac rhythm interpretation, medication administration, and other essential interventions. Evidence-based practice recommendations are provided for emergency medical treatment. ACLS Pearl boxes offer brief explanations of complex topics and useful tips for clinical practice. Keeping It Simple boxes provide clear and concise summaries of key points along with memory aids. End-of-chapter quizzes include answers and rationales, helping you remember the most important information. NEW! Updated content includes the latest guidelines from the American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care and the International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science with Treatment Recommendations. NEW! 20 new illustrations are added to the book's hundreds of illustrations.

Read more less

By 1969, following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, over 500,000 US troops were ‘in country’ in Vietnam. Before America’s longest war had ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975, 450,000 Vietnamese had died, along with 36,000 Americans. The Vietnam War was the first rock ’n’ roll war, the first helicopter war with its doctrine of ‘airmobility’, and the first television war; it made napalm and the defoliant Agent Orange infamous, and gave us the New Journalism of Michael Herr and others. It also saw the establishment of the Navy SEALs and Delta Force. At home, America fractured, with the peace movement protesting against the war; at Kent State University, Ohio National Guardsmen fired on unarmed students, killing four and injuring nine. Lewis’s compelling selection of the best writing to come out of a war covered by some truly outstanding writers, both journalists and combatants, includes an eyewitness account of the first major battle between the US Army and the People’s Army of Vietnam at Ia Drang; a selection of letters home; Nicholas Tomalin’s famous ‘The General Goes Zapping Charlie Cong’; Robert Mason’s ‘R&R’, Studs Terkel’s account of the police breaking up an anti-war protest; John Kifner on the shootings at Kent State; Ron Kovic’s ‘Born on the Fourth of July’; John T. Wheeler’s ‘Khe Sanh: Live in the V Ring’; Pulitzer Prize-winner Seymour Hersh on the massacre at My Lai; Michael Herr’s ‘It Made You Feel Omni’; Viet Cong Truong Nhu Tang’s memoir; naval nurse Maureen Walsh’s memoir, ‘Burning Flesh’; John Pilger on the fall of Saigon; and Tim O’Brien’s ‘If I Die in a Combat Zone’.

Read more less

War is declared, and Biggles is ready for action!September 1939. Britain has declared war on Germany. Major James Bigglesworth, known to his friends as ‘Biggles’, is eager to get straight into the action alongside old friends Algernon ‘Algy’ Lacey and ‘Ginger’ Hebblethwaite. They don’t have to wait long.The British government has covertly acquired a small island in the Baltic, off the north coast of Germany. The island is unremarkable save for one feature: a natural sea cave, unknown to the Germans, large enough to house several aircraft.Biggles’ orders: wreak havoc on German forces for as long as possible without compromising the location of the secret base. It’s a dangerous mission, for the might of the enemy military machine will be bent on finding them, led by Biggles’ old nemesis, Erich von Stalhein.Take to the skies in a classic Biggles adventure packed with heroism and feats of derring-do. Perfect for fans of Derek Robinson and Max Hennessy.

Read more less

Solidly grounded on Aristotelian anthropology, moral capital develops a set of principles, practices and metrics useful to business leaders and managers, while eliminating the ambiguity of social capital and allowing for the integration of business ethics initiatives into a robust corporate culture.Sison studies a wide range of recent management cases from the viewpoint of moral capital: the sorry state of US airport screeners before 9-11, the Ford Explorer rollovers and Firestone tire failures, the battle for the 'HP way' between Carly Fiorina and the heirs of the founding families, the dynamics of Microsoft's serial monopolistic behavior, the pitfalls of Enron's senior executives, the sincerity of Howard Lutnick's commitment to Cantor Fitzgerald families, how Andersen's loss of reputation proved mortal and a fresh look at Jack Welch's purported achievements during his tenure at GE.He explains the relationship between different structural and operational levels in the human being (actions, habits, character and lifestyle) and in the firm (products, protocols, corporate culture and corporate history). These levels are later associated with different institutions of moral capital (basic currency, interests, investment bonds, estates or legacies). Strategies for measuring, developing and managing moral capital on both a personal and an organizational plane are also discussed.This engaging and provocative study is a must-read for professors, students, and practitioners of business ethics, general management, human resource management and economic theory.

