Search results for ""Author Gold"

Exploring the profound differences between what the military services believe—and how they uniquely serve the nation.When the US military confronts pressing security challenges, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps often react differently as they advise and execute civilian defense policies. Conventional wisdom holds that these dynamics tend to reflect a competition for prestige, influence, and dollars. Such interservice rivalries, however, are only a fraction of the real story. In Four Guardians, Jeffrey W. Donnithorne argues that the services act instead as principled agents, interpreting policies in ways that reflect their unique cultures and patterns of belief. Chapter-length portraits of each service highlight the influence of operational environment ("nature") and political history ("nurture") in shaping each service's cultural worldview. The book also offers two important case studies of civil-military policymaking: one, the little-known story of the creation of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force in the early 1980s; the other, the four-year political battle that led to the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in 1986. Donnithorne uses these cases to demonstrate the principled agent framework in action while amply revealing the four services as distinctly different political actors. Combining crisp insight and empirical depth with engaging military history, Four Guardians provides practical utility for civil-military scholars, national security practitioners, and interested citizens alike. This timely work brings a new appreciation for the American military, the complex dynamics of civilian control, and the principled ways in which the four guardian services defend their nation.

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'During downtime on the pottery throwdown Keith made my hair curl with some of his tales - he's a great raconteur and recounts his story in this book as he does in real life - with joy, charm & mischief.' - Sara Cox'Fans of Throw Down will enjoy this warm autobiography.' - Daily Mail'An engaging read by an endearing, unassuming man who has always stayed true to his passions.' - Daily MirrorBallet dancer. Front man in an almost famous band. Judge on The Great Pottery Throwdown. How did all that happen?By accident mostly. But I always say we make our own luck. What if an art teacher hadn't given me a lump of clay? What if the band had been really successful? What if I hadn't taken a photograph of a bowl to the buyer at Heals in London? What if she'd hated it? Or hadn't seen it... What if I hadn't agreed to dress up as Adele to make a crazy YouTube video? Every chapter of my book is based around an object (usually a pot) that's been significant in my life. It's just a trigger to let me go off in a lot of different directions and tell a few stories. A lot of stories. Dyslexia. The art teacher who changed my life. My Mother. My Father. A life-changing job interview with a man who lay under his car throughout. That video.Sifting through half-forgotten memories, trying to pick out the golden nuggets from the stuff that is definitely dross has been a curious, and at times hilarious, sometimes sad, but definitely enlightening process. So here it is - my pottery life with some very loud music and some pretty good dancing. And a lot of throwing, fettling and firing. Oh ...and a good dose of anxiety.

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An elegant introduction to one of America's most complex and influential writers. From his childhood in a family of leading American intellectuals through his mature life as a major American man of letters, Henry James (1843-1916) created a unique body of fiction that represents one of the greatest achievements in the nation's literary history. James's transnational life in the US and England and his extraordinary siblings (the philosopher William James and diarist Alice James) made his life as complicated as the fictions he produced. In this elegant introduction to the work of Henry James, Susan L. Mizruchi places the notoriously difficult and obscure writings in their historical and biographical context. As James grew in confidence as a writer, his fictions evolved accordingly. These complex accounts of human experience engage with the vital issues of both James's era and our own. Among the works treated in this introduction are Washington Square, The Europeans, Daisy Miller, The Portrait of a Lady, The Golden Bowl, and The Turn of the Screw. Through his novels, as well as his journalistic and critical endeavors, James explores themes related to gender relations, human sexuality, the nature of modernity, the threat of relativism, the rise of mass culture, and the role of art. Since their creation, James's writings have been a consistent subject of both literary theory and popular culture, receiving a diverse array of theoretical treatments, from formalism, deconstruction, phenomenology, and pragmatism to Marxism, new historicism, and gender and queer theory. James's novels have been adapted into numerous films by directors including William Wyler, Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Winner, Merchant/Ivory, and Jane Campion. The impact of Henry James cannot be overstated.

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On the morning of July 16, 1964, a white police officer in New York City shot and killed a black teenager, James Powell, across the street from the high school where he was attending summer classes. Two nights later, a peaceful demonstration in Central Harlem degenerated into violent protests. During the next week, thousands of rioters looted stores from Brooklyn to Rochester and pelted police with bottles and rocks. In the symbolic and historic heart of black America, the Harlem Riot of 1964, as most called it, highlighted a new dynamic in the racial politics of the nation. The first "long, hot summer" of the Sixties had arrived. In this gripping narrative of a pivotal moment, Michael W. Flamm draws on personal interviews and delves into the archives to move briskly from the streets of New York, where black activists like Bayard Rustin tried in vain to restore peace, to the corridors of the White House, where President Lyndon Johnson struggled to contain the fallout from the crisis and defeat Republican challenger Barry Goldwater, who had made "crime in the streets" a centerpiece of his campaign. Recognizing the threat to his political future and the fragile alliance of black and white liberals, Johnson promised that the War on Poverty would address the "root causes" of urban disorder. A year later, he also launched the War on Crime, which widened the federal role in law enforcement and set the stage for the War on Drugs. Today James Powell is forgotten amid the impassioned debates over the militarization of policing and the harmful impact of mass incarceration on minority communities. But his death was a catalyst for the riots in New York, which in turn foreshadowed future explosions and influenced the political climate for the crime and drug policies of recent decades. In the Heat of the Summer spotlights the extraordinary drama of a single week when peaceful protests and violent unrest intersected, the freedom struggle reached a crossroads, and the politics of law and order led to demands for a War on Crime.

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The vibrant flavors of Baja California inspire home cooks to recreate the flavor forward and passionate cuisine, inspired by the sea, and the fruits and vegetables of the region. There s a line between Northern Baja and Southern California nature knows no such borders and, neither does food nor the people. Baja s food culture has long influenced Southern California and vice versa. The fish taco may be San Diego s signature dish but it comes from Baja. The Caesar salad does too. The streets of Tijuana, a city famous for its street food, sport nearly as many takes on the hot dog as on the taco. Cali-Baja cuisine built on the natural bounty of the region and the flavors the people who live there love. It s the fish of Popotla and San Diego s sea urchins. It s the wine of the Valle de Guadalupe and perhaps the greatest craft beer scene anywhere just across the border. It s Los Angeles pocho cuisine and Tijuana street food. It s the asparagus of Mexicali, California artichokes and the ubiquitous avocados on both sides of the border. It s the multi-cultural and cross-cultural palate of all who live there influenced by everywhere they may have come from. The Baja region has a wealth of distinctive ingredients from the ocean and the land. Its chefs, street stand vendors and home cooks use those ingredients and flavors to create dishes from old homes elsewhere. They can be restaurant dishes from Tijuana s Zona Gastronomica or an adaptation of Nayarit-style Zarandeado, a variation of LA street food or a dish from whatever happens to be on hand that becomes the next big thing on Avenida Revolucion. The mission of this book is to help it be the next big thing out of your kitchen. Featuring a mix of both traditional and modern takes on signature Baja dishes, such as: Crab with Pickled Asparagus in Guajillo Pork Broth; Cantaloupe Aguachile al Estilo de Californios, Braised Oxtail and Guajillo Guisada Tacos; Puerto Nuevo-style Lobster Tortas; Golden Beet Pozole; and Smoked Pulled Lamb Shoulder with Seared Tomatillo and Microwave 'Fried' Cilantro.

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Included in this latest volume are: “A Structural Analysis of the Digressions in the Iliad and the Odyssey,” by Julia Haig Gaisser; “Bacchylides’ Ode 5: Imitation and Originality,” by Mary R. Lefkowitz; “Agamemnonea,” by Hugh Lloyd-Jones; “Euripides, Alcestis 1092–1098,” by Marylin A. Whitfield; “Ληκυθιον Απωλεσεν,” by Cedric H. Whitman; “Near Eastern Material in Hellenistic and Roman Literature,” by M. L. West; “Chrysalus and the Fall of Troy (Plautus, Bacchides 925–978),” by H. D. Jocelyn; “Symmetry and Sense in the Eclogues,” by Otto Skutsch; “Some Callimachean Influences on Propertius, Book 4,” by Hugh E. Pillinger; “Pliny the Procurator,” by Ronald Syme; “Seneca and Juvenal 10,” by Bernard F. Dick; “Theodosius the Great and the Regency of Stilico,” by Alan Cameron; “Architect and Engineer in Archaic Greece,” by R. Ross Holloway; and “A Terracotta Lamp in the McDaniel Collection,” by Sidney M. Goldstein.