Read more less

‘Experience of all sorts at the Bar and on the Bench has led to the thought that a few timely words could avoid a lot of grief as well as perhaps bringing a smile or two from the pictures.’ At the Bar Nick Chambers did a great variety of cases ranging from the miners' respiratory claims to the Kuwait Airways litigation. On the Bench his job was to manage and try cases as the Mercantile Judge for Wales and Chester and then for Wales as well as sitting in London in the Commercial Court and other jurisdictions. He was a member of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee at the time of the introduction of the Woolf reforms. He now practices as an arbitrator and mediator from Brick Court Chambers. The Chambers family's involvement with watercolours goes back to 1779 with an ancestor's sketches during the Siege of Gibraltar. Since then each generation has made its own contribution including scenes from Mumbai in the V&A and the first illustrations of the rules of rugby football done at the school in 1845. Illustrations and texts from Nick's book Missed Moments in Legal History hang in the Rolls Building. The pictures in Case Handling pay a further happy tribute to his past. This book, with its pithy advice and attractive illustrations, makes taking the serious medicine of case handling a pleasure both for the recently qualified and anyone else with an interest in making dispute resolution work.

Read more less

As the Soviet Union teetered on the edge of collapse during the late 1980s, and America prepared to claim its victory, a bloody war still raged in Southern Africa, where forces from both sides vied for control of Angola. The result was the largest battle on the dark continent since Al Alamein. The socialist government of Angola and its army, FAPLA, had only to wipe out a massive resistance group, UNITA, secretly supplied by the U.S, in order to claim full sovereignty over the country. A giant FAPLA offensive so threatened to succeed in overcoming UNITA that apartheid-era South Africa stepped in to protect its own interests. The white army crossing the border prompted the Angolan government to call on their own foreign reinforcements—the army of Communist Cuba. Thus began the epic battle of Cuito Cuanavale, largely unknown in the U.S., but which raged for three months in the entirely odd match-up of South African Boers vs. Castro’s armed forces, which for the first time in the Cold War proved what it could achieve. The South Africans were no slouches at warfare themselves, but had suffered under a boycott of weapons since 1977. The Cubans and Angolan troops had the latest Soviet weapons, easily delivered. But UNITA had its secret U.S. supply line and the South Africans knew how to fight. Meantime the Cubans overcame their logistic difficulties with an impressive airlift of troops over the Atlantic, while the Boers simply needed to drive next door.

Read more less

The rural roads that led to our planet-changing global economy ran through the American South. That region's impact on the interconnected histories of business and ecological change is narrated here by acclaimed scholar Bart Elmore, who uses the histories of five southern firms—Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, FedEx, and Bank of America—to investigate the environmental impact of our have-it-now, fly-by-night, buy-on-credit economy. Drawing on exclusive interviews with company executives, corporate archives, and other records, Elmore explores the historical, economic, and ecological conditions that gave rise to these five trailblazing corporations. He then considers what each has become: an essential presence in the daily workings of the global economy and an unmistakable contributor to the reshaping of the world's ecosystems. Even as businesses invest in sustainability initiatives and respond to new calls for corporate responsibility, Elmore shows the limits of their efforts to "green" their operations and offers insights on how governments and activists can push corporations to do better. At the root, Elmore reveals a fundamental challenge: Our lives are built around businesses that connect far-flung rural places to urban centers and global destinations. This "country capitalism" that proved successful in the US South has made it possible to satisfy our demands at the click of a button, but each click comes with hidden environmental costs. This book is a must-read for anyone who hopes to create an ecologically sustainable future economy.

Read more less

During the first half of the twentieth century, the mountainous North West Frontier represented one of the British Empire's most strategically important borders. For thousands of inexperienced British and Indian troops facing a local resistance the methods and lessons of their predecessors were vital for their survival. General Sir Andrew Skeen's unofficial but authoritative textbook was written with these junior officers in mind. His work provided them with pragmatic and practical information on hill warfare in an accessible fashion. Skeen's understanding of frontier fighting remains as valuable to modern troops fighting local insurgents today as it was to successive generations of Imperial soldiers who faced tribal uprisings. His work became an unofficial textbook and was widely read in Britain and India. Despite the later introduction of armoured cars, light tanks and aircraft, it retains much of its value and it was recently reissued to the Pakistan army. Britains return to Afghanistan in 2001 alongside Coalition forces, and the Pakistan Army fighting in Waziristan, conjures inescapable parallels with earlier conflicts, and the Third Afghan war in particular. Remarkably many of the ideas and principles Skeen identified still hold true. Now as then, the arena of fighting was tough and unforgiving. The Afghans and Pashtuns have proved themselves incredibly resourceful, skilled and resolute, demanding the very best expertise, tactics and dedication from the Coalition troops. This book offers an evocative insight into the period and serves as a timely reminder of Britains historic association with the North West Frontier and Afghanistan.

Read more less

This practical handbook provides a clearly structured, concise and comprehensive account of the huge variety of atmospheric and related measurements relevant to meteorologists and for the purpose of weather forecasting and climate research, but also to the practitioner in the wider field of environmental physics and ecology. The Springer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements is divided into six parts: The first part offers instructive descriptions of the basics of atmospheric measurements and the multitude of their influencing factors, fundamentals of quality control and standardization, as well as equations and tables of atmospheric, water, and soil quantities. The subsequent parts present classical in-situ measurements as well as remote sensing techniques from both ground-based as well as airborn or satellite-based methods. The next part focusses on complex measurements and methods that integrate different techniques to establish more holistic data. Brief discussions of measurements in soils and water, at plants, in urban and rural environments and for renewable energies demonstrate the potential of such applications. The final part provides an overview of atmospheric and ecological networks. Written by distinguished experts from academia and industry, each of the 64 chapters provides in-depth discussions of the available devices with their specifications, aspects of quality control, maintenance as well as their potential for the future. A large number of thoroughly compiled tables of physical quantities, sensors and system characteristics make this handbook a unique, universal and useful reference for the practitioner and absolutely essential for researchers, students, and technicians.

Read more less

SHORTLISTED: Business Book Awards 2023 - International Business Book Building and sustaining an organization which is nimble, adaptable, resilient and future proof is both complex and urgent. Only those with flexible and innovative Learnscapes will succeed. Learning Ecosystems explains how organizations evolve into LearnScapes where learning techniques are aligned with continuous interaction with the ecosystem they are part of. It explains how to upskill and reskill a workforce continuously in an increasingly collaborative and tech-enabled world. Full of practical guidance and strategic advice, this book covers how to take a lifelong approach to learning in the organization and the core competencies needed for this. It explains what to do when building a value and data-driven learning strategy and discusses the symbiosis of people and technology. This book explores lean learning, data analytics, learning technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and the ethics of using these technologies. There is also crucial guidance on how to take a human-centric approach to innovation. Learning Ecosystems demonstrates the value of continuous improvement and offers techniques for a variety of situations including problem analyses, experimentation and algorithmic business thinking. Most importantly, it provides guidance on how to build a learning culture and a learning ecosystem throughout the company. Supported by case studies from companies including Etihad Airways, ING, ESF and FEDEX, this is essential reading from a leading learning innovator who has helped global organizations to rethink their learning strategies to achieve sustained business growth.