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The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate covers the period 1901–1929, the period in which the Parliament operated from Melbourne. This first volume provides short articles on Australia's Senators during the first thirty years of the Federal Parliament. These entries place particular emphasis on the events of a Senator's parliamentary experience, contributions to debates, committee work, parliamentary positions as well as ministerial appointments.It provides also a window on the colonial and post-colonial societies in which these ninety-nine Senators and their three Clerks lived and worked. It explains how miners, merchants, constitutionalists, soldiers, printers, trade unionists, adventurers and pastoralists became Senators, and how, in an essentially egalitarian society, they melded together as Australia's first federal parliamentarians. It tells of their work as legislators during a period when Australia was making a unique contribution to democracy itself, and reveals the excitement felt by conservatives and non-conservatives alike as they shaped the beginnings of an Australian nation.The contribution of these Senators to Australian public life was immense. The Federationists, Richard Baker, John Downer, Thomas Playford, Richard O'Connor, James Walker, Henry Dobson, William Trenwith, Simon Fraser, Josiah Symon and William Zeal retain some elemens of notoriety. Others, such as the South Australian farmer, William Russell, or Charles Montague Graham, a tailor on the Western Australian goldfields, were soon forgotten, even in their own time.The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate reveals to a new generation the influence and the significance of men who came from all sides of politics and the social spectrum, and were able parliamentarians and true representatives of the democratic process.This readable and authoritative work of reference will provide readers with a biographical account of all Australian senators, and a history of the Senate since 1901. It makes a scholarly contribution to historical and parliamentary knowledge and fills many gaps in our knowledge of less well-known senators whose careers have not been fully documented before.

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For 1930s Britain, the Queen Mary was a symbol of hope. Cunard had abandoned construction on what they had planned to be the grandest liner of all time (then known simply as Job 534) in the depths of the Depression. Her half-finished hull sat on the Clyde for years, but when Cunard announced they were going to complete her, it was a sign, perhaps, that the darkest days were over, that the country was emerging from economic disaster and that Britannia would soon rule the waves once again. The Queen Mary would go on to be one of the most famous ships in the world for all the right reasons. The first British ship to be over 1,000 feet in length, launched by her namesake (and for which the Clyde had to be artificially widened to allow such a large ship to pass through), she won the Blue Riband (the record for fastest Atlantic crossing) not once by twice – and when she won it the second time in 1938 she held it until 1952. After wartime service carrying up to 16,000 US troops to Europe at a time, she finally retired to Long Beach, California, in 1967. There she remains, a perfectly preserved reminder of a bygone era, and a celebration of the golden age of the transatlantic liner. In this book David Ellery, maritime historian, TV presenter and documentary maker, answers all the questions you might have about this glorious ship – and ones you might never have thought to ask too. This unique, accessible approach gives a fantastic introduction to the ship to anyone curious about her, but is also very detailed and comprehensive, covering everything from the ship’s design, construction, engineering and interior fittings to her naming, wartime service and more. Packed with archival photographs and other original material, this is a fascinating and illuminating guide to the Queen Mary, looking beneath the sheen of her appointments to explore how her fame is well deserved.

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"Cover me while I cut around that blue Mondeo and ambush the guy in the grey suit.” There are not many successful entrepreneurs who will enthusiastically break off in the middle of a multi-million pound deal to have a huge snowball fight in the car park with their finance director. But then Mark Mills is not just any successful entrepreneur. Whether organising one of his infamous Summer Christmas parties, flying to New York to find a new business idea or staying up all night to celebrate a successful deal, Mark Mills has always believed in the absolute importance of having fun in business. And not just for him, but for his employees, customers and suppliers too. His brilliantly unique approach has more than paid off. Mark’s infectious enthusiasm, relentless energy, can-do approach and spirit of adventure have powered him to the very pinnacle of entrepreneurial success, both in his own businesses and by helping others to do the same in theirs. Over the years he has won countless Entrepreneur of the Year Awards and been asked to give speeches at prestigious events around the world about his achievements. Making Your Mark tells the fascinating and entertaining story of Mark’s extraordinary success in business, from selling broken biscuits at the age of 8, through his early years selling everything from payphones to post boxes, to his outstanding success creating Cardpoint, the cash machine business he founded at the age of 29 which at its peak was valued at £170 million. But just as importantly, it also tells the story of Mark’s disasters along the way, about the times when things went badly wrong and when failure was more often the outcome than success. Along the way Mark shares his unique Golden Rules on how to achieve your own success in business, from learning how to think like an entrepreneur to creating a good business model, from understanding how to build a strong team to learning how to communicate effectively.

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This book presents and explores the Waddesdon Bequest, the name given to the Kunstkammer or cabinet collection of Renaissance treasures which was bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, MP in 1898. The Bequest is named after Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, a fairy tale French chateau built by Baron Ferdinand from 1874 – 83, where the collection was housed during his lifetime. As a major Jewish banking family, the Rothschilds were the greatest collectors of the nineteenth century, seeking not only the finest craftsmanship in their treasures, but also demonstrating great discernment and a keen sense of historical importance in selecting them. Baron Ferdinand’s aim, often working in rivalry with his cousins, was to possess a special room filled with splendid, precious and intricate objects in the tradition of European courts of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It was understood at the time that a collection of this quality could never be formed again, given the rarity and expense of the pieces, and the problems of faking and forgery of just this kind of material. The book will unlock the history and romance of this glorious collection through its exploration of some of its greatest treasures and the stories they tell. It will introduce makers and patrons, virtuoso craftsmanship, faking and the history of collecting from the late medieval to modern periods, as told through the objects. Treasures discussed will include masterpieces of goldsmiths’ work in silver; jewellery; hardstones and engraved rock crystal; astonishing microcarvings in boxwood, painted enamel, ceramic and glass; arms and armour and ‘curosities’: exotic treasures incorporating ostrich eggs, Seychelles nut, amber or nautilus shell. Scholarly catalogues have appeared for parts of this splendid collection but this book will open up the Bequest for the general reader. By looking at individual objects in detail, and drawing on new photography and research, the book will enable readers to see and understand the objects in a completely different light.

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Conventional wisdom holds that television was a co-conspirator in the repressions of Cold War America, that it was a facilitator to the blacklist and handmaiden to McCarthyism. But Thomas Doherty argues that, through the influence of television, America actually became a more open and tolerant place. Although many books have been written about this period, Cold War, Cool Medium is the only one to examine it through the lens of television programming. To the unjaded viewership of Cold War America, the television set was not a harbinger of intellectual degradation and moral decay, but a thrilling new household appliance capable of bringing the wonders of the world directly into the home. The "cool medium" permeated the lives of every American, quickly becoming one of the most powerful cultural forces of the twentieth century. While television has frequently been blamed for spurring the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, it was also the national stage upon which America witnessed-and ultimately welcomed-his downfall. In this provocative and nuanced cultural history, Doherty chronicles some of the most fascinating and ideologically charged episodes in television history: the warm-hearted Jewish sitcom The Goldbergs; the subversive threat from I Love Lucy; the sermons of Fulton J. Sheen on Life Is Worth Living; the anticommunist series I Led 3 Lives; the legendary jousts between Edward R. Murrow and Joseph McCarthy on See It Now; and the hypnotic, 188-hour political spectacle that was the Army-McCarthy hearings. By rerunning the programs, freezing the frames, and reading between the lines, Cold War, Cool Medium paints a picture of Cold War America that belies many black-and-white cliches. Doherty not only details how the blacklist operated within the television industry but also how the shows themselves struggled to defy it, arguing that television was preprogrammed to reinforce the very freedoms that McCarthyism attempted to curtail.

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‘James Crowden is Britain’s best cider writer … Cider Country is the book we’ve all been waiting for.’ Oz Clarke Join James Crowden as he embarks on a journey to distil the ancient origins of cider, uncovering a rich culture and philosophy that has united farmer, maker and drinker for millennia. LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 ANDRE SIMON FOOD AND DRINK AWARD Cidermaking has been at the heart of country life for hundreds of years. But the fascinating story of how this drink came into existence and why it became so deeply rooted in the nation’s psyche has never been told. In order to answer these questions, James Crowden traces an elusive history stretching back to the ancient, myth-infused civilisations of the Mediterranean and the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan. Meeting cider experts, farmers and historians, he unearths the surprising story of an apple that travelled from east to west and proved irresistible to everyone who tasted it. Upon its arrival in Britain, monks, pirates and politicians formed a pioneering and evangelical fan base, all seeking the company of a drink that might guide them through uncertain times. But the nation’s love-affair with cider didn’t fully blossom until after the reformation, when the thirst for knowledge about the drink was at its peak. This infatuation with experimentation would lead to remarkable innovations and the creation of a ‘sparkling cider’, a technique that pre-dated Dom Pérignon's champagne by forty years. Turning to the present day, Crowden meets the next generation of cider makers and unearths a unique philosophy that has been shared through the ages. In the face of real challenges, these enterprising cider makers are still finding new ways to produce this golden drink that is enjoyed by so many. Spanning centuries and continents, Cider Country tells the story of our country through the culture, craft and consumption of our most iconic rural drink.

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As mentioned in The Times Travel Book Club 2020Award winning writer Paul Theroux embarks on a journey that, though closer to home than most of his expeditions, uncovers some surprising truths about Britain and the British people in the '80s in The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain. Paul Theroux's round-Britain travelogue is funny, perceptive and 'best avoided by patriots with high blood pressure...'After eleven years living as an American in London, Paul Theroux set out to travel clockwise round the coast and find out what Britain and the British are really like. It was 1982, the summer of the Falklands War, the ideal time, he found, to surprise the British into talking about themselves. The result makes superbly vivid and engaging reading.'A sharp and funny descriptive writer. One of his golden talents, perhaps because he is American and therefore classless in British eyes, is the ability to chat up and get on with all sorts and conditions of British. . . Theroux is a good companion' The Times'Filled with history, insights, landscape, epiphanies, meditations, celebrations and laments' The New York Times'Few of us have seen the entirety of the coast and I for one am grateful to Mr Theroux for making my journey unnecessary. He describes it all brilliantly and honestly' Anthony Burgess, ObserverAmerican travel writer Paul Theroux is known for the rich descriptions of people and places that is often streaked with his distinctive sense of irony; his other non-fiction titles, Riding the Iron Rooster, The Happy Isles of Oceania, Sunrise with Seamonsters, The Tao of Travel, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, The Old Patagonian Express, The Great Railway Bazaar, Dark Star Safari, Fresh-air Fiend, Sir Vidia's Shadow, The Pillars of Hercules, and his novels and collections of short stories, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize winner The Mosquito Coast are available from Penguin.

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The visionary behind the bestselling phenomenon The Fourth Turning looks once again to America’s past to predict our future in this startling and hopeful prophecy for how our present era of civil unrest will resolve over the next ten years—and what our lives will look like once it has. Twenty-five years ago, Neil Howe and the late William Strauss dazzled the world with a provocative new theory of American history. Looking back at the last 500 years, they’d uncovered a distinct pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting roughly eighty to one hundred years, the length of a long human life, with each cycle composed of four eras—or “turnings”—that always arrive in the same order and each last about twenty years. The last of these eras—the fourth turning—was always the most perilous, a period of civic upheaval and national mobilization as traumatic and transformative as the New Deal and World War II, the Civil War, or the American Revolution. Now, right on schedule, our own fourth turning has arrived. And so Neil Howe has returned with an extraordinary new prediction. What we see all around us—the polarization, the growing threat of civil conflict and global war—will culminate by the early 2030s in a climax that poses great danger and yet also holds great promise, perhaps even bringing on America’s next golden age. Every generation alive today will play a vital role in determining how this crisis is resolved, for good or ill. Illuminating, sobering, yet ultimately empowering, The Fourth Turning Is Here takes you back into history and deep into the collective personality of each living generation to make sense of our current crisis, explore how all of us will be differently affected by the political, social, and economic challenges we’ll face in the decade to come, and reveal how our country, our communities, and our families can best prepare to meet these challenges head-on.

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The astonishing run of albums unleashed upon an unsuspecting public within the span of five years created the legend of Alice Cooper that lives on to this day. But we’re talking about the original Alice Cooper group here, a band called that with a lead singer also going by that name. In other words, the legend was built by Vincent “Alice Cooper” Furnier, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway and “platinum god” Neal Smith. It is all of them working together — along with producer Bob Ezrin — that created the mystique of songs like “I’m Eighteen,” “Is It My Body,” “Desperado,” “Under My Wheels,” “Be My Lover,” “Elected” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” And it is all of them working together — along with crack management in Shep Gordon and Joe Greenberg—that created the shock rock buzz that kept the newspapers full of indignation about this band set out to destroy human civilization. Easy Action: The Original Alice Cooper Group tells the story in meticulous chronological detail, from the band’s early days in Phoenix as The Spiders, through being broke on the Sunset Strip, followed by a career-reviving relocation to a notorious party house on the outskirts of Pontiac, Michigan. Corroborating the improbable sequence of events is a plethora of stories from the band themselves, who explain how the original Alice Cooper group went from politely ignored pariahs in Los Angeles to international Public Enemies No. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Listen to the guys and their good-natured explanations behind the mayhem, and it soon becomes apparent that the ghoulish makeup around the singer’s eyes and the boa constrictor around his neck — not to mention the head-choppings, the hangings and the hard rock — were all served up in good fun. Now it’s time for you, dear reader, to join in the fun and see why Alice Cooper was, for a golden moment in time fully 50 years ago now, the most feared and revered act in all of rock ‘n’ roll.

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'Alan's book is like his game: incisive, thoughtful, intelligent and consistently hits the target' Gary Lineker'A brilliant, articulate, thoughtful man with a wonderful sense of humour: Smudge encapsulates all he is and knows in this fantastic book that will capture the hearts of every football fan' Tony Adams'It was different back then, at least through Arsenal eyes. This was a young, exciting team full of hope and desire, led by a manager bristling with ambition . . .'Anfield '89. Copenhagen '94. Two of Arsenal's greatest triumphs in the modern era. Both matches defined by the goal-scoring prowess of one man - Alan 'Smudger' Smith.Smith's rise in football was vertiginous: playing for Alvechurch in the Southern League one year, competing in the top flight twelve months later. His first three years at Leicester were characterized by a successful partnership with Gary Lineker. When Lineker left for Everton, Smith stepped forward as the main goal-getter. It was Smith's move to Highbury, however, that enabled him to become the winner of two Golden Boots and one of the most highly-rated strikers in the game.Honest, insightful and authoritative, Heads Up reveals what it was like forging a career in the tough First Division of old before the glitz of the Premier League took hold; the ins and outs of playing for George Graham and rooming with Gazza; the truth behind Anfield '89; which team could easily have gone on to become the first 'Invincibles' had Chelsea not spoiled it one February afternoon; how the highs of the game can quickly be converted into morale-sapping lows; and how injury really does affect a career.After twenty years of writing for the Daily Telegraph, covering four World Cups, four European Championships and countless club games, Alan Smith has done what few ex-professionals are able to do - describe in his own words what it's really like to play the game . . .'Very enjoyable and typically honest account by my old mate on a fine career' Lee Dixon

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The con is on! Prewitt Paltry used to be the best con artist in NYC. But fate has left him divorced, broke, his glory days behind him . . . And then a golden opportunity falls into his lap. Ranger du Courtemanche is the aging patriarch of the centuries-old French aristocratic Courtemanche family. Despite the filthy-rich faÇade, the family’s fortune is quickly dwindling and their ancestral chateau is secretly in ruins. Enter Prewitt, who cozies up to the reclusive family – Ranger and his two sisters - and warns them that their chateau and wealth have been targeted by an ancient secret society. Panicked and desperate, Ranger enlists Prewitt in the fight to defend his family’s honor and fortune. Et voila! The trap is set. With the help of an eccentric team of wacky French con artists, and three Corgies, Prewitt gets to work. But, the closer he gets, the more the con unravels. Ancient betrayals, priceless jewels, and forbidden loves . . . the Courtemanches turn out to be a lot more than Prewitt bargained for. "The reader is immediately drawn into the story . . . There is a thread of humor and amusement that runs through the length of the book" - ScreencraftFans of Now You See Me, Oceans 11, and American Hustle will love this "primed for a broad audience film adaptation" book (Screencraft).