Read more less

'I remember seeing a flash, I turned around and heard a roar like a train approaching in a tunnel. Then a tremendous crack like a whiplash passed directly overhead. I saw a mushroom cloud ... There was black and white smoke, orange and red flames ascending through the centre of the mushroom.' RAN Able Seaman Vince Douglas, participant in Operation HurricaneAt 8.00 a.m. on Friday 3 October 1952, Britain's first atomic bomb was detonated in the hold of a surplus frigate, HMS Plym, moored in the Montebello Islands, 50 miles off the North West Coast of Western Australia. The blast vaporised the Plym, produced a mushroom cloud 2 miles high, and covered the islands and parts of the Australian mainland with fallout. The test, codenamed Operation Hurricane, was the culmination of years of top-secret planning in London and Canberra and months of clandestine preparations at the site. One of the largest peacetime military operations in Australian history, its success shifted the balance of power in the Cold War and briefly rejuvenated the fading British Empire.Painstakingly pieced together from declassified government documents and first-person accounts by surviving participants, Operation Hurricane tells the story of Britain's first nuclear test from the point of view of the men on the ground: soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians. It delves into the historical context of the Cold War and examines the controversial legacy of the atomic tests, including the impact of fallout on servicemen, Aboriginal peoples and the environment, and Australia's relationship with the United Kingdom.

Read more less

An acclaimed journalist seeks to understand the mysterious allure of peacocks—and in the process discovers unexpected and valuable life lessons. 2022 Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlist SelectionWhen Sean Flynn’s neighbor in North Carolina texted “Any chance you guys want a peacock? No kidding!” he stared bewilderedly at his phone. He had never considered whether he wanted a peacock. But as an award-winning magazine writer, this kind of mystery intrigued him. So he, his wife, and their two young sons became the owners of not one but three charming yet fickle birds: Carl, Ethel, and Mr. Pickle. In Why Peacocks?, Flynn chronicles his hilarious and heartwarming first year as a peacock owner, from struggling to build a pen to assisting the local bird doctor in surgery to triumphantly watching a peahen lay her first egg. He also examines the history of peacocks, from their appearance in the Garden of Eden to their befuddling Charles Darwin to their bewitching the likes of Flannery O’Connor and Martha Stewart. And fueled by a reporter’s curiosity, he travels across the globe to learn more about the birds firsthand, with stops including a Scottish castle where peacocks have resided for centuries, a southern California community tormented by a serial killer of peacocks, and a Kansas City airport hotel hosting an annual gathering of true peafowl aficionados. At turns comically absurd and deeply poignant, Why Peacocks? blends lively, insightful memoir and illuminating science journalism to answer the title’s question. More than that, it offers surprising lessons about love, grief, fatherhood, and family.

Read more less

In a world in which global trade is at risk, where warehouses and airports, shipping lanes and seaports try to guard against the likes of Al Qaeda and Somali pirates, and natural disaster can disrupt the flow of goods, even our “stuff” has a political life. The high stakes of logistics are not surprising, Deborah Cowen reveals, if we understand its genesis in war. In The Deadly Life of Logistics, Cowen traces the art and science of logistics over the last sixty years, from the battlefield to the boardroom and back again. Focusing on choke points such as national borders, zones of piracy, blockades, and cities, she tracks contemporary efforts to keep goods circulating and brings to light the collective violence these efforts produce. She investigates how the old military art of logistics played a critical role in the making of the global economic order—not simply the globalization of production, but the invention of the supply chain and the reorganization of national economies into transnational systems. While reshaping the world of production and distribution, logistics is also actively reconfiguring global maps of security and citizenship, a phenomenon Cowen charts through the rise of supply chain security, with its challenge to long-standing notions of state sovereignty and border management. Though the object of corporate and governmental logistical efforts is commodity supply, The Deadly Life of Logistics demonstrates that they are deeply political—and, considered in the context of the long history of logistics, deeply indebted to the practice of war.