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For fans of Minecraft and graphic novels, an epic, full-color adventure—Phoenix must save her village from the ghost of Herobrine.This full-color, graphic novel adventure, with over 750 color images, is created especially for readers who love the fight of good vs. evil, magical academies like Hogwarts in the Harry Potter saga, and games like Minecraft, Terraria, and Pokemon GO.The redstone dust has barely settled after Phoenix’s epic battle against the Defender when word of a new threat arises: the legendary ghost of Herobrine has been sighted in Phoenix’s village, and under cover of darkness, he’s terrorizing a new family each night.Phoenix and T.H. rush to the village, where they discover a tangled string of clues. Just as the friends-turned-sleuths are sure they’ve unraveled the mystery of Herobrine’s griefing, they uncover a secret that makes them question everything they’ve learned.And when a new, stronger enemy appears, their hunt for Herobrine is turned on its end once again. Can a ghost be in danger? And could Herobrine cease to be their enemy and instead become . . . their ally?Fans of Minecraft won’t want to miss this gripping, mysterious addition to the series that began with Quest for the Golden Apple!

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Medieval Kashmir in its golden age saw the development of some of the most sophisticated theories of language, literature, and emotion articulated in the pre-modern world. These theories, enormously influential on the later intellectual history of South Asia, were written at a time when religious education was ubiquitous among intellectuals, and when religious philosophies were hotly and publicly debated. It was also a time of deep interreligious influence and borrowing, when traditions intermixed and intellectuals pushed the boundaries of their own inheritance by borrowing ideas from many different places-even from their rivals. To Savor the Meaning examines the overlap of literary theory and religious philosophy in this period by looking at debates about how poetry communicates emotions to its readers, what it is readers do when they savor these emotions, and why this might be valuable. Focusing on the work of three influential figures-Anandavardhana [ca. 850 AD], Abhinavagupta [ca. 1000 AD], and the somewhat lesser known theorist Mahimabhatta [ca. 1050 AD]-this book gives a broad introduction to their ideas and reveals new, important, and previously overlooked aspects of their work and their debates. James D. Reich places these pre-modern intellectuals within the wider context of the religious philosophies current in Kashmir at the time, and shows that their ideas cannot be fully understood in isolation from this broader context.

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The phenomenal New York Times Number One bestseller about the unbreakable bond between a dog and their human. Now a major film starring Dennis Quaid.This is the remarkable story of one endearing dog's search for his purpose over the course of several lives. More than just another charming dog story, A Dog's Purpose touches on the universal quest for an answer to life's most basic question: Why are we here?Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden-haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey's search for his new life's meaning leads him into the loving arms of eight-year-old Ethan. During their countless adventures, Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog.But this life as a family pet is not the end of Bailey's journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders – will he ever find his purpose?Heartwarming, insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny, W. Bruce Cameron's A Dog's Purpose is not only the emotional and hilarious story of a dog's many lives, but also a dog's-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds between man and man's best friend. This moving and beautifully crafted story teaches us that love never dies, and that every creature on earth is born with a purpose.

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In Perfect Wives, Other Women Georgina Dopico Black examines the role played by women’s bodies—specifically the bodies of wives—in Spain and Spanish America during the Inquisition. In her quest to show how both the body and soul of the married woman became the site of anxious inquiry, Dopico Black mines a variety of Golden Age texts for instances in which the era’s persistent preoccupation with racial, religious, and cultural otherness was reflected in the depiction of women. Subject to the scrutiny of a remarkable array of gazes—inquisitors, theologians, religious reformers, confessors, poets, playwrights, and, not least among them, husbands—the bodies of perfect and imperfect wives elicited diverse readings. Dopico Black reveals how imperialism, the Inquisition, inflation, and economic decline each contributed to a correspondence between the meanings of these human bodies and “other” bodies, such as those of the Jew, the Moor, the Lutheran, the degenerate, and whoever else departed from a recognized norm. The body of the wife, in other words, became associated with categories separate from anatomy, reflecting the particular hermeneutics employed during the Inquisition regarding the surveillance of otherness. Dopico Black’s compelling argument will engage students of Spanish and Spanish American history and literature, gender studies, women’s studies, social psychology and cultural studies.

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Reza Zia-Ebrahimi revisits the work of Fath?ali Akhundzadeh and Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani, two Qajar-era intellectuals who founded modern Iranian nationalism. In their efforts to make sense of a difficult historical situation, these thinkers advanced an appealing ideology Zia-Ebrahimi calls "dislocative nationalism," in which pre-Islamic Iran is cast as a golden age, Islam is reinterpreted as an alien religion, and Arabs become implacable others. Dislodging Iran from its empirical reality and tying it to Europe and the Aryan race, this ideology remains the most politically potent form of identity in Iran. Akhundzadeh and Kermani's nationalist reading of Iranian history has been drilled into the minds of Iranians since its adoption by the Pahlavi state in the early twentieth century. Spread through mass schooling, historical narratives, and official statements of support, their ideological perspective has come to define Iranian culture and domestic and foreign policy. Zia-Ebrahimi follows the development of dislocative nationalism through a range of cultural and historical materials, and he captures its incorporation of European ideas about Iranian history, the Aryan race, and a primordial nation. His work emphasizes the agency of Iranian intellectuals in translating European ideas for Iranian audiences, impressing Western conceptions of race onto Iranian identity.

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Reading a range of Italian works, Rubini considers the active transmittal of traditions through generations of writers and thinkers. Rocco Rubini studies the motives and literary forms in the making of a “tradition,” not understood narrowly, as the conservative, stubborn preservation of received conventions, values, and institutions, but instead as the deliberate effort on the part of writers to transmit a reformulated past across generations. Leveraging Italian thinkers from Petrarch to Gramsci, with stops at prominent humanists in between—including Giambattista Vico, Carlo Goldoni, Francesco De Sanctis, and Benedetto Croce—Rubini gives us an innovative lens through which to view an Italian intellectual tradition that is at once premodern and modern, a legacy that does not depend on a date or a single masterpiece, but instead requires the reader to parse an expanse of writings to uncover deeper transhistorical continuities that span six hundred years. Whether reading work from the fourteenth century, or from the 1930s, Rubini elucidates the interplay of creation and the reception underlying the enactment of tradition, the practice of retrieving and conserving, and the revivification of shared themes and intentions that connect thinkers across time. Building on his award-winning book, The Other Renaissance, this will prove a valuable contribution for intellectual historians, literary scholars, and those invested in the continuing humanist legacy.