Read more less

Welcome to Overland! Where the California sun shines down on synthetic grass and plastic oranges bedeck the trees all year round. Steam billows gently from the chimney tops and the blue tarpaulin lake is open for fishing… Hollywood set-designer George Godfrey has been called on to do his patriotic duty and he doesn’t believe in half-measures. If he is going to hide an American aircraft plant from the threat of Japanese aerial spies he has an almighty job on his hands. He will need an army of props and actors to make the Lockheed factory vanish behind the semblance of a suburban town. Every day, his “Residents” climb through a trapdoor in the factory roof to shift model cars, shop for imaginary groceries and rotate fake sheep in felt-green meadows. Overland is a beacon for the young women labouring below it: Queenie, dreaming of movie stardom while welding sheet metal; Kay, who must seek refuge from the order to intern “All Persons of Japanese Ancestry”. Meanwhile, George’s right-hand Resident, Jimmy, knows that High Command aren’t at all happy with the camouflage project...With George so bewitched by his own illusion, might it risk confusing everybody – not just the enemy?Overland is a book like no other -- to be read in landscape format. Based on true events, it is a novel where characters' dreams and desires come down to earth with more than a bump, confronting the hardships of life during wartime. As surreal and playful as it is affecting and unsettling, no-one other than Graham Rawle could have created it.

Read more less

'One of the most important and compelling books I've ever read...If you want to understand why we are in this crisis, listen to the voices all too often airbrushed from the political conversation' Owen JonesNow We Have Your Attention makes sense of what is happening in British politics by taking a radically different perspective: the people's.From a warehouse in Manchester to a pub in Essex, from the outskirts of Glasgow to a racecourse in Durham, Jack Shenker uncovers the root causes of our current crisis and the future direction of British politics through the lives of ordinary individuals. Taking us deep into communities hollowed out by austerity and decades of economic disadvantage, among a generation crippled by precarious work and unaffordable housing, he shows where the chaos at Westminster ultimately springs from - and how disillusionment with it is fuelling a passionate engagement with politics of a completely different kind: local, personal, effective and utterly fearless.Joining a 'McStrike' protest on a roundabout in Cambridge and a gathering of the London Renters' Union in the aftermath of Grenfell, meeting hard-right bloggers in Newcastle and climate change protesters in Brighton, Shenker draws on exceptional access to campaign groups, activist movements and grassroots gatherings throughout the country - including unique access to Momentum, who have re-radicalised the Labour party from the outside in - to introduce us to the citizens and leaders of tomorrow: people who are changing things for themselves.Inspiring and terrifying in equal measure, Now We Have Your Attention uncovers a revolutionary transformation in attitudes and behaviour, and a future that will shape us all.

Read more less

'An endlessly ingenious writer of compelling, brilliantly crafted thrillers' Peter JamesNew York Times bestseller Brenda Novak's fourth novel in the Evelyn Talbot series sees the return of psychiatrist Dr Evelyn Talbot. When you're studying America's most terrifying psychopaths, can you ever really be safe? This is SILENCE OF THE LAMBS meets Karen Rose...SOMETIMES THE DARKEST DEEDS HAPPEN IN BROAD DAYLIGHT With her tortured past finally behind her - and her tormentor, Jasper Moore, locked up, where she can study him along with the other psychopaths at Hanover House - psychiatrist Evelyn Talbot is looking to the future. She's about to have a baby and marry her long-time love, Amarok, the only police presence in Hilltop, Alaska. But when she's snatched from her own driveway, she can only guess at who's taken her captive...and why. Struggling to survive in a tiny, airless cell, Evelyn is relying on Amarok to find her. But he won't have much to go on, a point that becomes even more alarming when her captor reveals a clue to the mastermind behind her abduction. Not only does she know him, she knows he has a particularly gruesome method of disabling his victims. So unless she manages to escape, neither she nor her baby will survive...Look for the other gripping novels in the Evelyn Talbot series - Her Darkest Nightmare, Hello Again, Face Off, and the prequel novella, Hanover House, available now.