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ContentsSpecial Section: Russia`s Annexation of Crimea IIIGergana Dimova and Andreas Umland: Introduction. Perspectives on Russia's 2014 Annexation of Crimea: Empirical and Theoretical ExplorationsGreta Lynn Uehling: The Personal Stakes of Political Crisis: The 2014 Attempted Annexation of CrimeaKerstin S. Jobst: "Dark" and "Golden" Times: The Crimean Tatar Population under Tsarist and Soviet Rule (1783–1941)Jan Zofka: Agents of Separatism: Social Background to the Pro-Russian Movements in Crimea and the Moldovan Dniester Valley in Comparison (1989–95)A Debate on Prospect Theory and Explaining Russia's Annexation of CrimeaIon Marandici: Loss Aversion, Neo-Imperial Frames, and Territorial Expansion: Using Prospect Theory to Examine the Annexation of CrimeaDiscussionFeaturing contributions by Peter Rutland, Tor Bukkvoll, Mykola Kapitonenko, Rumena Filipova, Martin Malek, Ion MarandiciArticlesChris Monday: Mikhail Putin (1894–1969) and Socialist Competition: Exploring a Neglected Branch of the Putin Family TreeReviews:Inna Chuvychkina on Elizabeth Buchanan; Brendan M. McElmeel on Juliane Fürst; Olga Khabibulina on Hubertus Jahn; Elise Westin on Natalia Knoblock; Manne Wängborg on Andrei Kozyrev; Giulia Prelz Oltramonti on Anna Matveeva; Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon on David Rainbow; John (Ivan) Jaworsky on Josephine von Zitzewitz; Yana Ostapenko on Jessica Zychowicz; Dima Kortukov on Vladislav M. Zubok

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In 1951 the Festival of Britain marks a new golden age of hope and prosperity for the country. Things are certainly looking up for the criminal elite who run the East End. For Jack, a draft-dodger with aspirations to be a champion boxer, there's easy money to be made for providing a bit of muscle. Meanwhile his sister Kath must keep secret the fact that she killed their father to protect her son, Brian, from the abuse she experienced as a child. Brian is so traumatised by witnessing this event that the complex union of violence and sexuality will shape his character for life. As the years go by and disillusion sets in, successive Labour and Tory governments aren't able to stop the rot. Younger, nastier criminals like the Kray twins and the Richardson brothers begin to carve out their own criminal empires and crush all resistance. Brutalised and embittered by years of failure and imprisonment, Jack decides to make a stand. The stage is set for one big war. Crime and Punishment is the first volume in a two-part epic, and follows the characters' lives up until the accession of Thatcher. The second volume will trace the dramatic changes in criminal society that reflected the wider social upheaval of the times, right up until the present day.

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This volume comprises fifteen new essays on the Apostolic Fathers with a focus on the letters of Clement. An introductory essay investigates the role of seventeenth-century librarians in the origination of the collection's title. Five essays concern 1 Clement, exploring its relationship to 1 Corinthians, its generic classification, the discussion of "Christian education" (1 Clem. 21:8), the golden calf tradition, and the well-known legend of the regeneration of the phoenix. Three essays treat aspects of 2 Clement, including problems with recent translations of chapter 1, the motif of the barren woman in chapter 2, and the analogy of faith as a race in chapter 7. One study probes the Quintus incident in Martyrdom of Polycarp 4 as emblematic of the literary and cultural conventions of second-century sophism. Another study considers protection against exploitation of Christian generosity by visitors in Didache 12. Another contribution investigates the precise nature of allegory in the Epistle of Barnabas. A short piece on the Epistle of Diognetus argues that the ancient moral-philosophical topos of the invisible God is at work in this text; and, a final essay explores the popular second-century medical theory behind Hermas's presentation of ὀξυχολία ("irascibility") in Mand. 5.1.3 (33.3). The volume ranges widely within and beyond early Christian literature - from the streets of ancient Achaean and Asian πόλεις to the early modern libraries of Europe.

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Economic and stock market cycles affect companies in every industry. Unfortunately, a confusing array of anecdotal and conflicting indicators often renders it impossible for managers and investors to see where the economy is heading in time to take corrective action. Now, a 35-year Wall Street veteran unveils a new forecasting method to help managers and investors understand and predict the economic cycles that control their businesses and financial fates. In Ahead of the Curve, Joseph H. Ellis argues that the problem with current forecasting models lies not in the data, but rather in the lack of a clear framework for putting the data in context and reading it correctly. The book explains critical economic indicators in nontechnical language, identifies and documents the recurring cause-and-effect relationships that consistently predict turning points in the economy, and provides the tools managers and investors need to position themselves ahead of cyclical upturns and downturns. Economic events are not as random and unpredictable as they seem. This book helps readers recognize and react to signs of change that their rivals don't see--and win a sizeable competitive advantage. Joseph H. Ellis was a partner at Goldman Sachs and was ranked for 18 consecutive years by Institutional Investor magazine as Wall Street's No.1 retail industry analyst.

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A magisterial history of the astounding rise - and unimaginable fall - of America's most iconic corporationPerhaps no company reflects American ingenuity, innovation, and industrial fortunes as well as the iconic General Electric Company. Producing storied leaders and almost every product imaginable, GE built a cult of success that hid cracks in its foundation. In this masterful history, William D. Cohan, one of America's most pre-eminent financial journalists, argues that GE's legacy is both a paragon and a cautionary tale through which to understand twentieth-century America. Power Failure limns the eventful 130-year history of GE, bringing fresh analysis drawn from rare interviews with key figures of the company's golden era, including Jack Welch himself. As Cohan recounts, Welch traded on a sterling legacy to make GE the most valuable and respected company in the world, while cloaking its vulnerabilities. What he handed to his successor Jeffrey Immelt was, Cohan argues, both an impossible standard and a more troubled reality. Tracing the company's leaps and stumbles through the personalities that defined it, Power Failure offers a surprising retelling of the GE story, puncturing the myth we think we know for a fresh look at its legacy - and what it tells us about the state of the financial world.

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A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand, and look wonderful on a desk or table. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list and robust ivory text paper. THE ARTIST. Renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt is well-known for his golden masterpieces full of sumptuous ornamentation, as well as his incredible depictions of the female form and vibrant landscapes. HE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

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Who gets diabetes and why? An in‑depth examination of diabetes in the context of race, public health, class, and heredity “[An] unsettling but insightful social history.”—Kirkus Reviews “The important lessons of Diabetes: A History of Race and Disease may strengthen organized medicine’s commitment to addressing social determinants of health and equity.”—David Goldberg, Health Affairs Who is considered most at risk for diabetes, and why? In this thorough, engaging book, historian Arleen Tuchman examines and critiques how these questions have been answered by both the public and medical communities for over a century in the United States. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Tuchman describes how at different times Jews, middle‑class whites, American Indians, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans have been labeled most at risk for developing diabetes, and that such claims have reflected and perpetuated troubling assumptions about race, ethnicity, and class. She describes how diabetes underwent a mid-century transformation in the public’s eye from being a disease of wealth and “civilization” to one of poverty and “primitive” populations. In tracing this cultural history, Tuchman argues that shifting understandings of diabetes reveal just as much about scientific and medical beliefs as they do about the cultural, racial, and economic milieus of their time.

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A comprehensive study of the connection between Calvinist missions and Dutch imperial expansion during the early modern period “A tour de force offering the reader the best study of global Calvinism in the realms of the Dutch East India Company.”—Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, editor, Calvinism and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Golden Age Calvinism went global in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as close to a thousand Dutch Reformed ministers, along with hundreds of lay chaplains, attached themselves to the Dutch East India and West India companies. Across Asia, Africa, and the Americas where the trading companies set up operation, Dutch ministers sought to convert “pagans,” “Moors,” Jews, and Catholics and to spread the cultural influence of Protestant Christianity. As Dutch ministers labored under the auspices of the trading companies, the missionary project coalesced, sometimes grudgingly but often readily, with empire building and mercantile capitalism. Simultaneously, Calvinism became entangled with societies around the world as encounters with Indigenous peoples shaped the development of European religious and intellectual history. Though historians have traditionally treated the Protestant and European expansion as unrelated developments, Charles H. Parker the explores the global reach of Dutch Calvinism as an intermingling of a Protestant faith, commerce, and empire.

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If, as Buddhism claims, the potential for awakening exists in all human beings, we should be able to map the phenomenon with the same science we apply to other forms of consciousness. A student of cognitive social science and a Zen practitioner for more than forty years, Richard P. Boyle brings his sophisticated perspective to bear on the development of a theoretical model for both ordinary and awakened consciousness. Boyle conducts probing interviews with eleven prominent Western Buddhist teachers (Shinzen Young, John Tarrant, Ken McLeod, Ajahn Amaro, Martine Batchelor, Shaila Catherine, Gil Fronsdal, Stephen Batchelor, Pat Enkyo O'Hara, Bernie Glassman, and Joseph Goldstein) and one scientist (James Austin) who have experienced awakening. From the paths they traveled to enlightenment and their descriptions of the experience, he derives three fundamental properties of awakened consciousness. He then constructs an overarching model that explains how Buddhist practices help free the mind from attachments to reality and the self and make possible the three properties of awakening. Specifically, these teachers describe how they worked to control attention and quiet the mind, detach from ideas and habits, and open themselves to compassion. Boyle's account incorporates current theories of consciousness, sociological insights, and research in neuroscience to advance the study of awakened consciousness and help an even greater number of people to realize it.

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Hong Kong was a key battlefield in Asia's cultural cold war. After 1948-1949, an influx of filmmakers, writers, and intellectuals from mainland China transformed British Hong Kong into a hub for mass entertainment and popular publications. While there was no organized movement for independence, largely because of its location directly next to Mao's China, Hong Kong was central in the cultural contest between Communist China, Nationalist Taiwan, and the United States. Hong Kong Media and Asia's Cold War discusses how China, Taiwan, and the U.S. fought to mobilize Hong Kong cinema and print media to sway ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia and across the world. Central to this propaganda and psychological warfare was the emigre media industry. This period was the "golden age" of Mandarin cinema and popular culture. Throughout the 1967 Riots and the 1970s, the emergence of a new, local-born generation challenged and reshaped the Cold War networks of émigré cultural production, contributing to the gradual decline of Hong Kong's cultural Cold War. Through untapped archival materials, contemporary sources, and numerous interviews with filmmakers, magazine editors, and student activists, Po-Shek Fu explores how global conflicts were localized and intertwined with myriad local historical experiences and cultural formation.

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The pasta ninja and Instagram star Linda Miller Nicholson delivers her first cookbook, a stunning cornucopia of pasta in every color and shape, all created by hand using all-natural colors from vegetables, herbs, and superfoods—and including 25 dough recipes, 33 traditional and modern shaping techniques, and the perfect fillings and sauces to make your creations sing!Linda Miller Nicholson began making pasta at age four, but started adding color to it several years ago to entice her son to eat more vegetables. Her creations became a viral sensation, attracting fans worldwide who are mesmerized by her colorful and flavorful designs. Now, with Pasta, Pretty Please home cooks can create dreamy, dazzling pastas in their own kitchens using only all-natural ingredients—flour, eggs, vegetables, herbs, and superfoods—that are true works of art.Playful and inviting, Pasta, Pretty Please includes recipes, techniques, tips, and inspiration. Linda starts with recipes for basic doughs—standard egg dough, various gnocchi doughs—and works her way up to recipes for dough in many colorful shades. She teaches you just how many colors are pastable and what kinds of pigmented vegetables, fruits, and spices you can use to color your pasta—such as mixing turmeric with parsley for just the right shade of chartreuse, or using activated charcoal powder to create black pasta. She also shows you how to roll out dough, cut and form many pasta shapes, and gives tips for retaining brilliant colors even when cooked.Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’ll find recipes for more elaborate patterns and colors that are sure to impress your family and friends. Linda reveals how to layer colors to make multi-colored doughs in recipes including: Rainbow Cavatelli Polka Dot Farfalle Emoji Ravioli Avocado Gnocchi Hearts and Stripes Pappardelle Argyle Lasagna Sheets 6-Colored Fettucine You’ll also find recipes for spectacular sauces and fillings, such as: Golden Milk Ragu Pecorino Pepper Sauce with Broccolini Roasted Tomatoes with Basil Oil and Burrata Spiced Lamb Yogurt Sauce Rustic Squash Filling Classic Ricotta Filling Pepperoni Pizza Filling Featuring beautiful pasta in a rainbow of colors and a variety of shapes, patterns, and sizes, Pasta, Pretty Please is an artistic treasure trove that will please the eye and the palate. Buon Appetito!

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For the completist, The Ultimate Binge Guide is a challenge: a bingeable bucket list of all the shows you need to see before you die (or just to be super-informed at your next dinner party). For all readers, it's a fascinating look at the evolution of TV.The guide is broken down into several sections that speak to each series' place in TV history, including:** Classics That Made the Molds (And Those That Broke Them):? The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Get Smart, Cheers, Golden Girls, Happy Days...* Tony, Walt, Don, and the Antiheroes We Loved and Hated?: Oz, Mad Men, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Americans, Peaky Blinders, Ozark, The Shield, Boardwalk Empire, How To Get Away With Murder...*Game-Changing Sitcoms and the Kings and Queens of Cringe: Insecure, Community, 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fleabag, Black-ish, Party Down, Veep, Catastrophe, Fresh Off the Boat, Tim and Eric, Schitt's Creek, Better Things, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Pen15, Freaks and Geeks, Broad City, Black Lady Sketch Show...* Grown-Up Genre: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse, Supernatural, The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Star Trek, Watchmen, The Witcher, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, Westworld, Doctor Who..* Mysteries and Mindf--ks: Twin Peaks, Lost, Sense8, Mr. Robot, Broadchurch, The Leftovers, Fargo, Top of the Lake, Killing Eve, Wilfred, True Detective, Hannibal, Mindhunter...* Reality TV and Docuseries That Captured the Zeitgeist: The Last Dance, Making A Murderer, Cheer, Tiger King, Planet Earth, RuPaul's Drag Race, Wild Wild Country, Queer Eye, The Jinx, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown...In this punchy full-color guide, the editors of Rotten Tomatoes complement series write-ups with engaging infographics; fun sidebars (like a battle between the US and UK editions of The Office); and deep-dive essays on the streaming wars, superproducers to know, and the evolution of our collective viewing habits.

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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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The Han dynasty was the first to forge a stable empire governing all of China. It ruled during a golden age that shaped much of the nation's cultural history and development. In an effort to preserve their legacy of beauty and power, the Han created elaborate tombs containing exquisite artistic treasures intended for use in the afterlife. The finest of these treasures to have survived include exquisite jades, bronzes, and ceramics, found in the tombs of the Han imperial family and of a rival "emperor" of Nanyue.Many of the items, including warrior statues, dancing figures, and priceless jewels—intended to ensure protection, entertainment, and continued wealth and status, respectively—are brought together for the first time in this stunning publication. Featuring newly commissioned photography and essays by leading scholars, this sumptuously illustrated catalogue presents a ground-breaking account of the finest treasures from the Han dynasty.Published in association with The Fitzwilliam Museum, CambridgeExhibition Schedule:The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge(05/05/12–11/11/12)

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Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean, is a countryside lover's paradise. Touring Sardinia by car, you quickly leave all traces of tourism behind: the six car tours cover about 1600km (1000 miles). The tours are arranged in such a way that they can be combined, allowing you to tour round the whole island.-------------------- As you tour, explore on foot: walking in Sardinia, crushing the fragrant Mediterranean macchia underfoot, will give you the real flavour of the island. Its scenic diversity ranges from rough and primeval landscapes to gentle golden sand dunes, from scorching rocky plateaux and windswept plains reminiscent of Africa to rolling hills with lush pastures and dense brushwood, from towering mountains cloaked in fine oak woods to a turquoise sea that touches the rocky coast. Colourful rock roses and an extravaganza of wild flowers flourish in spring.----------------- 6 car tours (with accompanying touring maps), 37 long and short walks (each with 1:50,000 topo map), 16 picnic suggestions. Plans of Cagliari and Sassari. Free online update service with specific route change information on the publisher's website, maintained daily.- --------------- The 'Landscapes' series, with 50 destinations, has been dubbed 'the blue Bibles' by the Sunday Times and led to Sunflower coming third out of a field of 15 publishers in the 2014 Holiday Which? guidebook roundup.-------------- As with all Sunflower books, these are great walking books, and you can use the Sunflower website to check for any updates to the routes before you go on each trip. A great book and great after-sales service from the writers. We did some fantastic walks and you get so much good local information on the region too. Would recommend all Sunflower books. [We also have] the Crete, Majorca and Menorca books...(JJ, Amazon)---------------- A great book!!! I highly recommend it, even if, like me, you are not fluent in English, all terms are easily understandable. (PG, Amazon)---------------- Another faultless Sunflower Book. Sunflower guides are always the ones I look for whenever I'm considering a destination. Although pitched heavily at walkers they generally offer a very good synopsis of the best natural sites which are available to the visitor and even those who don't walk much will get something out of them.The detail [in the car tours] is excellent and we were able to use them for the basis of a week long road tour of Sardinia and certainly felt well guided around much of the natural wonder of the island. The few walks we had the chance to do were excellently described in both terms of difficulty and directions, meaning we had no worries about being lost at any time. (Cubegame, Amazon)