Read more less

Get instant access to the history, technology, drivers, rivalries, racing circuits, and business of Formula 1 in this beautifully designed and illustrated essential guide from Motorbooks’ Speed Read series. The world racing championship that now encompasses 20 (and counting) annual races across five continents started in the European racing scene between the first and second world wars. It’s been a long road from the early races held in redundant airfields bounded by old oil drums to today’s extravagant spectacles—a road marked by glory, championships, iteration, technology, and speed. In sections divided by topic, you’ll find the history of the sport, biographies of major drivers and figures who have dominated the sport’s long and storied history, a rundown of the incredible technology that makes its cars so fast, an account of racing accidents and the safety measures they inspired, and more. Each section ends with a glossary of related terms, and informational sidebars provide fun facts, historical tidbits, and mini-bios of key people in Formula 1. Sleek illustrations of the cars, technology, and drivers impart the visual feel of F1 throughout. With Motorbooks’ Speed Read series, become an instant expert in a range of fast-moving subjects, from Formula 1 racing to the Tour de France. Accessible language, compartmentalized sections, fact-filled sidebars, glossaries of key terms, and event timelines deliver quick access to insider knowledge. Their brightly colored covers, modern design, pop art–inspired illustrations, and handy size make them perfect on-the-go reads.

Read more less

Named one of the best nonfiction books of 2023 by Publishers Weekly! There is a familiar narrative about American suburbs: after 1945, white residents left cities for leafy, affluent subdivisions and the prosperity they seemed to embody. In Levittown’s Shadow tells us there’s more to this story, offering an eye-opening account of diverse, poor residents living and working in those same neighborhoods. Tim Keogh shows how public policies produced both suburban plenty and deprivation—and why ignoring suburban poverty doomed efforts to reduce inequality. Keogh focuses on the suburbs of Long Island, home to Levittown, often considered the archetypal suburb. Here military contracts subsidized well-paid employment welding airplanes or filing paperwork, while weak labor laws impoverished suburbanites who mowed lawns, built houses, scrubbed kitchen floors, and stocked supermarket shelves. Federal mortgage programs helped some families buy orderly single-family homes and enter the middle class but also underwrote landlord efforts to cram poor families into suburban attics, basements, and sheds. Keogh explores how policymakers ignored suburban inequality, addressing housing segregation between cities and suburbs rather than suburbanites’ demands for decent jobs, housing, and schools. By turning our attention to the suburban poor, Keogh reveals poverty wasn’t just an urban problem but a suburban one, too. In Levittown’s Shadow deepens our understanding of suburbia’s history—and points us toward more effective ways to combat poverty today.

Read more less

Serious and silly, unifying and polarizing, presidential elections have become events that Americans love and hate. Today's elections cost billions of dollars and consume the nation's attention for months, filling television airwaves and online media with endless advertising and political punditry, often heated, vitriolic, and petty. Yet presidential elections also provoke and inspire mass engagement of ordinary citizens in the political system. No matter how frustrated or disinterested voters might be about politics and government, every four years, on the first Tuesday in November, the attention of the nation—and the world—focuses on the candidates, the contest, and the issues. The partisan election process has been a way for a messy, jumbled, raucous nation to come together as a slightly-more-perfect union. Pivotal Tuesdays looks back at four pivotal presidential elections of the past 100 years to show how they shaped the twentieth century. During the rowdy, four-way race in 1912 between Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Eugene Debs, and Woodrow Wilson, the candidates grappled with the tremendous changes of industrial capitalism and how best to respond to them. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt's promises to give Americans a "New Deal" to combat the Great Depression helped him beat the beleaguered incumbent, Herbert Hoover. The dramatic and tragic campaign of 1968 that saw the election of Richard Nixon reflected an America divided by race, region, and war and set in motion political dynamics that persisted into the book's final story—the three-way race that led to Bill Clinton's 1992 victory. Exploring the personalities, critical moments, and surprises of these races, Margaret O'Mara shows how and why candidates won or lost and examines the effects these campaigns had on the presidencies that followed. But this isn't just a book about politics. It is about the evolution of a nation and the history made by ordinary people who cast their ballots.