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Freedom worth fighting for. Love worth waiting for.'The French House is a beautifully wrought exploration of love of all kinds. It's utterly gorgeous, convincingly written and completely captivating. Make sure you read it'MY WEEKLY'I was gripped from the start by the characters and the setting. A wonderful read'RUTH DRUART'A raw and honest love story, filled with a wealth of historical detail. The French House is a powerful depiction of the brutal intricacies of island relationships and loyalties in a time of war' FIONA VALPY'Deeply involving . . . A fantastic debut by a gifted storyteller' JILL MANSELL'A story of fraught secrets and tested loyalties . . . I found this beautifully told tale hard to put down' ANITA FRANK'Heart-wrenching . . . A truly special novel' LOUISE FEIN'Accomplished and atmospheric . . . I really enjoyed this uncliched yet deeply moving love story'TRACY REES'A vividly written, refreshingly different World War Two love story, with a central character I adored. Just brilliant!'GILL PAUL'Such an emotionally gripping novel portraying how love can be betrayed yet still endure' SUZANNE GOLDRING'I have been swept away by Jacquie Bloese's gorgeous writing, completely transported into the rich, atmospheric, and incredibly moving pages of The French House. . . this is an absolutely stunning, beautifully original novel'JENNY ASHCROFT'The writing is incredibly strong . . . a compelling read with a highly satisfactory ending'GUERNSEY PRESS***In Nazi-occupied Guernsey, the wrong decision can destroy a life... Left profoundly deaf after an accident, Émile is no stranger to isolation - or heartbreak. Now, as Nazi planes loom over Guernsey, he senses life is about to change forever.Trapped in a tense, fearful marriage, Isabelle doesn't know what has become of Émile and the future she hoped for. But when she glimpses him from the window of the French House, their lives collide once more. Leutnant Schreiber is more comfortable wielding a paintbrush than a pistol. But he has little choice in the role he is forced to play in the occupying forces - or in his own forbidden desires. As their paths entwine, loyalties are blurred and dangerous secrets forged. But on an island under occupation, courage can have deadly consequences...Lyrical, moving and compelling, this is a novel about wanting to hear and learning to listen - to the truths of our own hearts. Perfect for lovers of The Nightingale, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and All the Light We Cannot See.'A wonderful story, powerfully written with beautiful characters'JAMES KENT, director of Testament of Youth'A brilliantly moving historical novel' - 2020 Caledonian Novel Award panel

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Marco Polo Pocket Guide California: the Travel Guide with Insider Tips Explore California with this handy, pocket-sized, authoritative guide, packed with Insider Tips. Discover boutique hotels, authentic restaurants, the state's trendiest places, and get tips on shopping and what to do on a limited budget. There are plenty of ideas for travel with kids, and a summary of all the festivals and events that take place. Let Marco Polo show you all this iconic destination has to offer… California is a dream destination on the Pacific, an extraordinary blend of stunning nature, cool cities and unbelievably friendly people. It is a destination of extremes – the mountains in the northeast are amongst the highest on the continent, Death Valley in the southeast marks the lowest point in the US and the hottest, and the Pacific coast boasts the tallest trees and some of the sequoias in the Sierra Nevada are amongst the oldest on the planet. The Streets of San Francisco, Mickey Mouse, Hollywood, Napa Valley, Yosemite, giant redwoods and golden beaches, the list of California's attractions is endless. You might think you know it already from movies and TV, but the reality is much more colourful, flashy, quirky and above all beautiful. With Marco Polo California you can experience a holiday that mixes hip urban culture with the glamour of celebrity and a real-life road movie with awesome scenery…This is California! Your Marco Polo California Pocket Guide includes: Insider Tips – we show you the hidden gems and little-known secrets that offer a real insight into the region. Discover exquisite local wineries, savour the best Mexican snacks at LA’s Grand Central Market or step back in time at a traditional County Fair. Best of – find the best things to do for free, the best ‘only in’ California experiences, the best things to do if it rains and the best places to relax and spoil yourself. Sightseeing – all the top sights are organised by area so you can easily plan your trip. Discovery Tours – specially tailored tours will get you to the heart of California. From the surfing beaches of Southern California to the wineries in the North, you can experience all of California’s unique character with these personal tours. California in full-colour – Marco Polo Pocket Guide California includes full-colour photos throughout the guide bringing the region to life offering you a real taste of what you can see and enjoy on your trip. Touring App – download any of the Discovery Tours to your smartphone, complete with the detailed route description and map exactly as featured in the guide, free of charge. The maps can be used offline too, so no roaming charges. The perfect navigational tool with distance indicators and landmarks highlighting the correct direction to travel in as well as GPS coordinates along the way. Enjoy stress-free sightseeing and never get lost again! Road Atlas and pull-out map – we’ve included a detailed road atlas and a handy, pull-out map so you can pop the guide in your bag for a full-on sightseeing day or head out with just the map to enjoy your Discovery Tour. A small street map of San Francisco is also included. Trust Marco Polo Pocket Guide California to show you around this iconic state. The comprehensive coverage and unique insights will ensure you experience everything California has to offer and more. The special tips, personal insights and unusual experiences will help you make the most of your trip - just arrive and enjoy.

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A beautifully designed, full-color collection of paper dolls created by Zelda Fitzgerald, lovingly compiled by her granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan.Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald has long been an American cultural icon. A Southern belle turned flapper, Zelda was talented in dance, painting, and writing but lived in the shadow of her writer husband F. Scott Fitzgerald’s success. The golden couple of the Jazz Age, Zelda and her husband moved around—from hotels to rented villas to apartments in Paris—and Zelda always brought along her paints. Few people know she painted at all, and fewer still know she made paper dolls. But throughout her life, Zelda created dolls, whenever she could, in private. By design, paper dolls are delicate, fragile, and destined for destruction at the hands of children. Zelda’s dolls began as playthings for her daughter, Scottie, born in 1921. Fortunately, Zelda continued to make figures after Scottie outgrew them, first of their family and then of storybook characters—lavish, graceful, bold figures. These unique characters were a portable troupe, a colorful paper caravan that travelled inside her luggage. Zelda chose subjects she relished: society figures of the French Court, or Red Riding Hood’s predatory wolf, as vivacious as the girl. Whether they are cardinals, kings, or bears, the dolls are fashionably attired in ball gowns, armor, and capes. A gorgeous and unique keepsake and a perfect gift for book and art lovers, this delightful collection of Zelda’s paper dolls offers an intimate peek into the life of one of the Lost Generation’s most fascinating creative artists.

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In this touching, “snappy…[, and] well-paced” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) debut middle grade novel, a girl with hearing loss and a boy adjusting to life in a new country connect through their love of comics and get entangled in their own fantastical adventure.Twelve-year-old Etta Johnson has Loud Days where she can hear just fine and Quiet Days where sounds come from far away and she gets to retreat into her thoughts. Etta spends most of her time alone, working on her comic book about Invincible Girl, the superhero who takes down super villain Petra Fide. Invincible Girl is brave, daring, and bold—everything Etta wishes she could be. But when Louisa May Alcott, a friendly Goldendoodle from across the street, disappears, Etta and the dog’s boy, Eleazar, must find their inner heroes to save her. The catch? Louisa May has run onto a magical train that mysteriously arrived at the station near Etta and Eleazar’s houses. Onboard, they discover each train car is its own magical world with individual riddles and challenges that must be solved before they can reach the engine room and rescue Louisa May. Only, the stakes are even higher than they thought. The train’s magic is malfunctioning and spreading a purple smoke called The Fear through the streets of Chicago. Etta and Eleazar are the only ones who can save the city, save Louisa May Alcott—and save each other.