Read more less

'David Esterly's handsome book on Gibbons has been republished by the V&A with sumptuous pictures' Laura Freeman, The Times, 14th August 2021 Reissued to mark 300 years since the death of Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721), this study views the work of the greatest of decorative woodcarvers from the perspective of a fellow carver, the late David Esterly. Grinling Gibbons is famous for giving wood "the loose and airy lightness of flowers." His flamboyant cascades of lifelike blossoms, fruits, foliage, birds and fish dominate English interiors of the late seventeenth century. They are among the glories of Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, and St. Paul's Cathedral, as well as Badminton, Burghley, Petworth, and other great country houses. A contemporary of Christopher Wren and of the diarists Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, Gibbons was part of the colourful world of Restoration England. His discovery by Evelyn in a tumble-down cottage near the River Thames was followed by a presentation to King Charles II, who rejected his early sculptural work. Gibbons responded by inventing his spectacular style of decorative carving. He was then rediscovered, reintroduced to the king, and launched into a triumphant career. After setting Gibbons in historical context, David Esterly's ground-breaking approach allows us to understand the process by which these exuberant carvings were created and how their forms reflect the organization of Gibbon's workshop. Esterly, a professional woodcarver who restored some of Gibbons' most important carvings, shares his unique knowledge of the layering process by which Gibbons built up such masterpieces as the Cosimo panel or the elaborate overmantels at Hampton Court Palace. Specially commissioned photographs show these carvings in a disassembled state, revealing the secrets of their construction. Esterly also discusses Gibbons' formidable carving techniques, and his tools, workshop practice, materials, and finishing are described in detail. This generously illustrated volume will have a special appeal for carvers as well as for those interested in seventeenth-century interiors and the decorative arts.

Read more less

From a veteran culture writer and modern movie expert, a celebration and analysis of the movies of 1999—“a terrifically fun snapshot of American film culture on the brink of the Millennium….An absolute must for any movie-lover or pop-culture nut” (Gillian Flynn).In 1999, Hollywood as we know it exploded: Fight Club. The Matrix. Office Space. Election. The Blair Witch Project. The Sixth Sense. Being John Malkovich. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. American Beauty. The Virgin Suicides. Boys Don’t Cry. The Best Man. Three Kings. Magnolia. Those are just some of the landmark titles released in a dizzying movie year, one in which a group of daring filmmakers and performers pushed cinema to new limits—and took audiences along for the ride. Freed from the restraints of budget, technology, or even taste, they produced a slew of classics that took on every topic imaginable, from sex to violence to the end of the world. The result was a highly unruly, deeply influential set of films that would not only change filmmaking, but also give us our first glimpse of the coming twenty-first century. It was a watershed moment that also produced The Sopranos; Apple’s AirPort; Wi-Fi; and Netflix’s unlimited DVD rentals. “A spirited celebration of the year’s movies” (Kirkus Reviews), Best. Movie. Year. Ever. is the story of not just how these movies were made, but how they re-made our own vision of the world. It features more than 130 new and exclusive interviews with such directors and actors as Reese Witherspoon, Edward Norton, Steven Soderbergh, Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Nia Long, Matthew Broderick, Taye Diggs, M. Night Shyamalan, David O. Russell, James Van Der Beek, Kirsten Dunst, the Blair Witch kids, the Office Space dudes, the guy who played Jar-Jar Binks, and dozens more. It’s “the complete portrait of what it was like to spend a year inside a movie theater at the best possible moment in time” (Chuck Klosterman).

Read more less