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Exotic chicken breeds are not only a staple of farm life but also a unique backyard pet for bird enthusiasts to watch and keep. The many beautiful varieties of fowl, with their distinctive crests and colorful plumes, have provided inspiration for artists for centuries. And now, you can share in that tradition with this easy-to-use coloring book that will spark your imagination and help you de-stress.Exotic Chickens: Coloring for Everyone offers forty-six fully colored images that will inspire you as you color the forty-six black-and-white templates that are perforated so that each one can be removed to be displayed. The designs have been created specifically for you with stunning varieties such as the Golden Laced Wyandotte, Polish Hen, Crèvecoeur, and the Houdan all illustrated in this book. Whether you’re an artist looking to improve your craft, or simply just an average joe who finds coloring enjoyable and relaxing, this book is a must-have guaranteed to bring hours of artistic fun. Whether your style is realistic or whimsical, you can color these illustrations however you like.This vibrant compilation includes: An introduction to exotic breeds Forty-six original black-and-white designs for your coloring pleasure on single-sided perforated pages Forty-six full-color versions of the designs to inspire and guide you while coloringIf you find yourself intrigued by the beauty and diversity of these fine fowl, this book is a must-have, guaranteed to provide hours of creative entertainment. Gather your colored pencils, get comfortable, and start coloring your vision for these unique designs!

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Beautiful, independent Jana strikes out on her own to build a homestead with her sister in the rugged Dakota wilderness—but instead falls in love with a widowed lawman in this evocative, romantic tale.On the golden plains of a new frontier, a smart young schoolteacher teaches a single father a lesson—in the power of love. A scandalous newcomer . . . Only the boldest of women would set off for the Dakota Territory without a man by her side. But schoolteacher Jana Hartmann is determined to build a new life for herself and her frail sister, Greta. True to her courageous spirit, Jana takes the only job she can find in the town of Bismarck—modeling dresses in a shop window—which has every man staring and every woman gossiping. Adding fuel to the fire, she’s agreed to help raise money in the annual kissing booth, where one handsome cowboy wants to buy every kiss for himself. A scorching attraction . . . Drew Malone is a lawyer, rancher, and father of two little boys. Although Jana is immediately attracted to the handsome and helpful Drew, she fights it, torn between a budding romance and her responsibility to Greta. But Drew persists and sweeps her away for a romantic Christmas at Rimfire Ranch in the Badlands, where Jana finds herself having to win over the toughest critics of all— Drew’s young sons. As Greta becomes more independent, Jana lets down her guard and opens her heart to the three Malone men. But when the boys are kidnapped on her watch, Jana blames herself and flees to the frontier. Drew must race against the clock to get back his sons . . . and to make Jana his Rimfire bride.

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This title features over 30 inspiring projects for decorating your Christmas tree with innovative eye-catching ornaments. It offers inspirational craft ideas to help you to create innovative and exciting decorations for your Christmas tree. It features more than 30 projects that include baubles, pomanders, tassels, edible ornaments, gilded stars, festive figures, glittering cones, and many more. Techniques and projects are shown in more than 160 close-up step-by-step photographs and diagrams, making the stages absolutely clear and easy to follow. Templates are provided for many of the basic shapes. Ornaments in every style will appeal to both traditional and modern tastes. A choice of projects is available, including decorations with papier mache, salt dough, embroidery and gilding. Decorating the tree is an opportunity to gather with family, children and friends to adorn the branches with dazzling decorations. These small, yet significant details provide the backdrop to the approaching festivities and set the style and feel of your Christmas, whether traditional or modern. And what decorations can better sum up the individual spirit of Christmas than those you have made yourself? Whether you want sparkling baubles glistening on every branch, or a country-style angel to top the tree, this book shows you how to make original adornments to personalize your tree with style. Packed with practical projects, there is something here for everyone's taste and budget: delicate silver snowflakes cut from shiny paper, edible gingerbread figures, gilded baubles and a classic golden star are just a few of the ideas for seasonal decorations the whole family will enjoy.

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Court painter to King Philip IV of Spain, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 1599 – August 6, 1660) is not only a leading light of the Spanish Golden Age, but among the most celebrated masters in all Western art history. Monet and Renoir, Corot and Courbet, Degas and Dalí all hailed his influence. Picasso was so inspired by his masterpiece Las Meninas that he painted 44 variations of it. Velázquez’s importance is found particularly in his naturalist approach, in contrast to the more ubiquitous idealized manner of his age. Early works included numerous “bodegones”, genre scenes of everyday life in early 17th century Spain, in which warm, rich tones and textures set off the most ordinary of subjects and humble of faces, such as Old Woman Frying Eggs. Later, his portraiture for the Royal Court brought the same naturalism to the highest echelons of society, marking a profound shift in the depiction of royalty with softer, more relaxed poses that offered his subjects a human warmth and character as much as a sense of grandeur. Velázquez’s most famous work, Las Meninas, was also painted in the royal court, but in its enigmatic composition raises many broader questions about reality and illusion and the relationship between the painter, painting, and viewer. This fresh TASCHEN Basic Art 2.0 edition introduces Velázquez through key works from throughout his career. From humble genre scenes to the royal portraits, the exquisite Rokeby Venus nude, and the ever-mysterious Las Meninas, we explore his exceptional attention to composition, masterful handling of tone, and his remarkable influence as, in Manet’s words, “the greatest painter of all.”

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This Handbook presents state-of-the-art methodological guidance and discussion of international practice related to the integration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in impact assessment, featuring contributions from leading researchers and practitioners the world over. Its multidisciplinary approach covers contributions across five continents to broaden the scope of the field both thematically and geographically. A multifaceted variety of case studies provide examples of the use of information on biodiversity and ecosystem services in different types of impact assessment to improve decisions at all levels, from strategic choices to individual projects. In addition to its discussion of how biodiversity and ecosystem services can improve the salience and effectiveness of impact assessment, this Handbook presents a range of applications and possible solutions to challenges in key policy and planning sectors, including urban development, land use, energy, marine areas, infrastructure, agriculture, forestry, health and tourism. This Handbook's combination of cutting-edge literature and methodological guidance supports researchers, practitioners and students in developing and implementing biodiversity and ecosystem services-inclusive impact assessment processes, which can contribute to better decisions about the use of our lands and waters. As such it will appeal not only to scholars of impact assessment but of environmental sciences, environmental engineering, natural sciences, planning and economics as well.Contributors include: C. Albert, A. Antón, M. Ashley, J. Azcarate, B. Balfors, S. Brownlie, L. Bulling, C. Cortinovis, R.T.T. Forman, S. Frank, C. Fürst, D. Geneletti, J. Goldstein, T. Hooper, P. Horwitz, M. Hughes, P. Itkonen, M. Jimenez, M. Karlson, L. Karrasch, C.M. Kennedy, J.M. Kiesecker, J. Köppel, L. Kopperoinen, O. Langmead, D. Maia de Souza, L. Mandle, L. Milà i Canals, U. Mörtberg, D. Newsome, S. Odelius Gordon, M.W. Parkes, K. Pietzsch, F. Pietzsch, A. Rajvanshi, D. Roe, D.A. Rozas Vásquez, M. Ruckelshaus, H. Tallis, L. Tardieu, F. Teillard, J. Treweek, J. Wu, L. Zardo

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An overview of the history of yachting in its social, cultural, political and economic contexts. Shortlisted for the Maritime Foundation's Mountbatten Award 2018 This book, by a leading expert in the field, is the first major history of yachting for over a quarter of a century. Setting developments within political,social and economic changes, the book tells the story of yachting from Elizabethan times to the present day: the first uses of yachts, by monarchs, especially Charles II; yacht clubs and yacht racing in the eighteenth century; the early years of the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes and an analysis of the America Cup challenges; the pioneering developments in Ireland and the exporting of yachting to the colonies and trading outposts of the Empire; the expansion of yachting in Victorian times; the Golden Age of Yachting in the years before the First World War, when it was the sport of the crowned heads of Europe; the invention of the dinghy and the keelboat classes and, after the Second World War, the massive numbers of home-built dinghies; the breaking of new boundaries by risk-taking single-handers from the mid-1960s; the expansion of leisure sailing that came in the 1980s with the use of moulded plastic yachts; and current trends and pressures within the sport. Well-referenced yet highly readable, this book will be of interest both to the scholar and the sailing enthusiast. MIKE BENDER is an experienced yachtsman and qualified Ocean Yachtmaster, with some forty thousand miles, mostly singlehanded, under the keel. He is an Honorary Research Fellow in History at the University of Exeter.

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